Sirius stuffs the cloth back in the mouth of the druid. Then he walks to the shrub with a reassuring smile on his face. ”I promise we won’t let her hurt you if you tell us what you know.” Sirius loosens the net but doesn’t fully release the shrub. ”See, we can help each other out here.”
Sirius [Persuasion 5]: Even though Sirius words were soothing, the shrub continues shivering. It's clearly still bothered by the remaining restraints. "Ravisin can turn into animals and hunt me down. I can't run as fast as her, especially not like this. It's not safe here. B-bring me away from her."
Even though the shrub has no eyes, it makes the impression of continuously staring at the druid in fear. The woman looks back, her sunken eyes boring into the bundle of twigs.
Zenos approaches the shrub and tries to help question it. "We can surely bring you far away from here if you answer all of our questions truthfully. Or we can start to pluck blueberries from you and eat them"
Aubreen smiles at the shrub, "You have nothing to fear from us little shrub, do you drink?" he asks, digging out a small pan and filling it with water from his skin. Turning to the druid he reaches down and lifts her roughly to her feet. "You on the other hand..." trailing off as he pulls her towards the far end of the room. "You are unrepentant in your cruelty and evil, I however will be merciful. Tell me what I want to know" Aubreen lets the question hang, dagger out.
If she is willing I will pull the rag out, dagger at her throat, ready. I will listen to what she has to say.
If she shows no desire to answer I plunge the dagger in, killing her as I learned to slaughter pigs in the yards. Quick, painless, merciful. As I lay her body to the ground, I take both of her hands, wrapping each in torn furs.
The druids refuses to answer and thus seals her fate at the hands of Aubreen. Her eyes drift to the snowy landscape outside and to the sky above with flakes descending steadily. Then she collapses, dead.
Aubreen barely gets the chance to lay the body to the ground before it starts frosting over. The evil druid is quickly covered by a layer of rime, then ice. She is turning into an ice statue before your eyes.
As the druid dies, the shrub once again squeaks, but calms down after a while. It seems to look at the woman for quite some time.
"S-she made me what I am. That's something I can never repay. But she was also cruel and she did terrible things to please Auril." the plant sounds like it's choking up. "I tried to believe that she knew better, that she did it for a good reason. But in the end, it was all for the Frostmaiden."
The collection of twigs looks at Zenos. "You can have some blueberries if you want, but I'd rather you didn't. I believe it feels like plucking out a hair unless it falls by itself. I lost some when your bird companion put me in these webs." With one branch, the shrub points to a couple of berries on the floor.
Perrin shrugs sheepishly at the bushes comment. Then, pulling a knife out from under his layers upon layers of thick winter clothing, he kneels down by the bush and starts cutting away the webbing. It seemed that the bush wasn't going to be a threat, at least not yet.
After freeing the bush, he stands back up. Then, he points at his hand, fingers wiggling. He then gestures to the freezing druid and then conjures some fire that hovers a few inches above one of his outstretched palms. Maybe they could use one of the druid's hands for the brazier thing outside? If they chose to do that, it would probably be best to get her hand before she completely froze over.
Sirius thinks exactly what Perrin is thinking and goes to the druid. "You might want to look away for this one." Then he raises his shield and with all his strength, aiming for her wrist, tries to cleave off her hand.
[Athletics 10]: The shields corner smashes against the wrist and the ugly crack of breacking bones is to be heard. The wrist stays attached. The body continues frosting over, but hasn't yet turned completely to ice it seems.
Trying this 10 minutes later will result in the wrist being smashed to ice chunks with the hand separating in a very unappetizing but fairly clean manner.
Aubreen steps just out the door, washing the blood from his hands in the knee deep snow. Returning, watching, yet pretending to ignore the shrub he slowly moves towards the fire. Fluffing and readjusting his heavy winter clothes. The smell of a week of unwashed body wafts up bringing a grimace to his face. Pulling forth the items he collected from the druid he asks Perrin, "Is there any use for these items, (*) it seems you have an affinity for nature, so I just thought." The gem glistens in the light, "If we could sell this stone, I am sure you would be able to afford that Axebeak you were looking at Sirius"
Finally turning, Aubreen looks upon the shrub gently, "Oh you are still here little shrub. You are free to leave, or stay if you wish. What will you do now that the choice is yours?" From his pack he pulls a small pot, filling it with the last of his water he dumps the dried bird meat into it and sets it on the fire to simmer into a basic stew.
"I do have a request however if you don't mind, you said you knew what the mirror does, and how to open the moon doors, do you mind sharing?"
*various trinkets (a couple of small stones, twigs, and green plant cuttings, three large white feathers bespeckled with grey, several seeds and a piece of opalescent feldspar)
The shrub answers to Aubreen after a moment, still seeming a bit intimidated by the half-elf. "Uh... I ... I'm not sure. I think I'll stay in the woods. It's calm here most times."
Upon being questioned about the mirror and doors, it says: "Ravisin called upon the moon to shine down on the runes around the dial. If the moon shines on the half moons, the doors open. If it shines on the full moon, the mirror can be asked questions. She usually did that so the moose could spy on the loggers from Lonelywood."
"Well unless one of you can call and direct a moonbeam I feel we are defeated here, it is not a boon Torm has seen to grant me." Scooping hot fragrant stew into a bowl he enjoys an impromptu meal, calling the others over. Speaking between mouthfuls "Should we rest and test the hands in the morning, or do you think we should do it now?"
Perrin shakes his head at the whole moonbeam thing. Maybe if they got a big mirror or something... Nah, that was too much work. When talk of staying here the night comes up, Perrin shakes his head vehemently and then shivers exaggeratedly. He wasn't a big fan at the prospect of spending the night here in this freezing cave when they could just as easily spend the night back in Lonelywood cozied up next to a nice, warm hearth.
Aubreen takes the empty stew pot and bowls, washing them in the snow just out the door. (Short rest?) "We can come back when the moon is at half in the sky, but before we leave let us see what this brazier does." Aubreen looks to his companions for support, collecting a smoldering ember, "I have a feather from the druid, but we still need a pinecone." Heading to the brazier he uses the ember to get it lit. Unwrapping a hand from the torn furs Aubreen adds all of the items to the fire, stepping back to watch, looking between the brazier and the sarcophagus.
Short rest successful, 1 hour has passed since Ravisins death
In the darkness, Aubreen burns all of the items in the brazier, producing a flickering light visible from the burrow entrance. Through the snowfall, you can see the sarcophagus and how it seems to respond to the fires touch. There is a disturbance going through the air. Aubreen can practically see the weave work its way towards the berm, as snowflakes drift out of the way.
The stone lid of the sarcophagus gives off a low rumble, then a crack. It stays in place, but it seems like the forces at work have removed any barriers that might have secured the heavy slab.
"Aubreen I can't believe that worked! Do you think if we worked together we could move the lid off so we can see what lies within? I have never seen inside one of these things, there might be some sort of treasure and we will all be rich!" Zenos moves over to the sarcophagus to look at it but doesn't touch it as he is actually pretty scared of it.
"Let me help you with that." Sirius takes ahold of one end of the lid of the sarcophagus and motions for Aubreen to help him out. "I'm sure it won't be alive." Sirius chuckles and then starts thinking about what if it is alive.
The lid must have weighted around 500 pounds, but together you get it out of the way. At first, there is a whaft of old air, which smells oddly of... pumpkin spice? Then a bony hand, wrapped in once-noble fabric, emerges from within the sarcophagus and gets a grip on the edge. With this hold secured, a emaciated humanoid form lift itself up to a standing position.
Perrin and Aubreen [Medicine 13]: you quicky recognize the embalming methods as those typically used on mummies.
The creature moves slowly and does not seem to have an aggressive inclination. It looks around, as if taking in the world for the first time. Then it looks upon you. Or at least you think it does, as the face is obscured with a metal plate depicting the vague facial features of an elf.
It speaks in an old dialect of elvish: "Thou hast awakened me, Sahnar. What is thy request?"
Perrin lets out a terrified squeak and dives off the side of the platform as the corpse rose from the sarcophagus. There was no way he was going to risk being eaten by a zombie out in the middle of nowhere.
Zenos lets out a chuckle. "Perrin, settle down this person seems like a gentle sole that has just woken from a long slumber. There doesn't seem to be anything to be afraid of. Plus I think you could take him if anything goes down."
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Sirius stuffs the cloth back in the mouth of the druid. Then he walks to the shrub with a reassuring smile on his face. ”I promise we won’t let her hurt you if you tell us what you know.” Sirius loosens the net but doesn’t fully release the shrub. ”See, we can help each other out here.”
Sirius [Persuasion 5]: Even though Sirius words were soothing, the shrub continues shivering. It's clearly still bothered by the remaining restraints. "Ravisin can turn into animals and hunt me down. I can't run as fast as her, especially not like this. It's not safe here. B-bring me away from her."
Even though the shrub has no eyes, it makes the impression of continuously staring at the druid in fear. The woman looks back, her sunken eyes boring into the bundle of twigs.
Zenos approaches the shrub and tries to help question it. "We can surely bring you far away from here if you answer all of our questions truthfully. Or we can start to pluck blueberries from you and eat them"
Aubreen smiles at the shrub, "You have nothing to fear from us little shrub, do you drink?" he asks, digging out a small pan and filling it with water from his skin. Turning to the druid he reaches down and lifts her roughly to her feet. "You on the other hand..." trailing off as he pulls her towards the far end of the room. "You are unrepentant in your cruelty and evil, I however will be merciful. Tell me what I want to know" Aubreen lets the question hang, dagger out.
If she is willing I will pull the rag out, dagger at her throat, ready. I will listen to what she has to say.
If she shows no desire to answer I plunge the dagger in, killing her as I learned to slaughter pigs in the yards. Quick, painless, merciful. As I lay her body to the ground, I take both of her hands, wrapping each in torn furs.
The druids refuses to answer and thus seals her fate at the hands of Aubreen. Her eyes drift to the snowy landscape outside and to the sky above with flakes descending steadily. Then she collapses, dead.
Aubreen barely gets the chance to lay the body to the ground before it starts frosting over. The evil druid is quickly covered by a layer of rime, then ice. She is turning into an ice statue before your eyes.
As the druid dies, the shrub once again squeaks, but calms down after a while. It seems to look at the woman for quite some time.
"S-she made me what I am. That's something I can never repay. But she was also cruel and she did terrible things to please Auril." the plant sounds like it's choking up. "I tried to believe that she knew better, that she did it for a good reason. But in the end, it was all for the Frostmaiden."
The collection of twigs looks at Zenos. "You can have some blueberries if you want, but I'd rather you didn't. I believe it feels like plucking out a hair unless it falls by itself. I lost some when your bird companion put me in these webs." With one branch, the shrub points to a couple of berries on the floor.
Perrin shrugs sheepishly at the bushes comment. Then, pulling a knife out from under his layers upon layers of thick winter clothing, he kneels down by the bush and starts cutting away the webbing. It seemed that the bush wasn't going to be a threat, at least not yet.
After freeing the bush, he stands back up. Then, he points at his hand, fingers wiggling. He then gestures to the freezing druid and then conjures some fire that hovers a few inches above one of his outstretched palms. Maybe they could use one of the druid's hands for the brazier thing outside? If they chose to do that, it would probably be best to get her hand before she completely froze over.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Sirius thinks exactly what Perrin is thinking and goes to the druid. "You might want to look away for this one." Then he raises his shield and with all his strength, aiming for her wrist, tries to cleave off her hand.
[Athletics 10]: The shields corner smashes against the wrist and the ugly crack of breacking bones is to be heard. The wrist stays attached. The body continues frosting over, but hasn't yet turned completely to ice it seems.
Trying this 10 minutes later will result in the wrist being smashed to ice chunks with the hand separating in a very unappetizing but fairly clean manner.
Aubreen steps just out the door, washing the blood from his hands in the knee deep snow. Returning, watching, yet pretending to ignore the shrub he slowly moves towards the fire. Fluffing and readjusting his heavy winter clothes. The smell of a week of unwashed body wafts up bringing a grimace to his face. Pulling forth the items he collected from the druid he asks Perrin, "Is there any use for these items, (*) it seems you have an affinity for nature, so I just thought." The gem glistens in the light, "If we could sell this stone, I am sure you would be able to afford that Axebeak you were looking at Sirius"
Finally turning, Aubreen looks upon the shrub gently, "Oh you are still here little shrub. You are free to leave, or stay if you wish. What will you do now that the choice is yours?" From his pack he pulls a small pot, filling it with the last of his water he dumps the dried bird meat into it and sets it on the fire to simmer into a basic stew.
"I do have a request however if you don't mind, you said you knew what the mirror does, and how to open the moon doors, do you mind sharing?"
*various trinkets (a couple of small stones, twigs, and green plant cuttings, three large white feathers bespeckled with grey, several seeds and a piece of opalescent feldspar)
The shrub answers to Aubreen after a moment, still seeming a bit intimidated by the half-elf. "Uh... I ... I'm not sure. I think I'll stay in the woods. It's calm here most times."
Upon being questioned about the mirror and doors, it says: "Ravisin called upon the moon to shine down on the runes around the dial. If the moon shines on the half moons, the doors open. If it shines on the full moon, the mirror can be asked questions. She usually did that so the moose could spy on the loggers from Lonelywood."
"Well unless one of you can call and direct a moonbeam I feel we are defeated here, it is not a boon Torm has seen to grant me." Scooping hot fragrant stew into a bowl he enjoys an impromptu meal, calling the others over. Speaking between mouthfuls "Should we rest and test the hands in the morning, or do you think we should do it now?"
Perrin shakes his head at the whole moonbeam thing. Maybe if they got a big mirror or something... Nah, that was too much work. When talk of staying here the night comes up, Perrin shakes his head vehemently and then shivers exaggeratedly. He wasn't a big fan at the prospect of spending the night here in this freezing cave when they could just as easily spend the night back in Lonelywood cozied up next to a nice, warm hearth.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Aubreen takes the empty stew pot and bowls, washing them in the snow just out the door. (Short rest?) "We can come back when the moon is at half in the sky, but before we leave let us see what this brazier does." Aubreen looks to his companions for support, collecting a smoldering ember, "I have a feather from the druid, but we still need a pinecone." Heading to the brazier he uses the ember to get it lit. Unwrapping a hand from the torn furs Aubreen adds all of the items to the fire, stepping back to watch, looking between the brazier and the sarcophagus.
Short rest successful, 1 hour has passed since Ravisins death
"Aubreen I can't believe that worked! Do you think if we worked together we could move the lid off so we can see what lies within? I have never seen inside one of these things, there might be some sort of treasure and we will all be rich!" Zenos moves over to the sarcophagus to look at it but doesn't touch it as he is actually pretty scared of it.
"Let me help you with that." Sirius takes ahold of one end of the lid of the sarcophagus and motions for Aubreen to help him out. "I'm sure it won't be alive." Sirius chuckles and then starts thinking about what if it is alive.
"Alright Sirius, on three, One, Two, Three, Heave" As the lid crashes to the ground, Aubreen peers into the sarcophagus.
The lid must have weighted around 500 pounds, but together you get it out of the way. At first, there is a whaft of old air, which smells oddly of... pumpkin spice? Then a bony hand, wrapped in once-noble fabric, emerges from within the sarcophagus and gets a grip on the edge. With this hold secured, a emaciated humanoid form lift itself up to a standing position.
Perrin and Aubreen [Medicine 13]: you quicky recognize the embalming methods as those typically used on mummies.
The creature moves slowly and does not seem to have an aggressive inclination. It looks around, as if taking in the world for the first time. Then it looks upon you. Or at least you think it does, as the face is obscured with a metal plate depicting the vague facial features of an elf.
It speaks in an old dialect of elvish: "Thou hast awakened me, Sahnar. What is thy request?"
Perrin lets out a terrified squeak and dives off the side of the platform as the corpse rose from the sarcophagus. There was no way he was going to risk being eaten by a zombie out in the middle of nowhere.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Zenos lets out a chuckle. "Perrin, settle down this person seems like a gentle sole that has just woken from a long slumber. There doesn't seem to be anything to be afraid of. Plus I think you could take him if anything goes down."