"Dretjiz!" Droviz curses. "Take a powder, frosty!"
The masked warrior slashes at the snowman again, anger lending additional strength to his attack.
A cold pain seared through Brynjar's body, he grunted and clenched his teeth as he stared at the snowman that had just sinked its supposed teeth into his shoulder, he took a balanced stance; with his sword in front of him The thing has taken more hits than that overgrown lizard Thought Brynjar as he lunged at the monster once more but this time with a rising diagonal slash that scattered the snow on the ground as the tip the sword brush against the snowy floor.
Ragnar surged forward and brought his new axe down into the strange snow creature.
... surrounding area.
Seeing that the warrior's battle plan left little room for his scorpion whip, the bard steps back and studies the surrounding area to avoid any surprise visitors to the snowball fight.
I'm sure there's a great tale in this battle... somewhere. Helios tries not to grin despite having felt the magical being's cold wrath.
Droviz separates the snowman into two pieces with a savage strike from his sword. Krystae's arrow drives the snowman's "nose" back through the back of his head, and Brynjar and Ragnar together mutilate what is left of the pieces. The snowman seems to be vanquished...
Helios doesn't notice anything else of importance.
Ragnar looks around, a little confused about what had happened and concerned about the frozen river.
Elen examines the creature, trying to figure out what it was.
After doing so, she points out the places in the ice across the river where it is thin. "Have you seen whatever you saw before moving under the ice, Brynjar?" she asks the barbarian.
Plunging his sword into where their frigid enemy stood, Brynjar placed his left hand on his right shoulder trying to feel where that thing had bitten him "Hard to focus when something is biting on your shoulder witch" Answered the warrior his tone as gruff as ever, but surprisingly not as much hostility could be felt when he spoke the word 'witch'.
The red haired man looks at the ice before them once more, trying to see whatever it was he saw before.
Droviz' eyes widen at Brynjar's tone when addressing Elen, but otherwise he just wipes the snow from his sword.
"I could get used to enemies like these," he says, cheerfully. "Nothing sticky, nothing icky, just a firm wipe and maybe later, a thin layer of oil to prevent rust."
Helios steps forward, coiling his whip into the loop on his belt as he retrieves his longbow from the snow. "Whatever it was, it's purpose was to turn aside pursuers." The half-elf kicks at the piles of powder that were the remains of their animated foe. "Maybe here to dissuade the layman, but not seasoned veterans. I'd anticipate much worse on the road ahead."
Thinking on that, he steps to the edge of the frozen river and knocks an arrow. "Let's see about this beastie you spotted earlier, my friend..."
If things are looking clear, or the beastie is far enough off, Helios will make his way across the frozen river, careful to avoid the thin points Elen indicated.
...to cross over without slipping.
Havelock, not really having contributed to the fight taps the side of his beak, lost in thought for a moment.
"Such...diverse power we are seeing.
I think at this point we can at least be very sure that we are not dealing with anything even CLOSE to ordinary bandits."
"I am surprised...it is TOO much opposition, I cannot help but wonder if they somehow EXPECTED to be followed.
Maybe...maybe we are being observed somehow, so they can set up traps for us.
Or someone else is expected to come after the lady..."
"Winter-touched fey serve the Ice Queen. I am sure these are not ordinary bandits at all. They are possibly agents from the land of Eternal Winter, or mercenaries in contract with them."
"A reasonable conjecture, but still, the level of adversaries is troubling...
It tells us one thing, possibly two...
One is that they are well prepared indeed, with forces to spare fo this, and the possibility that they are aware of our movements.
The second possible thing is that this noblewoman is SO important to their plans that they will do literally anything to keep her."
Elen identifies the snowman as an animated object, augmented with magic mouth.
As Brynjar is studying the ice carefully, Helios steps onto the ice and moves forward. When he gets halfway across, two water elementals sprout from the unbroken ice!
"By the rods of Ozymandus...what in the bloody hells is it now?" Helios curses and quickly whistles a three note tune...and promptly Vanishes from sight.
The half elf makes his way forward to get to the other side of the river as quietly as he can muster
...+20 Invisibility
Both of the elementals pass back through the ice into the river. One of them materializes out of the snow behind Elen and shoves her onto the ice. The second one comes back out through the icy river and tries to shove Elen into the weakened section of ice but is unsuccessful.
Droviz roars when the elementals attack Elen. He attacks the one closest to him, trying to sandwich it between himself and the Elven Witch to get an advantage to his strike.
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Krystae sighs as the animated snowman falls, shaking her head at the strangeness of their enemy. She is about to voice her agreement with Havelock's assessment when the elementals suddenly burst forth from the frozen river! She watches, stunned for a moment, while the outsiders try knocking Elen towards the ice!
Once Krystae recovers from her shock she quickly moves around the tree to get a better line of sight to attack the elemental nearest Elen, shouting as she moves. "Fall back, Witch! We will cover you!" With that, she draws her bowstring back to her cheek, takes aim, and lets her arrow loose!
The surprise Brynjar felt upon seeing the method of movement their amorphous foes passed quickly, without any further delay he was moving across the snow at a hurried but careful pace Got to get there before it moves again When he was close enough one of his hands left his sword and grabbed at the snow below, the handful of snow was then shoved violently into the elemental's head.
Elen tries to parry the creature's attack with her rapier, but only seems to hit substanceless water.
Elen focuses on defense as she withdraws from the creature, grateful for her fellow Desnan's call as she darts past Brynjar and Krystae to a safer location.
Helios sets himself up on the other side of the river as his spell ends. He materializes and then unleashes a shout at the first elemental Elen...
...Fortitude Save DC 14
School: evocation [sonic]
Level: Bard: 1; Inquisitor: 1; Sorcerer: 1; Wizard: 1; Witch: 1
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Components: V, S
Range: close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: one creature
Duration: instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial (see text)
Spell Resistance: yes
Source: Ultimate Magic
Summary: Deal sonic damage and daze target.
You unleash a powerful scream, inaudible to all but a single target. The target is dazed for 1 round and takes 1d6 points of sonic damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d6). A successful save negates the daze effect and halves the damage.
Oh for the love of hydroponic acid! A foe made out of water? If ever there was a foe unsuitable for burning, that would certainly be it.
Havelock hurries forward, not swift enough to get a slash with his sword, but trying to position himself to help his comrades.
Elen tries to recall information about water elementals that may help them.
Ragnar stepped up onto the rock in front of him and leaped, clearing Krystae's head and bringing his spear down like a hammer on the water-creature in front of him.
He landed where Elen had stood a moment sooner. If they wanted to shove someone, they were welcome to try.
Droviz slashes the elemental just as Krystae's arrow pierces the other. The elemental seems unaffected by Brynjar's dirty trick.
Elen's rapier glances off of the ice elemental.
Elen recalls that ice elementals are especially vulnerable to fire damage, and are immune to stuns and critical hits and cannot be flanked.
Helios's spell cracks a bit of ice off the elemental with sonic power.
Ragnar's savage leaping strike shatters his target, sending shards of ice in all directions. The second elemental steps over to Ragnar and slams its fist into his side.
Seeing that his shout did some damage to the ice beast and sends his remaining power in it again.
...attacking same one I hit earlier / Ear-piercing
Scream
Once done, he gets himself into position to attempt support of the team with arrows.
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Krystae's eyes widen as Ragnar leaps over her head and shatters one of their opponents. She quickly moves onto the ice to gain a better position, drawing and nocking an arrow as she does. She takes a knee to better balance upon the cold surface, draws her string back, and let's the arrow fly at their remaining opponent.
Ragnar grunts, ignoring most of the cold from the ice spreading from the impact.
Ragnar quicksteps back and brings his spear around again in a powerful arc.
Droviz chops at the elemental he hit once before again, growling under his breath...!
The onslaught of attacks that fell upon the elemental gave Brynjar the opening he needed to step into its guard. Pulling his two-handed sword back, he unleashed a wild horizontal swing, that sailed fiercely through the cold air, thirsting to meet with the elemental's torso At least they are hurt by steel
"They're vulnerable to fire if anyone has it... otherwise, don't go looking for vital spots to hit, they're just pure ice!"
"I have my bombs, but I can't use them with someone else besides it, it would splash them as well."
Helios's spell cracks the elemental and Ragnar's savage strike completely destroys it. All appears to be quiet around you, except for the quiet movement of water under the ice beneath you.
As you finally have a moment to look around again, Helios notices the legs and feet of a frozen corpse jutting from a pile of snow next
to the trees near where he is standing.
Ragnar plants his spear and takes a few deep, long breaths like a heaving bellows. His breath plumes, but not nearly as much as one would expect. It is as though his breath is somehow colder than usual. His heart hammers in his chest pulsing the veins in his massive arms and neck. It beats hard and strong but slow.
Next to him, a pair of tiny footprints stomps up to the remains of the ice-creature and defiantly kicks snow at it.
Elen smiles at the spirit's defiance against their foe, then looks around. "Are we hurt? How is everyone?"
Helios breathes a sigh of relief as the last of the elementals fall. Shouldering his bow and dusting off the snow from his cloak and clothing he begins searching around for any indications of further aggression.
At Elen's question he waves to her and smiles. "Doing okay, just hurt my pride, that's all. Not sure how to point out our successes, but I guess vanquishing these summoned creatures is easier to transcribe than the elimination of a snowma..." The half-elf pauses, eyes resting on the boots and legs of a body in the snow nearby. "Oh, Cayden Cailean, why do you taunt me so? Can you not stow your mirth and let us find something positive?"
Searching the surrounding snow before he tramples the scene, Helios hopes to find clues as to what might have deposited the body into the snowbank.
...searching the surround
Once done, he steps gingerly forward to investigate the body. Considering the dangers left behind at the treasure chest and the two tasylwyrms that had been laying in wait, the bard is keen to not set off any traps.
...searching for traps in the snowbank over the body and on the body
...general search of the body
He signals the others to come across the river and take a look at his findings.
Exhaling loudly as he sheathes his sword, Brynjar looks to Elen with a neutral stare "If you are not asking about the constant cold, then no those things did me no harm" The warrior placed his hand under the armor and rubbed where the 'snowman' had bit him.
"Damn witches...what will they throw at us next?!!" It was only after Brynjar has roared on about the object of his vengeance that he realized he was still looking at the elf "I don't mean you" He added in a rough tone that didn't fit his semi-apology.
The Tengu chuckles a little and looks at Helios.
"Oh I don't know, from where *I* am standing, Cayden Caelian seems to have a GRAND sense of humor indeed."
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Krystae looks around once their opponents have been felled. "We ought to move away from her quickly. I am sure the noise would have alerted our quarry." She puts another arrow to her bowstring as she slowly crosses the ice, keeping a weary eye on the lookout for any strange movement beneath the ice.
She winces when Brynjar suddenly shouts. "As I'm sure that did as well." She jokingly chastises the barbarian, casting a wink back over her shoulder. As she approaches Helios, she looks around. "What have you found, Helios?"
"Oh, I know. I think of them as 'Damn Witches' myself," says Elen.
"I'm fine," Droviz says in a cheerful tone, although he does not sheathe his sword. He cocks his head at Elen. "One question, though, pretty lady. What is a 'witch'?"
"In simplest form, it's a vocation, or a profession. I use my mental faculties to see the magical forces that make up the world, and alter them. Unlike a wizard, who has learned to do so through academic study, I've learned at the hand of a wise elder, called a Crone, who initiated me into communion with the unseen powers of the world. Frostwhiskers, here, is my connection to these powers." Elen gives her cat a gentle caress.
"More specifically, though, there is a nation held in thrall by the White Witches, the Jadwidga, from whom my teacher had fled when she was young -- though she was human so that was only decades ago, mind you -- and worked her whole life to protect her home, the Thanelands, from Irriseni invasions. She taught me to hate and fear the Witches of Irrisen, and these winter-touched fey, this unseasonal snow, this eldritch cold, all are certain to be their doing. Most notably, Elvanna, the queen of Irrisen. She is the 'Damned Witch' that we abominate."
She winces when Brynjar suddenly shouts. "As I'm sure that did as well." She jokingly chastises the barbarian, casting a wink back over her shoulder. As she approaches Helios, she looks around. "What have you found, Helios?"
"If they did, I am sure they're already running" Replied Brynjar with what passed as jovial tone for his rough voice.
"Most notably, Elvanna, the queen of Irrisen. She is the 'Damned Witch' that we abominate."
"She'll be a headless body when I am done with her, I'd like to see her wear a crown then" Commented Brynjar, before stepping forward and readying himself to continue tracking the bandits.