Sten pushes himself from his chair, the last meager morsels of his meal have long since been devoured. "Oy. Ya be wanting a capable hand, well I guess I can be helping out with that." The man who calls out is a sturdy looking dwarf, four foot tall and almost as wide. Wearing his dwarven made scalemail as if it were every day clothing, the pattern of interlocking dull metal broken here or there by a wicked black spike that is obviously for more than decoration. To most it would not be ovious that he is armed as well, the dorn-derger not being seen often outside of ancient paintings and the armies of some deep mountain clans. The long chain weapon is wrapped loosely around his waist, the metal fist at the end looking like nothing more than a decoration until it is in use. All this only serves to highlight his burnished copper hair and dark piercing eyes. His braided beard is a thing of dwarven beauty, an intricate pattern of weaves holds the whole thing together as a river of copper that flows nicely over the armor and intermingles just so with the spikes so as not to reduce their efficiency.
"I am Sten known as the Bouldershoulder. Son of Hoggric who slew Findorc. Grandson of Termic who forged Brekken the Blade Burner. Last of the line of Tolordric Seven Gems, King of the Stoneflow and slayer of the wyrm Kassiladrikan. Faithful of Torag all glory to the Kith and Kin. And how may I know thee fine folks, may your ancestors look upon you with pride and know thy worth."
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Cadell releases a deep sigh and slowly pushes the cards back towards Victasys. Very well then sirs. It appears that today isn't my luck for cards anyway. I could use a distraction and a chance to get out of this tavern for a couple of hours.
The elf reaches into his backpack and rumages for a few moments. He emerges moments later with a pair of snow googles and places them on his head. Now, I am ready for whatever is out there.
So, out of all that info, what do you do first?
Check on the mercenary?
Buy winter gear?
Head out to farms?
Explore the Border Wood?
You can buy basic winter clothes for the normal prices. Fancier snow stuff (like a snow board) are not available in this small village.
If you want something beyond normal winter gear, ask me about it.
The wounded mercenary is at Willowbark Apothecary, the local (only) shop that sells healing herbs. It is run by a charming young woman who greets you and takes you to a back room to see Yuln Oerstag. The man is wrapped in bandages, but it looks like his nose and fingers are turning black. The young lady explains that she and Elder Safander, the village priest, are looking after the man, but it will be quite awhile before he is ready to travel again.
Yuln Oerstag waves you closer to speak with him. The big blond mercenary has obviously seen hard battle. "Would that I could go with you. My ancestors would ridicule my lack of valor for fleeing rather than fighting to the end. But I faced enemies that even the greatest warriors in the Linnorm Kingdoms have faltered against, though I think I slew at least one of them before they dragged Lady Argentea away"
(note the keen link buried in the text)
Tarryn The witch says as she walks in the company of many fine men. For those who take notice she does not grab any cold weather gear.
So, any questions for the mercenary? Or do you merely gaze at him like a zoo animal?
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"Miss, what would have turned his nose and fingers black?"
"Brother Oerstag, your bravery in returning here for reinforcements will save your mistress. But what enemies did you face and where might we find the one you slew?"
"We will do what we can to rescue Lady Argentea, how will we know her and what can we tell her to prove we are allies."
Yes, indeed that's frostbite. What happened out there?
"It seems to me that we should push to where they were attacked without delay, mayhaps these attackers have left sign of their leavings that we can follow."
The man does indeed have bad frostbite. He is too injured in body, and perhaps in spirit, to follow you and aid your.
Yuln grunts Mere bandits we could have handled. But the winter touched were too much. Wee Fey creatures, no longer than your forearm, like the normal wood folk you may have seen here. But these have taken a sliver of ice into their hearts, and their touch bears the harsh bite of winter. They have sworn themselves to the White Witches of Irrisen, but that lies far away. How they got here I cannot say
How do you fight these winter touched?
Vuln is too injured to fight. He does have frostbite, which is admittedly odd in a Taldor summer.
Tuln grunts out The winter fae fear cold iron. And fire.
Old Man Dansby's farm is the closest of the rumors to investigate.
none that you can find except one battle axe hanging over the fireplace in the inn, which you can purchase for 350 pieces of gold.
(we are back! Seemed like the website was down most (all?) of yesterday).
So - where too?
"Frozen magics, hateful fey, I think it best we rescue this young lady from their clutches before they sacrifice her to some foul god. I wager they did not kidnap her just to invite her to some young child's tea party now." Sten is visibly annoyed with the prospect, he hates the thought of fighting creatures of the magical persuasion. He would prefer the sound of steel against steel not magic and trickery in the dark cold.
By the silence of the rest of the group, I assume you head off to the ambush site, trudging to the southwest.
As you move along, you observe the trees have lost their leaves in greater numbers, and the air grows chill. Soon, you are donning those winter clothes you bought back in Heldren. As you enter the woods proper, it is actually snowing, and a light dusting of snow covers the ground. The air temperature is just below freezing (it is late afternoon when you reach the ambush site).
The PCs are yellow letters corresponding to their name.
The scene if one of destruction. One carriage is on its side, the other stands with dead horses in the traces (A1 and A2). Dead bodies are on the ground. It is very quiet here, the falling snow muffling sound. Some sort of ice statue can be seen (A3) and there are obvious signs of a trail leading deeper into the Border Wood (at A4).
You hear thumping sounds coming from the nearer coach (A2) as you walk near.
The statue is, in fact, a man - covered in a sheet of ice. Victasys can see the Taldan heraldry on his breastplate, and his right arm holds a longsword. His left arm is broken off (frozen) and lies on the ground near his feet.
You see 3 dead handmaids and 10 dead guards. Close examination reveals the dead are pierced by small arrows and slivers of ice, as well as some of the more typical wounds you might expect.
Sten limbers out his Dorn-Derger, playing out the chain to its full extension he readies himself for any trouble. "Let me prepare to remove any threat that might be in their, though I we will be finding someone who managed to survive this mess I do not believe they would leave any alive save the one who got away. If one of you would be so kind as to open the door and move back when ya do." Sten will position himself 10' away from the door so he can strike anything that comes. Readied action to strike and then attack of opportunity for whatever steps out, knowing my luck this will be completely wasted and their will be a severely frightened handmaiden.
The door to the carriage is held shut by a broken spear shoved through the handles.
Vic pulls the spear free and steps back as the door is flung open! Two men in the livery of the Lady Argentea climb and stumble out of the carriage.
But something is wrong here - there are arrows sticking out of one, and the other has his guts hanging out. Their lifeless, frozen eyes stare at you as the zombies move to attack.
Everyone gets a normal round as the zombies clamber out of the carriage.
Assume you are at whatever range you want.
I think they are considered undead, not human. But I am not able to thoroughly research it at the moment. Vic - assume you pulled the spear and jumped back before they clambered out. You are standing 10 feet away and get a full round.
Stem shakes his head at the scene, nothing was ever easy anymore. Swinging his great chain out and around he brings the fist down against the first undead, seeking to end its sad existence swiftly.
power attack.
Rolling to confirm
Also how are they standing? If they were standing next to each other in such a way as to allow for cleave I would have cleaved. If so. if that hits or if I have to cleave with the armor spikes.
Do the undead sleep?
Taryn whispers a single word of power, the word forms on ice breath heading towards the undead, COH
Slumber Hex, DC 13
In a flurry of slices, bashes, cuts, and other assorted mayhem, the zombies come apart. They seem a bit different from normal zombies in that they are frozen and not so much rotten, but they still stop moving easily enough.
The area returns to a quiet state, hushed in the falling snow.
If you wish to search the area, make a perception test.
Alistair's keen eye notices a few things - a hidden compartment in the zombie coach has a signet ring, a pair of earings and assorted jewelry and a sapphire.
He also notes that the arm that broke off the frozen guard captain still clutches a nice looking sword.
There is an obvious path leading deeper into the Border Wood to the south (A4).