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Rose hits hard with her first strike on the guard as me moves again piercing a leg. She nimbly moves in closer waiting for the next attack.
Lenora loads another bolt and lets it fly. It too soars wide, missing the Ulfen and embedding itself into the ground far beyond him. He laughs at Lenora's pathetic attack, "Ha!"
His laughter turns into a bellow when Skødir speaks, "HAHAHA!
Untirl's spirits begin to harry the large man, whose laugh changes to grunts of frustration as he bats ineffectually at the hex.
Amhranai's exploits though again trigger his sense of humor, as her fall into the water causes him to begin to laugh even more heartily, "HAHAHAHA!
The spirits do their work though as the man cannot strike effectually at Rose. He stabs the air and a ghostly wisp knocks it to one side.
Rose - 9 Damage
Lenora
Skødir 6 damage
Untir
Amhranai
Crann
Blue Guard - 29 damage (bleeding)
Red Guard - 6 damage
Bless (7 rounds)
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Seeing as the crossbow isn't going to be so useful now - her allies had their enemy flanked and she wasn't particularly interested in putting them at risk - she moved long their water craft and attempted to make the leap for the shore.
She wasn't quite so successful and got herself a quick dunking before she attempted to move the rest of her way to stand near Skødir and his foe.
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Lenora attempts to jump out of the boat, but catches her foot on the edge and lands in the ice cold water with a solid "sploosh". She quickly stands in the waist deep water, water flying from her hair and clothes.
Skødir stands where he is, mesmerized by the swinging grass and leaves taking no action.
Untir concentrates on the barbarian looking him dead in the eye. The Ulfen pauses and shakes his head, clearly affected by whatever Untir has done to him.
Amhranai quickly moves into a position with Rose, hoping to assist her. In doing so she provokes the ire of the man. Even with the need to stare slightly at Untir his blow lands true, jabbing Amhranai in the leg as she moves into position. He bellows again, clearly caught up in the ecstasy of battle, "HAHAHA!"
Amhranai's movement allows the waiting Rose to step successfully into a much better fighting position. The guard hesitates, clearly forgetting that he could have attacked at that particular moment, but letting Rose get into position. She lands a solid attack into the Ulfen's right thigh, again drawing blood. The Ulfen seems undeterred. He screams, "YOU LITTLE ONE WILL DIE!"
The Ulfen, in an enraged attack somehow lands his spear directly through Rose's chest. The tip appears out the back of her armor dripping with blood. You watch in horror as her body goes limp before sliding off the end of the longspear. The barbarian raises his spear above his head and yells, "FOR YOU BROTHER!"
Rose is on the ground, bleeding profusely, but still appears to be bleeding.
Skødir - 6 damage
Untir
Amhranai - 6 Damage
Rose - -9 HP (Bleeding: CON 13)
Crann
Blue Guard - 30 damage (bleeding)
Red Guard - 10 damage, -2 attack 7 rounds
Bless (6 rounds)
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Despite any desire she might've had to help the downed man, seeing one of their own goes down enrages her. She leaves the healing to Untir who has called upon his spirits, but ire makes her reckless. She drops the crossbow and advances on their remaining foe, scimitar in hand.
"How dare you?" she demands angrily. "He's not even dead yet and instead of helping him, you think to add to the body count?!"
"We could be helping them both right now!" the stupidity of the situation nearly enrages her. Mattias hadn't mentioned how self-defeating the actions of the people he'd encountered had been - this was so ridiculous, she nearly couldn't handle it. Vengeance for a man that wasn't yet dead? For certain, if he killed Rose, she might just let their already fallen foe die.
Even as she held that thought, countless memories of lessons past flooded her mind, each reminding her that no one should be held accountable for the actions of another and the man already downed had hardly had the opportunity to be too stupid before they'd defeated him. Mercy, then. But on their heads be it if their ally fell.
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Lenora heads into battle, leaving her crossbow in the muck by the side of the river. As she approaches, the hulking man lashes out with his longspear. The Ulfen strikes his target yet again, skewering Lenora through her right bicep, drawing a gush of blood in the process. Her attack is not nearly as successful as it strikes nothing but the ground next to him.
Skødir attempts to charge across the difficult terrain caused by the flailing vines of the entangle spell. While he successfully maneuvers through the terrain, he is unable to charge at the enemy and instead rushes in for a traditional attack. The Ulfen's longspear strikes where Skødir once was, and Skødir's bastard sword finds it's way through the man's right side, spilling its contents on the ground. The Ulfen hesitates a minute before collapsing on the ground.
Untir's channel successfully captures all of his friends, breathing life back into Rose and closing their remaining wounds.
Both the guards appear to stop bleeding, but are in dire condition.
Skødir: 0 Damage
Untir: 0 Damage
Amhranai: 0 Damage
Rose: -2 HP (Stabilized)
Crann
Blue Guard - 35 (Stable)
Red Guard - 30 damage (Stable)
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Skødir stops raging, and after a moment of befuddlement and confusion, begins laughing.
This is what it means to be live!
"HA! That was a good fight!"
He'll extend an arm down to help Rose off the ground
"I remember my first time being impaled--you fought bravely, little one!"
He then pulls out his wand and tries to heal himself.
I hate magic.
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Lenora cries out as the enemy's longspear thrust through her arm. She's not looking to back down, but can't help but feel relieved when their Ulfen ally takes down their second enemy.
The girl breathed out a sigh of relieve when Untir's healing channel flows over her, quickly knitting together muscle and bone. "Thank you," she says to him.
That said, she sheathes her sword and goes to pick up her crossbow, wiping as much mud off of it as she can, and sees if her bolts are reusable. Once that's done, she looks at the two bodies and sighs.
"I don't want to just let them die here - I'll at least see about keeping them from bleeding out until we come to a proper decision." That said, she isn't exactly happy to help - they'd nearly killed a potential friend, after all. All the same, she's aware that it's not proper to just leave them to die.
She gets to work on the first one they'd downed. He was unconscious and it didn't seem like the bleeding was too bad - he'd stabilized on his own, it looked like, but there was no sense in being careless. Her teachers would've smacked her silly if they thought she was being negligent on purpose... Of course, they might've given her a good whack just for taking so long to even try to bother with these fools.
"Well? Should we leave them here to report back? Take them with us?"
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As Skødir digs through the unconscious bodies he notes that although they are severely wounded they aren't dying. Leaving them out in the cold though is a death sentence. Undeterred, he begins creating a pile of the valuables.
2 mwk hide armor
2 mwk heavy wood shield
2 mwk longspear
8 javelins
2 sets cold weather outfit
2 sets firs
4 kegs of mead
6 gp
Haltani nods at Skødir "They would have done nothing but delay us, and likely hold us for ransom anyway..." You barely hear her finish her sentence, "...at best." She then points down the river, "We still have a ways to sail; removing this net would be a good start."
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Lenora nods and does as suggested, working towards removing the net. Whatever the man finds, he's earned, and whatever they can use, they ought.
"Would they really have harmed us?" Lenora asks, perhaps a bit naively. "They didn't seem to want to fight." She considers the way things went and frowned. "Well, I suppose you did tell us that the tribes here aren't exactly friendly..."
Once Rose has been resuscitated, she does smile warmly at the girl to welcome her back to the world of the living.
Crann attempts to help Amhranai remove the net from the boat's path.
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"Thank you for the healing Untir. I appreciate it." she tucks her wand back into her belt. "The man said something interesting to me. He said they were told to take us alive. I wonder who wants us alive, and for what purpose." she sets herself to rights, and goes to help figure out how to remove the net from the river.
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At Rose's words, Lenora pauses in her work. "Told to take us alive?" she repeats. "That's... troubling at best." Her respect for Skødir rose when she considered the ramifications. Perhaps he was more culturally aware of what these people would've wanted, considering the obvious, but, well. She shouldn't have signed him off as a savage in her mind. He clearly knew what he was doing.
If, after they've finished with the net, no one else has taken from what remains, she'll take the masterwork longspear and the masterwork hide armor, but if they're gone, she'll consider the javelins and the kegs. Kegs held a lot of alcohol and, well... Maybe they could trade them?
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"No need for thanks. We are in this altogether."
Untir looks at the unconscious forms of the two barbarians, still uncertain if combat was the right decision. Well, the sand will not go back up the hourglass. He puts this out of his mind.
Untir takes one of the longspears. This might be useful to keep me away from the frontline. He also takes one of the vials of alchemist's fire before turning to examine the net.
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The net is removed with little fanfare or difficulty, though it takes about 10 minutes to fully entangle the boat. After fully looting the body, Skødir is very much surprised that neither of the brutes carried a mug or stein.
Haltani responds to Rose, "I wouldn't wonder too hard. You wouldn't have been alive for long once they discovered our trade destination is inside Irrisen. My suspicion would be alive for interrogation before they cut our throats."
The boat free, the crew continues their journey. Over the next day the temperature begins to drop dramatically, falling well below freezing. The scrubby lands are replaced with drifts of snow and the slow moving water near the shore appears frozen. In the distance, all aboard can see log cabins marching across the snowy fields, walking on knobby wooden legs. The next day, shortly after dawn all spot a winter wolf on the north bank, clearly following the boat.
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"That's what I was thinking Haltani. They wanted to know about our trip, but who exactly wants the details." She tucks two Alchemist's Fires into her pack. "Thank you all for your help. I may have been a little more aggressive than I should have been. Especially since he had a longspear." She rubs her arm in the place where one of the spear attacks hit.
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Lenora claims a longspear and the remaining hide armor, grimacing at Haltani's description of what might've happened. As they continue on their journey, she swaps out her armor and makes it a point to maintain her weapons and gear, wiping clean what requires cleaning and sharpening the longspear, the crossbow bolt she intended to reuse, and her scimitar again for good measure.
"I'll try to do more on the front next time," Lenora adds. "I stayed back because I was taught to support rather than directly engage, but... Well, things on the field are very, very different from in the classroom, aren't they?"
As it grows chillier, she draws her furs close around her, shivering slightly as her body acclimates to the colder temperature. She's surprised to see the wolf, but, well. "Huh, how cute - it's following us." After a moment, she pauses and finally asks, "Are those buildings actually moving? Or is it just me? Those cabins out there, in the distance."
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"It was a bit tedious at times, but there were many challenges that I think I could call fun. I don't know that my classmates would've agreed," Lenora answers, nodding to Rose. "But I suppose I'll quickly learn whether it was worth the three years of study." She eyes the wolf a bit, before returning her gaze to the...log cabins?
"Here's to hoping I don't make some stupid mistake and get us all killed. Still, it's all about exploring, reporting, and cooperating, so I suppose as long as I manage to get the cooperating bit down, the rest'll come. Maybe not as safely as it ought, but better than if I were to do it alone." She smiles, thinking about her mentor. "Mattias, my teacher - he's the one that got me into all of this stuff with his stories - he says that I'm thick-headed, but I do at least try to learn.
"Were you field commissioned, then?"
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Untir only listens with divided attention to the conversation between Rose and Lenora, focusing on the sight of the log cabins walking on legs. Not really noticing the direction of their conversation (or perhaps not caring), he interjects, "No, I have no heard of walking houses before either."
Eventually, however, he turns his attention to the wolf. Somewhat concerned, he calls upon the guidance of his ancestral spirits before studying the animal, trying to determine its intentions.
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"Oh, I think you'll be much more than that before the year's done!" Lenora laughs, teasing gently. It's been obvious to her from the first moment that Rose's bright take on life would easily carry her further in her career than most of the quietly trained initiates would be able to go. Of course, she was trying to be as resilient herself, but, well. It was all a matter of time!
"I grew up with the church," Lenora shared. "Someone found me as a child and didn't have the ability to keep me, so I got passed off to a Sarenite who brought me to their home temple and they raised me as best as they could." She chuckles a bit, embarrassed, and rubs the back of her neck with a free hand. "It's, um. A bit of a weird origin story, I suppose."
She returns to her work, chatting amiably with the others, but eventually, the strange buildings get to her and she asks, "Haltani, do you know what those are?"
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Haltani whispers to Lenora in a very hushed tone, "Those are Baba Yaga's huts. I would keep our distance if at all possible." She too keeps an eye on the horizon once she notices them.
Untir stares at the wolf awhile, and the wolf him as the boat gently flows down the river. The wolf moves in and out of drifts and hearty plants, disappearing for a time, but always coming back. This continues for several hours until Haltani finally announces, "We are here."
Stone cliffs mark the border of Irrisen on the northern bank. Chill winds send flurries of snow over the edge, landing in the river and on the grassy bank of the southern shore where male trees fight they icy doom of Irrisen's endless winter. A long narrow cart path winds its way up the side of the cliff from the docks to Dalun's iron gates.
Haltani begins to lead the group and their mule up the steep hill, "If needed, I can help us gain entry, but as this is your mission, it's likely best if you prove that you can do the talking." She smiles and moves towards the back of the party.
Upon approach to the gate the group notices two lanky human guards standing beside the gates as well as two smaller bone white bears that accompany them. "Halt, state your business with Dalun."
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"Good day!" Untir greets them with the widest smile he can muster. "We are simple traders." At this point, he gestures to the barrel of mead the Skodir is holding and to the saddle-bag ladened mule. "We've come upriver from Kalsgard here to your fine city of Dalun, intending to rest for a while before heading inland. I have a letter of trade somewhere. Give me a moment." Untir starts digging through his belongings in search of the elusive letter.
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Untir and Skødir begin a conversation with the guards, culminating with the discovery and display of the letter of trade. The guard stoically grunts and while opening his arm to the yawning entrance to the city he simply says, "You are in Irrisen now, but everything seems in order; you are authorized to enter. Watch your step."
Once standing in the streets, the alien nature of Irrisen becomes clear. Ice trolls wander with orcs and humans. Haltani nods, "We are here, welcome to Dalun. We are here to trade no? What goods do you think the Pathfinders are looking for? I can point you in the direction of furs, jewelry, ore, or even a vendor that sells rare witch-tree seeds."
*Slumps*
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Lenora wonders at Rose's plan. Is that how things are normally done? She'll have to make a note of it. Were they close enough? Did they have everything they needed? Was it time to work on the task they'd been assigned?
And hadn't something been mentioned about the strange shift in social structures in this land?
She's distracted from her thoughts be Amhranai and his friend and can't help the grin that slips onto her face. "Perhaps so, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Don't don't different trees prefer different climes?"
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Untir nods politely to his party. "Nonetheless, I would like to take a look at the goods that Dalun might offer. Perhaps we might acquire items that would be of special interest to those who live inland. That would strengthen our cover story. Besides, I do have interest to get a jewel of the likes that Haltani is wearing. A gift for my mother." He says the last part with warm smile.
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Haltani lets out a mild chuckle at Amhranai and Lenora's conversation, "I'm afraid a Witch Tree likely would rather flay you alive than become your companion. They're rather large, carnivorous, and have been known to lure in victims against their will."
Haltani listens to Rose and Untir, clearly thinking about something. "I have some other business to attend to in Dalun. It might be easier for me to help introduce you to some of the merchants in town before I go off and take care of my errands. After we discuss business, I can point to Baroness Nadya, the ruler of this town. She can grant the permission you wish. Perhaps we could talk to Mr. Kartov? He is a respected jeweler and may be able to assist you Untir."