Dez says, a little stiffly, "I am relieved it appears you have succeeded, Yrja, and have suffered no harm. I too am ready to proceed."
The heroes walk into the swirling center of the portal, which is deafening in sound (except to Yrja). For a moment you are surrounded by stinging, buffeting bullets of ice and snow, and the next you are instantly in a quiet forest full of tall conifers. The 'back end' of the portal is nowhere to be seen.
It is incredibly cold here, far below freezing. You can tell that you will freeze rapidly if you remain outdoors. Fortunately, you can see the faint and distant lights of a village down a long slope of many miles.
Dark clouds from the north indicate that a snowstorm is coming, a hard one. The village is more northeast, and the only shelter you see.
The snow is deep here, as deep as in the Border Wood, but you all have your snowshoes.
Dezső looks back with surprise to see the portal missing. He will explore the immediate area to confirm there is no sign of it, and look for some way of decisively marking the spot. "I wonder how we're to destroy the portal if we can't even see it. I also, of course, wonder where we are."
He benefits from endure elements, but can see how cold it must be from the others' reactions.
"There are dark clouds to the North, and the storm looks to be a bad one. We had better head towards that village. It's to the North and to the East. Do you think we can make it Chiquq?"
Imendri had noted Chiquq's statement but seemed unable to manage social interaction. His entire mood and demeanor seems overwhelmed, confused, and unsure of where his attention should be.
Upon discussion of the large spear, he shrugs. "Dat is for two hands. I have a shield..." he says, looking quizzically at his hands as though they told a joke he didn't get. "...maybe I can use it? But... I have to put my... shield down... I fink."
Lastly, he seems relieved that the group is in motion again. He shakes off whatever odd emotions had settled on him and smiles as they go through the portal. "Ees every one okay? I hope you like de winter!" he says cheerily, to no one in particular. He begins plodding through the snow towards the northeast.
"...alright, I will carry the spear," Chiquq says with a shrug, and gives Imendri's big shoulder an encouraging pat...... before she proceeds to argue with Ila about going into the strange, freezing portal. Eventually she has all but shove the little mammoth through.
The cold of the other side takes even her breath away. She squints around at the sky with worry.
"Dezso is right. That storm will be brutal. I do not know what may be in those homes, but we have no choice-- the portal has vanished behind us, it seems!"
Chiquq drives her old spear into the snow as close to where they emerged from the portal as she can guess, trying to leave it as a marker in case they might be able to use this to return, someday. Then, with a hand on Ila's flank, she sets out through the snow.
Dezső nods approvingly at Chiquq's decisive action, giving the spear an extra push to make sure it is firmly in the ground. If there is a tree nearby he scratches a mark into it, as an additional marker. He then follows towards the village.
"Onward!", Caelum says in agreement as he trudges through the thick snow.
Yrja nods at the group, following what everyone is saying as best she is able by reading lips, and trudges along with the rest of the party.
Yrja shivers briefly at the sudden drop in temperature, pulling her furs closer to her body, but beyond that she does not seem to suffer from the weather. She fusses a while with the donkey's blanket, adding another one and making sure they sit securely on the animal.
"Oh dear, this is very cold. We should try and find shelter in that village, I'm sure someone will be willing to share their fire, and we can pay for their help, too."
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It is possible the mammoth's times in the southlands have led to less insulating fat than some northern creatures naturally have.
Braegan is almost immediately shivering, but seems to be enduring better than he usually does. "Let's see about that village," he mutters bitterly. Aska is nowhere to be seen ... hiding as deep in his robes as possible, to be sure.
You hear the sound of travelers trudging through the snow, talking in low voices, possibly some low weeping. Eventually, after stumbling through deep snowdrifts, your path intersects theirs.
You see before you a band of about twenty Irriseni peasants, dressed for the cold and wearing snowshoes, several bloodied and bandaged, and two laying on sledges, unmoving. They have supplies in barrels, pulled on sledges by hand, but some barrels are damaged, and it's clear that others are obviously gone.
When they see you, they hail you and break into shouting and some moans of despair.
"Please, help! The Järv, it took Hilma!"
Yrja's Irisseni is awkward and rusty, clearly not spoken as a native and quite heavily accented. Still, it should be understandable, and she does her best to translate on the fly for her friends. She is now very grateful to Mahb for the old witch's insistence that her apprentice learn the languages of witches and shamans from all around the Inner Sea.
The mention of the creature has her glancing at her companions with worry. "It is like the giant weasel we encountered, but worse." She does not add that they were tired and in unfamiliar terrain.
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A stout woman of middle age replies to Yrja. She takes in the heroes strange appearance with some trepidation, but has probably seen worse in the form of ice trolls and the like.
"Yes, we were bringing food back from the Kellids [in the Mammoth Lord's realms, you infer] and the järv attacked us here in the Wood. We are from Waldsby.
The woman points to the village.
"But Hilma has been taken by the järv. It ate two men and killed two more; we think she may live yet, but not for long. Please, can you save her? You have the look of warriors."
She says "Krigare, krigare, hjälte," a few times, pointing at them.
That's 'warriors, warriors, heroes' for the ones who can't understand. :D
Another woman, younger and tougher looking, comes to stand by the first, and speaks in Taldane. She has no trepidation whatsoever and speaks matter of factly.
"It is too far to Waldsby for the night, and the storm comes." She nods to the 'near-seeming' village. "Distances are sometimes strange and deceiving in snows of Irrisen. That is ten miles and requires some navigating. We can shelter you tonight, and lead you to our village. But, and I ask with eyes lowered, if you can please rescue our cousin Hilma. I would go," She says with some fire, and she does look like a capable warrior, "But I am one. The järv is too great for one warrior alone."
Dez has been hanging back out of concern of how the villagers might react to his appearance. But they don't seem alarmed at Yrja, so Dez seeks clarification from the young woman warrior, in book-learned Skald full of pronunciation errors:
"The beast cannot be far. We were attacked less than an hour ago, and most of that time we spent bandaging and wrapping the living and the dead," says the younger woman, replying in rippling, accented Common. She says something quietly to the older woman, who looks worried, but nods.
"Alyona will stay here and watch over the sledges and the people. I will help you find the järv. My name is Nadya." After that briefest of speeches, she returns to the sledges and rummages around for gear, to find a few things packed away. She returns shortly, looking ready for war against a phalanx of ice trolls, armed with axe, pick, and arrows.
"Follow me," says Nadya, and heads up the trail of the sledges. "Or don't, but either I or that järv is going to Hell tonight." She doesn't wait for you.
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Dezső swoons and immediately falls in next to Nadya, regardless of what the rest of the group is doing. "My sword is at your service" he says, brandishing his unusual blade with a chivalrous flourish of his armored coat.
"If finding this järv gets us shelter from the cold then I am with you.", says Caelum while following with Dez.
Imendri looks weird and excited and happy when the woman expresses her bloodthirst for this 'Järv'. He looks over to Chiquq and gestures after Dez and Nadya, clearly happy to see more action.
Chiquq looks initially wary of these people, and keeps throwing glances back at the featureless patch of snow.
"We were to destroy the portal. To find the Pale Tower. This gate has not taken us to where we need to be," she points out unhappily, in a low tone, to the others. "Did the rider lead us all astray...?"
"...I suppose we will go help them, if we wish their shelter. We must hurry before that storm hits," Chiquq sighs. She looks much less excited about all of this than Imendri does, but she settles in to slogging along with the others after Nadya.
"Nadya. Well met. I am Chiquq. We will come and help you. But help for help: you seem to have spirit, and you will not be frightened by only a question. Do you know of a place called the Pale Tower?"
Nadya's face darkens and she scowls. "Oh, yes, I know it. They rule this region. They took my daughter. Pizda rulyu. We have much to discuss. But first we kill a järv."
You can't quite understand the Irriseni slang but it sounds really bad. Judging from her face, you reckon that Nadya wants to kill everything associated with the Pale Tower and burn it down besides.
The traders seem reasonable enough, although Chiquq isn't quite sure.
"Rider?" Nadya looks curious for a moment, then shakes her head. "Time is burning. Help me get Hilma back and then we talk."
Yrja looks very thoughtful as Nadya, Chiquq and Dezso converse in a mix of Common and Skald. She is not particularly keen to get into another fight so soon after battling trolls and fey, but she sees a lot of potential advantages to gaining the goodwill of these people. Information, for one - assaulting the Pale Tower unprepared and alone may be their doom, so it would be wise to gather all the support that they can get first. And besides, perhaps one or more of the villagers were versed in ice magic and she could learn from them.
"Nadya, does your village have a vedma? "
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"Yes. And vedmak. I cannot say their names now or their eyes will be upon us. They are not safe to mention. They live in the Tower. They are not friends to you." .
Nadya turns to look at the rest, and her face is a mixture of grief and rage, then softens. "Please. I will answer your questions. Let us do this thing and then talk. I can't let another of my blood kin disappear. Hilma is in danger."
Nadya is deadly serious about not mentioning the names of winter witches. This isn't just superstition; she legitimately thinks someone or something is listening. And she's just barely holding herself together, so grief- and anger-stricken a person you haven't seen in a while.
"I agree with Nadya. We must be very careful talking about creatures of dark magic this far North, wherever it is exactly we are. And the first order of business is to save Hilma. We can get all our questions answered after."
It is clear Dezső is ready to march with Nadya immediately.
Imendri began walking ahead in the direction Nadya had been gesturing, and only stopped when he realized others were still speaking the strange Irriseni language. Looking back, he's now halted and begun poking at the ground with the toe of his boot.
He can occasionally be seen and heard mumbling to himself, then the stars perhaps, and then to the air around him.
Chiquq nods to Nadya and begins walking, falling into step next to Imendri. If she is bothered by his strange gestures, it isn't apparent on her... but then, her distant kinsman is known to be a little different.
"Do the spirits say anything to you about the right path, cousin?" she says as she walks next to him.
To the Kellids, Nadya is a mysterious Irriseni of unknown motivations... :D
"There," says Nadya, after a while of trudging through forest and following the spoor of the järv. She nocks an arrow.
The giant wolverine snarls in a clearing, guarding its unmoving prey: Hilma.
Dezső loads a crossbow bolt, so he can get a round off before closing in for melee combat.
"Here, Imendri. If you drink this it will make you grow big for a little while, and you can hit harder." Yrja offers a small vial to the Kellid, keeping her voice to a whisper. She looks doubtfully at the huge predator. "I can try to put it to sleep, I suppose." She feels very exposed in this unknown place, and the cold is seeping into her bones and making her tired. She envies Nadya's burning determination and she has to remind herself that they have a very good reason for trudging through this frozen landscape and tackling bloodthirsty beasts.
Sighing, she moves away from the group, trying to step lightly. Removing a glove, she grips her dagger by the blade, causing a few drops of blood to spill onto the snow. Where they fall, steam rises with a soft hiss, growing thicker and billowing outwards until the tiefling is enveloped in a mantle of gloom. Her reasoning is that the unnatural darkness should make it easier for the group to approach the beast unnoticed, and should that fail then the wolverine would hopefully have a harder time of making them into its next meal.
As the cloud emanates from Yrja, the järv wrinkles its nose at the blood-scent and rushes forward, spraying up snow and baring its gleaming teeth.
It skids to a stop near Nadya and Dezső, pelting them with snow, slavering and growling.
The Järv, Round 1!
Yrja
Dez
Chiquq
Järv
Caelum
Braegan
Imendri
Bold may post!
Dez fires his bolt at the charging beast then moves into the area of dim light, sword in hand ().
Yrja circles to her right, seeking to confuse the beast. True to her word, she attempts to put it to sleep. Should that fail, at least the possible targets would be spread out.
"Ila! Go!" Chiquq shouts, and the mammoth trundles forward faithfully.
It is beast against beast in the northland... but Ila is still just a baby mammoth, and the jarv is full grown. Still, Ila hits hard.
Chiquq circles for a clearer shot, and sends an arrow streaking at the beast's flank.
The enormous beast staggers, and for a moment you think it will fall prey to Yrja's hex--and then it shakes it off angrily.
A crossbow bolt disappears into the järv's fur, with no visible effect, and Ila's tusks manage to pierce its thick hide. Chiquq's arrow glances off, sticking to its back, buried in hair.
The wolverine visibly flies into a rage, snarling and biting and positively vibrating with seething anger.
The järv swipes a paw and snaps its glistening, saliva-dripping jaws at Ila, barely missing both times--it is close enough to spray on Ila and move her fur with the force of the strike. Chiquq can tell that if both connected, the mammoth would surely be dead.
The järv's attack on Dezső, however, does connect--a massive paw cuffs him, raking his chest and shoulder, knocking the wind out of him and cutting him with deep bloody gashes.
The Järv, Round 1!
Yrja
Dez 5/18 HP
Chiquq
Järv -10 HP
Caelum
Braegan
Imendri
Nadya
Bold may post!
Caelum moves up behind Dez.
"Aarg! We need to kill this thing fast! Imendri, do you want to attack it from the other side, across from me ?"
Also, "Thanks, Caelum,", as blood continues to ooze out of the huge rip across his chest.
He glances over his shoulder at Nadya and then turns back to the wolverine, a look of pained determination on his face.
Braegan, unsure what to do, moves a little closer, but far enough away from the wolverine's claws, and into the relative safety of darkness.
Imendri drinks the potion and blooms into a huge version of the wiry Kellid druidbarian. "Hei! It is nuffink personal, beastie, but we must fight you!"
He swings his longsword at the järv.
Unfortunately, his balance is thrown off by his sudden change in size and height, and the sword whooshes harmlessly.
Nadya narrows her eyes at the wolverine and nocks an arrow in her composite longbow.
The wolverine's fur also blocks the arrow harmlessly. Grumbling, she moves cat-like through the snow and darkness (like a cat with snowshoes) to head to the penumbral zone.
The Very Tough Järv, Round 2!
Yrja
Dez 8/18 HP
Chiquq
Järv -10 HP
Caelum
Braegan
Imendri
Nadya
Bold may post!