HLoM: The Firebird, Chapter 2

[Nathan of the FoS]

"I'll go with ye," the woman says suddenly. "Outside first? And perhaps a look at these wolves of yours. Colin, lend me the lass." Gesturing to Tara to join you, she indicates herself and says "Lucy Ap Mortem."

Colin, not best pleased, makes a get-out-of-here toss of the head at Tara, who stands and comes to join you.

[Isabella]

"Richard Blackwood," Richard returned, with a small bow. He looked rather sheepishly at Tara, though offered her his own holy symbol if the mercenaries weren't inclined to give hers back. Seeing everyone in place, he stepped out back towards the pouring rain and the broken wolves.

[NeoTiamat]

"Maybe none. Maybe this will save their lives back then. Maybe it will at least save their souls." Lena said quietly. "I don't know. But aim for the dead ones first, I want to try something."

Once more Lena raised her voice, a succession of yips and howls begging for attention, making an offer. There was a better hunt behind them, the wolves that no longer lived, meat that walked and could still be blood. And if they listened to her, Lena could offer greater blood, more hunting later, in finer places than these. Or if they don't want to move, then she can bring them food.

Maintaining Inspire Courage
Going to try a Diplomacy +23 here, sadly at a double-roll, and at whatever penalty is given for the short period of time.
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The basic deal is that the live wolves stop eating people and start eating zombie wolves, and Lena will not only help them kill the zombie wolves, but if they ally with her will set them up with really good hunting later on (Barovia is probably a nicer place than Forlorn) or food (Strahd can foot the bill for a herd of sheep).

And the Diplomacy Offer is that of a Hero Point.




Well this wasn't good. On the other hand, it was if anything even worse for the prone form over there, or for anyone else that was going to meet these wolves. So the first job was to get them away.

Ushka set her paws firmly, opened her jaws, and began to bark very loudly at the wolves, informing them of the canine equivalent of 'your mother was a poodle and your grandfather a cat'. The moment she was sure of having everyone's attention, she promptly turned tail and beat a hasty retreat back to the others.

Draw away the wolves, let her mistress handle it, then get one of the heal-y people back to the great hall.

I have no idea what roll is relevant here, hopefully none cuz Ushka's social skills aren't that good by virtue of being a fox. Anyway, try and get Wolf #2 to follow, and then use that 40 foot move speed!

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Only after they are out the door does Vasili return Lucy's introduction, adding a bow that seemed only slightly on the spastic side. Having Tara with them without any open resistance from Colin was a fine coup, but they still had to deal with their chaperone. Vasili fell into silent information gathering mode again: who was this woman, and what was her part in these tragic events?

As for Leila, while it might be informative to have her spy on Colin from her hiding place and see how he reacted after they were all gone, Vasili was far too distrustful of the time shifts. As the were heading out the door to the courtyard, a tiny feline form zipped out of the dark to follow at her master's heels.

Once outside, however, Vasili has Leila hang back, small and stealthy. Until they knew more about Lucy, it was best not to reveal all their assets.

Sense Motive +10 (Observation check) to answer the following, in order of importance:
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•What is this person trying to accomplish right now?
•Is this person trying to hide something from me?

Vasili will also do an Analysis of Lucy and Colin's behavior, based on these three facts:
*Lucy called Colin "little man," and generally banters with him like an equal.
*Colin seemed certain that Lucy was motivated by self-preservation, and she agreed.
*Once Lucy had decided she would go with us, she did not beg any leave of Colin, but just walked off.
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From this, Vasili is hoping to get a glimpse of who they are dealing with here, in terms of her character and personality.

[Isabella]

The wolves do not even acknowledge Lena's overtures; they merely repeat their litany of blood and death. Something even deeper than hunger or pack-bond is driving them; Lena feels some other mind working in them, driving them to kill.* And not all of them are living; the larger group of stragglers pacing to the fray, many limping or carrying hideous wounds, bring the smell of death with them. Rojan, Dundee and Marcel move forward as Renhalt's magic takes hold, their quarterstaves striking home; Marcel also edges forward. Cattia says something under her breath as she flicks two...coins?...with surprising speed at the wolves approaching her, drawing blood from both.



Ushka has never previously experienced a foxhunt; she hopes wolves aren't better at it than foxhounds. Unfortunately she doesn't have much room to maneuver unless she goes back outside, but there are so many wolves out there already, how bad can it be to have two more?

All this passes through her mind in a moment, and then the lead wolf leaps forward, claws scrabbling at the hard stone floor.

Zer Map
*Sense Motive at a DC Lena can't fail: The wolves are under very strong magical compulsion (dominated rather than charmed.

Isolt, Brangain, and Dundee are now on the map.
Wolf 1 3/17 hp
Wolf 2 10/17 hp
Wolf 6 11/17 hp
Wolf 7 13/17 hp
Given there are so many, I'll only note damaged wolves. Dead/re-dead wolves will be removed, wolves without notation are healthy.
Brangain: 20/20 hp
Isolt: 16/16 hp
Dundee: 32/32 hp haste
Marcel: 44/44 hp, haste
Renhalt: 39/39 hp, haste
Cattia: 38/38 hp, haste
Rojan: 54/54 hp, haste
Lena: 37/37 hp
Ushka: 18/18 hp

Dundee, Rojan, Marcel, Renhalt, and Cattia are benefiting from Renhalt's haste spell.

This commences regular combat rules of order.

VIEW CONTENT:

[Nathan of the FoS]

Lucy ApMortem accompanies you back into the night, to all appearances calm and collected and all but ignoring the rain and darkness. She crosses the courtyard to where the decapitated wolves lie and stoops to observe them with interest; she shows no squeamishness at all about touching them with her bare hands.

"Now, then," she says, looking around at you, "tell me again how you came to be out here? The ghaisties ye saw, how did they look and what did they say?"

Results of Vasili's checks:

VIEW CONTENT:

What is Lucy trying to accomplish? Lucy wants to look at the wolves! She's also mildly skeptical about your story in general and wants to poke at it a bit, though she doesn't seem to care as much as Colin did about verifying it. She isn't trying to hide anything at the moment, although you certainly don't get the feeling she'd confide in you.

Analysis results: She's strikingly self-confident and obviously doesn't answer to Colin, who seems to be Captain Avard's second-in-command and who has been running the show otherwise. This almost certainly implies that she is responsible directly to the laird, rather than being one of the mercenaries who respond to Avard and Colin. She also shows no hesitation in joining you alone, so she obviously doesn't see you as a threat to her; either she has you pegged for trustworthy sorts or she thinks the four of you together can't hurt her much (or both).

[Isabella]

Richard rubbed the back of his head as they walked back out into the rain. Between the living and the dead, Richard felt he was preferring the dead right now - they were more straightforward and involved less ridiculous masculine posturing.

"Do-do we know where Freiherr Rojan is?" Richard whispered to Tara, as well as he could over the sounds of falling water. One had the feeling he was trying very hard not to properly learn the correct forms of address in Hazlan.

"Now, then," she says, looking around at you, "tell me again how you came to be out here? The ghaisties ye saw, how did they look and what did they say?"

"There was a-a-a young man, with blackened veins," Richard repeated. "And a-a woman, who held a-a spectral child. She asked us to-to protect him, but there was... nothing for us to protect."

"Come to-to-to think of it, there was a woman who-who had missing eyes, that we encountered near the-the kitchen before this happened. I-I-I think her name was Rual, but I-I couldn't understand what she was saying when we saw her. She had one of our number under a-a spell then, I-I think. It-it seemed like he had snapped out of it when we left, but..."

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Vasili doesn't answer the question unless it is directly put to him. Instead, he uses Richard's answers to the questions to observe the woman's reactions. Was she interested in any of the ghosts in particular, or any details about the encounter? Once it appears that Richard has her attention, Vasili finds a wolf corpse out of her field of vision, as distant as he can manage without arousing suspicion, and kneels down as if to examine it.

<Nuray, can you hear me? Watch Lucy closely; I just want to see if she can notice this, and whether she'll say anything.>

With Nuray and Leila as lookouts, Vasili renews his message spell on Richard, Nuray and Tara, using the copper wire wrapped around his finger.

"Come to-to-to think of it, there was a woman who-who had missing eyes, that we encountered near the-the kitchen before this happened. I-I-I think her name was Rual, but I-I couldn't understand what she was saying when we saw her. She had one of our number under a-a spell then, I-I think. It-it seemed like he had snapped out of it when we left, but..."

As Richard continues his explanation, Vasili searches among the wolf corpses for a good specimen--exceptionally good or bad preservation, large size, or anything else that might be of interest from an arcane point of view. When Richard begins to trail off, Vasili selects a candidate, waits a beat, and then calls to Lucy.

"Freyin ApMorten, what do you make of this one?"

I'm assuming Lucy's surname is actually "ApMorten," like in the books, although I can appreciate the pun. If I'm wrong, are you also changing the name of the family in Forfarmax? At any rate, Vasili will try to recall what he knows about the ApMorten family (K:Nobiliy +11)
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[Nathan of the FoS]

"A woman without eyes," Lucy repeats, considering. "I think I know the one. Plain garb, like a druid? She's a bad one. Many will do no harm, they're just unchancey, but she's got some anger to her, that one. The young woman with the babby, she comes every night at midnight, though usually she doesn't speak, as I hear tell. You say a young man with...blackened veins?"

She looks sharply at Vasili, waving away his request to come examine the wolf as she fixes her gaze on the paladin. "Did ye speak with him? Did he give a name?"

The modern ApMortens have a very slightly different name, but the clan tartan appears to be the same. They have an unsavory reputation as dabblers in necromancy--sometimes more than dabblers, among the more skilled.

[Isabella]

Richard returned the woman's gaze with a rather wary one of his own, but eventually said, "T-Tristen Ap Blanc, Laird of this hall and-and of this land."

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Vasili approaches closer when he sees Richard has Lucy's attention.

"He had fangs," Vasili adds. "And appeared solid despite being able to go through walls."

[NeoTiamat]

Lena cursed under her breath in Balok, using several words that a properly brought up young Barovian lady should not know. It had been a good idea, but it was also the only one she had.

"I don't suppose anyone has a dispellation magic available?" Lena asked, stepping back to whisper a quick stanza and try and knock at least a few of the enchanted predators out of the fight. She called to the nearest servants, hoping they would understand her. "Run to us! Quickly now!"

Maintaining Inspire Courage

Casting a Hideous Laughter (Will DC 19) at Wolf #3, using the Metamagic Rod of Bouncing to redirect to Wolf #4 if it fails.

Let me know if I need to roll anything to get the servants moving.



Well, so much for the planning bit. The little fox abandoned all pretenses of stealth now, and instead skittered down the hall at full speed. She was a lot smaller than the wolf, and used it to her advantage, dodging under chairs and through narrow gaps in such furniture as appeared in her hurry to get back. She gave off a few yips and barks as she went, warning others away and letting Lena know that company was coming very soon.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Lucy freezes when Richard gives the name of Tristen ApBlanc, her hard face showing an instant of some strong emotion--fear? anger?--before she regains control. "The laird of this land, you say he said he was," she replies, finally. "Best hope it's not true, then. No laird, living or dead, loves to be crossed." Standing, she brushes at her robe and says, "I'll be going then."

She walks back across the courtyard. Turning when she arrives beneath the oak, she raises her hands and begins to speak.

Lightning flashes, and thunder follows so close on its heels that light and sound arrive together; the earth shakes and



It is no longer raining; it is after sundown but not yet dark, and the courtyard has become a open field; the dozen dead wolves have become three times as many, all moving with grim purpose toward the keep, where your friends do battle with them.

[Nathan of the FoS]

MAP

VIEW CONTENT:

[Isabella]

Richard let out a hiss as the pitch-black of the storm was replaced by the blood red of dying light. He pulled his sword from its sheath in a flash, though he gripped it only in one hand - the other instinctively went around his holy symbol. With a start, he bolted forward, into the throng of undead wolves. There were people, being set upon and torn apart, but the wolves were too many for Richard to stop them. Tara, maybe Tara could save them... if she had a path!

They're dead, Richard, they're hundreds of years dead, and there's nothing to be done to change that... and yet, we've never once tested that assumption in our time here. I cannot see how they could be anything other than spirits, and I shudder to think of what it means if they are not...! But then why, why would there be ghosts among the ghosts, if there was not some inherent difference between them? When I look at these people, what senses I have can only tell me they still live! I have only my senses and my faith to guide me, and there is no more time left to think upon it... Please, let me be right in this! And if they are truly nothing more than restless souls, let this be their final torment! This endless cycle of death, that they are forced to repeat over all of eternity... let it end here!

"Ezra!" Richard called out, gripping his holy symbol and thrusting his sword up into the sky. His eyes flashed silver, even as his sword suddenly flared with holy light.

Richard moves to P14 (stepping through Tara's space so he doesn't provoke from the zombie wolf) and uses Channel Energy, hitting everything in a 30ft radius centered on him. It deals 16 damage to any undead creatures in the blast, DC 16 Will save for half damage.
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