Celif shakes her head. "I can't remember reading or hearing of such a thing."
"Thank you, Ulrik, for that information. That will be helpful."
To the rest of our group I say, "I think Ulrik has a good idea about asking the High Sentinels rangers to help us with our search for his dad, and for Lady Argentea who was taken hostage.'
To Celif I say, "Could the white deer be an illusion of some sort?'
Celif shrugs. "Perhaps. But in that case who invoked it, and why?"
"S-seems to have brought a warning. May be different to what caused t-the destruction. P-perhaps see to the Hunter Dryden Kepp for more in-information before going to th-the rangers."
Nästród sits down and takes out his Harrow deck. He performs an Augury.
Will seeing the hunter Dryden first be a weal or woe towards our goal?
Having dealt out the Harrow cards in neat little crosses and triangles, Nästród stares at the arrangements before him. Slowly, the Tangled Briar seems to come alive and grow out of its card in a swirling dance of brambles and shadows.
Nästród wipes away the vision from his eyes and takes a deep breath. Nothing had really changed with the cards but the darkness clung to his mind like spider webs.
"Seeing the hunter Dryden will be woe to our path," he announces aloud while hurriedly putting away his cards, "Cards did not quite reveal why; just that it shall be."
"Perhaps it means we should not further delay in starting our search for Ulrik's father; that we have enough information to proceed. Let's be on our way to the rangers.'
Flug nods. "L-let us go. To the rangers first or to Ul-ulrik's father? The r-rangers may be n-nearby in any case."
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The party follows the road toward the trees, and the air grows noticeably cooler the closer you come to the forest’s edge. As soon as you pass inside the tree line where the pocket of winter begins, however, the weather proves much worse, with temperatures below freezing and falling snow. The snow reduces visibility by half, imposing a –4 penalty on Perception checks and ranged attacks.
The temperatures inside the forest are considerably cold. Within the edges of the Border Wood, 6 inches of snow cover the ground, reducing overland travel rates by half. During combat, entering a snow-covered square costs 2 squares of movement.
It doesn't take long following the road until you see an unsettling scene. The road ahead is littered with debris and the corpses of slain humans and horses. A carriage stands in the roadway, its team of horses missing or cut free, while another overturned carriage lies sprawled and broken next to the tree line. To the south, more bodies have fallen around what appears to be a statue of ice. A snowy trail leads deeper into the forest.
"I feel a sense of Déjà Vu," Nästród says. He draws his falchion and mutters the command word. Örlög-Eldur, Destiny's Fire, bursts into flames along the blade.
He casts Whispering Lore and Guidance. Then he walks cautiously to M5. Looking all around, both hands on his blade, he readies himself for any attack.
"Oh my," Celif says as she surveys the scene. Rubbing her arms in a useless effort to stay warm, she follows Nästród.
Walk to H5 and look at the body.
Flug accompanies Nastrod and Celif. "C-cold," is his only remark.
"Indeed," Celif agrees, continuing to scan the area for magical auras.
Glad I put on my cold weather gear over my armor before we left the village. It is cold out here!
After surveying the horrible scene, I check all the bodies and wagons and boxes/trunks for useful loot. Then I go to stand near the Ice Statue.
Perception:
Knowledge Local:
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Nastrod and Flug walk over to the body at H-5 and examines the remains. It has been stripped of all armor, weapons, and other possessions. It lies pierced with tiny needles and shards of ice.
Celif scans the area trying to detect the presence of magic, but does not detect any lingering auras.
Imowen wanders around the area, checking the bodies, wagons, and trunks. Her knowledge of local events confirms that the carriages bear the markings of heraldry, presuming the herald of Lady Argentea.
The overturned carriage has many arrows embedded in it, and looks to be thoroughly looted. The boxes and trunks have been broken open and looted. Nothing of value appears to remain.
As she examines the upright carriage, she notes that it also has damage from the many arrows fired in the battle that took place here. A spear has been wedged between the handles of the carriage doors to hold them closed.
She goes and examines the Ice Statue, and discovers it is the standing, frozen remains of a gruesome statue, a guard whose slain body is mostly encased in ice. The body is no longer intact, as someone has carved away pieces of him that now lie in blocks of slowly melting ice at his feet. The frozen guard still wears his breastplate, emblazoned with the same heraldry as on the carriages, and one of the chunks of ice contains the captain’s arm, still grasping a masterwork longsword.
Making a mental note to return and retrieve the MW longsword later,
I go back to the upright carriage. Wondering why the doors are held closed, I attempt to remove the spear from between the handles, and then open those doors.
Checking for Traps:
Disable Device:
A bit concerned that Imowen is preparing to open the carriage by herself, Celif moves to join her (but doesn't interfere).
"Sh-should we inv-vestigate here first bef-fore the S-sentinels?"
"What are these?" Nästród says, plucking one of the needles off the body to look at it carefully.
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Imowen grabs the spear used to secure the doors on the upright carriage. After some tugging and pulling, the spear pulls loose, and the doors fly open! She is attacked by two walking corpses wearing only a few soiled rags, their flesh rotting off their bones as as they stumble forward with unnatural quickness, arms outstretched!
Arms flailing, the creatures slam her for a combined 23 points of damage!
Nastrod examines the needles piercing the body, and observes they are made entirely of ice!
"Aye-yae-yae-yae-yae-yae!!!'
Initiative:
"Undead!" Celif manages to call out.
"Yes," Flug confirms.
Vastly irritated by this despicable Zombie B, I whip out my +1 Undead Bane Light Mace, and raising it high over my head I smash it down on his head!
Attack:
Damage:
Flug staggers from the zombie's fists bursting with pure force through the cloak of darkness covering him and smashing into his vulnerable stomach.
Blood leaks from his closed lips but Flug draws his morning star and swings it at his attacker with the same movement.
Nästród brings the flaming falchion down on the zombie .
Celif cringes as Flug takes a hit even more vicious than the one suffered by Imowen. She holds her ground as the rogue dispatches the nearest zombie, and sweeps her hands up and out as she calls on the benevolence of Septimus.
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Flug and Nastrod attack the remaining zombie, and they pound it into the ground, killing it!
Celif calls upon her deity and heals everyone for 14 points!
End of Encounter
The two corpses of the undead lie in the snow beside the carriage. Silence returns to the scene, the only sound heard is the wind driving the snowflakes before it, and flapping the carriage doors to and fro...
Turning to Celif, I say,"Thanks for the healing! I needed that."
Then I walk over to the zombies' corpses and thoroughly search both of them for loot. I return to the carriage and step up into it and thoroughly search it as well for loot.
Perception for the corpses:
Perception for the carriage:
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Imowen searches the zombie corpses but all of their possessions were removed prior to becoming undead.
She searches the interior of the carriage, and spots a small jewelry box under the seat. Lady Argentea’s signet ring is still inside, as are a pair of earrings worth 25 gp, a set of pearl-inlaid bracelets worth 90 gp, assorted gold and silver necklaces worth a total of 75 gp, and one sapphire pendant worth 50 gp.
Turning to Celif, I say,"Thanks for the healing! I needed that."
"Well I don't think we're done quite yet!" Celif replies with a smile as she pulls out a wand and applies it.
Celif pauses to shake the wand next to her ear. "I think this new wand might be defective!"
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At the edge of the attack site, an obvious trail leads south between a copse of trees and over a snowy plain. In addition to humanoid footprints in the snow, there are prints of horse hoofs. It is obvious that the attackers were unable to hide their trail in the heavy snow, so it can be followed easily without the need for Survival checks.
Nästród closes his eyes and lets his intuition guide him.
He opens them again, kneels down, and looks at the tracks closely.
"About dozen. They were shod in boots."
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The group follows the trail of footprints that wend their way south from the attack site. As it enters the full expanse of the Border Wood, the trail passes through a small clearing among the taller trees before continuing uphill and out of sight. A large chest lies half-buried in the snow, apparently dropped or discarded by those who hastily passed this way.
"We'll kn-know how many to expect."
Celif eyes the chest, then looks at Imowen. "I suppose you're going to open that. I wonder what's going to leap out and attack us this time?"
"Aye. . . the chest could be placed by design as a trap rather than dropped by accident."
I say,"Yes, Celif. Of course I am going to open this chest. Carefully of course."
Checking chest for traps:
If trapped and/or locked, Disable Device:
Then I will open the chest and reveal all the treasures!
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Imowen examines the chest, but does not observe that it appears trapped. It does appear odd, because it seems to be half-buried at an angle - one end is higher than the other.
Imowen open the chest, and a buried rope springs up from the snow beneath the chest, and you all observe a spiked log swing down from the trees and it sweeps across the chest and along the trail, to strike at everyone!
Imowen:
Celif:
Flug:
Nastrod:
The log strikes Imowen for six damage, Celif for ten points of damage, Flug for ten damage, and Nastrod manages to dive out of the way!
"By design would seem to win the contest here!"
Celif clambers back to her feet and woozily brushes herself off. "Not carefully enough, it would seem," she observes in dry tones.
"Also: 'Ow.'"
Since there doesn't appear to be any other immediate danger, she invests time in individual attention rather than asking for mass aid from Septimus.
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The log sweeping along the path displaced the wooden chest, and you can see that numerous items were buried under it. The cache appears to mostly contain items such as weapons and armor stripped from Lady Argentea’s guards, including five sets of leather armor, three sets of studded leather armor, a masterwork chain shirt, two light wooden shields, seven longswords, two spears, a masterwork dagger, and three light crossbows with a total of 25 bolts.