They push on and after about an hour Corum looks back and can see some of the others struggling to manage the difficult terrain. The snow dragging at their feet so they seem to be wading through quicksand. He shrugs and thinks to himself. Can't help them now but I'll try to ,make some snowshoes when we camp. Should be able now my ribs aren't busted anymore. He judges they have been walking for a few hours so calls back. "does anyone need a break? 20 minute rest for food then push on?"
Sapphire has the same light feet Corum seems to, but thinking of the rest of the team appreciates his sentiments about stopping to rest for a bit.
Maybe 15 minutes just to take the weight off and drink some water might be a fine plan
she nods. Spotting a cluster of trees where snow has drifted to form a slight hollow, she heads there thinking at least the wall of snow will provide a wind break whilst they rest their feet.
After ten minutes she is ready to push on.
The going is harder on some than others. Elleros and Greyston struggle on through the snow manfully while Corum ploughs his way through like an aurochs. Nasrin and Sapphire are lighter on their feet but Thorn is the most comfortable of all, padding here and there stopping only to sniff occasionally and mark his territory.
You stop for a short while to eat something. Those of the north know the value of sustaining yourself in such weather and encourage the others to eat as much as they can stomach, even if they don't feel they want it.
Soon thereafter you set off once more into the seemingly neverending tundra that the Border Wood has become. Despite the lack of track to follow, you are confident the bandits must have come this way. It is the only remotely serviceable track, especially for armed and armored men carrying loot and plunder. And so, on you go.
You soon start to see something of a change on the trail ahead. Feathered bundles and strange fetishes hang from the lowest branches of the trees in this part of the forest, swaying and shifting in the wind. All are struck through with small pins holding pieces of leather bound around them.
With the call to rest Greyston slumps down in the snow and starts to drink his water fast but cries out as the cold water hits his teeth. "This cold! I feel like we're getting nowhere. Snow covered tree, snow covered rocks and look more snow covered tree's." He starts to cure to himself silently. Looking at the three other members of the party that seem to have no trouble with the snow.
"Sapphire, how are you so familiar with the snow? those two." He points to Corum and Nasrin standing in the snow. "I understand them, but what about you? Please take my mind of my freezing feet and hands." He says as he runs his hands together. Never in my life did i expect this cold!
--
Moving along at a snails pace, Greyston only picks his head up when he notices the trail change and spots the fetishes finally something to break up the dullness of white on white he heads over to one. "Now this.. is creepy, but we are clearly on the right trail." He looks over one fetish not wanting to touch it.
Catching up with the others as they pause to study the strange tokens Elleross reaches out and turns one of them around examining it closely.
I've seen these before,now what book was it... he thinks to himself and he begins to search through his mental library, which although large isn't as vast a storehouse of knowledge as he would like .
Letting the fetish of the old man stands straight and stretches his weary back.
I though I recognised these and now I am certain. They are tokens, left here by Fey creatures , though these ones are twisted and cruel they delight in torturing and vivisecting small animals that share the woodland with them he says with a look of distaste we need to be careful, third have marked their territory and won't take kindly to us trespassing but we have little choice but to go this way he says and leaning heavily on his staff he continues the seemingly endless slog through the snow laden wood.
Well Greyston, I'm hesitant to say with all the winter magic hanging in the air, but I can't shy away from truth given I want to earn your trust.
She thinks a moment then continues
I'll be honest and say I just don't know, this is the first time I've ever seen snow like this. The winters in Katheer were nowhere near this bitter.
She looks wistful for a moment, before her attention returns to the present
The most accurate thing I can say is with every step north I feel like I'm walking closer to home. I seem to just know where to place my feet and the snow and ice accommodate me! It's the same thing with water though, I could swim before I could walk according to my fa-...
she trails off, blinking rapidly. Then turns to Greyston.
So that's probably the most I've told another person about myself. Ever. What about you, what brings a learned man such as yourself to Heldren?
Evil things then as you say, well we'll either find them or they'll find us if this is their territory, no sense putting it off. I'm sure their blood spills just as readily as the wyrm's did!
Sapphire keeps walking, blade held next to her as her eyes scan the area.
Corum listens to Sapphire amd Elleross talking while they rest. interesting. She moves like one born to snow and ice but hasn't seen snow this bad. I wonder jow that is He realoses tjat he knows very little about most of his new companions and decides to find out more when they camp that night.
Tjey push on, the heavy snow clingong to theor furs and weighing them down. The snow on the ground drapping at their feet making every step an effort. Hardened to the conditions the warrior pushes on, breaking the path for those that follow.
When they find the fetishes amd talk turns to the Fey that leave them to mark thwir territory. The words of Yuln come back to him and he remobes his buckler. He ties it to his pack and stows his bardiche in the sling that hangs across his back. He straps the heavy wood shield to his left arm ans draws the cold iron longsword. If Fey are aeound he intends ro be ready.
Brushing past several of the fetishes he moves on up the path scanning the surroundings for signs of danger.
Perception
Although perturbed by the fetishes, the party continues, Corum's grip opening and closing anxiously on the grip of Yuln's blade.
Thorn suddenly yelps in surprise as much as pain, as well as Sapphire and Elleros jolting as a thin needle of ice pricks their necks.
As the shard of ice pierces his neck he grunts in pain and whips his head around the vertebrae in his neck creak alarmingly as he seeks the source of the attack.
@Sapphire
Greyston listens intently at Sapphires story. She holds something back, but we all have things we don't want others to know.
He lets the question hang in the air for a moment. "We were all thrown together more or less, trust is something to nurture I know more about you than i do the others right now." He smiles at the half-elf. "I thank you for trusting me and i thank you for taking my mind of this cold." He then stands and starts to move about trying to warm up he steps over to Sapphire.
"I was in Heldren out of necessity, i need gold and i'm here right now freezing my butt off because of the need of gold. Don't get me wrong if i can help out a lady in distress while claiming a reward thats all the better." He hesitates for a moment, but continues. "I was accustomed to a certain lifestyle." Looking down at his ragged ditry furs he shakes his head. "I don't plan on walking around in the snow all my life. I plan to return to Oppara someday." He looks off away from Sapphire as he thinking about Oppara again.
Sapphire feels the numbness spreading from the needle wound and slowing her down. She shivers involuntarily, momentarily realising how awful it must have been for those in the caravan to be struck out of nowhere and paralyzed like this. They hadn't stood a chance.
Thorn feels the prick under his fur and begins growling. He turns his head, much slower than he should, and sees a blue-girl-thing in a tree. His growl deepens and he starts to move towards her. His legs feel leaden, heavy and frozen. He stumbles as he turns and barely manages to keep his snout out of the snow. He lurches through the snow towards the tree, his yellow eyes narrowed at the blue-girl-thing.
Nasrin sees the fey thing in the trees and knows that climbing to get it will do her no good. The damned thing would just flit off to the next tree. So, she settles for a old as time hunting tool. The sling. Dropping her shield and pulling her sling, she loads it and spins it up to speed.
The stocky warrior spins around to see his companions injured by the ice needles. He looks around and spots the fey hiding in the branches.
Perception
He growls "Damned sword is no use while they are in the trees."
He sticks the sword poind down in the snow, ready to draw at a moment's notice and draws and loads his sling ready to fire as soon as he has a clear shot.
The sprites remain in the cover of the trees. They giggle to themselves and eachother as they ready more tiny arrows to send like hail toward the group.
Greyston
Nasrin
Greyston
This time the cascade of icy missiles whistles through the air without hitting anyone.
Grayson finally seeing an opening pulls out two viles, he quickly mixes them and starts to shake the mixture together. "Time to burn, these Devils out." He steps forward and aims for the two creatures standing together.
Greyston's bomb explodes against the bough of the tree with a loud crack, sending a plume of smoke up in to the wintery sky. The limbs shake with the impact, creating a cascade of snow and within it all comes two high pitched screams of pain.
As the snow and smoke clears you can see the two tiny creatures, badly singed but still training their bows on you with shaking limbs.
Adrenaline pumping despite her numbness, Sapphire wants to cheer as the alchemist's bomb hurts some of their assailants, but she channels her elation in to movement, concentrating as hard as she can on what she needs to do to help.
Clawing with frozen fingers at the quick-release knot her nearest chakram was secured with, Sapphire just manages to get it free in her hand before the tumult of battle continues around her.
Moving as quickly as he can through the snow he steps next to Corum.
saeclum , liquescimus , adipiscing Elleross calls out his frozen lips cracking as he forms the words of the spell and with a flick of his wrist a bright green blob of acid streaks towards the mischievous fey.
Elleros flings the blob of acid at the creature. It tries to duck behind a branch but the acid splashes over it's legs, sizzling horribly.
Nasrin's sling is a blur of motion and then-fwwipp the bullet goes careening across the space between her and the...
tree the fey is hiding in. Nasrin growls and reloads.
Corum whirls his sling and whips a bullet at the single sprite on the right hand side of the path. The bullet streaks toward his flow with a low whirring sound.
Sling
Dam
He watches with disgust as his shot flies well wide of the mark. What follows is a burst of cursing that would make even the most seasoned whore blush.
Horrified at the flames burning their flesh, the pair of sprites in the tree cut and run, unfurling tiny insectoid wings and rapidly disappearing into the snowy vista.
Now left alone, the remaining sprite swoops down behind the party and stretches out its hand. A cascading cornucopia of colour flashes out.
The dazzling colours wash over Sapphire, and she stands frozen to the spot, eyes looking far, far away...
Not seeing the spite before the flash of colour hits him Greyston stands frozen looking out at the rest of the party.
[ooc]If its not crappy knowledge checks it had to be this. I'm with you Sapphire.
Seeing his spell burn the little sprite Elleross is quite surprised he was able to hit it given the conditions, his surprise is short lives however as he turns just as the blaze of colour slams into him.
his mind fills with the kaleidoscopic light and his brain is soon overwhelmed, millions of neurons firing all at once as an electrical storm rages in his brain, his visual cortex shuts down and he loses his sight a fraction of a second before his mind overloads entirely and he falls unconscious.
The others watch on in amazement as the tiny creature completely incapacitateincapacitates three of the party.
Perception
The warrior watches as the strange colours wash over his companions rendering them unconscious. He glances around and takes stock of the situation in an instant. All but Nasrin, Thorn and he are down, and two of the three remaining are injured. For a brief moment he feels doubt. Their situation is dire. Another of those sprays and they could all be dead. He does not hesitate, he does what he does best...
Corum loses it!
He explodes into motion, screams a terrible war cry and sprints towards the sprite. He grabs up his longsword as he leaps into action. He flies across the snow, the sword raised high above his head, his face a mask of hatred. The blood of his ancestors pounds in his veins, a vibrant staccato, the adrenaline surging as he knows deep within his being that this is his last desperate attempt to defeat this foe. He knows it is do or die, him or the sprite. He is determined it will not be him who dies today.
As he closes with his opponent, which is now within his reach, he leaps high in the air and brings the blade down with all his might. "BA@#*+%&*RD!"
Using a hero point for the extra action. Charge and rage
Damage cold iron
Crit confirm
Damage
Corum dashes across the snow toward the sprite. It's gleeful face turning into a mask of terror as the Howling madman bears down on it. A small noise begins to emanate from its throat, possibly even a word, but it is cur short by Corums blade, slicing it in twain and sending each half spinning across the snow.
Coming round with a pounding headache, Sapphire sits up holding her head like it is about to fall off. Remembering where she is she scans around quickly, scrabbling for her sword and bringing it halfway up to guard before she sees Corum standing over the body of the tiny sprite, blood dripping from his blade.
She ventures
That was well done Corum, for sure you saved our lives this moment, you have my thanks especially as that's twice in two days!
She makes sure the others are awake and asks if anyone is in dire need of healing, before looking around the battleground to see if the other fey have returned or if they left anything of note for the party to use.
Nasrin recovers her scimitar and shield and takes up a wary overwatch of her packmates. She pans the woods, looking for any sign of the two that fled.
Headache having now receded somewhat, Sapphire ensures everyone is back on their feet then suggests
I fear the two that escaped may fly and warn others ahead. We should move on as swiftly as we can to leave them as little time to prepare as possible...
She stands ready to move on.
Though still somewhat stunned, Sapphire urges the party to move on, fearful that worse may follow if they don't.
Seeing the logic of those words, the rest press on through the thickening snow.
The next half an hour passes with as much difficulty as the rest of the day and as the snow begins to frost on your eyebrows and Elleros' beard you begin to think that a break may soon become a necessity.
That is before a strange sight greets you.
A human-sized snowman stands in the middle of the trail before a frozen stream. A crude wooden sign leans against it and bears the words "Trespassers Turn Back."
Greyston snaps out of his confusion and quickly reaches for a bomb before he notices that all is quiet. "Thats some strong magic. Your right Sapphire lets get out of here." He puts away his bomb and begins to move with the others.
--
Greyston squints his eyes looking at the sign. "This could be another trap. But what is this snowman? the mercenaries wouldn't have built it."
Nasrin orders Thorn forward to investigate the snowman. Meanwhile, she looks back and says, "Off the trail for now." The feral girl motions to the left side of the trail and she waits, watching Thorn seek his prey.
If there are no obvious traps, Nasrin calls Thorn back to her and calls to Corum, "Take the others past I will meet you on the otherside of the snowman." She pats Thorn's shoulder and moves of trail, opposite the party and makes her way past the snowman.
Sapphire nods at Greyston, watching Nasrin carefully pick her way around the impromptu statue.
It seems like the wisest course, Nasrin has broken the trail, I for one will follow in her footsteps!
Sapphire proceeds to walk the exact path Nasrin just did.
"we need shelter. Nasrin, let's see if we can build something."
Corum moves into the forest about 10' before he finds a small stand of elm saplings, their slender trunks perfect for his needs. He cuts them atll down with his hatchet and Nasrin strips the twigs and branches from them.
He moves to two silver birches that stand only a few metres apart and begins building a lean-to shelter. What he has heard referred to as a basher in these southern regions. Together, he and Nasrin tie a single elm sapling across the two at a height of 2 mwtres and then lean the remainder at an angle on it. He ties them all off and Nasrin weaves the most slender and pliable branches between each. They weave the twigs and branches between the lot, the leaves providing insulation. They then throw the tarpaulin he took from the wagon over the top and secure it with ties and wooden stakes.
Nasrin scrapes all the snow out of the inside of the shelter while Corum finds a dead tree nearby and hacks off several branches which he uses to again build a fire shield.
Finally they work together to lay a fire and get a small blaze started.As the others approach he smiles. "It isn't ideal but it should keep the worst of the cold off if we keep the fire going. Collect some wood and lay it nearby to dry in the heat. We don't want damp wood reducing the heat in the night."
He sits down and removes the material he collected yesterday. He begins to construct a pair of snowshoes. The work is slow and laborious but he is confident of success. He remains sitting cross legged, weaving the shoes while the others see to the cooking.
As he weaves he looks up at Elleross and Greyston warming by the fire. "Your skills were useful today. Between you you drove off those two other fey. If they had stayed around things could have been much worse. We were lucky. Where are you two from?"
Craft
Greyston sits at the fire trying his best to keep warm, taking out a fine powder from his satchel he flings it at the fire as it goes larger putting off a bit more heat.
"We all did well today, i was glad i could finally help. Thanks for watching over us Corum." He looks to Elleross, then back to Corum. "I'm from Oppara, lived there all my life but i haven't been there for a few years now. Mainly moving around the smaller settlements, if you couldn't tell i'm more use to the city life." He smiles a bit but wince in pain from his cracked and chapped lips. I've never seen snow before and after this i wish to never see it again. I got use to certain comforts but i realise i wont be finding any of them out here." He looks down at the fire lost in thought for a moment. "Thats enough about me. You seem to thrive in the cold and wilderness. Where do you come from Corum?"
|
Nasrin and Thorn leave the trail and try to circumvent the snowman. The going off the trail is extremely difficult, bordering on impossible. The depth of the snow is easily up to Nasrin’s knee though she ploughs on regardless.
Corum follows after, bulling his way through as is his way and Sapphire follows in the same path.
As they do so, however, a sudden high-pitched voice cries from the snowman:
Don’t you listen!
The snowman explodes with a huge crack, a shockwave emanating from it in a wide arc that sends snow cascading from the branches of trees all around you.
The snowman bursts into animation and the shockwave catches Corum off guard. He reels and staggers holding his ears as they ring like a thousand bells.