Finding the Kishai's Solution acceptable Mordred moves away from the hole. Pulling his cloak up he resumes the march with the rest hopefully those in the group stay close as Morde sets a brisk pace. Lost in his thoughts, Mordred is oblivious to the others in the party. On the walk he resumes his talk with Satu. "I wasn't taught by anyone either, Using a Greataxe is much the same against a creature as chopping wood. I appreciate your help, however."
Fortitude
Cnut +5 circumstance bonus vs. cold weather
Garrasay
Satu +5 circumstance bonus vs. cold weather
Survival
Cnut
Garrasay
Satu
The cold weather seems to be getting to Durra & Dhakor and take non-lethal cold damage and are fatigued if you don’t resist any of it.
Everyone hears a loud snap sound along with a yelp further down the trail a distance. Maybe 360 yards away. You are able to navigate you to the location. Bloody animal tracks mark the snow where the trail descends from the ridge above.
Perception
Garrasay
Mordred
Cnut
Satu
Kishai, Garrasay & Satu spot a few traps laid out in the trail covered in snow. It might be dangerous to pass with them all armed and ready to go off.
Off into the distance you hear the yelps from the creature as it sounds wounded. But it is getting further away.
The cold weather eventually got to Durra and weared her down. Because she didn't want to slow down the group, she mounted Brugh and let him carry her. Brugh did not mind the weather apparently.
"can someone disable the traps and clear the way? Alternatively, I could summon a horse that can spring some traps."
"I can give it a try." Kishai moves forward towards the traps and pulls out her tools.
Traps...again. I had my share of traps at the lodge. Someone else can take care of those.
Satu shrugs off the cold weather easily, but clearly isn't amused about the traps. She rubs her shoulder in memory of the bolt there.
"rrhrrrrrrr. If you can point them out, I am certain a long stick is all it would take to poke them with and set them off. Mordred has an axe and there are plenty of trees about. Rrrrrrr"
Maybe. Do you volunteer? There's several traps over there, there and there. Can your see the small bumps in the snow?
"Point them out to me, and I can help." Cnut says, looking around uncertainly.
Dhakor feels the chill, but is able to ignore the effects.
"What sort of traps are they? Are we dealing with a hunter who's out braving the weather, or are we getting closer to our destination?"
You see two traps that have not been sprung yet and one with blood and fir attached to it.
The trap goes off as Kishai tries to disable it FF AC 14
Misses
There is now one trap still set.
Satu takes a quick look for an easily available small tree, wanting to create a 10 foot pole if possible and use it to spring the next trap.
Satu springs the last trap.
Morde just walks around the trap while the others are figuring out how to disarm it. Because the party is in the woods Morde assumes this would be the simplest way, I wont mess with a hunters traps, it could be his livelihood."
"Mordred is right. We can avoid that last one."
Satu, having already sprung the trap, scowls.
You don't even know who is hunting for what or here in the woods. Could be you're the favorite prey there. It's a trap on a pathway after all. It's too late anyway.
She then follows her companions and the bloody tracks to where the whimpering comes from, ready for anything.
Kishai heads up towards the front of the group as they follow the path, keeping an eye out for the wounded animal's tracks as they go.
Morde Also tries his best to follow the tracks, Next to kishai to see if she missing anything.
Dhakor keeps pace behind his new companions, watching out for any trouble.
Garrasay assists Mordred in his attempt to track.
While his main reason for doing so was to watch and learn from the more skilled tracker, he does manage to help in the endeavour.
Satu follows, nicking on the stick she organized with her claws, looking around from time to time.
Despite a lack of training in tracking, Cnut is able to point out a few things here and there.
Durra, still up on the back of the big bison was not much of a help in tracking. She could only give some aid.
You start to follow the tracks and they seem to go over a ridge and off trail. You don't hear the animal anymore and the climb down would be dangerous and off course.
Garrasay growls softly as he whispers "grrrr. The sounds have stopped. Did it leave or does it lie in ambush? rrrrrr"
"The bigger question is, is this something of importance? It might be a source of information or a danger, or it might simply be an injured animal. Should we follow it or continue towards where it seems the cold is coming from?" Kishai stops to take a good look at where the tracks leave the trail. "Looks like it is a giant weasel"
Looking around the group, Kishai realizes they might be waiting for a vote of sorts. "I feel that we should just ignore the animal and keep moving towards our objective."
"We should leave it, All of us will be in trouble in a matter of months if we delay to find out the cause of this." Morde looks up in the air, and raises his hands towards the falling snow. Not interested in voting, he starts shuffling through the deep snow using his bulk to blaze a trail.
I don't know, this seems somewhat strange to me. A giant weasel in the middle of nowhere and somebody laid out traps for it? There has to be something to this story, i think we should investigate it a bit further. With all the fey around, nobody knows what's really going on.
Satu stops looking towards the descent of the weasel hesitantly, but seems more than curious to investigate.
"rgggrggrgr. The snow does seem to present a more pressing threat, but at the same time the blood and fur on the trap suggests that the animal is wounded. Can anyone converse with animals? Perhaps if we were to assist it, it might be able to tell us more about what is happening. Rrrrgrr"
After a few moments of consideration Garrassay turns his shaggy mane back towards the trail "Ggrrrrr. If nobody can speak with the animal, then we should continue on. The threat of the winter enveloping the lands is greater than the life of one animal. rrrrrrrr"
"Let's keep going. Nature will take care of itself. And with that I mean the weasel. That snow on the other hand is quite unnatural."
Dhakor agrees with moving on.
"Yes, the weather is the bigger concern."
"I agree. Let's concentrate on the bigger threat."
Your party decide to let the wounded animal fend for itself and pursue the winter.
The date is 4713 AR on Fireday, 21st Earstus at 12:30 pm - current moon cycle: first quarter
The Location - Trail to Portal
More than a dozen boulder-sized chunks of ice litter the clearing ahead where a strange hut sits perched on tree trunks atop a raised mound of snow-covered earth. The snow is blocking most of your vision so you can barely see the hut.
Up ahead you see a small female child, the snow is blocking a lot of your vision. She appears incorporeal if you take a moment to look longer.
Garrasay peered at the spectral child with suspicion. "Rrrrrrrr. I don't know enough about things outside of the natural cycle. Is there some way to determine if this apparition is benevolent or not without putting ourselves at risk? ggGgrrrr. he quietly asked.
Kishai walks slowly towards the manifestation. "I do not know much of these matters, but sometimes it's easiest just to ask." She looks towards the child and addresses it respectfully. "Excuse me, young one. Would you be kind enough to let us know where we are? We are new to this area and are wondering what is going on hereabouts."
Morde listens to Kishai as she speaks with the apparition, Without saying a word he motions to Satu and Garrasay. nodding towards the forest and then heads towards it. Trying to make sure there are no hidden dangers surrounding the group.
Unfortunately the snowfall and rough terrain causes Mordred to stumble through the snowdrifts and will help any hide any unwanted antagonists.
Durra orders Brugh to move in closer and checks the surrounding area. She can't really understand what that little girl would be doin here.
Satu watches the others, but remains where she is for now.
What does a child do in the middle of nowhere? She looks really strange. Like a ghost? And what about this weird hut?
Frustrated, Cnut spends most of his time flicking little blobs of fire at ice boulders, snow mounds, and anything else meltable/flammable in the way.
Dhakor peers at the girl curiously. A ghost... perhaps? Death from unnatural causes might indeed leave behind a lingering spirit.
Kishai asks the girl a question and she responds. You also can tell this is not natural.
The girls says towards one of the ice blocks, "I'm sorry! Don't hurt me! I never meant to call you names!" she then looks over at Kishai and says, "I don't know, this doesn't look like Waldsby to me." She then runs around one of the blocks and disappears from your sight.
Dhakor thinks this might be a haunt.
Mordred & Durra don't notice anything unusual or threatening around you.
The young girl's voice tugs at Mordred's heartstrings. He immediately takes off after the girl, shouting "NO!, young one stay here with us. Trust me." memories of his deathless walk in Pharisma's realm before he came back plague him. he yells out "Please stay, Don't run!!"
<--Ha.
[Mordred runs after her on the Snow into the trees]
"Please don't keep me here. It's so cold. I miss my mother." the girl seems to speak to one of the ice blocks then runs off when Mordred speaks. She disappears out of sight again.
Kishai signals to the group that they should stop, or at least pause. "Before we run headlong after this apparition, we should take a second to think. I would like to help her if she is distressed, but there is a chance that this is some sort of trick or trap."
"Don't go too far!" Dhakor calls after Mordred.
He remarks in a low voice to the others. "It's a haunt, if I'm any judge." He continues "Sometimes when someone dies under strange conditions, their spirit hangs around and can't leave by themselves. You can sometimes help them leave if you know why they're stuck, but they can be unpredictable if you do the wrong thing. I should be able to channel at her to quiet her down if she does get rough, but it'd only be a temporary thing."