As you enter the room, the pile of bones animates, taking the shape of a horrific humanoid figure!
Fortunately, the relatively tight confines of the chamber make movement somewhat difficult for the creature...
...although you're unsure as to whether it's an undead, aberration, or something else entirely.
What is that?
Not having much of a choice, Serael attacked the strange creature, hoping it isn't part of the protections Baba Yaga may have left behind. She calls out for her menagerie "Summer, Boris, Horns, to me!"
They come running while she makes way for them and starts shooting at the creature, her skin turning cold.
All three of your shots strike the creature, dealing minimal damage. It responds by hurling bones at you...
...which duplicate rapidly and form a cage around you as the creature continues to lumber forward.
Serael calls for Summer, the closest to her, to release her. Seeing as her arrows are not as effective, she swaps for cold iron, hoping it has similar resistances as a fey. Boris attacks the creatures while Horns charges at it!
Your shots connect with the creature, but the cold iron is just as ineffective as your steel-tipped arrows. The cage surrounding you is just as resistant, as Summer quickly discovers.
The creature strikes out at your companions as the bone cage suddenly constricts painfully!
Both Boris and Horns are struck by the strange creature made of bone and sinew, the latter being particularly hurt, while Serael herself is boxed in by the cage.
Serael noticed Horns was particularly hurt, but this wasn't a simple matter of retreating. She herself could not escape anyway. She looks at her remaining arrows: Dragon-bane, useless against this creature... My flaming arrows are gone so just the shock arrows left.
With no other option, she fires three of her shock arrows, hoping it is enough to bypass the creature's resistance, while Boris and Horns keep attacking it for any kind of scratch damage. Summer keeps trying to release Serael.
As you and your companions continue to chip away at the creature, you notice that the lightning from your arrows is effective. You don't think it's weak to it, per se, but it definitely isn't resistant. Despite the creature's significant defenses, the small amounts of damage all of you are managing to inflict seem to be taking a toll on it. A few more successful attacks, and it'll likely fall.
Horns thankfuly dodges the attack, but Boris is once again hit while Serael continues to be strangled by the cage.
Feeling hopeful that her shock arrows at least work, Serael fires three more at the creature, while Boris and Horns help her, and Summer keeps trying to destroy the cage.
After two shots, the creature collapses into a pile of bones. It takes slightly longer for Summer to break through the cage that traps you, but the crushing has stopped.
I'm unable to connect with the spirits here for increased healing... And my magic is running out as well, I'm very tired. I could just rest here, but I might be attacked at any moment. And I don't know how much time I'll have, I killed a jadwiga.
Worried, maybe even paranoid, about her lack of information to know if it is safe to rest, she decides to heal herself and Horns, for now, as they were the ones that looked the worse.
Having killed the creature, Serael approaches the strange mist emanating at the back of the room and, if it's nothing, she proceeds to the west through the door she can see.
Now that you actually have time to pay attention to the room, you can't help but notice the map in the floor depicts the nation of Irrisen. It's incredibly detailed to the point that you can literally view the landscape by crouching low to the ground. When you do, you can see numerous specks - mostly concentrated in the various cities - that appear to be moving.
As for the mist, it's clearly magical as it isn't dispersing throughout the room, but you can't find the source. It doesn't appear to be actively harmful, though.
The western door is locked, but you believe you can get it open with a few minute's work .
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A flight of steps leads to a cool, earthen chamber beneath the hut that by all rights should not exist. A grinding sound fills the air, emanating from a millstone in the center of the room that turns endlessly, powered by some unknown force. Several small bins sit along the north wall, next to a few bulging sacks in the northeast corner. A small wooden box wrapped in chains sits in the southwest corner.
Serael checks the bins for any clues regarding what has happened in the Dancing Hut or maybe hints regarding Baba Yaga's location. She also approaches the wooden box and attempts to remove the chains, if they are not trapped.
The bins contain potatoes, turnips, onions, and other vegetables. The sacks contain bonemeal and dried grains. The chest, however, is much more interesting....
Potential Loot
migrus locker
Serael removes the chain and opens the box and is startled when a strange cat comes up from inside. It has a humanoid face that shifts, almost as if it's melting, as it licks itself, its hard body unchanging as the face and tongue liquify as they touch it and change. It quickly becomes clear the face is going to be that of Serael.
That is disgusting. But harmless.
She leaves the 'migrus' as it shifts and transforms and heads back to the room with Irrisen's map, to better analyze it. Is it, in real time, keeping track of everyone in the country? she wonders as she sees the specks moving. Maybe they are all jadwigas?
Finally, she returns to the entrance and climbs the ladder, trying to make sure the Hut is completely empty before dropping the plague doctor's mask and the frost giant's hair in the cauldron.
The center portion of the floor of this loft is open, crossed by wooden rafters and overlooking the bubbling cauldron in the room below. Numerous barrels, boxes, and crates are arrayed around the room's walls. The south wall holds a large window.
Checking the containers, you find they hold a variety of mundane supplies: blankets, buckets, candles, cooking utensils, extra pots and pans, linens, rope, washtubs, and the like.
I'll be able to use the Hut as a base, at least. I have enough to sustain myself and Summer, Winter, Boris and Horns.
Satisfied that she has explored the entire hut and it's free of enemies, she walks back to near the entrance, to the cauldron.
She picks up the plague doctor's mask and the frost giant's hair and puts them on the cauldron.
This feels less ceremonious than it should've been. I've completed the specific instructions Black Midnight left me, I have the vestigial powers of one of the riders... Probably the only one, considering the corpses of the last two I've found.
With all her animals alongside her, she stirs up the keys she just threw at the cauldron, ready to be taken wherever it is that Baba Yaga's trail will lead them.
The cauldron bubbles as you drop in the keys and begin to stir. After a full minute ... nothing happens. That's when you hear a chuckle behind you. "I've taken the controls, and you'll never find them, hee hee! Don't you know it's rude to trespass? You got a lot of nerve traipsing around my house with a bunch of dirty animals. Didn't even wipe your feet!"
Turning, you see an odd bird-headed creature pointing a broom at you accusingly. "Such rudeness!"
You realize this is a kikimora: a fey "house spirit" similar to a brownie. Although fond of mischief and mean-spirited pranks, these creatures are not evil, and if properly appeased, will often serve as ersatz housekeepers who vigorously guard "their" property from unwanted intruders.
One last fey, huh.
"Hey!! My animals are not dirty!" Serael looks over herself and her companions, the wear and tear of the constant fighting evident on them, alongside dead leaves and overall grime from the trek through the magical forest around the hut. "Well, a bit dirty, but it was all for this."
Serael decides sincerity might be the best policy, kikimoras protect their homes and, therefore, must be here because of Baba Yaga.
"I'm not trepassing, by the way. I'm here on a mission to find Baba Yaga! Did you even see me dropping the keys in the cauldron, that you rudely have taken the controls? They were given to me by the Black Rider!"
"Liar!" screeches the kikimora before vanishing. After a few seconds, though, she reappears. "You did pass through the ward to the map room without any problems, though, and killed the bone man the Daughter Queen left. Maybe I was too hasty," she begrudgingly admits before growing suspicious again. "If you find Baba Yaga, what are you going to do?"
Daughter Queen? So it was Queen Elvanna's?
"I'll help her in whatever way she needs, so she can come back to Golarion and remove Queen Elvanna from power. I'm doing this because the queen is creating a land of eternal winter throughout the entire continent, and maybe even beyond that." Serael said, once again, being completely sincere.
The fey hems and haws for several seconds before vanishing again. When she reappears, she's holding a cracked clay bowl with a brown hen's egg inside of it. "After you put stuff into the cauldron, you need to crack the egg into this bowl. A chick will emerge, and once you throw it into the cauldron and stir, the Hut will travel." She glares as she hands the items over. "If you're lying, I'll get you! Zorka sees everything!" With that, she vanishes and doesn't reappear.
"Hey! Hey!!" Serael speaks loudly but doesn't exactly yell "Where do you even go?"
Not willing to wait for the Kikimora - Zorka is her name? - Serael follows the instructions to the letter, cracking the egg into the bow and tanking the chick and throwing in the cauldron, but does so against her will.
Poor chick...
She awaits to see if the Hut will travel.
This time, as you stir the cauldron, everything in the room seems to swirl and shift. You feel a strange, almost euphoric, sense of momentary displacement, before the room solidifies with a final shimmer. Everything has changed.
A sturdy black cauldron sits in the middle of a rustic room with timber floors, log walls, and a high ceiling framed by long beams cut from whole trunks. A grand cobblestone hearth fills one corner, its dying embers feeding the room with a dull red glow. Various barrels, farm tools, crates, and other miscellaneous items clutter the remainder of the space. In the corner opposite the fireplace, a rickety wooden staircase climbs to a small wooden landing. A shallow alcove off the landing holds two thick oaken doors.
The entire hut... changed?
Serael goes to the double oaken doors and opens them, curious about... everything, really. How the Hut changed, where exactly she is and so forth.
The doors open into the middle of a long corridor that stretches out to both sides, the aged plank floors seeming to continue forever. Solid logs form the passage walls, intricately carved with knotted designs and images of lances, and centaurs, ravens, and female figures. Pale-winged moths and tiny fireflies flutter through the hallway, their flickering glows filling the corridor with dim light.
You detect an almost imperceptible curve to the hallway, indicating that it likely forms a large ring. After walking down the hallway for a time, you come across a door with a symbol carved upon it: an inverted half-circle with a horizontal line across the top and several lines exiting the circle. A single extended arrow points downward in the center.
This carving is a symbol for twilight, in a style favored by Iobarian witches.
The door is unlocked, and you detect no traps, so you open it. A slight chill wafts through this room, carrying the stale scent of carrion and peat. Beyond, an impossible forest seems to have devoured the entire chamber. The walls are woven from tangled knots of black, leafless trees, and fine flakes of rusted iron cover the floor, softly crumbling to dust. A pale light emanates from a fist-sized orb that rests within a nest of black iron branches in the center of the room, turning all forms into ebon silhouettes.
Where am I? Is this Iobara? Where did the hut end? Or I am still inside?
Seeing no other way to go, Serael enters the room taken over by a forest and approaches the orb, cautiously. She scans the room for other exits.
You spot a narrow passageway lined with jutting, leafless branches hidden behind a tangle of dead branches at the rear of the room. As you move toward it, a raven flies out of the darkness and settles atop the glowing orb, casting a huge, ominous shadow. You notice a small iron amulet hanging from a leather thong about its neck. After a moment, it speaks!
"Baba Yaga is not here, but you can find her, never fear. First, however, you must persuade me you possess the strength necessary to bear my knowledge. My question is a simple one: Born twins, they live not, Yet they grow until death. Their fates are of'n tied. Ever-crescent, as the moon, Symbols of the warrior's pride. "The answer to this question lies in the chamber beyond. Bring me the answer, and I shall give you what you seek."
Serael is startled by the raven she hadn't noticed until it showed up and even more when it started speaking.
So it knows I am after Baba Yaga and I have to prove my worth. she thinks slightly annoyed, thinking the Black Rider's mantle would be enough. No need to be impolite to a bird, though.
She nods to the raven. "Thanks for the help! I'll be back shortly."
She goes in the direction of the 'chamber beyond', assuming it's the one after the narrow passageway she just saw,, pondering the riddle.
"Born twins" only makes me think of Summer and Winter, ha, but "they live not", so it's probably a metaphor. Maybe stars? - she tries to remove her obvious bias, such as animals and Desna from the equation - "Tied fates, symbols of warrior's pride" maybe some weapons? Well, Ihave to bring the answer so whatever is inside the next room will narrow the scope of my options.
The walls of this wide chamber are lined with gray, lifeless trees and thorny tangles of brush. In the center of the room stands a gnarled and leafless tree whose outstretched branches twist like cruel, beastly talons.
As you enter, a massive boar charges out of the shadows, ready to gore you to ribbons!
The raven did mention it was a test of strength, but I expected something less literal.
Serael couldn't help but look around the room looking for the riddle's answer.
Maybe the branches? But it's supposed to be lifeless...Hmmm...
Snapping back into reality, she grabs her bow and aims at the boar, trying not to think at her few precious arrows left. "Friends, charge!!"
All her companions charge toward the boar, while Serael fires two arrows at the boar.
Surprisingly, your holy arrows are quite effective against the beast. It responds by attempting to gore with its two powerful tusks, but fortunately, your companions are able to interpose themselves between you and it.
Thankfully, Boris dodges the tusks.
He looks dangerous, we have to finish this as soon as possible... So...
Deciding once again on a middle ground, Serael fires two arrows instead of three while her animals also all attack.
With a final roar, the massive boar collapses.
With no more immediate danger, Serael walks around the room trying to grasp what else might be there aside from the boar. She approaches the central tree as well, to get a better look at it.
It's either the branches or the boar's tusks, because of the whole 'pride of the warrior', but I'm not sure... How do I even get the branches or tusks to the raven without damaging them?
Despite its gnarled and leafless appearance, the tree appears to still be alive, ruling it out as a potential answer to the raven's riddle. The boar's crescent-shaped tusks, however, seem very promising. They're a bit tricky to remove, but the task is nothing you can't handle .
Upon showing them to the raven, it nods and removes its iron amulet. "This amulet holds only one of the three clues you seek. It reveals the first ingredient for Baba Yaga's kettle. Look for this key where time catches up to us all." Clutching a boar's tusk in each talon, the raven lifts itself atop the glowing orb in the nest. As it lands, the light winks out, and the raven disappears - but not before cawing one last phrase. "Look for the Mother when the moon is full."
You recognize the rune on the amulet as Iobarian but aren't familiar enough with the language to decipher its meaning.
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You notice that a door has appeared in the trunk of the tree, bearing the symbol of a downward-facing crescent resting on a horizontal line with arrows pointing outward.
You recognize this as the Iobarian symbol for Night.
Stepping through the door, you find that everything beyond the threshold of the chamber beyond is cloaked in darkness. Thick stone columns and wooden beams, entangled with pale moonflower blossoms, support the room's high-vaulted ceiling, and a faintly glowing blood-red orb dangles from a black iron chain in the center of the room. As you enter, a raven - different from the first - hops down from one of the beams and perches atop the orb.
Serael thanks the raven as it flies away but is left with more questions than answers. She puts on the amulet, just in case and repeats what it said over and over again in her head.
"Where time catches up to us all." Is it death? A place where we die? "Look for the Mother when the moon is full". I think of Desna, but that Mother is probably Baba Yaga, right? Why the full moon? Werewolves, perhaps?
She enters the door that has just appeared and recognizes yet another symbol.
Once again, it's an Iobarian symbol. Is this still inside the hut? Does it change to accomodate it's surroundings? Does this mean I am in Iobaria or that the last time the hut was at this place, Iobarian witches were inside?
She gathers her courage and crosses the darkness in the direction of the orb and the raven.
The raven makes no sound as you approach but continues to watch you keenly.
Serael tries to greet the raven
"Hello?"
If there is no answer, she tries to analyze the flowers, moonflowers, thinking it might be related to the riddle left by the previous raven.
"Can I help you?"
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As far as you can tell, the moonflowers are entirely mundane. You don't notice any particularly unique ones, but with the majority of the chamber shrouded in darkness, it's hard to know if there are more that you haven't seen yet.
She returns from the darkness and decides once again sincerity is the best policy. If this raven was as reasonable as the last one, it could work.
"Yes. I have done one of the tests to convince another raven of my abilities." she shows her new amulet "That I want to use to free Baba Yaga."
Upon seeing the amulet, the raven nods. "While this convinces me of your intentions, you have yet to convince me of your wit. To prove your cleverness, you must solve my puzzle. In the next room is a projection of a memory that has been jumbled. You must set it back in its proper order and return with the boon doing this will grant you."
The light from the glowing orb wavers for a few seconds before becoming a shaft of light that points toward a doorway.
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This long, circular corridor is decorated into a twisted rendition of Irrisen's Porcelain Street on a bright winter day, very much like a madwoman's attempt to feign sanity. Bright, cheery building are painted along the walls with ghostly faces screaming from upper windows. Facades jut out into the street at strange angles, nailed crudely to the walls with iron spikes that sometimes also holds small birds or even human appendages. Figures made of porcelain lean out from some of the shops and perform simple, repetitive motions: like automatons at an amusement park. Some speak in tinny voices, repeating broken phrases over and over.
Five porcelain figures are different: they stand unmoving and whole in the middle of the street, evenly spaced around the ring. The figures are a Peddler, a Dollmaker, a Child, a Guard, and a Jadwiga. There are numerous garments (Scarf, Tabard, Hat, Belt, Gloves) of different colors (Brown, White, Green, Blue, Red) strewn throughout the scene.
Serael bites her lips, slightly annoyed.
To have this raven openly doubting my intelligence is a bit harsh...
She quickly remembers all the time she has trusted people, the changeling for example, or the villagers in Waldsby, that should not be trusted and mentally accepts that her intelligence should, in fact, be challenged.
She moves to the other room following the light and meets a very unsettling scenario. She "speaks" to the automatons and collects the clues.
Serael thinks for a while and picks up 5 different garments, and puts them on the figures as such, from North to South:
1. On the figurine of the Pedder the green hat;
2. She puts on the brown gloves on the Dollmaker;
3. A blue scarf upon the child;
4. A white tabard on the Guard;
5. And finally a red belt on the Jadwiga;
She stares at her solution, in case of any last minute insight and returns to the raven with the answer.
When you finish clothing the figures with their respective articles of clothing, they animate and play out a brief scene. As you watch, the Jadwiga and the child walk through the street, accompanied by the guard. Suddenly, the press of the crowd separates the child from the other two while they're speaking with a peddler. The child sees the dollmaker and takes a porcelain doll from his hands. As the scene concludes, she offers it to you.
When you show the doll to the raven, he exchanges it for his iron amulet. "You have taken upon yourself a great burden. For that which you desire, the changeling holds. Know this as well: you will find the Crone only when the moon wanes." He flies off, clutching the doll in his talons, and as he leaves, the light from the orb fades, leaving only a dim light that illuminates a new doorway.
The amulet is marked with the Iobarian rune for "gold."
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This new door bears the symbol of an upward facing half-circle resting on a horizontal line. Several arrows point outward from the circle, and at its center, a single extended arrow points upward.
You recognize this as the Iobarian symbol for Dawn.
Flowering vines drape the walls of this chamber. Winding, pebble-strewn pathways weave through a magnificent garden of honeysuckle and lilac. A pale, warm light fills the room, emanating from a stone-lined pool of water in the center. The purple and orange reflection of the early morning sky glitters upon the pool's surface.
As you approach, a raven flutters down from a nearby shrub and perches at the pool's edge opposite you. "State your purpose."
Serael takes the amulet and analyses the symbol.
Yet another Iobarian symbol. This one's 'gold' but the first one I did not recognize... Also, Mother on the full moon, Crone when the moon wanes... What does this mean? The 'reward' for completion on these tests follow a pattern. What will the third symbol be? It could help me realize the first one, maybe they are all metals? What goes together with Mother and Crone? It's probably about Baba Yaga, so, Queen? Daughter?
She stops her train of thought before she veers too off the path and start speculating too much. Serael walks to the newly illuminated door where yet another Iobarian symbol is, Dawn.
Twilight, Night, Dawn. This one must be the end.
Serael enters the garden and approaches the raven, answering with more confidence now "I'm here to find Baba Yaga."
"Before I aid you, you must first convince me you have the resolve to fulfill your desire. To prove your mental fortitude, you must face what I, the herald of the coming day, cannot. In the next chamber is an entity. From this entity, you must learn the location of ‘the shard.’”
A door opens before you to reveal a small, candlelit bedroom - empty save for a plain wooden bed and a night table where a pale candle burns in an iron candleholder. The bed is perfectly made, but the sheets display an ominous, dark crimson stain in the middle of the bed.
Serael nods to the raven and moves to the new room, alerting her animals to be careful.
I wonder if this one is supposed to be a fight as well. How do I convince an 'entity'?
Serael scans the new room for the so-called 'entity' and then approaches the bed.
As you approach the bed, the candlelight turns reddish and pulsing. The figure of a young woman rises from the stain and then fragments into a swirling chaos of tortured faces, reaching arms, and twisting hair that fills the entire room. She appears to be a female Jadwiga.
You recognize her as Yelizaveta, the thirteenth daughter of Baba Yaga and former queen of Irrisen.
"Queen Yelizaveta. Serael says promptly and gives a slight bow "I did not expect to find you here, I apologize for my attire."
Serael knows she is making a gamble, assuming Yelizaveta is a ghost of the queen. She needs to learn something from her, so best to approach cautiously and with utmost respect, that the Jadwigas usually demand, of course.
The spirit screams with a multitude of voices, and the tumultuous sound threatens to steal your sanity.
The piercing screams stagger Serael, who stumbles grabbing her head, as if she could remove the noises. They leave a scar on her psyche.
"My liege..." she starts through gritted teeth as she screams reverberate "What could I possibly do to help?"