Durwe sheathes his sword and leaps to help Karok hold the cauldron in place while trying to avoid Leah and her pole.

Jhaelin steps up to help hold the kettle in place and sighs when he feels the warmth building in the iron. It is a good idea to rope it, but unfortunately, that won't work now because of his spell. Had he known a moment sooner what they planned, he would not have cast it.

"We have to back away from it! It will soon be searingly hot from my spell, hopefully enough so to destroy it. Your rope will be burnt before you can pull it."

"Back away into the trees!"

Jhaelin makes for the edge of the forest and the protection of the trees at a sprint.

Roxie at first thought it was just heat from the struggle and adrenaline but she'd noticed the steady build of heat so when Jhaelin said what he did, she started to laugh. Whatever she said was muffled by the rope between her teeth but she backed away and pulled it from her mouth. "You heard the man, time to dance with the trees." The rope flipped and flopped in a trail behind her as she sprinted to a tree near Jhaelin. "Let's hope it melts soon ... won't explode will it?" she asked him.

Jhaelin laughs, "I dont think so, but Im not sure. The spell is new to me by the grace of Heironeous."

Karok wrenched his hands away from the cauldron in exasperation, raising frustrated fists to the heavens. He grabbed his sword and shield back up, but delayed his flight until he had established that nobody else in the group had been trapped or too badly injured to flee.

Leah had already thrust forward to pin the cauldron, and thus was already committed to her attack when Jhaelin calls for the general retreat. Perhaps it was of no matter. With an arrow in the leg, she'd likely not run quickly as it was.

Karok has the cauldron grabbed by a handle. It tries continuously to tumble or roll away from the dwarf, but Karok digs in his heels and holds fast.

Leah strikes out with her pole. With excellent skill in timing and aim, or just plain luck, the pole slips through the other handle and she presses the end against the ground, aiding in holding the cauldron in place. (+1 to Karok's WR roll bringing it to 18)

Cassius, Shandrilar, and Durwe grab the cauldron to aid in immobilizing it so that Roxie might tie a rope around a handle. (Adding +3 to Karok's WR roll for a 21 total) The idea was to drag it over to a tree and hang it.

Unfortunately, Jhaelin states he had already cast his spell which will ruin that plan. The thought is that it will suffer severe damage from searing heat that it can not nullify. Searing heat that will burn away a rope in an instant. Already, those holding onto it can feel the iron heating quickly.

At Jhaelin's request the companions back away toward the trees, except for Leah and Karok. Leah continues to press the pole to the ground with the cauldrons handle caught.

The cauldron tumbles, flipping the pole out of Leah's hands. The pole flies end over end and sticks into the thatched roof of the cottage at an angle. The cauldron, as if kicked from behind, flies forward and strikes toward Karok full on. The dwarf brings up his shield and twists, deflecting himself away from the impact path. The cauldron continues to roll, bounce and tumble in the clearing. This time, it does not come to a stop upright but keeps moving, circling around. As it moves, smoke follows it and the air around it begins to waver and distort from heat.

---

Begin combat round 1120.30 (rnd5)...

Cauldron's WR roll, 25. Karok's, 21 total... Cauldron broke free.

Everyone is near the trees, except Leah and Karok.

Magic in play...
Heat Metal (very hot) on Cauldron, 6 rounds (not including this one)
Armor on Illiana, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Shandrilar, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Tynia, AC6, 9 points remain

Illiana backs into the forest's edge. The cauldron tumbles at Karok and he twists out of the animated construct's path. The mage admires Jhaelin's idea and wondered if she could produce such a spell one day? She would have to research it. That could come in real handy against a heavily armored opponent. A physical alteration of material items. Interesting...

The cauldron keeps moving, tumbling and bouncing along the ground. It is a strong enchantment on that one. Its no wonder there were no monsters or someone else living in the empty cottage with that thing protecting it. But what does it protect? Just the cottage?

Illiana smiles. If that spell kills it, maybe she will have the opportunity to find the research or the spell for creating the construct within the cottage. Now that would be worth something.

"Take cover!" Karok called to Leah, as he, himself, ran for the door to the cottage. He leapt inside and grabbed the door up from the floor, ready to hold it in the threshold against the cauldron guard, pausing only long enough to let Leah in if she chose to run that way.

"Oh, good idea, Karrock!" Leah exclaims as she runs with him into the cottage. Once there, she looks for the pot's cover as he suggested. Maybe it just needs it's hat back to be a happy cauldron once more, or perhaps they can bargain with it, holding the cover hostage until the pot calms down.

"Yeah, ---wha?" Karok did a double take, and then thought about it. "Yeah, I DID say 'take cover', I guess."

Indeed the gods do take care of such as she, he thinks.

"Sure, find the lid," the dwarf allowed, "But then help hold the door!"

Roxie wasn't about to put herself out there for the thing to try to bowl over again. She did spare a wince for Leah getting whomped and then an arrow ricocheting. "It's just not right when pots fight back," she chuckled as she recoiled the rope and tucked it back in her pack.

With everyone else watching from the edge of the clearing among the trees, Karok and Leah sprint for the cottage doorway. The cauldron continues its rolling, bouncing and tumbling in the clearing. The cold iron black metal begins to glow orange within its depths. The smoke no longer comes from the cauldron, but does drift in the air from its path. Singed dry grasses and leaves send curls of smoke to the air.

With a deliberate turn, the cauldron strikes out at Leah. She just manages to dodge it, a hot wind sweeping over her as it passes. Then she leaps for the doorway where Karok is pulling the unhinged old door from the grasses where Durwe threw it earlier. It had landed on one of the twiggy effigies and flattened it.

---

Begin combat round 1120.36 (rnd6)...

Everyone is near the trees, except Leah and Karok.

Magic in play...
Heat Metal (searing hot) on Cauldron, 5 rounds (not including this one)
Armor on Illiana, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Shandrilar, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Tynia, AC6, 9 points remain

Illiana continues to watch the cauldron with bewilderment as it stalks its prey across the clearing. She slowly sidles her way over to stand near to Jhaelin. She offers a worried whimper and puts a hand to her mouth when the cauldron nearly bowls over Leah. She notes the discoloration in the cold iron metal.

"Jhaelin. That is quite a spell," she says in a cooing voice. "Fascinating really. Almost as much as whatever animated that cauldron."

Jhaelin ignores Illiana's comments. He continues to watch the scene unfold before him, his mind wrenched with worry and fretting over not being able to do anything. Not only that, but he has worsened the situation greatly. If the cauldron hits anyone, they will suffer burns from his spell. Why did he not wait!

"There is nothing I can do." he says. "NOTHING. We can not contain it. We can not halt it because of my spell. It will continue attacking until we are dead."

Jhaelin shakes his head and spits to the ground.

"GET OUT OF THERE! GET TO THE TREES!"

Durwe's expression is stoic and emotionless. "Perhaps your spell will damage it enough to destroy the enchantment. Destroy it, I mean."

Tynia shoots Illiana a dagger filled look as she speaks to Jhaelin.  Vixen, she thinks before commenting.
"Perhaps its magic is limited in area of effect. I notice it has not once deviated toward any of us not in the clearing."

"Just be ready to heal Jhaelin. That is what we do."  Like Jhaelin and some of the others, he watches from just inside the ring of trees.

"It's okay, Jhaelin," Roxie offered quietly and offered a reassuring smile. "Some things take a little time and like Durwe says, if the metal starts breaking down then it won't be a threat anymore. You did fine."

Leah's leg buckles from the arrow wound as she runs for the door, but fortunately, that sudden stumble throws off where she might have been, and the angry pot just misses her as she tumbles her way into the hut.

Recovering she takes a quick look about the cottage and exclaims to Karock, "No wonder it's mad! There's no lid anywhere!" She looks about again, and adds as she goes to help Karock with the door as she requested, "Do you think I should throw it my shield? Maybe that would make it happy. It's ~sort~ of lid-like..."

She continues to hold the door for a moment, and wonders if she could reach the roof...if she climbed up on the table and then try to cut her way through. Not for escape, but because her pole of wondrous use is stuck there.

"I don't think the cauldron has feelings," Karok explained with as much patience as he could muster. "I think it's like a trap for such as we, set by magic rather than mechanical skill."

"I think the plan is to see whether it melts enough to stop it with Jhaelin's spell and, if not, go back to holding it down, tying it into a tree or something."

The cauldron continues rolling and tumbling in a circular path and eventually settles into a tangent line straight for the cottage doorway. Karok and Leah brace against the wooden door, awaiting the inevitable attack. The cauldron slams into the door with a heavy impact. One of the cauldron's handles breaks through one of the doors boards, splintering it just above Karok's head. Karok and Leah both grunt, exerting everything they have to brace against the heavy iron cauldron. An intense heat fills the doorway. Then the cauldron tumbles away from the door to circle again.

---

Begin combat round 1120.42 (rnd7)...

Everyone is near the trees, except Leah and Karok.

Magic in play...
Heat Metal (searing hot) on Cauldron, 4 rounds (not including this one)
Armor on Illiana, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Shandrilar, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Tynia, AC6, 9 points remain

"It's beginning to break down," Karok says, noting the broken spot in the door. "If it gets through, we'll want to run for it; it might be moving slower, I'm hoping. If you can make the roof, go for it. I'll be taking a turn around the cottage to see if I can lose it, then running for our friends in the tree line."

"Best thing, though, is to hold the door until it collapses. If we can."

Roxie watched the cauldron continue trying to batter the door and get to Karok and Leah and she couldn't just let the thing burn through the door and hurt them. "I'm a damn fool," she said shrugging off her pack so she'd be free of any encumberments. "Get ready to heal me," she said to Jhaelin and Cassius.

Sprinting out into the clearing she hoped to distract it from the building so the other two could make a break for the trees. "Hey ... potbelly! I bet anything cooked in you tastes like offal," she taunted the cauldron. It was her intent to make it chase her toward the tree line away from anyone else and stay just out of it's heat range.

"Why animate something if it doesn't have feelings?" Leah responds to Karrock as she leans with all of her not-considerable-at-all might against the door. "Everything has feelings and desires. People want love and acceptance. Animals want food and safety. Plants and elves want water and sun, unless they are mushrooms, then they don't want sun, but shade. Halflings want lunch, and dinner, and breakfast, and teatime, and mid-afternoon and midnight snacks, and perhaps something to gnaw on inbetween meals. I don't need to tell you what dwarves want, I guess. Zombies want brains, and maybe the cauldron just wants a hat. But I guess I should save my shield right now. It's not big enough to serve as a proper lid, and it might think we're trying to mock it if I throw it to the kettle."

She looks back to the roof. "That's a nice roof," she says. "It looks well-built. I wonder how an old witch built it?" she muses aloud. "But we could probably get through from the table. Maybe in fifteen or twenty minutes." And then she adds depressed, "But I don't think the table will last that long if the pot attacks it. So, I'll just run with you. Good thing I'm not wearing armor right now! That would only slow me down."

She continues to hold the door with him until there is no more door to be held, or until he begins to run.