Natalya leads you to the west. A pool of strange silvery water stands in a clearing here. On the pool’s surface, ripples begin at its outermost edges and rush inward to a single point, where drops of water fall up toward the sky. The entire pool rains skyward while snowflakes float down between the droplets. A brisk wind rustles through the trees. A path continues on to the north out of the clearing.
A man stands in the center of the frigid, ankle-deep water with one shoulder hunched and his head cocked at a crooked angle. Eldritch energy burns within the eyes of this humanoid figure. Strangely colored hair crowns his head like a torch, and gleaming white teeth shine from his grin. The creature cradles a pipe in his long, graceful fingers.
"Would you turn this thing off please?" Natalya asks, attempting to be polite in the first instance.
The man turns to regard Natalya. "Hmm? No!" he says. "Not until we bring this forest to the First World--and the Dancing Hut along with it!"
"To the First World? Sorry, what?!" Izolda responds, utterly taken aback at this unexpected response.
She edges closer to Mal for safety.
The creature grins more widely. ”Oh, yeah. My siblings and I are siphoning your reality into ours. It’s a pretty prize, and I’m sure our Mistress will just love it! So scamper off, mortals. It won’t be much longer.”
Malkiel steps in front of Izolda and flips his dagger in the air, catching it with his other hand. "I'm afraid we're going with plan B." and lunges in to attack.
The man grins as Malkiel lunges!
Izolda's face fills with rage at the condescending fey and she spits out her spell with frustration.
The fey becomes vulnerable to Izzy’s hexes. Undeterred, it plays a beautiful tune on its pipes, surrounding itself in an intense aura of magnificence that is too potent for non-fey to withstand.
Moments later, a small humanoid bounds out of the woods. Flecks of saliva drip from the corners of this filthy and ill-smelling humanoid, and his large pointed ears twitch at every sound. It suddenly swells to the size of an ogre and interposes itself between you and the piper!
"Hey Dragon Slayer, get your slow ass up here already and stop futzing around!" he calls out to the barbarian as he waits for her to move up. Once in place, he slides over to flank and stick the soon to be dead fey.
She screams and clutches at her eyes, "I can't see! Guys, I really cant see!"
She tries to focus on what she can remember of the fey and tries to put it to sleep.
Natalya throws off the creatures spell and charges into the ogre-like creature with a primal roar that would do credit to the first world!
The gray-humanoid misses Natalya completely as she charges in and bashes him with her flail! Malkiel moves in behind and drives his blade into the thing's kidneys, and it falls with a whimper and groan!
Izolda's hex takes effect, and the piper ceases playing as he falls over in the pool, his head above the water as he snores softly. Natalya moves up to deliver the killing blow. With his death, his elemental font is immediately destroyed. The waters of the pool rush inward and fall upward in a sudden, violent rush, leaving behind an expanse of muddy earth.
When the elemental font is destroyed, a score of large freshwater oysters are revealed lying in the muck where the pool sat. If all of the oysters are shucked, 10 enormous freshwater pearls can be found, each worth 400 gp.
Natalya, with some vague recollection of oysters having jewels inside them, sweeps the whole lot into the bag of holding and indicates her readiness to move on.
Izolda's sight returns after a short time, and any magical healing will stop the bleeding.
Natalya leads the way to the east. Perched precariously in the branches of the trees here is a small house, apparently lifted into the air from its foundations. The branches creak as the house teeters and sways with the wind.
Two children call down for aid, telling you their father was thrown from his bed when the forest appeared and lifted the house up. His leg is broken. Working carefully, you help the family down to safety without causing the house to fall. The father rewards you with an amulet of natural armor +1 and a pearl of power (1st), two family heirlooms.
Beyond the house, a large chunk of stone juts from the ground like a natural stage. Six boulders float in the air and slowly orbit the raised platform. The rich scent of loamy earth hangs heavy in the air.
Another of the strange fey pipers squat upon the stone platform with a flute in his hands. "Turn back, mortals, you cannot pass. We have come to claim this reality, and we’ll take the Crone’s hovel with us. Turn away and live your lives in peace and safety, unburdened by the heavy weight of relevance."
"I'll show you heavy weight!" Natalya declares, leaping forward to apply a 'heavy weight' to the Piper's head!
Natalya rushes forward, jumping and hauling herself up onto the stone to bash the fey! He snarls and recoils in pain.
Malkiel climbs the tree and helps safely recover the injured man, gladly accepting the items as a reward. He presents them both to Izolda as his gifts to her.
Before moving forward, Mal uses his new ring of invisibility to disappear from sight. His first official act as an invisible attacker is to put a wet willie in Natalya's ear. Licking his finger so that it's nice and juicy, he rubs it all in her right ear before bursting in laughter as he runs away from her.
Later, when trouble arrives. He pops up opposite of Natalya from invisibility and tries to stabbity the piper.
+3 Bleed damage with SA.
Izolda is over-joyed at the sparkling goods she receives, having just been on the most unsatisfying shopping trip of her life buying things for Mal and Naty. She puts on the amulet, on top of the over-the-top necklace she is already wearing from the Pale tower, and decides against it, swapping the old necklace for the new amulet.
---
Izolda hexes the fey, hoping to make it easier for her friends to down the creature.
Thanks to Izzy’s hex, Malkiel is able to stab the fey as well. He groans and collapses, bleeding out! The floating boulders shudder and crash to the ground. The stone platform remains, but the elemental font is otherwise destroyed.
Well this is easy..." Natalya mutters, before shoving Mal off the platform and into the mud.
"That's for the finger in my ear." She says smugly, before jumping down and picking him up.
"There's gonna be more of these. Fire and... what's the last one Izzy?"
Izolda rolls her eyes at Natalya's ridiculous question. "Fire, air, water and earth; you work it out Natalya."
She then looks a bit guilty, recognising she just snapped at her best friend, knowing that Naty can't help not being as clever as she was.
"We should keep moving to stop the strength of this portal sucking away part of Irrisen."
"Ooo. Maybe we'll get to fly!" Natalya says cheerfully, continuing down the path.
"Invisible and flying? The day is looking up!" Malkiel says with excitement.
As you continue on, you fight a pair of strange flying beats with antlers and sharp teeth, dispatching them swiftly. Ahead, a large campfire burns before a house that squats beneath the eaves of the forest. Several logs are arrayed around the fire as if to serve as seats. Empty wine bottles and charred, sharpened sticks for roasting food over the fire litter the ground.
Three men sit outside, talking, laughing, and sharing cups of strong wine provided by three beautiful women with hair the same color as the wine. ”Hello there! Come, share the fire, the wine, and the company! We have found this oasis away from the forest’s monsters and are passing the time until order is restored. Join us!”
"So, you're sitting here instead of doing something about it?" Izolda asks, incredulously.
It would take someone much more trusting than Natalya to accept their offer and the barbarian takes superstition to a whole new level as it is.
"Izzy, who is doing the magic?" She asks, ignoring the men. "Do I hit the girls?"
”We are doing something! We are having a good time!” the men say with a laugh.
”Wine?” says one of the women, holding out her bottle.
Izolda narrows her eyes at the group, and takes in the situation in front of her. Normally, she would be one of the first to accept the offer of wine, but she is certainly too shrewd a mind for that.
The wine radiates a faint aura of enchantment magic.
Since there is no sign of a piper, or anything really wierd, Natalya just walks around the fire and heads out of the clearing.
"Here, pass me the bottle will you?" Izolda asks with every intention of pouring it away to save the poor fools from whatever enchantment they are under the effect of before following Natalya.
"Of course!" the woman says. Her green eyes sparkle, and you find yourselves getting lost in them...
Izolda moves forward to take the bottle, but as she looks up at the woman, she is transfixed.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?"
Natalya has a different, and rather more violent response to the woman's pretty eyes...
Malkiel is able to resist the spell, but still finds the women appealing. He looks to Izolda, raising a brow "Wow. I didn't know you were into eyes, Izzy."
He moves forward to take a closer look at Ms. beautiful eyes, interested in what the witch is looking.
When Natalya begins attacking, he sighs. "Awww, c'mon Nattie! Do we have to?" he asks before reluctantly pulling out his dagger and attacking.
Natalya bashes the woman, then Malkiel’s dagger puts and end to her. The charm wears off of Izzy as the woman falls, but the other two snarl in rage! They take on a beast-like visage, growing sharpened claws and fangs, as they pounce on Natalya!
Natalya laughs derisively as one of the women tickles her with a twig.
She responds with perhaps over-the-top brutality.
"No-one. Magics. My. Friends!"
"Whoa! I definitely liked you before better!" Malkiel says, sliding opposite of Natalya and slicing at the not-attractive-woman-thing.
Izolda shakes her head in confusion as the charm slides off of her, but then, realising she needs to focus, attempts to charm one herself.
Nat and Mal dispatch another woman. The third resists Izzy’s hex and claws and bites at Nat but doesn’t hit.
Natalya is quite enjoying herself at this point. She's never liked redheads...
Izolda's eyes darken into deep black voids as she hexes the dwarf in front of her.
The last redhead falls to Natalya’s flail! The charmed men quickly break out of their spell and run off screaming!
You continue on. An enormous dead beech tree towers over this clearing, standing apart from the evergreen trees around it. Dead, dry leaves lift from piles around the tree to rustle and dance amid whorls of fine powdery snow.
Another dawn piper, this one female, stands in the branches of the tree some 10 feet above the ground. ”Go now. This forest and the Dancing Hut are ours, and I will not yield.“
Assuming you do not relent, the piper blows a dissonant note, blasting you with sonic energy before flying up to a height of 40 feet!
Moments later, a tiny, vaguely humanoid creature that seems to be made completely of bundles of sticks wound with thorny vines leaps out from the dry leaves. It unleashed a spray of brambles and thorns!
Mal tsktsks's at the fallen redheads and remarks "Such a shame." before looking around for the wine "Hey Izzy, where did you put that wine? I'd love some."
Moving down the road, Mal rolls his eyes "Yeah, yeah. We've heard that line before. This goes much better for you if you just let us pass and be gone."
He dodges out of the way of some all of the blast and the splinters. He pulls out one of his spare daggers and throws at the piper, but it misses and embeds into the tree instead.
"That wine is not safe to drink. I'm going to keep it safe for later!" She says, hiding the corked bottle away in her bag. "I might just save this for myself Aurora." She whispers in her cutesy tone to her little companion.
When Aurora quirks her head in acknowledgement, Izolda pauses. "Wait, you understood me!" She exclaims in shock, just as they are greeted by the two pipers.
Izolda manages to dodge the worst of the brambles and thorns but still gets scratched badly. She is not used to being the one to get hurt, and yells out loudly in pain.
Natalya is quick to cover her ears and dodge the worst of the twigs. It annoys her however so she decides to sort out the firewood.
Natalya smashes the twigjack but doesn’t wound it enough to drop it. Luckily, Izzy puts it to sleep before it attacks again. Malkiel misses the piper with his thrown dagger.
The piper plays a sensual tune on her pipe...
Natalya hammers her blade into the Twigjack, cleaving it in two.
"Izzy, get it down here!"
Malkiel tries to unsuccessfully throw another dagger at the creature above.
"Izzy! We could use your help down here!" he calls up after his friend in a very sexy and attractive manner that is difficult to resist.