As you leave the room, you can see the south door is now open and waiting to greet you is the "nastiest ice troll"-- a hulking female with a wickedly sharp axe!
She swiftly attacks Natalya but fails to hit!
"Sure they are." Natalya replies, continuing the conversation with Mal as though she were not braining a large troll. "As long as we stop it moving away we'll be fine. Although I don't think dragons sleep so Izzy might have trouble."
*Thud*
Izolda's eyes widen at the troll in front, not realising they could ever be so large! Knowing that Naty and Mal need every piece of help they can get, Izolda tries to hex it with misfortune.
"Right then, it's go time!" the rogue declares, setting about working opposite of Natalya.
Izolda afflicts the troll with misfortune. Malkiel fails to land a good hit but Natalya smashes her with her flail. The giant retaliates, managing to hit with her axe despite her bad luck.
Having missed both attacks earlier, he makes sure he lands his first onet his time. "Keep it up!" he calls out to Natalya, hoping she keeps the attention.
Izolda's eyes turn into pitch-black voids as she turns her hex into the next type of misfortune she can muster.
"Oww." Natalya says, apparently more surprised than actually hurt.
Izolda afflicts the troll with her evil eye. Mal lands a good hit but Natalya misses. The troll scores a hit with her axe and bites Natalya for good measure!
"Ow!" The barbarian says, getting annoyed this time!
"Nice work Nattie!" he shouts with encouragement before striking.
This time, Nat and Mal hit with all their strikes. The troll groans and collapses!
The south door is the trolls bedroom. Inside a chest here is the ice troll garrison’s payroll, consisting of 767 gp in various coins. The chest also holds Amagarra’s personal treasure stash: a Medium +1 greatsword, a potion of spider climb, an iron nose ring, and her collection of 12 brightly polished human skulls.
"Oooo!" Natalya says, her anger forgotten when she finds the sword the troll has been hiding away. "I like this!" She turns to the skulls and starts pulverizing them one at a time. "Doesn't smash things in quite the same way but the edge on this blade!" She shivers in what appears to be genuine pleasure. "I never understood why you name your daggers Mal, but now... this baby is getting a name!"
"Damn, that sword is huge. Are you sure you can wield it?" he asks, already knowing the answer.
She glows at the naming of the sword "Fantastic idea! This blade is great and mighty, full of power. You should name it... Malkiel." he says with confidence, folding his arms.
Izolda lets out a hearty laugh. "Fat chance Mal. What about something like Hailstorm? Seems pretty appropriate finding it in Irrisen and you always bring a storm down on people - in a useful way of course." Izolda adds, just in case Naty gets grumpy - not something she wants to risk when her friend is holding that thing.
"Naah, it's bigger and more impressive than the other Malkiel I know." Natalya says, twirling her new blade around in a single hand. "I like Hailstorm... hmm, I'll wait for now. Maybe we'll do something awesome and then I can name it for that. Or you can name it Izzy, you always know the right thing to say."
With that settled the coin goes in the bag of holding and Natalya is ready to go again. "So? Upstairs?"
The stairs lead up to a second floor landing. Several boxes and barrels are stacked waist high at the end of this broad hallway. These contain surplus food supplies: sacks of bone meal, barrels of pickled fish, and even some produce like potatoes and onions.
Doors lead to the east and west, and the stairs continue up to the third floor.
"Which way shall we go?" Izolda whispers from behind. "We should stay on this floor so we don't get ambushed from behind - let's go left." She does her best to move very quietly as not to repeat past mistakes - she is not very successful.
The left (east) doors open onto a sitting room contains a table in the northeast corner on which rests an attractive glass oil lamp atop a doily. A rocking chair sits in the southwest corner next to a basket containing yarn, knitting needles, and a half-completed mitten. The room is otherwise empty. Doors exit to the north and south--both of them are locked.
"This looks like Granny Nan's lair if you ask me?" Izolda says, nobody having asked.
"Shhhh! You need to learn to be quieter!" Malkiel says, his finger over his lips.
Slipping his tools into his hands, he quietly crouches beside the door to the north and begins to tinker with it in the hopes he can open it.
Mal is able to pick the lock. Toys and dolls are strewn about the floor of this room, and small tables and chairs sized for small creatures or children sit in the northeast and northwest corners. Books, papers, quills, and ink vials sit top the tables. A cot stands to the southeast. The windows are barred, but the shutters are open to let in the natural light
The nursery’s only currently occupant is an 8-year-old waif. She is overjoyed at the sight of you, but sagely puts one finger to her lips and whispers, “I am Inga. Have you met Granny Nan yet?”
"Hi Inga. I'm Natty, no we haven't, do you know where she is?" Natalya replies, equally quietly.
”She is in the room across the hall. She locked me in here but she has been very nice to me. She said that I have nothing to fear and told me to write letters to Queen Elvanna, asking for forgiveness. If the queen favors me, I can go home to my parents.”
"Ok, we'll go talk to her and see if we can straighten this out." Natalya says with a grin, before retreating and closing the door quietly behind her.
She then points to the next door and makes sure her as-yet-unnamed-sword is ready.
The walls of this cozy bedroom are painted powder blue. A bed occupies the east side of the room, its headboard pushed against the wall with a nightstand on either side. A desk and chair sit next to the south wall. A dresser with a large mirror above it is pushed against the west wall. A curtain rod is affixed above the mirror with curtains pulled away to either side.
An old witch sits in the chair, looking up in surprise when you open the door. A white rat is perched on her shoulder. ”Eh? Who do you think you are, dearies? I will teach you some manners!”
"Manners from an old crone who keeps children locked up? You should be ashamed of yourself!" Mal says, dashing in and slashing at the witch.
Izolda recognises another witch when she sees one, having endured many hours with Old Martha and knows exactly how to deal with a scolding older woman.
Granny Nan cries out in pain when Malkiel stabs her. The cry is quickly cut off as Izolda's spell takes effect and silence blankets the room. Wordlessly, the witch glares at Mal, who begins to feel sleepy!
"Don't you even think about it B***h!"
Izolda retaliates herself, eyes glowing golden, hair whipping around as if in a strong gale.
Granny Nan slumps back in her chair, snoring loudly. The rat on her shoulder frantically starts nipping at her, trying to wake her up.
Natalya levels a blow with a four foot long blade that shaves a lock of hair from Granny as it hits the rat and sends the creature flying into a wall on the other side of the room.
With the rat out cold Natalya winds up again and severs Granny's head in a single blow.
Searching Granny Nan's body, you find: potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of fly, potion of invisibility, ring of protection +1.
A large glass snow globe depicting Whitethrone’s Royal Palace with a music box built into the base sits atop one of the nightstands, and is worth 50 gp. Under the desk, there is also box containing dozens of handwritten letters to Queen Elvanna and children’s parents, written by children. Alongside them are requisition orders, all stamped with approval, for children from orphanages in Whitethrone to be brought to the clock tower. The box’s contents paint a grim picture of what has transpired here.
When she finds the letters Natalya's face darkens until it resembles a storm cloud.
"We need to kill everything in this tower." She says flatly. "And do it slowly!"
Izolda picks up the unconscious rat and slides it into a small box in her bag, ensuring it can't escape.
"What do you think they are doing with these children. It can't be what I think ....can it?" An expression of deep concern floods Izzy's face as her voice trails off.
"Right, we need to go before this can continue."
You head across the hall to the west portion of the second floor. Three tables occupy the northern half of this room. A five-foot-square extrusion with a small access door on its western face runs from floor to ceiling just south of the eastern doors. A gigantic cast-iron cauldron stands in the southeast corner with wood stacked beneath it. A large iron stove with twin flue pipes running into the walls dominates the southwest corner.
As you enter, the stove lurches to life! It pulls away from the wall to leave its flue pipes dangling behind. The stove moves on feet molded to look like the claws of a beast, the serrated jaws of its oven doors snapping wildly like those of a hungry crocodile! A fire burns inside!
Izolda stands back quickly, after casting on Natalya. "Nat, this one is on you!"
Malkiel is stunned into silence when they discover what's going on here. He nods silently when Natalya declares they are killing everything in the tower.
"A stove? Really?!" Malkiel exclaims, swinging wide around it to get behind to setup flanking for Natalya.
Malkiel finds a crack in the stove to drive his blade into, though he doesn't seem to damage it much. In return, the stove turns on the rogue, closing its jaws on him!
"Let me GO!" he shouts, wriggling back and forth. He tries to slip free, but fails.
Izzy places a hand on Natalya's shoulder and infuses her with positive energy.
"Go save Mal, please!"
Natalya marches into combat, quite happy to save Mal, who she does like really.
Natalya swells to prodigious size and strikes the stove. It ignore her though, swallowing up Mal and trapping him in its fiery interior!
Natalya strikes again, carving another bright gouge into the stove.
Izolda splutters uncharacteristically, unsure of how to help Mal.
She settles on providing some advice for Natalya. "Smash it harder Naty!"
Malkiel screams when swallowed by the living stove. He tries to escape again, but it's too damn hot for him to get a solid handle on anything.
Natalya hits the stove, and it bites her back! Malkiel continues to cook.
Barely clinging to consciousness now, Malkiel desperately tries to find a way out of being burned alive.
Izolda, in a panic, casts guidance to support her friend again.
Natalya slams her new blade down again. The smell of roasting Malkiel is making her sick, and oddly hungry at the same time.