Thorn grins as he hears spirits. Knowing that the ones around him so far were being quiet for some other reason of their own.
I have many spirits to let go. They chatter too much and gets distracting sometimes a the wrong times.
Sturion spends at least 10 minutes looking for the elephant...
...to Agatha...I don' offer mercy ta known murderers...nor will I be one. If you be a murderer, best ye leave now.
About the time Thorn and Sturion are ready to trade watch duties...
It's cold and snows intermittently, but the wind had slowed considerably. The fire has died down and could use a few extra logs to keep the heat up.
Urga sits on the log, mesmerized by the dancing flames of the fire. He is slowly starting to nod off, but is still awake.
Sturion isn't all that tired...uninjured...he's up early for his watch, and waits for his replacement, if nothing happens...but we know better.
Dru sleepily kicks his back legs from his spot by the fire, hunting fey in his dreams no doubt.
Having laid out his bedroll, Sildur is presently adding more logs to the fire before turning in for the night.
Rikael would have drunk his fill, and then passed out. He's sound asleep after Agatha patched him up, which he thanks her profusely for.
Thorn is a light sleeper and always has being for who could sleep well when a myraid of whispering voices echoe in his ears.
"Fire."
"Forest unatural cold."
"When you going to speak with us?"
"Why do you abandon us when you have new friends?"
"Ach...buzz off will ya? Let me get some shuteye" Thorn grumbles to himself.
As Sildur reaches for extra logs from the woodpile, he is shocked to see that there are only one or two left. The last time he got some wood, there was a large sized pile.
Sturion and Urga see a few of the logs floating in the air, being carried away by moving trees! Once the trees are discovered, they turn from being stealthy to attacking!
Round 1
Sildur cries out as he spots the trees, drawing a shortspear to meet the attackers.
Sturion jumps up, grabbing his war axe...WHAT THA....durn kindlin' done come ta us!
Hoping he won't regret not grabbing his shield, Sturion charges in.
Urga double moves to engage the trees.
"Wake up! Wake up! We're under attack!"
Rikael sits up, rubbing his eyes.
Shturuun, wads haapin?
When he sees the trees he slurs
They're juss comin' ta get thurr frens...
He starts to lay back down, but wakes up he rest of the way, and scrambles to get out of his blanket.
Ahh, what in the nine hells! The woods are after us!
Dru rolls over groggily, as the others rouse themselves to action. He tries to stumble onto his feet but is hampered by one of his paws that's fallen asleep.
The noise and shouting stirs Thorn from his slumber.
Urga moves quickly to Tree1.
Sturion rises from his position as guard and attacks the tree with his war axe. He severs a large branch with the attack.
Tree2 speaks to its companion.
Tree1 swings a branch back at Sturion. . Sturion takes a solid hit on his shoulder but avoids any other ill effects.
Rikael and Agatha wake up and see the battle starting around them.
Sildur draws his shortspear and gets ready to engage in the fight.
Dru wakes up and stubles about.
Narrowly avoiding injury, Sturion gets both hands on his axe, and makes like a lumberjack...
Thorn groans at the noice but hearing the warning springs up from his blankets and curse......in sylvan, hearing it come from the trees.
Round 2
Spear in hand Sildur moves to join the others in engaging their attackers.
Shaking feeling back into his paw, Dru finally gets all for legs firmly under him, growling at the attacking trees.
Round 2
Urga hacks at the tree in front of him with his falchion.
Crit check:
Round 2:
Rikael struggles with his blanket, before finally giving up, and standing while grabbing Feybane in its scabbard. The blanket hangs off of his shoulder, blowing in the wind like a cape, and for a second, he looks like an epic hero from legend. Then, he starts to stumble toward the battle, the blanket sliding off.
Thorn looks at the trees while he works off the effects of being asleep.
Urga draws and swings his falchion at the second tree. The attack strikes true and causes the tree to stagger. The tree is clearly splintered and hurt but remains standing.
Sturion continues to go lumberjack on the other frost fir, causing large wounds with his axe. The frost fir staggers noticeably but remains standing.
The second frost fir speaks to his compatriot.
With that, in one large effort, tree2 lashes out at Urga hoping to cause some damage in return. . The tree fails to connect with Urga and splinters, falling to the ground.
Tree1, seeing the other tree fall, goes into a frenzy and tries to crush Sturion. . The tree falls on top of the dwarf, trying to trap him in an avalanche of branches and needles. . Sturion avoids being trapped, but still takes a significant wound.
Thorn bounces up scattering bed sheet all over, hooked lance in hand as he remembered the spirits telling him all about Frost Firs.
"These trees are Frost Firs!!! Beware of their sticky resin!!! We nee--oh the battle is over?"
His face flushing as he surveys the battle field.
"Ermm ah...I'll just look for more wood then...." His embarrassment at not having a thing to do drives him to stay away from the others as he moves off after getting his equipment ready , looking for more firewood. He could hear the entire forest's spirits laughing at him..............
Sturion emerges from the sticky pile, blowing bits of leaves from his mouth, then looks down...ACH! Me BEARD!...picking a profusion of sticky leaves and twigs from his usually well-groomed beard, he seems almost in tears...until...AOOOWW! Durn, these things hit hard.
Sturion just stands there for a moment, gingerly massaging his crushed shoulder.
Rikael stands there, stunned.
Guysh... Did I have too much to drink again? Or did the woodsh really jusht attack ush?
He rubs his eyes and it finally registers what everyone was screaming about.
Frost firs? So these were more allies of the fey? Why did they go for our firewood instead of trying to kill us in our sleep?
I have just read the heal skill, so I will also like to treat deadly wounds on them. Its not a big chance but...
[dice=urga] 1d20 + 5 - 2
[dice=sildur] 1d20 + 5 - 2
[dice=thorn] 1d20 + 5 - 2
[dice=rikael] 1d20 + 5 - 2
[dice=myself] 1d20 + 5 - 2neede to make DC20, so rikael gets an extra hp.
the -2 is because I don't have a healers kit.
Aye, Rik, tha trees themselves done attacked us. I think they was jus' wantin' us ta freeze ta death.
Sturion is still nursing his injured shoulder.
Mayhaps we should just chop down this accursed wood...or burn it.
Im starting to agree... We can't even rest without something weird happening.
Sheathing his spear, Sildur shakes his head, "It's not the wood that's accursed. It's the weather, like the other threats we've seen, these were creatures of the north,no? I'd half thought the stories of fey driving the woods to murder were fiction but it seems otherwise. The sooner we deal with these creatures the sooner we should be safe."
Patting Dru, the ulfen looks in the direction the trees were trying to go for the firewood.
Having missed the actual battle, Dru is pawing at the now lifeless tree creatures, grunting in agitation.
Urga cleans the resin from his sword. "The trees were animated by dark sorcery. It is the work of the winter witches and their fey minions. We must be weary at all times."
Urga will return to the fire and soon is ready to sleep for the remainder of the night until his shift.
Thorn returns with a bundle of wood and checks the supply. Once it's enough, he'll return back to his blankets.
Rikael, now extremely suspicious of the branches above his head, wraps himself up in his blanket and tries to go back to sleep until his turn on watch.
Sildur and Thorn are easily able to locate what was once you firewood, scattered just inside the forest behind where the Frost Firs emerged. It is a simple matter to make it back into a pile near the fire.
Everybody seems to settle back into an uneasy rest.
With the firewood returned, Sildur crawls into his bedroll and fall asleep in short order.
The rest of the night passes without incident. About the time 600 rolls around, you are all stirring and getting ready for the day ahead.
The trail continues ahead of you, farther up into the Border Wood just as the captured bandit said it would. Feel free to make preparations, decide on which spells you are going to prepare, and the like before moving on.
It is about 600AM
The temperature is in the high 20's (F)
The wind is blowing intermittently.
A small cover of snow has fallen on all the areas not heated by the fire.