"We are being watched," Avora warns, indicating the birds.
The unusually acting birds stay distant as the sleds arrive at a good location to camp for the night. Nadya, and presumably Kalt, work on setting up camp and prepping for the cold night to come. Her boys collect nearby twigs and branches for use in the fire, and before long, the group has dined and is getting ready for the overnight.
The evening passes by uneventfully, and they set out in the morning under a cloudy sky. The number of ravens have grown in number over the course of the night, and it comes to a head as the group reaches the top of a rise and see two clouds of ravens rise up from tundra before them. Knowing they could never outrun the flock, the party hop of the sleds and prepare for battle, while Nadya leads the sleds and her sons back down the rise.
As everyone spreads out to Sven's roar, Ankih attempts to place himself somewhere on in the middle, within channeling range of as many people as possible.
Flipping the Yeti hood up to appear as intimidating as possible ( and maybe protect his eyes some), he casts resistance on himself. He then readies to cast burning hands on the swarm if it approaches him. He will try to get as many as possible in the cone.
" I am sorely tired of these birds."
Everyone else draws their weapons and spells as they spread out and readies to strike if the ravens come close.
The birds make a beeline, directly for Lana, but as they close, one group of birds veers off the aim for Bugsby.
Ankih and Lana let loose with their held flames, burning many a bird. Others find the birds having avoided the reach of their weapons. Bugsby and Lana find the birds pecking and clawing at their faces.
Having prepared for what happens, they both manage to protect their faces well enough, but suffer many a laceration upon their arm for their trouble.
As the ravens swarm around his friends, Kalt throws the flask of alchemical fire at them, aiming to strike a portion of the black, feathered cloud that is not right on top of Lana or Bugsby. If this damn curse causes me to hurt my friends, I may go back and kill Radosek one more time...
Kalt's flask barely connects with his target, burning a few more of the birds.
As sometimes happens with the mysterious healer, Lana's mind seems to be elsewhere. She is focused enough, however, to see that her flames have had an effect on the birds, and she blasts them with another fan of magical fire, carefully positioning it to avoid burning her friends.
Lana bathes the birds in flames, roasting many of them.
Realizing most of his remaining spells won't be much good against swarms, Ankih draws his bonded dagger and uses it to cast a spell he hasn't prepared for the day, trying to get as many birds as he can.
Lana feels the magic pulse on her finger, and it suddenly erupts in agony as blood begins to pour forth from her finger. Her wounds clearly not regenerating. Sven and Ankih end the swarm assaulting her, giving her a moment to try and pull the ring from her hand, but it won't budge, the dark magics preventing its removal!
Avora slashes desperately at the swarm, trying to finish them off.
Bugsby fires of a crossbow bolt at the lone swarm on himself as he steps out of its reach. The swarm then turn on Ankih, pecking and clawing.
They leave the cleric turned wizards face in ruins.
Kalt steps toward the swarm, drawing his blade as he moves. He swings at it, but the burden of Radosek's curse on him is too much.
" Aarrgghh! Thrice cursed birds!" Cries out the cleric as he stumbles in an attempt to flee the swarm.
Sven cleaves through a few birds while Kalt waves ineffectually. Lana strides forward and flings her burned arm forward, letting the internal fires burst forth. Avora continues to swat at the birds with her spear, while Bugsby pulls out an alchemical fire and hurls it at the swarm.
The smell of roasted raven fills the air as the swarm takes massive damage, nearly dispursing, however it fights to the end, pecking and clawing at..
Bugsby is engulfed by the birds, squealing in pain as his tender flesh is cut to ribbons.
Kalt raises his sword again, gritting his teeth with determination, his fey eyes shining almost black, Damn this curse, I need to kill these birds before they kill my friends!
He swings his blade in a wide, flat arc, cutting through at least a dozen birds and leaving behind a cloud of feathers and a twitching pile of bone and beaks.
Once the squawking dies out, Nadya brings the sleds around to pick up the group. Spotting the tattered faces of Ankih and Bugsby, she gasps aloud, ”Oh my, they got a few more of you in the face. Let me adjust somethings so you both can ride easier.”
When Sven remarks about trying to mend their eyes, Nadya brightens up a bit and rummages around in her pack for a moment before pulling out a waterproofed bag. ”I thought you guys might be needing this, I just wish it wasn’t so soon.” Opening the parcel, there is a needle and thread, bandages, and a number of poultices and herbs.
Avora patchs up Ankih's and Bugsby's faces well enough that she feels by the morning their sight should return. The rest of the day passes smoothly though the naturalists in the group can tell there is a storm blowing in, and it'll arrive late tomorrow. The group sets up camp again, Nadya's boys helping where they can, though the youngest seems to be having more fun poking Bugsby in odd places and watching the Gnome squirm.
The group awakes in the morning and finds every scrap of food gone or spoiled, and the water in their skins turned rancid.
Kalt shakes his head in frustration at the discovery of the spoiled food, then casts about looking for tracks or any other indication of what might have caused this, though he can't help but agree with Sven's assessment. "The witches are not likely to leave us alone just because we've killed one of their number."
After his initial search, he says, "Well, we should see what we can find to eat. Care to lend a hand, Nadya?"
Kalt and Nadya go out and hunt for a few hours, and even though they use every trick in the book, only manage to find a few lean hares and nearly rotten greens. As they return with heads held low, the group catches the smell of roasting meat drifting on the wind.
Kalt can tell there were many tiny feet scattered around their camp, going over nearly everything. However, 20 feet away they just vanish without a trace.
Avora raises an eyebrow at the smell of cooking meat.
" That smells wonderful! what did you guys catch out there. Makes me hungry, who cooked it for us?"
Ankih raises his head and sniffs around.
" Sorry for being so out of it. I was all arrogant about my new scrolls. Then those cursed birds, blinded me. Relegating the scrolls to useless. Can't read if I can't see."
He turns his head as if looking around...
" That doesn't smell like its near enough to be from our fire. So it isn't something you caught? How depressing."
"I still can't begin to guess what spoiled and stole our food, or why," says Kalt, a touch of misery in his voice, "and these lands offer little to feed even a skilled hunter. So where that smell is coming from, and what it portends, is a mystery to me - like so many things, it seems."
He looks to Sven, lifting his chin upwind and smiling slightly in the direction the smells are coming from, and says, "Shall we take a look? I believe I can track that smell, even under Radosek's curse. When we get close, let me approach quietly and see what I can learn. I'd hate to think what some who live in this place might think suitable for a meal."
The group heads to investigate, Kalt stalking forward to take point. About a quarter-mile away, he spies a group of 8 small creatures going about roasting a fat boar. Bluish flesh marks them as native to the northlands, and their odd batlike ears and rows of needle like teeth signify their predatory nature. Two are seen trying to work on the shaggy coat that had been roughly hacked from the beast, while others turn the spit and slather herbs on the beast. Occasionally one tries to take a bite from it, only to be harassed and shooed away by the others.
Kalt studies the creatures carefully, then returns to his friends and gives a description of what he's seen. "What do you think they are? In this place, I assume they're not friendly, but I don't know how much of a threat they are."
Nadya ponders the description a moment before shrugging, a befuddled look apparent on her face. ”Can’t say the description rings a bell. I might have thought they could be some of Hatch’s wilder kin, gone feral after all generations, but batears, hmm…”
Avora and Lana begin to relate there theories and ideas as to what these things are. They are reminiscent of a breed of gremlin that are usually found in the caverns of mountains, and clearly these ones have adapted to life on the surface. Fey in nature, they are sneaky and sadistic and they love to curse people and lure them into traps. Vengeful, if you wrong them they will follow you for weeks planning their revenge, usually the stealing or destruction of magical items. They are also hard to pin down, with the ability to jump across dimensions and come out in distant areas.
Kalt pats the pommel of the sword in question, but keeps it sheathed as they move towards the strange wintry gremlins. "You sure we even need to deal with these things, Bjornson? We could just move on. If they're as tricksy as Avora and Lana say, we're not likely to come out ahead by talking to them nice."