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Hekla doesn't have Combat Reflexes so unfortunately she'd still be flat-footed and unable to make AoOs. She watches them disappear in front of her eyes, grins, takes a take back, and then the space in front of her erupts into coruscating ice crystals that cling to everything in the area.
Hekla looks over the mirror and shrugs. "I can take a look later, but I'm glad she can't use it now." She waves off the vodka. "I haven't really been feeling that cold here, surprisingly."
Hekla approaches the sergeant around the earth elemental (provoking if he can shield bash, I guess), then takes up her chosen roll, swinging at the mirror in his hand (also provoking)
The room clear of living enemies, Hekla moves on to the next, cursing the intervening rocks keeping her from her target.
Only a little surprised that the guards didn't close with her, Hekla presses the issue by stepping into their midst. Ignoring the ones to her left and in front of her, she swings at the guard between them, practically inviting the southern one to move into a flank behind her.
AoO:
Hekla snaps a shot at the soldier directly through the doorway from her, drops the bow to the ice and then moves into the doorway, drawing her axe again as she does.
Hekla shrugs, unconcerned about all that. "Might as well keep the bad luck to myself then."
"Looks like they're retreating before our might, ha! How about we check out these doors before we see if those passcodes work." Hekla ignores the alcoves for now and heads to the center doors and will fling them open once everyone is ready.
"We should break those mirrors." Hekla stows her axe and gets out her bow to shoot the mirrors.
"Oh! Good hit!" Hekla makes a mental note of the weirdness but it doesn't particularly faze her. "Onward, then. Better to get as far as we can before they can organize." She'll start checking doors.
A similar WHOOSH happens from a smaller axe.
"Oh come off it, you think there's a dog in that village they haven't eaten yet? Last one was probably in the tavern's stew. I'll find you a deer next time I hunt."
"Shut up, you! No one asked!" Hekla smacks Dawrbrun and lays on her best natural Skald like her dad taught her.
Hekla gets out her own silver handmirror and tries to shine light back at them. times.
"Let's!"
Hekla fails to help in any meaningful capacity. She drapes one of the guards' jackets over her shoulders like a cloak and then smears a little bit of mud on everyone's face. "We're all far too attractive to pass as these guards, this'll help"
Helka considers Frank's suggestion. "Between these uniforms and the phrases, we might be able to get further into the tower before they realize what we're up to. Maybe." She squats down as close as she can get to Hatch's level. "And thank you, little sir. That'll be very helpful."
"No you don't, coward!"
Hekla steps into the danger zone to the beat of Dawrbrun's song and swings at a blind guy.
"Oh, blast it." Hekla concentrates with mild consternation and a blast of glittering ectoplasm erupts amongst the guards.
Hekla continues to wave her axe menacingly but vaguely in Nadya's direction. "Stay out or the family pays for your mistakes!"
"Get em to leave. Or kill em all."
"I'm sure they know about the rest of us, we haven't been subtle and everyone saw us coming out of the pub. And Nadya could have turned us in any time before now...but if they want a villain, we can oblige." She motions Dawrbrun towards the door and pulls her axe out and holds it menacingly toward Nadya with her best sneer on her face. She whispers, "Sorry love, we'll see you through this."
"Oh it'll be fine, they won't miss a cuppa milk, especially to help throw off the yoke of oppression and fear. It's for their own good, really."
"Well perhaps we ought to approach during a storm then. Or at night." She smirks for a moment before her expression lightens toward their host. "Thank you. You continue to be so helpful and so hospitable. We won't forget this." Then she considers Barnaby's suggestion seriously. "It can't be that difficult, can it? Milking a cow?"
Hekla rises and catches the creepy kid scaring, and she gives him a goofy grin while she lets ger own, strangely mismatched eyes bug out and cross. For some inexplicable reason, and seemingly without her knowledge, they both turn completely black for a brief second. She checks to make sure the other twin isn't staring creepily at her too. Creepy twins is a bad sign. Regardless, they shouldn't dally too long in town, especially after that weirdness yesterday. "Nadja, can you tell us any more about this tower? Is it far? Do you know if there are many guards, or many visitors?"
She'll help lead Alethea through the fog to the lady, and she'll try to heal her. "Come along, Princess, we can handle this."
If Possible:
Not giving her a chance to answer, Hekla moves to the woman with an exasperated sigh and tries to restrain her.
Feeling significantly refreshed, Hekla picks her chair up and chucks clear over the bar at the giant mirror.
If the mirror shatters: "Can we PLEASE cut this cheeky charade and talk in private?"
Staring at the mirror, Hekla hardly notices the crossbow aimed at her until the bolt sprouts from her chest. "Hlrk!"
Hekla looks up confused at the sudden tense situation. But she notices the giant mirror, and the gears start to turn. She turns her back to the mirror and quietly asks, in Skald, "Are we being watched?"
Hekla eyes the board and helps Alethea to a seat. "Two stews, and...do you provide bottle service for the Icewine? We'llhave a bottle and..two glasses? Would anyone else like in on this? Three?" She looks around the group expectantly, oblivious to the vibe of the place.
"Well that is curious."
Object Reading: At 2nd level, an occultist learns how to read information from items he examines. Examining an item in this way requires him to spend 1 minute handling the item. If the item is a magic item, the occultist learns its properties and command word as if he had successfully examined the item using detect magic and succeeded at a Spellcraft check. This ability does not reveal whether the item is cursed unless the occultist’s class level is equal to or greater than the caster level of the item. If the item has any historical significance, the occultist learns one piece of information about its past (as determined by the GM). Finally, if the item was last used no longer than 1 day ago per the occultist’s class level, the occultist learns one piece of information about the last creature to use the item. This information might be a glimpse of the creature’s appearance, a brief vision of what it saw while using the item, or perhaps its emotional state when it last used the item. The GM determines what information is gained in this way. This functions like the psychometry occult skill unlock (see page 196), but doesn’t require a skill check and can be used at will.
"Nothing to worry about, I think." She sounds unsure, she's used to trusting her insticts. "Just a ruined house and a strange coin." Hekla grabs the coin and slips it into a pocket before following along.
---
Hekla tenses and looks around warily. "Someone's watching us. I don't like this." She takes a few cautious steps into the rubble, dragging Alethea with her.
"Course I'll buy you a drink." She follows up with an exagerrated stage whisper to Barnaby "And she won't even realize if I use her coins to do it." --- Along the way, Hekla sees the abandoned house. "Oh this looks promising! Up for a bit of exploring?"
Hekla warmly greets Nadja's family warmly in Skald but stays a little aloof. She starts to head out the door with Barnaby to head to the tavern, but turns back at Alethea's warning. "Rein him in yourself, sheriff. Or at least come with us, what better time to get smashed than after your eyes were gouged out? That offer to help you didn't end at the door here."
Level Up:
FCB: +1 HP ABP: +1 to Axe, +1 to Breastplate
"Abadar's brass b@!~$&#s, your eyes are gone! Healer, come quick! Grab my hand, I'll help you along."
Hekla steps back up to the crows and continues to swing her axe at them, this time to the rhythm of Dawrbrun's song. As she swings, she feels a black mantle manifest briefly on her shoulders and the Black Rider grants her swings strength.
Hekla trudges forward confidently towards the birds and tries to lay into the cloud of them with her axe.
Hekla was just terrible at hide and seek as a child.
Hekla dumps the ice out of her mug and reaches for more tea. "Aye, she shan't be hurting any children ever again once we meet."
Hekla shoots a grim look over to Alethea, a cold fire burning in her blue eye. She goes to sip her own tea and nothing spills from her mug, the tea suddenly and inexplicably frozen solid. She sets it down. "Nadya, spare the goodwill and steel yourself for revenge, which we are happy to assist with. Nazhena used your beautiful child to fuel her schemes and turned her to one of her sick guard-dolls, trapped her soul in a gem. We met her on our way here. Did what we could to help her, comfort her, give her peace." It was blunt, but her mother had a right to know.
"Camp it is then, and a cozy fire. Mum, would you care to cook for these good folk?" Hekla looks over to Lyudmila and her shop before turning back to Nadya. "What has brought you out into the storm, and what can you tell us of Waldsby? Do you have any towers in Waldsby, perhaps Pale ones?"
Hekla wipes her hands off in the snow and smiles at the new group. She greets them in Skald then switches to common. "Hello! I'm Hekla Nornsdottir. We've only just arrived, could you help us get our bearings?"
Hekla overextends herself on the unstable footing at the shoreline and swings very wide.
Hekla seizes the opportunity as well and hustles across the ice, leaving an opening for Dawrbrun.
"You sound surprised, but my father was Ulfen Guard. The stories he told!" She gestures toward the iconic cloak on her back, passed down to her recently. |
