Aye...snowshoes are a fine idea. Be safe Dorvren and Sword Maiden.
Kjell nods at the two departing and looks to Hedrick.
Well, we know where the attack took place. That sounds like as good a place to start as any.
Should we wait for the morrow to begin our trek?
We won't be leaving till morning as it will be dark out shortly. We can say our good yes then. The night goes by and in the morning you say your official goodbyes and head out on your journey to locate the ambush site Yuln told you about.
Note: No one in town has or can make snowshoes. Guess somebody should have taken craft shoes!
Onward:
You travel about six miles from town and the nearer you get to the forest, the temperature grows noticeably colder. The road ahead is littered with debris and the corpses of slain humans and horses. A carriage stands in the roadway, its team of horses missing or cut free, while another overturned carriage lies sprawled and broken next to the tree line. To the south, more bodies have fallen around what appears to be a statue of ice. A snowy trail leads deeper into the forest.
Despite his new warm clothing Vitali shivers slightly as they make their way towards the forest. There he eyes the ice statue and corpses all about and decides that they will have to search this gruesome sight carefully. He moves closer to the statue and studies it carefully.
Perception
"I can't believe that the shop had nothing in the way of snowshoes, the locals had better figure it out quick if the witches have decided to move in."
"Wow, this is quite a bit of carnage out here. . . Better check out that statue thing, wonder if its draining or has drained the life out of those bodies."
Hedrick is sure that the bandits have already looted the place, but figures it couldn't hurt to take a second look. "Keep an eye out for anything useful, these guys won't be needing it."
Hedrick and Vitali go over to the statue and find out it isn't a statue, but a human male frozen in ice. Parts of him looked to be crudely hacked away. With the sun shining brightly in the sky, the ice has begun to melt a bit. Vitali looks down at the ground and sees the man's frozen arm with a nice looking longsword still grasped in its hand.
Hedrick studying the frozen body notices the man's breastplate emblazoned with Taldan heraldry.
As Grey approaches the statue, his face blanches in realization of it's grisly nature. "They froze a man...
solid?!." Turning quickly, he trips in the snow to wretch on all fours at the realization. Wiping the vomit from his mouth, Grey observes, "We should check if all the bodies are guardsmen. If not, we might learn something from the other corpses."
"This man has some nice armor, it looks like he might be some kind of noble or knight. I am guessing he must have been a threat to have been frozen solid this way."
Hedrick gives the ice over the breastplate a good rap with his torch to see if it will break away. Then he looks around trying to find clues, valuables or tracks.
perception
track
"Seems likely he was the guard sergeant or commander." Grey calls out in response. "Perhaps he was frozen because that was the only way to defeat him? If so, the bodies about him would be even more likely to be of bandits."
Vitali picks up the ice encrusted longsword with a gloved hand.
Well this looks a mighty fine sword... he remarks.
Hedrick looks over the dead men near the frozen man to see if they do indeed look like bandits before replying to Vitali, "Yes that is a good sword. Pry the dead mans hands from it and we will put it to good use . . . Hey wait a minute some one was hacking the sword arm off. Beware someone might still be in the area!"
Walking up behind the others, and glancing around, Kilain touches the hammer of Torag around his neck and mutters a prayer as he looked at the Sword to determine if it was magical.
as he studied the sword through the ice, he eyed the color of the metal used to determine what it was made of
Hedrick doesn't find any valuables, but does notice at the edge of the massacre site, an obvious trail that leads between a copse of trees and over a snowy plain toward the Border Wood.
The sword is made of common steel metal and not magical. It is of masterwork quality though.
"Here is their path, they didn't take pains to hide it. Anyone want this breastplate armor? It looks like it is in great condition. Kjell, Kilian? I would wear your chain shirt if you decided to Kjell, it would be a bit better than my studded leather."
Hedrick takes a quick look at the two carts then leaved with the others to follow the trail when they are ready. "Lets see if I can tell how many of them walked out of the clearing."
Hedrick with your perception check above, you hear muffled voices coming from one of the overturned wagons.
This sword is too heavy for me. But made by a master craftsmen. Is anyone interested?
Seeing Hedrick over by the overturned wagons, and noticing his body stiffen, Kilain heads over to back him up. What ya be hearin Elf?
"Muffled voices coming from the overturned cart there, we are not alone. Shall we call them out to us? or sneak up on them?"
Hedrick points his noched bow in that direction while he waits for the group to come to a consensus.
In a hushed tone Kilain remarks If they be friendly sneakin up on em could make em turn agin us. If they be enemies, we know they are there, so they gain nuthin if we approach normal. I say no sneakin
Whoever is hiding under that wagon likely survived this slaughter and might be fearful of us.
As the others debate the best means of approaching the possibly hostile individual probably trapped within the cart, Grey takes a deep breath; calling out. "!" As he trudges through the snow towards the cart in question.
with a grin at the Ranger, Kilain said be lookin like we have agreement and follows Grey
Hedrick smiles back at the dwarf, "I must say we probably look more like a traveling menagerie than a rescue party. My third plan was send in the little kid. Hopefully this isn't an ambush."
You approach where you hear the voices:
The decorative chasings on this expensive carriage bear the marks of Taldan heraldry, as well as damage from the many arrows fired in the battle that took place here. A spear has been wedged between the handles of the carriage doors to hold them closed.
Kjell steps to the door, and looks to the others, prepared to remove the spear, if necessary.
Anyone in there?
"Obviously we know you are inside, name yourselves and quickly before there is some kind of misunderstanding. . . Grey if you don't mind, please pull the spear, I would rather have Kjell concentrate on his swordsmanship and I on firing if necessary."
Kilain says quickly I got the spear. Grey is a wee bit squishy.
and he strides forward, shifting the hammer to the hand with the shield strapped to his arm, and reaches out pulling the spear free.
Kjell stands with Axe drawn.
"I am squishy! I'm a coward, there's a difference!" Grey retorts as Kilain withdraws the spear. Grey quickly utters a now familiar chant as a glowing hound appears beside Kjell.
"I am squishy! I'm a coward, there's a difference!" Grey retorts as Kilain withdraws the spear. Grey quickly utters a now familiar chant as a glowing hound appears beside Kjell.
"Oh great, so our rescue party now consists of a dwarf preacher, an elven hunter, an Ulfen fighter, a foppish bookworm, and now a halfling coward . . . Hum, well a halfling coward with magic it appears."
You still only hear muffled sound as Hedrick speaks to whomever is inside the carriage. Kilain removes the spear and the door flies open and you come face to face with what appears to be two of the caravan guards. Only thing is they appear to be dead, but yet they still move and attack!
Initiative
Kjell
Kilain
Grey
Hedrick
Vitali
Human Zombies
"Well that was a nasty suprise, I did wonder why the door would be locked from the outside if someone was actually hidden inside."
"Well we are obviously dealing with some evil clerics or something now too."
Hedrick said as he cleaned the gore off of his arrows, then prepared to adjust his new armor he had gotten in the swap with Kjell after dispatching the two restless dead.
"I think we have searched all the carts and everything we could here, lets move on down the trail before they get further ahead."
Thumping the side of the Celestial Hound as it shook the remaining gore from it's muzzle, Grey gave it a rough hug in thanks as he sent it back from whence it came.
"Well, I'd not found anything indicative of cause or course than the tracks you pointed out. Seems following those is now our best course..." Looking about at the others, "Unless anyone else has found more?.."
Kilain crouches down and peers inside the carriage. There must be a reason they went to lengths to put the zombies in there.
Using your prior Perception checks:
Your search around the carriage finds you broken chests and boxes strewn across the ground and under the seat you find a small jewelry box.
We follow the trail...lead the way, Hedrick. I am right on your heels.
Kilain pulls the jewelry box out and looks over at Vitali.
Afore I go openin this, you wanna check it out?
"Yeah let's open it, there may be healing potions inside or something we can use, but lets be quick about it. Vitali if you aren't going to use that fancy sword I'll carry it."
"Yes here you go!" Vitali replies as he hands the Sword over to Hedrick. He then crams a few tools from a pouch and begins to open the jewelry box making sure it is not trapped.
Dicerning the box is not trapped, Vitali easily unlocks it. inside you find a signet ring, a pair of earrings, a set of pearl-inlaid bracelets, assorted gold and silver necklaces, and one sapphire pendant.
Vitali looks into the box and concentrates for a moment as he mumbles a few arcane phrases.
No magic detected, but the jewelry sparkles in the sunlight.
These look to be valuable. But not magical. Vitali offers as he stows away the jewelry box.
Shall we head into the woods?
"Nice items, but yeah of little practical use at this moment. Ok off we go then, tallyho and all that."
Your group travels on, snow begins to fall almost as soon as you enter the woods. Traveling for trail two miles it enters the full expanse of the Border Wood, the trail passes through a small clearing among the taller trees before continuing uphill and out of sight. A large chest lies half-buried in the snow, apparently dropped or discarded by those who hastily passed this way.
Interesting! Vitali remarks as he spots the chest. Maybe this one holds more gems?
The young man then walks up to the chest and examines the lock before beginning to work it with his tools, the cold not helping his dexterity.