The withcrow swoops again, but this time it does so out of reach of the party as it lashes out at Aralah's backside. It's strike is ill-timed and it misses, continuing to fly back up high into the air out of range of your melee attacks.
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) 3/4, bless
"Stay close," Mithralline calls, trying to make sure everyone is in range of her own guard.
She prepares to jab again at the crow, but the odd positioning is hampering her attacks. She wishes they would just find a nice, big monster for her to fight instead of all these little creatures.
Sam casts guidance on Mithralline and includes a suggestion "You can ready to attack it!"
Rose has an idea, "Mith, I can make you larger - your weapon will hit harder and you'll be able to reach farther."
Not sure how she drew the birds ire she fires two more arrows in quick succession in hopes of killing it before it actually has an opportunity to harm her.
Sarela's laughter continues to ring out. "Your wickedness and cruelty has been exposed! The light of Sarenrae protects us from you!" As she does, Sarela pulls out her crossbow.
Aralah's first arrow finds its target, but hits one of the images of the crow which fades away and disappears, leaving five crows. Here second shot misses badly enough that it doesn't even come close to hitting an image or the real crow. Laurel's bolt flies high, missing badly as well.
The crow dives to Rose again, once more getting struck by mithralline as it closed the gap. Mithralline luckily picks the correct crow to attack and injures the animal as blood drops down from the creature. It protests in pain and thrashes its claws across Rose's face . As the crow leaves and Mithralline attacks again, she's too late as she tries to swing around Rose and misses. The withcrow continues on its way, flying back up out of reach again.
HP 22/22
AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 14, CMD 15 (+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) 4/4, bless, enlarge (-2 AC, +1 damage, +5 ft. reach)
"Haha!" Mithralline exults as she grows. "Come and get it, little bird!"
She prepares to attack as soon as the bird is within reach.
Rose easily maintains her concentration on casting her spell when the crow hits her. She's too intent to even notice.
Sam nods encouragingly. "That's it! Good job!" She calls out to Rose. "Miss Rose! Are you ok? Should I heal you?"
With Sam crowding her Aralah steps away, but makes sure to stay within Mithralline's reach now that she is bigger in case the birds come after her again.
She launches two more arrows at the bird hoping to either kill it or at least narrow down the targets by hitting more of the images.
Laurel hastily reloads and looses another bolt; hopefully he can at least destroy some of the images.
Sarela loads her crossbow as her laughter rings out. "Foul witchcrow, for I name you as you are, your service to Mictena shall end. Your mistress's cruelty has wrought this upon you."
Aralah can’t seem to get the hang of where the bird is going to be and misses twice more, both bad enough that they aren’t even close to the creature. Laurel’s shot is aimed well and disperses another image from the witchcrow. Mithralline watches the bird and is able to ascertain which is the “real” target and lands both of her attacks on the bird when it swoops in to attack again.
The bird doesn’t get a chance to swoop again, it’s dying body stuck to the end of Mithralline’s long, enlarged weapon.
When Mithralline ends the bird Aralah smiles "Good job, now let's get out of here before it is too late!" Without waiting for the others to say anything she starts heading back in the direction they came to find the creatures they had made an arrangement with.
It takes about thirty minutes or so of looking, but eventually you find Umble and Thoot on your way back towards Roslar's Tomb. Umble greets you and asks first "Hello mostly dead ones! How goes the negotiationeries with your former acquaintances? Have you gotten them to accept the most seriousnessous of their situation?"
Thoot stands there quietly, watching.
"We did, we think," Mithralline replies, "but we might have drawn the attention of someone named Mictena. She didn't seem pleased that we're still alive and have no intention of staying here. There might have been a little fight."
Thoot looks around at the mention of Mictena. Umble stammers "Ah... oh... is she here already? How distressingous. Mictena is, in vulgar terms, our superiorness. She’s quite the potent psychopomp, and this corner of the Boneyard is within her jurisdiction. I would recommend that, like us, you avoid attracting her attentions at all costs. A fight would probably be a very, very bad idea. You do not want Mictena as the enemy."
“Well then, I suppose we best get you on your way. The ritual is quite simple, but I must ask you not to pay too close attention, as we’re not technically empowered to perform this bit of extrajurisdictational transposition."
"Like most things involving psychopomps, the Dead Roads rely on a complex bureaucracy. They’re maintained by Barzahk the Passage to allow us to come and go, but creatures of... of non-psychopompological nature need authorization to prevent abuse. Specially appointed bureaucrats control way stations along the road, and can offer a stamp on your body to pass freely. Without a stamp of passage, beings tend to, oh... ‘slide off’ the Dead Roads and land back here—hopefully. We never did locate more than a few fingers from that one poor waywardarian Keleshite who found his way in."
"The route to Roslar’s Coffer passes three way stations: the Palace of Teeth, a manor called Nine-Eaves, and Salighara’s Scriptorium. You’ll need to stop at all three to make your pilgrimage back to Lastwall. Each way station master will probably charge for passage. Given your pauparian circumstances, I assume they’ll trade services."
"I hope."
Aralah quirks her brow at all the information that is laid on them then asks "Ok, just to make sure I have this straight, we can leave and get back to town but we have to go through these three way stations and in order to pass each one we have to trade services with whoever is there? Can you tell us anything about these places, who we might have to deal with and what they might want? Also, we could use some rest, we ran into some difficulties in town and got pretty banged up, is there somewhere safe we can rest and recuperate for a bit? More importantly, somewhere we can be sure to keep away from this Mictena?"
Sarela is exhausted. The whirlwind of emotions from the day's events, the constant battles - all she wants is to curl up into a little ball and sleep. Still, it sounded like they needed to move along quickly. "We promise not to pay too close attention to the ritual for using the Dead Roads. Thank you for all your help today. It really is appreciated."
Umble nods to Aralah, ”Correctinous! You must travel to all three locationsies and obtain their stamp to proceed back to Roslar’s Coffer.”
”As far as rest, I recommend you proceed to The Palace of Teeth and find a place to rest there. While you could rest here, your interactionsies with Mictena have likely accelonerated her return back here. We think should make haste away from here if possible.”
”Tthe Palace of Teeth is a small castle constructed by... I say, Thoot, who constructed it? I’ve no idea, actually. Its current occupants are malicious little pixies who collect teeth. Rather pesky. They raid the graves of the Boneyard, so I imagine they’ll accept a few teeth in trade. The Palace is about three hours walk from here and is the closest of the stations.”
”Next is Nine-Eaves. It’s a rather gloom-encrusted manor. An elderly shoki psychopomp named Kishokish serves as the master, ruminating on all manner of confabulations. Reclusive and a bit annoying, he has a fondness for puzzles and games. He’ll almost certainly demand some battle of wits before granting his stamp, as he’s a depressing fellow. Humor him.”
[b]”Third is Salighara’s Scriptorium. Salighara is a viduus psychopomp, and not a gregarious one. She likes the privacy the Dead Roads offer and oversees several scribes performing menial copying tasks for the Boneyard bureaucracy. I’ve attended one of her pompatious lectures on a prior encounter, and I don’t need to tell you, they are sanctimonious and redundant in the extreme. How a psychopomp could be so full of herself is quite beyond me! If Salighara wants labor in exchange for her stamp, it will likely be exceedingly dull to perform. You have my apologies in advance!”
Sam yelps at first when Mithralline skewers the crow then she nods sadly, coming to understand how little choice she has in these matters. She tugs on Mithralline's sleeve, asking her to lower her lance. Then she straightens the bird's wings and lies it neatly in some nearby grass, placing a gray, half-transparent flower across the gaping hole where its chest used to be.
After the tiny funeral is over, she perks up "Ok now! Off to Umble and Thoot! I'm sure they can help make everything better!" But then the psychopomps rattle of a long list of things they have to do. Undeterred, Sam pipes up "Well I'm sure it will be a very fun and interesting journey, then!" She turns to Umble. "Is there anything else we can do for our friends and family? The ones who are actually dead?"
"Fun and interesting? It sounds dreadfully dull," Mithralline replies. "Little pixies? Puzzles and games? Lectures? I want something worth fighting! This Mictena sounds like she might be worth it, if that weren't a distraction from getting back and finding out what happened in Roslar's Coffer."
She thinks for a few moments.
"IF we have to, though ... where can we find some teeth to trade?"
Rose looks around at the graves, "Literally everywhere probably."
"I suggest we make our way on the road, but not all the way to the tooth fairy castle and see if we can find someplace to rest on the way." she says with noticeable weariness in her voice.
Aralah nods to Rose’s suggestion. ”I will try and find us someplace reasonably safe on the way.” While this was another plane of existence it didn’t seem all that much different than home. If she could some shelter with no signs of inhabitants it should be enough for them to get some rest.
As they make their way she will keep an eye out for somewhere that might fit the bill.
Mithralline tries to help Aralah find a safe place to rest.
"Is there anything else we can do for our friends and family? The ones who are actually dead?"
Thoot shakes its head no. Umble says "No. They have died and we will take it from here."
Setting off on their way, Umble and Thoot bid you farewell and wish you luck, hoping to not see you again very soon. Making your way towards the Dead Roads, you notice that they resemble a raised roadway that is approximately 15 feet across. As you each describe the road to each other, you quickly determine that the exact appearance of the Dead Roads varies according to your own individual understanding of the word road. In general however, they are unremarkable, winding and devoid of signs. To either side of the road, the ground slopes away into silvery mist.
Aralah leads the way with assistance from Mithralline, the pair searching for a suitable place to rest. Unfortunately for the party, after an hour you've exactly nothing but silvery mist that obscures your vision of what lays beyond, if anything.
Two hours passes with still no landmarks, buildings, or breaks in the mist. Is it only a little after three hours that you catch your first sight of something different. In the distance you can make out a tall three story building in the shape of a castle that's around 100' feet in length which rises from atop a hill near the road.
As you draw closer, you take note that it is constructed of weathered wood and ivory-colored stone. The building is studded with thousands upon thousands of teeth, arranged in neat rows and spirals. The castle’s only windows are high and narrow. A tall gatehouse leads into a courtyard, its floor paved with yellowish bricks and old teeth.
The castle hangs precariously of the edge of the Dead Roads, with the back half dangling over an opaque mist.
Aralah, frustrated that there isn't anything but mist around notes to the others "Our best opportunity to rest may have to be inside the creepy castle..."
Noticing the teeth in the walls and remembering the psychopomps mentioned the creatures here might trade for teeth Aralah asks the others "Should we try and pry out some of these teeth to give to whatever is inside?" She shrugs and then continues "Either way, I can scout ahead to try and see what is inside when we are ready to go in."
Laurel looks up at the ominous structure, controlling the shiver that attempts to scramble up his spine. "I think that whatever is inside already owns these teeth, and that taking them would be seen as theft." He nods to Aralah. "Scouting seems wise though, if you are comfortable on your own."
Aralah nods and when the others are ready she will note "Stay about 30 ft or so behind me. I will wave you up if it seems safe."
Sarela, having begun to yawn, looks at the forboding structure and says, "Maybe we should look for bodies that we can take teeth from?"
Mithralline nods, agreeing with Laurel.
"Or we simply make them understand we'll be passing without any toothy tribute," she suggests.
Aralah moves to the entrance of the castle and notates two things. First, the gatehouse passage into the courtyard is trapped with a pressure plate located midway into the courtyard. Secodly, six tiny sized flying located inside the courtyard are busily chatting among themselves. Though she's quiet, she somehow alerts the creatures to her presence. All six of the tiny-sized creatures instantly fly out of
sight and disappear.
Spotting the trap she holds up her hand for the others to wait. With the tiny flying creatures out of sight she pulls out her tools and goes to work disabling the trap.
If she manages to disable it she will wave the others up as she continues further in, trying to see where the flying creatures went off to.
Sam looks at the toothy castle with a mixture of disgust and admiration. "It's pretty gross... But it definitely took a lot of work? I guess it's... pretty? In it's own way..."
The trap was not very sophisticated and Aralah disarms it with ease.
After waving the others up, she steps into a small courtyard surrounded by walls 12 feet tall. High above, an arched bridge spans the courtyard from north to south. The courtyard is paved with bricks and teeth in intricate floral arrangements.
A narrow passage to the south leads outside, while an ornate wooden double door studded with whorls and spirals of humanoid teeth stands opposite the passage, leading to the north.
A heavy wooden door stands on each side of the passageway in the south wall. The handle of the east door has been removed, leaving a gaping hole. The west door is secured with an elaborate lock, supplemented with an additional lock and handle, apparently from the east door.
All six tiny flying creatures are holding pliers in their hands and flying just out of melee range in the courtyard near the top of the wall. They point their pliers at Aralah and one of them shouts "Pay the toll or we will be forced to extract it from you by force!"
As the tiny creatures call her out she tightens her grip on her bow but doesn't make a move to seem threatening. She stands up from her crouching, attempting to be sneaky position, and replies "We are new here and we would be happy to consider paying your toll if we knew what it was..." She has a guess with what they have been told and what they have seen so far, but figures she should confirm.
The tiny creature squeaks loudly, holding its pliers up proudly "ONE FRESH TOOTH PER ENTRY!"
Aralah looks back to the others with a questioning look as she thinks to herself One tooth is a small price to pay to get out of this place...
She waits to see if any of the others wish to say anything before agreeing to their demands.
"A fresh tooth." Laurel grimaces. He examines the tiny creatures for a moment.
Laurel turns away from the creatures, keeping his voice low and ensuring they can't hear him as he speaks to the group. "I don't know what other option we may have, save for forcing our way through."
"Look at them. I'm sure we can do that..." Mithralline says, not really concerned with a group of six little fairies. She's trained to fight much bigger things than that...
At Mithralline’s comment, Sarela tries to recall anything she know about tooth fairies.
Laurel isn't able to get too much of a feeling for what these fey are saying, unsure if they are telling the truth or not.
Each night, gangs of tooth fairies stalk humanoid settlements, using their magic to confuse and distract their victims, and reveling in the looks of horror on their victims' faces as the fey suddenly appear out of the darkness with their dirty, bloody pliers. The fairies then lull their targets to sleep and get to work at claiming their prizes. Some cautious fairies bite their targets to paralyze them and ensure the victims can't wriggle away from the fairy's grasping pliers; others enjoy the sounds of creatures awakening to their own screams as the fairy torments them with harsh pinches and painful tugs on fingers, teeth, or eyelids.
Tooth fairies use stolen teeth either to replace their own lost teeth (if the stolen teeth are small) or to decorate their dwellings, which usually lie inside abandoned buildings or knotholes in trees. Used as stools, carved into minuscule sculptures, or worn as crowns, the prized teeth serves as trophies of their successful raids.
Rose whispers, "I would prefer to not lose a tooth, but if they pick one of the back ones, that's not too bad. It's a lot of pain and we'd need to trust them to do it right - which i doubt we can."
She grins and whispers, "No matter what, I'm not going to be the first one to volunteer to let them prize out a tooth."
Aralah turns to the others as they debate "I will volunteer first if that is the route we are going. I think having one tooth pulled is a lot safer than getting into a fight with a bunch of fey, especially after the beating we received earlier..."
Sam shakes her head thoughtfully "They're small but might be very dangerous... It probably wouldn't be that bad to have them pull a tooth..."