Steinolf beings to cross. You make it half way before the ice crumbles under you feet.
Roll a Reflex save to avoid falling DC 15.
Roll a Fortitude save if you fall in DC 15.
If you fall in and fail your fortitude take non-lethal cold damage and you are now fatigued.
Garrasay grabs the rope as the ice begins to crumble, hoping to be able to keep Steinholf from being swept away if he falls through.
Seeing the ice beginning to crumble below his feat, Steinolf yells out as he dives back towards the shore. “NO! No further!” He dives and continues to scramble towards Garrasay who has a rope out.
Steinolf, you manage to prevent yourself from falling in and you crawl the rest of the way across. There is now a hole in the ice at that spot.
"It seems it is less safe than it looks. If we use a rope or two, we can probably pull each other across the ice - it does seem slippery enough for that and crawling should spread out our weight a bit."
Gavinia will remove her backpack and send it across separately, as it is quite heavy on its own.
"Steinholf!, you ok, Buddy." Morde yells. "Here!" throwing on side of the rope. " Is there a tree to tie it onto to give us a way to pull ourselves across the river.?
1. would moving a little further down river away from the crack possible or worse?
2. Is there a tree long enough for me to cut down and move? or make it fall across the river.
3. I just looked a the map, Is there really a body on the other side? Or can stein make a perception check.
"mmmrrrgggg. I should go last, I am the heaviest. If the ice is this brittle then it is best if everyone else goes first before I start breaking it up. And it would be better if everyone was on the same side to pull me across. rrrrg." Garrasay gives a toothy smile.
Anyone local here knows that this is a "creek", not a river. So you don't suspect it to be deep if you do fall in.
"I shall cross first - I believe I am the strongest on this side after Garrasay, and I have blessings that will help two people working together. Then I think we should do my backpack, then Mordred, Yuki and finally Garrasay."
If everyone agrees, then Gavinia will place her backpack on the snow, tire the end of the rope around her waist, move to a position where crossing will avoid the hole and start crawling across.
Regaining his composure, Steinolf brushes off the snow from his pants and cloak; “Yeah, I’m ok.... I didn’t expect that to happen...” Steinolf looks around on the edge over here to see if he can find a tree to tie off the rope to. Something that his party could hang onto, maybe to take off some of the weight from the ice?
Gavinia, with the aided assistance of the rope you manage to reduce your weight on the ice and you get across.
<- ha got lucky
Mordred takes off everything that could weigh him down as well as his axe, only keeping one handaxe, and underclothes. tying it all into a bundle, asks stein to pull it across before also taking his luck at it. Jumping up and down to keep warm he then tries his luck after Gavainia.
Shortly after getting to the other side morde practically dives to his bundle to put everything on as fast as he can.
"Brrrr DAMN! its cold." while morde is getting ready,
@Steinholf- "what do you think is happening? Stein, your not from this area, and unfortunatly i havnt had alot of experience with weather quite like this. Ulfen from what I understand come from a more colder regions.
Moredred makes it across.
With everyone else across, Garrasay tries his luck.
With the aid of the rope, Garrasay is able to cross.
Yukiharu attempts to cross with the rope.
Yukiharu also makes it across.
The legs and feet of a frozen corpse jut from a pile of snow next to the trees here.
"Look, there's a body here." Gavinia worked to dig the man out from under the snow.
"Well, it's not a fey, and doesn't look like a bandit. It looks like a farmer - it could be the one who thought someone was stealing his crops."
She looks him over to determine cause of death.
"We should take his gear with us. It may aid us against the fey and we can return it to his family after we go back to town. Does anyone else want the longbow?"
"May the Earth mother take him." Morde intones as he looks at the body. "he way probably killed by those creatures, I doubt the bandits killed him otherwise they would have looted. I would prefer we give him a burial, but I am afraid we wont have time if we wish to keep up with the bandits. We need to take care of the living first." he shakes his head.
“This place has become increasingly deadly. We need to get on a move on it and find these bandits.... We’ve already spent to much time, I don’t want to loose them.”
"Grrrrrm. These used to be nice woods outside of the occasional bandit. As if this deadly cold wasn't enough it seems to have brought with it a large number of even deadlier creatures. Even if this was just some kind of weather oddity or druid conjuration gone wrong I would not have expected to see this many dangerous creatures."
Garrasay pokes around the corpse a bit, but two days of hard snow since they rested plus however long the body had been there before they found him had long since obliterated any evidence of a trail.
Garrasay examines the items taken from the man.
I recognize him, his name was Dansby. He was no stranger to combat, but this was too much for him. I'm not sure if he has any next of kin, but when we get back we should consider returning his possessions. Until then I can think of no better way to honour the memory of his time in service to Taldor than putting his equipment to good use saving the noblewoman.
I can use the bow if no one else has use for it.
"There is nothing more we can do for him. Nature will take care of his earthly remains according to the first ways. Hhhrrrrrg"
Gavinia finishes her examination of the body, and arranges it respectfully.
"May your soul cross over peacefully." She covers him with a light layer of snow.
Turning back to the trail, she dons her pack and prepares to set off again.
Garrasay takes the coin pouch as well. He makes sure everyone knows how much there was and then hangs the pouch from his belt, intent on returning the meager treasure to any of Dansbury's next of kin.
Grrrrr There is nothing more to be done here, we should press on. rrrRrr
He joins Gavinia and the others and forges forward through the snow.
Morde helps the Others knowing that as the days pass the trial will be much harder to follow.
Knowing that Mordred is more familiar with these woods and more skilled in the matters of tracking and survival, Garrasay does what he can to lend assistance.
The best he can manage under the circumstances is trying to stay out of Mrodred's way and keep an eye out for dangers.
Gavinia trudges through the snow, keeping a sharp lookout as she goes.
Searching through the snowbanks and under tree boroughs Morde tries his best to find the lost trial. "I don't know if we are going to find him men, and ah girl.. " Morde stumbles when he looks up and sees Gavaina. " You better go ahead and pray to that god of yours My Lady. Because I'm not seeing anything." he strains through the woods hoping to see anything.
Mordred is able to follow the trail. You recall these trees and these rock ridges as perhaps you’ve been by the lodge before. The trail begins to climb a ridgeline to the south beneath snow-laden trees. The prints of boots and horses mar the freshly fallen snow on the trail.
Garrasay and Gavinia see some smoke around the corner as if from a campfire. It is not in your vision yet.
What would you like to do?
Gavinia answers Mordred "The river we just crossed is a natural border - the snow may have changed the existing trails - but it won't change the river's path so easily. If you think on how and where it flows, I am sure you can work out where we are, and where our quarry may be headed."
-----
Gavinia suddenly taps Steinolf with one hand, and holds up another to halt those behind her.
"Hold! she whispers. "Smoke ahead! Can someone creep ahead to see if it's enemies?"
Garrasay surveys the scene.
"Mmmmrrr. I am too big to be stealthy. Other than by virtue of being so small, Petal has no skill in stealth. hrrrr:
Mordred gets behind the closest small tree trying to be as stealthy as he can. looking through the trees he knows he cant get any closer but just in case someone is on the lookout. "You should hide just in case, I'm afraid I'm not a very good hunter. "
Garrasay attempts to conceal himself
Even when Petal clambers up Garrasay's broad shoulders and spreads himself out as much as he can in a vain attempt to provide some semblance of camouflage, there is just no hiding Garrasay's frame.
Gavinia draws the cold-iron throwing axe and crouches down behind a larger drift of snow.
As they stood in the cold, and the snow started to accumulate on Garrasay's head he finally spoke up "rrrgrgrgg. I know we need to be cautious, but just standing here isn't helping either. Why don't we just go ahead and see if whoever it is might be friendly. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. No weapons drawn, just friendly travelers passing through. Maybe they might have seen something? Gggrrrggr
He shook his furry mane sending snow scattering as Petal clung on.
"Fair enough, Garrasay. You are right we should at least try to speak with them, they might not have even been part of the group that attacked the Lady Noble. Still, I would prefer to have my axe at hand. Just in case. " Morde heads out into the open and hold his axe casually next to him in one hand.
"We have yet to meet anyone friendly in the woods so far - I also think we should be cautious - we can always sheathe weapons if we do find friends."
Gavinia moves forward with weapon in hand.
Steinolf moves quietly ahead to scout.
He quietly comes back and whispers, "There are three men next to campfire arguing about something."
"Not fey, at least. That is a good sign. If we are near the Ranger lodge, then they are probably rangers, although bandits could be a possibility, so we should still be wary."
Gavinia sheathes the throwing axe, but does draw a dagger instead. Pushing forward through the snow, she rounds the bend and addresses the men.
"Hello there! It is good to see some faces that do not belong to tiny fairies!"
Morde gets up with a sigh, "well this should be entertaining." looking at Garrasay. following Gavania he lets her take the lead.
"hrrrrrg. Lets take just a moment, with their voices raised in argument we might be able to hear what their disagreement is and get a better understanding of who these men are. gggr.
Garrasay tries to make out what they are arguing about.
You all begin to move up and Garrasay can hear that they seem to be arguing over who gets the money and how much. As you get closer, Gavinia moves forward introducing herself.
The men all stand up looking over at her and one of them says, "Oh who's this pretty little lady lost out in the...... oh... you have friends." They all grab their shortbows and hold their arrow ready to fire at the approaching group. "If you're looking for trouble, you've come to the right place."
The don't seem to be firing the arrows. What would you like to do?
Steinolf pulls his shield off of his back and grabs the longsword; “Looks like I’ll be needing these again...” He then goes out to scout the area.
“Woah, it seems like guys are a bit jumpy. You must have come across those blasted fey creatures like we have. Lets all put away our weapons, no need for fighting. We also don’t want the money you’re fighting over.”
As Steinolf mentions putting away weapons he begins to put his longsword in its sheath, but doesn’t let go of the hilt until the lower the bows.
