Shaggar gives chase with long loping strides. When he catches up to the doll, he drives the greataxe straight down on the poppet’s head. The axe bites hard but its blow is blunted, leaving a crack in the doll’s skull. Some flecks of china flake off. The doll head turns to glare at the gnoll.
Arrows (20):
Effects: None
The delivers a brutal slash aimed at severing the tendons behind the gnoll’s kneecap. Fortunately, his armored boot manages to deflect the blow. The painted smile never fades and the doll tumbles away from both opponents so skillfully neither of them can counter the move or attack. The baby bobs and floats away – staying above the hellish, jingle-toed poppet.
Maribel pursues in her nightgown, pulling out gear as she can. She has a mace in one hand, a spell component pouch in the other, and a holy symbol around her neck as she races to head off the poppet. "I can catch Elon! You've got to stop that thing!"
From the campsite, Thom yells, "Janno's alive, just knocked out!"
Round 3
INIT: Kiley, Shaggar, Doll, NPCs
Kiley rushes back to where her sword belt lay next to her bedroll and grabs it as she quickly reverses direction and sprints back towards the creepy doll as she tears the blade of her messer free of its scabbard and goes in for a strike with more power than accuracy.
Kiley stabs the doll in the heart! Or rather she is about to penetrate its heart when the doll interposes a tiny hand and catches the blade tip. She twists the blade and cracks off a finger.
While Kiley attacks and distracts, Shagger circles around the doll and attempts to deliver a killing blow. He drives the axe with all his strength cleaving into the doll’s shoulder. His blow is true and pieces of china spray in all directions… but the doll remains and a spot on the gnoll’s blade is blunted.
Arrows (20):
Effects: None
What goes through the mind of a hell-bound doll?
Rather comically, the doll turns its black, pitiless button eyes on its damaged hand and then its wrecked shoulder…. You imagine it is mulling over which offense bothers it more.
The answer becomes clear as it leaps at Kiley, takes careful aim, and drives the kitchen knife right through her hand. It yanks the blade free, spilling more Tiefling blood, and then dances away to the musical accompaniment provided by its infernal slippers.
Maribel rushes to Kiley's side and heals the injury in her hand.
Round 4
INIT: Kiley, Shaggar, Doll, NPCs
Kiley snarls as her hand is slashed, but she barely even feels the pain before it is gone, she nods to Maribel and skirts around the evil doll to try boxing it in.
Just for good measure, though, she does try to pay the thing back.
Kiley feints right then buries her blade in the damned doll’s jingling foot, pinning it to the ground. With the strength of a devil, the doll yanks its foot free, the satin slipper rips.
Again Shaggar closes on the creature from the other side and tries to smash it into the turf. And again, chips of china fly. Then cracks start forming all across the doll. Paint flakes off.
The persistent combined attacks of the two friends are close to overcoming the silken hellion.
Arrows (20):
Effects: None
Vanity is the doll’s weakness. And his ripped slipper is just too much to forgive…
He backflips onto Kiley and buries his kitchen knife in her chest. Then he scrambles onto her shoulder and leaps off - tumbling away from his pursuers.
Kiley is staring at the blood gushing from her chest and feeling rather light-headed when Maribel catches the staggering girl and heals her. She staves off the worse of the damage - but not all of it.
Round 5: FINISH HIM!
INIT: Kiley, Shaggar, Doll, NPCs
Kiley staggers back a couple of steps into Maribel as she coughs up blood. Again, the pain fades almost before she can feel it thanks to Maribel's aid, but this time, there's still a wicked gash on her chest from where the blade went in. She hacks up more blood before letting out a bestial snarl.
"Get ready to catch Elon," she tells Maribel before moving to cut off the thing's escape.
Still shaky from the blow she took, her swing is wide of the mark.
Shaggar closes in and strikes with all his might. The doll nearly sidesteps the blow. The axe barely catches the creature dealing only a fraction of the gnoll's power.
Still, more shards of china come off... including an arm. Dozens of cracks, like lightning, mar every surface of the doll. Yet somehow, improbably, the doll still stands.
Manic, Jingle-Toes launches himself at the gnoll, hilting his knife in the gnoll's throat. It would have been a deathblow if the blade hadn't deflected off Shaggar's muzzle. Job done, the doll scampers off yet again.
Wanting to catch the baby and give Kiley and Shaggar the best chance to finish this fight, she rushes up to Jingle-Toes creating a flank for Kiley and channels energy to heal both allies.
Round 6: The Devil’s Due
INIT: Kiley, Shaggar, Doll, NPCs
Kiley spit out the last of the blood from where the creepy doll had sorely wounded her. she nods again to Maribel as the divine power the priestess wields wipes away the last remnants of the stab wound that had nearly felled her and leaves being smooth, pink skin. The young adventuress doesn't have time to dwell on such things, though. There's a monster to slay, after all.
The doll had its back to Kiley as Maribel steps in front of it. It really should have been paying attention to what was coming from behind. There's a flash of steel lit by firelight and the doll's head goes flying off its shoulders.
The head sails off... and shatters as it hits the ground. The still standing body of the doll collapses to dust. A blue spark wafts out of the wreckage and flies south, roughly in the direction the doll was heading. The spark quickly vanishes from sight.
As the magic possessing the doll unravels, so does the magic keeping the baby aloft. Down will come baby... cradle and all.
Elon plummets 20' towards the ground.
Shaggar races forward and dives to catch the child. His claws snatch at the air. Elon keeps accelerating.
fail
Maribel throws herself under the child... and pulls off a near miraculous catch. Elon blinks off the magic that kept him asleep and coos at grandma.
win!
She bursts into tears.
Kiley drops her sword and falls to her knees beside Maribel. Now that she has time to think and process what's going on, she shivers as cold sweat turns her hands and feet clammy.
"Is he-- Is he alright? Are you alright," Kiley asks as she tries not to panic after everything has passed.
She looks over the baby, "We're good, we're good. I'm just shaken up." Spontaneoously, she hugs Kiley tight. "Thank you."
Kiley yelps in surprise as she's pulled into a hug, but after a moment, she returns it. Maribel can feel her trembling as the adrenaline wears off.
"Sh-SHaggar," she calls out a moment later, "how badly did it get you? Are you alright?"
Once the fluffy ranger answers, Kiley slumps against Maribel. The fight hadn't been long, but even with magical healing to mend such a ghastly wound, the poppet had nearly killed her. That kind of wound takes a lot out of a person.
"That blue light, when I took its head off, what was that?"
The gnoll's reply is (as typical) understated while he keeps an eye out for more trouble. "I'm fine. Just a scratch." Kiley can see the wound in his neck is still dripping blood, but clotting quickly.
Maribel mulls the matter. "When you destroyed the body, I think, the soul tied to it was freed. It probably went back to its master who is a witch I guess.
"Oh joy of joys," Kiley mutters sarcastically. She looks down at the babe in Maribel's arms and smiles despite everything that has happened, then she remembers the other two boys.
"Wait, what about the other two? The ones sleeping under the wagon," she asks as she turns back towards the camp and starts to climb back to her feet. "Are they alright?"
A quick look towards the wagons reveals all family members alive and well… dammit.
Kiley breathes a sigh of relief as she sees that everyone is safe. She looks to Maribel and gives the priestess a tired smile before helping her to her feet.
"I think we should probably stick together for a little while," Kiley says. "Shaggar and I can help keep watch, at least until we get to Triel." she looks to her companion. "If you don't mind having some company while we travel, my good sir," she says to Shaggar. If nothing else, at least her sense of humor appears to be intact.
The gnoll's eyes glint. "I would say 'no' but Ms Maribel serves both excellent tea and excellent badger. I would be a fool to refuse."
Maribel promises 'better than badger' and is very happy when you choose to join their small family caravan. Even the cooler members of the family are considerably warmer after the near death experience.
Kiley, happy that everyone's okay, turns to Shaggar and grins. Her smile fades though as she looks out over to where the blue light disappeared.
"I don't think that's the last we've seen of the witch or her minions," she tells Shaggar quietly. "I know we have to make for Baldur's Gate with as much speed as we can, but I don't like leaving behind someone that would still babes from their mothers. Could you find her lair if we see Maribel and her family safely to town first?"
Shaggar chuffs and mulls Kiley's question... letting Maribel return to her family before answering. He searches the ground, roaming back and forth for a minute. "Here. Look at this."
He points out some faint smudge marks. "Those are the prints I'd have to follow. They will be harder to spot every day we let the trail go cold. Taking them to Triel... we can be back here in four to six days. My skills are not that good. I'm sorry. And if we assume the witch is as dangerous as the doll - we will need Maribel's skills."
Kiley sits on her heels next to where the gnoll ranger points out the tracks and realizes that she wouldn't be much help tracking them even if they left now.
"So we either leave the witch, hunt her down with or without Maribel's help, or-- They have men out looking for trouble, right. What if we mark a tree and point out which way we saw that blue light go? Then tell them about what happened in the next town," she asks Shaggar as she looks up at him. "We'd probably need to bring what's left of the creepy doll along as proof, but with that and Maribel's family confirming what we saw..." She shrugs, not happy with any of their options, but at least this one would make sure her conscious wasn't flaying her every step of the way.
"I'd feel a lot better if we could somehow manage to protect them and go after the witch, but we can only be in two places at once, and, well, we got lucky. That thing almost slit your throat, and it almost put me down." She rubs the skin exposed by the blow that went through shirt, chain, and padding to dive between her ribs just under her breast and into her lung.
She shakes her head and stands up. For now, it seems that witches will have to wait. She looks at what's left of the wound in Shaggar's neck, wondering how he hadn't been put down by that wound, and thanking Selune that he was on her side.
"Are you going to be okay with it staying like that? I know some guys like showing off their scars, but I like you too much to not worry about that getting infected."
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The gnoll grunts and searches the ground where the doll's head and body came to rest. He finds a button eye and a bell along with a fragment of satin slipper. He turns them over to Kiley. "I'd rather let Maribel explain to the authorities what happened... hopefully leaving us out of it." He finds the nearest large-ish tree and uses his axe to hew a directional arrow in it along with the word 'WITCH'.
He looks at his handiwork. "If they can't find this, they're useless."
"Are you going to be okay with it staying like that? I know some guys like showing off their scars, but I like you too much to not worry about that getting infected."
Shaggar releases a yipping laugh, "Have you not learned, Kiley? Apparently, I cannot be killed by farming implements or kitchen wares." He gently pushes the small woman back towards the wagon. "This has been an eventful evening."
The gnoll grunts and searches the ground where the doll's head and body came to rest. He finds a button eye and a bell along with a fragment of satin slipper. He turns them over to Kiley. "I'd rather let Maribel explain to the authorities what happened... hopefully leaving us out of it." He finds the nearest large-ish tree and uses his axe to hew a directional arrow in it along with the word 'WITCH'.
He looks at his handiwork. "If they can't find this, they're useless."
"I'd have to agree," Kiley says with a laugh that turns into a yawn as the night's events catch up to her.
"Are you going to be okay with it staying like that? I know some guys like showing off their scars, but I like you too much to not worry about that getting infected."Shaggar releases a yipping laugh, "Have you not learned, Kiley? Apparently, I cannot be killed by farming implements or kitchen wares." He gently pushes the small woman back towards the wagon. "This has been an eventful evening."
"Alas, we must 'ware the seamstress' needle, for surely such fearsome fortitude must be balanced out by some weakness undiscovered," she says without missing a beat as Shaggar pushes her back to their bedrolls.
"But you are right, and the morning comes too soon," she adds with another yawn that she covers with her hand to hide the fangs in her mouth. "I hope we don't have a glassy-eyed visitor to our dreams."
"Alas, we must 'ware the seamstress' needle, for surely such fearsome fortitude must be balanced out by some weakness undiscovered," she says without missing a beat as Shaggar pushes her back to their bedrolls.
Shaggar nods sagely (or his impression of sagely which looks more like a puppy nodding off to sleep), "True. The heroes of myth and legend always had one odd weakness... sewing needles could be mine."
The River Chionthar glitters in the early afternoon sun as it flows along its merry way to the Sea of Swords. The sun is warm as it shines from a cloud-dappled sky and a breeze rustles the branches of the trees every now and then. The next town, Nimeton, is only a half-days travel from the small village Kiley went into to grab some fresh fruits and vegetables and see what news there is to be had while Shaggar went around.
As the gnoll waits at the copse of trees that he and his companion had seen from a rise a couple of miles outside the town proper in the early morning, he feels something is off. It could be the cooler and more humid air that is strange to one from Anauroch, but some instinct tells him that isn't it. Kiley should be meeting him here soon, and as far as his sense can tell, there's nothing strange going on in town.
But there's still that itch.
Kiley keeps looking back over her shoulder as she hurries along the road. It isn't like her to give into anxiety, but this time, she can't help it. The woman she ran into made her feel like she needed to bathe in lye. There was something soulless about her, which, Kiley reflects guiltily, could have been nerves or just an unfortunately bad first impression.
Still, she feels relief at seeing the copse she is supposed to meet Shaggar at, and her pace quickens to a run for the last few hundred feet.
"Shaggar," she pants as she slows to a stop, "Are you there?"
Shaggar emerges from his hiding spot among the trees. "I am here."
"Sorry it took so long, but I managed to grab some eggs while I was getting supplies." She holds up the small sack filled with fresh produce. "And a few of these."
She reaches into one of the deep pockets of her bisht and pulls out a couple of wrapped pies for Shaggar.
"Figured they'd be easier to eat while we walk."
As she hands over the pies, she looks back towards the village.
The gnoll's eyes light up at the hand-pie. He sniffs it approvingly before shoving half of it into his muzzle. Shaggar watches his companion, noting her backwards glance. He speaks around a mouthful of pie, exhaling crust, "Whahf?"
The pie is as delicious as it smells.
Kiley jumps a little at Shaggar's question and turns back to Shaggar with a look like a pup who got caught sneaking a choice bit from a kill.
"Might be nothing," she says, though she doesn't sound like she believes it. "There was this woman that was kinda odd. She kept following me around hinting that we could work together, but never really saying anything. I kept getting this bad feeling about her."
The gnoll stops and turns around... as if he can see through the hills and trees to spy the woman in the town. A chuffing growl gives voice to his dissatisfaction. "Do you think she knows your blood? Is that why she wanted to 'work' with you?"
He snaps his jaws on the remaining half of the hand-pie and chews it slowly, considering.
Kiley shakes her head.
"I don't think she does. She said something about my clothes and things like, 'I bet anyone working with you could make some good pinch' and how there've been a bunch of strange people on the roads lately," Kiley says before shivering.
"I saw the look she had. It was the same look I'd see from the Zhentarim. It made me feel like she didn't see anyone as people, just things."
Kiley pulls out a pie and nibbles on it as she looks back down the road.
"I don't think she followed me, but we should probably get moving. The further from her we get, the better I'll feel."
The gnoll wipes the pie-crust residue from his claws. His tone is curious, confused, and vaguely threatening - a cloud on the horizon. "I don't understand some of these words... like 'pinch'? Did she think you are a thief? Or was she thinking about the value in selling you?"
He flicks his claws to liberate some final bits of crust. "Perhaps, we should go back there and ask her to clarify... and pick up a few more hand-pies." Kiley is fairly certain that Shaggar asking the woman to 'clarify' might involve her dangling like a live chicken from his meaty claw.
"Oh, sorry Shaggar," Kiley says as her cheeks turn pink. "Sometimes I forget you might not know some turns of phrase. No, she was saying she thought I would be good at helping people make coin. She may have thought I was a thief, but I doubt she would have tried to sell me."
Kiley taps the hilt of her greatsword to emphasize the point.
"I appreciate the sentiment and your suggestion about the pies, But I think we'd be best served heading for Nimeton. No need to borrow trouble if we don't have to, right?"
He absorbs the information. "Pity. I wouldn't have minded another pie." With a shrug, he turns and starts heading toward Nimeton at a leisurely pace. beside his small companion.
"Good thing I got us more than two," Kiley says as she hands Shaggar another one.
The pair of you travel along the road as it wends along beside the River Chionthar. The afternoon is warm, but not uncomfortably so, especially when compared to the heat of day in Anauroch. You're about a half-mile from the ferry that will take you to the northern bank of the river when rustling before you and behind catches your attention.
"Aw, and I was beginning to think you didn't like me," a voice familiar to Kiley calls out as the road ahead and behind are blocked by a human woman and over a dozen goblins.
"See, I have this nose for when someone's trying to hide something," the woman says. "And you, my sweet, were hiding a very big something." She looks Shaggar up and down appraisingly. "I'd like to think I'm a fair person, so you two can work for me, or I can just find another way to make some gold from you. I hear the bounty on gnoll ears and bandits is going up."
Outnumbered and blocked from both in front and behind, it looks like the best option for survival is to hop the fence between road and field and try to lose the goblins and their boss.
Shaggar’s muzzle peels back revealing rows of yellowing canines as his claws flex indicating he’s ready for a fight. He snarls. ”Too bad your flat nose didn’t warn you that this gnoll is going to watch you die screaming. You would have lived longer.” He looks to Kiley, ”Run, NOW.”
Shaggar pivots and sprints, crashing into the fence. His claws dig in, propelling him over the obstacle.