Killing a king and rescuing a damsel
General Summary
We watched the trolls walk off (Trolls tell strange riddles ), and I said, “Guess there’s no putting it off.” I dropped the circle to the ground and a circle of mushrooms popped up around it. Cap stepped through first and the rest followed after him, and I stepped through last.
We stepped out into chaos. What had been a peaceful clearing was covered in broken glass, dead orcs, arrows littered the ground, and Baba Yaga’s hut moved feebly with a broken leg as the outside of it burned. Across the clearing, I saw Darkest Night skewered to a tree with nails. I ran across and tried to pull the nail out.
“I can’t get the door open,” Cap yelled over to me.
“I’m a little busy here,” I yelled back, “Get Marcus to help you. Or Tor.” I heard him yell as I continued trying to pull nails from Darkest Night. “Wait Cap! Switch with me, I’m not strong enough to pull these nails out, maybe you can?” He ran over and quickly pulled nails out as I ran to the door.
“Will you open for us, please?” Marcus said politely to the hut as he walked to the front door, I turned as the hut tried to bow to him, but couldn’t with its broken leg.
“These are iron nails,” Cap announced as he pulled the last one out, I heard him mutter a brief healing prayer over Darkest Night. “The swords on the ground are iron too. We need to collect these, so nothing is left behind.” Capp gathered the nails and swords and started tucking them into different bags. "I'll need to put these in the bag. I can't carry all of it."
“She was pulled out of her house,” Marcus called from inside the hut. “Something large burst through the door, crossed her threshold, and stole her. Whatever it was, was huge and powerful.”
“Over here,” I said, “I think I’ve found a way for us to follow them. It’s her mortar and pestle. We can travel in that.” I didn’t think at first it would hold all of us, but as each of us got in, it got slightly bigger so it could hold one more person in it.
“Just a moment,” Marcus turned back to her chicken hut, “Thank you for letting us in. Rest and heal and lock up until she comes back.” I heard the doors lock as we left.
Tracking Baba Yaga
We followed behind the horde. Marcus, Athea, and I snuck up to the camp. I counted 3 dragons, probably undead, 6 large ogres, at least 90 orcs, and 24 riding wargs in the raiding party.
“Look,” I pointed. “Baba Yaga is down there in the middle of that mess.”
And that’s when Cap and Torsatra followed us. Neither of them is particularly good at stealthing so they took invisibility potions, but Cap forgot he was invisible and started cursing when he tripped and I swear Tor stepped on every single twig in the field.
Unsurprisingly a patrol caught up to us, but we were able to quickly put them down before they could let anyone know what was going on.
“Now that you’re done stomping about like a herd of griffins, it’s starting to get interesting.”
A castle materialized in the middle of the field. The battlements were frost lined and I saw hints of the Moonlit King’s heraldry. From the castle Herne the Hunter emerged and the leader of the group walked forward with Baga Yaga bound up in iron. He passed her over and they all went into the castle. As the gates closed I could see several sidhe guarding them.
Sneaking into the castle
“We need to get into the castle, how are we going to do that?” I asked.
“There’s a cat door,” Cap said. “Tor and I are still invisible for several more minutes, I can shrink us and we can sneak in there.”
“I can ghost through the walls,” Athea volunteered.
Marcus looked at me, “We could sneak in behind someone as they take a delivery, we have two more invisibility potions ?” He shrugged. I nodded, and we headed towards the castle.
Cap and Tor snuck through the cat door with no problem. After a few moments, we heard a commotion and the cat was thrown out of the kitchen. Marcus used that moment to sneak inside and hide somewhere. I followed when the door opened again.
The kitchen was busy. The cook was ordering servants about and muttered under her breath about the cat that kept causing problems and the ghosts that kept curdling the milk. I glanced around quickly and darted into the nearest door I could find.
Unfortunately, it was a pantry and Tor tried to follow me, but she was seen and a servant started to follow her.
As he walked into the pantry, I snapped my fingers and forced a bit of my will towards him, “You don’t want to tell on us, we are just here to play a prank.” I felt his mind briefly struggle against mine, but he lost his focus and smiled.
“What prank are you playing?”
“We want to find Baba Yaga and leave some food by her. It’ll be very funny.”
“That will be funny, as long as you don’t let her free. Follow me, “ and he led us through another door and down a long hallway. He opened the door and we looked over into the main hall.
Baba Yaga is bound to an iron cross
You read that right, Herne the Huntsman has bound her to the bane.
He sits on a plinth with several other people. To his right sits a man wearing mismatched clothes, a ghost of my friend speaks up and I realize or remember that’s the Moonlit King , Maab’s estranged husband. I’m sure he will love to see me.
Actually, maybe he will since I killed the wife he didn’t like much.
The Moonlit King is accompanied by two sidhe lords. They are elegantly dressed and give the impression of people who know how to handle a weapon.
To the Huntsman’s left sits an orc lord and two more orcs.
On the ground in front of them is a large fighting ring. Several orcs and sidhe fight in the ring for the lords’ pleasure. Behind the ring Baba Yaga is nailed to the iron cross, rather like an X, instead of the more traditional “T.” A bonfire burns behind her and she is clearly in pain.
To either side of them, a long table lined with sidhe or orcs watch the fight.
As we watched in disgust, the Moonlit King called out, “We have another entertainment for you,” he clapped his hands twice and two of fae lords came out with an Iron Maiden and started wheeling it towards Baba Yaga.
Herne glanced up towards the balcony we stood on, and waved his hand, “It appears we have uninvited guests. Show yourselves.”
Cap, Tor, and I stepped forward, “We have unfinished business, Lord Herne. You promised us a hunt, and that is not what we have gotten.” Marcus and Athea continued to hide.
“It appears we have new entertainment for our fighting ring.” Herne said to the Moonlit King. “Thank you, we need a new fighting team.” A team of sidhe lords stepped into the ring. We jumped down and climbed into the ring.
“I have an idea,” I said to Cap as we climbed into the ring, “Can you handle these?” He nodded and as we leaped forward to start the fight, I ran in and struck the first knight, grabbed Tor and blinked forward with my new ability.
“They’re cheating,” Herne said as I disappeared.
“That is not fair,” Moonlit King said petulantly. He moved his hands in a quick pass in front of his body and The Song twisted around me, I cried out as it was so wrong. A cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows and stalked toward Tor and me.
Marcus stepped to the edge of the balcony and threw one of Baba Yaga’s bottles down onto the ground. I heard her say, “that’s not good,” and a ring of mushrooms appeared by the Iron Maiden.
Athea started to stealth down to the ground floor, presumably to help Baba Yaga.
I blinked forward again behind the Moonlit King and attacked him. “One by stealth,” I said as I drove my unmade blade into him. He screamed in agony and started to turn towards me when he saw Marcus in front of him.
“You!” He screamed, he pulled out his weapon and turned to strike Marcus, but couldn’t.
“You cannot hurt your true king,” Marcus said. He turned his back contemptuously on the false king, and called out to the other fae in the courtyard, “Lords and ladies of the sidhe, would you follow this twisted man? Look at what he has done! He has used the bane on Baba Yaga, he attacked in stealth leaving iron littered across these lands. If he would use it on her, how do you know he won’t use it on you? Do you want to follow such a man? He has twisted the song. Listen to what he has done to the song sung out by the Creator.” They wavered, none rushed to Marcus’ side, but they also did not rush to the Moonlit King.
“Upstart!” Cried the Moonlit King, and he swept his arm down, and there was a rending of the song. A discordant note that hurt to hear. The shadows twisted and changed in the room turning to strike at us. But the song rose up to protect me, as I had surrendered to its music and his chaotic notes held no power over me. Similarly, it was not able to clutch at Marcus or Cap. Sadly Tor was not so blessed and she was hurt by his actions.
He screamed in frustration as his cacophony had such limited effect, and wrenched at his face, transforming into a demon.
Tor pushed back the shadows and called out a mighty note calling an earthquake into the castle, knocking all within it to the ground. As the ground shook, the mushrooms grew one final time and everything within it disappeared into a black hole and the ground was clear.
Herne the Hunter stood up and turned to Tor with a look of chagrin, “That was quite rude,” he waved his hand and the castle disappeared around us. “The hunt, to me. We have much to hunt today.” He nodded at Cap, “You are right, it is a good day to hunt. I shall see you again.”
As the castle disappeared, and the hunt rode off, the orc chieftain sitting at the table turned into a pile of sticks and disappeared.
“Dancer’s Wrath!” I yelled, “They’re heading to Blackbird Point. We have to put him down!”
We hammered him with sword and spell. Blow after blow was rained upon him as Herne the Hunter and his wild hunt watched rom their antlered mounts. Marcus landed a great blow and the Moonlit King called out, “Master! Master! I am fallen!”
The demon that he was transformed and he became a behemoth towering over us. We rushed back into the fray. Marcus called back to Herne, “Would you miss out on this glorious battle? Join us!”
Herne and his warriors swarmed around the behemoth peppering it with arrows and blows from their swords. Athea climbed up his back and stabbed him from behind, as Torastra threw her strongest spells against him.
Finally, he tottered before us, and I struck him with the unmade blade. I felt his spirit flow into my sword, and watched as all the fae around us glowed briefly as they grew in strength.
Report Date
18 Jan 2023
