Donovan ducks low, his raven in his shoulder channeling energy into him.
Henyan grabs his Pony and pulls it under the Tarp.
The night passes without incident, and in the morning Mierul takes her leave and heads on her way, away from the village. Nadya keeps her distance from Mierul until she leaves, then quickly has everyone pack up their things and head back on the road.
Horvan sees Mierul off. Mierul, I wanted to say I am glad I got to meet you. I did not know such creatures as yourself existed until we met. And I want you to know that I believe in you. I believe that you do have free will can can say no to the witches, or at least not try to help them when they are not forcing you. If I can be brave then I think you can do. Thanks for singing for us, and be brave.
Untrained in stealth, Horvan does his best to get under the tarp and lay still.
One of the travelers jumps back from Donovan with fright, apparently noticing his raven for the first time.
"One of them already found us! And it's got the boy!" they cry in terror, shortly before the tarp is torn away by an enormous swarm of ravens, who begin attacking the caravan.
Initiative Order
Henyan
Raven Swarm
Issi
Donovan
Horvan
Raggnor
On the Raven swarm's turn, they will deal damage to Issi, Raggnor, Horvan, and Donovan, and each of you should make a reflex save at the start of your turn to avoid being distracted by swarms of ravens scratching your eyes.
Raggnors claws now count as cold iron, magic and silver.
"Wha, no!. She aint one of them."
Then as if to scare the locals even more he begins to smash the birts from the sky Loa kòk dropping to the ground at his feet to keep safe from harm.
Henyan tries to quickly mount his Pony so he can try to distract the swarm.
Henyan misses the stir up because of the large white blanket, once on the Pony Henyan heads off east from the party.
"Hey ye murder o' crowes follow me."
As quickly as they came together, Issi's flames disperse the crows, who fly away to escape being cooked. At least half of them are incinerated immediately, with a few more being slashed by Raggnor's claws, and one finding itself trapped in his jaws. The travelers look at you with a mix of awe and fear, and you can hear whispers among some of them that Donovan must be some kind of witch to have a raven serving him. They are quickly shushed by Nadya.
"No time for gossip or slack-jawed staring. Let's get everything loaded up and get to Waldsby as quickly as possible, before they come back!" she says, driving the caravan even faster than before, until at last you arrive in the village itself, where the caravan is met by a group of townspeople, apparently relieved to see Nadya and her companions alive, and quite curious about you all as well.
Nadya leads you through the crowd, smiling when she can but not stopping to talk, until she reaches her home and closes the door behind all of you.
"Welcome to my home. I need you all to stay here while I stash the supplies on the other side of town. These are my sons, Orm and Mjoli" she says, indicating two young boys being cared for by an older woman in the common room.
"I'm Kashka. It's good to see more youngsters around the village."
"Ma'am, we intend trouble for the witches, and don't want none for you . Your hospitality is great but I don't think we should take it. I do not want to bring wrath onto you."
Those who know Donovan can tell that his heart is not really in what he is saying, but his eyes are firm.
Henyan stays on his shaggy pony as they push closer to town, once arriving Henyan will wheel about scanning the horizon for anything following them.
Once he is done his rear guard Henyan will head into the town. "Good ta meet ye, Henyan Bridleback, Cavalier o' Torag." Henyan say proudly
Nadya places a hand on Donovan's shoulder gently, but firmly.
"The White Witches have already taken so much from me, and as long as they remain in power my children will never be safe. If you're here to confront them, then I want to be there when they fall. For Thora."
Donovan does his best to hide his relief at Nadya's words. but he does not do a very good job.
"Thank you"
Nadya heads out to finish stowing the supplies, leaving you in the house with Kashka, Orm, and Mjoli. Kashka prepares a quick meal for all of you, while Orm and Mjoli begin to pester you with questions, though unfortunately it seems that they only speak Skald, and they are rather puzzled that most of you don't.
Henyan looks the small children over, they are small for humans but probably half his height. Keeping the children out of his beard and away from his Maulaxe Henyan eventually sits down with them and does some carvings.
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Raggnor helps Kashka with the cooking sneakily eating all the scraps as they go. Even tho he's only a couple of years old Orm, and Mjoli, Raggnor towers over them but he tries to makes himself less imposing so not too frighten them. He gives them piggyback rides and enjoys a game tag before settling down to show off his wide variety of animal calls he has learnt from his parents.
Horvan spends time organizing the group’s supplies and even spends some time organizing the things in the house. He interacts with the other kids by picking up an item and getting them to show him where it should go.
Raggnor hears a noise coming from one of the cabinets while he helps Kashka with the cooking. Kashka tells him to ignore it, it's just the "House Spirit", but there's something wrong with the sound...
Donovan will take the opportunity to remove his breast plate, then he will spend time with Orm and Mjoli, showing them his gear and telling tails of there venture, not embellished but edited for the young.
The boy is oblivious, but his raven watches the room with a studied eye.
[
"Oi what did ye just say lass?" Henyan calls out
"You don't have House Spirits where you're from? They're little fey that come to live in our houses. If we respect them and leave them food, they keep the house clean." Kashka replies.
Raggnor, being closer to the kitchen, can still hear the sound from the cabinet; it sounds like sobbing.
Inside the cabinet is what appears to be a tiny man with a bushy beard. He is barely as tall as Issi's knee. He seems startled when the cabinet door opens, and looks at Issi sadly for a moment before reaching out to close the door again.
Henyan hearing Issi run gets up to follow her. "Aye look at the beard on ye. Quite long do ye trip on it>" Henyan asks
"It's all my fault! Poor little Thora!" the little man cries. After a few minutes of coaxing from Raggnor and Issi, he begins to tell his story.
"I used to live in the tower, home of Nazhena, one of the white witches. She and her people, they never respect me, or the work I do to keep the house clean, so I played a few tricks on her. Nothing too bad, I ticked her in her sleep. They beat me very badly, and tossed me out for the wolves. Nadya saved my life, and gave me a new home here. Thora was such a good girl, and we used to talk sometimes. I told her some jokes about Nazhena, I never thought she'd repeat them in front of the witch! And now she's gone, and it's all my fault!" he says, before breaking down into sobs again.
Raggnor’s right. Now is your chance to strike a blow at the witches that did such a terrible thing.
Henyan lets out a long whistle as the truth comes out. "Lad ye didn't tell her ta do it, she did it on her own. We did find her and we will be doin' our best ta get her back." Henyan makes a promise
"No! You'll only make more trouble for Nadya if you go there! The witch is too powerful, and I won't help you put the boys in danger!" cries the little man, before he disappears.
A few minutes later, Nadya returns in quite a hurry.
"Guards from the Pale Tower are in town, and they're searching for something. Quick, hide somewhere before they get here!"
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Issi scrambles for the fireplace, rubs some soot into her hair to dull the color and heads for the corner of the room, waving Orm and Mjoli over with her. She pulls a handful of painted tokens from an inside pocket and begins explaining a new game to the boys, all three of them bending over the counters and neatly obscuring Issi (largely) from view.
Donovan throws his gear over his armor and flail. and heads to the kitchen and begins scrubbing at one of the pots .
Henyan putting the cupboard man back into his hidey hole and stays in the kitchen putting his Maul Axe on a chair before pushing it into hide it.
Horvan looks for a hiding place and prepares to Vanish if he needs to.
There is a heavy knock at the door. Nadya answers as calmly as she can manage, and a half dozen guards enter the cabin, eyeing the place suspiciously.
The first guard to enter retrieves a scroll of paper from his coat.
"Nadya Petska, by order of Radosek Pavril, you are ordered to give testimony regarding the location of...wait a minute, you only have two childr--"
The man is suddenly cut off as a pot flies invisibly towards his head, distracting him and the other guards long enough for you to get the drop of them, if you so choose.
Everyone may take one standard or move action during this "surprise round". The guards have noticed Henyan, Donovan, and even Issi, but are currently flat-footed against everyone.
Charging from a hiding spot Horvan stabs at one of the witch-servants!
The bird at the Palidans side shouts "get them!" sending a spike of divine energy to the boy. Donovan turns rushing at the man attempting to grab the mans weapon.