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"My understanding from Izoze is that in a year's time, this place will be every bit as frozen over as Irrisen. I hear weather in Osirion is a bit warmer. Maybe I'll take myself there. After this week, I've had enough of the cold." He looks down at the expectant Poppet. "I don't know where Izoze is. That cold hearted b~@%+ could be in this room for all I know, except I'm not dead yet, so probably not. She usually hangs out by the bridge or in the river, but she also travels back to Somir Valley to report stuff to Teb Knotten."
"I hate that plan. Irrisen is very nice and snowy, but that doesn't mean every place has to be like that." She turns to the others "Let's go looking for her starting with the bridge as soon as we make sure the rest of these bandits are either turning themselves in or are full of holes." She thinks for a moment and then adds "I guess she can turn invisible, which might make it hard, but if we look like wimps, maybe she'll come out and gloat a bit."
"I agree. Even if I personally like the cold, there's only one place in all of Golarion I'd rather have be colder than it is. Doubt whatever magical b@&#~&%+ is causing this will work down in Alkenstar, though," Lilyana says, trying to add some levity to the situation. "Lighthearted 'my grandmother is from Monad-knows-where' aside, how do you suppose we make ourselves look like wimps?"
Yorah puts the symbol in her pocket and tilts her head curiously. "Okay. Why? Why change this place to become like another?"
"Okay. Why? Why change this place to become like another?"
Vhekk scowls, keeping his staff leveled at the leader. "Why else do you think? Conquest. No army in history has ever beat the Imperial Guardsmen of Kelesh in the desert - I suspect that the Irriseni soldiers have a similar record with the blasted lands to the north, yes? If the world is ice, then they will always have the advantage over their opponents - no army in the world will be able to stand in their way."
He thinks for a moment before continuing. "Noemy, you said that Irrisen had ice witches, yes? Think about it - in the Burnt Lands, a spell that saps the heat from your body would be toothless as an old dog. I knew travelers who died for lack of such magic, in fact. In the ice of the north, such a spell would kill, surely as any blade." He prods Rhokar in the chest with his staff. "Dung-for-brains here is too stupid to understand it, but if we fail now, Osirion won't be safe. Nowhere will be safe."
"Now you are just assuming. If you want to conquer land, you conquer something -not- across the continent. If you want to conquer -fertile- land, because your land is covered in snow, for example, your first move in the war is to cover the territory in snow? There are holes in this cheese."
"Portions of Alkenstar, Smokeside and Ironside in particular, will be safe from being frozen over due to any magical escapades, but that doesn't save it from conquest. Other portions of the globe are already so cold, specifically those near the Crown of the World like in far-northern Hongal, would be immune from a magical endless winter by virtue of already being frozen. On that note, perhaps it is a mix of both, a temporary freeze to conquer the lands with, and then a thaw once conquest is complete?"
"Now you are just assuming. If you want to conquer land, you conquer something -not- across the continent. If you want to conquer -fertile- land, because your land is covered in snow, for example, your first move in the war is to cover the territory in snow? There are holes in this cheese."
At Yorah's words, Vhekk's brow furrows, and he turns to face the dromaar. "...I'm sorry, am I misunderstanding something? What the hell does cheese have to do with anything?"
He shakes his head, his ebon gaze flicking back to Rhokar for an instant before fixing on Yorah again. "Empty-skull here isn't the most reliable source - our information might not be accurate, and you're still assuming that the witches want to conquer fertile land. Perhaps there's something here important to them - the Lady's statue or some such? Regardless, I think you're missing the point. Heldren is cursed with snows in the summer - this is a fact. An Irriseni witch and her minions are behind it - this is also a fact."
He crosses his arms, glowering at the herbalist. "Now, the reason this witch is attacking may be important, or it may not - so far, you have mostly been telling us how stupid our ideas are, but if you have any ideas of your own, I would be happy to hear them for a change."
Shaking her head, flabbergasted at the outburst of emotions from the Kelish man, Yorah is quiet for a few moments. She looks at Rhokar, and back at Vhekk. Leaning towards Rhokar, she addresses him with a cold voice. "We'll talk later. and she smacks him across the head, hoping to take him out.
She turns to Vhekk. "One - Cheese has nothing to do with anything. Holes do. Two - I am not assuming this is a war of conquest. Those are your words. Three..." and she walks up to Vhekk at this point and whispers. "If you feel like having an argument, your timing is great." she nods her head towards Rhokar on the floor and steps back out of Vhekk's space.
Kneeling down, she ties up the unconscious man and gets ready to move downstairs.
Noemy really isn't following the bewildering array of places, names, and dire predictions. She's more focused on the here and now. Having gotten a good enough lead from the head bandit, she turns her attention to the situation downstairs. The earlier threats and questions seem to have earned no response, so she readies her massive bladed needle and heads downstairs. If trouble won't come to her, she's heading for trouble!
Ai stayed silent and observed as they got what they could from the captive bandit leader, but she did ask one thing and looked to Lilyana as she asked, "Why would those three places be safe and can you think of a way that it wouldn’t be? Maybe once we know how this is happening that question will answer itself."
Ai then considered why this was being done and, after a few moments said, "As for why to freeze everything, well, you assume they want arable land but it might simply be, as was pointed out, that the Irrisini know better than anyone how to fight in their own land. If they freeze everything over, they won't only be the only ones who know how to deal with it but the locals will be unable to resist them. In that is the case then they can take over the world without fighting much at all."
Once Ai saw Noemy start to head downstairs after the leader was knocked unconscious Ai went to follow, hoping they would have little trouble dealing with what they found.
"Alkenstar is in a region of dead magic, so any kind of magical attempt to manipulate the weather will fail. Why do you think the place is so well-known for their firearms? Also, Northern Hongal is already frozen over, so why even try. I didn't say they'd be safe, they'd only really be spared from a magical winter. Irrisen could still march in and conquer them after the whole fiasco," she says as she walks downstairs.
She isn't exactly confident that the tiny city-state of Alkenstar and the loose coalition that is Hongal would be actually safe, only spared from having whatever is causing this winter, so she isn't exactly looking all that confident. "Whatever it is that's causing this, if it wants to keep spreading it can't just... magic its way through all of this."
She continues on as she goes down a floor, loaded arquebus in tow, and sighs, "We still need to try to stop this, so let's scare off the rest of them. Maybe shoot a cook."
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As you head down the stairs, you enter a living area with the aforementioned bearskin rug. Four men stand, bows at the ready, and aimed at you as you descend the stairs.
On of them speaks "Guessing if you're alive, that means Rhokar is dead, eh? Keep your hands where we can see them and let us talk."
Vhekk scowls, obligingly raising his clawed hands. "Rhokar's not dead - but you will be, if you keep following idiots. Don't you fools see by now that what Rhokar is doing means ruin for everyone? Tell me, fools, how many days of food do you have left? How many in your band are sick? Atarshamayyin's split hoof, you blithering imbeciles would cut off your own foot to spite the stones of the road!"
"Oh for the Monad's sake," Lilyana says while clutching her loaded arquebus, "you lot just don't give up, do you? We go in and take out your boss, and yet you're still willing to defend him? Can I at least ask... why?"
Yorah hears the conversation from the stairway. She descends further. "Well..." undeterred by the bows, she sighs and gestures to the archers to go on with it. "Talk? We're wasting precious time here."
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"Rhokar's not dead? Huh. I was sure he wouldn't let you take him alive." the speaker grunts. "But the I guess both sides are making incorrect assumptions. We don't want to fight. We don't want to follow Rhokar anymore."
"Damn straight." another chimes in.
"You're right about most of us being sick. They won't make it to safety through this snow." the first speaks up again. "So we need to cut our losses and run. But to do that, we can't have you following us or trying to kill us. Thus, the parley."
"I don't know about you guys, but I think we have bigger problems than a handful of ill highwaymen. I don't care about these guys, as long as they leave us alone. We have the boss up top."
Yorah doesn't try to be quiet as she says that. She speaks her mind loudly, and shrugs.
Ai was not surprised to see the drawn bows aimed at them, though not particularly threatened by it either, as she still had her elemental gates open. She did not close them, nor did she demand they put down their weapons, she did say, "Aiming weapons at those you want to parley with is not the smartest way to get what you want," she shrugged and then added, "but I am not in a place to criticize you either."
Ai nodded in agreement with what Yorah said, "I agree, there is little point in fighting them if they do not want to fight. That is why we went straight for their leader." She looked to the highwaymen and added, "Your leaded did try to die fighting, and he almost succeeded, fortunately I was able to heal him in time to spare his life and question him. What you do with him is none of our concern."
"We do need one more thing," Lilyana mentions, "and that's Lady Argentea," she adds something in a language no one understands afterwards
"Би бас таны тогоочийн толгойг тавган дээр тавьмаар байна,"
"Let's head down then," Lilyana says as she heads to the area with the trapdoor. She opens it, and beckons for the others to head down. She smiles and loosens up while continuing, "Maybe we can use some of those horses to carry stuff?"
Yorah watches the bandits for a while, making sure they actually leave before descending the stairs to follow Lilyana.
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Rather than stairs, the trapdoor leads to a ladder. The basement is unlit, and Lady Argentea Malassene stands a bit away from the bottom of the ladder, shielding her eyes from the light above. While she is dirty, slightly bruised, and undernourished, she doesn't show any obvious signs of gratuitous violence against her.
"Lady Argentea, correct? We're here to get you out of here. My name is Lilyana Boyarov, and I came back to visit my hometown after... a few years. Should we take you back to Heldren after we've dealt with a threat at the gate?" Lilyana says as she offers a hand to the noblewoman. She makes sure her Arquebus is out-of-the-way, making sure she seems as non-threatening as possible.
Yorah climbs down the ladder. She gives the woman a friendly wave and scans her for a moment. She comes closer to the woman, snaps her a quick "Hi." and tosses her bag on the floor while Lilyana is doing her own spiel. She pulls out her waterskin, some rations, and her extra set of winter clothes. She offers all of it to the woman in the basement, but waits before closing the backpack.
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"Thank you." the lady says, donning the furs before first taking a drink and then taking a few bites from the rations. Her voice is hoarse from thirst and her mannerisms while eating are slightly less than ladylike due to her hunger. "Those ruffians were unpleasant to say the least. I do not know of this gate you speak of and would greatly appreciate being returned to Heldren post haste so I may continue my journey and rally forces against these bandits."
"I honestly don't think bandits are your biggest problem, lady." Yorah states coldly as she is strapping down her backpack again. "Speaking of which..." she turns back to the party. "What of this Izoze person? Want to deal with that now? Try to, at least? Because if we try, I think you" she points to Argentea "probably shouldn't be a part of that. I mean, if you feel like going, you do you."
Maq'la breathes a sigh of relief as she sees the Lady is found, alive.
"Lady Argentea, we're happy to escort you back as soon as is possible. There are bigger forces at play here, unfortunately. We've routed the bandits, but it seems they were merely pawns of some ice mephit named Izoze and their trollish boss, Teb Notten...who all seem to be part of why it's been so f^%king cold recently.
"If we can find their trail, it might make sense to stick on it first. If not, heading straight back to Heldren makes sense to me."
Vhekk scowls, raising his eyebrows at the noblewoman's words. "Unpleasant? Most of your servants are dead - I would think that the deaths of people you have known for years would be more than an unpleasant occurrence!" He shakes his head. "If you wish to go back to Heldren, none will stop you to my knowledge. Now, if you will give us leave, there is important work that must be done."
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She appraises the lot of you, scowling slightly before returning to a neutral mask. "Very well, if you are not here to rescue me, but rather I am relegated to some sort of sidequest status, I shall have to make due on my own. I will need one of my horses and some appropriate clothing, and I shall be on my way. This Izoze, the mephit, spoke of grander plans for me. Something about replacing me, I believe. As if that were possible."
Her tone is one of confident demanding born of a life of privilege. "Of course my soldiers died. It's what soldiers do, after all. The deaths of my handmaidens was the unpleasantness I speak of. Entirely unnecessary. As was their rough handling of my personage, equally offensive."
"If you need someone to escort you back, Noemy here," Lilyana says while pointing to the Poppet, "is a skilled warrior; alternatively, we can deal with the problem at the bridge, and then escort you back as a group. We don't want to be ambushed by this Izoze character while you head back, now would we?"
Yorah tilts her head. "So what you are saying is that you don't want the furs?" she points at the winter clothing Argentea put on earlier. "What do you consider appropriate in this situation?"
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"No, of course, they're sufficient. I am grateful for the escort as well. It should make the journey safer and I believe we can both fit on the same horse." The lady seems to be warming up both physically and emotionally as the warm furs start to work their magic. "When you return to Heldren, I shall insure a proper reward awaits you. From Heldren, I will continue back home and rally forces to aid against this incursion should you fail. I pray it does not come to that, but best be sure."
Lilyana heads out, presumably with the rest of the party, to meet this Izoze wherever she may be. "IZOZE! SHOW YOURSELF!" she yells at the top of her lungs.
Only now realising Lilyana is gone, Yorah curses under her breath. She gestures to the blueblood to wait, and heads out to find the markswoman.
"You can't go alone like this, woman! You'll get yourself impaled on a spike or something."
As Lilyana rushes out, Vhekk's staff seems to leap into his hand as he hurries after her. "Wait a moment! I don't run so fast as you!"
"You can't go alone like this, woman! You'll get yourself impaled on a spike or something."
Vhekk grins, slightly out of breath from hurrying after Lilyana. "But she is not going alone - I am following her, you see!"
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Coming out the front doors, you see a bridge spanning a ravine, through which usually flows a river about twenty feet wide, now frozen over with ice and snow. The bridge is sturdy, obviously meant for mounted travel into the western border wood and beyond.
Of Izoze, there is no sign, save perhaps a break in the icy roughly a foot in diameter directly below the north side of the bridge, broken through from the top.
Yorah looks at the hole in the ice. "Think it fell down?"
Maq'la shrugs, impatient to find the vexing fey at the root of all this.
"If they went through the hole, I bet it was on purpose. Perhaps hiding from our might? Let's look for tracks or other sign that might lead us to them."
"If in doubt, I can just shoot into the hole," Lilyana adds as she stands near the hole in the ground.
"I don't see it." Yorah shakes her head. "Anyway - there are two problems in the lodge. One is unconscious, the other seems bent on leaving very soon. Any ideas?"
"Could take turns knocking him out," Lilyana says half-jokingly.
Vhekk moves closer to the edge of the bridge, peering down into the icy depths. "That's close to a hundred feet, I think. None of us could survive that - I don't think we'll find this Izoze anytime soon." He turns back to glance at Lilyana, unstringing his staff. "I think it would be best to press on - the noblewoman can take care of herself, and if we follow quickly, we may be able to track this witch."
"Alright, we're down Noemy since she'd taking the noblewoman. Head on it is then, I'll likely take a horse with us... I'm starting to miss Hongal right now," Lilyana says.
"Head on where, though?" Yorah chimes in. "We follow the river?"
"There's also the man upstairs. We should deal with them too. Toss them over Noemy's horse and have him trialed back in town?"
Ai nodded in agreement and said, "Following the river seems our best option for now. I do not have any better idea what we could do."