Xandian spies several logs in a heap that might have once been some sort of structure. The Grand Garlicia returns Iput's and Nhorri's bows with an appropriate amount of regal disdain, though her large eyes keep drifting away from the two Pathfinders and towards Darb instead. "I see you have brought Lord Darbington the Golden with you," she says at last. "He is welcome among us, for we love him very much and only wished to make his golden hair more noble and regal by adding bows and braids and ribbons. When Kupyn came to visit, we were certain that she too would appreciate our hard work and the newfound majesty of Sir Darbious the Glorious. But instead! She huffed and puffed and knocked down our most steadfast castle!" She gestures broadly to the pile of logs with her scepter, eyes still fixed on the hound. "We demand an apology from Kupyn! And restitutions! For we have been wounded most deeply by her actions."
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Now that she sees the remains of the "most steadfast castle", Nhorri can kinda see why Kupyn didn't feel the need to bend over backwards to make amends. Still, it's no fun when someone knocks down your castle, be it big enough to be in or small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. "Oh, yikes! Was anyone hurt? ... You know, I bet we could help put it back together. Looks doable." She meanders over to the pile of logs, ready to lift and shove things wherever someone tells her to.
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"Hmm..." Xandian puffs a bit himself in thought. Not enough to blow anything around or be concerning, of course. "From what I know of Kupyn she might very well grumble and grouch a bit. I don't know that she could blow down a castle though."
Xandian goes and fetches some vines from some nearby plants - being careful to not hurt the plants too much in the process. He comes back and secures the timbers together as the others hold them in place. "We'll see if we can get this castle standing again though."
Nhorri and Iput make Xandian's work of securing the logs in place much easier - as does the distraction of Darb, who sits happily and lets the brownies coo and fuss and pamper him rather than offer "helpful" suggestions to the Pathfinders. The only criticism Nelia can offer when the work is done is, "It should have a flag. Golden. Like His Grace the Darbinious."
But even the wolfhound can't distract the fey forever, and when the Pathfinders are finished they cheer and move into their new lodging with great gusto. Above the hubbub, from what could be considered a balcony near the top (which is about eye-level for the taller Pathfinders), the Alliumic Empress calls for silence.
"We decree- I am speaking! Yes, we decree that Kupyn and her ilk are forgiven. We are graciously allowing you to take the scallions you require for a festival - no more than what you need! - and we will be in attendance. That is all."
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The sun is just starting to set below the Hollow Hills as the group - the Pathfinders with a bundle of fresh onions and Darb with only a few extra knots in his fur - makes their way back to town. Kupyn’s cottage is easy to spot, with its brightly colored walls, thatched roof, and a tall chimney merrily puffing smoke into the brisk air. Yet as the Pathfinders get close, the house begins to rumble and quake.
The front door spills opens. Numerous tiny cobblestones pour out - but these are no ordinary rocks! They all have open mouths with gleaming sharp teeth!
The cobblestones are quicker to act than one would expect from a bunch of rocks, bumping and rolling awkwardly along the dirt path. But even with the element of surprise, they are unable to close the gap and reach the Pathfinders before they can react!
Round 1! Bold may act!
Cobbleswarm
Iput
Xandian
Nhorri
Ulfhild
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Seeing the rumblings from Kupyn's house, Xandian brings his scythe from his shoulder and into a proper grip to use.
He takes an appraising look at these stones as they come rolling down the hill, then charges forward to meet them coming. He takes a swing with the scythe and hollers up to the house, "Hey, Kupyn. What's going on up there?"
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It takes a moment for Nhorri to register that the rocks with sharp teeth in their mouths are a threat, but as soon as she notices, she Channels Elements, causing a stiff breeze to whip her clothes and hair wildly and a sudden blast of electricity to zap from her hands.
The buffeting air around her allows her to drift to the side a few steps, after which she squints hard, forming a blade of whirring air between her hands. She holds it in place for a brief moment, increasing its spinning speed, before flinging it out in a straight line right through the bouncing rocks. "Watch out for it, guys!" It's not a
Xandian has a flash of insight, but unfortunately that doesn't translate to immediate results as his scythe leaves only a faint scratch on a few of the animated rocks.
Iput's bottle lands squarely in the middle of the stones, eliciting strange grinding sounds and gnashing of teeth as the potent solvent begins its work. The wide spray of fluid seems particularly effective against the stones, but some of it also splashes onto Xandian and sizzles painfully on the leshy's skin.
Ulfhild also finds that her sword is ineffective against the rocks, clanging harshly without leaving a mark.
Nhorri's sudden burst of lightning grounds itself too early and crashes into the road, making all of Darb's hair stand on end as the hound bolts for safety. Her howling winds cut through the rocks...
...but they are too low to the ground and emerge from the storm unscathed.
Perhaps possessing some sense for wounds, the swarm of cobblestones turns its attention to Xandian. They rumble and roll underfoot, biting at the leshy's toes and legs!
Xandian can't keep his balance and is overturned by the pummeling gravel! All their little teeth bite into his skin and clothes, trying to hold him in place.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Cobbleswarm (-5, 1d6 persistent acid)
Iput
Xandian (-1, Prone, Grabbed)
Nhorri
Ulfhild
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Frustrated that her air blade didn't seem to do anything just now, Nhorri calls it back to her in the hopes that it'll manage to do something this time.
"Shucks! Well..." She really thought it ought to do more than that. Time to change tactics. Concentrating harder, she pulls a large collection of zapping electric bolts from her Gate and hurls them at the pile of stones, trying very hard to avoid hitting Xandian.
Again Nhorri's cutting winds pass over the rocks harmlessly - but her lightning strikes, and stones fall motionless to the ground! Iput's sizzling bottle likewise leaves several holes in the swarm's formation (though not quite enough for Xandian to escape the clutch of the stones' tiny teeth). Ulfhild grabs her hammer, but can't quite find a good grip on its handle and smashes it down into one of the gaps left by the potent solvent.
A rumble from the south catches Xandian's attention. The sound of something like a very small landslide catches even more of his attention as the cauldron bubbles and heaves out another wave of cobblestones that rush to join their fellows!
With renewed vigor, the rocks pummel Xandian!
The wilderness warrior can't avoid all of the bruising, but at least he dodges the worst of the falling rocks - and finds that they were so caught up in beating him up that they forgot to keep ahold of him!
Round 3! Bold may act!
Cobbleswarm (-9)
Iput
Xandian (-14, Prone)
Nhorri
Ulfhild
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Xandian's fighting and swatting at the carnivorous rocks does have the effect that they spend more time fighting and biting than holding him in place. He takes advantage of that and clambers to his feet and runs out of the middle of the swarm. He still has hold of his scythe with one hand, but swings his other arm in a peculiar whipping motion. A hard seed sails through the air into the group of stones.
Then Xandian looks up the hill to where the new cobbles came from. "Anyone know how to turn off a cauldron?"
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As more rocks join the "Pummel Xandian" party, Nhorri gasps: "What is wrong with that soup?! Someone's gotta show Kupyn how to cook!" Knowing now what works and what doesn't, she sends another electric blast at the pile of toothy pebbles.
With a sudden chill, a thought occurs to her. "Oh no! What if Kupyn's hurt?!" Or dead! Abandoning the fight for the moment, she dashes past her allies to check on Kupyn. "Keep Xandian alive, guys!"
Xandian and Ulfhild struggle to land a blow on the rocks, but even the new reinforcements cannot stand against Nhorri's lightning and Iput's fist! The swarm scatters, falling apart into something that looks like the aftermath of a wheelbarrow of gravel tipping over in the middle of the road.
But as Xandian and Nhorri get closer to Kupyn's cottage, they see the cauldron bubbling and roiling with even more rocks inside. They haven't spilled over the cauldron's rim, but they surely will manage to do so soon - unless the Pathfinders can find some way to turn off the cauldron first!
Round 4! Bold may act!
Cobbleswarm (-21)
Iput (+1 leftover action from Round 3)
Xandian (-14)
Nhorri
Ulfhild
Kupyn does not appear to be in the house as Nhorri tries to find some sort of mechanism to stop the pot's boiling. Unfortunately, she doesn't find anything useful.
Round 4! Bold may act!
Cobbleswarm (-21)
Iput (+1 leftover action from Round 3)
Xandian (-14)
Nhorri
Ulfhild
The rest of the Pathfinders rush to Kupyn's house just in time to see the cauldron heave and spill out another flood of over-aggressive rocks. The stones waste no time, immediately rolling under Ulfhild and Iput's feet and trying to bring them down to their level.
Neither adventurer can keep their balance and they topple over into the hard and welcoming embrace of the rocks' tiny teeth.
Round 5! Bold may act!
Cobbleswarm (-21)
Partial Cobbleswarm
Iput (Prone, Grabbed)
Xandian (-12)
Nhorri
Ulfhild (Prone, Grabbed)
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Iput will strike out with both fists in an attempt to clear off clear some of the tiny objects."The teeth that never stop. What a great welcome gift for unwanted visitors!"
◆ Strike with right fist
◆ Strike with left fist
After hopefully clearing some off her, Iput will struggle to stand up and escape the embrace of the hoard of tiny teeth. "This must create some kind of special soup for anyone to want to keep it around."
◆ Escape the grasp of the cobbleswarm
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"Uhhh... It's just going to puke more tooth-rocks again unless we stop it! Aack!" Nhorri tries to figure out how to break the magic on the cauldron.
"Ooo! I think I got it! Maybe?" While she's waiting to see if the cauldron indeed stops spewing danger-rocks, she carefully aims an electric blast at the stones pummeling Iput and Ulfhild.
Nhorri sees the bubbling pause momentarily before resuming - more tampering seems to be needed! Her electricity jumps to the metal cauldron rather than the rocks underfoot, and Ulfhild likewise struggles to land a blow or escape her stone-faced captors. But Iput lands a few good punches, and Xandian's seedpod crushes the few rocks that remain! Again the Pathfinders find themselves with a few moments to act freely.
Round 6! Bold may act!
Cobbleswarm (-21)
Partial Cobbleswarm (-12)
Iput (Prone)
Xandian (-12, +1 action from Round 5)
Nhorri
Ulfhild (Prone)
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Glancing up, she notes how battered Xandian looks, so she grabs a minor healing potion and holds it out to him. "Hey Xandian! Need a pick-me-up?"
"I certainly wouldn't turn down the offer," Xandian replies. He goes and takes the vial, then retreats again from the cauldron in case it spits out more cobbles before the others can turn the thing off. "And unfortunately, I don't know my way around a cook pot - at all."
Iput, Nhorri, and Ulfhild work together to finish turning the cauldron's magic off. There's a brief moment of worry as another wave of rocks seems poised to pour over the edge... and then they subside back into the pot. Upon closer examination, all the little rocks seem to have been petrified; little mouths frozen mid-bite as whatever force had been animating them evaporated. The quiet waits, and waits, and finally settles.
"What in tarnation happened here!?" Kupyn stands shocked in the middle of the road, a basket of mutton dropped at her feet. Darb hides behind the old woman, not even licking the meat that has spilled onto the broken stones underfoot. "I thought I'd get the pot ready for supper so I could start right away when we all got back, but... this... what happened?"
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"Uhhh..." Nhorri's been scolded for her absentmindedness enough to immediately feel shame for what she's done. "Sorry! Sorry! It's just that, uh, it just kept boiling over with angry rocks, and we didn't want anyone else to get hurt. See?" She grabs a spoon and scoops out a petrified piranha-pebble and holds it out for Kupyn to see, anxiousness written all over her face. "And look what they did to Xandian!"
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Xandian breathes a sigh of relief as the rest of the team gets the cauldron under control. He drinks down the other potion.
"I thought I'd get the pot ready for supper so I could start right away when we all got back, but... this... what happened?"
"Well," Xandian replies with a slow breath. "It seems that once again, your food doesn't really feel like being eaten and decided to fight back." He looks at the now-inert cobbles. "I wasn't aware that even rocks did that. Though, I also hadn't heard of anyone eating rocks before either."
"It's my grandmother's pot," Kupyn answers Ulfhild distractedly as she inspects the cauldron and its contents. "And it was her grandmother's before that, and her grandmother's, all the way back to Tulyn herself." She peers at Nhorri's spoonful for several seconds before letting it clatter back to its companions. "But yes, we should probably use the spare cauldron. Oh, that's very kind of you to help with the vegetables dear!"
As Iput starts dicing the potatoes and chopping the scallions, celery, and carrots, Kupyn starts organizing everyone else. Two people are sent to pull another large iron cauldron from the fireplace to the doorway, another to fetch wood and kindling to stoke the fire since this one doesn't come with magical heating. When Farmer Greedle and his children and grandchildren arrive, the witch puts the whole pack to work moving tables and setting benches in place. Jaget Steim has to stay seated as his companions roll several kegs and barrels into position, but graciously offers to sample the first tap "to make sure it didn't go flat on the way here". And as darkness begins to fall and the smell of mutton and garlic fills the air, Nelia Starsister and her subjects likewise fill the air with laughter and twinkling lights.
"My friends!" Kupyn raises her ladle and waits for everyone to quiet themselves (and for the brownies to stop weaving grass into Darb's fur). "Winter week is upon us once again - but once again we meet it not with fear and hunger, but with merriment, companionship, and full bellies. And let us thank those who showed us the true spirit of Winter week - strangers who came to us in our hour of need and helped us find a way past our differences and grievances, who brought us together tonight. Three cheers!" She raises her ladle to each of the Pathfinders in turn before hoisting it above her head.
"And now, what everyone has been waiting for!" Kupyn takes a deep breath, then launches into a familiar song, using her ladle like a conductor's baton. "Rock stew for me, rock stew for you..."