Grawlic grows uneasy and begins to growl at the trees..Arrac's attention turns toward's the growling cat then back to the forest just as quickly... Blinking and rubbing his eyes...Arrac swears he just saw a couple of trees move!
Suddenly the forest erupts and two nearby trees?.. Start scampering towards the party waving their branches?...limbs?... menacingly ! But Arrac is ready for them!
Surprise round!
Arrac
tree thing 2
Grawlic
tree thing 1
[b]
Arrac Readies an action to strike out at the first enemy that gets within his reach.
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Hassan is looking at the tracks with interst, and is startled when the trees come alive and attack. He looks around hurriedly, thinking that in this strange land even the trees attack, and here they are surrounded in the woods full of theoretical foes. He thinks strongly of just going back to the desert plains of Qadira.
The frost firs are unsettling tree creatures of about 9' in height the first one shuffles forward and is almost cleaved in half from a mighty swing from Arrac's sword..It responds with a slam attack of it's own propelled by its sudden rush.. But the giant man's staggering swing cause the off balance creature, to miss the Barbarian.
The other Frost fir charges the leopard Grawlic, who swipes at the attacking tree thing before the tree tries to smash the smaller cat. The cat manages to scratch a large swath of bark from the creature as the creature in turn tries to club the cat with it's lanky branches. The tree creature slams the poor Grawlic and the poor cat yelps in pain.
Newmark trudges forward and cast a stream of magic acid at the tree attacking Grawlic but misses badly in the chaos of combat.
R 1
Hassan
Newmark
Arrac
Newmark
blue frost fir
Grawlic
Wassillisa
Lanfried
green Frost fir.
Arrac reverses the swing of his blade to bring if back around, in almost more of a hacking motion than a blade swing.
During the melee, he shouts.
These are Frostfirs, I've seen them before. Take care for their sap, and fire always proved an effective tool against them!
Arrac fells the frost fir in front of him with a mighty swipe ..cutting the tree creature in half. Hassan, judging the creatures to be nothing more than animated tree's..chooses to use a fire bolt, on the one attacking Grawlic. Hassan strikes the creature and the smell of burnt pine needles and the popping of supper heated sap from the creature's body can be felt throughout the wooded valley... The bluish frost fir tries to bash through the big cat Grawlic in order to reach Hassan and his deadly fire.. However, the nimble cat avoids the cumbersome branches..
R 1
Hassan
Newmark
Arrac
Newmark
blue frost fir
Grawlic
Wassillisa
Lanfried
green Frost fir.
Lanfried moves around and swings his quarterstaff at the blue frostfir.
Lanfried tells Grawlic to attack and bring it down. The cat bites and tries to take the legs out.
Wassilissa tries to shoot the tree from the back. As trees are not on her list of things she usually hunts, she got no idea how well that works. But as she has neither an axe, nor fire available it's worth a try.
Grawlic tears a huge stump of a branch from the creature While Lanfried swings and misses with his quarter staff. Wassilissa lines up a shot and lets fly at the wooden creature..The arrow seems not to be the most effective weapon but it sticks deep within the heart of the tree hindering it a little..The Frost Fir stumbles around looking for an opponent until Hassan and Arrac step up to finish it with their blades.
You group does a quick search of the area to see if any other hapless soul may have fallen victim to these territorial creatures..but you find no one only the cold wind and an otherwise silent forest. With the dropping temperature, you all decide to keep moving into the forest before night falls and catches you out in the open without shelter.
Lanfried looks around at the horizon in an attempt to locate himself in physical space.
Wassilissa checks the moss on the trees and where the sun is and such stuff to check if they are still moving in the right direction. Telling Lanfried, she double checks with him, that she isn't mislead by local abnormalties in these woods. "You agree, that we should move on in that direction?"
Aye, that way. Grawlic, heel
You make your way towards the heart of the woodlands.The temperature, is dropping, every steadily. You come to a high ridge over looking the Somir Valley . Some distance bellow in the valley you spot a building...in a clearing that appears to be mounted on stilts or pylons. You find a switch back trail and make your way through the every deeper snow. Finally you reach the valley floor and the head of the trail going through the valley.Bloody animal tracks mark the snow where the trail descends from the ridge above.
There is strangeness everywhere. Lanfried looks around.
Grawlic looks a lot "puffier" than previously. His fur is standing up and clearly his body is fighting to keep what little warmth it can.
Arrac takes in a deep breath of the crisp air while he looks over the scene before pressing on.
Both Wassillissa and Lanfried remember that this is the same trail head and valley that the slain hunter mentioned in his note book. Therefore, they keep a sharp eye out for bear traps and soon discover the nasty traps before anyone can step on them.
Before you lies a clear trail towards the strange building on stilts. Even from this vantage point you can see that it's some type of elevated cabin; as it's roof top can be spied through the snow covered spruce and bare branched birch trees that make up this part of the woods.
Arrac glances up to the building, glancing around he gives a sniff, before marching on towardss the cabin, intent on looking into it.
Well, might as well press on. See if anything useful is left here.
He doesn't proceed foolishly however, and keeps an eye out for any potential traps.
"Are you sure we want to go head on to that hut?" Wassilissa inquires.
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.
Lanfried and Grawlic will move up to the first boulder and examine it.
Arrac will move along the edge of the clearing and try to get a better look at who or what may be in the building.
Likely, He remarks to Hassan.
"Ok, you take that route, I'll see if I can get through the shrubs and approach from the side." Wassilissa tells, as her concerns about approaching this way seem to be only hers.
Wassillissa begins to skirt around the clearing of boulders presumably heading for the elevated hut. You others approach cautiously...as you approach all of you see a little girl dart from one boulder to the next then seemingly disappear she says something as she runs.
There seemed to be a look of terror on her face as she darted behind the boulders.
Lanfried takes off to the point at a run. Grawlic at his heels. Quick
"What the ..." Wassilissa voices, her mouth standing open. It's freezing cold and this little girl - or is it fey tricks - gets chased by whatever through this wasteland. But there seems to be no persuer. This makes no sense. She stands there dumbfounded while trying to make heads and tails of this.
Come here girl, we won't hurt you. Arrac says, still on his guard, if a little off balance at the sight.
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Hassan hears the voice and sees the girl, and hears her words. At first he reacts to save the girl, and then his suspicious mind kicks in. "Witchcraft!" he says aloud, but then again, he thinks everything is witchcraft. The Sarenrite fundamentalist draws out his scimitar and
scans the area with detect magic
The girl suddenly appears in front of Lanfried and Grawlic...her back is to both the cat and the nature inclined Dwarf. She has a luminous translucent appearance...indicating that she is not entirely part of this plane...or some type of figment. She seems to be talking to the air..
girl talking to someone (or something?) unseen...
Please don't keep me here...It's so cold! I miss my mommy...*sob*
Something is wrong here, but shooting little girls feels more wrong. So Wassilissa holds for now until her companions who are closer give a hint what action to take.
Lanfried narrows his eyes as he studies the girl, weighing the truth in her story.
What happened to you child? Why are you out here in this wilderness?
What happened to you child? Why are you out here in this wilderness?
The spirit child looks up at the Barbarian and responds with a wailing weep to the gruff sounding voice of the uncouth Northman. I want my Mommy! She the suddenly disappears from in front of Lanfried and Grawlic and appears in a different spot of the ice maze...She seems to be talking to someone again...but none of you are close enough to hear.
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Newmark is intrigued by the spirit child and draws closer trying to determine the nature of the apparition.
She's not magical..or not a magical creation or spell...*whisper*...I think? Newmark scratches his beard, I don't think she's from another *living* plane either... Newmark, furrows his brows...In fact seems like she's caught between this plane and the after-life...like she's got some unfinished... business...or something yet unsaid... Newmark falls silent considering...
Lanfried scratches his beard as he ponders this little girl and her nature.
He does not approach her again, but he does lean down to Grawlic and tell the cat to be ready, just in case.
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Hassan calls out, "She is the spawn of witches or other sinister begins. Do not fall for her traps. Save your soul and avoid her." While he thinks everything is witchcraft, this might actually be something, so he thinks back to his training and doctrine for any clues.
Otherwise he avoids the ghostly child, despite her insistent need.
A child who jumps between places and rambles incoherently? Who might be hiding behind this distraction. Wassilissa ignores the child and moves closer to the hut to check if there is a real threat behind this.
Arrac pauses at Hassan's statement, not sure to move forward or not.