"Right," Alethea says, moving to cover Hekla's back while she's distracted.
Meanwhile, up on the catwalk....
Barnaby and Anticipation begin sneaking across the balcony to the far side to see a door. They both smile.
Heckla opens and checks out all the shacks below the battlements and surrounding the ice sculpture, she finds little of value other than a few dogsleds sans dogs.
Barnaby opens one of the doors atop the battlement and finds a winding set of stairs downward. Ant absolutely smells something beyond the door at the landing.
While Ant and Barnaby scout ahead, Frank and his small fire elemental investigate the center of the room.
Barnaby glances over at Anticipation, nods and places two fingers in his nose.
Ant absolutely smells something beyond the door at the landing.
While Ant and Barnaby scout ahead, Frank and his small fire elemental investigate the center of the room.
Nothing but decorations. The statue is kept frozen by the ambient temperature and could be melted given enough time and heat.
Dawrbrün follows his companions to the upper level, keeping his guard up and ready for trouble.
"Let the elemental go first, then." Frank suggests as he goes to follow the gnome, satisfied that the statue can be safely ignored.
Barnaby and Anticipation both give Frank a thumbs up, before putting on their mean faces and quietly floowing.
Shh...we are hunt'n wabbit.
Anticipation is seen wearing a big floppy Hunter's hat.
Center of the room
Steamy air fills this inner gallery, emanating in lazy wisps from a bubbling pool recessed into the floor of a raised dais surrounded by six pillars of ice. Four foggy mirrors hang from the walls near ice sculptures of helmeted pike-wielding warriors.
North and South
A glassy pattern of striated, crystalline ice covers the tiled floor in this open alcove, illuminated by a soft, blue light.
Ant tracks the scent of the missing guards to these alcoves.
Alethea stays close behind the others, falcata ready for trouble.
Tiptoeing through the icy interior of the chamber, both Gnome and Ant make their way toward the smelly alcoves.
"We should break those mirrors."
Hekla stows her axe and gets out her bow to shoot the mirrors.
The mirrors shatter one by one with a loud clatter.
The scent trail dead ends in the alcove with no apparent outlet for their quarry.
"Weird. You'd think that they would care about their mirrors..." Frank comments right before he sends his elemental to scout the Northern alcove.
"Looks like they're retreating before our might, ha! How about we check out these doors before we see if those passcodes work."
Hekla ignores the alcoves for now and heads to the center doors and will fling them open once everyone is ready.
"Isn't that bad luck...?"
Hekla shrugs, unconcerned about all that.
"Might as well keep the bad luck to myself then."
Barnaby and Anticipation both just shake their head at Hekla.
And what about splinters?
The gnomevthen smiles, chants a few Arcane words and say (pointing at nothing).
Yes. Hello. My good Unseen Servant. I would like you to gather all these shards of broken mirror, pile them discreetly and safely in an unobtrusive corner there. Thank you.
Ant-icipation chitters a bit. His antenna pointing at...well...nothing.
Barnaby shakes his head.
I am not even certain that he knows whatca union even is.
They both then join Hekla.
Dawrbrün retrieves a piece of one of the broken mirrors, and attempts to determine if it had an enchantment of any kind on it.
Hekla and Barnaby open the doors in unison and find no less than 10 armed guards with weapons drawn, waiting for you.
Barnaby and Anticipation both look at the plethora of guards, look at each other, and shrug.
Well hello, boys! Is this not the bachelor party? We're the special entertainment.
Having had time to access the situation, the Hunter does what only a gnome would do. He makes it rain!
Stone Call
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Barnaby casts a spell, and rocks fall and everyone dies lives but is bruised and broken. The cluttered room makes traversal across the room.
The sergeant yells, "Bows! Fire at will! Aalto extinguish their fire!"
Each of the guards draw their crossbows and fire at the party.
The bolts bound off door frames, armor, shields, or magical protections harmlessly. But from the pool of spring water springs a face that smiles menacingly at the poor small fire elemental near it.
A stream of water drenches the fire elemental banishing it back to the elemental plane of fire.
Dawrbrün opens the Northern door, then blocks the entryway in a defensive stance.
Frank, taking his cue from Barnaby, summons a rockier fellow.
"This way!"
Frank suggests as he backs up.
The small earth elemental, left alone with the more southerly guards, begins to rock their world.
Hekla snaps a shot at the soldier directly through the doorway from her, drops the bow to the ice and then moves into the doorway, drawing her axe again as she does.
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Barnaby laughs astride his trusty mount. The gnome then speaks Primal phrases, producing Flaming in his hand!
He winks at a lone archer!
Produce Flame
The gnome holds yet another.....
Alethea picks her way through the rubble, facing off with the enemy elemental and slashing at it with her sword.
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Dawrbrün maneuvers to safety while Frank summons more aid; which immediately punches a hole in one of the guard’s chest cracking their sternum and six ribs in the process. The guard falls over and dies from internal bleeding.
Hekla’s arrow drives its way into one of the guard’s face just under their eye. It deflects off their skull but rips away flesh from nose to ear. The guard crumples to the ground screaming while holding their face. They soon bleed out.
Barnaby takes his turn throwing fire at the guard and lights their hair ablaze and they are similarly eliminated. The crackling fire sends a fulsome scent through the air.
Alethea’s blade strikes true and a section of water sluices off of the elemental’s main body to rejoin the steaming pool.
A sledgehammer of water rushes at Alethea and the rondelero attempts to turn the strike aside but the water rushes past her weapon like a stone in a river.
The sergeant commands their remaining troops, ”Blades!” and the ones near the elemental begin a flanking maneuver.
The guards on the other side fail to follow orders. Or do anything useful.
Barnaby tosses a other flame!
He winks at another lone archer!
The gnome holds yet another.....
Only a little surprised that the guards didn't close with her, Hekla presses the issue by stepping into their midst. Ignoring the ones to her left and in front of her, she swings at the guard between them, practically inviting the southern one to move into a flank behind her.
Dawrbrün movies into the room and closes with the nearest guard.
Frank, hearing quite a few death cries, decides that he should help Alethea. He walks around to get a better shot before taking aim with his heavy crossbow.
The cold-iron bolt coated with silver strikes the center of the watery creature, disrupting its inner flows.
As the guards scrape blade against stone, they manage to break a piece off. In spite of the injury, the small elemental continues to swing its over-hundred-pound arms of stone at the guards.
Alethea recovers quickly, channeling healing energy through herself before counterattacking against the elemental.
Barnaby burns another guard to death while Hekla and Dawrbrün cut down another each like so much chaff. Frank’s bolt and Alethea’s falcata strikes the water elemental each and it explodes in a shower of water which begins to freeze almost immediately.
The sergeant continues to chip away at the earth elemental with their sword and board style of fighting while the remaining guards prove their worth.
Barnaby tosses a other flame!
He winks at another lone archer!
The gnome holds yet another.....
This carnival has the best games!
With a flourish, Alethea flicks the freezing water from her blade, and moves to join the earth elemental in battle against the remaining guards.
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Lyudmilla, frozen from the emerging chaos in violence, finally snaps into action. Rushing southward past Frank, she does her best not topple over the rocks and block the south door, crossbow out. She then pricks her finger in a largely symbolic gesture to cast a spell on herself, before pulling back her crossbow latch and taking aim at the guard with an inhale.
Frank cranks his crossbow and loads another bolt.
While his master reloads, the elemental keeps trying to slam rock into flesh.
Dawrbrün and Barnaby continue to clean up the guards with fire and steel, rending their flesh and bone.
The room clear of living enemies, Hekla moves on to the next, cursing the intervening rocks keeping her from her target.
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Barnaby and Ant shake their respective heads at Hekla's outburst.
Language.
The sergeant holds their shield defensively while dropping their blade. They pull a small mirror from a leather pouch.
My gods, man! This is no time for vanity!