"Thank you for the offer, but I think I just need some rest. I should be fine in the morning." She takes out one of her rations and begins to eat it. Too bad I don't have any use for that gear. It would have made getting hit with that log worth it.
"Wake me up when it is my turn for watch." After she finishes her food, Sia takes out her bedroll and settles in close enough to the fire that should would feel the worth, but it wouldn't burn her. She quickly drifts into sleep.
Sevrin stands cold and miserable not knowing what to do or how to contribute. The should just leave me to die in the snow. He barely shows any interest when the weapons are discovered and his attention drifts away into self-pity.
When Thalin channels he feels a brief flare of warmth and well being in his body, some of the numbness leaves his extremities and he beings to perk up and look around.
"Well, I wouldn't know how to use any of that stuff... but I can keep watch. I brought some food I can eat, so I'll be ok tonight. Just let me know when you wan't me to keep watch"
Sevrin awkwardly lays out his bedroll and blanket as near to the fire as he dares and begins nibbling on some of the hard tack he brought.
Thanion rests a hand on Braham's shoulder before laying out his own bedroll and sleeping. "Thank you for watching over us. If you need anything, let me know
She helps Sevrin pick a good spot and helps him with his bedroll. She offers him water and tries to make him feel comfortable. She is worried about how cold he looks.
Aavelixia looks around to area and picks a good spot for her bedroll.She looks at Braham and says "I can do second watch."
She turns to Suzy and says "Guard camp"
First things first, the group gets a fire built, Braham's greataxe making short work of the chest and the former log trap. Aavelixia and Sia, in the meantime, use their particular skill in setting up the basics of the campsite so that a firepit is ready and started to help Sevrin regain some warmth to his extremities. Once that is done, the extra snow that was cleared around the middle is built up as a packed barrier between the trees to hlep block the wind and hold in the heat. With the place finally set up to accomodate all of them, a meal is eaten as the discussion of watch is ironed out. Before everyone finally rolls out bedroll or blankets and calls it a night, Thalin offers one more prayer to his dwarven god.
Sevrin sits up on watch first, and the ability to prop himself up in front of the fire before tucking in for the night is a welcome opportunity. The night is quiet, with the firelight playing off the snow as it continues to fall around them. The funnel of heat going upward keeps the snow from burying them, but the night is still damp. The only thing that is active during this first night out is Suzy, Aavelixia's 'pet' plant, as it continues to do its own thing during every person's shift.
Aavelixia awakens refreshed and ready for the day. She calls Suzy and casts one of her endure spells on her. When she is done, she moves closer to Sevrin and ask "can I cast endure elements on you?, it would help you with the cold weather."
She creates water in her cooking pot. She leaves it out for a while so that anyone who wants water is able to get some. After the companions are done with the water, she gets a rag out to dip it into the water and cleans Suzy. " You are getting so big. Pretty soon you will be taller than I am... " She continues to talk to Suzy and clean her petals and leaves.
After she is done, she gets her stuff packed and is ready to leave.
Throughout the road, she will try to forage. Will that be a Survival check?
Braham stretches and stifles a yawn. "Not the best night I've had, but I still feel ready to tackle whatever the day will throw at us!".
As he prepares his pack, he catches himself whistling a tune, the horrors of yesterday already a distant memory. "This certainly is more exiting than a day at the forge!"
As other people awake signaling the end of his watch, Thanion begins to collect himself. He takes the book his mentor gave him and begins some quiet contemplation and study while the rest of the group gets together. As he hears Braham whistling, Thanion can't help but smile. "I envy that man sometimes. He takes things as they come with no worry."
The group gets up and starts their day, with spell preparation and breaking camp to start out once more. After everyone has prepared, to include Aavelixia using her spells to keep Suzy and Sevrin from suffering from the odd winter weather. After about twenty minutes of trekking through the snow it becomes increasingly deep in this part of the forest, where a windswept gully carves a path through a tree-covered ridge. A soft cascade of snow falls from an overhead branch, hissing softly as it strikes the ground.
As she watches Aavelixia forage the bushes, she noticed the poor girl slowed the group down considerably. "Aavelixia, would you be alright if I did that instead? I can do it fairly quickly." I hope she doesn't take that the wrong way. We just need to move faster. Who knows what is lurking in these woods?
She begins to look for anything that would be of use for Aavelixia. She makes sure to keep her eyes scanning for anything that could be an enemy or a trap.
Aavelixia smiles at Sia and says “Thank you, you’re so nice.”
As she walks through the trail she keeps her eyes on everyone, Specially Suzy. She looks at Sevrin just to make sure he’s doing ok in this cold weather.
As the hiss of the falling snow grabs your attention, there is a sudden long hiss, almost as if a hot stone were dropped into a bot of cold water. Without any time to react accordingly, a lump forms in a line heading directly for the group, and from out of the deep snow bursts a long snake-like creature. It is all white with mottled spots of various greys, with a large toothy head, and two grasping claws near the front of the body that is formed of a long tail. The thing dashes clear of the snow and bites into Sevrin, and as it does so, its two claws grab hard into the young man. The force of the creature does most of the damage, as it doesn't get much in the way of precision strikes. Regardless, it is enough to drop Sevrin, bloody and firmly grasped in the thing's mouth.
Sevrin spots the thing way too late to do anything about it, as it barrels into him and wraps itself around him with teeth and claws digging in. Going down like a lump, the only thing going for him currently is that the cold helps all the puncture wounds from bleeding profusely.
"Sevrin, no!"
Seeing what has just happened to his friend, Braham lets out a deafening roar and swings his greataxe at the serpentine monster.
Braham wastes no time in turning with his axe drawn, bringing it down hard on the back end of the creature. The strike almost hacks the back half of the body off, in one fell swoop, as the thing shrieks in pain. It coils as best it can around its prey.
Sia moves quickly towards the attacker. She readies her spear and plunges it at the beast.
Sia easily moves around across the top of the deep snow, and does so to stab at the snake-like creature with her spear. The scaly beast shifts out of the way of her attack, as she is over cautious in trying not to hit Sevrin as well. The thing grasps Sevrin tighter in its mouth, and slithers into the deep snow as fast as it can.
As the creature retreats with Sevrin in tow, Thanion races after it.
"Stay... here...", Braham spits through his gritted teeth when the scaly creature threatens to disappear with his friend.
The serpentine thing doesn't get a chance to go far, as Braham swings again when it tries to drag away its prey. His follow on swing manages to just cut through the rest of the large wound he caused before, severing the tail from the fore-body. The thing screeches and thrashes suddenly before going still.
Aavelixia rushes to Sevrin and pulls the snake thing off of him. She tries to heal Sevrin as best she can. She's is franticly looking for some supplies in her bag.
Heal skill
Sia scans her surrounding to see if there are any more threats. Spotting none, she rushes to Sevrin. "Can you help him?" She asks Aavelixia.
Aavelixia's unfamiliarity with tending someone other than Suzy for so long shows through, as she manages to bind Sevrin's wounds, but not well enough to improve his condition. Thalin moves up to the fallen ally, and begins calling out for a blessing from his god, asking that he be allowed to use his god's gifts for healing the young man.
His plea is heard, as Magrim allows his divine energy to flow through Thalin and into Sevrin. The larger wounds are closed, and the young man regains consciousness. "What happened? I saw something rush me, and felt it tear in, but then all went black."
Sia, scouting the area for any more threats, determines that it looks like the thing may have been a lone predator.
Aavelixia's face lights up in relief as she says "it's good to see you made it Sevrin. I thought you would die after that thing attacked you".
She helps Sevrin get up (if he is able to).
Aavelixia looks around the area. It's hasn't been long since we left camp. She looks at Sevrin to see if he can still walk.
"Sevrin, can you walk?
She looks at the group and says, I suggest Sevrin be towards the middle of the group. That way he is a bit more protected if we move forward. She looks at the snake crawly things and asks Is that snake thing consumable? can we chop off a leg or something? That things can be cooked tonight at camp. I'm looking forward to some steaks tonight!".
Aavelixia looks at Suzy and says "you didn't see that? that thing could have killed you. We need to be more careful.
"Not sure I look forward to eating that monster, to be honest" Braham says. "Still, better than starving, though. And perhaps with the right herbs and spices it won't be too bad..."
He looks around spying for further ambushes. "Yes, we do need to be more careful. And with this blasted snow it's hard to see anything..."
"I agree. Hopefully nothing else gets the jump on us." Turning to Sevrin he adds, "How are you doing? Can you go on?"
"I'm used to living off the land, I eat whatever the land can provide. Sometimes I eat good, and sometimes I don't."
Aavelixia is a bit excited on eating this thing. " I bet it taste like chicken. I have a cooking pot, maybe we can make some kind of stew for tonight, something warm to eat"
She moves close to the animal and is looks at the animal to see what part would be quick to remove and easy to cook. "Braham, could you chop this thing with one or two swings. It would be a waste to leave this much meat behind."
Sevrin stands up weakly, shaky in the knees, and his skin a little paler. In response to the question about his ability to walk, "Y.. y.. yes, I think I'm good." He pats himself down a little, and takes a deep breath, "I can go on. I just... I'm just gonna catch my breath a little, regain my bearings."
As the discussion turns to the creature itself, Sevrin looks at the thing like he's actually seeing it for the first time. "Oh, that looks like a tatzlwyrm, but normally they are shades of green to match their native forests. This white one, though, must be from somewhere where this type of weather is more common." Nodding with his own assessment, he adds, "It is atype of dragon though, so I can't speak to their edibility. I will say, that normally, predators don't often make for as good of meals as herbivores do."
"Braham, could you chop this thing with one or two swings. It would be a waste to leave this much meat behind."
"Sure, extra target practice!". Braham flashes a grin at Aavelixia, takes a step back and swings his axe a couple times, cleaving the body of the snake into a few clean-cut chunks.
"Braham,it's so nice of you"
Braham takes a few heavy-handed swings at the sinuous body of the creature, hacking at chunks of the creature. The hard scales, and the unfamiliar anatomy of the creature finds the groups with a bloody mess, covered in innards and chunks of bone. After the effort, it doesn't seem like there are any retrieveable pieces that look like they are still safe to eat. In the end, it seems that the notion is a wash.
Leaving the big mess behind, the group returns to following the wide trail left behind by the bandits that have taken Lady Malassene. Being away from the fire for a bit now, the cold begins to seep in once more, but those protected don't feel it. Of the three without either magical or material protection, only Thalin seems to really notice, and even then, it isn't enough to cause any real discomfort.
After about an hour trudging through the unusual winter, something starts to stand out among the trees. Feathered bundles and strange fetishes hang from the lowest branches of the trees in this part of the forest, swaying and shifting in the wind. All are stuck through with small pins holding pieces of leather bound around them.
Considering that there has been traps and creatures ready to kill us at every corner.
"Hey Sia, could this be a trap? I'm starting to not trust nature, everything here is trying to kill us.
Aavelixia will stand a few feet from the bundle of whatever that may be and observe the area. She will be also be looking towards the trees in the area for a log trap, just in case. Perhaps odd lumps in the snow.
Sia looks hard at the surroundings, "Everything and anything can be a trap Aavelixia. You can never trust nature, everything will kill you if the opportunity arises."
She pauses, frowns, and then relays what she spots.
Upon seeing the strange fetishes, Braham sniffs the air and wrinkles his nose. "Looks like foul witchcraft to me. I don't trust this one bit...". He also looks around, trying to spot anything amiss, but the swirling snow makes it hard for him to spot any details...
Thanion looks at the curiosities. "What could these be? Maybe... I think..."
After the last few obstacles, the group is on edge, Sia looking out for traps with Aavelixia's help. The others all glance over the clearing as well, while Thanion tries to focus on the odd fetishes. WHere the others don't see any signs of a threat, Thanion does notice that they are not feathered fetishes, but are actually the frozen corpses of dead crows hung all about the area, each of them pierced with a number of diminutive arrows no longer than four to five inches apiece.
Thanion calls out to the rest of the group in a harsh whisper, "Careful... The fetishes are covered in tiny arrows. Whatever shot them could still be in the area."
With staff at hand, Aavelixia gets close to one of these odd looking feathered ornament things and poke it with her staff.
If the item falls to the ground, she will not grab it with her hands, but will move it around with the staff to be able to see it up close.
Aavelixia looks at Suzy and whispers "Suzy careful, there may be things here" Suzy lowers its head/vines closer to the ground. It almost looks like she is trying to be ready to pounce.
"Tiny arrows? Well, I guess that's better than big arrows, but of course we still need to be careful. It doesn't matter how small the archer is, if the tip is poisoned we could be in trouble..."
Aavelixia moves around Thalin to approach the nearest fetish, poking at the macabre thing with her staff. The staff taps the thing, which is stiff and solid from either the cold or rigor mortis. The dead bird merely bobs on the end of the branch that it is bound on.
Even with the group being cautious, they fail to even notice the tiny little forms hiding among the snow-covered branches of the trees, until after the pinprick of an arrow hits them. The pain of the arrow isn't all that much, but what follows it is a numbing cold, chilling them to their core, and threatening to lock their limbs in a semi-frozen state.
Alight on the branches of a tree slightly to the northeast of the group, sits a lithe, diminutive creature that looks like a humanoid with wispy, mothlike wings and long, thin ears. The little bow in its hands gets drawn back, and it fires at Sevrin once more. The man injured so gravely by the previous fight, is not yet ready to react to the new threat, and gets shot once more. The arrow digs in a little harder than the last one, and Sevrin still reels from his previous injuries. The damage he has suffered causes him to look weak once more. The little creature then flits off toward the trees further east. As it zips around the trunk and branches, maintaining sight of the thing becomes near impossible. You can assume it's there, but precisely where is too hard to gauge without further inspection.
The first arrow that hit poor Sevrin fails to stop him cold, but it is the hit from the second that really hits home the effect. Except the second arrow did it by pushing the young man's threshold for pain, and not by any chill that it bears. It takes all he has to huddle against the larger group in the hopes of gathering protection through them. He does what he can to inform the others, even through the pain, "They are sprites, and I'm guessing they are the winter-touched that Yuln mentioned. They will hit and run with their arrows. They can be best hurt by cold iron weapons, or fire."