Gauthier nothing looks amiss. The snowman does not respond to anyone's questions or statements.
This is strange...
Kirraak will advance a little more, closer to the snowman, searching for anything, be it traps, be it trail or someone hidden.
There appears to be over there can someone have a look at it? And gauther can you tell us if the river is safe for us to cross?
Kirraak approaches the snowman and it explodes in a scream of rage!
Yarrrrrrgh!
Kirraak takes minor damage as the sound waves crush his internal organs.
Three small ice elementals explode from the icy river, ready to attack!
Gauthier
Merisiel
Winter
Ice Elementals
Sven
Kirraak
Hassan
Sven's laughter stops rather abruptly as the sound wave erupts from the construct. He instead furrows his brow at the appearance of the ice elementals. "No, no, no." He corrects them, "This is not how the story goes at all."
Sven pulls his Earthbreaker free from the sling on his back and races along the right edge of the path, striding past the remains of the snowman and gliding across the surface of the frozen river.
He then does his best to crush some ice.
Crit. Confirmation for x3
Round 1
Merisiel will ready a slumber Hex (Will DC 16) on one that will be coming into melee combat with sven (in order to have it asleep at his feet before it attacks him)
Kirraak will attack the nearest creature with his bow.
And then try to move away from the battle;
Combat Round 1
Gauthier fires his flame bolt, which strikes the elemental doing extra damage!
Merisiel readies a slumber hex, but finds that the creatures are immune.
Winter guards Gauthier, snarling and snapping.
Ice Elementals
1 attacks Gauthier hitting for forcing Gauthier to save versus numbing cold Gauthier is staggered!
2 goes for Hassan but misses.
3 attacks Winter hitting for forcing Winter to save versus numbing cold Winter is staggered!
Sven moves up and smacks the Ice Elemental reducing it into tiny pieces of ice.
Kirraak fires, misses and moves.
Hassan fires a bolt of fire striking the ice elemental for extra damage.
Combat Round 2
Gauthier [staggered]
Merisiel
Winter [staggered]
Ice Elementals
Sven
Kirraak
Hassan
Round 2
Merisiel will move behind winter and lightly touch him
Round two action:
The strix will fire another arrow at the already hurt ice monster.
Sven turns his head quickly to shield his face from the spray of ice, then eyes the other two elementals along the bank. Tightening his grip again, he steps over the mound of ice and rushes into the elemental battling Winter.
Combat Round 2
Gauthier [staggered] arms himself with a club.
Merisiel moves and heals Winter
Winter [staggered] bites the Ice Elemental for 3 damage!
Ice Elemental attacks Winter but misses.
Sven destroys the last Elemental.
Kirraak
Hassan
Combat Over 240 XP
Well someone if giving lots of effort in preventing us from moving forward. she says with a smile
"At the end of the story I remember," Sven says between breaths, while replacing his hammer and wiping sweat from his brow, "The snowman just melts... or maybe he hops over the hills and away. I don't recall, but there were no explosions."
Sven returns to the remains now of what once was a nostalgic man of snow and tries to inspect the carnage for any signs of what it might have really been.
"Do we think this ice is safe?" He then asks, regarding the river crossing.
Sven you notice that there are several sections that look weaker than the surrounding ice.
"Some areas look weak..." Sven says as he points out a few sections where it is easier to see the water below. "With keen eyes, we may be able avoid those pockets, or we could even set up some system that might help us cross."
He then looks to their now shivering prisoner. "Or we can throw Mr. Lieutenant ever couple feet in front of us. If the ice does not crack, then we are good no?" It's a tongue-in-cheek proposal, but still somewhat tempting.
Doclan Mannsyl looks terrified at Sven's joke and grows paler than normal.
Sven leads the party across the frozen river without issue now that he has seen the areas.
The body looks like it has been there for a while, fresh snow is covering it. If you look at the corpse it is an elderly man who seems very fit.
I wonder what happened to him...
Testing the bow, Kirraak says "This is a good bow, but I'm not fit to use it...for now. He has some cold Iron Arrows, Let's divide it among us."
"Also, the snow has been cruel here. Been about 6 hours worth of snowfall covering the body."
Before crossing merisiel will apply her healing touch to gauthier
Nice work Sven, once someone has pick up that hand axe lets keep moving forward.
"I think we might be getting closer. They already sent many against us..." Next time it will be harder.
After spliting the itens and pocketing the money, Kirraak will continue to follow the road, paying attention to new enemys.
"Worry about this later Gauthier" says the strix when the man offer money to compensate his debts.
"We have a long way ahead of us, it does not well plague your thoughts with this for now."
Kirraak easily leads the party down the trail another hour
And your captive drops into a shivering mass of unconsciousness, Gauthier also feels the effects of the cold, which has gotten considerably worse. It now feels normal to Sven.
Merisel will apply her power on the captive
Sven unslings the bow he had confiscated from the "rangers" earlier, instead inspecting the longbow they just uncovered. "Now that is a bow!" He says with a whistle. "I could make good use of that, at least until those of you that focus on such pursuits are able to use it well. You are welcome to practice with it to strengthen your arms!"
He eschews the cold-iron arrows however. "If this is all that can harm the Winter-Touched, then it will be needed! I already have the sword... if it flies, perhaps I will just jump."
----------------------
Sven can see his breath now, and frost forms on his beard from the condensation. "This is how winter should feel!" He exclaims with a smile. "But cold like this is dangerous, we must take care in it."
As their captive drops unconscious, Sven nods as if he expected it. Though, in truth, he had forgotten about the man for the past few minutes. "Perhaps we should stop. Warm ourselves. If we push to our limit, then we have little strength for anything that might lie up ahead."
true but the longer we delay higher the chance of something bad happening to the hostage. The fact that she has been missing for a bunch of days and that no ransom was made is rather problematic.
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Hassan nods as the prisoner falls in the traces. "None of us are ready for these extreme conditions. A fire and shelter may make us all more comfortable. The Goddess has granted me limited ability to relieve injury and restore healing, shall I use it on this lout, or save it for one of us?"
He gathers some wood, and begins starting a fire, hoping to warm the chilled company.
it is stil bright and early lets push on a little more.
Anyone else have an opinion about moving on, and will someone be carrying your captive?
Sven hoists the prisoner over his shoulder. "I will move a bit slower this way, but I will try to keep him warm." Sven takes his furs and drapes them over the unconscious body, but is careful not to wrap it fully as his own body heat may help more in keeping the man from suffering hypothermia or frostbite.
"After a little bit, we will need to get him warm. He will lose a few fingers, but he could have lost his life, no?"
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"It would do us well to keep the bandit conscious. He mentioned traps ahead. He can't point them out to use, slung over your back. Warm him by the fire, and let us sit a spell. The heat will warm us before we start on the road back again, and we will all be better off for it. It doesn't have to be for long."