Suspecting invisible pranksters in action, Noemy is quiet for a moment in preparation. Then, she bursts from the snow and tosses up a wave of powder, hoping the snow will dust the invisible fae (assuming that's what they are) and outline them to her allies!
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Ai
Lilyana (Stealth)
Maq'la
Noemy
Vhekk
Yorah
Stag
Hidden Fey 1 Stealth
Hidden Fey 2 Stealth
Hidden Fey 3 Stealth
Initiative Order
Fey 3
Maq'la & Lilyana
Stag
Yorah
Fey 1
Ai, Noemy, & Vhekk
Fey 2
Stats
Stag AC 16 F +8 R +10 W +6 HP 21
Fey AC 19 F +6 R +8 W +6 HP 9
❄️ ❄️ ❄️
The hidden fey (3-North) shoots a couple of arrows at Noemy, angered at having their ambush spoiled.
Bow for a miss
Bow for another miss
Frustrated, it takes cover behind the branch it was ambushing from (AC 21)
Lilyana & Maq'la are up.
Grinning madly as she realizes she was absent-minded enough to keep her arquebus loaded, she aims and fires twice, with a desperate reload in-between, at one fey and the Stag, realizing that the stag is big, so a quick shot at it is likelier to hit than an invisible flying fey creature. "Then why are there fey floating around trying to ambush us if we can trust you?"
"Enough of your trickery!" Maq'la bellows. She bounds across the snow and smashes the stag twice with her aq'lakh.
The first one knocks the massive animal's front legs out from under it with a loud crack, and the second comes down on its neck, snapping it, and dropping it to the ground.
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The stag lies fallen and broken, but the voice that spoke from it cries out with rage, cursing Maq'la in sylvan.
vs Maq'la Off Guard hit for piercing and precision. A tiny flying creature appears, having struck Maq'la's right shoulder before emitti8ng a beam of energy at Maq'la.
New Tiny Flying Fey stats
AC 15 F +4 R +10 W +7 HP 19
Maq'la Fort DC 14
Would you like to hero point that?
Yorah is up
Maq'la attempts--though sheer force of heroic will--to resist the fae trickster's magic, but the sorcery is too powerful and suddenly the mighty orc shrinks to the size of a kitten.
With a (now somewhat higher pitched) growl of frustration, she readies to leap up and swings her Aq'lakh at the faerie that ensorcelled her.
Yorah seems startled at the sudden appearance of fairies near her. Instinctively, she reaches out at the creature to get rid of it.
"You are an unwelcome guest in this forest. Shoo!" she shouts as her fingers crack with lightning. After that, she attempts to swat the fairy down with her staff.
Ai was somehow not surprised at the ambush by the fey, that stag was shifty right from the beginning. Unfortunately she was not prepared for the sneakiness and swift strike of the fey attackers. She opened her elemental gates and pulled together a ball of water that she launched at the only fey she could see in the midst of the fighting.
]ooc]1 action to actiavte aura, two action to use my blast on the only fey I can see.[/ooc]
Vhekk, prepared for trickery from the stag, is ironically caught off-guard by the appearance of the fey in the clearing. "Sliset! What in the name of the Great Loop are these things?" After fumbling with his bow for a moment, he launches a volley of arrows at the apparent voice of the stag as he moves towards his shrunken friend. "No-one shrinks my friend, deceiver! I'll send you back to the witches in a box - or perhaps several!"
Noemy pops above the level of the snow and flings her needle at the nearest surviving fey trickster. When the string on her needle grows taught, she spins to reel it back in before going for another throw!
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Clarification
Sprite 1 was downed. The Stag was downed.
Sprite 2 has not acted and is still hidden because of this, but has almost been ko'd by Yorah's attack.
Sprite 3 attacked, revealing itself to the "north" on the map, but has taken cover for +2 AC.
When the Stag was killed, its rider, an Atomie, appeared and attacked Maq'la, shrinking her.
This is why you still see 3 fey on the map.
Action follow-up for Ai, Vhekk, and Noemy
The atomie is struck by Vhekk's second swing, and grunts in anger and pain HP 4/9
Noemy's first needle misses the southern sprite due to its difficulty to spot, but the second needle strikes true and takes out the southern sprite.
Northern Sprite and Atomie to the east remain standing.
Lilyana sighs while stepping up to the Atomie, loading her Arquebus as she aims at the little flying menace. "As much as I like the cold, these fey are quite annoying"
Maq'la is just about to swing at the atomie when it gets splattered in front of her, fae blood staining the snow.
"Nice shot...though perhaps you could've killed a foe further from me? Noemy, I don't know how you do this!", she complains theatrically to Lilyana while giving Noemy a wink.
With a sigh, the tiny orcish warrior bound through the snow over to the only faerie left that she can clearly see. As she nears, she leaps into the air with a cry of "tlhIngan maH. taHjaj!", and swings her aq'lakh expertly, knocking the sprite roughly into the ground.
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"See, not that hard Maq'la! You just take the stabby bit or the smashy bit and go for it!" Noemy cheers Maq'la on.
Lilyana cries out to the, now normal sized, orc, "Sorry about that!". She checks to make sure the other fey are actually dead, knowing that the one she blew a hole through has no chance of surviving.
She takes another moment to take in the cold, as it feels like home to her at this point.
"Well... So much for the White Stag." Yorah takes a breather as she sits in the snow "Everyone okay? Where's Maq'la?"
The half blood starts looking around, a bit of worry in her eyes, and suddenly Maq'la grows back to her former size. As she reemerges from the snow, Yorah is set aback, then realises what is happening. "Okay."
She lifts her index finger as she finishes catching her breath. "Quick question. What the hell just happened?"
"Fairies are setting up traps for the locals? Am I reading this right?"
When Maq'la returns to her normal size, she says, "Phew, that's a relief. No offence, Noemi, but I think one toy-sized troublemaker is enough for this here cadre.
"And I know not what happened–or ought, really, about witches and faeries–but I know we fought bravely. Lilyana, no need to apologize...I just want wasn't sure I could make it all the way over to that next fairy, once the snow drifts were as high as my head."
She rubs the wound on her shoulder.
"But I get the sense we haven't seen the last of them, eh? And that means more Glory to be had! Let's regroup, and then soldier on."
As the last opponent falls, Vhekk unstrings his staff and starts checking the snow to ensure Maq'la and Noemy are not lost in the alabaster drifts. As Maq'la returns to her normal size, he visibly relaxes. "Fortunately, this fey's curse seems to fade with death." He continues to glance around the area, seemingly searching for something. "The 'talking stag' was controlled by this trickster fey - but wasn't Findoll searching for the same creature?" He shrugs, his onyx eyes still scanning the snow. "If he was cursed, he should turn up soon, and if he was killed, his body may still be around here - either way, we should at least check." He shudders in the cold wind, and one obsidian talon clutches his heavy insulating clothing close to his slight form. "If our search is in vain, we should press on. The blizzard is getting stronger the further we walk - we must be close to the heart of the storm."
"Phew! They weren't too bad! Except for that shrinking magic. If they hit me with that I'd probably turn into a button." Noemy leaps onto Vhekk's staff and clambers to a snow-free perch. She looks over to Yorah "What happened was that nasty fey tried to kill us. Probably working with the witch. And I think they did this especially for us. That story we heard about the elk leading the boy into an icy river could have happened to us too, but they decided we deserved to be attacked directly." Noemy waves her fluff-hands in the air "I bet that means the witch is afraid of us! Lets keep going and catch her before she can run away!"
Ai was relieved that the attackers had all been dealt with and only slight harm had been done to some of her companions. Without closing the gates that let her call for the elements Ai went to Maq'la and channeled water into her hands which she then dribbled on the woman's wounds to try and help her heal.
"Well, this is turning into an adventure isn't it," Ai said, "At least we managed to deal with them without much trouble." Her expression became worried at the thoughts of the locals getting caught though and said, "I just hope we can get to the bottom of this before anyone else gets hurt."
"Yeah, I'll take a look, Maq'la." Yorah walks up to the orc, pulls out her healer tools, and gets to work.
As she does that, she listens to what others have to say. "We should find these hunters. Hopefully, they are still alive."
She keeps giving the center of the clearing curious glances every now and then.
Once she is done with Maq'la, she asks everyone to step aside from the center.
She pulls out a seed from her pouch, and throws it into the snow just below her feet. A plant suddenly sprouts from the ground, grows into a 15 ft tall tree, and suddenly whithers and falls over unto the center of the clearing.
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A clever test by Maq'la proves that the clearing served as little more than a kill zone for the hidden fey, who were hoping to get off a few shots before you saw them, rather than a disguised trap.
Whekk's check of the surrounding area reveals that they have used the ruse sufficiently enough to slay two people and drag them off into a nearby gully. Bodies frozen with cold and rigormortis lie half-covered in this ditch, their bodies pierced with tiny arrows.
The falling snow is quickly covering your tracks in the glade at this point.
"Oh... look at those poor people..." Noemy tries to see if the corpses are anyone she recognizes from town. "So it wasn't just us they were trying to catch with this trick."
As soon as Yorah is done administering treatment to Maq'la, Noemy springs forward "Let's get back to the trail and keep going!"
"As saddening as this is... we must keep going if we want to put a stop to this."
Lilyana doesn't try to see if she recognizes people from town, as it's been about 30 years since she's been there.
Vhekk stops suddenly as his search uncovers the bodies in the nearby ditch, tracing an elaborate loop in the air with the end of his staff and whispering a brief prayer to speed their souls to the afterlife. "We'll come back and retrieve their bodies for funerary rites later. For now, we need to press on, or more people will die." He glances down at his footprints, which are quickly filling with new snow. "This snow can conceal our movements, but it may also conceal the movements of our enemies. From here on out, we must be cautious - if the fey and their witch overlords have twisted the animals to their cause, any raven on a branch, any mouse scurrying beneath the snow, even the trees themselves may be spies."
Maq'la frowns. "These people deserve an honorable burial...but you are right, first we must find the rest of those that are plaguing us all."
She takes a brief look at the atomie's body (figuring it was perhaps the leader here) to see if she can find anything useful, and then is ready to go.
"Eh." Yorah waves her hand dismissively. "Something will eat them. When they thaw... eventually."
She packs up her things, and stands up, waiting for everyone to finish whatever they are up to.
Lilyana hums idly, and quietly, to herself as the group walks and/or waits, preparing herself for whatever next may come. "Winter-touched should be obvious. I don't think Sprites and Atomies usually look like that," she adds.
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Travelling further into the wood, you pull up short at the edge of yet another clearing, where you see a man digging through the snow, muttering. "I know we put it here somewhere." He is dressed in several layers, none of which are made for winter weather, and has socks wrapped around his hands as he digs in the drift. "Best find it so's I can get the hell outta here before Rohkar realizes I'm gone."
A sword, bow, and quiver lie close by.
Yorah crouches down as she hears the man. "I'll try to go around the guy so we have him pincered. In case something happens. Give me a moment "
She pulls out a seed from her pouch, mumbles something and the seed quietly transforms into a cloud of fog, enveloping the woman. It only takes a moment until the cloud dissipates, but once it's gone, Yorah is nowhere to be seen. Instead, you see a small white rabbit. It sits down, raises its front legs, and you could swear it waves at you.
A second later, the rabbit is on the way around the clearing to flank the digging man.
Lilyana stays far away from the man, about 150 feet or so, and settles into the snow ready to take a shot. The humming has long since stopped, and a stoic expression rests on her face as she steadies her aim. She won't fire until she knows what's going on, but she is ready to at the drop of a hat.
Vhekk waits for a moment, giving Yorah and his allies time to get in position, then approaches the man, trying to get as close as he can before revealing himself.
After moving closer, he calls out to the man, his staff raised in an aggressive posture. "Stop right there, farwet, or make peace with your gods! I know most of the woodsmen in this forest, and you certainly are not one of them." His features twist into a fiendish scowl as he nears the man. "The rumors of my kind are well-known, so I suggest you tell us what we want to know before I have to eat your soul."
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The man, caught with his guard down, startles as Vhekk speaks towards him. He looks at Vhekk, takes a brief longing glance at the weapons he left aside, decides the better of it, and his shoulders slump. "And what is it you want to know, Kel?"
He slowly comes to realize that Vhekk is not alone and his posture becomes even more submissive.
Maq'la steps beside Vhekk, her aq'lakh resting easy in her hands.
"Just the truth. Who is Rohkar, what is your business, and what are you looking for? Know that we have no patience for deceit."
Noemy struggles her way through the snow until she reaches the weapons the man left aside. She picks them up in case he starts feeling frisky. She also comments "There's a lot of little faeries around here making tricks and things. Are you working with them?"
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"Rohkar's my... boss" he says choosing his words with care. "He runs our, er guild." even the inexperienced at detecting lies can tell that term is a stretch.
"Faeries? Hell, that's why I'm trying to pack up and leave. I'm looking for a stash of goods I left around here somewhere just in case... um, guild business turned sour. Them fae are bad news alright, and half the guild has taken sick with this damnable cold they brought with em."
"Guild of what kind, might I ask? You seem cagey," Lilyana says behind the butt of her Arquebus, trying to be loud enough to be heard.
"Scruffy looking!?" Noemy pipes up indignantly from inside the nearby snowdrift. "I might be holding onto a big needle and be here to stab some things, but scruffy is totally wrong."
"We're afraid all your guild business is already sour. And we've found a lot of frozen and dead people already that the faeries pincushioned. So I think this is a great opportunity to cut your losses. We're fighting the faeries so you don't have to." She waves her needle bravely from under the snow opening up a path so he can see her. "I wouldn't count on finding your stash."
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Vhekk scowls at the man's deflection, drawing his own conclusions from the suspicious man's evasiveness, but after a moment, his face splits in a grin that is somehow orders of magnitude more disturbing than his scowl ever was. "No worries, friend - you don't have to tell us about the other bandits if you do not wish it. Of course... the other bandits won't know that, yes? We could tell them that you - what is the phrase? 'Spilled the beans?' We could tell them that you 'spilled the beans' like a clumsy stevedore on an Arcadian trading vessel. And if they learned the truth - about your stash, and about your plans to leave - I doubt they would be as understanding as we are."
The young cambion plants his staff firmly in the snow and crosses his arms, his razor-sharp obsidian claws glinting in the weak sunlight. "The way I see it, friend, your best chance for survival is to tell us everything you know - and I do mean everything - about the bandit camp and the frost-fey, then head for Golsifar as fast as your legs will take you."
Noemy looks between Vhekk and the bandit "Huh? You mean, you want Mr. Vhekk here to start tearing you apart with his claws rather than answer some really simple stuff?" She shuffles through the snow, audibly confused "That's silly. You're probably going to be fine if you help out. We're not the guard."