The black hound laughs..."Why would I lie about her being home and why would she tell us anything. We are but lonely hounds guarding her hut for ten score years and has she ever even given us a crust of bread? Never, we are naught but slaves to her. The only time she pays us any heed is when we fail at our duties."

Loukas reaches into his bag and carefully pulls out dried meat and other combustibles. He takes a small bite and tosses all of his food into the yard without actually stepping into it. Chewing he continues, "That seems unfair to me, Master Hound, that the Great Baba Yaga would not take care of those who serve her. Please accept those crusts from me."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:53, Wed 29 Dec 2010.

The black hound almost smiles as he picks up the crust offered by Loukas. Once the morsel is in his mouth the other nine hounds vanish or better to put it...seem to absorb into the one larger hound.

He takes his crust of bread and turns his back on the party, walking to lie down behind the hut to eat his treasure.

The gate is quiet, open and happy and the hound is vanquished...the skull capped fence is still mighty angry but can do little about your advance unless you get close enough to grab...meaning your horse will get bitten if they go through the gate. There is room for a human to walk through safely but not a horse.

As the Hound disappears with his treat, Loukas lets out a quiet sigh of relief. Looking back at his friends, "Shall we all go in or will you wish to leave a guard over your horses?"

Young Yaro the archer steps forward and says, "I have no great desire to meet Baba Yaga, if you would permit, I will stay out here and watch the horses. I promise to take good care of the mounts and guard them wit my life."

OOC I am out of town with limited access for the next week so I might as well have Yaro volunteer.

Cuivi smiles at the young monk, "kindness opens many doors, the hag is notoriously wicked to those who serve her closest, worth remembering when we come face to face with her no?"

Jaleh stays on her mount and looks to A'kos "Again I am feeling weak, please excuse me but I am going to stay with Yaro and the horses while you go and face the hag."

Titus rubs his forehead and smiles as he replies to the cleric, "Yes... Whatever we do we can not forget that she is power. She only cares for her own schemes and we are little more than toys in those. And clearly she does not take very good care of her toys!"

Balthazar calls out to the skull-capped fence, "So, have you been neglected as well?  Does Baba Yaga take care of you at all?"

The skulls as one turn their burning eyes towards the Hedonite..."What needs have we? We are already dead. Why not come a little closer and I will let you in on our secret?" says the nearest skull.

"I doubt there is much these fellows can tell us, Balthazar, that we do not already know. Let us approach the house and see if we might enter."

Loukas gives one last wary glance at the skulls and moves to the hut. How does one enter a jigging lodging? he thinks to himself.

As the group approaches the hut itself it becomes clear that it is actually constructed from human bones. It continues to dance on it's chicken legs until the party is 10 feet away and then it stops dancing and lowers itself to be near the ground. Only about a two foot hop to get on the porch. The skeletal door pops open invitingly.

When the hut settles Loukas stops. For some reason there is something more profoundly terrifying about the inviting door than the sharp-toothed Gate or the multiplying giant Hounds or even the skull-lined Fence... It isn't simply that the door is framed in human bones. It's just that everything to up to this point has been so threatening and suddenly there is no obvious threat.

Taking a breath and saying a quick prayer to Volos he hops the two feet to the porch and at the doorway pauses, "Hello? Is anyone home?"

Dyanna studies the hut with profound fascination.  Though she brooks not with profound evil, still the mystical energies and necromancy necessary to build this construct it puissant indeed.  Once past the skull guardians, and through the gate, she walks a few strides to either side studying the hut.

Finally, with a pensive frown upon her face she rejoins the party, without a word.

Jean quickly mounts the porch as Loukas hops up. He awaits an answer to the young half-Greek's query while standing close enough to offer both of them some protection with his shield if necessary.

The only reply to Loukas question is the smell of fresh baked bread. The interior of the hut looks dark but you can see the orange glow of a hearth fire. It looks altogether inviting.

With a glance to Jean, "Smells delicious, no? There is something like a children's tale about this..." With a grin, "I shall endeavor to keep you out of the oven, my friend!"

Taking another breath he moves forward.

Loukas takes a few steps into the hut and to him and those who see him enter, it all looks just like a normal hut. Nothing special or sinister. Miroslav follows closely behind.

Jean continues to stay immediately alongside Loukas.

(ooc: and he will continue to do so unless Loukas makes a sudden move that he isn't prepared for)

With a fixed look of determination Cuivi follows across the grizzly threshold.

Clearing his throat once again, Loukas loudly says, "Hello? Is anyone here? We enter in with good faith and intentions on behalf of our Knyaz and Prince!"

Dyanna hops up, and follows Loukas as well.  Once within she takes a close look around, searching for any clues as to any hidden watchers.

To save some time, I am assuming everyone is following Loukas in except for Jaleh and Yaro....
When you walk inside you see that the floor is strewn with pine boughs and forest moss making a nice soft green carpet. The walls are lined with full shelves and the air is thick with smoke and fresh bread smell. The smoke comes from a huge iron stove in the corner of the hut.

The inside seems too large for how small the outside looked and the longer you stand inside the large it seems to get. You see that where before seemed lika wall with shelves there are now shelves and a door, in fact there are 5 doors coming from the ever expanding kitchen and it looks like a trap door in the floor as well.

Miroslav walks about the ever expanding inside of the hut and looks around with wonderment. He stops by the door in the floor and says..."How can there be a cellar when the hut is on chicken legs? How can there be this much space in such a small hut?"

Loukas moves to Miroslav's side, "This is a hut with chicken legs, is it not? I would imagine such a weirdling place might well have other attributes no less, uh, weird. It also may simply be another exit..."

Bending down he looks to see if there's a place to attached a rope ladder or something similar.

Remaining kneeling he looks up, "Shall we see where it leads? If the Prince is here it is most likely that he is down there."