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Jamir weaves his way through his allies and the Red dinosaur tries to rip at him with a Talon as he passes. The Deinonychus is about to rip in to Jamir but...Jamir uses his Dodging Panache training and then tucks into a somersault and rolls underfoot or the Red dinosaur ; He then strikes directly up in to the belly of the Deinonychus tearing a large hole in it's belly, causing it to shriek in a high pitched, raptor like scream.
After Jamir charges in with his impressive display of acrobatics and swordsmanship, Craggark get's down to business in a more brutal manor. He blast the distracted red dino, with an overpowering hammer fist that slams it's gaping jaws together breaking teeth and nearly dropping the 250lb animal on Jamir lurking beneath it. Craggark then follow's through with a karate style side-kick in the blue dino's direction that, misses the nimble predator.
Round 1
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Myth
Craggark
Jamir
Deinonychus red
Torvald
Deinonychus blue
Jawhar *
Analia *
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Jaw dropping at Jamir's impressive maneuvers and Craggark's brutal follow-up, Torvald glances at the bomb in his hand and shrugs. Hopping back out of reach of the raptor's teeth and claws, the dwarf hurls his bomb at the creature's center mass. Unfortunately, this time it didn't break, bouncing off the dinosaur's shoulder and landing on the cavern floor beside it.
Torvald tosses a bomb that misses and the blue dino scampers out of the worst of the blast. The dino tears in to Jamir with all his claws and tooth.
Blue dino scrapes and snaps for all it's worth at Jamir but , only manages to slightly wound him.
Round 1 & 2
Myth
Craggark
Jamir
Deinonychus red
Torvald
Deinonychus blue
Jawhar
Analia
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Jawhar staggers into the room and yawns.
"So, did you find anything in here?"
Suddenly, the donkey starts to pull backwards. Jawhar starts pulling on the lead.
"What is it? Come on now, I'm lighting the room up. It's not like there are a bunch of bloodthirsty dinosaurs in the next room, see?"
Jawhar holds up his lighted buckler and finally looks upon the carnage.
"Oh... well, nevermind then"
Jawhar will wait until Lia moves out of the way, then move into the space she is currently in.
He will activate his wrist sheath to pop out the wand of CLW and zap Jamir.
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Lia quickly gathers her wits and steps forward, concentrating on casting a spell.
She grabs a small pouch from her belt and thrusts her hands out before her, uttering a short phrase, "Nárë má!" and a fan of flames jets out from her fingers to engulf the dinosaur and narrowly miss her friends.
Craggark lands a left cross on the beast. Myth likewise, has one of his arrows sink deep within' the beast. Jawhar moves in to heal Jamir, and Analia, let's loose with a gout of flame that somehow the dino survives!
Round 2
Myth
Craggark
Jamir
Torvald
Deinonychus blue
Jawhar
Analia
Jamir narrowly avoids being crushed as Craggark drops the red dino. He desperately tries to range over to the blue dino to finish it off;*edit* however, before he can Just as Jamir reaches it and sinks his blade deep, one of Torvald's bombs land center mass on the creature snuffing the life out of the bird like lizard.
combat over!
Ten feet into this dark granite cave, a large cavern opens up, its ceiling rising as high as thirty feet. Warm, humid air fills the chamber, and colorful fungi cover the floor and walls. Beneath a layer of iridescent algae, the faint images of cave paintings can be seen on all the cavern’s walls. Signs of a rockslide block what may once have been a passage farther into the cave.
The cavern’s tall walls are covered with cave paintings under a thin layer of faintly glowing algae. The paintings depict a castle at the base of a mountain. Outside the castle, a large creature with wings and a long neck lies on the ground before a figure lifting a huge red axe over its head to strike. Other humanoid figures cluster around the scene. The mural is then interrupted by a repeated design: two mammoths with a smaller one in tow marching east. This motif is repeated over and over in an orderly line from the top wall of the cave to the bottom. There are 30 copies of this design.
The next scene shows the wielder of the red axe lying on a raised mound within the castle, his weapon clutched to his chest. Other figures leave the castle carrying large bags on their shoulders. The drawings continue on the other side of the cave, showing an avalanche cascading down to cover the tower. The last drawing shows more of the humanoid figures standing over the edge overlooking the castle’s previous location, while four drawings of the moon in various states arc above the scene. In this last picture, all of the humanoid figures have a smear of white color around their lower faces.
The cave is warm, obviously coming from some thermal vents deep beneath the ground. This effect is apparently allowing an abundance of mushroom like growths in the cavern. Amid the fungi are the remnants of a long decayed party of Kellid hunters who were snowed in the cave and died of starvation.
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"I'll bet that Jadrek is the fellow with the red axe, and that he ruled for 30 years," Craggark explains, pointing at the three-mammoth motif that denotes the passage of a year and is repeated a score and a half times. "It looks like he was connected to the Snowmasks, if that white colour on the faces of those figures burying him is literal - and we know how literal these people are." Craggark finishes with a chuckle.
"Do those dead bodies share any tales?" Craggark calls to Myth.
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Jawhar looks on trying to follow Craggark's logic.
"So, then, after Jadrek died, the castle was abandoned as people carried his treasures off and the castle itself was buried in an avalanche?"
Jawhar scratches his beard. "If people carried off his treasures, wouldn't they also have taken the axe? Are we looking in the wrong place?"
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"It looks like perhaps the axe was left behind, as burial goods," Thorek offers, pointing from the figures with their bags to the prone figure with its axe. "Unless these images are of two separate events, but their close proximity suggests they're intended to be interpreted together."
Stroking his beard, he scans the murals but keeps coming back to the four bearded figures under the moon phases. "Do these represent generations, then? Children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren descended from Jadrek?"
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Myth shrugs. "Can't tell much from the bodies...don't appeared to have died violently...maybe got stuck here and died of starvation...the fungi must not be edible or perhaps poisonous..."
Looking at the murals, Myth asks, "So this white bearded fellow would be Jadrek, the wielder of the axe from which shard we, and the Shadow Lodge, seek? Wonder why these murals would be in this particular cave..."
By the morning, the storm has gone. You travel one full day incident free under Sunny if not cool skies. The next day is equally as beautiful. The previous night wasn't has cold as some of the others so Jawhar has all his channels today. Though the weather is still cold. Your path slopes downward as you approach a series of high, rocky cliffs on the edge of the Tusk Mountains. Near midday, Skagni’s map directs you through a narrow ravine of ice and rock.
The shriek of a snowy owl dances off the high, rough walls of ice and rock inside this gorge, and the long shadows inside make it feel like evening rather than midday. Although the canyon provides a direct path through the rocky terrain of this area, the other side is almost invisible from the entrance. In the snow drenched plains leading to the gorge mouth, primeval aurochs and bison paw at the new snow to unearth scrub grass.
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After taking his time this morning to ensure that all of his cold weather items were carefully dried and properly placed, Torvald finds that the cold is far more manageable today. As the party comes upon the ravine he eyes it warily.
"I'm with Craggark, we should go around the canyon!" the dwarf declares. "Too easy a place for an ambush."
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"I agree that the canyon itself would be a great place for an ambush, but trying to go around seems like it could add days onto our trip in the open plains with no shelter.
We need to beat the Shadow Lodge to the Keep. Can we afford to try to go around?
The plains themselves are also a great place for an ambush, as well as the hidden dangers of unseen crevices, sinkholes, and predators."
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"To beat the Shadow Lodge to the keep we must first survive. Any place can be an ambush, and after the attack at the standing stones, it is understandable to fear such an an attack, but we can't be paralyzed by that fear, just cautious. That said, we shouldn't travel that canyon for even I can tell you it's too dangerous to travel, given what we know about the Snowmasks..." she says motioning to the gorge ahead.
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As the party considers how best to proceed, Jamir pulls out the wand of longstrider and approaches Jawhar.
"My friend, you know I am no spellcaster. But I have discovered that I have at least a little talent in activating enchanted items created through the magic of others. This wand, for example - if you wouldn't mind lending me a bit of the Dawnflower's guidance, I might be able to coax it to give me a little extra speed. I thought I might suggest that Mythryndyr and I scout ahead a little, and having that boost would be useful."
”Well, that was unsatisfying! I will make another attempt.
Jamir grins without embarrassment. ”I did say I have a little talent, did I not?”
”Ah, well. Perhaps another time. I expect I will be able to keep up with our elven friend, in any case.”
Jamir stashes the wand, and pulls out his bow. ”I suggest that Myrthryndyr and I scout a bit ahead of the group. I am far from the archer our new friend is, but I can move quietly enough.”
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"--nowhere to hide, nowhere to flee, no effective means of hitting back except for Myth."
"Where will we hide on the open plains? Where will we run, when the snowmasks run twice as fast as Lia and I?
These snowmasks, though, are adept at hiding in the snow. I almost stepped on the leader of the last ambush.
They could surround us easily, or fire bows from 100 yards away.
At least in the canyon we can put our backs to the wall."
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Jamir looks around for signs of an ambush nearby, and others who might have passed this way recently.
"I know that these Snowmask warriors spend their lives training in the art of surprise attacks, but we are Pathfinders, my friend! Choosing the best way forward based on all of the available information is right there in our name! Let us look together for some sign to help us decide. I would not want to make our choice based on fear of unseen bogeymen!"