Morgraine lets a last crossbow bolt fly at Fawfein before he gets surrounded by her allies.
Morgraine's crossbow bolt flies harmlessly past the hovering fey. The icy creature, satisfied with having knocked the wolf into the water, turns and grabs at Eirikr, intent of dragging him back into the water as well. Eirikr drives his sword deep into the ice creature's chest as it grabs at him, but it refuses to give up, pulling him back and letting him tumble through the hole in the ice.
Eirikr is up!
Sorry this post is so short, it's been a rough few days.
Edit: Sorry, I posted just as you posted. Eirikr pulls himself out of the water instead.
Eirikr gasps as the freezing water hits his skin, going straight through his clothing. He hauls himself out of the water, but feels the cold sinking in.
Inire is up!
"I'm going to kill you, melt down your body, and drink it," hisses Eirikr at the ice elemental with a shiver as he pulls himself out of the water.
S-... sorry." Inire says, as she looks to Fawfein, then to the wolf in the water. There was no way she could pull him out -now-... but maybe in a moment. She crept as stealthily as she could over the ice, trying to prevent the elemental from knocking her into the hole as she took the long way around... so that she could help Ashen sooner, rather than later. She nearly blacks out as she imagines how utterly terrifying it must be... She sets up near the hole in the water, to hopefully surprise anything that comes up out of the water.
Inire silently moves up the one of the holes, and just in time. The second ice creature escapes from the gap, a panicked bellow escaping its lips. Her blade swings down and slams into the fleeing monster as it retreats toward the far bank near Fawfein.
Evelyn is up!
Evelyn moves to drag the wolf out of the water.
Ashen is shaking slightly as Eve halls him out of the water, but he shakes himself and growls at the ice elemental that shoved him in to the river.
Tiferet is up!
"Zura's rotten blood!" Tiferet exclaims as her proud axe is shrunk to a toy's size by Fawfein's magic. She quickly regains her composure, though, and hastily drops her weapon before lunging at the annoying fey.
"It's not just my steel than can hurt you, you know?"
If she can neutralize him long enough, she figures she would give her companions precious time to dispatch his allies.
______________________________________________________________________
Fawfein giggles in a slightly disturbing way as Tiferet tosses her ax aside. "Too tiny for you lying human." He yelps as she jumps forward and her hand clamps around his body. He squeals and begins to struggle against her hands rather ineffectively.
Nathara is up!
The situation is getting too messy, Nathara must see that she can support Tiferet in melee... She drops the bow and moves over the ice with the grace of a spell dancer. While moving she draws the captain's sword.
Fawfein seems to realize that he's in a very untenable situation as his attempts to attack the party seem to be coming to naught. He struggles against Tiferet's grip again, desperately trying to get free. His tiny body manages to slip between her fingers and he shoots into the air and away from them before anyone can react.
Morgraine is up!
Morgraine raises a hand and calls out to the nature spirits around the party to bind the fey to keep him from escaping. Fawfein yelps as the tree branches around him attempt to twist and wrap around him like serpents. He manages to duck and weave around their tangling grasp and looking slightly panicked.
The ice elemental that remains doesn't appear terribly bright and continues to attack despite being outnumbered and surrounded. He raises his hands and brings them down on Eirikr in a rough overhand slam. The fists collide with Eirikr's chest and he feels the rough bludgeon enhanced by some unnatural cold. His muscles seem to lock up and everything feels sluggish and cold.
Eirikr is up!
Ashen, unfazed by being thrown in the water, growls at the ice elemental before attacking it.
Eirikr feels the cold of the ice elemental's touch freezing the already frigid water coating his skin and clothing. He tries to strike back as best he can, but shivers from the cold while he does, make his strike unsure.
Ashen leaps forward over the ice and his powerful fangs sink into the creature's body. The ice elemental hisses in pain and manages to shake the wolf off, but Ashen takes a large chunk of ice with him, which he promptly crushes in her mouth.
Inire is up!
Inire shifts easily over the ice, dragging her blade low, while Ashen takes a solid bite out of the same. As the blade touches the ice elemental, she quickly shifts her position past it, and towards its ally.
Inire steps in and her blade comes down in a flawless arc, slashing straight through the creature's middle and continuing clear through it's body. With on last hiss of pain, the creature falls in two pieces and stops moving.
The other ice elemental sees its brother fall and screams in rage. It shifts up behind Inire and lashes out with a powerful blow. It slams into Inire, leaving a nasty bruise on her side and attempting to infect her with its supernatural cold. However, Inire's surprisingly resilient constitution resists the chill.
Tiny Eve is up!
Evelyn moves carefully over the ice and draws her swordcane into view, as she brings the weapon across the elemental's form, but comes up short. Not letting the miss affect her, she moves her gaze to the little fey in the tree.
Eve moves into attack the remaining elemental, but misses by a bit, even with the creature's wounds. However, her glare easily penetrates the fey's mind.
Tiferet is up!
Tiferet curses under her breath as the slippery fey wiggles his way out of her grasp. Realizing he's now out of her reach, she seizes Nathara's old sword, still sheathed by the elven blade mistress's hip, and brings it down on their last remaining foe in one fluid, powerful movement.
"Sorry Nath – I'll have to borrow that for a while!"
______________________________________________________________________
"But of course!" Nathara replies with deviating her focus from her enemy. While her own sword is something personal and she would not let just anyone touch under normal circumstances, this is firstly an emergency and secondly Tiferet isn't just anyone.
Nathara moves closer to the tall blonde warrior maiden, so she can reach the hilt more easily. Technically, Tiferet might as well have used the sword Nathara is holding. Her own, natural claws may provide a less efficient lever, but they are no less sharp.
Tiferet pulls the blade off of Nathara's hip and whips around, stepping in to the ice creature's reach and slamming her borrowed sword through it's head. The creature crumples to the ground, motionless and defeated.
Nathara is up!
Let's finish this, once and for all. Nathara's hand is already raised for the spell as she moved towards the little fey, trying not think about how it was in fact a living feeling person. An almost inaudible whisper in elven escapes her lips and sparks run down her blade as she strikes. The step forward, the spell and the strike being a single one, indiscernible motion, a dance in fact.
Nathara leaps into the air, he feet kicking off one branch and getting close to the fey. Her blade sings through the air, but she's not close enough to Fawfein to actually hit him. Her blade obliterates a tree branch, but misses the fey himself.
Fawfein yelps in fear as he sees Nathara's blade cut through a branch twice as thick as he is wide. He vanishes from sight with a wave of his hand and everything goes silent.
Combat Ends!
Inire dries her sword with her sleeve before sheathing it.
She looks around for a moment, quietly, before patting out a snowball and throwing it at the empty space where Fawfein had been, just in case.
"He'll be reporting to their leader we should hurry to town, it will be bad if we get caught out here with all of them."
"Right. Let's move" Tiferet says as Eve voices her concerns. So much for subtlety and stealth she thinks, cursing under her breath. Not that she's held any hopes this moment wouldn't come, but still, she would have preferred to have a more substantial advantage.
"I pray we didn't expose Vosi by allowing him to flee. He seemed to believe we must have killed him – let's hope they're too busy to actually check his shard" she wishfully muses.
Holding it out in both palms, she respectfully hands Nathara her sword back. "My thanks, Nath. Though I know how my fighting style must seem but a crude and brutal thing compared to true elven swordsmanship, I hope I honoured this sword, just as you honoured me by lending it."
Speaking of weapons, there's still one last thing she has to do before they finally leave. A promise is a promise she thinks, clenching her teeth. With slow, measured strides, she walks toward the snowman where Eirikr's spear is still protruding, and closing her eyes, she pulls it out while waiting for the unavoidable blast.
Nathara smirks at Tiferet's remark. "I... It... while my sword may be something I use as as extension of myself, it ultimately is a tool. And of course you may use it. And... I am not exactly above brutal myself it appears. I mean... you - people in general - are a lot more important to me than weapons."
She nods to Evelyn. "You're right, we should hurry. I fear for Vosi now. This should not have happened. I should have held onto the bow."
She goes back to where she dropped the bow and picks it up casting a glance around the icy forest. "I trust no harm has come to you, Lady of Mallassene?"
She puts her swords away, but keeps the bow ready in her hand, though without an arrow to the string.
As the others discuss moving on, Inire nods, shifting her weight on the snow, and moving off ahead to wait for them to travel onwards.
As the heroes head back to their prisoners, they find Tacey with her sword drawn standing right next to Rohkar. "Didn't want him to get any bright ideas while you were dealin' with that fey," she says.
Lady Mallassene nods. "Yes, I believe the fey and his creatures were more focused on you than on who was with you. Shall we continue onward?"
The party continues on through the woods, following the trail back through the trees fairly easily. The walk begins to get tiring and by the time you return to the ambush site, you're all starting to feel the weight of the past few hours. Lady Argentea stops for a moment, her eyes surveying the carnage. "Did Yuln truly survive this?" she murmurs.
"And I shouldn't have let him escape my grasp" Tiferet replies to Nathara. "We're all wise men when it comes to hindsight. You made the right decision, based on how the battle was swinging" she says, smiling reassuringly.
As the column prepares to resume its march, she gives a vigorous pat on the half-orc's back: "Nice job Tacey" she says nodding approvingly.
"He did – albeit barely" she says to Lady Argentea as they finally exit the unnaturally frozen woods. "He feigned his death and made his way to Heldren two days ago. If it weren't for him, this rescue mission would have never taken place."
Inire stays about thirty feet away at any given moment, within range to hear the conversation as long as they didn't cover it, but not so close as to be surprised when they started moving. Once they set out, she stays thirty feet ahead of Nathara.
When she notes everyone pausing, she returns. "And I should have trusted Evelyn to help Ashen. Had that blow struck the faerie..." she frowns. "I don't know." she says with a sigh. "Now Vosi might suffer because of my choice."
As Tiferet gets close to the snowman, a horrific scream tears through the air and she's thrown back to the ground by the shockwave. She feels dizzy for a few moments, but manages to shake it off without too much effort.
On the way back, collecting the body of the fallen farmer is easy enough and they're hardly slowed down by a little extra weight. Lady Argentea nods somberly. "If you could send someone to recover their remains at some point, they deserve a proper burial for their efforts."
"So cold," whispers Eirikr, his teeth chattering as he walks to the riverbank. Ashen quickly dries himself off with a shake of his fur, but since Eirikr's only hairy on the inside he lacks this option. The rest of his companions seem fairly intent on moving on so Eirikr considers his options. "Did we get any extra clothes from the bandits? Mine are wet."
"He was dead already, being a slave is no way to live and if he hadn't believed us, we'd have killed him anyway. Considering the circumstances even if they kill him now all we did was extend his life a little."
Tacey shrugs her shoulders. "There were a few extra cloaks around the lodge. Or you could try on Rohkar's for now. He liked to brag about how it protected him from the cold." Rohkar just rolls his eyes and mutters something about the cold under his breath.
"I have a blanket you could wrap around yourself Eirikr, if that will help. Does anyone require healing?"
"Give me his cloak, then," says Eirikr with a shiver. He shoots Rohkar a look when he hears him muttering. "Maybe you and I should trade clothes, eh? You can walk back to Helgen in my furs. Which are sopping wet. I hope you like frostbite."
"Thank you, says Eirikr to Morgraine's offer of a blanket. "Ashen's hurt. If you could help him."
Eirikr looks down at his chest and sees the bruise forming on his chest from where the ice elemental struck him. "Oh. And I guess I am too."
"I might need some too" Tiferet says clutching the point where her body unceremoniously hit the ground – namely, her left hip, which is starting to look badly bruised even to the naked eye.
She smirks as the rugged wolf-boy bares his metaphorical (and not-so-metaphorical) teeth at Rohkar. Cruel she thinks. But not unwarranted.
She waits until he's done slipping out of his drenched clothes before throwing him his spear. "I believe this is yours" she says with a smile.
"We managed to lay the bodies into the carriage so that no beast shall further desecrate their remains. It was too heavy for us to pull, though" Tiferet contritely answer the Lady's plea. "A pair of horses should be able to do the job. I'm sure we'll find some in Heldren – as well as some good folk willing to help."
Tacey offers the cloak over to Eirikr. "Here. You probably deserve it more than he did." Rohkar has the wisdom not to complain again, though he looks annoyed still.
Tiferet examines the cloak as Tacey hands it over, though she can't really identify what it's capable of at a glance. It definitely has abjuration properties, so it's likely that Tacey knows what she's talking about.
Lady Argentea nods slowly. "Thank you. They gave their lives trying to save mine. It's the least I can do to see their bodies taken care of." She takes a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. "Shall... shall we go?"
Inire nods, and slips back into the woods, once more, to get ahead of the rest of the group while she waits for them to get moving, once more.
Morgraine nods silently to the others and moves over to Ashen, kneeling down beside him. She knows she does not have the correct spells prepared, nor the power remaining to cast them if she did. She knows also that her group might yet come under attack before they reached the presumed safety of town, and she could not risk that happening while they were still hurt from earlier fighting. So, she relies instead on an old hex she had learned years earlier, and prayed that it would work.. and that she would be able to disguise it as if she were casting a normal spell.
At first, there was nothing. Again she tried, but still nothing - until Kettu padded over and yipped. The fox places its paw on Ashen's side and moves it as if guiding Morgraine, who nods and seems to mimick her companion. Within moments, bruises began to fade, cuts knit back together, and the pain lessens. Morgraine gives a relieved sigh and sits back on her heels a moment before rising. She then moves to each of her companions in turn, laying one of her hands on the recipient whilst speaking and gesturing over the wounds with her other hand.
"The bruise is deep," she says to Eirikr, " and I am not sure I was able to get it all. If it still hurts on the morrow, tell me and I will try again."
"Thank you" Tiferet says to the fair enchantress as the pain in her flank immediately dissipates. "Your magical reserves run deep, Morgraine. Only the most powerful enchanters I've known would be able to exert such power without exhausting themselves. We're lucky to have someone of your abilities accompanying us" she adds, her tone one of genuine respect.
"If you wish, I have a scroll that might help" she says to Eirikr. "The... poor man's alternative for those whose magical abilities aren't as keen as Morgraine's. I usually keep it for emergencies, but I can always pen another."
"Yes. Let's. Nothing but death and bad memories here" Tiferet purposefully says as she resumes her march. She watches the column of prisoners – Rohkar in front – as it parades through that same devastation they helped bring.
I bet they didn't expect to see it again so soon.
There is some degree of poetic justice in them revisiting, bound and conquered, that same massacre site they left in triumph; a thought which can't help but bring a smile to the white-haired Ulfen's lips.
"... and the company of unexpected brothers and sisters in arms." Morgraine's magical abilities are in fact somewhat strange. It had taken her a while to figure out that she had magic in the first place. But she was elf enough to realize that a woman's secrets were hers and hers alone.
Thinking of secrets... "Eirikr... forgive my inquisitiveness, but could you not do that... shapechanging again? In your transformed shape you would have fur that should protect your from the cold even if it's wet. Just like Ashen."
She wasn't sure what to think of his story that he was not a werewolf, but he was certainly not a bad guy. If half the folklore she heard about those nightmaris beasts were true they'd all be dead by now if he was one.
"My task shall be to cover the rear and keep our prisoners in sight with eye and arrow."
The party gets moving again, heading up the road. The further they get from the Border Woods, the lighter the snow gets and it stops entirely about half an hour away from the town itself. Though the air is still far colder than it should be, they are no longer forced to try and walk through the snow and icy wind. The last leg of the walk is significantly nicer than your last few days.
As you make it back to town, the townsfolk start to poke their heads out curiously as the line of prisoners is led down the main street. The town sheriff hurries out of his office and meets you in the town square. "What in the name of the gods happened out there?" he asks.
"A Lady was saved and a group of bandits vanquished" Tiferet replies, pointing at their retinue. "The unnatural winter... we're working on it."
"We found this body deep in the woods, killed by those same fey Yuln warned us about" she goes on, her tone suddenly turning sombre. "I understand it belongs to a local farmer. Old Man Dansby. We overheard someone talking him about two... no three days ago at the Silver Stoat. We brought it here so that he can have a proper burial. Some of his belongings, too, for his heirs to claim."
"There are more bodies down the road. Lady Argentea's retinue. She'd... we'd appreciate if you could spare some men and horses to retrieve them. Good men who gave their lives to protect their ward deserve better than being left to rot by the roadside."
"There's more to be told, both about the attack and this unseasonable cold" she adds, lowering her voice as she gets closer to the sheriff. "But perhaps those are details best discussed... privately?"
Evelyn follows along with the group her sword is kept drawn until they reach the town again. "We should return the fire since we found more, repay their favor."
Evelyn is visible relieved to be back in civilization but she doesn't speak much when the villagers approach, feeling weak without her spells she steps to the side and lets the others do the talking.