Viktor slowly makes his way back to his old house on the edge of the town. He puts a hand on Arthorion's shoulder, telling him to stay outside, then goes up and gently knocks on the front door.
With a concerned look Viktor pushes the door open. "Nina?" He calls out, hoping she will still recognize his matured, deeper voice. He walks in slowly, looking around the room.
"Nina..." Viktor unbelts his sword, putting it on the table. "It's me, Viktor. I heard about mother..."
Viktor embraces her, more to keep her from hurting her fists on his armor than to protect himself. He holds her tight. "I know, and I realize now that I was wrong to do so. Father is gone as well, and Isaac..." He shakes his head. "He has lost himself in his anger. I never should have left, I followed them both into that foolishness."
"Listen, I am here now, and I am here to stay." He considers asking about Helena, but knows it's not the time. "I am helping a group with discovery of the local odd weather. If there is one thing I learned from father, it is that he wants us to carry on." He stays with her as long as he can.
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"You see, Daevin, the thing about the North is that it isn't a friendly place." his father looks at him. "You have to be careful. There are things out there" His father looks away, "that'll turn you into a coat, just as quick as lookin' at you." the Tatzlwyrm looks at him "And you're no man's coat."
Daevin's eyes open with a groan.
Daevin looks about the area, trying to see if there's any spots near here that could possibly provide a safe place to camp
Ellowin looks up to the setting sun, frowning, "I'd rather not be moving about in the snow when it's dark out. It's bad enough when it's light. The tracks will be no harder to find in the morning than they are now."
She will go and look with Daevin to find a suitable place to set up camp, somewhere with some overhead cover and windbreaks, if possible.
Ellowin spots a small cave and points it out to Daevin, "Over there." Walking into the cave, she is pleased that there is a tiny crack in the ceiling above to let out any smoke from the campfire, if they decide to have one. "Probably used to be something's lair until that crack up there happened, likely caused from large movement of the ground. Winds blows from the other direction, and the trees in front offer some concealment from others who might see a campfire. This should do just perfectly!" she beams.
"I feel like we could probably go without a watch... but I don't trust the voice in my head and I'd still like to have one." She takes the bedroll off the top of her backpack and unfurls it on the ground, placing a winter blanket inside for more padding and warmth, "I don't mind which shift I take. Just wake me up when it's my turn."
Narsius stays silent while he follows the other and only speaks when Ellowin brings them to the cave.
"I'll take the first shift unless someone wants it."
Viktor settles in, still a little shaken at the events in town today. "I will take second watch."
Daevin looks up "I'll take third watch."
"I'll take last watch early in the morning, I suppose. I tend to work better with uninterrupted sleep."
"Zoren and I will join the first watch with... Narsius, is that it?" Arthorion sits on the snow and starts staring in the distance. The lynx walks up to him and sits by the elf's side. From time to time, the elf twitches a little, and then takes his hand to the wounds caused by the beast from the other day. The bloodied bandages show that he has not recovered completely yet.
As Daevin watches the party settle, his eyes find Arthorian and notice the remaining injuries. He stands and walks over to the elf, his magic forming in the palm of his hand "I know it isn't much, but I also know that beast had a nasty bite. Thank you for your help." he places his hand on the elf's shoulder He looks at the rest of the party. "Truly, thank you all. I suppose it goes without needing to be said, but I will do whatever I can to make sure death does not get to know your names."
Kara idly shuffles her Harrow Deck as she responds to Daevin, "We're a team! As long as we stick together, I think we'll be okay."
"You're welcome Arthorion. Kara, you are right. Or at least I hope you are."
He smiles while he does his best to make a fire for the night.
As day breaks, Ellowin repacks her gear and gets dressed back in her warm clothes and fur lined leathers. She then tries to erase any existence of their presence within the cave, burying the burned out logs and running pine branches over the looser dirt inside and outside the cave entrance.
Once done with that, she stretches gratefully in the sunshine, muted as it may be behind the clouds. Eventually, she leads the group back to the snow drift, hoping to pick up any remains of the tracks that led them here originally. If not, she will follow the apparent(?) trail.
Kara, finishing up the last watch, notices Ellowin stirring. As Ellowin gets ready for the day, Kara once again takes out her Harrow Deck and shuffles it. She draws the top card.
"Oh no..." Kara says out loud, before she could stop herself. She just drew The Beating, which typically signifies coming under attack from all sides. It could also refer to the destruction of one's mind. Either way it was bad news.
Seeing that Ellowin probably heard, and maybe the others as they were slowly waking up, Ellowin explains. "I just drew The Beating. It could mean we are in for a rough day. The silver lining is that sometimes it means finding strength in yourself through adversity. But I won't have time to perform a full Harrowing to know." She replaces the card back in the deck and returns it to her person. "Either way, we need to be very careful today."
"Finding strenght through adversity. I sure hope it won't be worse than yesterday."
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The group moves out after breakfasting and breaking camp. You walk for nearly two hours when you start seeing feathered bundles and strange fetishes hanging from the lowest branches of the trees in this part of the forest. Swaying in the gentle breeze, all are stuck through with small pins holding pieces of leather bound around them.
Stopping everyone from going any further, Ellowin looks warily at the fetishes, slowly drawing her bow and standing a decent distance from the first of them, "I do not remember these being here before..."
She looks the area over for any signs of tracks or traps.
Arthorion observes the fetishes with curiosity while Ellowin analyzes the terrain around them.
Kara's eyes once again glow blue as she looks around, paying special attention to the fetishes.
Daevin snarls as his mind races in light of the new foes.
Kara jumps when the light suddenly flares up and the voice emanates, seemingly from nowhere.
Ellowin raises her bow, growling, "Dammit, how did I miss big glowing balls of light!?"
Kara, focusing too hard on locating the magical auras, barely notices the tiny arrows stuck in her clothing. She maintains her spell, concentrating on finding the source of the auras rather than worrying about the attackers.