With Urison and Falco moving forward, Erlin positioned herself to the best spot she could to fire an arrow at anything that attacked them; her bow string was drawn back as she paused for a target, the muscles in her arm and shoulder rippled with effort to keep the bow string taut, and her eyes narrowed to detect the slightest movement.

To Erlin, it was like being back on the long ships on a raid, ready to fire her bow at defenders while her comrades stormed the village.  Her breathing slowed, and the clarity of the moment keened her attention into sharp focus on the moment at hand: acquire target, shoot target.

(Erlin is ready to shoot whatever comes out)

Renee positioned herself not far from Erlin, keeping her magical detection powers active as she watched the scene unfold.

Tosk took a different approach than Erlin and Renee.  If there was an explosion he didn't want to be in the middle of it like the others.  More targets meant more chances to kill them all at once.  Still, though he found a spot that would give him access to shoot anything that might come out of the doorway as the others advanced.

Ursion nudges the door open with his foot and it swings easily open.



The interior is disheveled. A couple of moldy blankets are bunched to one side. An overgrown firepit sits in the center and against the other wall of the leanto is a crude bookshelf with a few dusty tomes eaten through by bugs and with patches of lichen growing across the covers.

Erlin shivered involuntarily upon seeing the interior of the old shack; if the Crones in her village were old and sinister practitioners of magic, and Snippers of the Thread of Life, nonetheless they performed many necessary functions of society: they foretold the future to those who brought offerings, they knew about herbs and medicines, they helped children into the world, and eased the old into the next one.  But an Annis was a Crone who was nothing but destructive, a cast-out among the Crones who could not be trusted, and who only had evil, malicious intentions.  They poisoned crops, cast disease among cattle, and ate children boiled alive.  The Southerons called them Hags, among other names, and while evil they were also powerful.  Such an interior is what she imagined an Annis would live in.

Now Erlin understood what Radgonda felt, at least a little bit; she spat on the ground.

"We should just burn it..."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:34, Tue 06 Oct 2020.

Ursion flinched visibly, and then stretched out his neck, spread his shoulders and let loose a long, controlled exhalation.

There was a grimace, but it passed over the span of a few seconds

"There's something here...a ghost perhaps." he was speaking past pain, his words exact and clipped. But an Armiger of the Order of the Scourge knew pain, it's qualities, it's measure. Like an old frien that one had to hose for a time, uncomfortably.

He opened his eyes. "Keep searching"

With the door opened and no immediate danger apparent, Renee stepped forward and approached behind Ursion, intending to more closely investigate the source of the magical aura she had previously sighted. Her face was largely impassive, though her body language suggested ample caution.

She moved over to Ursion and stood there a moment. "Are you okay? I could feel the evil that was around me, centered on you just now." She would then pause, looking him over carefully making sure he was okay.

[OOC: Any visible Mark's or wounds?]

Except for some moldy tomes and rotting bed rolls the hut seems empty.



Suddenly Renee drops to her knees making a choking sound, eyes bulging out of her head and clawing at her throat.

When Renee dropped to the ground, gagging as if someone, or something, were choking her, with nothing in sight, Erlin nearly lost it.  She dropped her bow, which seemed no good to her at the moment, and knelt down beside the aggrieved three-eyed mage with one hand on her shoulder, while trying to pull out a torch from her backpack with one hand.

"Lamashtu's black, hairy quim, burn this fucking place to the ground!"

(Erlin will try to reach for a torch in her backpack, and then her tinderbox)

Renee continues to claw at her neck, scratching at it frantically before going limp. She collapses onto the ground and as the party watches big bruises in the shape of large hands appear around her neck. She doesn't appear to be waking up.

Radgonda looks around for a moment. "It's dissipated again. If anyone knows Protection From Evil, cast it now. Whatever this is, is targeting us each one at a time. It's trying to demoralize us."

Ursion watched in mute horror as Renee collapsed.

The Armiger turned, and lifting her up in his arms he made for the exit, trying to watch and feel for her breathing as he made for the horses.

Tosk took what Radgonda had said to heart and cast a protection from evil on himself.  Tosk then moved over to Ursion and had a look at Renee to see what was wrong with her.

"I can heal her in a moment."  Tosk said as he saw the bruises on her neck.

Cast Protection from Evil.

OOC: Tosk who are you casting it on?

Ursion checks and Renee is still alive. It seems once she was rendered unconscious she found her breath again.

OOC: Mechanically she is at -1 HP but is stable

(OOC: Erlin is now hell bent on setting the lean-to on fire, using whatever she has at her disposal)

"Good Tosk. Now keep your eyes open for whatever is affecting us. That should help you for a while." She said as she looked towards Renee to make sure she was being tended to. Once that was assured she began examining everything in the building very closely for something that could be the source of the evil.

Tosk made his way to the entrance and kept his eyes scanning the whole place for anything that didn't seem right.

08:48, Today: Tosk rolled 21 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 17.  perception check.

Once well clear of the hut, Ursion gently set Renee down and tried to make sure that she was still alive. He ripped off one glove and felt for a pulse at her slender neck, and watched for any hint of breath.

This was an enemy that he could not so simply bludgeon into submission, and it vexed him almost as much as Renee's distress.

Renee is alive but unconscious and without healing she will likely remain so for quite some time.

Tosk looks around the hut but doesn't see anything else.

"That was disconcerting, however I no longer feel any evil in the area of the hut." Radgonda said as she sheathed her longsword. Finally she looked towards the others. "She going to be alright?"

Not seeing anything in the hut Tosk goes to Renee's side.

He can see that her breathing is shallow so he places a hand on her shoulder and says a prayer of healing.


22:38, Today: Tosk rolled 7 using 1d8+1 with rolls of 6.  Cure light wound

"That should help her some."

Whatever internal wounds Renee had suffered immediately mended with the casting Tosks spell, leaving only a minor discoloration around Renee's neck, while just as quickly the Sylph wizard's eyes fluttered open and she sat up. There was a momentary look of confusion on her features, but it was quickly washed away as she assessed the situation.
"I see." She said in response to the entire situation, nodding in acknowledgement to Tosk and Ursion, while remaining on the ground.

"I had a vision of a young human man in an argument with an older one. His father perhaps? He apparently thought I was the older man, and strangled me after complaining about my 'threats'."

"That was the same one I had." Radgonda said in thought, considering for a moment. "I wonder why the evil is gone now. Did you do something?"

"No." Renee's eyes narrowed as she slowly pulled herself back up to her feet. "I didn't do anything."

She muttered another magical incantation and examined the shack a second time. She then began to confidently stride back toward the building. "It is some kind of ghostly presence, I think. My knowledge of such things is limited, but it's likely the spirit within the building only has a limited amount of power to manifest its will on the material plane."

That said, she entered the hut and kicked a few stray bits of rubbish aside, the stern expression on her face suggesting less of her usual stoic indifference, and more defiance at the violation of her health and safety. After doing some digging, she eventually uncovered a small glass potion whose aura she had identified earlier, then exited the building and handed it to Tosk after a brief expert examination.

"A healing potion." She turned to Erlin. "I believe you wanted to burn the building? You have my support."