After spending some time making sure there are no more obvious threats, you settle down to wait out the storm in the strange humid cave.
Phoebee decides to make use of the magical armor you found, and Masym procures a few items of his own.
You are not feeling so safe that you don't continue to keep a watch, but otherwise set up to stay the night.
It is a strange feeling, being warm instead of cold during the evening. Stranger still laying down in the low mist that clings to the cavern floor. But other than that, the evening goes uneventfully.
The storm seems to die down, or at least move on, sometime during the second watch, and by the time Nella and Masym are up, it has completely stopped. Everyone wakes up rested, but damp, all the way through. All your clothes and most of your possessions seem to have soaked up the moisture in the air over the course of the evening. Hard to say what will happen to it once you go back out into the chilly outside air.
Of course, finding that out is easier said then done, as the entire front of the cave proves to be buried in snow from the previous night's storm. It takes you almost half an hour to dig your way out... to a glorious white landscape covered by a few feet of fresh snow and a clear blue sky. The cold air outside is quite the shock to the system after a night in the cave.
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"I guess you need to speak up a little faster, Criscius... I'm sure we'll find something you can use."
He picks up a pair of mismatched snowshoes because that's all there is are mismatched 'pairs', and lifts the potion of barkskin... "Anyone mind if I use this one?"
He contemplates the cloak and then says, lifting it up... "This is fine magic here... and Malusha is not very quick on his feet, it might help him on the ice and snow... Then again, Jones does not have the strongest mind, and could make good use of it too... one of you two should probably wear it."
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As the party begins to be roused in the early morning Malusha packs up his gear. Waiting for a moment when Nella in not too occupied, he approaches her. "Nella, I wanted to give you another poem that I wrote for you. I hope you don't mind." Malusha can feel that he is blushing slightly but he hopes that in the dim light of the cave, no one notices. Malusha offers the scrap of paper to Nella.
I reclined one evening
Under a star-filled sky
Watching nature's beauty.
My eyes were enraptured
With the unmatched splendor
Filling deeply my soul.
And then the beauty smiled
She turned to look my way
Fair cleric of Shelyn.
As soon at the passage is cleared and the blast of cold air washes over everyone, Malusha offers the use of his wand to anyone who would have it. He also taps himself and feels the impact of the freezing cold fade away. When someone hands him a pair of snowshoes he thanks them and dons the awkward footwear. "I hope this will help us move a bit quicker."
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"Phoebee, if we hadn't made it to this cave, we definitely would have frozen to death!" Masym reminds her.
As the others prepare to get underway Masym does catch the interaction between malusha and Nella, but says nothing about it. His face a mask he again waves off the offers of magical aid and dons the snowshoes, along with the rest of the cold weather gear. "OK, if the Lodge agents were caught out in that storm then he have a chance to gain some ground on them. Let's move!"
Looks like the storm has passed. The weather has expended itself for now and should remain clear for the next couple of days at least.
Even though the evening's weather has made the terrain seem almost entirely different, Masym is easily able to point out the correct route you need to go based on Skagni's map. You have reached the foothills at the base of the Tusk Mountains, and your route should lead you up to the base of the mountains proper by the end of the day, especially with the snow shoes to make traversing the new snow a bit easier.
With the cave entrance cleared, and equipment packed up, you set out once more towards the mysterious Keep on the trail of the Shadow Lodge agents. The snowshoes prove helpful, given the recent snow, and you make decent time, as you quickly approach the base of the Tusk Mountains. Everyone uses magical protection versus the cold this day, and it proves a good idea, as the dampness in your clothing freezes pretty quickly, and you find yourselves walking in iced clothing for the first part of the morning (like someone has applied too much starch!). Eventually body heat and constant movement will work that out, however.
Near midday, you reach a point on Skagni's map that seems to be directing you towards a narrow ravine, amidst a series of rocky cliffs.
The shriek of a snowy owl dances off the high, rough walls of ice and rock inside this gorge, and the long shadows inside make it suddenly feel like evening rather than midday as you get near.
Although the canyon provides a direct path through the rocky terrain of this area, the other side is almost invisible from the entrance. In the snow drenched plains leading to the gorge mouth, primeval aurochs and bison paw at the new snow to unearth scrub grass.
You easily spot what appear to be humanoid tracks near the mouth of the gorge, but they only appear to go in a short ways, before turning around.
You also spot the remains of a large sabre-toothed cat not far into the entrance, partially eaten by scavengers. Its fangs look surprisingly like the one used to create the longstrider wand you found earlier.
As you start into the canyon, you figure out relatively quickly that you'll have to remove the snowshoes, as the snow has not built up in the narrow ravine, most of it trampled down or absent entirely, bare rock showing beneath.
The ravine is almost thirty feet across, and the sides go up over fifty feet on both sides. It curves and wends as you traverse it, maintaining the uniform width in both directions... like some god took a blade and cut a furrow through the rocks.
You're unsure how far it goes, and have only gone in about a hundred feet, when Phoebee, Jones, Nella, and Wei Tchak suddenly feel a low rumbling sound and soon realize, just a moment before the others, that it is the sound of many hooves echoing down the canyon ahead, closing fast!
Way up ahead, you spot the first in what must be a large number of bison charging around a bend en masse, out of control, completely filling the ravine from side to side.
Stampede!
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Once all of the items are identified, Nella packs away the Bandages of Rapid Recovery into her pack for later and also takes a pair of the mismatched snowshoes. She sighs at the wand, regretful that this one is beyond her ken to operate. "Phoebee, maybe you or Tchak know how to get this one to working? I'm not really studied on how to activate some of the more exotic items out there."
"Everyone else that needs a potion take one, my own Endure Elements wand is still mostly full," she adds. "Oh and wouldn't that Barkskin potion be good for Masym or Jones? I think it would even work with the armor they're already wearing," she suggests.
During her and Masym's watch, Nella takes the opportunity to revisit a topic that she hadn't fully addressed the previous evening. "The other night, you said you still had dreams about the Lantern..." she begins, cautiously. "Is it every night? How long has this been happening?"
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The next morning, Nella finds herself reluctant to leave the cave for the simple fact that it's the warmest she's been in what feels like weeks. "I hope where we're going has some warmth to it...or at least has some rubble to help start a fire," she muses as they pack and make their preparations to depart. "Oh! And let me use this again, just in case - I'd rather have it and not need it than not have it and end up needing it." As she speaks, she draws out her wand of Lucky Number and gives everyone another tap.
Just when she's very nearly ready to go, she looks up with surprise as Malusha approaches her with another small piece of paper. "When do you find the time to work on these?" she smiles. "During your watch? Yes, that has to be it - we've not had any other time for peace and quiet except at night!" As she unfolds the paper and reads it, she feels her cheeks grow warm and she looks up at her fellow priest. "You're getting better with these," she murmurs. Then, before she can stop herself she gives him a quick hug. "Thank you, Malusha!" she whispers before letting him go. "Okay! Are we ready to go?" she asks, trying to appear nonchalant to everyone else.
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For a moment, Nella simply stops and listens as the rumbling sound grows louder...and louder...and louder...until...
"STAMPEDE! We've got to climb, NOW!" she cries as she calls upon Shelyn's blessing to give Phoebee a leg up on scrambling up the canyon wall.
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Masym is quiet for a long time, and the look in his face is a haggard one, his eyes reflecting a haunted dream that re-occurs over repeatedly. "Ever since I was cursed...well since the curse was broken I guess. I can still feel the echo of ice in my spine, even though I know it be banished." He lapses into silence again for a while before adding softly, "It be hard to explain...though I have heard tales of those who have lost limbs say at times they can still FEEL those limbs, as if they never lost them to begin with!"
While Masym fails to pick up the danger ahead quickly, his reflexes are as quick as ever. Knowing there was only one chance here he reaches out and roughly grabs Malusha and pulls him to the side. "You heard her! CLIMB!" Knowing Malusha could not climb very fast he shimmies up the cliff face ahead of him and, bracing one hand tightly in a crevasse, reaches out his other hand to the Garundi cleric. "GRAB MY HAND!"
"Oh! And let me use this again, just in case - I'd rather have it and not need it than not have it and end up needing it." As she speaks, she draws out her wand of Lucky Number and gives everyone another tap.
- Surprise Round -----
Phoebee (+2 on her next skill check), Jones
- Round 1 ------------
Tchak (up 15', 1 standard action remaining)
Masym (up 15')
Nella
Jones
Phoebee
Malusha
Stampede!
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Malusha's eyes grow wide in shock as he sees the stampeding beasts at the end of the narrow canyon. Masym's words spur him to action. He sees Masym climb up the wall and tries to follow him.
No matter how hard he tries he can't seem to find any grip on the wall and all of his climbing efforts are futile.
- Surprise Round -----
Phoebee (+2 on her next skill check)
- Round 1 ------------
Tchak (up 15')
Masym (up 15')
Nella
Jones (up 5')
Phoebee
Malusha
Stampede!
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"Like some sort of a phantom pain? You're right, I've heard similar stories," Nella nods sympathetically. Then she sighs. "Hopefully that's just all it is. I don't know if there's much that I or even Malusha can do, but maybe we - and you - should pray to Desna for peaceful dreams tomorrow night."
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Her warning given and aid for Phoebee granted, Nella dives to the right and attempts to work her way up the canyon wall...
...and despite initially having no luck, she's finally able to snag a handhold and haul herself a few feet up!
- Round 1 ------------
Tchak (up 15')
Masym (up 15')
Nella (up 7.5')
Jones (up 5', still has his first round actions)
Phoebee (up 15', still has a standard action if she wants)
Malusha
Stampede!
Jones still has his first round actions (and possibly a single standard action for Phoebee), then we will resolve the trampling as the stampede will descend upon you all!
As the large herd animals come careening around the bend in the ravine up ahead, charging uncontrolled, you're hearts are filled with a sense of dread!
You quickly realize there is nowhere to run, and only the ravine walls offer any sort of safety at all, if you can climb them and get high enough!
The few that realized what was happening a bit ahead of the others act first.
Nella, thinking of others before herself, calls out a warning and says a quick prayer to Shelyn to bless Phoebee's actions. The bard immediately puts that faith to the test, as she tries to clamber up the cliff face, somehow knowing just where to put her hands for a solid purchase. Jones and Wei Tchak follow suit, the former slowly making his way a short distance up the rocky wall, but not nearly high enough for comfort, while the tengu has more trouble finding a solid purchase.
The bison come rumbling around the bend proper now, charging towards you, and now everyone is aware of the danger!
Masym reacts quickly as he tries to clamber up the nearby cliff only to have his first handhold break off, before he finally gets a good purchase and scampers almost fifteen feet up, calling back to Malusha as he goes, reaching back to offer assistance. The garundi man however, has no experience with rock climbing at all, and every hand hold he finds crumbles beneath his increasingly panicky grip, or is too icy for his foot to find purchase... and Masym's helping hand remains too far out of his reach.
Wei Tchak finally finds some solid hand holds, and quickly moves up to Masym's level as he searches around in his pack and pulls out a rope, though doesn't have time to toss it down or secure it to anything.
On the far side of the ravine, Phoebee scampers up the wall a little further, now the highest of everyone from the incoming beasts. Nella's eyes go wide as she sees the stampede descending, and starts clawing at the walls as well, having trouble finding purchase for a moment, before pulling herself up barely her own height above the ravine floor... and certainly not above the height of the incoming bison. Jones manages to clamber up a little further, then reaches back desperately, grabbing a hold of the priestess and trying to hold on, as the creatures arrive.
Malusha, still desperately scrabbling at the cliff face, lets out a small cry of fear, quickly drowned out by the thundering beasts. The first one crushes him back against the wall and it has barely past by when the next careens into him, knocking him flying, and he disappears amidst the massive shaggy bodies.
Nella tries to hang on as the beast's rush by, but she is barely her own hieight off the ground and the massive creatures are almost eight feet tall at the shoulders and bounding and leaping chaotically as they swarm down the ravine. Only Jones, holding on from just above her keeps her from getting swept off by the lead bison, but his grip is precarious and not as strong as he'd like, putting him in danger of falling in as well.
Unfortunately, the beasts themselves are not the only danger, as bits of rock and ice start to break off and tumble from the walls in the wake of the thunderous noise and vibrations of the stampede. Suddenly both Wei Tchak and Masym too feel parts of their perches breaking free beneath them.
Party is up again!