[dice=Knowledge (Nature)]1d20 + 9
Ecaterina finishes her examination of the corpse and reports her findings to the others.
"We should be moving on, this delay has set our time back and I am eager to get to the source of this problem." She defers to the more capable outdoorsmen in determining their course.
Ecaterina thinks the creature is a mephit, rather than a fey. They are rare but not unknown in Irrisen
Alikai nods at her comrades. "Very well, we shall follow." She starts along the trail towards the higher ground, moving as silently as possible, bow in hand.
Alikai notes that the footprints are extremely narrow. Almost like bird talons, put without claw marks. She heads up to follow the tracks.
Whatever they are, they are not hiding their tracks. Alikai puts their number at three, judging from the distinct tracks she finds.
A small knoll opens up with a treeless crown. Several ancient stone menhirs poke out of the snow drifts. Alikai steps out of the forest's edge and hears a clacking noise ahead.
A bony form emerges from behind one weathered stone. An ancient skeleton, the bones brown with their long sojourn in some shallow grave, comes into view. It is dressed in the tattered and rusted remains of a Qadiran bandit's armor, a spiked helmet askew on its skull. A broken scimitar is still hanging precariously from a threadbare belt. The skeleton swivels its skull in Alikai's direction with a sound like cracking walnuts. Blue fire blazes in its empty eye sockets It begins to advance towards her. As it does, Alikai hears more clacking sounds as two other dead things emerge from hiding.
Following behind Alikai, Gaelin sees the undead emerge and hoists his greatsword at the ready.
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“Undead!” exclaims Malden, probably unnecessarily.
Bone brawl intro :
Alikai: 24
Sahsara:24
Tristan: 22
Gaelin 22
Jeydavu: 22
Ecaterina: 26
Malden: 21
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As the three skeletons advance the ambient temperature drops even further, the air becoming bitingly cold
Malden pushes his way through the snow to meet the approaching skeletons. Holding aloft his holy symbol he calls out, "Sarenrae return you to the grave, foul abominations!"
A warm blast of energy bathes the three undead. The icicles forming on their bones melt a bit, and one skeleton's ribcage cracks, a rib falling into the snow
Gaelin closes on one of the skeletons. His greatsword cuts powerfully through the air at the undead.
Sahsara will try to flank a skeleton with one of her allies, but will not provoke an attack of opportunity to do so.
Using her rapier as she doesn't know any better.
Tristan moves in on one of the skeletons and lashes out with a precisely aimed kick near its knees.
"Hmm. It's a lot easier breaking bones than setting them." Tristan quips.
Bone brawl intro :
Alikai: 24 [Pending]
Sahsara:24 [atk-miss]
Tristan: 22 [Kick!]
Gaelin 22 [Slice n' dice]
Jeydavu: 22 [Pending]
Ecaterina: 26 [pending]
Malden: 21 [channel]
Skellies: 8 [atk]
Tristan kicks a skeleton with a precisely-aimed stomp to the knee. The skeleton's knee makes a popping sound and it moves with a pronounced limp
Sahsara makes a good thrust, then realizes without meat to ground the blade in she is just playing xylophone on the skeleton's ribs
Gaelin's blade slices clean through one of the undead horrors, its brown bones splintering from the force of his blow. It collapses at his feet
Jeydavu commands Chtonthoth to attack the same skeleton that Tristan is pummeling. The moose moves into position opposite the monk and gores the skeleton with its antlers. ,
Jeydavu moves to flank with Sahsara and bashes the skeleton with his quarterstaff. ,
The mammoth moose crushes a skeleton with his paddle antlers , spinning bones everywhere. Jeydavu slides into the side space of Sahsara's foe and brings his staff down on the horror's head. It splinters into a dozen shards and the headless undead collapses into a pile of bones
Malden nods in admiration at his new team mates’ efforts in destroying the undead. “Excellent teamwork,” he says. “I wonder if it is by chance or design that these skeletons came to be here? Is whatever is creating this unnatural winter also animating the dead? An abomination against nature and against Sarenrae in either case!”
"It seems unlikely to be a coincidence," Gaelin agrees. He sheaths his sword and begins scanning the area. "Perhaps they left some clue as to their purpose."
"Well done," Alikai concurs, holding up her bow, "My arrows would have rattled among their ribs as through the bare branches of a dead tree, I fear. And while they may be related, let us see if we can confuse ourselves with facts." She creeps along the trail from the scattered bones to where they emerged from the snow, seeking clues for how they came there.
The party can see that the skeletons had wandered in the area for quite some time, traveling loosely within the orbit of the top of the knoll. A bit more searching finds a patch of disturbed ground hidden by the falling snow. Three shallow graves are discovered when Alikai clears the snow from the area, with the others help. A few bits of rusted metal and a scimitar hilt point to the initial resting places of the skeletons
"I wouldn't call myself well read, but fey and skeletons don't really fit together in my head. And yet it would be kinda odd if we just so happened to wonder across some unrelated skeletons, right?"
Not knowing much about the undead, Ecaterina holds back from attacking, to see what tactics her companions use. After a brief pause, she ses that their skills were more than ample to complete the task without her assistance.
Following the others up the small hill, she stands back while they examine the area. "I'm afraid I am not much assistance in this area. The undead are not a common site where I am from, so I must confess as to a lack of knowledge regarding their habits and how to combat them."
She continues to watch and listen to the explanations of the party members, hoping to better understand this, for her, new foe.
Those that had fought the bandits at the lodge note that these skeletons had exhibited the same frosty characteristics as the ones the bandit leader had commanded
"Not that I have any great experience with the walking dead...but these skeletons did appear similar to those we encountered previously, at the lodge. Our foe appears to command the loyalty of quite a variety of subjects. Let's push onward."
Alikai pokes at the remains with a toe, shrugs, and moves back to the point position, bow still in hand.
"Let's hope they haven't cobbled together some sort of misfit army. Assuming there's a they behind it."
The party moves on, keeping to the path, and hiking along a series of knolls that form a low ridge overlooking the snow-clad forest.
There is little to see but snow and bare branches. Alikai walks point, and about an half hour from the skeletons she suddenly comes upon an area where the snow and rocks are stained brown. It doesn't take a scout to recognize dried blood. Many animal and human tracks mar the snow in the area. The animal tracks are quite large
“Carefully now,” advises Malden in a low voice. “Alikai, do you know these tracks?” He glances about, wary.
Alikai nods approval at Malden's alertness and kneels to examine the tracks more closely.
Jeydavu joins Alikai and studies the tracks as well. "I wonder whose blood was shed, human or animal?" wonders Jeydavu aloud. He discusses the potential tracks with Alikai to help her identify them.
"Not ours, which is the main thing," Alikai jokes.
Alikai nods approval at Malden's alertness and kneels to examine the tracks more closely.
[dice=Survival]1d20+7
Ecaterina moves closer to where Alikai and Jeydavu are examining the tracks. "Perhaps I may be of some assistance," she says to the pair. "I may not have much knowledge of the undead, but I have an interest in the natural world and so might be able to identify what made these tracks." She peers intently at the tracks, looking around at the surrounding landscape for any other clues as she does.
Ecaterina moves closer to where Alikai and Jeydavu are examining the tracks. "Perhaps I may be of some assistance," she says to the pair. "I may not have much knowledge of the undead, but I have an interest in the natural world and so might be able to identify what made these tracks." She peers intently at the tracks, looking around at the surrounding landscape for any other clues as she does.
[dice=Knowledge (Nature) Skill Check]1d20 + 9
The tracks are fresh, and indicate that a dire weasel is nearby. The animal has bled, so the human that was hinting it must have wounded it, but judging from the quantity of blood spilt, they got the shorter end of the stick
“Such a beast must be dangerous,” Malden murmurs, drawing his scimitar as he continues to look about for any sign that the creature may still be nearby.
Ecaterina shares her findings with the others and tells them to be on their guard. She double checks her new silver dagger is easy at hand just in case, and waits to see what the others wish to do regarding the beast.
Alikai sighs. "My instinct is to keep moving and let the wounded go to ground. But it looks like someone was wounded and may be in dire trouble, maybe some poor woodsman or hunter caught in this cold by surprise. I think we should render aid and finish off the predator so it doesn't cause any more trouble."
She looks to see which way the two combatants went.
"I agree," Gaelin says. "And if there is some manner of huntsman here, we ought to see what they know. Perhaps they will have information on the bandits or the fey that came with this accursed winter." He keeps his greatsword ready in case man or beast should lay in ambush.
Alikai nods, face graver than usual. "Perhaps. And maybe they know nothing. But if it were I out here, wounded, alone... I would not like it if people knew, yet left me to suffer and maybe die."
“Carefully now,” advises Malden in a low voice. “Alikai, do you know these tracks?” He glances about, wary.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 6
As the party searches around, something grabs Malden's attention. A small trio of trees and a group of piled stones covered in snow lay off the ridge trail a few meters. The snow covering looks to have been very disturbed. Something seems to be sticking out of the disturbed snow. Malden isn't sure, but it might be a mitten
Alikai sighs. "My instinct is to keep moving and let the wounded go to ground. But it looks like someone was wounded and may be in dire trouble, maybe some poor woodsman or hunter caught in this cold by surprise. I think we should render aid and finish off the predator so it doesn't cause any more trouble."
She looks to see which way the two combatants went.
The weasel tracks lead off after circling around the area several times. There was definitely a battle of some sort. The departing trail of prints heads off the ridge and down into the thicker woods at the bottom of the elevation. A few small blood droplets can be discerned.
Following Malden's lead Gaelin looks closely at the piled stones. He leans in for a closer examination of the mitten.
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Following Malden's lead Gaelin looks closely at the piled stones. He leans in for a closer examination of the mitten.
[dice=Perception]1d20+5
Gaelin discovers it is an arm, sticking out of the snow. A few minutes of snow clearing reveal a corpse. It is a familiar face to those native to Heldren. His name was Laureth, and he was a regular in the Silver Stoat, a frequent customer of the late Penelopy.
sadly, his days of paying silver for a knee trembler behind the jakes were over. His body is frozen, icicles of blood emerging from a dozen claw wounds.
Gaelin also notes a backpack under some snow lodged between two rocks
As Gaelin clears away the snow, his face looks pained. "I know this man," he says somberly. "His name was Laureth. In a village like Heldren, everyone tends to know one another. What he was doing in the wood I cannot say. Perhaps the contents of his pack will give some clue as to his purpose." He looks inside the pack.