"Don't fret about my honor here, comrades. I am–unngh!" Maq'la grimmaces as the beast sprays her in frost, and then bites into her leg. She looks down and sees the red blood pouring from her leg start to freeze and coagulate from the cold.
"–Fine to share the glory–" She gives the dragon-thing a hard smack on the head with her Aq'lakh, grinning through the pain as she does so.
"–Of killing our first–" Maq'la swings again, but the beast is fast and dodges her blow, "–Dragon."
As the creature surges up out of the snow cover and bites Maq'la, Vhekk charges forward, holding his staff before him like a shield as he moves to aid his friend. Nearing the draconic creature, his staff flashes out like the fangs of a striking serpent, attacking the beast's unprotected flank from an unexpected angle. "There is valor in a duel, but there is also strength in unity, my friend. We'll kill this creature together."
Tired of waiting, Lilyana moves 10ft to the right and fires at the draconic creature in front of her.
Yorah seems confused. "I should have been holding back? Next time, warn me."
"–Of killing our first–" Maq'la swings again, but the beast is fast and dodges her blow, "–Dragon."
"Wyrm! It's a wyrm. Hehe. We'll be wyrmkillers."
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In blood and stillness, the tatzlwyrm indicates it defeat, lifelessly falling into the bank of snow. Its blue-tinted blood has created an almost artistic series of sprays on the crisp white snow.
Silence and cold hangs heavily in the clearing, broken only by the sounds of your breathing... or, perhaps, cheering.
A the wyrm collapses, Maq'la stands still for a moment as she processes that they'd taken it down.
Then she lets out a roaring,
Then she brushes the snow from a fallen log with her aq'lakh, sits down, and lifts her leg to appraise the many needle-like holes (still bleeding slowly in the cold). "Not bad for my first dragon wound, eh? I wonder what kind of scar it'll make."
Yorah walks over to inspect the creature, and notices the nasty wound on Maq'la's leg. "Oh... You got bit? Slashed? Lie down and lift up the leg. I'll look at it."
While the orc looks for a suitable spot, the half blood pulls out her dagger and her medicinal pouch. She stabs the dispatched creatures a few times just for good measure, in case it is just playing dead, and cleans her dagger in the white snow.
She approaches Maq'la and pulls out some herbs from the pouch, ches on them, and spits the mush into the wound.
"Leave that for a bit. I'll go practice some needlework. Cold fingers."
She goes back to the dead creature again, and practices stitches in the dead creature's hide. Satisfied with the job, she returns to Maq'la to close her wound. She offers a stick to bite on before she starts working in silence, focusing on the job.
"All done! We can look at it later if you want."
"Wyrmkillers, yeah. Decidedly not a true dragon, but possibly related? Seems Draconic enough to me for the title of wyrmkiller." After talking a bit, the half-elf shrugs her shoulders before continuing, "Seems like we make a decent enough team, eh?"
Lilyana decides to take a momentary seat on a nearby fallen log, or a suitable rock, resting her arquebus across her lap, while making sure to ensure she hadn't loaded it on reflex. "This cold feels like Hongal... I almost forgot I was back in Taldor for a second! Hopefully we can find out whatever is causing... this and eventually put a stop to it, or get someone who can." Just looking at her, you can tell she's comfortable in the cold.
As the wyrm falls, Vhekk grins, and at Maq'la's exclamation, he chimes in. "With such a company of warriors, our foes stand little chance." His face falls, however, as he notices Maq'la's injuries. "You are wounded, my friend, but I am no healer, I'm afraid."
Seeing Yorah move to aid the orc warrior, he moves out of the way, examining the carcass of the creature that attacked them. Unlike Lilyana, the young tiefling seems quite unused to the frigid weather - he seems unable to stop shivering, and he flinches each time the biting wind picks up.
Kneeling next to the dead beast, he slashes an obsidian talon along its side, his brow furrowing as he sees its strange blue blood spill onto the snow. "...This creature is not from this area, I think. Those white scales would stand out like nothing else if there was no snow, and we're far enough south - in the middle of summer, besides! - that it could not survive without this unseasonal storm." He straightens up, a scowl on his face. "Sliset, I don't even want to think about what things like this are doing to the forest. I doubt the Border Wood will ever be the same again, Yorah, even if we can slay the witch."
"Wyrmkillers!" Noemy leaps off Yorah's shoulder and romps through the snow to give the remains of the tatzlwyrm a victorious stab. "Lilyana, don't be shy, the credit's yours too." She takes a step back when Vhekk arrives to inspect the corpse.
"Definitely weird. Maybe the Witch brought it with her. Or maybe the cold magic made it look like that, and it was just living around here before we arrived? If we stop the witch, I bet all this will clear up though. Monsters like this are probably going to be really unhappy with normal Taldan summers, at least, from what I've heard about them! Just think of them floppin' about and sweating." She giggles.
She keeps guard while Yorah takes the time to prepare and tend to Maq'la's wounds.
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A quick examination of the beast while Yorah tends to Maq'la's wound confirms that the wyrm was not native to the area and transformed, but rather native to a region much colder than Taldor. Perhaps the witch's pet or guardian? Or perhaps the cold isn't the only thing supernaturally occurring in the region now.
Please let me know if you want to wait for round two on the healing. Yorah will need to spend time communing with nature for a bit of that time to refocus even if you don't wait the whole hour. A good compromise might be refocusing, traveling further for a bit, then stopping and healing again, but that runs the risk of coming upon something else.
Ai was greatly relieved when they took down the Tatzelwurm. The thing had been a rather vicious adversary, or at least it seemed like it, until they managed to overwhelm it with concentrated attacks. She allowed Yorah to finish her initial work on Maq'la's wound and then, when the woman was finished with her stitching, Ai said, "I think I can heal the rest of the wound for you."
Ai pulled forth a small amount of water from the matter orbiting her and slowly pressed it into the injury. The water was targeted and simply helped accelerate the healing process without getting the stitching or anything else wet.
"Thank you both! You have worthy skills, in and out of battle."
Between Yorah's expertise with herbs and stitches, and Ai's healing waters, Maq'la is ready to fight again in no time.
Maq'la takes a few minutes to gingerly stretch her newly healed leg. Once she is done, and everyone has had a few minutes to recenter themselves, she says,"Alright then. I trust that further glory awaits us!"
Yorah observes Ai close the remainder of the wound and inspects it. "Nicely done. Even if you cheat a bit." she smiles and pats the girl on the shoulder.
She walks to her backpack and looks at it. "Guys... we CAN move. But I wouldn't mind admiring the scenery for a bit if that's fine. Recenter myself. Your call."
"Nice teamwork!" Noemy waves her fluff-hands at Ai and Yorah. "We can wait a few minutes Yorah, but let's keep going as soon as you're ready. I bet by now that witch has heard we're coming. We don't want her to slip away when we're close to clonking her! Right?"
"I'm all for waiting to catch our breath," the gunslinger says.
"If this witch has spies that keep tabs on us without us knowing... Well, we have another issue entirely. What makes you think we are being watched?"
Yorah raises her eyes curiously as she sits in the snow.
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You take a little time to refocus and get yourselves back together before continuing on. The snow under the trees becomes thicker () as the temperature plummets below freezing, dropping to about 13F/-10C (Still Mild Cold, but on the edge of severe.)
You come to a particularly darkened part of the forest, the trees and snow effectively blocking out what little sunlight makes its way through the canopy and clouds.
Here, in the trees around you, bloody fetishes of black feathers and fresh leather hang from the branches, swaying in the trees like dancers performing a twirling spectacle.
"What the...," is all Lilyana can say regarding whatever is in front of her vision. She squints to make sure she's viewing things right, holding her trusted arquebus at the ready just in case. "Anyone know what those are? Who could have put them there? Witches, perhaps?"
Maq'la retches in revulsion. "They mean nothing to me, but that there are sinister people afoot...but we knew that already, didn't we?
"At least we know we're on their trail now, and perhaps closing in."
*fwumf* *fwumf* *fwumf*
Noemy barrels her way through the snow through a combination of jumping, rappelling off Maq'la with her needle, and just cutting a path through. She adamantly refuses to ride on someone else, with a "If we're going to fight a winter witch, I've got to be able to do this much!" You might imagine this exertion would leave her breathless, but then again, she's a poppet. She only hops up onto Maq'la's shoulder when the group stops in front of the fetishes. "Oh, wow."
"How long have they been out here, that they've set all this up?" She ponders what they might mean...
"Charmingly ominous..." Yorah mutters as she looks at the decorations. "I'm not sure whether this was done by the people we are tracking. Why waste time like this?"
As the party navigates through the bloody fetishes, Vhekk scowls. At Yorah's words, he speaks up. "Perhaps the witches place them here to curse those who would challenge them? We should keep pressing forward - not least because I am unsure if we are able to turn back." He readies his weapon, prepared for an ambush from the trees.
"Do you..." Yorah raises a curious eyebrow towards Vhekk. "feel cursed" she glances at the decor as the group walks through.
Maq'la shakes her head, "The biggest curse I feel at this point is the snow that keeps getting into my boots. There's little glory in cold, wet feet."
Looking to Noemy, she adds with a chuckle, "Though perhaps I shouldn't be the first to complain on that regard, eh my friend? Are you certain you don't want to ride on my shoulder? You can always make a dramatic dive down from above onto the first foul witch we encounter."
Noemy puffs up adamantly "Not happening Maq'la. How am I going to take down a winter witch if I can't even take down a bit of snow!?"
"Do you... feel cursed?"
Vhekk shrugs. "Not particularly. Of course, I've never been cursed - at least, not with real magic - so I don't know what it feels like." His obsidian claws click against the ash wood of his staff as he thinks for a moment before continuing. "Then again, if you want to look at it another way, I've been cursed since I was born, so I don't know what it feels like to not be cursed. Either way, I'm no expert in the ways of witches."
The fetishes bothered Ai, they were disturbing but she felt that was a large part of their intention. She did her best to put them out of her mind until someone said they might be there to curse those going against the witches. Ai shuddered at that idea but she had to agree, "I don't feel cursed either," but then a thought came to her and she asked, "but would I even know if I am cursed right away?"
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Noemy
Yorah
Noemy is unsure, but believes these sort of fetishes are meant to ward an area or present warnings meant to instill fear.
Yorah examines one of the fetishes more closely, and sees that it has been crafted by the feathers of crows, but that the "leather" is actually strips of flesh taken off an animal, or perhaps even a humanoid, and also observed that whoever hung them left no trace in the snow, nor on the trees themselves. Lastly, she sees that the "needles" holding the fetishes together are actually tiny arrows coated in ice.
Noemy, upon finding out that the feathers are from crows, recalls that the people of Irrisen tend to regard crows as ill omens and spies.
"Whoa! Me-sized arrows." Noemy looks up at the arrows Yorah points out "Those have got to be from the faeries then. Icy faeries. Ones that know about old Irriseni stories about crows being bad luck, or spies for something or other."
She asks for a feather from Yorah and looks it over. With a loud hum, she tugs into her internal fluff and pulls out a bundle of odd items - a shiny bead, a shell, a blackened twig, and a tooth, all bound together by string. She sticks the feather into the bundle and then stuffs it back in her body. "Now everyone that crosses me is going to have bad luck! I mean, they were going to have that anyway, after I was done with them, but now it'll be extra bad."
She looks onward. "What, are the rest of you getting spooked? No turning back now! Let's go."
"Honestly, as grim as it seems, this might be just like you folk hanging clothes out to dry." Yorah shrugs and moves along. "Funny thing, however... No footprints in the snow, so whatever did this might have been winged. Or great at climbing."
"Hehe." she quietly laughs at Noemy's take. "That's the spirit! Someone once told me fear is half of battle. Knowing is the other. So at least we are 50-50 on that."
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As foreboding as the wards are, passing through the area seems to draw no unwanted attention.
About a half hour further into your journey, you find a narrow, winding game trail with hoofprints leading in either direction.
Ai
Lilyana
Maq'la
Noemy
Vhekk
Yorah
Lilyana and Maq'la catch a sudden glimpse of something large, fast, and white disappearing around one of the path's many curves to the west, maybe 100 feet away or so.
"Oh! OH! What did you see? Was it a stag? That weird stag that we heard about?" She spins her needle "Maybe it'd lead us back to its master?"
"It was large, fast, and white... I can tell you that much; I'm not sure if it's the stag or not," Lilyana confesses to Noemy that that was all she saw.
Maq'la shakes her head. "I can't say for certain either, but we may as well pursue. Come on!"
Maq'la lopes through the snow after it, her aq'lakh in hand.
"Well, these tracks do not lead anywhere in particular from what I can see." Yorah mumbles to herself as she is looking at the snow.
Once the group mentions the stag, she perks up. "Well... Lead on..." she follows Maq'la and keeps her eyes peeled.
"Even if its not the stag, its something weird!" Noemy hoists her way up into a nearby tree and then hops along the branches to keep pace with Maq'la as she lopes ahead.
Ai was more than a little nervous as they continued on their way but she shoved that down deep and tried to ignore it as best she could. When someone saw something moving and thought it was a white stag Ai seemed to recall something from earlier and asked, "Um, was there not someone who mentioned a talking stag back in town? From the sound of what you describe I think we might have just found it."
Vhekk thinks for a moment as his allies discuss the strange shape glimpsed in the snow. "We would likely accomplish little seeing where it is going - its instincts would be to flee from us, at least if it is anything like an ordinary stag. We may be better served seeing where it has been, and this snow seems well-suited to the task." He looks in the snow near where the white creature was seen, trying to see if he can follow its tracks back to its lair.
"Come on, you think we can't catch it?" Noemy laughs "We wouldn't be any kind of proper hunters if we couldn't at least do that."
But after a moment's consideration she adds "I guess you're right though, it might be interesting to see where it's been as well. Let's see if we can catch it first, then we can follow it's steps back."
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The party moves forward after the creature they glimpsed, taking a few turns on the trail before they come to a clearing about twenty feet across. On the other side of the clearing, a large white stag with a massive rack of antlers stands, facing the party.
"Come! I have to show you." the stag calls out, tilting his head further down the game trail.
One simple Russian vulgarity falls out of Lilyana's mouth as she stares in awe at the stag in front of her. "Хуй. I'm not hallucinating, am I? That's... actually a talking stag?" She looks to Ai and Noemy in specific, Ai because she just realized she swore in Russian next to someone who can understand her, and Noemy because well, talking stag and talking doll. She observes the rest of the group's reactions as she grips her arquebus in her hand, prepared for the worst.
As the stag speaks, Vhekk's onyx eyes go wide, but after a moment's surprise, they narrow, and he nocks an arrow to his bow. "You are truly an unusual sight, Lord Stag. It is my experience that few stags speak, and that fewer still stoop to deceit and falsehood. This forest has been taken over by the wicked, ones who go against the natural order. If you don't mind my saying so, what cause have we to trust you, and how do we know you are not one of them, especially since the last person who tried to follow you nearly froze to death?"
While Vhekk is talking the danger-stag's ears off, Noemy drops into cover in the nearest snowbank and starts slowly circling around the edge of the clearing. She's got no intention of letting this potential servant of the winter witch get away! She moves as quietly as she can, burrowing through the powder. The story of the stag luring the child into a frozen river is still quite fresh in her mind, so she probes the ground ahead of her as she goes, checking to see if it can support her (admittedly minor) weight. .
Beckoned by the creature to follow, Yorah quietly walks along the treeline of the clearing. She just walks casually, not making anything that could antagonise the stag.
Lilyana closely follows Yorah, keeping her firearm at the ready in case anything goes wrong. She tries to be as non-threating as possible while holding a firearm while doing so.
Maq'la bites her tongue in surprise, and decides to wait to see if it answers Vhekk's question.
Hoping to put it at ease, Maq'la adds, "You can count on us to be trustworthy, if we can count on you to do the same."
Ai was surprised when the stag actually talked and a bit shocked that anyone would just follow it. She thought caution was the best course. She did agree completely and said, "Хуй indeed."
Ai decided to stay close to Lilyana as the other woman followed Yorah. She was being quite cautious though and looking out for any sign of an ambush as she listened for the stag's response.
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"The child? No, the child did not follow. Was not careful. Stepped wrong. You are careful, yes? You will follow?" the stag asks.
Ai
Lilyana
Maq'la
Noemy
Vhekk
Yorah
Each having your own suspicion, you move forward, not trusting the clearing nor the stag. Still, as you move, you find nothing extraordinary about the clearing.
Maybe you notice this because everything is big to you. First, you note tiny fluctuations in the snowflakes falling at various spots along the clearing's borders, like the snowflakes just disappear mid-air in these spots... maybe 2, maybe 3 spots no bigger than you, about 5-8 feet in the air in those spots.
This alerts you to possible fey activity.... flying, invisible, tiny... all signs point to the tricksters.