Adventure Path Reign of Winter

Game Master Almonihah

"Who needs a wand?" Selena, watching her step, moves up to Bulvi and witn a touch and a word, Bulvi feels a coolness, but a good feeling one, like hopping in a pool after a hot summer day, and his aches and pains dull. "So this is stroking the bull? Why do they call you a bull?"

Does Ibona accept the hug? Quasit? If so, let's get Selena in here and have a big hug fest and then move on down the trail. :-)

Ibona's face rapidly turns bright red as she blushes from the hug from Sakitu. Yes, she feels much affection to the group, and she can't seem to understand how they can just accept someone, especially someone who hid, and may have kept hiding. She almost died in the house Alexis died it. Her experiences have shown her that everything so far on this trip has been a trap or trick or bad in some way. Why would this be any different?

"Who needs a wand?" Selena, watching her step, moves up to Bulvi and witn a touch and a word, Bulvi feels a coolness, but a good feeling one, like hopping in a pool after a hot summer day, and his aches and pains dull. "So this is stroking the bull? Why do they call you a bull?"

"His name is Bulvi. I just call him Bull. And forget the stroking thing, I was just being stupid. I'm Quasit by the way. Well, that's what everyone calls me anyway. My real name is Mina, but nobody calls me that anymore. Don't mind Ibona, she's kinda crazy. She doesn't like me either."

"Thank you, very kind. Everyone's just getting tense and biting at each other's heels with the delightful blend of undead, draconic creatures, creepy dolls and traps left in our path."

Cure Light Wounds I assume? Want to roll?

"I understand. She hurts, and not the kind to be healed so easily." Selena says as she steps back a moment to look around and listen, glancing at Winter who yips at her, quickly followed by a snort from Selena as gives the fox a look.

What time of day is it?
Edit:Yep cure light. rollinb is nice isn't it?

1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

With this much ninja'ing, we should just open a discord server and voice chat the game. :)

ninja'ing? I'm not familiar with that jargon. This is my first game on the forums.

"So, yeah, creepy doll. I wasn't just being passive aggressive when I told you to ask Ibona, I really don't know much about it. Basically it was this ugly little doll with a big sapphire for one of its eyes. It was fighting us with magic and swinging a little dagger at us. Apparently it freaked out our cleric so much that she decided to go back to town. Damn little thing scared the snot out of me too with some weird illusions of ghosts and stuff. Anyway, Ibona called it a Guardian doll or something? But she blew me off when I tried to ask her questions about it. It seems to have been placed in that hut to guard this clearing."

Quasit crosses her arms against the cold and continues talking. Now that she's decided to open up, it seems hard for her to stop.

"So you heard about the captured lady? We found her yesterday in a hunting lodge, guarded by a bunch of thugs working with a cleric of Norgorber. We got her back safe. She didn't know much, but she thinks they were working for some guy named Teb Knotten. So here we are in the woods again today, trying to find Mr. Teb. Oh, and there's apparently a killer weasel on the loose. No joke. And the trees attacked us earlier. I'm telling you, these woods are bananas."

To be ninja'd is to make a post where someone else posted a message after you started your post but before you clicked submit, leading to your post following a new post you didn't know about.
I.E.
you read posts,
you click reply,
someone posts,
you click submit,
you find new messages above your post.

"Well, back home, there are possessed things that stay in cottages along the border that hunt trespassers. Aside from that, I don't know much about them. This Mr. Teb sounds like a lead."

Selena its still before noon, its fairly bright outside, posting the next section to move on when you are ready

A cold wind blows through the valley, bringing a spray of sleet
and broken ice. The sky ahead roils with thick, gray clouds and
the sun is only a dim glow somewhere in the mist.

Fin, tired of all the drama, moves on trying to follow their previous trail...

Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

To the one leaving, Selena speaks up, "Given the look of the weather, you should probably eat before it reaches here. Unless you like eating in the sleet."

I actually have nothing against moving forward, but eating before bad weather is a good idea, unless you are playing a game and don't get hungry. :)

"Good idea Fin. Let's get moving." Sakitu falls in step behind Findurel. "Eat?" she says to Selena, "Honestly, I don't feel all that hungry. Maybe it's just the stress and drama. But if needed I can eat while we walk."

I make liberal use of the Preview button to avoid being ninja'd. I never post directly. I only post after seeing the preview. That leaves a short window (a few seconds) where someone could jump in on me. It still happens but very rarely.

"Fin, come on now, don't go off by yourself. To much has happened and you know better!" Ibona leaves Selena and the others, their conflict unresolved, and hurries to catch up to Findurel.

Smiling at Sakitu, "Walking with your mouth full. That never ends badly." she ends with a good natured laugh and takes up her customary position beside the trail (after all, walking on a trail is sure to find more traps.).

Quasit laugh-snorts.

"Aren't you a little young to be my mother? Shall we take an outhouse break too? I'll eat when I decide to."

Quasit shoulders her pack and starts trudging along through the snow. She makes it about 50 feet or so.

"As a matter of fact, I just decided to. But it's just a coincidence."

Still walking, she fishes a hunk of cheese out of her pack and begins to take large bites out of it. Being a generous soul, she offers it around to anyone who wants some.

"White Tolcaster, from Andoren," she says, her mouth about 75% full, identifying the species of cheese. "It's a little dry, but it's got a nice tang and a smoky finish. Not bad, but it'll make you thirsty as a fish."

While one hand holds the cheese wedge, she uses the other hand to fish out a half eaten blueberry scone and takes a prodigious chomp on that too. She looks to Selena.

"So, how old ARE you, squirt?" she asks, crumbs raining from her mouth.

Selena says quite dryly, "I thought southerner's considered it rude to ask a girl her age?" The gives a friendly smile, obviously teasing.

She pulls out a bunch of cashews, whispers a few words, and focuses on them wrapped in her hands for a moment, before chomping down on them.

After swallowing a few, "To answer your question, I'm 16 as of last month." She looks physically like she is around her mid twenties.

"Yeah, no one ever accused me of having good manners," says Quasit. "My mother despairs of me."

As Quasit continues to talk, she gestures liberally with the scone in her right hand and the cheese in her left.

"All right, so let me see if I have all this straight. You come from somewhere up north where your family is pretty important. Your mentor Sophia was killed by some guy, so you hunted him down and got him. Alone. Well, you and the spooky fox. Now you're heading home, but you figured you'd investigate our summer snow-storm first, because it might relate to politics back in your homeland. Does that about cover it?"

"Well, I guess all I can say is that if you can waltz around these woods alone and not end up dead ten times over, you must be good luck. Which is definitely something we can use."

She shoves the rest of her scone into her mouth. She chews for about 3 seconds before adding through a jumble of spit and scone crumbs--"Oh, and if you're actually secretly evil and planning to betray us or something, I'm gonna stick a blade into the base of your skull, then jump up and down on your belly. Otherwise, welcome aboard!"

She cocks her head a bit and smiles sweetly.

"Sophia was an old friend, not my mentor. She was taken by the child-stealers and never found. My mentor was killed during our fight with the thief. As for walking through here, this is much like my home so I'm used to it. Otherwise, you pretty much summed it up nicely." Selena shrugs and pops a few more cashews, and tosses one in Winter's direction, where-upon it gets snatched out of the air.

Quasit gets a bit more serious.

"Child stealers, huh? Yeah, I've run into their kind before. The slave markets of Okeno can't ever get enough kids to satisfy demand. There isn't a level of hell low enough for those people. I'm sorry. I hope you find her some day."

She walks silently for a bit, then figures she should change the subject.

"Where'd you get the fox? It's a good thing you had her... her? I'm guessing it's a her. It was apparently an instant key to the heart of Saki our amazing fox lady."

"She's a thing called a kitsune by the way. Isn't that cool? I've never met anyone like her before. I'm guessing they must be pretty rare in this part of the world. I'm so jealous of her. She gets to choose whether to be a fox person, like she is now, or a flippin' gorgeous woman, and can change on the spot. Heck, I'd be happy if I could be either one of those. Plus she's a sorcerer! So she's got, like, dragon blood in her somewhere or something! I mean, cripes, some people just have ALL the luck."

She throws down a bit of her cheese to the fox. "She's a cute little stinker."

Sakitu continues to walk with Findurel and is happy to see that at least Quasit and Selena are talking. She's confident that Ibona will come around too. She takes some of the cheese that Quasit offers and shoves it in her mouth. Almost instantly she spits it back out into her hand. "Quasit, this is awful!" she sputters and uses her hand to try to wipe the crumbled pieces off of her tongue. "I thought you said cheese. This tastes like rotten... well I don't know what. Just rotten something."

Before Quasit can be offended Sakitu starts to laugh. She holds out her hand with the now slimy spewed out cheese, "Do you want it back?" There is a playful twinkle in her eye. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. This," she makes a squinty eyed face at the pile in her hand, "uh, stuff, just caught me off guard. Normally I like cheese. I think."

-----

Sakitu listens to Selena's story and her mood grows more serious again. "I'm so sorry Selena. I agree with Quasit. Those are horrid people. They deserve the worst punishment possible."

Sakitu blushes a little when Quasit starts talking about her race and abilities. "Quasit, it's not quite as extravagant as you say. And I'm not really all that pretty in my human form. At least not like you say."

Sakitu continues to walk with Findurel and is happy to see that at least Quasit and Selena are talking. She's confident that Ibona will come around too. She takes some of the cheese that Quasit offers and shoves it in her mouth. Almost instantly she spits it back out into her hand. "Quasit, this is awful!" she sputters and uses her hand to try to wipe the crumbled pieces off of her tongue. "I thought you said cheese. This tastes like rotten... well I don't know what. Just rotten something."

"Can cheese go bad? I don't think cheese goes bad. It's already just salty mold, right? So it just gets, I dunno, moldier, right? I thought it tasted ok. But then I'll eat pretty much anything. Except oysters. Blech." She sniffs the cheese, then shrugs and puts it away in her pack. "I tried to keep it away from my socks in there, so it isn't that. You must prefer the milder ones. Sorry."

Sakitu blushes a little when Quasit starts talking about her race and abilities. "Quasit, it's not quite as extravagant as you say. And I'm not really all that pretty in my human form. At least not like you say."

"Ugh, quit before I smack you!" says Quasit with a roll of her eyes and a laugh.

Looking at Winter, "Foxes like her are native to northern climates. She was the one that answered the ritual."

After Quasit described kitsune, Selena seemed to decide against saying anything, then smiles as Winter happily eats the cheese.

When Sakitu mentions the cheese tasting horrible, Selena laughs.

"Ugh, quit before I smack you!" says Quasit with a roll of her eyes and a laugh.

After a moment, "Is that supposed to me I'm not pretty." Selena asks in a serious tone, but if you look at her, she can't hide the smile.

After a moment, "Is that supposed to mean I'm not pretty." Selena asks in a serious tone, but if you look at her, she can't hide the smile.

Quasit doesn't get it. She just scrunches her brow and jerks her head back a bit. "I didn't say that. Fish for compliments much?"

"People are getting grumpy. I blame the constant danger... and the weather." Bulvi kicks up a little powdery snow for emphasis.

"I knew a Druid from the Mwangi Expanse far to the south. He had never seen snow but laughed, he had heard it slowed travel. He complained of the cold yes but they were to small and melted on your skin. After a few days he learned why it was a problem for travel." Bulvi seems quite halppy to trudge through it for a while.

Quasit doesn't get it. She just scrunches her brow and jerks her head back a bit. "I didn't say that. Fish for compliments much?"

Selena looks at Winter "Oh shush.". Turning towards Quasit, "I was joking. I intended it my own expense. You have heard of jokes, right?"

"Quasit, oh no. Its like snow they didn't have them where she came from."

Quasit takes all this perfectly in stride.

"Oh yeah? Here's a joke for you. What do you call a dog with no legs?"

"It doesn't matter. He won't come anyway."

Selena chuckles, "I haven't known many four-legged dogs to come when called."

Sakitu scrunches up her nose at Quasit's joke. She puzzles over it for a while and finally says, "I don't get it. Just cause the poor dog can't come to you does mean you don't give it a name. In fact, it seems kind of mean to call it to you when you know it can't make it."

The group continues down the trail and Sakitu looks up at the dark horizon. "That weather doesn't look good. Not at all."

FYI, I get the joke, Sakitu doesn't.

Ibona keeps up with Findurel as he scouts ahead, intentionally ignoring Selena.

Everyone but Fin give me a Perception Check, and Everyone I need a Fort Save

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22
Fort Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
Fort Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

Sakitu perks up and looks around then shudders a little from the cold. "I probably should have bought something to help keep the cold out when we were back in Heldren."

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Fort Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

As a note, if the fort save is vs cold, I don't need it till the weather drops below -50. I have endure elements vs cold as a constant effect. And I forgot how painful it is to not have perception be a class skill. +1 pro for dnd 3.x skill system.

fort: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
perc: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 2 = 9

Selena looks at Sakitu thoughtfully, "You just need to grow a winter coat. Maybe you could make a spell for that. Do you work magic at all?"

Fortitude: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

"Oh, you don't like that one Saki? How about this one: What do you call a man with no arms and no legs hanging on the wall?"

"Art."

Quasit finishes with a little flourish of the hands. Do they have jazz hands in Golarian?

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Fortitude Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Sakitu scratches her head for a second. "Art?" Then it dawns on her and a dark look crosses her face. "Quasit! That's mean!" Quickly the dark look is replaced with a grin. "Ok. I guess it's kind of funny." She elbows Selena and says, "See? This is what we've had to deal with." She glances at the pouting Ibona. "And that too."

the snow in the area seems to be coming down harder, then any of the previous areas (Range attack penalty) and the cold seems to be dropping further then when you first entered the woods however you spot what looks like possibly this giant weasel that was in the hunters journal.

Sakitu, Ibona, and Selena seems to feel the cold seeping into them each taking

Sakitu: 1d4 ⇒ 2
Ibona: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Selena: 1d4 ⇒ 3

as non lethal damage, though they have started to feel the effects of Hypothermia (fatigue)

~~Round 1~~
Knowledge nature to ID
Bold to Act
Quasit
Gm
Sakitu Fatigue
Selena Fatigue
Findurel
Bulvi
Ibona Fatigue

Know(Nature): 1d20 + 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (4) + (5) + 9 = 18

my apologies, i forgot to bold

~~Round 1~~
Knowledge nature to ID
Bold to Act
Quasit
Gm
Sakitu Fatigue
Selena Fatigue
Findurel
Bulvi
Ibona Fatigue

Quasit wordlessly moves off the trail 20-30 feet and attempts to find a good hiding spot behind a tree or bush. She pulls out her short sword and holds it ready.

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

I will edit Selena for the fatigue, I missed it in the post

the creature seems to not notice Quasit slink off somewhere, and notices the nice shiny infront if it

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Confirm: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20 miss

Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Bleed: 1d4 ⇒ 4

the creature sinks teeth in around bulvi's chest and bites in firmly, though doesn't seem to let go, it attaches itself to bulvi

Ibona gasps and whispsers to herself "Giant Weasel" 1 thing to know about it

~~Round 1~~
Knowledge nature to ID
Bold to Act
Quasit
Giant Weasel
Sakitu Fatigue
Selena
Findurel
Bulvi
Ibona Fatigue

Selena whispers into her hand, then moves up to touch the weasel, "Bulvi, bring it here." she says as she moves to touch the weasel.

Chill Touch, neg energy, and dc 12 fort or take 1 str dmg: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 211d6 ⇒ 5

Bulvi howls with rage from the pain hoping to tear the creature's fangs off him.
Trying to take control of the grapple
Grapple: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Bulvi Attempts to grapple the beast but falls just short of being able to

Fort: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20 safe from Str Damage

Special Attacks?

Ibona taks a 5' step to Bulvi, pulls out her Cure Light Wounds wand and sword, and and then touches Bulvi with the wand.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

"Its a Giant Weasel!"

Sakitu let's out a short scream when the weasel jumps onto Bulvi and tears into him. "Not again!" She raises her hands and directs a magic missile at the giant creature.

magic missle: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

for special attacks, it attaches automatically when the attack hits, and it causes bleed as well with one of its attacks

"Don't let it hit you! It grabs on and won't let go, eating you!"

As Bulvi tries to wrench it's jaws open "I noticed!"