Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Sixteen

One Full Day
Friday, March 2nd, 988 AD

We rested and healed, and then rested again.

We head into the swamp to find Baba Iaga's hut.

Ivan: Okay, seriously, we shouldn't do this. The Grandmother does not like visitors, that's why she's so hard to find.
Thalia: But Iarena told us she would be able to fix you and Anna.
Ivan: What are you talking about? I don't need to be fixed!
Reynaldo: Dude, you're crazy!
Wong: But he always crazy!
Ivan: No I'm not. I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm as sane as I've ever been.
Wong: Like I say, he always crazy.
Anna: You may not need fixing, but I certainly do. I do not want to revert to an eight-ear-old child again in less than a month. By the way, have I thanked you for that yet, Reynaldo?
Reynaldo: You try to save someone's life and this is what happens.
Ivan: Look, you're all off-topic here. We don't need the Grandmother. We have all this water from the pool, Anna can just continue bathing in that.
Reynaldo: Dude, why are you sao afraid of Baba--
Ivan: Shh! Would you stop saying her name! She can hear you!
Wong: Ooookay... We get to fight things, right?
Reynaldo: More than likely.
Wong: I'm in.
Ivan: You guys suck.
Jean-Claude: Not the first time we've been told that.

Jean-Claude casts Unseen Servant and has him test the waters in front of us as we walk through the swamp. After two hours of walking, Wong complains about the possibility of frostbite so we find a dry piece of land so that Wong can rub her feet and make it better.

As soon as we set out, we are attacked by a giant frog-like creature. We fight it and with its tongue, it ensnares Edward into its mouth and chews on him, but we quickly kill it.

After another two hours, we come upon Baba Iaga's hut, dancing on its chicken legs, but before Anna can say the rhyme, a Ring of Fire surrounds Conrad, Wong, and Nicolae. They jump out through the fire and see that the Tailed Party has found us again, without out Snowflake this time. Jean-Claude kills the flying, fire-breathing dog, both of the manticores are killed, as well as the three Feral Men. Conrad goes down, but the Nightmare, the Red Haired Lady (in her head and organs form), the Tailed Paladin, and the Big Handed Girl all disappear before we can kill them. Ivan takes down Sabota but before he can kill him, Nicolae gets in the way. There's this big argument about whether or not to kill him. Meanwhile, the Smilodons shrink down to regular-sized sabre-toothed tigers. Thalia befreinds them so that they won't attack us and we let them go, hoping Snowflake will find them.

Nicolae insists on taking Sabota with us, as well as the Black Sword.

Ivan: He is an enemy! He should be killed lest he come back and try to kill us again.
Wong: Sword controlled him! He not to blame.
Edward: She's right. We know the sword is intelligent, and we know it takes over people's minds.
Ivan: Yes it does. And how do we know it doesn't stay there?
Nicolae: How do we know it does?
Edward: The sword took my mind as well, in Novgorod. Will you kill me as well, friend?
Ivan: ...You guys suck.
Reynaldo: Wow, twice in one day. Do we get points or something?

Anna then says the rhyme, "Little A, little B, turn your door around to me." The hut stops dancing and we go in to say a gray cat. It speaks directly into our heads and says its name is Vladimir. Vladimir tells us not to take anything that belongs to the Grandmother, like her daughters Elena and Natasha, but anything else is fair game. We're also told to be polite and clean, and not to be nosy. We ask Vladimir if it's okay to sleep in this antechamber for the night, and he says yes. So we sleep.

End Chapter Sixteen