Frost Firs - Round 3
21 Semik
19 Ruso
17 Wulfgang (6hp dmg)
16 Irina
16 Red Fir (7hp dmg)
15 Jack
Ruso goes dashing across the snow leaving a trail of small snow flurries and large foot prints in his wake.
Frost Firs - Round 3 - concluded
Wulfgang ends the fight with a mighty stroke of his axe that nearly cleaves through the entire trunk of the last frost fir. Splinters and shards of wood fly through the air as the tree-creature falls into the snow next to its mate.
End of Combat
"Now lets see what this cleared space is all about."
Ruso finds the cleared space is a nursery of sorts for the frost firs. They have raked the snow away and planted dozens of tiny pine-cone shaped seedlings in the fertile soil here. It would be quite easy to pluck these little guys out and crush them now before they colonized this area.
Iolana goes about plucking out the seedlings. "We can't have a colony of those things growing up."
"Now this is a quandary. What should we do with these little ones?" Ruso asks as he looks at the cleared space and the tiny Frost Firs.
"Hopefully they won't become a threat to the surrounding forest as they grow." Ruso turns, walks back to where he dropped his backpack, and slips it back on to continue the journey.
"Lets get a move on. No sense being out in this weather longer than need be." Ruso once again sets off following the tracks and keeping an eye out for danger and traps.
After what apepars to be all of the tiny frost firs seedlings are gathered, the party chooses to set out once again along the slowly descending ridge to the Somir Valley floor below. The wind is still bitingly cold and the group shivers as it whips around, driving the snow before it.
Through the blowing snow, you can see where the High Ridge flattens to the valley blow. This areas was marked on the map in the journal you found, as the spot where Dryden Kepp left his bear-traps, trying to catch his nemesis. Ahead you spy bloody animal track marks.
Irina doesn't notice anything or recognize the animal tracks. "There's something, but I don't know what it is."
Ruso drops his backpack and moves towards the traps. He kneels down next to the first one and begins to safely disable the trap.
The trap lies there dangerously buried just beneath the surface of the snow, but does not escape the keen eye of Wulfgang. Ruso approaches the first trap, but the secret of safely disabling the trap is beyond his ken at first. Of course, there is always the hard way...
The blood trail from the weasel indicates that is was at least damaged by a third trap, which is already sprung. Lying unconscious, an humanoid form in a strange mask, is caught in a fourth trap near the trail.
Ruso gets a look of determination on his face after a flash of frustration crosses over it. Silly trap. You can't best my skill. Ruso redoubles his effort on safetying the bear trap.
Irina indicates the body in the third trap, and points out the obvious. "That's not a weasel. Does anyone recognize him?" She moves up to take a look at the body. Careful to not step on the other two traps.
Ruso still cannot get the trap to safely reset, blaming his frozen fingertips.
Irina's perusal of the injured man's body leads her to believe his only injury is the trap, which is significant. The half-elf is stable, and seems to be suffering from exposure just as some her allies are.
Alright. Settle down Ruso. You can do this. Ruso makes one last attempt to deal with the deadly trap. Irina, what is the status of that man?"
She pulls out the wand of cure light wounds, and looks at it. It's almost out of charges. I hope this isn't a waste, and he starts to fight us.
"Ruso and Wulfgang can you please get him out of the trap? I'd hate for the trap to continue to hurt him once hes conscious. I'll heal him with the wand."
"Give me just a moment." As soon as Ruso disables the first trap he will move to the one holding the unconscious man. Ruso kneels next the trap and moves to make it safe.
His fingers finally warming to the work, Ruso is able to spring two of the three beartraps, including the one with the half-elf's leg caught inside. Wolfgang moves the man to a more comfortable spot, and Irina taps him with the curative wand, hoping he doesn't leap up to fight.
The wand's magic isn't terrific, but it is enough for the masked man to stir and regain consciousness, startled at first by the group around him, slowly trying to put the pieces together of what happened.
"Alright I have one more trap to safety then we can get moving again. I don't want to have to come retreating back through these if things go wrong ahead of us."
Ruso moves to the last active trap and works to disable it.
|
The burly man stirs to life and is surprised to see people standing around looking down at him.
His voice is weak but it manages to sputter out "many thanks... I'm sure the gods would have let me die had you all not found me..."
Once freed the man looks around for his gear and after taking a long pull from his waterskin he says-
"My name is Vigfus, Vigfus Wildmane, a nature warrior of sorts. I was passing through here from the west when some locals warned me of strange happenings in this area. Some sort of strange weather occurred as well bad nature. I was intrigued to investigate. A storm rose up the likes of which I have never seen in all my years. I was out looking for tended animals and wayward folk to get them out of the elements for the locals when the storm proved too great and I was blinded. I guess in my blinded state I must have stepped into these bear traps and then succumbed to my injuries. Once again many thanks for saving me. But I must ask, who are you all and what made it so that you came to be here?"
"Would you believe a women got us into this mess! Ruso loudly states from where he is working on the remaining bear trap. Ruso gives a rye chuckle as he bends back to his task.
"Hey! I am right and you know it. We would never have been here if it were not for that noble women getting kidnapped." Ruso says as he goes to retrieve his backpack. "Keeping us in this mess however is what you said." Ruso continues as he walks over to where to the others are gathered.
"Her name is Lady Argentea Malassene from Taldor. We already located her and sent her back to her father thankfully. I am not sure I could have dealt with her much longer."
Irina snickers, "She was a bit much wasn't she. I have a feeling the townsfolk would have asked people to check out why we're having a winter storm in the summer and this far south. We of course would have said yes, and then we'd still be in this mess. Because we are adventurers or really stupid. I can't decide which."
Ruso turns his attention to Irina. "If I get a choice I am going with the latter. Adventures have a tendency to die and I would really prefer not to do that."
Ruso unhinges the last of the traps, making them all safe, while the everyone visits with Vigfus amiably. The conversation is light, but probably a bit out of place in the brutal cold weather of the winter pocket. Without considerable supplies and cold gear, Vigfus is probably in some trouble this far from civilization and all alone. He'll have to decide to chance or perhaps join up with this group, which seems somewhat capable.
The path towards where the "X" was marked on the map at the lodge is along the floor of the Somir Valley at the far east end. The path here descends a little farther to the southwest, before you reach the valley floor itself. Then it is approximately 3 miles to the western end.
As Vigfus hefts his pack and joins in with the others braving the bitter cold, the head down the remaining slope of the ridge. There the narrow path between the trees widens to a clearing and a rise of land on a little knoll in the center. More than a dozen boulder-sized chunks of ice litter the clearing ahead where a strange hut sits perched on tree trunks atop the raised mound of snow-covered earth.
As the boulders come into view, you also spy a shivering young Ulfen girl of perhaps 7 or 8. When she sees you, the girl dashes off into the boulders out of sight, clearly distraught and afraid.
"I'm sorry!" the little girl calls out. "Don't hurt me! I never meant to call you names!"
"What do you mean call names? You didn't call us names did you?" she calls out to the little girl as she looks around the area.
"Okay, now I will admit that this is truly odd. A little girl, in the middle of unnatural winter storm, near an odd cabin in a field strewn with ice boulders. I give." Ruso looks at the rest of the group. "What is this and what do we do about it?"
You see no traps in the ice maze from where you stand. The little girl does not answer any questions from the group, but you hear the sound of her sobbing softly from inside the maze.
Ruso begins to carefully weave his way into the maze of ice boulders as he looks for the girl. "Be careful and keep a sharp eye out. We don't know what dangers roam around here."
Irina follows Ruso into the maze. "Careful. Keep one hand on the wall if you can."
"Reckless, no. Overly optimistic and stupidly hopeful, maybe."