Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
I would like An endure elements if you are offering Melisande. Also just so this is established, Tereze would have Life Linked with each PC and Mead, unless someone objects.
I would also agree that we should be careful and go slowly.
Why do I have a feeling we are going to be chased on the way down and this is going to be much more difficult to get back safely.
You all take your time and cross the bridge very slowly.
The stream is only a few feet deep, however the icy water can quickly cause wet creatures to catch hypothermia.
~
You continue to ascend!
The Talons
Here the pass splits into adjacent routes, a higher path with a slow incline, and a wider steep path that plunges below it across a series of ice dunes. The upper path sits between 10 to 40 feet above the lower path and it is only 10 feet wide, and usually ices over.
Ascending the higher path decreases speed, while descending the lower path increases speed.
Mead looks around to see what he can learn.
Mead:
A trickle of frozen blood is crossing the
trail.
Survival DC 12 to open spoiler below.
Spoiler:
Following the tracks a few hundred yards off the trail leads to three piles of fresh snow that poorly conceal bodies. Two of the piles hide the bodies of hideous beastmen, white-furred simians native to the peaks (taer). The third holds a human, perhaps of Chelish descent, killed by a gaping bite wound between his neck
and shoulder.
Mead has some intelligence and starts searching the man. Mead uncovers a small bronze coin, indicating membership in the Aspis Consortium. All of the Aspis agent’s gear has been removed, though he still wears thick furs.
Yes, you have to decide if you want to take risks and potentially fail or if you want to take it slow and steady. You are lucky that Mead can check out what is to find here. ;-) Post, post, post!!
Mead darts back towards the party. As he approaches, a glint of metal can be seen in his hands. He lands on Spackle's shoulder and drops a coin in his hand.
The bard looks at both side of the coin. "Aspis by the looks of it." The then leans his head toward the tiny dragon. "Trouble ahead. Seems like'n there's a few bodies up there. Two beast men and an Aspis snake. Wound to the throat on the 'Snake', an alla his gear was missin'."
Spackle rubs Mead's head. "Good job boyo. I don't care what Melisande says about cha when yer off helpin'. Yer one fine companion."
Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
Oh boy... I have a feeling I will be needing as much help as possible...
Tereze Prays for some divine guidence as she starts the trip down the narrow passage.
If allowed she casts Guidenance to help her with the first mushing attempt this time.
Cha for Mushing + Guidance:1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9 Cha for Mushing:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16 Cha for Mushing:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Melisande lead with Shiro, Tereze lead with Locke, Drusilla lead with Spackle.
Drusilla and Tereze at the beginning and Melisande at the end are not able to control the sled and crush into the ice!
Damage to all of you:1d6 ⇒ 1
After your respective falls the dogs continue running for a while and this really does hurt your sled!
2 rounds of damage to sled:2d6 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6
~
Everyone climbs back on the sleds, and the journey continues.
At the "Wings" of the Dragon, the pass drops into a small valley between two small hills, becoming extremely narrow and difficult to traverse. But by taking your time, you make it through without incident.
It's clear this pass would be more difficult if you were descending, or in a hurry.
~
Near the top of the pass, at a place marked on the map as the "Eye," the angle of the slope increases until it bisects a small glen near the base of a steep butte on the mountainside. Atop the butte, a wide ledge climbs slowly back up the mountain.
The pass continues until it reaches a high ledge atop a staggeringly sheer scarp that spills down into the lowlands: the breathtaking view provides a panorama of most of the lower peaks. As you pause briefly to enjoy the sight, you hear a strange scraping sound coming from above.
Looking up, you see several white-furried simian creatures on the slopes, pushing rocks down at you before fleeing into the hills! The rocks fall quickly, picking up speed and accumulating snow with them until a massive wave of icy death is about to fall upon you--avalanche!
Fortunately, you have just enough time to discern the path of the avalanche and race out of its way!
The avalanche starts 3500 feet away from you and moves 500 feet a round. It is 100 feet wide, and you all start 60 feet towards the edge from the center of its path. So effectively, you're not in harm's way. The avalanche could have been more dangerous if some of the random die rolls had gone differently, but for present purposes just consider it a cinematic danger.
After escaping the avalanche, you push through to the final part of the pass—an area labelled on the map as the “Maw” of the Dragon.
Here, the path becomes impassable by sled. A tiny footpath winds up a steep slope covered with boulders. When you reach the top of the slope, you can see a broad plateau ahead to the south, with a snow-filled gorge falling off nearly a thousand feet just off to the side!
A thin fog shrouds the area, but you can still just make out a massive, squat structure in the distance perhaps forty yards to the south. It looks like a stone rostrum that holds four columns of dark, grey stone.
This must be the cairn you were sent to find! One of the columns is broken and lies half-buried in the nearby drifts of snow.
In the center of the rostrum rests a five-foot-tall beehive-shaped nest built of ice and cairn stones, seemingly frozen around a clutch of eight massive bluish-gray speckled eggs, each the size of a brandy cask.
When the group departs from the sleds, Shiro asks for someone to use his mage armor wand on himself in the event danger presents itself. He unwinds his rope dart upon seeing the nest, but waits to take any further action until the group acts.
GM, Shiro has a +23 bonus on perception, in case it matters :)
Somehow your modifier was not on the slide! ;-) I will have the slide for this encounter up in an hour.
You and your fellow Pathfinders advance carefully through the fog towards the cairn. The air is still, and the only sound is the crunching of your boots on the snow and the laboured breathing of some of your companions.
Suddenly, Spackle, Shiro, Melisande and Locke realise something at the same instant: there are beastial creatures with thick, shaggy fur hiding in the snow around the cairn!
N Medium monstrous humanoid (cold), Immune cold; Vulnerability fire, Special Abilities: Stench (Ex) Taers secrete a foul-smelling oil that nearly every form of animal life finds offensive. All living creatures (except taers) within 10 feet of a taer must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or be sickened for 10 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based. Creatures that successfully save cannot be affected by the same taer’s stench for 24 hours. A delay poison or neutralize poison spell removes the effect from the sickened creature. Creatures with immunity to poison are unaffected, and creatures resistant to poison receive their normal bonus on their saving throws.
Do we have the creatures on the map? I just see a few enemy tokens off to the side. Holding my action until I can see relative positions - hopefully placed in such a way that I can hit a few with a Fireball...
Vulnerable to fire, huh? Let's see if we can take advantage of that. Melisande waves her hands, chants a few words and a small black bead flies from her hands into the middle of the creatures before blossoming to bathe the area in flame.
Shiro will 5-foot step foward and ready an action to trip the next enemy that comes within his threatened area; if successful he will Ki Throw the tripped enemy directly in front of Dru for the smackdown later. If a swift action is allowed, he will also enter Indomitable Mountain Style. Should any furry creature attempt to move past him, he will attempt to use Stand Still with Unbalancing Counter to bottle neck/flat foot them (e.g. if hit stops movement and DC 18 Reflex to avoid flat-foot until end of Shiro's next turn).
If the position of the monsters would have changed, the party marching order should be oriented in a similar fashion? If so, his action would remain the same. If not, he will change to just move action to reorient to the front of the group to protect the casters of the group.
