Asgrid is momentarily stunned by the sight of the undead creatures stumbling out of the carriage. The undead! She hated undead creatures, hated even the thought of their warped existence. She had just been checking the other corpses for the taint of undeath...had it been another premonition? Summoning her resolve, she unslings her pick and runs over to help Kronek, trying to smash in the head of the closest. "Kronek, watch out!
Initiative
Melee attack heavy pick
damage
The feelings of shock and remorse for the slain guards wash over you as you realize just how evil these winter-touched creatures are. Between torturing the guard captain, slaughtering defenseless handmaidens, and creating undead, they certainly are not to be trifled with. Geedra is the first to react to the situation, moving nimbly through the blanket of snow to get a good eye on the enemies. She slides to a stop and gestures towards the animated corpse directly in front of Kronek while Fox crouches low by her feet and looks in the same direction. The zombie, as it raises its arms to lash out at Kronek, falters for a mere moment. While its hardened fist of cold flesh comes down on the large Kellid, it swerves slightly off course at the last second, but still hits. The second zombie follows suit and throws its dead limb into the closest living thing - the bloodrager succumbs to another blow.
Over to Cara and Kronek! I'll put in Asgrid's actions in the next post.
Updated Map (The zombie with the red square is under the misfortune hex)
Initiative:
Geedra 16
Zombies 11
Cara 6
Kronek 6
Asgrid 6
Zombie 1 Will Save:
Zombie 1 Slam:
Zombie 1 Slam (Misfortune Reroll):
Damage:
Zombie 2 Slam:
Damage:
Cara draws her longsword while moving forward, trying to distract one of the zombies off of Kronek by attacking it.
Expecting a living prisoner, Kronek stumbles back, caught by surprise as the zombies viciously attack. With no room to retreat into the snow to gain room, he drops the spear and draws the Ulfen's sword. A red film seems to cover his eyes as Kronek allows fury to wash over and he strikes back with the longsword.
The zombies throw their attacks at Kronek, scoring two telling blows on the bloodrager with their solid fists. Cara nimbly advances, longsword arcing in to slice through undead flesh. The carriage itself works against her, however, the walls of the vehicle causing her strike to go off target. As her slash catches the corner and splinters a touch of wood, Kronek beside her lets his weapon clatter to the ground, but pushes through whatever momentary pain the injuries have bestowed upon him. He wraps a mighty hand around the hilt of Yuln's longsword and yanks it from the scabbard. The blade is impressive - a well-crafted blade of rippled cold iron that shows the folds of the metalwork. The light reflecting off of the snow dances along the blade's facets, showing a bluish tinge to the weapon. There is little time to admire, it however, for as soon as it is loosed from its confines, the blade descends upon the undead guardsman as a look of pure fury usurps Kronek's features. With great strength he brings the longsword down on the zombie at the left shoulder, and pushes through all resistance until is breaks free at the opposite armpit, bisecting the animated corpse. Without a sound, the zombie's cold eyes grow dull and dark, and the two halves of the body fall to the carriage floor with a thud.
Asgrid advances as the zombie falls, moving in between Kronek and Cara to drive the spike of her heavy pick into the remaining undead. Like Cara, however, her weapon takes a piece of the carriage instead, and misses its intended target.
Initiative:
Geedra 16
Zombies 11
Cara 6
Kronek 6
Asgrid 6
Geedra delays her action, as she had nothing useful to contribute at the time, other than advice.
"Hit it! Asgrid, elf, stop playing with zombie. Looks like zombie has mean bite..."
Asgrid tries to help Kronek take down the remaining zombie, but she's too slow to make the assist. Instead, she just joins in with her own attack. She doesn't want to mess around when it comes to the undead. She either lunges upwards with her pick between the dead man's legs if it's still on its feet, or she chops down at its prone form if it's already been defeated. Either way, she wants to make sure the warrior's not going to rise again. "Axe of my fathers! I hate undead!"
Melee attack, heavy pick
damage
Critical confirm
critical damage
After the first exchange of blows, one Zombie lays in two parts on the snow-kissed ground at Kronek's feet. The zombie doesn't quite bleed, but the blade of the cold iron longsword is ornamented in clinging pieces of necrotic flesh and muscle. Geedra shouts a sort of goblin encouragement from the back, urging the others to strike more accurately. The zombie seems quite oblivious to everything going on, impassive even to its bisected counterpart. With a groaning hiss, it lunges forward again, throwing its arms forward in a clumsy attempt to strike Cara, whose sword a moment before chipped away at the carriage just near the undead's form. The awaken corpse narrowly misses, his own hand gouging the door of the carriage near Cara with its frozen fingernails.
Initiative:
Geedra 16
Zombies 11
Cara 6
Kronek 6
Asgrid 6
"I'm glad to see you can handle yourself." Cara says to Kronek with a grin as she attempts to strike the zombie again.
Kronek spins as Cara's attack knocks the zombie's head off. He lets out a soft whistle. "Wow, nice blow Cara."
Responding to the attack on her, Cara nimby slips her sword within the shielding confines of the carriage's exterior and connects with the zombie's neck in a backhanded sweep of her blade. The precise cut easily eats through the undead creature's flesh, neatly separating the head from shoulders. The head falls harmlessly to the snowy ground below, and suddenly Asgrid's pick drops like a spiked meteor, impaling the thing so forcefully that it buries to the haft of the weapon, which itself cracks the skull open like an egg. If there was any doubt before, this zombie is now quite certainly done for.
"We make a good team." Cara remarks with another smile, which quickly fades as she remembers the carnage around her.
Perhaps not wanting to dwell on the horror that occurred here, she then suggests, "Unless there are more surprises, we should gather up the useful items and follow the trail. Could someone assist Kronek with his wounds while I look inside the carriage?"
"Elf and human good with sword! Geedra much impressed. Anything in there zombies not ate already?"
Asgrid draws back her pick and scrapes blood and matter off the tip. "Ahh, that felt good. A shame about what happened to the warriors, but I really hate undead."
The threat subsided for the time being, Cara's comment alerts Asgrid to Kronek's wounds. "Kronek, here let me check those wounds. Don't want them to fester. And I really, really, don't want to see you ending up like those guys." She lays her hands on one of his muscled arms and breathes a prayer in dwarven. A warm glow travels from her hand and up his arm, channeling healing energies.
Kronek shudders as he allows his rage to boil down and looks down at his wounds as Asgrid summons forth the healing energy. "You're a shaman Asgrid? I remember a similar feeling when my tribe's shaman healed my ankle when I stepped wrong between two rocks as a boy."
Asgrid smiles shyly from where she stands beside Kronek, checking that his wounds have healed nicely. "No, I'm no shaman. At least, I don't think so. When I was young, I was caught in an avalanche. I survived, but it left me with some strange powers. The winter witches didn't like it; they tried to make me like them but feared my powers because they were different. I'm still trying to figure them out myself, but I'm glad they have some practical uses, like being able to heal folk. Geedra has helped me understand the magic, as well."
Geedra shakes her head. "Fox knows more magic than Geedra. Geedra just try learn it too. Asgrid good at heals, though. Keep Geedra and Fox healthy, strong"
"It seems like this will be a serendipitous arrangement." Cara notes as she overhears more about her companions' skills. "I had a feeling there was something special about each of you."
Assuming she finds nothing of interest in the carriage, Cara's attention moves to the trail she found in the snow. "I can track them from here when you're ready."
"Avalanche magic. Fox magic. If the witches don't like it, I guess I do. Ware that it doesn't take your soul."
Geedra scans the scene for hints of magic, using her Detect Magic ability.
You've only truly searched through the disarray of cargo in which Geedra found the clothing. Anyone wanting to search any other spots go ahead and give me perception rolls.
"Bah! No magic here. Any gold around? Zombies and frozen people...something strange happening in this place. Strange, Geedra say. Any clues what might happened here?"
"I cannot tell any more than what is obvious. I suspect the source of these strange occurrences lies down the trail." Cara says to Geedra as she searches the other wagon.
"Does anyone else need healing? Did those zombies manage to rake anyone else? You don't want the wounds to fester."
If no one else needs her services, Asgrid chips in at looking over the site in greater detail. She checks the area south of the carriage, looking for any more clues about the attack, or where the survivors (if any) may have been taken. She is especially curious about a tree that looks like it was knocked flat - was that during the fight?
With the zombies taken care of and the anxiety of battle passed, you set to searching through the carriage and its surroundings for any salvage. Unfortunately, it looks as though the bandits did a good job at picking the wreckage clean...however, when Cara slips into the carriage for a better look, she finds a small, ornate wooden box stuffed under the seat, half-buried in some less noteworthy contents of the vehicle. It likely slid there during the attack and the bandits must have missed it. Inside, sitting amidst fine purple velvet, are a signet ring, a pair of white gold earrings, a set of pearl-inlaid bracelets, three silver and two gold chain necklaces, and another silver chain with a small sapphire pendant.
Comparing the guard-statue's sword to Yuln's blade, it looks to be of similar quality. You ascertain that the longsword is of masterwork quality. The spear is of common stock.
"My injuries are healed. We should probably take those items to return to the Lady. Since I am using Yuln's blade, would anyone else like to use the guard's longsword. It looks to be of excellent quality."
"Ooooo that's gold,and silver! More like what Geedra been looking for! That should be group's reward for helping kill zombies, so they not kill anyone else," Geedra adds, batting her eyes and grinning her huge overly toothy grin at Kronek hopefully. "Gold," she repeats.
"She might have a greater reward for us if we save her Geedra...of course, we might have to deal with the damnable witches or their fey too."
"Er, yes, must save woman, right...that what Geedra meant. Save woman most important. Watch out for tricky bad witches," she parrots as her eyes never leave the box the precious metals were contained in.
"I'll take the sword is no one else can make good use of it." Cara says as she takes a moment to examine the weapon.
"Although we should take the valuables with us, I believe we should avoid claiming them as our own until we track down the Lady's location..."She stops mid-sentence as a thought occurs to her, "It's strange that the kidnappers would leave such items behind. Obviously this isn't motivated by mere gold."
"In any case, let me know when you are all ready to follow the trail." With that Cara walks over to where the trail starts and waits for the others.
"Let's go. Take gold, just in case. Might come in handy. Geedra can carry if too heavy for big human."
"Yeah, let's move on. Cara, you seem pretty good at tracking - would you be willing to show us the way? Perhaps the good lady isn't too far ahead." . Asgrid draws her coat a bit tighter, trying to keep out the cold.
Cara moves out ahead of the rest of the group, moving past the grim warning that is the frozen, mutilated guardsman. The tracks lead on past the unfortunate man into the trees beyond, where a casual look will tell you that your travels in the Wood will only become more dangerous. A cold, slashing wind slices its way out of the trees, and snow falls and blows in the air as far as the eye can see. The trail into the woods is ominous, baring itself before you like the maw of a terrible beast. Starting down the trail, two things are obvious - the tracks left by the bandits are easily followed. You can make out several humanoid bootprints, a consistent gouge that was obviously something being dragged, and hoof-prints likely to be horses. The other thing you notice is that the snow here is considerably deeper than it was just outside the thickness of the trees.
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.
The Ranger remains quiet as she follows the trail, attempting to remain perceptive and alert despite the wind and biting cold luring her into a frigid stupor.
Once they discover the chest, Cara eyes it skeptically, "They may have dropped it to move faster, or it could be a trap."
"They probably just left it because of this heavy snow. Tough going."
The goblin was sliding around much better than the others on the snow. Her light weight, as well as her strange way of walking with the snow,,instead of sinking into it, let her reach the chest quickly. "Chest?! More gold and silver, maybe? They knew Geedra was coming! Want Geedra to open? ".
As she moves it it, she tries to open the lid, if it is unlocked.
Upon seeing the chest, Cara and Kronek eye it as the group approaches but Geedra, hungry for more treasure, moves forward to get a look inside. As she moves along the trail, however, her foot catches something hidden beneath the packed snow and she trips half of a step, but the real danger subsequently presents itself. A huge, spiked log descends from high in the trees, sweeping down in an arc at everyone along the trail!
Reflex