Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Fourteen

Traveling, and All the Strageness That Entails
Saturday, February 25th, 988 AD

After we kill the giants and their steeds, Nicolae polymorphs himself and flies to the healing pool north of Novgorod because he's feeling a little strange. The rest of us continue on our way until we see a falcon circling above us. Reynaldo shoots at it before realizing there's a note tied to one of its legs. Reynaldo polymorphs himself and flies after the falcon, subduing it, taking the note and letting the bird go. The note is a letter from the Duchess Anna Ivanovna.

    Dear Byzantine Envoys,
    
    How are you doing? I'm doing fine. I just wanted to let you know that tailed person you brought in for
    questioning is still safe and sound in the city prison. No one has made an attempt on his life, but we're
    having a difficult time questioning him. The army that Prince Vladimir promised to send is almost ready.
    I guess that's all. See you guys later.
    
    Regards,
    Duchess Anna Ivanovna
    
    P.S. I love my fur hat.
    P.P.S. Please send me a note back so that I know you received this.

Reynaldo: Crap.

Reynaldo polymorphs back into a bird and searches for the falcon.

While he's gone, the Tailed Paladin that the party fought in Kiev comes under a white flag and tells us that a new ally (most likely Snowflake) has asked them to warn us that if we do not turn back from our quest, they will hunt us down and kill us all. He then leaves and Reynaldo comes back, empty-handed, and Nicolae also returns. We continue on our way.

We come up on the River Chudsko where we finally melt down the flail in a river town. We divide the molten slag into three pieces and throw one of them into the river. We follow the river west towards the Gulf of Finland. At night, we rest in a barn in some small town.

During the first watch, Wong hears a man yelling for help in Norse and Russian. She wakes up Reynaldo who tells Conrad what's up. They decide to leave Stepanova out of the loop in case they don't want to help this guy after all. The man, Leb Senekovitch tells Wong a story about how he was screwing around with some of his friends. He was getting married soon and they were making fun of him. He decided to also have a little fun and pantomimed the ring ceremony by placing a ring on what he thought was a twig. It turns out it was the finger of a zombie woman, a corpse bride, if you will, and now her and her entire wedding party are running amok in his small village. Wong and Reynaldo laugh and laugh while waking up the rest of the party. The party negotiates with Leb and he promises to pay everyone twenty gold pieces each. We destroy the zombie wedding party and get paid, which reminds Conrad that he need to get paid too.

Wedding Party and a Severe Beatdown
Sunday, February 26th, 988 AD

We all go to Leb's wedding and eat a lot. Nicolae and Reynaldo come up with a brilliant plan on how to rob rich merchants. They both polymorph into different people, Nicolae into a beautiful woman and Reynaldo into some nondescript merchant, just in case he gets caught. Nicolae woos merchants while Reynaldo picks their pockets. They rob two men of everything they had and split the loot between themselves. We leave, wishing Leb and his new bride Leia luck, and follow the river. We march until nightfall and toss another piece of the flail into the river. We also figure out that Stepanova grows wings under starlight for some reason.

During the second watch, a small army consisting of the Tailed Paladin on a Nightmare, Sabota on a Nightmare, two zombies with lampreys on two Manticores, a flying dog, a Big-Handed Girl on two Smilodons, four Feral Men, and a head with a sack of organs floating below it (who we later figure out is the shape-changing woman) attack us. Edward turns the two zombies and Anna fears one of the Feral Men. The Big-Handed Girl casts Hold Person on Ivan and Stepanova. Sabota takes down Wong, Thalia takes down a Feral Man, and the Tailed Paladin takes down Anna and Reynaldo. A Manticore takes down Conrad. As they're about to slaughter us wholesale, Snowflake steps out of the shadows and tells them to stop. He says it's important that one play with one's food. They all leave, but the Tailed Paladin and Sabota are both very angry about it. We rest as best we can.

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People and Resting
Monday, February 27th, 988 AD

In the morning, Edward asks his God why this Tailed Party seems to be able to find us at will. God says it's because Snowflake can sense where Isabela is at all times. On the upside, Isabela can sense when Snowflake is near, so we head south for an hour and then place Isabela in the extra-dimensional box that we took from the Tarot Dungeon. Then we head northeast, which was the direction Isabela last sensed Snowflake. We cover our tracks and find a dense thicket to rest in after three hours travel. We rest for six hours so people can be healed, then we rest again.

Cats Are Really Tough
Tuesday, February 28th, 988 AD

We heal up some more during the night, and then rest for eight hours. When we wake up, Reynaldo casts Rope Trick and quickly passes Isabela from the box to the Rope Trick. We then find a defensible position , put Isabela 100 yds away from us so that she can warn Reynaldo when Snowflake is close by, and wait for them to attack again. However, Snowflake comes alone and says he'll fight us alone. We try to talk him into switching sides, again telling him how cats and water don't mix, but he says that the Tailed People have some of his cousins in captivity and will not release them unless Snowflake does as they say. So we fight. Snowflake is very, very fast, and therefore very tough to hit while seemingly hitting us with ease. We almost all go down, but we're finally able to subdue him. He agrees to sever his ties with the Tailed People because we've agreed to spare his life, and if we find the Staff of the King of Cats, he will join with us. He says we should ask the Sabu of Lybia because he might know something. Snowflake then leaves.

End Chapter Fourteen