"Can anyone make fire? Maybe we can melt the ice."
Discouraged, Ellowin pauses a moment before returning to helping Daevin out, "I'd agree, but I'm afraid of perhaps burning the wood of the carriage. We could hold a torch close, but heat rises, so I don't think it would work in this application..."
Her handaxe falling short again, she gasps out in frustration, "Though burning the whole damnable contraption might be our best idea at saving whoever's trapped inside, regardless!"
"Here, let me try then..." Kara walks over to the carriage and kicks the frozen lock as hard as she can.
Ellowin leans back, stretching and rubbing her back while she watches Kara work on the lock, "Ah, there you go. I think you almost have it!"
Ellowin motions Kara back to safety in case there are brigands inside, or some other nasty unpleasantness, and then opens the door, peering inside the dark and ruined carriage, "Hello? Can anyone in there hear me?"
The door is violently kicked open and a thick built man jumps forward. He has a well kept full beard and short hair that half-hide various scars on his face. In one hand he wields a tower shield and the other an interesting broadsword that has nine clanking rings threaded through the back end of it.
"Ahh you bloody fey, we won't go down so eas-" He stops as he realizes he's surrounded by humans. He keeps his tower shield up but his weapon drops a bit. "Who are you?"
Ellowin flies back as the door flies open in her face, surprise very evident in her posture. "By the Green, you nearly took my head off!" she exclaims, brushing splinters off her fur covered leathers.
"I am thankful though that you aren't one of them!" she exclaims in relief. "I am Ellowin, and this is Daevin here. Kara there, was the one that finally bashed that blasted frozen lock in. Don't let her size fool you! And Narsius is there behind Daevin. We're from Heldren and looking for creatures that haunt these woods. They've likely attacked some traveler's along the road and pose a threat to our village. What brings you here? Were those friends of yours back there?"
Viktor's eye flick between each person as they are introduced, then he calls back into the wagon. "Arthorion, come out here." He waits for the unusually strong elf to stand beside him. "Tell me, what is your favorite inn in Heldren?"
Narsius lowers his weapon and nods to the strangers but keeps his sword in his hand and his eyes on the woods.
"Greetings. I didn't know there was another inn...I work at the Silver Stoat."
The grizzled man waits another moment, then his face splits into a smile and he laughs. "You would think they would have another one after so many years! Ah well met, my name is Viktor Rusnak. You work at the Silver Stoat, yes? You must know my mother Helena than. How is she?"
Seeing that the humans pose no threat, Arthorion lowers his greatsword and looks around, barely paying attention to the conversation. He squints his eyes looking for any signs of their attacker, mumbling "Where did they go? We're not done yet..."
Still searching through the trees, he takes two fingers to his mouth and whistles loudly. "Zoren!", he shouts. He then notices the strange decapitated creatures lying in the snow. He looks at Ellowin, who he takes to be the party's spokesperson, and asks "What are these things?"
Kara speaks up from the back. "We don't know... They give off a faint aura of necromancy, however, so I believe they are some sort of undead. How did you find yourself trapped in that carriage?"
"By being stupid", the elf replies with some irritation. When his glance lands at Kara, his face seems to soften momentarily, and he decides to offer a better explanation. "We were attacked by fey, and tried to barricade ourselves inside the carriage - a really poor decision, in retrospect. The little bugs locked us in."
He looks at the zombies again. "Necromancy? That's magic, correct? We heard you fighting, but we thought it was the fey. Is this their doing?"
Nodding at the mention of the fey, Daevin nods to himself with a small sarcastic smirk. What next, sorcerers? shaking it away, he looks at the men. "We did not notice any fey, but one of our party fell injured by these walking corpses. I was able to keep him from completely falling to them so that he wouldn't rise and join their party." He looks at the two men. "Did either of you happen to get a good look at the fey that attacked you?"
"I would not even know they were fey without Arthorion. What are you lot doing out here?"
Ellowin looks curiously interested at the mention of fey, listening to the men describe the creatures.
Ellowin looks confused at Viktor's question, "I've... I've already told you what we're doing out here... I mean, more specifically, there was a woman that was kidnapped, Lady Argenta, and we were asked by the council to find and free her, but my biggest concern is the threat to the village right now. And the freakish cold snap. I'd like to know what's behind that, too, and I believe our answers lie further in the woods."
"Yes we are very far south, it should have been much warmer by now." He looks towards Heldren for a moment, tugging at his beard. "Arthorion I know you have other things to do, but I intend to stay and help these people." He looks at Ellowin. "I lived here many years ago, perhaps doing some good would help my old friends and family to reaccept me better." He gives a broad, white toothed smile and gives each person a firm handshake. "So, what are your leads right now?"
Daevin warmly accepts the handshake. "We are still in the process of gathering information, but we are certainly gathering it fast. Earlier on, Narsius had the opportunity to speak with the only known survivor of Lady Argenta's guard. The man, from what we heard, didn't know much about the force that attacked them. We have now learned that this force, more than likely fey, somehow has the ability to reanimate the dead." he says with a somber tone. "Which, if I may ask a few questions to better understand our foe, what happened when you were attacked? Did you notice anything that might stand out as odd? How long would you say you were locked in the carriage? If we can get a semi-accurate time-line, it could definitely help us to track these malicious fey." He asks all this somewhat hopeful and inquisitive manner.
"The little bastards harried us from the sky with greater numbers. Beyond there being fey I noticed nothing strange. We took cover in the carriage but the fey froze the outside of it. We were not there for very long."
Daevin's eyebrows raise in surprise. "The sky, you say? That is definitely something we didn't know before." he looks to Ellowin. "Tracking them may be harder than we thought." he returns his attentions back to Viktor. "How do you and Arthorion fare after the attack? I have little much left that I can do for healing." he says with a bit of a rueful grimace.
"I am a skilled healer, do not worry my friend. They were more meddlesome than dangerous." He looks into the trees. "You are correct though, tracking flying creatures is nigh on impossible."
"Helena was fine when we left this morning."
Narsius gives Viktor a handshake and turns his attentions to Ellowin and Daevin.
"The wounded man spoke of bandits. I guess those are not flying and should be easier to track.
"Helena was fine when we left this morning."
Realizing she hasn't mentioned anything to the group about it yet, Kara will show them what she found in the carriage.
Kara does find the following: a gold signet ring with a crest of some nobility, a pair of silver earrings, a set of pearl inlaid bracelets, and several silver and gold necklaces.
"Can anyone identify the crest on this ring as belonging to Lady Argenta?"
Ellowin nods slowly, "Sounds like it could've been pixies. They usually wouldn't attacked a well-armed group... or any group, for that matter, that wasn't threatening them, and even then, they'd just confound their enemies and flee. They're still trackable, however. It'd just be more difficult. Look there," she points up at the trees. "Do you see how those branches are broken at different angles than the ones surrounding them? A trail, but a difficult trail. One that I wouldn't be able to follow for very far, I'm afraid." She pauses, then adds, "You could consider me a sort of expert on the actions of the fey around here..."
She returns her gaze to the group, "I wonder why pixies, of all things, would act so hostile, though. It must have something to do with the weather to cause them to act so deranged and abnormal."
"Narsius is right, however. We have a goal already set before us. This fey mystery will need to wait for now, I'm afraid. And bandits would be easier to track." She looks around at the wreckage before them, "And pixies did not do this. Come, let us find these bandits before they cause more damage. They might be the ones provoking the pixies, as well," she adds before starting to inspect the ground again for tracks leading from the caravan slaughter.
She shakes her head at Kara as she starts scouring the ground, "I wouldn't know her crest, I'm afraid."
Daevin looks at the ring.
His brows furrow "Aye, that crest belongs to Lady Argenta. At least we know we're on the right track."
Arthorion raises both eyebrows when Viktor proclaims his intention to help the strangers. “You know that is not what I came here for, Viktor.” He wanders around the carriages ignoring most of the conversation, with a clear disinterest for this “Lady Argenta”. When Ellowin speaks about the pixies, he finally pays some attention to the group. “Not any pixies, human. These ones seemed abnormally wicked, and when it comes to fey, I'm not sure the weather is the best excuse for lunacy.”
Ellowin’s tracking skills seem to spike the elf’s interest. Arthorion listens to her analysis and observes her movements closely, not even bothering to hide his stare. When Viktor starts following the tracks along the rest of the humans, Arthorion decides to follow his comrade . As he walks in the back, he searches for other kind of tracks: the footprints of his lynx companion.
"I know my friend, but I cannot rest easy knowing that bandits are plaguing my home town. I shall see you to Heldren soon enough, you have my word."
Ellowin follows the tracks with the aid of Viktor, leading everyone forward into the forest. Every once in a while she'll point to a broken branch, a crushed blade of grass, or a scuffed rock, "This way. They're not even trying to hide their tracks..."
As Daevin walks, his mind wanders and thinks on what could be causing this winter.
Kara keeps toward the middle of the group, not really proficient at tracking, nor at spotting out of place things. She keeps her eye out for any danger, but doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary, except for the effects of the odd weather.
Narsius walks behind and to the right of Ellowin, always ready to jump in front of her ... and hopefully kill what could threaten her.
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Narsius sees what appears to be the top of a wooden chest peeking out from some fallen pine boughs. Clearly it was supposed to be hidden, but his keen eyes can see past such mundance hidings.
As he thinks this, he barely register the sound of a rope snapping from somewhere high overhead.
Suddenly, a spiked log swings across the path!
Kara cries out as the log swings right into her. Once she disentangles herself, she notices the spikes on the log and the blood on her clothes. "That hurt..."
Daevin falls as the log hits him. He coughs as he stands back up and says "Is everyone ok?"
Viktor tries to jump back to stop the log but it has already passed. He quickly moves over to the log, using his jangling weapon to cut down the log so it won't be a hazard. Then he turns to the party. "Is everyone alright?"
Ellowin kneels down to examine one of the footprints in the soft snow, "This one seems to be... whoa! Watch out!", she yells, but is too late as the long swings into the rest of the group and over her head.
Pulling her bow out, she examines the trees, looking for whoever released the deadly log into their midst.