"When and which way did they leave with the women? Show me the tracks." Gunthar asks mimicking the tone and cadence of his father's voice.
Survival:
Reolus looks about for the tracks as well. Perhaps between Gunthar and himself they can find them.
Once tracks are or aren't found, Reolus heads towards the hof. "Pleae, let me tend to your son, Ulgar. It will only take a few minutes to see to him."
Ulger shows Gunthar and Reolus to where the raiders came from, where Reolus points out the tracks to Gunthar. Gunther is left to examine them while Ulger leads Reolus to the boy. Ulgar makes no effort to prevent the priest from caring for his son. The boy has a sword wound to the chest, and is unconscious. They have jammed some cloth into the wound, but the boy's skin is pale, and his pulse weak.
The tracks of the raiders lead out onto the moors away from the farm.
Take 10 for first aid: 10+8=18
Two charges spent from his kit, and it doesn't work.
As Gunthar searches for tracks and Reolus tends to the gravely injured boy, Lo presses Ulger for more details of the attack, asking of him several questions.
“In what numbers did they come, and how were they armed and armoured? Were any slain or injured grievously during the attack?”
“How many hours have passed since the pagans made off with your daughters? Did they travel by foot? Were any of the women injured?”
“We are but three. Are there any here brave or able enough to accompany us in a rescue attempt?
Take 10 for first aid: 10+8=18
[dice=Treat Deadly Wounds]1d20+8Two charges spent from his kit, and it doesn't work.
As Gunthar searches for tracks and Reolus tends to the gravely injured boy, Lo presses Ulger for more details of the attack, asking of him several questions.
“In what numbers did they come, and how were they armed and armoured? Were any slain or injured grievously during the attack?”
“How many hours have passed since the pagans made off with your daughters? Did they travel by foot? Were any of the women injured?”
“We are but three. Are there any here brave or able enough to accompany us in a rescue attempt?
[dice=Diplomacy] 1d20 + 1
"I'm not sure how many there were, sir. It was dark and happened so quickly. If I had to guess I'd say around half a dozen. None of them were slain. I don't know what an hour is, but they came last night, on foot. I don't know how the women are...oh God, to think what's happening to them now..." Ulger breaks off and can't say more, he's having too much trouble resisting his tears.
Replies lays a hand on his shoulder. "Fear not. Have faith and pray for their return. I have tended your son and he will live. Wash the would with weak wine every few hours and change the bandages when they get brown, and he will recover. Do you understand?"
Lo tries to hide his disquiet at Ulger’s grief, and does his best not to think about the terror that must have engulfed the man’s world since the preceding night. Leaving the farmer to his sobs, he gathers Gunthar and Reolus to him in conference.
“Ulger guesses at half a dozen. I’ve heard Graf Theodoric say one good Christian with faith in the Almighty is worth two of the fiercest pagans, but are we really ready to test those words? Perhaps some of these men might be persuaded to accompany us. The raiders came on foot; we have horses and could overhaul them before they got too far. With a good plan and the Lord’s blessing, we might even prevail and rescue the women before they are … defiled.” For a moment, the horrific image in the hof flashes back into Lo’s mind, and he closes his eyes.
When he opens them, he looks at his two fellows, wondering if either of them harbour the confidence he lacks at the prospect of a dangerous rescue mission.
Replies lays a hand on his shoulder. "Fear not. Have faith and pray for their return. I have tended your son and he will live. Wash the would with weak wine every few hours and change the bandages when they get brown, and he will recover. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Father. Thank you," Ulger manages.
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"Ready or not, we shall test them this day," Reolus says. "We will not abandon Ulgar's daughters to torment and death. Not while we have strength left...Let's hunt some pagan!"
Diplomacy to inspire Lo's courage:
"I don't know how much our horses will be an advantage on the moors. Regardless, time is of the essence. We need to follow the tracks and save the women." Gunthar replies to Lo.
"A very risky strategy would be ride hard back to where we camped last night and set an ambush at that pagan party place that we saw. They may return there for their spoils, but if it doesn't work then we've lost there trail."
I guess were camping and will set out after we've slept 8 hours. We can leave as soon as we have enough light to see the trail. If moonlight, then we can leave at night.
I guess were camping and will set out after we've slept 8 hours. We can leave as soon as we have enough light to see the trail. If moonlight, then we can leave at night.
"I don't think we have the luxury of camping and resting. We should push on, or..." he lowers his voice below Ulgar's hearing. "Or else, there won't be enough of the girls left to rescue."
Survival:
Survival:
Very well, we push on as you described.
<< // // // >>
To such skilled trackers as the young knights, the trail of six men dragging three hostages is as clear as a paved road. The three Christians follow the tracks out onto the moors and quickly lose sight of the road and the farm. It's just nature now. The cold wind howling from the north blasts their faces with flecks of mist as they ride into it, hunched over their saddles looking at the ground. The general damp has been picking up all day, and it has reached the point of somehow soaking everything without actually having ever properly rained. Fog billows slowly across the land, cloaking everything around them in mystery and danger.
After a couple of hours of this determined drudgery, they are forced to stop due to the lack of light. The mounts are weary, and so are they, soaked to the bone and sore all over. There's nowhere dry to camp, and the terrain is relatively the same everywhere. The knights find a pine thicket and use the materials there to create three bough beds to get them up off the ground. They then build small lean-to shelters with chopped brances and three felled saplings. Finding dry fuel for a fire proves to be impossible. The best they can manage with green wood is an extremely smoky weak flame, that does little to warm them and takes much work to maintain. They manage a "cooked" meal over it though. Salt pork "stew" (having only one ingredient) with rock hard trail ration "biscuits" on the side. Though the fog and darkness hide them well, prudence demands that they set a night watch.
...in cold weather (below 40° F) must make a Fortitude save each hour (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
fail
fail
fail
fail
fail
fail
Lo spends a night in misery cursing his companions’ recklessness. Their haste for glory and unwillingness to come up with a good plan, or even take the time to try and recruit some of Ulger’s men to aid them on their hunt, has likely doomed them to die in the attempt. Ulger’s women will only share the same fate or worse.
The wretched cold takes its toll, and by morning Lo can barely move. He’s in a sombre mood as he crunches through a tasteless biscuit, the slow lightening of the mist heralding dawn.
We’re committed now. We should catch them soon, but without some careful thought we can’t hope to prevail against six. His gaze flicks to his two companions. I’m not sure if these two have the imagination to realise that.
Fail
Fail
Fail
Fail
Fail
Non-lethal damage:
Healing surge after second failure:
Healing surge after second failure:
Healing surge after fourth failure:
End result: 8 non-lethal damage by morning.
The first time he awakens from the chill, he instructs whomever is on watch to start gathering horse dung that their steeds drop and smearing it thinly along the rocks of their feeble fire to dry out slightly. If it dries enough, they can add bits of it to help fuel the fire.
As dawn finally breaks, Reolus wakens the other men, instructs them to lie together and hold each other, while he proceeds to boil (or at least, heat) water for a tea of some sort, to get some warmth into the men.
Once it actually warms up enough that they stop taking damage, Reolus tends to them.
TDW on Gunthar:
TDW on Lo:
<< // // // >>
The night goes poorly. Only Gunthar manages to weather it with some magnanimity. By dawn, all three of the knights have frostbitten fingers, toes and ears and are suffering from mild hypothermia. They move vigorously, and attempt to stoke the fire with partially dried horse dung and more green wood. The rain has stopped, but the icy fog remains. It isn't until after the sun has fully risen and the men have run circles for an hour with wet sticks in between the layers of their clothing (to dry them) that they manage to get a proper small fire going. They are ravenous and eat two meals to give their body's fire fuel. The added warmth of the sun eventually allows them to warm the frost bitten parts of their bodies back to painful life.
A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted. After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.
Gunthar summarizes, "Last night sucked. We're going to need some oilcloaks and tents to survive this winter. Are you two well enough to continue?"
Lo stifles a groan and a hacking cough and stumbles over to his warhorse, Balder. “Come on, let’s go,” he says without conviction, and mounts with all the stiffness of a wizened greybeard in his last years rather than a youth of eighteen.
Reolus, in a similar state to Lo, also mounts up. "If anybody spots dry wood as we ride, by all means grab it up!"
Survival to follow tracks:
Reolus manages to follow the trail for another mile.
As the three companions make their way across the drab moor, Lo keeps a sharp lookout for any dead wood which might be used to make a fire should they be forced to spend a second cold night on the fells. When Reolus loses the trail, Lo does his best to find it again.
<< // // // >>
The knights continue the slow work of tracking the outlaw pagans across the cold damp moorland. The trail continues to lead them back west, and north. By lunch time they guess that they must be most of the way west back to Minden, though they are now far north of the town. Around the same mid afternoon they come across the remains of a camp. The first thing that draws their sight is the corpse of a woman which has clearly been gnawed at by some kind of animal(s). There are also ashes from a sizable fire. Reolus examines the woman's body, and finds evidence that she froze to death. The trail continues on from the site.
Reolus insists that they gather whatever wood they can for a fire that night, drying it again the same way as before.
When they find the woman, Reolus is torn, partly from grief at having failed one of the women, and partly from not wanting to lose the momentum by burying her body. He reluctantly recommends pressing on, to better aid the other women.
Before they continue, Lo kneels and forces himself to look at the murdered woman. He studies her pale, expressionless face for as long as he can bear, trying to recall if he saw her at Ulger’s steading, or if her features bear a resemblance to any of Ulger’s kin. He also tries to determine the cause of death.
Though Lo agrees there is no time to bury the poor unfortunate, he turns to Reolus and says “At the very least say a few words for her. You’re the chaplain, and the duty lies with you.”
"Of course. I wouldn't dream of not doing so."
Gunthar respectfully gives the two their time. He collects and packs anything useful from the remains of the camp, like firewood. When they appear ready, he says, "Let's get moving. She'll have to wait for what is proper."
She froze to death.
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Reolus bows his head over the woman, and smears a bit of holy oil on her forehead. "Requiem eternum. Dona eis requiem. May light perpetual shine upon this daughter of Christ. Holy Father, her earthly trials have ended. Speedily welcome him into your loving arms, and grant her peace. In nomine Patri, et filiii, et spiritual sanctu. Amen."
With no stones to build a cairn, and no time to bury the unfortunate lass, he earthly remains are left in the state the knights found them in. They press on doggedly following the trail of the raiders. It leads them ever further north onto the moors, and deeper into Sachsenland. They see no dwellings anywhere, though occasionally they spot the smudge of woodsmoke far away on the horizon. The continue tracking until the afternoon, when they are totally exhausted and still have plenty of light to set up proper shelter. The clouds are rolling in from the north, and it looks to be another miserable night. They find another small grove of trees; mixed spruce, pine, beech and oak. The deciduous trees have all lost their leaves, but the pine boughs provided much needed material. They managed to dry out some grass and tinder in their clothes and under their saddles during the day's ride and getting a fire started is easier than it was the night before.
Following the abject misery of the previous night, Lo takes care to be better prepared for another sleep upon the moors. This night the fire is stronger, hotter, and Lo keeps adding sticks to keep it merrily crackling away.
When prodded to wakefulness to take the dawn watch he builds the fire up again.
The flames might attract unwanted attention, but better to die upon the sword than die from the cold.
Gunthar digs in deep to his father's training going through the motions in his exhaustion. He takes first watch letting Reolus have a nap and second watch. Then, Reolus will have the fire in the middle of the night to keep him warm and have a full night sleep.
About halfway through his watch, Gunthar notices the lights of several fires in the distance, on the horizon to the north. The trees block the view from the knights' fire, but while he is walking the perimeter to keep warm he spots them. A quick count reveals there to be five firelights visible.
Gunthar wakes Reolus and Lo and readies them. "We're going this time."