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Sanjana is momentarily taken aback by the portentous proclamation from the creature. They draw one of their own Harrow cards, showing it to Kannijo - The Empty Throne.
"It is your destruction that is at hand, not your ascension, monster! Your reign of terror is at an end."
The kashrishi then moves away from the vampiric naga, not wanting to rpvide him with an opportunity to steal their breath.
Visna twists as she slices through the flytrap's vines; flicking her coin into the air along with the arcing paths of her hatchet, she lets the luck of her Last Coin ride.
But rather than rest on any laurels that might be made from their foliaceous foe, Visna whirls on Kannijo as he appears. "Bold of a thief to boast as though his deeds merited ought but scorn," she hefts her axe, "and a quick end."
Both thaumaturges in the group realize Kannijo has no mortal weakness, but he is resistant to physical damage. Sanjana inflicts the vampire with momentary helplessness, then Visna slashes him with her axe, bypassing his resistance.
Kannijo hisses as his wound starts to rapidly heal. Still struggling to overcome the effects of the rice ritual, the naga hops away from Visna, moving with stiff, lurching lunges.
Visna rushes forward to cut off Kannijo's escape, hemming him in for Briar to take advantage.
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If Kannijo's body had no weakness, surely his mind would. Already the vampire was shying away from the rice plants. Removing a small scroll from their case, Sanjana casts their eyes over it briefly before loudly proclaiming.
"Kannijo! Hear my words! There is no future in which you ascend. There is no future in which your power grows and you are allowed to prey on the innocents! Hear my words and feel the truth of them!"
Never one to banter in battle (there is simply too much to focus on to stay alive as well as performing the proper chants for her spells), the wizard simply focuses her magic into her staff again to send an eerie green ray to tear the vampire's flesh from existence.
Puck stays wisely on her shoulder, trying to hide behind her neck.
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Briar runs over to the undead fiend and calls out to her ancestors to bring down retribution on this damned snake demon.
Success: The target is unaffected.
Failure: The target is dazed and can barely vocalize. It's stunned 1 and its speech is raspy and hard to understand. It must succeed at a DC 11 flat check to use linguistic actions or supply verbal spellcasting components until the end of its next turn.
Critical: Failure As failure, but the creature is stunned 3 instead of stunned 1.
Briar bites the vampire naga and grabs him in her teeth. Pen hits with a disintegrate, causing a large portion of Kannijo’s body to crumble to ash! Sanjana wracks his brain with mental anguish, but Visna fails to hit.
Kannijo writhes angrily in Briar’s grasp. He plunges his fangs into the gnoll’s neck, wrapping his coils around her. He then opens his mouth and drains some of Briar’s life essence by pulling it out of her breath!
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As if by the reactionary reflex of being bitten and nearly swallowed by the predators of M'wangi Briar uses her free hand to grab the Serpent's fangs before it call pull out of her own jaws.
Then once things settle a bit she uses her leverage to twist the damned serpent and go for the crown with her fangs. Ripping, tearing, and thrashing around with the undead serpent.
You bend your opponent's body or limbs into agonizing positions that make it difficult for them to maintain their grip. Make an unarmed melee Strike against the creature you have grabbed or restrained. This Strike has the following effects in addition to its usual effects.
Critical Success You knock one held item out of the creature's grasp. It falls to the ground in the creature's space.
Success You weaken your opponent's grasp on one held item. Until the start of that creature's turn, attempts to Disarm the opponent of that item gain a +2 circumstance bonus, and the target takes a –2 circumstance penalty to attacks with the item or other checks requiring a firm grasp on the item.
Visna hauls back on the serpent, keeping his fangs from finding full purchase in Briar. Her grip grows tighter and tighter as her axe flashes back and forth, verdant runes glowing fiercely against his scales.
"You. Will. Not. Win!"
Repetition leads to an enemy learning your tactics and adjusting to destroy you. Pen tells herself, just as another part of her brain is telling her if it worked once try it again!
The wizard chooses repetition, since it is the quickest route to vampire death. A decision made easily when she sees the vampire sucking on the kind and wonderful, Briar.
Though Kannijo resists some of Pen's disintegrate spell, he is no match for Birar and Visna, who rip and hack apart the vampiric naga's body! Kannijo goes rigid and falls to the ground, Briar triumphantly clutching The Snakebite in her hand.
The Scaleseeds emerge from their hiding places and cheer. "Well done! Now, spread the rice over Kannijo's body to ensure he does not return to life!"
After you have made sure Kannijo is well and truly destroyed, the nagaji thank you profusely. They reward you with one of their greatest treasures—a runestone etched with a fortification armor rune. They also offer to teach you either of the rituals they know (plant growth and reincarnate) before bidding their farewells and making their way back home to report the good news to their leaders.
Critical Success: The PC gathers 3 doses of the poison.
Success: The PC gathers 1 dose of the poison.
Failure: The PC fails to gather any poison.
Critical Failure: As failure, but the PC is also exposed to a dose of the poison they seek.
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Sanjana is all too happy to learn how to grow plants faster, and the reincarnation ritual might be necessary at some point in the future, seeing how they were almost constantly in harm's way in their quest for the Harrow cards.
Additionally, the kashrishi exchanges recipes with the nagaji, and if there's time, explores the area a little, looking for edible herbs and spices.
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Even after Kannijo's body goes limp in her arms Briar looks like she's about to continue biteing and stabbing. Such an abomination doesn't deserve to be kept in one piece even in final death.
Throwing the body to the ground it is quickly covered in rice from the ritual and Briar seethes for a few more moments impatiently before her rage finally subsides and exhaustion takes her.
Dropping her blade and placing a firm hand over her neck wound, she hands the card off to Visna and breaths deep to get her breath back before she tends to the relatively shallow puncture in her neck.
"How do we best deal with the abomination's attempts at stealing our breath?"
She looks to Pen and Visna after tending to herself. "Thank you both for your assistance."
"Hwaet? For almost holding a viper's fangs from you? No, for you snatched away this breath-leech's power. No thanks of yours are necessary after such a deed."
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Briar grunted to clear her throat. "For that as well as dealing with it swiftly. Such things should not be allowed to exist, they are an affront to the natural order. A blatant breaking of the cycle that only serves to cause pain and suffering."
It seems that only a bit of pressure to stop the minor bleeding was necessary, but Briar looks like she doesn't plan on exploring this place.
"Once again Pen your magic has blunted the teeth of our foes against my hide. For that I am Thankful."
Not wanting to move far from the truly dead creature until the entire group is ready to depart back to the harrow court.
Pen smiles softly at the praise and attention, "Thank you" thanking her for her thankings, seems odd but very Pen like. She is very interested in the rituals that are offered to be taught, asking many questions, as she takes notes, lots of notes, hundreds of thousands of notes, double checking with the speaker she got everything correct.
With the rituals learned, you bid farewell to the Scaleseeds and return to the Harrow Court. Only one arch remains to be explored--the Arch of Stars, where you will search for The Silent Hag.
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Once back in the Harrow court Briar halts the others before they go off.
"I think we'll need to all be top shape for this last one. Which means I'll need some time to catch my breath again."
With that she leaves the group to meditate on the day they shared and eat a healthy meal for the evening prepared to get in a good stretch and right back into the routine the next day.
Sanjana looks at Briar with concern. "I will make you something to help with that."
An hour later, a tray is left at Briar's door, with a covered bowl and a mug of tea. The bowl has a simple rice dish with dried currants, chopped nuts and minced ginger, while the tea is an infusion of peppermint, hibiscus and elderberry flower, sweetened with a little honey.
Once Briar has regained her vitality, you ready yourselves and step through the Arch of Stars. You find yourselves in an area of hills covered with scrub and short grasses poking up between patches of earth laced with the remnants of past snowstorms. An ancient road leads away to the east. Looking to the west, you see that you have appeared at the end of the road: no trace of it continuing further west remains.
You begin to travel down the road, but you don't make it very far before you see plumes of dust indicating the approach of horses. As they draw closer, though, it becomes obvious that they are not horses, but centaurs! Six of them approach you cautiously, hands out and smiles on their faces. Their leader is a short and stocky centaur with bright orange hair in a braided coil on the top of her head. She wears a breastplate covered with a repeating pattern of interwoven vines.
She calls out in Sylvan. "Well met, wanderers! I am Rohrry Gray-Eyes. You are in the home of the Stone Teeth tribe. What brings you to our lands?"
Sanjana responds in the same language, translating for those who do not speak Sylvan. "Greetings, Rohrry Gray-Eyes. I am Sanjana Niraimadhi, and these are my friends and companions. We are here on a fated quest." The kashrishi pulls one of their Harrow cards out of its pouch, showing it to Rohrry. "Have you seen, or heard tell of one of these cards in your lands?"
Rohrry peers at the Harrow card before shaking her head. "I have not seen its like before. But if you are looking for strange magic, you could venture to the Maw of Karth, further east along the road. The Maw is a stone gate carved to look like a cyclops face. The road passes through its mouth on its route further east toward Finadar Forest. I’m told that the road ends at a place watched over by a great stone hag, but that’s much further east than I’ve ever cared to go. The Maw draws many folk, including giants and trolls, so you’d best be careful if you travel there."
To aid in translations, Pen once again casts her spell to allow her companions to share thoughts quickly. As Sanjana talks, the wizard stands to the side leaning against her staff, trying to remember anything that might be useful about centaur society.
"How far to the Maw?" she wonders aloud. She wasn't worried about Giants or Trolls, not with Briar and Visna with them. The wrong direction toward their goal is more prominent a worry in her mind. Though a single road and Rohrry's firm push in that direction lends to it being the right one.
"It is about three miles from here," Rohrry says, pointing to the east.
Pen recalls that centaurs live in groups of dozens of members, usually led by an old, powerful seer or battle-hardened warrior who has carried out many noble deeds and earned a lifetime of respect from their comrades. The revered leader guides the habits of their entire group; a wise seer might encourage the tribe to roam far from civilization to preserve the ways of its ancestors, while an aggressive warrior might foster skirmishes with nearby humanoid settlements and even rival centaur groups.
Based on the dress and mannerisms of these centaurs, Pen deduces that they belong to the Rashalka people of Iobaria. The Rashalka are split into a large number of smaller clans or tribes who share territory in western and southern Iobaria, past the northern borders of Brevoy in the Inner Sea.
In case, any of the others had never encountered a centaur before, Pen passes all she knows about them through their mental bond. "Thank you" she says to Rohrry, grateful for the distance, since numbers always matter to her.
Visna sighs. "I had hoped we were farther north. I have long wished to see the Lake of Mists and Veils and with my own eyes compare it to the Steaming Sea where my family still dwells. Still, a hag lies before us; good friends stand at our sides. What more could one wish."
"Hags are dangerous." Pen says simply, trying to remember all she can about them other than that very simple obvious fact. "But I agree with the rest." she says looking at their group.
"Ha! Hwaet victory songs could be sung were they not?"
Malevolent crones who lurk at the edges of civilization, hags use their deceptive, magical abilities to prey upon humanoids, manipulating and corrupting them. Some say hags arose from fey that became twisted by their inner selfishness. Hags gather together in covens for greater power, craft unique magical items known as hag eyes, and are known to replace infant humanoids with their own offspring—these children are changelings who have the potential to become hags themselves.
Foul creatures who appear as wizened old women, hags share little in common with the humanoids they terrorize. They are hateful entities whose greatest joy lies in the corruption and ultimate destruction of anything good and virtuous. Whatever power created the first hags is lost to time, but numerous hag varieties have arisen over the ages, each with their own powers and abilities to spread pain and suffering.
There's no known "stone hag" variety, though. Perhaps what Rohrry refers to is actually a large statue of a hag or the like.
***
You bid the centaurs farewell as you travel along the road for three or four miles before coming upon the Maw of Karth. A massive cyclops head looms over the ancient road, built up between two low hills. Rather than block the road’s passage between the hills, the cyclops’ yawning mouth forms a short tunnel through the carving, so that those who travel the road are symbolically swallowed by the great one-eyed visage. Worn inscriptions in the ancient Cyclops language encircle the carving’s bulging eye.
As you approach, you hear the sound of deep chanting coming from somewhere beyond the head...
As they approach, Visna cups her hands and shouts in a deeper voice than usual. "Hilsener! Vi leter etter et merkelig kort, en steinheks eller synder som må hevnes. Jeg er Visna, datter av Freydis, kronebryter, ulv av hvaler, hjertetyven, og langt reisende. Hvordan kan du bli kalt?"
The chanting stops. After a moment, a deep voice calls back. ”Vi er søstrene Erska og Yeska. Kom frem, så kan vi snakke ansikt til ansikt.”
As you pass through the Maw and emerge on the other side, you can see a pair of enormous giant women deep in meditation. The twenty-foot-tall giants have gray skin adorned with numerous runic tattoos. They glare down at you as one speaks again.
”Vi har det veldig travelt, småfolk. Hva er dette snakk om kort og hekser?”
Sanjana does not speak the giants' language, so they simply listen to the chant, seeking familiar cadences or patterns. As the two giant women come into view, the kashrishi bows respectfully.
Visna takes a long swallow from her drinking horn, then holds it aloft.
"Vi er trådbundet til denne søken. Spådomskort har dukket opp over et spenn uhindret av salt og sjø. Djeveler søker dem, og vi ville overvinne dem for at skjebnen vår ikke skulle bli katastrofal. Vår reise hit er å søke den stille hage. Men hvilken oppgave binder deg her? Kanskje er svarene våre knyttet sammen. Ha et utkast og la oss bytte historier."
Sanjana recognizes the giants as taiga giants. Taiga giants prefer a nomadic lifestyle, both to keep from depleting any one area's resources while satiating their massive appetites and to satisfy a constant wanderlust. They are deeply spiritual and frequently commune with their ancestors' spirits for guidance and knowledge. Taiga giants are happiest when they are left alone to live out their traditional lives, and their impressive size and strength are enough to persuade all but the most dangerous foes to do so.
”Vi har nylig reist i flere dager fra issteppene på pilegrimsreise til dette eldgamle stedet. Ritualet er utformet for å påkalle sin kraft til å tilpasse oss til dyp primal magi og hjelpe oss med å gjenvinne tapt kunnskap."
After providing a description of the card you are seeking, Erska furrows her brow. ”Hmm. Vi passerte en bakke som hadde et lignende bilde. Bakken ligger omtrent en dagsreise videre langs veien mot Finadar-skogen. Kanskje du finner det du leter etter der. Nå, overlat oss til vårt ritual.”
Visna smiles, and gives a shallow bow, lowering her horn since the giants seem not to wish a draft of their own.
"Takk. Det ser ut til at trådene våre spinner sanne. Kan vi hjelpe deg i retur? Jeg ville ikke la være å la vekten være ubalansert. Mine følgesvenner er ikke bare kjent for sitt skjønnhet. Sanjana har studert lenge i skolegangen til Gamle Seidr Jatembe gjennom de mange grenene av læren hans, og min Pentella har lagt flere tiår med studier i spådommene til alle folkeslag i vår verden."
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Remaining calm during their introduction and travel from the centaurs Briar does feel a bit intimidated by the giants. Sure she's used to fighting the beasts of M'wangi and basically ripped a vampiric snake person in half the other day, but never had she fought such a large humanoid and secretly hoped it wouldn't come to that especially if they were friendly enough to not attack them and offer aid. But Visna seemed to have this under control.
Yeska grunts. "Veldig bra. Hvis du er villig til å utsette reisen din, kan du bli med på ritualet vårt. Sitt, pust av røkelsen og bli med i vår bønn til åndene."
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After receiving a translation via the joined telepathy Briar steps forward to honor the ancestors, even if they are not her own. She bows her head and places her hand over heart and speaks to the Giantess's.
"I am Briar, my people put much into the respect and reverence of those who came before so I would be honored to join you in making an offering to the spirits."
Sitting down near the giants as instructed Briar looks down at the ritual site they have prepared and exhales through her mouth before closing her eyes and taking a long deep breath through her sensitive nose from the incense.
Meditation and communing with the spirits are right in Sanjana's wheelhouse, so the kashrishi is grateful to Visna for offering the giants their assistance. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about a people they had never met before, and Sanjana feels quiet excitement about it.
Bowing respectfully to their hosts, they take their place in the circle, breathing in the incense and slipping into the familiar breathing cadence.
The kashrishi's curious mind quests after the ancestor spirits, seeking their wisdom and knowledge about psychic resonances or other unnatural occurrences in the area.
Pen was about to cast a spell to understand the giants, but then Visna surprised her. Impressed, the wizard moved up to the warrior and whispered "I do not speak that language, can I ask what it is?" information is as important to her as always.
Helping people is always good. Large rituals require a bit more of a social aspect that makes her uncomfortable, but awkwardness is a small price to pay. So she helps.
"Jotun, it is similar in form to the tongue of my own ancestors, though most of us lack such stature."
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Sanjana's mouth quirks a little. "'Most' of you?"
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Visna looks at Sanjana very seriously. "Yes."
Pen takes out her notebook and jots down the name of the language, as well as any words she can match with the translations. But at the mention of lacking stature, her eyes widen as she looks Up at the warrior. The wizard shakes her head lightly as she looks back into her book, a bemused expression on her face.
As the ritual reaches its zenith, a chill wind blows past you. The two giants open their eyes wide, smiling as they look at something that only they can perceive. Sanjana, too, can see the spirits and psychic echoes of the ancient cyclopes that once claimed these lands as part of their mighty empire.
The cyclopes fix their monocular gazes on the kashirishi, and Sanjana hears a chorus of whispers in her mind. "The Silent Hag keeps her secrets. Her lips are sealed unless you pay for them in blood."
The spirits ripple and vanish as the wind fades away. The giants bow respectfully to you. "Takk, småfolk. Åndene har besvart våre bønner. Vi blir her en stund. Vi ønsker deg lykke til på søken."
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Visna bows again, lower. "Mitt hjerte er lettet som våre byrder har vært. Måtte gudene holde deg på din vei."
With the ghost of a smile on her lips, Visna offers to Sanjana. "If you wish to measure my word against the evidence of your eyes, some who are kin to me unwind the thread of their lives upon Pulura's beloved waters. Never will you see an aurora more beautiful than shine above that sea."
She sighs. "But though age's grasp is slack upon her, our hag-cave surely grows no more youthful."
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Briar while happy to join in the ritual, finds her exit from it while everyone else is talking about the next leg of their journey. 'And yet still they lay silent'
Her eyes narrow slightly and she moves to push herself to stand again with a slight sigh, digging her short nails into the ground as she stands fully.
"Well we best be off to deal with this so called Hag-cave before anything gets worse then yes?"
Hefting her pack and weapons from the ground she turns towards their next destination. Taking her leave of the group for a moment to take in the land that lay beyond them.
Seeming quiet and distracted, Sanjana takes their leave of the taiga giants, unconsciously echoing Briar's sigh and nodding distractedly at Visna's words.
Once they are back on the road with only their own company, they say, low. "The spirits spoke of a blood price for the secrets of the Silent Hag, so I'm afraid that we will find ourselves in conflict once more."
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Pen finishes her shorthand, slipping this volume into her pack's pocket. On the road she agrees with Sanjana "While there are always deviations in statistical analysis, the normalized Hag archetype would be more prone to such."