Mithralline frowns in thought.
"Let's go back to the other psychopomps. At the very least, we hopefully lead her away from the children, and perhaps they can help us sort this all out," she suggests.
Rose concurs, "Mictena strikes me as the psychopomp the others mentioned. The one that would come along after them and "rectify" our situation. I would suggest we hasten to the other two and get out of here. Although it pains me to say, I think we've done all we can do for our people here in the Boneyard. We need to leave here to find out what happened."
As the party converses about leaving and begins walking away, the crow follows as it flies tree to tree and never lets you out of its sight.
"Perhaps...one or two of us should stay here, to keep an eye on the townspeople." Laurel offers after a moment of walking. "Perhaps Aralah and myself?"
"More specifically, Mictena is a high-ranking, powerful, and effective psychopomp bureaucrat. I suspect we may be in her domain of the Boneyard." Listening to Laurel's idea, she shakes her head. "Your desire to care for them is noble, Laurel, but I don't see that there's anything else you can do for them. We have done all we can to convince them to accept their fate - the town council, at least, believes, and they should be able to sway the mayor. Once the mayor is convinced, she can convince the others. I don't think there's anything else we can do."
Although her speech started strong, she gradually grows sadder, and the grief in her voice is plainly evident as she finishes speaking.
Mithralline whispers, "But maybe we can kill a few birds -- figuratively! -- with one stone. Perhaps a couple people stay and make sure the mayor is persuaded, but also hopefully keep Mictena's attention here instead of on what we're doing? Thoot and Umble were worried about getting in trouble, and we don't want that now, do we?"
Aralah shakes her head at the current discussion "I'd rather not wait around this place for this Mictena to show up. As Sarela said, we've done what we could for the people here. Perhaps if we leave the area the bird will loose interest in us. If it doesn't maybe we just need to deal with it directly?"
Sam doesn't know much about these mythical creatures but she nods along with the others. "I'm sure we can help the others! I'll stay and talk to the mayor too!"
Aralah shrugs "Think it's a bad idea to split up especially after what we just went through, but up to you two if you really want to stay."
"I don't think any of us should stay. We should find Umble and Thoot and see about getting out of here."
"Stronger together than. Hopefully the creature follows us and doesn't stay around to stalk the townspeople."
Deciding to stay together as a group rather than split, the party heads back out of town towards the location where they last left Umble and Thoot. Every fifty feet or so the party advances, the crow lifts off from its current perch and finds another one. It never strays too far to let you get out of sight and makes sure to always have you close by.
As the creature continues to follow them, making its mission plainly obvious but keeping a safe distance, Laurel eventually stops and turns to face it. "Hello, it seems you have more than a passing interest in us. May I inquire about the nature of your curiosity?"
Mithralline casually keeps her lance ready, should she need it, though the creature is almost too small to really worry about.
Sam sticks with the others, ready to head back to Umble and Thoot. She doesn't really like the white crow...
The bird hops to another branch nearby as the party continues to move on. The strange female voice that does not fit the body of the crow speaks again, softly as if a mother is speaking to her child. "I need to kill you all, little ones. Something sent you to the land of the dead and so you need to be properly dead."
Though her words are menacing, you can tell that she somehow is intending to kill you for your benefit.
This creepy bird sends more chills down Aralah's spine as it talks about murdering them. She promptly blurts out to the crow "Yeah ok, well we will come back to town in a bit we just need to find some people, so why don't you wait for us there?"
"...so why haven't you tried already?"
Sarela blinks a couple of times, surprised by the bird's casual admission. "But...buy why? We aren't dead, so why can't we just go back to the world of the living? Do you arbitrarily kill people who travel the boneyard with planar magic?"
The female sighs heavily at Laurel's comment "I would have already done it had I been there myself. Unfortunately my hands are full addressing another matter of more importance. Fret not, I shall move you all on soon enough."
When Sarela mentions going back the bird freaks out and Mictena's voice presses "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!! You must accept your fate and find your peace. Traipsing back and forth would disrupt the entire system.
You should already be dead, something is upsetting the balance. Just relax, find a happy memory, and I will help you shed that fear soon."
To Aralah, the bird's owner speaks "I'm afraid that simply won't do. I cannot afford to misplace you so that I send you on as soon as possible. Duskfeather here will keep an eye on you until I am able to help you."
In the third person?...oh. "Who are you? Is this bird just a vessel for you?"
"Your minds must have been more damaged than I originally had thought. Yes, dear. As I explained already, I am Mictena. Duskfeather is simply present to allow me to project my awareness and voice so that I may see and be heard when I must undertake other tasks."
"Now then. Simply have a seat right there and wait patiently for your finality. I promise to be as quick as I can."
Laurel turns away from the bird, lowering his voice. "Let's make haste back, perhaps the other outsiders can help us with this confusion." Despite the threat of death...or re-death...or permanent death, it's all very confusion, Laurel doesn't seem particularly disturbed by the threat.
Aralah nods to Laurel but then quietly asks "Well is it going to be a problem if the bird follows us back to them? Maybe we should kill it so it doesn't keep following us? I mean that thing wants to murder us anyway so its not like killing its pet is going to make things any worse then they already are."
Aralah turns back to give the bird a good look to try and figure out if it is just a regular crow or something not so natural.
Aralah has never seen a crow quite like this. It's glowing bright green eyes make you think that this creature is of the magical vareity.
Rose looks at the bird in consternation, "Perhaps the best course of action would be to eliminate the vessel she is using to spy on us. I do not want her to find us with any efficiency once her time once again can be turned to such trivial matters as us."
"You're welcome to try to kill us, but whatever killed the entire town didn't manage it, so I don't think it'll be quite that easy," Mithralline boasts.
She's perfectly willing to try to kill the bird if the others want -- as Aralah said, this Mictena already wants to kill them -- but she's not sure what it is.
"Umble and Thoot did say they could help us, so I think that's our next step, once we decide what to do about Duskfeather here," she whispers.
Sarela had experienced a roller coaster of emotions this day - fear, anger, sorrow, sadness - with no break. Everything just finally got to be too much, and she exploded. This psychopomp wanted to kill them just because they didn't fit the system? Everyone they knew was dead, they'd all been through some terrible tragedy none of them knew, and yet somehow they'd survived. She just couldn't take it any more.
She screamed, and shouted at the bird, "What if we promise to leave and not come back until we're actually dead, huh? Would that help 'balance the system out]? We're not dead, so we shouldn't be killed just because you're having a hissy fit about things not fitting the way you think they should! By threatening us and saying you'll do this, you're no better than some demon or devil that torments living creatures for sport! You must be the saddest, most pathetic psychopomp in the entire Boneyard! I'll bet Pharasma put you out here because she couldn't stand to listen to you, you bureaucratic waste pile!"
Breathing heavily, she glared at the bird, thinking about grabbing her crossbow and shooting the thing.
Sarela identifies the bird as a witchcrow. The dread witchcrow, renowned as a harbinger of ill deeds and misfortune, preys on the weak and spies on the unwary. Clever, manipulative, and avaricious in the extreme, these birds have no conscience and know no fear. Witchcrows strive to steal not only victims’ most cherished possessions, but their hopes and dreams as well. They delight in bringing anguish and sowing doubt even as they offer falsely friendly advice designed to tear down alliances, dupe the gullible, and compromise the virtuous. Despite their deceptive nature, witchcrows can also hold valuable information—or come by such if paid to retrieve it.
Sarela's words have the desired effect in rubbing the bird the wrong way. The voice of Mictena says "Duskfeather, what are you doing? Don't-" before abruptly cutting off as the witchcrow launches into the air where its body splits among itself until there a total of six crows flying above. All six pairs of eyes stare down at Saerla with one clear sign: hostility is imminent.
HP 22/22
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16, CMD 17 (+1 dodge bonus against Large creatures; +2 vs. Huge or bigger creatures)
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0
Challenge: 1/1; Tactician (4 rounds): 1/1
Effects: Swarm Scatter (+? AC) 1/4
Mithralline grins, wondering if -- based on Sarela's words -- there even is a Mictena or if it was just a dupe of the bird's. Either way, getting to fight it certainly seems easier, even if the odds have just gotten worse.
She prepares her lance for an incoming attack as she calls out to her companions, "Stay close, be ready for them to attack all at once!"
For each ally who has this feat and is adjacent to you, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to AC. As long as you have this bonus, you are immune to the swarm attack and distraction ability of rat swarms.
Rose steps forward a bit and looks like she's ready to cast a spell.
Laurel casts guidance on Mith, eyes staring hard at the crow.
Sarela fixes the witchcrow with a glare, saying, ”I don’t like how you follow us. I don’t like what you do, and fate will see to it you get what you deserve.” Sarela then laughs. This isn’t the amused giggle of before though - this is a full throated laugh, with a slightly cruel edge to it.
Sam gets frustrated at this crow when it talks of making them dead. "Now that's just mean!" she exclaims. Then when it appears to multiply, her jaw drops. "Uh oh. Well I'm sure we can handle it! Work together and we'll be ok!"
Seeing the bird multiple Aralah pulls out a couple of arrows and takes two shots in quick succession after moving back a bit.
The birds are not able to fight off Sarela's hex, losing a bit of luck.
The six shimmering birds dive towards Sarela, talons flashing out to strike her. As they close the distance, Mithralline successfully buries her lance into them just as they would strike the witch. The lance throws off its trajectory and when the talon strikes out at her, it misses.
The bird keeps flying past Sarela and returns to a safe distance in the air again.
Aralah tries to track the bird as it flies past, but both of her shots are too late and miss.
Laurel moves next to Sarela, staring at the bird and waiting.
Sarela adopts a defensive stance as she continues laughing at the bird. "The fates will not be kind to you, little witchcrow. Surrender would be your preferred option."
HP 22/22
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16, CMD 17 (+1 dodge bonus against Large creatures; +2 vs. Huge or bigger creatures)
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0
Challenge: 1/1; Tactician (4 rounds): 1/1
Effects: Swarm Scatter (+? AC) 2/4, bless
Making sure she stays next to Sarela, Mithralline prepares her lance to jab again if the crows attack.
Sam casts guidance on Mithralline to help her out.
Though Rose tries to blast the pesky bird with her magical rainbow, the bird fights through the attack and continues on its path unaffected.
Rose touches Sarela chanting some arcane words and one of the new magical tattoos on her skin glows while an aura surrounds Sarela.