One of the elders, her face painted white like those of Hiryla and the other warriors, stands from the bench. With no other cue the room falls silent as she speaks. Her words have a strength and resonance belied by her withered frame.
“This is the story that the elders told me when I was a child. Once, a great warrior came to our lands from the South, though his blood and his beard were of the West, in the land where the first dragons hunt and kill. With gold and magic this warrior built a stone keep at the base of a mighty mountain. During this time he came to us, in peace, and invited us to his hearth with gifts of furs. Humbly he asked the elders of our clan if he could hunt with them and share in our ways. quickly he proved himself a friend to all, sharing in our customs and sharing his with us.
By the time the last stone was laid in his keep, he had hunted with the elders many times, and made many kills. His axe, sheathed in fire, had protected us from the white wolves and the yetis, just as we too had used our food and furs to keep him warm against the deepest colds. When his banner was raised, the elders were guests in his hall, and some of his own house had already merged their blood with our own. For years the king and our elders prospered, and we learned of crafts, weapons, and ways different from those that came before. Then the white wyrms came.
For beneath the keep, in the iced caverns below, the dragons had bred. For years their eggs slept and waited. When they hatched, they plagued the king and his new house, but he fought them back with the strength of his arm and the fire of his axe, and the battle was nearly won. But when a matriarch of the white returned to tend her brood, she was furious at the king and threw herself on the keep in madness. In the season of the longest nights, still the sun set and rose again before the battle was decided. The King struck the wyrm down, even though his armor and his beard were white with the ice of her breath. Our elders made trophies and talismans from what remained of the beast, and helped rebuild the crumbled tower.
The mammoths crossed the plains ten times, three times over before the great king passed, and still the dragons were kept at bay. When the hour of his dying came, the great and generous Huscarl King gave all within his castle to those that had served and befriended his house, save for his mighty axe. With this, the elders buried him, and as we raise a mound of stones over the dead when the earth is too cold to dig, so did the elders bring the mountain down atop our king. Ever since have we held vigil over his tomb and what lies within. We remember
his lessons, his ways that bled into the ways of the elders to become our ways. And we remember his beard, first white with frost, then with age, as it symbolizes what he protected us from and what he stood watch against.
From your speech and the actions of that other group we understand that this Shadow Lodge is trying to get it's hands on the mighty axe of the Huscarl King. It is good that you city-dweller try to prevent this and we will lend aid by sending four warriors with you if you want the aid. That will be a task of tomorrow. This evening we will feast."
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Merida spends the night trading stories about different people from either tribe. To her delight she discovers that in spite of the difference in latitude, their tribes seem to have a few twins of spirit.
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Pandora perfoms a reverence towards the elder "Thanks a lot for your help. Yet this might be bloody and it correspons to city dwellers to end what no other than city dwellers have begun. Don't feel forced to give us your men, spare them of the blood to come, yet if you insist we will be honoured with their help."
That night Pandora joins the festivities with a song of a northern woman set to find her father around the world while she dances following Quinray drums.
After a night with great, but simple, food, dancing and singing you break your fast and set of towards the Huscarl's Keep.
The bones of two ancient stone watchtowers rise from the ground like sentries set to guard the entrance to Ranulf’s Keep. Snow and ice still cover their base, making them inaccessible, but they mark the edge of the Huscarl’s Keep, just visible in the distance.
The four clansmen who accompanied you have scouted ahead and return. In broken common their leader addresses Pandora while holding up five fingers. "This many enemy. They have Shard"
Not long later you see a dark-skinned woman swathed in the orange and blue of a desert sky at sunset, strides defiantly forward. Her outline shivers with the heat emanating from the flaming greataxe in her hands. As snow swirls on the wind around her, flakes hiss and shriek as they fall on the blade’s open flame. “Come Pathfinders,” she invites in a honeyed tone, as her companions draw their weapons. “Let Jedrek’s Shard warm you against the cold.” She then gives a signal to her allies and they fire four arrows. Cirri is hit once and the other arrows miss. The woman reads a scroll.
Pandora
Merida
Cirri
Merida
Initiative
Cirri 8/15
Merida
Pandora
Quinray
Roderick
Ryskovich
- - -
Snowmasks
Enemy
- - -
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Pandora shouts "That if you are able to go through my Wall of Ice spell!"
She then starts casting a [url=http://paizo.com/prd/spells/silentImage.html#silentImage[/url] spell creating a wall of 8 cubes of 10 feet in between the woman and the party, trying to break the line of sight of both spells and arrows.
To her allies she whisppers, "The wall is not true, just one of my illusions. With some luck we perhaps have some seconds to buff up so let's ready for them to come."
Pandora will try to identify whatever spell the scroll is casting and moves closer to her wall drawing the bow in her movement and keep concentrating on the spell while it seems to be helping the party.
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Merida begins by moving to the lower edge of the ice wall, falchion in hand, to "defend their cover" thereby supporting the illusion.
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"You fool, you thought you could mislead me with an illusion! Ignore that wall of ice, that's just an illusion! Target that spellcaster!"
One arrow seems to pass through the wall and hits Pandora! . Pandora sees the woman move closer and to the side, towards Merida. Your snowmask allies move to the sides of the canyon, two to the left and two to the right.
Initiative
Cirri 8/15
Merida
Pandora 22/30
Quinray
Roderick
Ryskovich
- - -
Snowmasks
Enemy
- - -
The woman drops the flaming greataxe and is then charged by Merida. Merida's falchion tears a big chunk out of the woman's face. For some weird reason Ryskovich's arrow misses! The woman wails oooooooooooo"
Initiative
Quinray
- - -
Snowmasks
Enemy
- - -
Cirri 8/15
Merida
Pandora 22/30
Roderick
Ryskovich
Quinray misses. The snowmask warriors move on to the towers, staying in cover. The woman picks up her flaming axe and hacks at Merida, but misses. She then steps away from the barbarian while shouting "Kill this one first! Then the spellcaster!"
Out in the open Merida is a sitting duck, two arrows are fired, and two arrows hit, Merida goes down.. The other two bowmen fire at Pandora. One arrow misses, but the other hits
Initiative
Cirri 8/15
Merida -5/14 - stabilize roll needed at DC 15
Pandora 14/30
Quinray
Roderick
Ryskovich
- - -
Snowmasks
Enemy
- - -
Pandora's arrow strikes true and pierces the woman's eye! She drops to the ground next to Merida.
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"Jeez, Merida!" Cirri gasps as Merida falls under a hail of arrows.
"And no concern about everyone's favorite seafarer? I'm insulted!" Cirri charges the woman, hoping to end her quickly. Too bad Cirri is really off balance.
Cirri moves 60 feet east, hoping to draw fire from her foes.
"Pfft! Don't waste your time on them, I'm your real foe!" Cirri squeaks.
The woman is unconscious
Ryskovich's arrow hits an enemy while Cirri and Roderick move closer.
Initiative
Merida -5/14 - stabilize roll needed at DC 15
Quinray
- - -
Snowmasks
Enemy
- - -
Cirri 8/15
Pandora 14/30
Roderick
Ryskovich
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Merida stops bleeding from her arrow wounds, but remains less than fully awake and oriented.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Seeing their leader drop the shadow lodge agents decide to retreat into the keep of the huscarl king. The four snowmask warriors do not enter after them but stay near the two towers, guarding the entrance.
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"Get back here, you yellow-bellied land lubbers!" Cirri shakes her fist as the Shadow Lodgers retreat.
"Is Merida OK? I have my wand if Roderick or Pandora need it. I can use it but...I have to dance. A lot." Cirri offers her wand of cure light wounds. Noting the arrow stuck in her arm, "Oh yeah, guess I need some healing, too."
Once everyone recovers, Cirri checks the woman to see if she is alive. Cirri also carefully takes the flaming axe. "Wow. This is a treasure that belongs with the Snowcast Clan. Definitely not the Shadow Lodge. Um, should we pursue those cowards?" Cirri isn't fully sure of what to do with the axe - and not just because she can't wield it properly.
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Pandora nods to Cirri "Indeed. We shall restore it provided the proper time."
The woman tabs Merida with her wand once and another with Cirri's one.
"We shall press on, we cannot let those shadow lodgers escape." she quickly checks the fallen enemy spoils for anything useful helping herself with detect magic, and provides Merida with any healing potion.
The woman then follows the group after the running away lodgers.
The snowmask warriors put up their hand and point to the axe when Pandora wants to pass them to the keep's entrance.
"We guard. You take Shard to elders"
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The bard nods to the warriors and looks at the party "So I assume you all are as tired of the snow as I am. Let's bring this axe back to the elders and place an end to this. I really want to have a dancing night at Absalom soon enough."
The woman then press on to the elders tribe if the rest of the party seems to agree on it.
Teyma comes out of the central building and moves towards you. Apprehensively she looks at you, eyes darting between your faces and the axe.
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Pandora addresses Teyma "We have recovered the axe for you. You are safe now, and also our tribes. I don't know what my colleagues think but I don't mind to hand over the axe to you. However, it might happen that this call for more trouble for your people. I know how sensitive cultural relics are, but if you want us to do it, we can take it to the great Vaults in Absalom for its file and protection. You are granted to come and check or even retake the axe if you wish so in the future."
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"Simply by holding the axe, I felt its power. It's a lot of power, admittedly. Too much for us to lay claim to. This is your treasure, and you should continue to guard it for as long as you can. If you think it is too dangerous to keep, we will of course take it off your hands. But I could never rob a living culture of its greatest treasure. That's just wrong."
Cirri is calm and pretty honest here. Besides, there's plenty of treasure from other lost civilizations out there!
Teyma visibly relaxes when the three female pathfinders are done speaking. She steps forward and takes the axe from your hands. She hands over the axe to an old and withered man that stood watching the exchange of words. After a few words in Kellid she addresses the pathfinders.
"Thank you. Although you are city-dwellers we see the spirit of the Snowmask clan lives in you. We would be honored to welcome you as Snowmask sisters and brothers in a ritual tomorrow."
The next day you partake in a ritual involving three immersions in a tub filled with ice-cold water. After the first immersion you emerge shivering and with blue-ish skin. The second immersion is better, it seems as if the water isn't as cold as it was in the first immersion. When you enter the water the third time it feels almost as a nice warm bath in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. After enjoying a few days of rest with the Snowmask clan you travel back in several stages to Absalom.
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"W-ww-www-wow, that was cold! Real cold. Reminds me of that time a ship I was on was attacked by sirens. They'd throw us overboard and hope we'd freeze to death. Lucky for us they were just playing a prank!"
After the third bath, Cirri is much more relaxed. "Still pretty cold, but not as bad. Thank you all for your hospitality. I'll never forget the Snowmask Clan!"
Cirri spends the next few days learning about the clan, its local wildlife, and dancing to her heart's content. Not good dancing, mind you, but dancing nonetheless. She's almost sad to leave the Clan, but she knows there are flora and fauna that need to be identified!