"Yes, there is little we can do about alarms now," says Malden, also moving forward to join the others, leaning into the wind and wishing he'd taken Alikai up on her offer to braid his unruly hair, "except to know that we are known."
He keeps a hand on the silver symbol of Sarenrae that hangs about his neck, but does not yet draw his scimitar, wary of scaring the girl, on the off chance she does not turn out to be something horrid and unholy.
Jeydavu calls out to the others, "Beware, a magical alarm is here. We must proceed assuming that our presence is known." He tightens his grip on his scimitar and moves forward to join Gaelin, bringing Chtonthoth with him.
[dice=spellcraft if necessary]1d20+5
Jeydavu can see that the child is somewhat translucent
Ecaterina steps toward the little girl and kneels. wary for a trap, but not wanting to appear so, she reaches out a hand towards the young girl and tries to comfort her.
"I know how you feel young one, I too am far from our homeland and wish to return. Are you being kept here against your will? What is this place?"
"Don't worry. We're not going to hurt you," Gaelin says. He stows his blade as he speaks. "You are safe with us."
"It is not good to be far from home," Malden comments kindly. "If there is a way we can help you return we shall try it."
Ecaterina steps toward the little girl and kneels. wary for a trap, but not wanting to appear so, she reaches out a hand towards the young girl and tries to comfort her.
"I know how you feel young one, I too am far from our homeland and wish to return. Are you being kept here against your will? What is this place?"
The girl shivers
"Yes! I want my mother!"
The girl suddenly begins crying and runs back into the ice blocks
"Wait!" Malden follows the girl, at a brisk walk rather than a run, not wanting to blunder heedlessly into danger.
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"Wait," Ecaterina and Malden both exclaim at the same time, as they both start off towards where the girl ran to.
The girl reappeares from behind a large ice menhir. She seems to be looking at someone who isn't there.
"No I don't want this stupid doll! It's ugly! I want to go home!"
“Young one, who keeps you from your home?” Malden asks gently.
"This is wrong, this is all wrong," Alikai whispers to herself from outside the circle. She can feel the hairs rise on the back of her neck as she continues to watch and ward.
“Young one, who keeps you from your home?” Malden asks gently. [dice=Diplomacy]1d20 + 10
The young girl turns a sorrow-stricken face to Malden
"The witch Nazhena Vasillinova keeps me here! I didn't mean to call her names! I want my mother!"
The young girl begins sobbing and runs deeper into the icy menhir maze
Tristan turns to Ecaterina. "Does that name mean anything to you?"
"I don't know what it is we see - a ghost, an illusion, a spiritual projection of some real girl ... but I suspect that she is bound here in some way, and that if we could free her we may be able to rid this land of its wintry grip," theorises Malden. "I think we should follow her into that icy maze, but we must stay together - it would not do to get separated in this place."
"I agree," Gaelin says. "We are here to see where this leads."
"Alright, Everyone keep your eyes open for witches, well witches that arn't Ecaterina." Sahsara adds as she dashes after the "young girl".
+ 4 for hidden objects + 5 for traps
Tristan turns to Ecaterina. "Does that name mean anything to you?"
Ecaterina scowls at the mention of that name. "Yes, that name means something to me. She is an agent of Queen Elvanna, and a rival of my family. If she is involved in this, then I fear we may need help in our endeavours to find an answer to our problems. While I know very little about her, I know that she does hold a measure of power, I believe she rules some village or other, but I am not sure which one. We must be cautious."
The party follows the fleeing girl into the heart of the thicket of ice boulders. Like some frozen field of ancient giant grave stones, the ice menhirs rear up three meters from the snow, their sides dimly reflecting the party as they venture further in.
In the center the girl stands shivering. She looks up as the party nears, a dawning horror on her face
"You .. you aren't from the witch! I have to get away from here! You need to also, before the witch sees you! RUN!!!!"
The girl vanishes into thin air. A wind picks up and icy slivers of snow pelt the party. The ice menhirs begin to flicker with movement within their depths. Faces of frozen corpses leer out at the party, their skeletal frostburnt visages terrifying
Alikai floods with sudden fear as the frozen corpses leer from the ice boulders. She bolts back towards the trail, running heedlessly through the forest of haunted menhirs
Alikai stops just outside the cluster of frozen menhirs, clutching her longbow and panting.
"Malden! Get everyone out of there! That place isn't natural!" she yells back into the maze.
Tristan disregards the faces, dismissing them as yet another one of this witch's tricks. He does pay some heed to the girl's warning, however, and scans the surroundings for movement, particularly the direction of the hut.
“Alikai, wait!” Malden is torn between running back after his friend, and staying to face whatever danger is here.
Looking uncharacteristically shaken, Gaelin mutters, "She has the right of it. I don't trust this place! Gods save us!" He makes for the edge of the menhirs and some open space to catch his breath.
"Well there goes the sticking together plan"
Says Sahsara as she pulls out her rapier
"We must stay together!" shouts Jeydavu. "There is nothing to fear," he continues. Then in Druidic, he adds, "Chtonthoth, follow!" With that, the Oread turns and heads back to Alikai and Gaelin to reassure them and bring them back to the others.
When he reaches Alikai and Gaelin, he says, "Don't be fooled by these witch's cheap parlor tricks. They are more afraid of us. Together, we have already proven to be formidable." If they can be persuaded, he leads them back to the rest of the group.
Ecaterina looks around at the Menhirs and scowls. "Stand firm. It is merely a trick, do not be fooled. The Druid is right, we have already proven that we are much stronger together."
The haunted dead faces fade from the sides of the icy pillars. Gaelin and Alikai feel their fear fading. They can re-enter the ice field without turning away. The hut lies ahead through the forest of ice menhirs, upon a small hillock.
Malden lets go of his holy symbol as the leering dead faces fade. "Well, whatever that was, it appears to now be gone," he says, as the Alikai and Gaelin rejoin the others. "Possibly some illusion meant to scare us? Shall we move on to examine the hut?"
Alikai slinks back. "Sorry... don't know what came over me. The hut... yeah. Hey, where did the kid go?" Her knuckles are white around her bow.
The party advances through the icy pillars and climbs the slight rise to the hut with the carven bird leg pillars. A fence of bones runs around it, only a meter tall, and there is an opening leading to a ladder that leads to the door of the hut.
Perception DC15:
There's somebody sitting on the front stoop, Alikai whispers, Maybe the kid?
Ecaterina looks as though she wants to get to the hut quickly, but also seems almost afraid of it at the same time.
Sahsara shivers despite the endure elements effect
"Even if it is the kid I wouldn't feel much safer here, who knows what crazy magic is going on."
Malden squints through the falling snow, but he can't see what Alikai and Sahsara are talking about.
"The child?" he asks in a low voice. "Or something else? Didn't the hunter's diary mention a strange looking doll?"
"I can't see anything from back here," grunts Jeydavu, his view obscured by the others crowding in front of him. "Let's push forward."
"I can't tell... somebody small. Human kid? Old, hunched human? Halfling? Dwarf? Doll? Goblin? Beats me. I agree with Jeydavu," Alikai says softly, uncomfortably aware that she and Gaelin were the reasons they hadn't pushed forward.
Looking at the chunks of ice, she now can't figure what scared them so about her. The shivers she can blame on the cold.
Perception Tristan concurs with Alikai. "Could be the doll, or the child...no way to tell without getting closer." He draws his cold iron dagger and slowly approaches the opening in the fence.
The fence is no barrier, and nothing occurs as they approach the hut. The ladder rises up 5 meters to the porch.
With a quiet determination, Gaelin resolves not to allow himself to be so shaken in the future. As they pass through the gate he adjusts his grip on his sword. He warily approaches the stoop to see who occupies it.
Alikai stops at the base of the ladder, cocks her head at Sahsara, and points questioningly between the two of them, then up the ladder with a little shrug.
"I'm better on point in woods than in buildings."