Brominate slashes the zombie on the ground, but does only a little bit of damage
The red zombie shudders slighty when hit by the spell, then lashes out at Easlis.
[dice=red vs Easlis]1d20+4 miss
[dice=slam damage]1d6+4
The green zombiereaches towards Brominate from the ground
[dice=green vs Brominate]1d20 miss
[dice=slam damage]1d6+4
Bazikian stops Nyalis from bleeding, but is unable to rouse him.
Easlis watches with awe how the energy channeled by the cleric is expanding across the field of battle and of how it might affect the zombies. From the back of the carriage, he continues his duel with the zombie hoping that the foe will be properly sent to slumber before doing more harm to the party.
"We outnumber the undead in wit and numbers two to one. Let's do all that we can and finish them off" Easlis tries halfheartedly to encourage the party while swinging his sword at the monstrous enemy.
Nyalis continues to lie on the ground, clinging to life but in a perilous position.
You can all act. Sorry I on a road trip and posting from mobile and missed the section for who was up in the turn order.
Grim stands his ground, trying yet again to assist against the soft undead.
Both zombies seize up and stiffen as bazikian displays the symbol of the butterfly. The unholy light leaves their eyes and they become dead once more
end of combat, what do you do now?
Grim looks at the zombies and shakes his head. "Not what I expected, but we know the original attackers are gone. Otherwise they would have used that distraction to their advantage when they ambushed us." He shrugs. "Time to check the bodies for any identification or important papers, as well as the interior of the carriage. Oh, yeah. And can anyone heal the elf? I'll be right with you."
Grim goes to collect his arrows, looking to see if any of the 4 survived the combat.
Brominate, not wishing to look upon these abominations a second longer, turns south to find a distraction. Seeing the statue of ice he decided to go examine it. As he walks he asks nobody in particular,
”Those were Yulin’s comrades trying to kill us, weren’t they? Is that what necromancy is? A perversion of the natural order?”
As he examines, he kneels down to clean his dagger with the snow.
"I would suggest you leave the carriage doors open for a while before going in. I bet that the stink from the zombies still lingers in there." Easlis says to Grimgisli while appraising the current worth of the carriage and what use they might get out of it.
He returns to pick his fallen torch and heads in the direction of the ice statue. "You know what bothers me. This Yullin fellow should have been the only survivor. Yet he mentioned nothing of the zombies locked inside. It could have been an ambush set up by the necromancer, but somehow I doubt he would lock his own servants on the prospect someone would just come and inspect the attack area."
He brings the torch closer to the ice statue to have a better look. "All magic stretches the border between what we see as natural and the beyond. Necromancy relies on manipulating the very essence of life."
Bazikian follows Easlis to the frozen figure. "To be fair, Yulin did allude to the possibility of undead foes, which I doubt he would do if he were setting us up, and if his frostbite and wounds were but a ruse to trick us, he's very committed to the deception! Sometimes, the simplest answer is the correct one, not always of course, otherwise it would be an immutable rule of life, which it clearly isn't, but I guess that's a discussion for another day. What were we talking about? Oh right, Yulin, yes, I think he's on the level, could be wrong of course, but that's life hey? This frozen person was a bit unlucky, don't you think?" He peers at the person turned popsicle.
Nyalis continues to lie on the edge of the battlefield, alive but unconscious. His breathing is shallow but regular and noticeable.
Once the warm light from Bazikian's hand covers Nyalis, he wakes up and recovers from most of his battle damage.
Nyalis puts his hand to his head and tries to shake off the effects of being unconscious. "Th-Th-Thanks a lot, Bazikian. I'll be much more careful the next time we run across danger. None of the heroes of legend seem to have these sorts of difficulties."
Then to the rest of the party, Nyalis notes his appreciation, "Great job to everybody, way to stay cool under pressure. It looks like Yulin is right about the necromancer, what with the zombies and all. I'm starting to believe his whole story a lot more. I bet these evil fey are more than figments of his imagination too."
After he recovers from being unconscious, Nyalis helps the team explore the site of the battle.
"Glad to see you back in the realm of the living. We still have a bandit chief and a necromancer to catch and there might be ice sculpting creatures roaming about. So I think it might be for the best if you'd be in better shape if... when... something bad happens again."
"Bazikian do you think you could help our battered elf friend a bit more? He let a second or two pass before adding with a strained tone. Please.
He turns his head back to the carriage, inspecting it more thoroughly from a distance.
"So what do you think we should do about the carriage? It looks in an unexpectedly good shape. If the air inside is still breathable, it could serve as a mobile base, a prison or maybe a safer way to return the lady. We don't have horses to pull it but I think that while it's not full, my mule can pull it."
Brominate's eyes, rather than widening in horror, become more narrow as Brominate stares at the ice, having heard what Bazikian just said.
"Zeke? Did you say 'person?' Someone froze this person?!"
Brominate, not knowing why, begins shoving all the snow from around the unlucky frozen fellow, to see if there are others, or maybe dropped weapons.
"I'm not trying to show any disrespect, but maybe we'll find something useful. Speaking of which! I saw some mostly intact chests and boxes by the overturned carriage. Someone check it out, just in case there's something we need? There also might be something for the Lady, if she's still alive... whatever we do, let's be quick and continue moving!"
After collecting a couple of arrows, Grim returns to the task of searching the carriage, and the area.
Bazikian beams at Nyalis. "You're welcome, friend! I'm sure this sort of thing happened to legendary heroes all the time, it just doesn't make for such good stories, and anyway, you've just begun your career as a hero, like an apprenticeship I guess, anyhow, good to see you on your feet again!" Then he turns to the obviously irritated Easlis. "I'm not sure why you're upset with me, Easlis, I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything wrong, or is it just that you're grumpy all the time? Or maybe that's just how you deal with stress, by trying to make other people feel bad. But that's okay," he smiles, "I forgive you, I used to get really nervous in battles too, sometimes I'd even pee a little. Did you pee? That would make me irritable too. Anyhow, Nyalis has healing powers of his own, now that he's back up. I think my prayers, which are nearly depleted, mind you, are better served aiding the whole party if we encounter more danger. Which hopefully we don't, but you know how it is out here in the wilderness."
Bazikian turns to Brom. "Yes indeed, that's definitely a person in there, not a statue. I wonder if they're still alive... It's a long shot, but you never know."
"Me? Being irritated, now why would you say that?" Easlils muttered with a voice which turned as cold as the statue and with his right eyebrow twitching. He grips the handle of his sword, draws it an inch out of the scabbard but instead of releasing it he sighs and releases his hand from the sword.
"As you said we still have plenty of dangers to face in this forest. Some could be closer than expected." He continues his inspection of the statue and of its surroundings.
Bazikian, concentrating on the frozen figure, doesn't notice the nuances of Easlis's comment, and takes his words at face value. "Oh, that's good then! I find that when I'm irritable it's quite bad for my bowels, just upsets things terribly. Good to know I don't have to worry about your bowels, which can be a thing when you're travelling with somebody, if you know what I mean..."
Nyalis shakes his head to Easlis, "Don't worry, Bazikian is right. I can use my own magic now that I'm able to move around and do things. Baz has much more powerful magic we should save for when needed."
Nyalis spends a minute moving liquids and powders between vials that he keeps about his person. Once he completes the task, he quickly drinks the results and feels his wounds heal over.
After getting himself fixed up, Nyalis continues to investigate the areas around the battlefield, oblivious to Easlis' annoyance. "I agree, though, there are likely many more dangers here than would normally be expected. Let's hope the good Lady has fared them well."
Bombs per day: 5/5
Extracts per day: 1/2
Lamp Oil Flasks: 3
Rations: 5/5
Mutagen: 1/1 - Strength mutagen (+2 AC, +4 str, -2 int) 10 mins/level
Inside the carriage you find a hidden compartment that was passed over by the bandits. Inside is a jewelry box. It contains jewelry that is worth a total of 240 gold.
Several boxes around the ruined carriage are intact, and contain several fancy courtiers outfits worth 90 gold total.
The statue is indeed a person, and one that has been gravely injured before he died. Several chunks of him are laying in separate ice blocks on the ground. He is wearing a breastplate with Taldan markings, and one of the blocks contains a very well made longsword.
grim finds 2 arrows still intact
Easlis smiles at the elf and looks suspiciously and somewhat uneased at Bazikian. He did not have so much discussion about bowel movement since he was a child and was afraid of any response would just turn the situation dirtier than it already was.
"Before anyone gets any crazy ideas of just handing the jewelry away for free, might I remind you that that..." He points to the carriage in which the zombies were locked with the torch. "...is our mobile base of operations. There had been no one objecting to it. And therefore all the values found within it, that belonged to the previous inhabitants... His torch lowers in the direction of the zombie remains. "... should be used in supplying the rescue and weather change missions."
Easlis looks for tracks around the carriage and the statue in order to have a better understanding of what happened and to find out in which direction the enemy has gone too.
Nyalis looks through the things they have found. I have to agree with Easlis, here. We are in to this up to our eyeballs and we should use anything that we can take advantage of in our mission. He holds up one of the courtesan's outfits, checking it for holes. "Do you think we'll need to raid a dinner party? This might fit somebody, " he says with a grin.
"I'm ready to move on after the Lady Argantea, " announces Nyalis. "Lead on, Grimgisli!"
The sword is masterwork. Thank you for updating the sheet. If anyone wants to claim those items, add your name to the sheet
Seeing nothing of use to him, Bazikian readies himself to follow Grimgisli. "Any idea what these creatures might be?" Bazikian asks the burly warrior. "Though I'm a gnome, I've spent almost all my time around humans. There are just so many of you. Your capacity for breeding really must rank among your greatest strengths as a race, wouldn't you agree? Also your diversity. What was I saying? Oh right, these ice fey, or whatever they are. Seen anything like it before?"
Desiring nothing more than to leave this place, Brominate secures everything, weapon still drawn but concealed, hood up, and says,
"Why are standing around talking? Someone hitch that mule and let's go! Zeke, leave the humans alone. And no more conversations about bodily fluids, wastes, or human reproduction." He has a thought and turns back to Bazikian. "Or any kind of reproduction, for that matter."
Then he follows the tracks left in the snow that Grim pointed out earlier.
"Hence forth and conquer, gents! he shouts back over the wind.
"Well there is no point in leaving all of this laying around here, is it? We'll see later what to do with what we've collected. But I would not suggest displaying or selling any of this in the village." he remarked when he'd seen the elf appraising the courtesan's outfits.
Easlis picked up all the unclaimed items in a hurry including the breastplate and the longsword and put them together with the jewelry in a sack on the side of the mule which he tied to the carriage. He then made sure everybody knew where the sack was in case something unfortunate would happen to him. Completely unaware if the tracks left in the snow were his or had been originally there, he follows Grimgisli silently.
It looks like the weather is significantly worse just ten paces or so into the woods. the snow is piled up, 6 inches high in many places, drifting higher in patches. (this will be difficult terrain unless specified).
In addition to the snow on the ground, more is falling. the falling snow will impede your sight, giving a -4 penalty to perception checks and ranged attack rolls.
As soon as you cross over the border of the woods, the temperature drops noticeably, to below freezing. Every hour spent inside of the Border Wood will require a fortitude save to not be affected by the cold. Cold Weather gear will give a bonus to this save.
___________________________________________________________
The trail of the bandits is easy to follow. the slowly falling snow has not yet covered the trail, and it doesn't look like any real effort was made to hide their tracks.
As it enters the full expanse of the Border Wood, the trail passes through a small clearing among the taller trees before continuing uphill and out of sight. A large chest lies half-buried in the snow, apparently dropped or discarded by those who hastily passed this way.
what do you do? Check it out or move along?
"We don't have time for anymore distractions," Brominate says as soon as he sees the chest in the clearing of the bitterly cold woods. "Worst case scenario, it's a trap or it's meant to distract us for an ambush. And if it's not, we can check it on the way back... assuming... y'know -Y'all guard the carriage through this clearing. I'm goin' the long way around, see if any demons are lurking in this frozen hell."
Taking the lead as they go to move along the trail, Grim frowns as the temperature drops. "Starting to feel more like home, but we're not dressed for that kind of weather. You game to push on, or do you want to see if this town's got some proper coats and gloves? If we're going to press, keep your hands close to your body, or under your arms. Keep the fingers warm. You'll be better prepared to fight that way."
As they come upon the chest, Grim stops and stares at it for a moment. "Don't care. Your call if you want to open it. It'll be cold, though. Steal some of your heat as you handle it."
"Come on all, let's move," encourages Nyalis.
As they move down the trail, Nyalis starts to shiver and get cold as the snow increases. "I need a minute here guys. Can we take a quick break? "
Nyalis quickly mixes up a magical elixir and drinks it.
----------------------------
As the group continues up the trail and stumbles on the chest in the snow, Nyalis looks around the area.
Hrm, I wonder if that came from the Lady Argantea's carriage. Why else would a bunch of bandits have a chest.
"What do you all think?"
Bombs per day: 5/5
Extracts per day: 0/2
Lamp Oil Flasks: 3
Rations: 5/5
Mutagen: 1/1 - Strength mutagen (+2 AC, +4 str, -2 int) 10 mins/level
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Bazikian takes his winter blanket out from his backpack and wraps it tightly around his shoulders. "Ready!" he proclaims - the shortest sentence any of you have every heard him speak.
Easlis followed Bazikian's example and had started by wrapping the winter blanket around his neck then when noticing that he could still feel the cold, he twisted it around his head covering his face completely except for his eyes. If he would have a frostbite it would not be on his face. He hoped his nose would not suffer the same fate as Yulin's. No lady was worth a black nose.
He also covered the back of the mule with his bedroll. It would be damp and with the stinky but at least the animal would have some sort of protection from the elements.
Seeing Nyalis agitated and inspecting the area he asked him: "Do you think it's a trap? Is something alive or half dead hidden in the chest?" He conjures a spell and uses his mage hand to tap on the chest with his dagger from a distance. And if there is no sound he tries to pry it open it with the dagger's blade.
Nyalis' keen elven eyes spot a rope tied to the chest leading towards the tree line, then mostly buried in snow. It is clearly a trip wire that would trigger a trap if the box were moved or if someone stepped on it.
When Easlis taps the chest with the floating dagger, there are no sounds from inside, just the sound of metal thumping on wood from the dagger. he tries to pry it open, but the lid is too heavy for the mage hand to lift.
Nyalis watches Easlis and his floating dagger.
That's neat, I'll have to get him to teach me that, Nyalis thinks. Then, suddenly...
"Woah, WOah, WOAh, WOAH there! " exclaims Nyalis in a rapid and shrill voice that would make Bazikian proud. "Be careful there, Easlis. There is a rope here that looks like it is part of a trap! Don't touch or jostle the chest and be careful of the rope."
"Is anybody good with traps or mechanics? It is sort of outside of my study. It is probably best to try to disable the trap but we might also follow the rope to the other end. In the meantime, I suggest we stay away from the chest."
With that, Nyalis walks back the trail the way they came until he is out of the clearing where the chest was left.
Hearing Nyalis’s shouts of the chest being an obvious trap, Brominate recedes several more feet beyond the clearing, and creeping in a wide enough circle to find or come up behind whatever, or whoever, is on the other end of that rope.
"Trapped? Heh. Do more than steal your heat, then. Not much time to monkey with it in this cold with these clothes. Suppose we should clear it so nobody else gets taken in, though. Somebody want to work the chest side? Go ahead. I think I want to see where the rope goes . . .."
Grim starts moving to follow the rope as quickly as he is able, without touching it, of course.
"Trapped? Heh. Do more than steal your heat, then. Not much time to monkey with it in this cold with these clothes. Suppose we should clear it so nobody else gets taken in, though. Somebody want to work the chest side? Go ahead. I think I want to see where the rope goes . . .."
Grim starts moving to follow the rope as quickly as he is able, without touching it, of course.
Brominate sees Grimgisli stumbling across the clearing, following the rope like a sheep to the slaughter, except loud and bumbling - he forms a snowball and throws it towards the dwarf. If he sees it or it hits him, Brominate rushes to the edge clearing and motions for Grim to freeze and wait.
Then he continues going around.
"I am with Grimgisli on this one." Easlis exclaimed bringing his dagger back and putting more distance between the chest and him.
"This is the second trap the enemy is throwing our way. It is better to understand how they think before we face them head-on.
Also aren't you curious on what they planned for us with the contraption? " With that said he would follow the human and the rope.
Brominate does not spot any movement in the woods around this clearing. he spots several set of tracks that appear to be humanoid around the chest, along with some animal tracks.
Grimgisli follows the rope and finds it connected to a spiked log held in a tree only a handful of paces away from the chest. should it be triggered it would swing down and smash into anyone near the chest.
Grim stops and looks at the trap before moving to the back side and pulling his kukri as he moves. "Everybody, clear away! make a good hole between me and the chest! And past it!" He watches and waits for the group to comply. When he thinks everyone is clear, he starts chopping at the rope holding up the side of the log AWAY from the release. The hope is that the rope will cut and the trap get caught in the dirt before it swings loose. But getting everyone clear first, in case.
Hmmm . . .. A couple of attack & damage rolls in case? A quick damaging objects check says Hardness 0 and 2 HP per inch thickness of rope.
Should be enough for th efirst rope, then.
::facepalm::
::sigh::
Well, eventually it should get cut down. Right?
Nyalis stands *waayyyyyy* back and yells "All clear!" when he is far enough away. Despite being ready, he jumps a bit when he hears Grimgisli start chopping at the rope.
Assuming that the log either falls to the ground or swings down how it would if the trap were triggered …
"That is one nasty looking log. These bandits are so much more evil than simple robbers. I fear for the wellbeing of the good Lady even more now."
Once you located the trap and found the log, disabling it is not too difficult. Grimgisli hacks away at the rope, which falls slack after the first couple of swings. the clearing seems to be still and calm, and it does not appear that anyone stayed behind to watch over this trap once it was set.
What do you do now?