The group on both sides of the river are woken by their watchmen suddenly. Shalelu, Ulf, and Aiko call out - the group is under attack! There is a sudden panic and a fumble for weapons in the cramped sleeping spaces of tents and wagons, but a little more than a half-dozen hulking scaled humanoid abominations lurch out of the water to accost the caravan!
The first of them, a bent and muscular creature with wicked claws like sickles, rushes out of the raging surf at Shalelu, the group's first defender!
The elf sees the creature coming and ducks out of the way, smoothly pulling her bow out as she bends underneath its swipe. "We are under attack," she says, calmly.
Midnight Battle at the Taraska
1. Scrag
2. Calder (unarmored, prone)
3. Kelda (unarmored, prone)
4. Koya (prone)
5. Tallak (unarmored, prone) + Nightfang (unarmored, prone)
6. Sandru (prone)
7. Merrow
8. Ukshakka (prone)
9. Clara (prone)
10. Vashta (prone)
11. Ameiko (prone)
12. Aiko
13. Shalelu
HP: 55/55
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 0/5; 2nd 0/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects:
Vashta scrambles to her feet -- glad the cold was making her choose to sleep in her clothing so she wasn't baring everything to the caravan -- and concentrates for a moment, sending four dancing lights in a string toward the river to illuminate the attackers.
Calder rolls to his feet and moves up beside Ameiko, looking around for any enemies that he can see?
Tallak and Nightfang get to their feet, Tallak grabbing his spear and shield as Nightfang growls.
While Hattori lights a lantern, Calder rolls out of bed and Tallak throws his blanket off and grabs his spear and shield, Kelda, Koya, and Sandru also fumble their way to action. Kelda rolls out of the tent onto the ground and jerks her longsword from its shealth awkwardly, while Koya rolls onto the ground as well and stands, brushing grass from her ceremonial Desnan robes.
Though unarmed, Sandru clambers out of the wagon to stand in between Vashta and the imcoming aquatic abominations.
As the group steadily gets itself ready for combat, the merrow tramp up onto the shore. Two dash towards Hattori and the third towards Calder on the north bank. On the south bank, two engage Shalelu while the third moves to mercilessly assault Koya. All carry giant-sized spears, and thrust them with ruthless force.
Shalelu's elven speed only takes her so far - she is able to sidestep the first spear in addition to the first creature's claws, but the second spear grazes her along the side. Koya is stabbed in the shoulder by the huge spear, and Calder catches a breath-taking blow to the abdomen. Though it doesn't break the skin through his armor, it is sure to raise a nasty welt.
"My hero," Vashta says to Sandru as he steps in front of her, then cries out in shock and horror as Koya is stabbed.
Lantern in one hand, Aiko draws her wakizashi with the other and makes an odd twisting hop to get her back to one of the wagons while getting into striking range against one of the aquatic giants.
She slashes with her wakizashi once.
Clara wakes with a start. She rolls out of the wagon and yelps when she sees the big ugly monsters coming out of river.
"Yikes! You all OK on the other side? We've got some uglies over here."
Seeing one before her she tries out her latest extra-fizzy fizzy pop on it, and when it hits it explodes in a circle 20' across, and leaves the monster aflame.
__________
[dice=Explosive Bomb vs touch]1d20+10[/dice]
Ukshakka steps out of her tent, quarterstaff in hand, when she comes directly face-to-face with a huge merrow. "Holy s@&~!" she cries.
Clara rolls onto the ground, landing on her stomach with a huff before she pulls out a new recipe of bomb and hurls it at the scrag troll. It creates a great conflagration of flame, leaving the scrag troll burning and one of the merrow scorched.
Vashta then creates some lights, allowing everyone on the south bank to see at least a little bit.
On the north bank, Aiko lashes out at one of the merrow threatening her with her sword, scoring a neat little slice on the creature. Meanwhile, Ameiko tumbles out of the caravan, Suishen in hand, a fierce scowl on her face.
On the south bank, Shalelu steps up into combat with the closest merrow, swinging her bow like it was a club.
She manages to get one good thwap in, bruising the merrow's face.
Because it is on fire, the scrag troll growls and retreats into the water. Once submerged, you can see that its burn wounds begin to heal.
Tallak runs forward and thrusts a spear at one of the creatures on Shalelu. Meanwhile, Nightfang roars and pounces on the one in the water, sinking his teeth and claws into it!
__________
Calder takes a 5' step forward and swings at the nearest Merrow.
His first blow goes wide, he adjusts and his second hits hard.
The giant aquatic creatures that Tallak and Nightfang engage take the opportunity to get in swipes against them as they close in - Nightfang gets a claw-swipe to the face and Tallak gets a graze in his arm. He raises it to defend himself, accustomed to having his shield, and gets a nasty slice as a result.
However, Tallak and Nightfang give as good as they get, slashing and stabbing the aquatic monsters with zeal.
Calder steps up, pulling his greataxe from a loop as he goes and swings at the merrow. His first blow misses, but the merrow underestimates Calder and takes a massive whallop to the face. Its face splits, but it remains stubbornly standing.
Kelda charges into combat alongside Calder, crying a battle-cry as she goes. She draws a longsword and delivers a two-handed chop into the merrow.
She manages to fell the foul creature, wounded as it is.
Koya edges away from the combat slowly, trying not to attract attention to herself. She gets close to Sandru, who then charges into combat against the merrow.
The agile rogue dodges by the merrow's spear-blow and retaliates with a savage scimitar-slice.
Ulf maneuvers around the merrow threatening Aiko and Ameiko, drawing his sword as he goes. He mumbles to himself, but it is difficult to hear what he says.
The merrow lash out savagely at their opponents - two at Aiko on the north beach, two at Shalelu on the south beach, and one at Sandru.
Unfortunately with the momentum from their original attack foiled, only one manages to land a blow, and Sandru manages to twist away from most of its lethality.
HP: 55/55
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 1/5; 2nd 0/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects:
"Sandru!" Vashta cries out as she sees the merrow draw a spray of blood.
She glares at the creature and brings her magic to play as she steps closer to provide cover for Koya.
Aiko grits her teeth as she bobs and weaves around the spear attacks. "We need to put this one down fast, so we can get into a better position!" she says as she slashes again at the merrow.
Clara winds up and tosses another explosive bomb at the merrow that Shalelu and Tallak are tussling with (taking care not to singe them).
Pushing the flap of her tent aside, Ukshakka takes a step closer to Sandru (safety in numbers, after all) and takes a heavy swing at the merrow before them with her quarterstaff.
She slams it upside the head, rendering it dizzy, with blood oozing from its mouth and nose. Clara then hurls a bomb at the northern merrow. Her fizzy pop wreathes the aquatic creature in flame, searing its flesh and disabling it. The scrag is unable to dodge the splash of flame, and its flesh sears and bubbles. It screams in pain and rage, its regeneration negated.
Vashta casts a spell, causing a stream of slippery grease to spread between two of the merrow abominations. Both of the creatures slip and fall due to her spell, hitting the ground.
On the north shore, Ameiko and Aiko work together to fight against one of the merrow creatures that pins the two women against one of the wagons. Ameiko grips her ancestral weapon tightly and swings with great force. Unfortunately the merrow sidesteps her blow... right into Aiko's sword, which runs a thin line down the giant's side and draws blood.
On the south shore, Shalelu swings her bow at the disabled merrow, hoping both to put it out of its misery and finish it off. She slams two blows into its head, sending it crumpled to the ground.
Fearful of the gnome and her ability to toss so much fire, the scrag screams out for the merrow to retreat, that these travelers were too powerful. Taking his own advice, he tries to break Nightfang's hold on him.
Unfortunately for him he finds himself unable to break Nightfang's grip, despite his enormous troll strength and size.
Tallak turns to Nightfang and, using his ability to speak with animals, calls to him, ”Get that thing on dry land so we can finish it!” The tiger digs its claws in as it drags the creature back onto shore, twisting is body to drop it in the middle of camp. Once there, Tallak turns and thrusts his spear at it.
__________
Calder moves over to stand beside Ameiko, swinging his axe at the Merrow that threatens her.
If that kills it Calder yells a challenge at the last Merrow, hoping to draw it's attention to him. Slipping back into his native tongue in the heat of the moment.
With a great and powerful heave of animal muscles, Nightfang drags the struggling scrag troll back onto land and into the middle of the camp, flipping the creature over onto its back and landing it in the midst of the wagons.
Meanwhile on the north shore, Calder charges into combat against the next merrow. His powerful blow catches the creature in the ribcage, shattering bones and cleaving straight into the creature's innards and heard. It wheezes, lungless, and dies.
Kelda and Ulf charge into combat against the last merrow even as it changes its mind and scrabbles to retreat. In fear, it jabs its spear at the oncoming Kelda...
It manages to catch her in the collarbone, and heedless of the danger the barbarian continues charging, plunging the spear deeper into her abdomen. Despite the mortal wound, she swings her sword hard at the creature. From the other side charges Ulf, his sword in hand as well, stabbing at the creature's back.
Unfortunately for both of them, neither of them dug in tightly enough for a swing strong enough to penetrate the merrow's tough scales. It slithers away, though Ulf gets an opportunity to bite into its back as its retreats. His opportunity is wasted, and he swings at empty air, not having anticipated the creature's speed. It manages to retreat into the river from whence it came.
On the south shore, Sandru brazenly dashes around one of the merrow creatures, trusting on its prone condition and his speed to see him through. His rogueish grin is ruined when the creature snags him in the thigh with its spear. The blade of the merrow's spear tears through his thigh, causing him to cry out in pain.
Despite his unluck and his mounting wounds, Sandru slashes out at the merrow with his sword and finishes it off, nicking an artery in the thing's leg, from which it bleeds out quickly.
Despite her own wounds, Koya rushes to Sandru's side and presses a hand against his leg wound, her hand glowing with positive energy. "Song of Spheres," she implores, "Help this fellow traveler walk again."
The last merrow scrambles to its feet and runs into the river, leaping in with a massive splash and swimming away with as much vigor as it can manage.
With combat over, the group's noncombatants - Brandy and Eglin on the north shore and the Dalmuvians on the south shore - crawl out of their tents. It is bitterly cold, and with the adrenaline from battle fading that comes back, although the magic of the sashimonos keeps anyone in a wagon comfortable.
"Is everyone okay?" shouts Koya - she channels Desna's power, healing everyone's wounds on the south shore.
On the north shore, Kelda painstakingly begins to remove the spear from her shoulder. She gasps with pain, but curses from something else. "I really thought I would achieve Valhalla tonight..." she mumbles.
Ameiko grasps Aiko's shoulder, grinning. "You make a good bodyguard," she says, with a laugh in her voice.
Aiko flicks the blood away from her wakizashi and says to Ameiko, "You give me a good reason to be one! Let's get the group together and heal up the injured and see what's happened on the far side of the river."
Ameiko nods. "That's a great idea and all, but... how? I mean, I know you can run on water, but most of us can't and both Tallak and Clara are on the other side." She shrugs. "I can heal people some, if necessary though."
"I'll run across to check and see how things are going over there, but the shouting and the fighting seems to be dying down already. I'll be back with news in less than a minute. Stay safe! Maybe check on the other folks on this side and make sure everyone's all right?"
Aiko grasps Ameiko's hand briefly, then lets go and darts off, still carrying the lantern, to check the other half of the caravan on the south side and return with news of how they fare.
Vashta dashes to Sandru's side.
"Are you OK?" she asks with concern.
She looks around a few moments later as she realizes that Koya's attentions have prevented anything worse and shivers a little in the cold.
"Darlings," she calls out, "is everyone alive? It would be tragic if we lost anyone to these things."
Tallak steps up and runs a hand through Nightfang’s fur as the tiger continues to rip into the monster. The tiger jerks away with a growl, but remains focused on its current prey. Tallak chuckles and moves through the camp checking on the others, then checks the fallen enemies for anything of worth.
He then removes fangs from the creatures and keeps them as trophies.
As Nightfang feasts on the scrag's organs and Tallak harvests some teeth, Clara looks on to see if she sees any sign that it's still regenerating.
Clara inserts herself beside the massive tiger and sets to work drawing as much of the scrag's blood as she's able into vials. "I wonder if this'll make a styptic too, like that other troll's blood. I don't know too much about troll-folk, but this one certainly seemed similiar."
As Ameiko comes over to check in, the little alchemist looks up, "Yes, we're OK here, I think.
"And look at this amazing troll blood. Do you want to see what it does when you poor it onto a cut?"
"Yes, but not right now - I have to run back to Ameiko to let her know that everyone's all right, and I can't risk growing a troll-arm out of my own arm," says Aiko before she runs off across the river again.
On the north bank once more, she jogs up to Ameiko and slows. "They're fine on the other side. Clarabibulus is experimenting with troll blood. So, don't know how long they'll continue to be fine. But they drove off their attackers as well. We should be able to finish moving the caravan in the morning."
The merrow don't exactly have fangs as such. Their teeth seem to be all dirty, disgusting molar. However, they do have disgustingly long talons at the end of their scaly hands. The scrag troll has rather impressive tusks that jut from its distended lower jaw, and its blood bubbles hotly when Clara extracts it into a vial. She thinks she can probably make at least two vials of troll styptic with it as well.
She knows that a scrag troll's styptic won't have the drawback of the intense pain that regular styptic carries. However, it will only heal the recipient if the recipient is immersed at least halfway in water.
The scrag is definitely fully dead. Each merrow carries a spear sized for a giant, and each has a sack with its "valuables" in it. Overall, there are a few rotted pieces of humanoid, like a head or an arm, some frayed rope, some shiny rocks, an old rusty hook-hand, some poor sod's belt, a masterwork dagger for a Small-sized character in an old leather sheath, two rubies worth 40gp each and a skull with a really long head of golden hair.
The scrag troll carries a similar pouch that contains 16 platinum pieces, a caribou's leg, an entire dead dwarf, a shattered Tian tea set inside of a rotting wooden box, and a rolled-up vellum scroll with a map on it inside of a scroll case.
Those on the south shore are happy to see Aiko, even if it is only for a moment, and Ameiko gives her a crisp high-five and a cheer when she returns. "Nice!" she cries. "No amount of water trolls can take us down."
Sandru coughs and willingly leans on Vashta. "Why is it that in every fight, I seem to draw the short straw?" he laughs painfully, and sighs with relief when Koya heals the group. He still has a few bloody grazes afterward, though.
"It's a problem with being too brave," Vashta replies, with false gravity before becoming more gently teasing. "If you weren't so heroic and just let the rest of us fend for ourselves, you'd probably be much healthier. Of course, you'd have fewer scars then, and you know how those attract the ladies."
Tallak will use his own bursts of healing until everyone has fully recovered on his side of the river.
Shalelu pulls one of the rotting human arms out of a merrow's bag. "Ugh, disgusting." she says.
Sandru smiles at Vashta, and stretches himself with pleasure as Tallak heals everyone. "That's hardly an excuse for me to stop!"
Having finished work on her styptics, Clara's curiosity turns to the old map.
"What have we here?"
In the morning, Tallak and Koya are able to gather everyone together to heal everyone, and Tallak is able to ensorcell the group so that they can simply walk across the raging river. Then, he and Ulf and Calder heft the remaining two wagons across the river with sacred strength. The journey is able to continue. On the other side of the Taraska is the road to the High Ice. Temperatures on the High Ice, even during spring or summer, very rarely rise above freezing. In lake and hill country, the temperature fluctuated between around 60 degrees F and 40 degrees F during the day, but as you travel a few hundred more miles into the subarctic, temperatures fall. Daytime average temperature hovers around 45 degrees F in the southern areas of the High Ice. Ulf promises a summer high of around 40 degrees even near the pole.
Given that you are traveling during the on-season for Crown journeys, and that Ameiko has enemies chasing after her, Ulf suggests that you avoid the trade town of Unaimo for now. He suggests that you travel a different route, west towards a town he knows called Iqaliat. He pulls a talisman out of a bag - it is a carved remorhaz scale, a diamond shape with a dot inside carved onto its surface. "This is a talisman given to me by the village's hearthmistress, Sonavut. It should guarantee us safe passage, and we should be able to learn from the tribe's hunters and scouts about the conditions on the path."
Aiko listens and nods. Since their guide is well within her expertise, and this is not her area of skill, she refrains from unnecessary comments.
"We don't have anything to trade." Calder agrees with avoiding the trade town. Ulf was hired because he is the best guide, best to listen to his advice.
Ulf nods and guides the caravan on the western path, a trail which takes several more days and which takes the caravan up the side of a mountain. A road carved into the edge of an area called Alasek Ridge, the western road feels treacherous, but Ulf assures everyone that it's perfectly safe. On the third day of Sarenith, Ulf comes back from a quick scouting mission to say that he had sighted Iqaliat, and leads the caravan around a corner on the mountainside to see it. The village is small, but beautiful. Built right on the edge of a cliff, the village is composed of about fifteen stone houses made from what appear to be clay bricks. The outward-facing sides of the stone buildings on the edge of the cliff have been stone shaped into the faces of noble elder Erutaki men. The stone surface of the road and the area in the village is slick with running water from higher on the mountain, and it cascades off the edge of the cliff into the tundra below. The cliff-edge offers a commanding view of the High Ice and the tundra, allowing sight for hundreds of miles - hundreds of miles of glittering icy desert, icy cold forest and sapphire rivers. The view, while beautiful especially in the light of the clear day, is marred by several of what appear to be huge moving hailstorms which roil dangerously and which obscure the view of all within and beyond them.
People come to the edge of the village to stare at all the strange foreigners, and Ulf signals the group to wait before striding into the village, the remorhaz-scale talisman around his neck. He comes back about three minutes later with an elderly Erutaki woman. This woman has a thick head of gray hair that cascades off of her head like the waterfalls of the village, a lined but still handsome face, a collection of warm furs and thick hide boots. She is probably 60 years old. She smiles warmly at the group and performs slightly awkward handshakes with anyone who wants one. "It is good to meet you," she says in well-practiced but perhaps formal Common. "I am Hearthmistress Sonavut. Please, come to my home. Let me offer you a warm seat and a mug of Kumis."
"Thank you, Hearthmistress," Vashta says with a gracious smile. "Our travels here have not been easy, and your hospitality alone warms us."
She follows, though some of the wariness of her upbringing still lingers, as she doesn't completely relax.
Vashta can tell that these villagers are very wary of outsiders, and the group is leveled with a suspicious glare by just about every person they pass.
Ameiko and Ulf go, but the rest of the group decides to stay behind with the caravan. Sandru wants to check and see what the little town has to sell, and the rest of the group doesn't feel particularly welcome.
Sonavut takes the seven of you into her home, a warmly-lit yurt-like structure made from stone bricks near the center of the small village. An iron stove radiates heat from the coals inside, and she takes a pot off of the stove and a collection of mugs from a cupboard. She pours each party member a cup of what seems to be hot alcoholic goat's milk. She sits down on one of several pillows on the floor. "So," she says, "What can I do for you?"
Ameiko decides to remain quiet for the moment, seeing what her friends might say about their situation before she decides to speak up. However, Ulf speaks up. "We're traveling. Have you any idea about the conditions on the Path of Aganhei?" The question causes a shroud of darkness to pass over the amiable hearthmistress' face, and she responds, "The Path is treacherous at this time of year. The way north of Unaimo is blocked by unseasonable morozkos, which have spread farther south than we have seen in a long time."
"Hunters venturing onto the High Ice have seen the Black Monoliths, which we have seen for generations stay cold and dead, glow and hum with a cold energy. Hordes of the walking dead prowl around these Monoliths, and we have lost a few hunters to these aberrations." Ulf leans forward onto his knees, his piercing gaze hitting her. "What about the path through the valley to the west?" he asks, and her frown grows deeper. "The path is blocked." she says, flatly. "Iqaliat has seen the predations of a dragon in recent months, and I believe the dragon's lair to lie towards the west. We have seen that it is very aggressive, and it attacks anyone that it sees trying to pass that way."
Tallak grows concerned. ”My Father’s Father told us stories of a dragon that preyed on our clan years ago. Their wrath is not to be underestimated.”
”Is it this dragon that strikes fear in your people’s hearts, North Mother? I have seen it in their eyes. They try to hide it, but their resolve seems shaken.”
Hearthmistress Sonavut nods slowly and gravely. "Dozens of our people have been carried off by this angry dragon, and many of our warriors have not returned from expeditions meant to hunt it."
"What are these morozkos and Black Monoliths?" Vashta asks, before paling a little at the news of a dragon.
"Undead one way, and dragons the other? Is there any way to avoid them all?"
Tallak casts a knowing and concerned look to Calder and Ulf, wondering how they feel about the situation.
Ulf answers Vashta's first question, gruffly speaking up. "The Black Monoliths have been around forever, but they're mostly just huge black pillars, carved with runes, that seem to be set at random places in the High Ice. Sometimes we guides use them as landmarks. They've never been anything special."
Sonavut continues his thought, adding, "Until now. Now they glow with magic and are guarded by the undead."
"The morozko is something Southerners call a "hungry storm". They are so named for the way that they seem to seek out the living. They have always been a danger on the High Ice, but they have been coming earlier and venturing farther south for years now."
"Of course there is a way you could avoid all. I would recommend taking the normal, eastern Path of Aganhei out of Unaimo, and then to simply cautiously avoid every Black Monolith. But you would still be at risk from the storm, and unless you know the location of every Monolith, it may be impossible to avoid them all. Perhaps it would be best if you simply put off doing your crossing..."