Sven looks around, but sees nothing but driving snow.
Sven leads the party around to the right, closing in on the mound to discover it's actually a small igloo only about 4' high. A winter blanket, a pile of furs, and a small wooden chest take up most of the floor space in this cramped igloo. A small hole has been cut into the low ceiling to allow smoke to escape. The firepit below hold no ash, and the chest is unlocked and empty.
Kalt can tell the igloo has remained unused after its creation, with no footprints anywhere close to it. From your time as merc's, it's almost like an empty bunk waiting for its soldiers to arrive.
Sven leads the group back to their original location, and then toward the left igloo. Driving through the snow, the group circles the igloo to the entrance, and finds the interior of this igloo is bare. Several ice blocks extend from the igloo's interior walls, forming small shelves and recesses. A lone figure of a small fae is buzzing about the room, and seems surprised over the sudden appearance of the party.
Avora, Bugsby, Lachna, and Sven get the jump on it, leaping into action!
With a flick of her wrist and a single word, Avora summons a small flame before the creature, just an instant, but hopefully enough to catch it off guard.
The fae seems unaffected by the burst of light before its eyes.
Keep it steady, Sven, Lachna calls over the blizzard as she lumbers up and attempt to bonk the fae on the head.
Sven dashes into the igloo only to have the entire floor of it fall out from under him. Groaning, he looks around the 20' pit and sees the sides of it are slick ice that will make it very difficult to climb out of. Above, the tiny fae cackles manically.
Watching the floor give way to Sven's cry, Ankih drops his shield, sheathes his scimitar and begins to unravel the rope about his waist.
" Hold on Sven..." He says as he unwinds it into a pile, all the while looking around for the ambush he suspects is there...somewhere.
Bugsby wipes out his crossbow and lets loose with a bolt, but the hurried shot is off target and buries itself in the igloo wall. Lachna sees Ankih begin to uncoil the rope from his waist and waits to help him, knowing getting Sven back into the fight quickly will benefit everyone.
Its trap sprung, the fae zips out of the smoke hole in the roof and vanishes into the storm.
Ankih and Lachna then begin to feed the rope down to Sven and assist the massive ulfen with climbing out of the hole.
Kalt looks down into the pit and, seeing that his partner is unhurt, says with a grin, "Just like you, Bjornson, to hole up inside when we've finally got some proper weather happening out there. I'll keep an eye out while our friends haul you out of there."
He then draws his dark iron longsword and steps into the doorway of the igloo, muttering, "A bow might make more sense here, but I can't see a damn thing to shoot at. And the smell of this iron may keep the little bugger away."
Avora leans over the warrior, whispering soft words in a strange tongue.
Kalt sees that Sven is back out of the pit, and steps out of the doorway and back into the storm, looking about for the vanished fey or any other threats. "Not sure what else is out there in this storm, but it makes more sense to go forward than back."
His sword in hand, Kalt takes a few steps in the direction the path was heading, squinting through the blowing snow as he moves.
Winding the rope back around his waist, Ankih is about to reply to Sven, when Avora heals him. Smiling he shrugs at the warrior and nods at Avora.
Grabbing his shield, he draws his scimitar again and peers about into the storm...
Kalt calls his companions forward, saying, "There's a couple more igloos up here. Follow me, I'm going to check them out."
Once the party moves up to where he is, he steps into the igloo to the left and peers about.
Lachna follows Kalt through the snow, eyes darting everywhere looking for ambush. She feels it best, after the first mishap, to stay close to the tall on as he's peeking about, just in case of further incident.
Avora falls into line behind the others.
Feeling like he's being watched, Ankih peers around like an owl as he follows the others to the next Igloos...
As everyone is looking around, an thunderous explosion comes from the north, echoing throughout the clearing and beyond.
Falling in behind Sven, Ankih will tap him on the shoulder with a quick prayer.
Then with his shield held ready and his scimitar held behind him in a low guard position he continues behind the warrior.
Kalt assesses the situation and calls out to Sven, "Bjornson! If things are exploding, we don't want to pack too close together. Let's go two by two, spread out a bit but keep each other in sight. You and Ankih, Avora and Bugsby next, Lachna and I will bring up the rear!"
Laying a hand on the dwarven woman's shoulder, he says, "Lachna, you with me? I've got a feeling this'll be worse than the exploding snowman and the talking elk." Kalt holds his blade steady before him and moves after his friends.
Aye, let's go, Lad, Lachna answers Kalt. She nods firmly, face very serious, and shakes her hammer a bit in the general direction the others are going.
I've always had a distrust'a the witches, but the wint'r-touched fae are beginnin' ta grate, fer sure.
Stepping up beside the big man Ankih replies...
" Careful it is then. Besides, I believe Milady has a MUCH more life ahead for me..."
He will then cast guidance on himself as well.
Bugsby takes the time during this momentary lull to cast Mage Armor upon himself, preparing for the worst. Kalt and Lachna advance over and see another igloo very similar to the first, an empty residence waiting for the arrival of it's intended inhabitants.
From above, the sounds of spell casting can be heard, continuing on for several seconds. The party looks around, but cannot see the source of the spell. There is no apparent sign of the fae that fled out the igloo.
Slogging along besides Sven, Ankih adjusts his grip and looks about...
Kalt looks about in frustration as he hears someone chanting some sort of magical speech, but he cannot tell who is making the sound. He looks carefully into the storm, and tries to discern any sounds apart from the howling of the wind and the occasional explosion.
An idea dawns on him, and he calls out to his long-time partner, "Sven! Can you use your ability to detect evil to sense what's around us? This whole place feels evil to me, but it's worth a try." Turning to Lachna as he trudges across the snow with her, he continues, "And you can detect magic, right? Again, I think this whole place is magic, but if you can find whoever just did some sort of magic right above us, it could serve us well - whether it's a wintry fae, a witch, or some unpleasant offspring of the both of 'em."
Aye, that I can, an' it's worth a shot." Lachna squints against the storm, concentrating hard to trying to see anything she can. She looks all around hoping to she if she can discern the source of the magic, or determine what had just been cast.