Highness saw the bodies and froze, the door only open the barest of cracks. He eyed the way the room funneled towards him with suspicion.
There isn't anywhere to hide...no shadows...and this passageway is too narrow...one of the other doors might be better. Huh, I wonder if they designed it to be narrow so it could be defended better?
Highness shook his head free of the intruding engineering question and closed the door as quietly as a skulking goblin.
Highness closes the door but finds no way to secure it from the outside. He shuffles to the next door south and examines it for any possible anomalies.
A high-pitched shriek of fury can be heard from behind the door the goblin just closed. It grows quickly louder, as if getting closer, and then the door opens again to reveal a two-foot-tall wooden soldier in carved Hellknight armor.
Ragna moves closer to the wooden soldier, bending over to get a better look at it. "Aww! Look at the little automaton and his cute little armor!" She says in an unusually high-pitch voice.
Seeing as how Highness and the others find themselves fighting what appears to be a toy soldier of some sort, Irenaeus tries to take his mind off of the roar to the north and focus on the present confrontation. Taking a few steps away from the northern corridors, the mage puts up a shielding spell and tries to recall any knowledge he may have concerning such constructs as the one Ragna is apparently fawning over.
"Awww...not again!" Jonagher complains when Highness opens yet another door and seems to have drawn out yet another threat. But when nothing massive appears, the half-elf is a bit confused. Like Ren, he moves up a bit to get a better look past Shaserai and Ragna. And, upon seeing the odd toy soldier in the doorway, he tries to make sense of it all even as he readies an arrow in case he needs to attack. The only trouble is he doesn't know if he needs to attack the newcomer or the roaring monster from the north. To whit, he attempts to listen to see if anything else is coming down the other passageways.
Ren moves nearer the wall and casts a spell of protection.
Jonagher takes a position on the opposite wall. Keeping a wary eye on the toy soldier, he strains his ears for the sound of anything approaching down the other corridors and is relieved to hear nothing at the moment.
"Everyone be careful, this soulbound doll must be the "wooden soldier" we were warned about and it likely killed the boggards."
Shaserai doesn't want to waste a spell on the doll and it's many immunities it's construct body grants it so he focuses on defense.
With a word of power he calls a shield made of pure force to protect him. Then, with a prayer to Torag and the appropriate mystical gestures he forges a connection between the doll and Ragna, granting her protection against it's magic and physical attacks.
Hearing the commotion and seeing the door swing open with a bang, Highness peeked around the corner and saw the small wooden soldier.
"We need to surround it! Get ready!" Highness said as he started moving.
Highness pushed off the wall behind him to pick up speed, then jumped and doing a hop-flip through the doorway, redirecting himself over and behind the doll.
As he landed on all fours, he kicked out with his feet, and struck the doll in the back, attempting to push it forward off balance.
"Surround it and engage! Don't be a boggart!" he said from behind the doll.
Hoping to get behind the tiny soldier, Highness attempts to jump over the figure, but it deftly reacts to block his way; attempts to slip by to the right and the left are similarly stymied.
"Portami con voi!" the soldier shrieks, pointing at the goblin. Highness ducks, and a cold crackle shoots past the tip of his ear. Enraged, the construct follows up with a hard wooden fist upside Highness's head.
"It wants to leave," Alak calls helpfully. "Point it toward the door; it'll have to make it past all of us. C'è l'uscita," he adds, gesturing with his sword to the door behind him leading outside. "Scappa."
There's the exit. Run for it.
"W-what?" Ragna asks, completely confused. "It wants to leave? Are we letting it leave?"
"Were you planning to take it home and tuck it in a cradle?" Alak replies as Ragna steps to one side of the vaultway. "If it wants to leave, let it; if it chooses to fight, let it get out of that bottleneck where we can surround it."
"That does not sound like a bad idea," Irenaeus shrugs. "It is a construct. A soulbound doll, as Shaserai said. And as its name suggests, it is animated by a fragment of a dead person's soul contained in a gam somewhere inside its body."
Another shrug. "If it wants to leave, I see no reason why not let it." The mage pauses before adding, "Although, if we do end up stopping it in some way, I would very much like to study it."
As an offhand remark he also says, "And I assume there is always the chance it goes on a murderous spree. Soul fragments, I am sure, can be iffy things..."
"We could try talking with it. It seems sentient and it does want us to -and I quote- 'take it with us'."
"Shaserai? You might want to step back...and step aside..." Jonagher recommends as he moves forward a bit and into the rubble . Still sighting down his drawn arrow at the tempestuous doll, he motions with his head as he comes alongside the priest. "If it wants to leave, make a path for it and see what happens..."
Renewing his spell of protection, Ren otherwise waits to see what will happen.
Jonagher moves foward into the rubble spilling out of the clogged stairwell to get a closer eye on the possible enemy.
Shaserai follows Jonagher's suggestions and joins him at the side of the corridor. He waits to see what the soulbound doll will do, ready to react.
Shaserai also steps back, leaving Highness the lone impediment between the construct and the open vaultway.
Highness shook his head.
"You just want to let this thing go?" he growled, after glancing over his shoulder to see the rest of the group re-arranging themselves.
Seeing no options, and no forthcoming assistance, Highness moved to the side, clearing the pathway for the wooden soldier, but dropped into a low crouch, hands held before him like the jaws of a dire wolf.
Highness somewhat grudgingly steps aside but prepares for battle anyway.
The tiny soldier runs out of the room, its wooden feet tapping against the flagstones. It runs directly up to Alak and punches him with a small but surprisingly substantial fist. "Portami con voi!"" it shrieks again.
In response, Alak swings his two-handed sword, which deflects harmlessly off the doll, and Jonagher releases his readied arrow, which also clatters off the wooden figure.
Shaserai hurries to shield their patron from the tiny hellknight toy with a protective cantrip.
"I think it may feel abandoned by your order, Alak, but then again, I don't speak Inferal so I could be wrong."
"Stop that right now, tiny doll!" Ragna shouts at the naughty possessed creature, walking up behind it and swinging her axe nowhere near its tiny form.
"It does want us to take it with us," Irenaeus replies to Shaserai. "At least that is what it says again and again."
The mage then turns to the doll and speaks, using the same language as the construct.
Pausing for a moment to allow the toy soldier to consider his words, he adds a few more words. A question or two really.
Highness growled and muttered under his breath, "Should have worked together in the first place..." and tensed to spring into action, but then paused when he saw the confusing series of actions from the others...especially Ragnahild swinging at the air.
What is she swinging at? And what are they shouting at it?
Shaserai raises a quick protective cantrip on Alak, while Ragna moves to flank the diminutive attacker.
The doll ignores Ren's interrogation and continues to throw punches at Alak. "Portami con voi! Portami con voi! Portami con voi!"
With a roar, the injured Alak swings his greatsword in an over-the-shoulder arc which ends in an explosion of splinters from the soulbound doll. "Vai allora!" he shouts back at it, dodging northward and ducking behind Ragna. "Ma non vengo con te!"
"So much for that then," Irenaeus mutters before letting loose a magical spark of lightning against the toy soldier. "Perhaps I may be able to glean something from the remains," he adds with a shrug once the simple incantation is complete and right before renewing his shielding spell.
A crackle of electricity sears the air as Ren summons it into being, but the wooden doll deftly sidesteps the wizard's lightning.
"Why isn't it going away?!" Jonagher calls out, "I thought it wanted to leave?!" Sensing Alak and Ren are the only ones who can communicate with the doll, he moves up beside their Hellknight friend, switching his bow to his off-hand while drawing his blade with the other in case Ragna needs help. "Is there an easier way to defeat this thing?" he asks.
The goblin king dashes past the others, dodging around Ragna and the toy soldier to take the place Alak just relinquished. His stiffened fingers gouge into the wooden doll like canine teeth.
The soldier spins on one wooden heel, punching and kicking at the pair that have it flanked. The goblin manages to dodge the attempts, but Ragna suffers a mighty blow to her knee.
"For such a tiny thing this soulbound doll is quite adept at wreaking havoc." The priest muses. Shaserai invokes his inner fire and with a simple arcane incantation tosses a small fireball at the wooden doll, hoping it's animating energies haven't made it fireproof. He then takes an herb bundle he'd prepared as he was treating Ragna and Highness earlier and with the remaining sparks from his cantrip he lights it. As soon as it smokes he approaches the bundle to Alak.
Here, inhale this. It'll help with the pain.
Shaserai's flaming projectile fails to hit its target, but his remedy has an impressive restorative effect on Alak.
Ragna roars in pain as the toy strikes her. "Stupid doll!" Her retaliatory attacks come nowhere near touching it.
While Ragna's fury is massive, her accuracy is lacking; the doll easily evades her axe and shield.
Rejuvenated by Shaserai's restorative, Alak moves up alongside Ragna, but his attempts to smash the doll are even more clumsy than hers.
Jonagher follows after Alak, taking up a position to form a line with Ragna to confront the furious doll. "Can we just smash this thing and be done with it?" he asks aloud before striking out with his blade.
Highness snapped forward, dodging past a flailing limb to snap at the doll with his raking hands, momentarily catching on the leg of the soldier.
Highness growled frustratedly and redoubled his efforts to catch at the wooden assailant. With each moment his attacks became more wild before he finally simply flung his body at it, wrapping his limbs around its torso in an effort to impede its limbs.
"My Infernal may be a bit rusty, Alak, but it seems like it wants us to take it with us, not for you to go with it," Irenaeus says to the other man, feeling somewhat confused by the exchange. "If there something we should know before getting pummeled to death by a tiny wooden doll?"
Having said his piece, the mage then proceeds to let loose another spark of lightning against the construct.
Highness punches the doll, fails to knock it to the floor, but manages to grab hold of it.
Ren sends a miniature bolt of electricity arcing toward the toy soldier, which just manages to evade part of the effect.
The wooden figure easily wrenches itself free from the goblin's grasp. Turning back toward Alak, it strikes a blow that clangs off the man's armor, then steps out of the flank.
"Such a shame I never got the hang of using a warhammer like father hoped, if it were him he'd smash that thing in no time... No matter, let's see if I can get it with my flame this time."
Shaserai calls on his arcane power and lobs a small fireball at the soulbound doll. Then, he steps behind Ragna, ready to heal the warriors if needed.
Shaserai tosses another globule of flame, which the doll sidesteps, before stepping up behind the rank of front-liners.
Raging Ragna does her best to keep up with the slippery doll as it eludes all attempts to pacify it.
Ragna seeks to pen the tiny construct against the wall, but it continues to elude her best attempts to smash it.
Alak brings his greatsword down and finally cleaves the construct into splinters.
"Good heavens!" Jonagher exclaims, "What was that crazy thing? Some mad wizard's experiment?!" The half-elf looks back at the northern tunnels and the open door from where the doll first emerged. "And what was it guarding? Or trying to escape?"
"Curious indeed. Quite adept at dealing and avoiding damage, but not quite as resilient," Irenaeus muses as he kneels down in frond of the toy soldier's remains and starts sorting through them. Using both magic and memory, he attempts to glean some useful information from the destroyed construct, even going so far as to pocket any piece or pieces that seem of particular interest.
Ren finds that Alak's blade has laid bare the edge of a jewel imbedded in the now-lifeless wood. This must be the soul-gem, which contains the fragment of a living soul that animated the soldier. While the fragment is small enough not to have interfered with the soul's passage through the Boneyard to its ultimate destination, the church of Pharasma likes to see such items destroyed. On the other hand, such gems have value to performers of certain magic rituals; back in Cheliax, he is certain he could find a buyer.
Shaserai looks at the remains of the doll as Ren investigates them. "I don't know what it's original purpose was, but I think it might have gone mad when the Order of the Nail left Altaerein and left it here."
The priest turns to their patron "Alak, are you okay? The herbs seemed to do the trick in the moment, but let me put some ointment on you to reduce bruising."
As he finishes with the Hellknight he surveys the rest of the group and grabs his holy symbol "It's too soon to treat your injuries the mundane way, and we still have the growling in the north corridor to check out, before whatever creature it is comes to find us. I'll use some of Torag's magic to undo some of the damage."