The soggy figure continues to speak as it trudges toward you.
"Dead! Yes! Can you prove what you say."
"You have my word as a knight, creature." Dante says, unable to think of a difinitve way to show this dread creature what he wanted to see.
The undead cries out. "If what you say is true, then I am DOOMED. Leave now, before my rage consumes you."
Dareon slowly shuffles away from the river, the bell, the bridge, and the undead creature. Not only did he not have anything to fight the creature, he knew there was no reason why they had to. He keeps his eye on the gnarly ranseur that the undead creature gripped.
As he backs up, he murmurs to his companions. "So ah...we need to cross this river, yes? What say we backtrack to the fort, grab the body, return to dispel this profane creature and then cross the river more safely?"
"Of course we could simply slaughter it." Dante says to Dareon. "Unless it's bound to come back and bother other travelers. If necessary we can just ride back, it's out of our way but what the hell." the gruff warrior shrugs his shoulders, creating a screeching sound of metal plates grinding.
As Dareon leaves the undead returns to his home under the river.
"You're free to put yourself on the line for that, but I've got very little that I can use to fight that thing..." says Dareon as he continues to inch away.
Felix thinks that any attempt to destroy it will ultimately be futile as it would return. It needs to be shown proof that the target of its anger has been destroyed. Consecrating the area where his body lies might very well destroy it, but that's not something he can do. It would be something Anastacia could easily do, especially if she was told about the problem.
"I believe, in that case, that we ought to leave. A group of us can return at a later date to destroy this abomination and consecrate it, but we ought to be on our way."
Dante saddles up, "Lets go Dareon. You are correct, this is a problem easily rectified at a later date with the appropriate resources at hand."
You follow the river for a few miles until it makes a sharp turn to the south. This looks like a good time to make a camp for the night. The night passes uneventfully.
Pharast 15
That morning Felix calls you all together and explains that he wishes to go back to the Sootscale Caverns. He feels that he can do your new kingdom more good by guiding their progress. He places Dante in charge. You start to head to the north and the hilly terrain quickly gives way to rolling plains. The temperature starts to drop and late in the afternoon a cold rain starts. The weather quickly turns bad and you find yourself in the middle of a snowstorm on the plains.
By the next morning you find that it has snowed 8" over the night. The plains are picturesque but it is still very cold.
The cold is incredibly debilitating to Dareon and he wakes the next morning, crawling up from underneath his blankets, shivering and exhausted. "I'd appreciate...a little...assistance...or warmth...or something..." Dareon says, his teeth chattering.
Dante starts a fire for the night.
And crawls under a winter blanket on his bed roll.
He only felt the chill of early morning as was usual when sleeping on the ground. He noticed Dareon's lack of appropriate gear and wrapped the blanket around him to warm up while he restarted the fire and prepared a quick breakfast.
Dante finds a place to build a fire sheltered enough from the snow and wind that it doesn't go out, providing everyone including the horses additional protection from the cold.
By the morning as the snow stops the horses are fine. Dante is cold but unharmed, the night brings back memories of an old winter campaign he participated in. Dareon is shivering and his face has a slight bluish tinge. (7 nonlethal and fatigued). Masamura also looks like he isn't faring very well, although he looks better than Dareon. (2 nonlethal and fatigued)
Dante decides that Masa and Dareon are in too bad condition to stay or to continue exploring. He lashes the two to their horses, bundles them up and sets out for a forced march back to Olegs. The day stays cold and their is alot of snow on the ground but Dante finds shortcuts through the rolling hills. (He actually rolled a 20 on Survival). After 10 hours of continuous riding without even stopping to eat Dante arrives at Oleg's with his two friends in tow. Dante isn't feeling that bad or tired the other two are miserable, but OK after a night's sleep.
