Nadya looks over her shoulder to the rest of you and sighs, shrugging. Orm and Mjoli seem rather bewildered by the land before them, and have moved up to the forward-most spots on their sled, obviously anxious to explore.
"I would like to say that this is something good and pure, Katie, but a lifetime in Irrisen makes that hard to believe. Still, it is strange to think that the jadwiga would be responsible for something so...warm. And green. It's beautiful..." She looks to Cara. "Is this what lands are like in the south? Is this like your home?" She has a somewhat wistful air in her voice, something uncharacteristic. The power of this strange pocket of warmth and springtime ha certainly taken hold of the Petska family.
"Part of me very much wants to go into this...whatever it is. But it could be a trap. I will defer to your judgment in this, friends. Skirting it may cost us a few hours."
Katie quickly mutters a spell to check it for magical auras.
"Whatever it is, it seems like it's coming from the area itself. Seems like divine magic, too. If it's something divine pushing back Baba Yaga's frost..."
She glances at the others, worried that it could have an effect on them given the mutual quest they're currently under and the strange blessings of the Riders. Still, she really wants to go there.
Skäne's scowl does not soften, but his words indicate an element of interest in Katie's words;
"If you tala true Rosten, then might not this be the guðr eigna Irrensen?"
He tilts his helmed head toward the clearing;
"Still. We should senda the puka framer first."
"Yes, this climate is similar to my ancestral lands, although we have learned to live in balance with nature and her creatures so we do not have to live in constant worry." Cara explains softly, "There are some unnatural dangers nearby, but I suppose it's a good place to raise a family."
The Elf maiden sighs, then lowers her hood for the first time since she's met Katie and Skäne, "If the source is divine magic, then I would not be adverse to exploring it a bit further. I'll send Aran through the area to scout. If there are any obvious dangers I'll be able to tell when he returns."
Geedra taps her foot, waiting on the more stronger types to move ahead to scout. "Geedra am not sure what go on at this land. Am probably evil magic," she grumbles as she casts Detect Magic and starts looking around.
Despite Skäne's urging to send Geedra in as a "scout," Cara instead utilizes her bonded owl. Aran silently takes off on white wings, gliding through the nearby expanse of strange summer. The rest of the group stands idly by, waiting for some response. The dogs pulling the sleds take the time to rest, lying about and taking part in some food and water that Nadya and her boys set out for them.
After a half hour or so, Aran soars back and nestles down on the sled nearest Cara. The owl cocks his head to the ranger once before raising a wing and preening his feathers. He seems calm and without worry, so it seems the summer lands are safe enough.
Nadya leads the procession into the grass. Almost immediately upon crossing the threshold do you feel the warmth of the area. It isn't truly as warm as a southern summer, but it does hover well above freezing, perhaps twenty degrees or more above. The sleds don't have the smoothest of goings through the largely snowless terrain. The grass is wet and muddy, laden with snowmelt. The dogs kick up dirt-tinged water and the sleds almost undulate across the soggy earth.
You can spot Nadya holding up her hand and staring at the rays of unrestricted sunlight that fall upon her skin. She is wide-eyed, having never experienced such a feeling. The sun of Irrisen is ever filtered through the charcoal haze of grim clouds.
The sound of running water pricks your ears after an hour of travel, and it grows louder as you progress. You soon happen upon a rivulet running perpendicular to your path, emerging from beneath the surface of the ground at a slope and trickling in a narrow channel off to the west. The water looks clean and clear, and you can spot several marks near the edge in the mud - tracks, no doubt. Nadya pulls the sleds to a close by the creek so the dogs can get a fresh drink, and refills some skins of her own as well.
From here, the rivulet runs on out of sight to the west, and ahead to the north you can see a few swathes of trees clothed in green. The land rises into rolling hills to the east. The temperature seems to climb slightly the further you move into this zone, and beads of sweat start to accumulate from all the layers of clothing you wear.
Cara gracefully disembarks from her sled and examines the tracks.
[+2 if human, +2 if this is still considered Cold terrain]
"Some deer and wolves passed through here from the trees to the north and went west along the creek. There are also boot prints from human sized two-legged creatures that headed to the east about 1 month ago. So, the question is, do we go north and see what the animals were fleeing, or go east and see where the people went." Cara reveals after her investigation of the area.
:
Skäne nods in appreciation of Cara's wilderness skills;
"Good auga Álfrmær..."
The surly warrior stoops to fill his own canteen, taking a deep draught before offering his own thoughts;
"Ulf and elgr may have fled something... Or been sent out? Fae can beguile beasts and folk alike."
"...People, I think." Animals are nice to hunt, but they probably aren't related to the summertime magic and the party has plenty of food.
"Maybe we'll be able to find out something important?"
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"Geedra am want find humans. Have more gold than dumb animals. Animals am not have good pockets," Geedra says with a cackle.
"Let us follow the people tracks then. The tracks are old so I doubt this is a trap. With this terrible land there is no guarantees of that though." Cara suggests to the group.
"Me and my boys will stay behind with the dogs while you explore the area," Nadya says. "These hounds could use a good rest and nourishment. Take care."
Skäne and Cara lead the foray into the hills, keeping a steady pace as to not lose sight of the tracks. As would be expected, the dried, muddy footprints follow the easiest path through the undulating landscape, avoiding steep inclines and meandering through the small valleys between the slopes. The tracks disappear intermittently when the exposed stone disappears, and they crossed too long ago for the ground itself to show signs of their passing, but some quick searching each time the trail is lost turns up another area where the stone returns and the path can be followed again.
After about a half hour of travel, evidence of a campsite is uncovered. A deliberate circle of stones encloses the ashen remains of a small firepit, and a thorough search of the immediate area turns up some nut shells, fish scales, and berry pits. Obviously, the traveling group rested here for at least a meal.
Additionally, you come to turn over a few of the stones that form the ring around the firepit, and see strange markings on their undersides; runes or sigils of some kind. They do not appear to be in any language any of you can read. Finally, beneath the ashes of the firepit you uncover a bundle of some sort wrapped in burlap. A sheet of parchment is folded and tucked under the twine holding the bundle together, but it too is written in the unfamiliar language.
The bundle proves to be a cache of some kind. Its contents include a tube of cedar sealed with resin, three clay jars sealed with wax, a small wooden box inside of which you find bundles of herbs wood chips as well as a white stone, and another folded piece of parchment. The parchment unfolds to reveal a map, though not one so detailed as to be inked by a cartographer. It is a rough estimation of an area, and landmarks seem to be denoted more so than settlements. Seven small blue dots seem randomly dispersed across the map.
The wooden tube holds three scrolls. The clay jars hold thick colored pigments akin to paint - 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 green - and the box holds mistletoe, rhodiola, agarwood, and holly, as well as the strange stone.
Know. Geography
Geedra casts Detect Magic and points out the magical scrolls. She takes the scrolls of Read Weather and tucks them her into her bag. She throws the others down, saying "Dumb nature magic...ranger, Druid, cleric stuff. Geedra am not able to use."
Skäne keeps a vigil as the cache of strange items are discovered.
He scowls before grumbling his concerns;
"Ware. The items could be fjall ... Cursed?"[/b]
The warrior watches Geedra to see if she exhibits any ill-effects...
Cara looks over the map with a puzzled expresion, "They've purposefully tried to make this as confusing as possible. However, I believe it is represents the central portion of Irrisen, but I do not know what the blue dots are. I would assume they could be other portal locations, or more of these warmer areas, although I doubt they would use blue to note them if that was the case."
Looking for tracks to lead away from the campsite, you strangely find none at all...but in your thoroughness in searching for them, you do uncover a few feathers about fifty feet away from the firepit.
As the tracks grow cold a frustrated Skäne grows even more cantankerous, but at the discovery of the feathers he hails Cara hoping her wilderness kenning will provide answers to the strange scene;
"Álfrmær. Can you glean what kvikindi or bird those fiðri belong to?"
Cara begins to take a thorough look at the feathers found somewhat near the firepit. "Geedra should also take a look."
"Yeah, Geedra am smart!". She looks at the feathers to see what type of bird might have shed those.
Know. Nature
Skäne arcs an scarred eyebrow at Geedra's proclamation, but holds his tongue.
The blue-grey feathers appear as though they were cast from an eagle - the eagles of the Realms of the Mammoth Lords are known to have such plumage, and it would be reasonable to assume the same of Irriseni raptors.
Cara explains what she knows about the feathers with a shrug, then adds, "I do not think we can discover much more here. We should return to Nadya's sleds."
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You gather up and return to the brook, with a few new magical knickknacks, and a few more questions, for your trouble. When you make it back, you see the dogs are lapping heartily from the stream or rolling around barking and nipping at one another in the mud, much to the laughter of Orm and Mjoli. Nadya, on them other hand, stands atop the outcropping of rock that serves as the brook's source, staring in brooding silence to the north horizon. She has a hand planted on her forehead to shield her eyes from the uncharacteristic brightness of the sun, and doesn't seem to notice your return until noises are made, at which point she slowly looks over her shoulder at you.
"Find anyone?" she asks. Before really giving you a chance to answer, she returns her gaze to the sky. "This strange little meadow is certainly lovely, but we must leave it eventually...and I do not like what I see ahead." She points in the extreme distance, just at the threshold of sight. A film of grey-white at the edge of vision shows where the land reclaims its tundra, but it is the strange blue in the sky to which she gestures. Even from miles away, you can tell that the color is off. It is not the slate blue-grey of the Irriseni dusk, nor the blue of this reprieving summer. It is a dark and violent blue, and you can see the clouds that form it churning slowly even from here. Every few moments, a sickly green-blue light flashes from the mass.
"I have only ever seen the sky look like that one time in my life. It was when I was a little girl. My grandfather, rest his spirit, pointed it out to me and told me it was a "witch storm." He said that during the Winter War Baba Yaga and all of her demons and witches used so many horrible dark magicks that the skies themselves took on that evil and lashed out with magic of their own...He said that the storms only came around every few generations, but that they were always said to have left devastation in their wake."
"The day we saw that storm we went back to our cabin and prayed to the ancestors that it would not come. And we were fortunate. All was well and we were safe. A few days later a rider from the west came and said that the villages of Dispar and Hedby were no more - utterly destroyed. That green lightning and winds that slashed with blades of ice blasted and cut down all the homes and killed all the people. It was awful." She looks back to you and sighs, hopping down the rocks. "They are only supposed to come around every few generations, grandfather said. It's too soon, so hopefully it is just a bad storm and nothing worse. Unfortunately, we have to go north too. Ancestors protect us."
When everyone is packed up and ready to go, Nadya leads the sleds on again. As the dogs press on across the slick grass of the summer pocket, Nadya is constantly distracted by the skies, looking up and into the distance every minute or two.
It takes nearly two hours, but eventually your procession finds the end of the strange summer. The sleds cross over from grass and mud to snow and rime and pick up speed, and for once you are thankful for the arctic terrain, as the jarring and cumbersome ride through the grass on dogsleds was far from enjoyable.
Nadya pushes the dogs hard and every so often you notice slight course changes as the huntress keeps her eye on the storm. As the miles fade away behind you and the point of sky that she had pointed out hours ago grows closer, it becomes easier to see why the steel-nerved woman was so spooked.
Hours ahead to the northeast, a great patch in the sky rolls with opaque, azure clouds swirled with tendrils of black ink. The whole mass constantly, slowly churns and undulates, looking like a great serpent coiled infinitely within the crepuscular shroud. Thunder like the guttural groan of an unfathomable beast spills across the land and obviously unsettles the dogs as the misstep, suddenly collapse into a stop. One of the sleds topples over as the dogs jump around, barking frantically. Nadya starts yelling and leaps off of her sled before it gets to a full stop, already closing on the toppled one by the time her own dogs are barking and jumping as well. Cara disembarks and uses her talents with animals to try and get the dogs under control as well, while Geedra narrows her eyes at the mongrels, angry or bemused or both.
A crack resounds throughout the tundra, like a great wooden beam suddenly snapping in two. You all are instantly turn to regard the storm - wait...is it bigger? It is...closer?. Emerald-green lightning forks from the depths of the storm, throwing its vibrant light within the recesses of the atramentous clouds and casting an eerie, sickly glow upon the snow. The dogs all cower, tails between legs, whimpering.
"By all the gods..." Nadya says lowly, but with all of the din only Cara can here her. The ulfen woman locks eyes with the elf. "It's coming."
Indeed, the storm seems alive. It sweeps, flies across the sky. Miles are feet. The winds howl in such a furious cacophony that a thousand wolves would be drowned in its terrible grandeur. The lightning descends, hungry snakes coiled and releasing to strike, electric fangs puncturing the ground. With each blast the ground sizzles and a pillar of snow erupts, the intense heat of the lightning turning it into mist.
The winds have driven up a wall of snow, dozens of feet high. It rolls and surges forward with the gales, as if someone had released a great river from behind a dam.
"IT'S UPON US," Nadya yells as loudly as her lungs will allow. "THERE IS NO OUTRUNNING IT! BRACE YOURSELVES!"
She runs back to her family's sled and with great and sudden strength flips it over, forcing her children underneath of it before she starts burrowing as well. Asgrid dismisses Gruhgkt and he vanishes under howling protest, reaching out as if to take the dwarf with him. She looks at the rest of you opens her mouth, looking for words, but cannot find any.
You follow Nadya's lead as the storm races to you, as if it were intent on devouring you. Cara's owl takes wing. Has anyone even seen Fox? The dogs are beside themselves in fear.
There is little more time to react before the thirty foot wall of uplifted snow overtakes you, and the sound of the supernatural thunder turns all sound into a ringing void.
And this world of white turns black.
Geedra, you awaken to warm moisture on her face. Eyes part to reveal Fox panting sharply at you. Your head rings, your vision is blurry. You lift a hand to cradle your temple and find your scalp slick with blood. Fortunately your body seems otherwise intact and you struggle to your feet, though your knees are weak. You look around and see nothing but an endless field of white snow, disheveled and thrown up in drifts and dunes. It's dawn, as noted by the dark gloom of sky being slightly lightening by the barely brighter gloom. Your pack is gone, though everything else you were wearing seems to be in tact. You struggle a few steps but your winter witch powers kick in and allow you mystically get to the top of the now very deep snow and trod more easily atop it. Fox rushes out ahead of you, yipping as it heads toward a mound of snow some fifty feet away. You follow the familiar and the snow mound stirs, a form slowly rising from it.
You swiftly recognize this form as Skäne.
Skäne, your head throbs something fierce. Your helm as been wrenched from you and there is blood in your ears. Fortunately you spot the piece of armor half-buried in the snow nearby. More fortunate, your blade is still with you, but your shield is nowhere to be seen. Your pack is missing as well. A small sound behind you provokes your warrior's instincts and you spin, prepared for a fight, but see naught but a little fox running to you, and the goblin Geedra a few paces behind.
It is dawn, and though you figure it is merely the next day, you cannot be sure how long you were out. There is no sign of the storm in the sky, but no sign of Cara and Katie, Nadya or her boys, Asgrid or the sleds or the dogs. Dizziness consistently crests upon the edge of your consciousness, but you shake it off with resolve.
Still, you even standing together, you both feel truly lost and alone in the middle of Irrisen.
Cara, the blackness of the world suddenly becomes white as you open your eyes only to have them filled with cold snow. You roll onto your back and wipe the freezing crystals away, and dried blood on your face is there to meet your fingers. For one fearful moment you think something is wrong with your legs because you cannot feel them, but it is only because there are buried in a dense pile of snow. With some focus you can wriggle your toes and set about unburying yourself and getting blood and circulation back into your limbs. From a sitting position you look up at the sky and see no sign of the storm that had ripped through the area. But you also see no sign of your companions or your sleds. It is difficult to say if the location you are in is the same one in which the storm overtook you. The land is all white snow and has been churned and thrown and disheveled so heavily it is too hard to place. Identical terrain stretches out in all directions. It is dawn, as told by the film of lighter gloom above overtaking the darkness of night, but what day it is or how long you've been out, you do not know. You get to your feel and find yourself in a drift that is three feet deep. You can feel your quiver on your back but reaching back you find but a single arrow - however looking around you can see them scattered everywhere. Your pack is missing, but your bow pokes out of the snow a few feet away. Fortunately, it is undamaged.
As you set about collecting arrows, you notice a shadow cross the snow near you. You snap a shaft into bowstring and fluidly bring your bow to aim upwards, but you are relieved to see that it is Aran. The owl circles before softly landing on a snowdrift nearby. It would seem that the bird got away before being overcome by the storm and he looks to be fine.
Your muscles ache as you collect your projectiles, but nothing feels broken or sprained. Along with your arrows you see a boot lying in the snow. You realize you have your own, but go to pick it up anyway, but it doesn't move. Another tug makes you realize it is attached to someone, and clearing about a bit of snow you see Katie's leg.
Katie, you awaken to the unpleasant sensation of being completely embedded in snow, but also being forcibly dislodged from it. A rush of fresh air surges around you as you are torn free of your icy would-be tomb, and find your skin tingles with tight numbness. Cara nearly stubmles back into a snowdrift behind her after you are pulled free, but she gracefully catches herself. Her owl, Aran, sits nearby, staring at you.
You survived the "witch storm" but your head pounds and something has ripped up your left arm. It doesn't hurt too much thanks to the numbing cold, but dried blood encases your skin like cloth. You also find that your pack is gone, having been taken from you during the catastrophe. Your sword is still at your belt and your armor is still on, however, so you find some relief in that. You see no signs of anyone other than Cara and Aran, and don't even know where you are or how long you have been out.
You look at each other and despite having each others company, being surrounded by the boundless unknown makes you feel alone, and worse yet, lost in the middle of Irrisen.
"Big human, you am alive? Geedra head feel like auroch kicked head off. Where am rest of group?". Geedra walked around, peering left nad right as she tried to wrap her pounding head around their situation.
Perception
"Thanks." It's all Katie can say as she focuses on coming to and staving off the effects of being frozen half to death. She looks over her right arm, and flexes it testingly. There's no question, it's going to smart something fierce later.
"So... I guess... we're not with the others anymore..." Katie mutters, pausing for a second as she realizes that her bag is gone, in addition to her buckler. Ugh.
"And. My ink's gone. Okay. First we find the others, then we find our stuff. Are you okay?"
Skäne groggily rises, brow furrowed in pain and a mood which grows bleaker as he discovers items missing and lost;
"Skit. Minn skjǫldr and pack are nema ."
He stretches with a grimace, then eyes the form of Geedra approaching.
When speaks the warrior shakes his head with a hard smile;
"Not alive... I am dauðr and clearly in Hel. Tormented by puka here too!"
Skäne looks around seeking debris and other members of the group;
:
Neither of you spot anything in your current vicinity, though you suppose with the complete upheaval of the snowy terrain, people or items could be buried around you. Otherwise, the terrain as far as the eye can see in any direction is featureless, making it difficult to tell if you are in the same general area as you were when the storm hit.
"I'll be fine. Let me look around to see where we are." Cara replies, focusing on the task at hand instead of worrying about what just happened.
After looking around for a few moments, her attention turns back to Katie, "I'm glad you are okay. Can you walk? I'm going to send Aran out to scout the area to see if he can find our traveling companions."
With that she calls her owl over, says some soothing words in Elven, then sends him out to fly in a widening circle.
:
Unable to spy anything of note Skäne curses under his breath, balefully looks to the sky, then nods in a direction;
"North. Whence the íviðiahríð came... If the others are gone little puka that is where we go... North."
"Yeah... I can walk." Katie casts a Cure Light Wounds to help deal with her arm and the buffeting about she'd gotten.
She leaves the looking to the Ranger, trying her best to rub the coldness out of her arms. "I hope Aran finds something... this isn't going to be easy if it's just the two of us now."
Geedra and Skane
"North am good as any.". She kicks at the closest snow pile and looks around to be sure Foxis with her. She looks for her pack and her jade, throwing her head back and cursing loudly in goblin upon realizing that everything she had gained was now gone. She frowned and fell in line behind the large warrior, trudging on to the north with him.
Skäne nods at the goblin's words, before grimacing at her shrill curses.
Then stoically he leads the way North...
"We'll just have to be crafty and attack our enemies from afar. It worked reasonable well for me until recently." Cara replies to Katie in a distracted tone as she looks about.
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Brushing the snow off of yourselves, you do more to get a bearing on your surroundings and patch yourselves out. Aran takes wing at Cara's direction and soars high into the morning gloom and disappears from sight. The elf herself then begins doing a more deliberate search of the surrounding area for any sign of gear or friends. Katie meanwhile administers some healing to herself, closing tears on her rent arm.
It is quite difficult, despite her accute wilderness skills, for Cara to get a read on the location, if only because it is so featureless. Looking at how the sun has risen behind the clouds, however, and remembering where it was the day before, she is able to figure out that the two of you must be at least some degree of distance east of where the storm hit. The storm had come from the northwest, and the directionality of the now banked snow would also suggest that you are further east than where you began. Cara is able to get an easy read on north, however, so while you may not precisely know where you are, you at least have compass directions on your side.
Aran returns fifteen minutes later, seeming quite unsettled by something he has seen. He lands on Cara's arm and stares hard at the elf, feathers around his neck ruffling anxiously. He takes off once more and flies north.
Following Aran takes a bit longer, with your trudging through the snow as he flies. Along the way, Cara does find a sheathed dagger sticking up out of the snow. Eventually, however, you come across a grisly scene. A whole pack of wolves lies slaughtered across about a hundred or so feet of tundra. The snow is varying shades of red and pink across much of this area. The wolves look as though they have been slashed, cut, and burned in spots. Hair is missing here and there and revolting charred gouges are left in its place. Some of the wolves are bent and disfigured horribly and you can tell that many bones must be broken. Organs and intestines have been ripped out of a few of them and are strewn about.
You push north, Skäne trudging heavily and stoically through the snow as Geedra mystically lights atop it behind, Fox on her heels. The witch spits and curses behind for the loss her wealth and the Ulfen warrior scowls and grumbles in response. The eerie, dead silence of the land serves as a grim backdrop to your journey.
You travel for an hour before you finally come across anything. Its one of your sleds - unfortunately it seems to be one of the ones that was not laden with cargo. No dogs are to be seen near by, living or dead, and the sled is smashed too much to be usable in its current form. You could collect wood from the wreckage, however, and several lengths of rope and leather straps are salvageable as well.
Cara Perception %
Skäne/Geedra Find %
Skäne/Geedra Encounter %
Skane and Geedra:
Geedra sniffs at the discovery of the sled. She looks all around, hoping that some of her hard won treasure was nearby, to no avail. Without the human woman to take care of all the menial survival takes, the goblin grunts at the scene. "Wood, leather, cord. Am be useable out here. Wood for fire. Other stuff help, too," she says as she gathers the light rope and leather. She leaves the heavier wood for the strong man.
Skäne too pokes at the wreckage with his blade, hoping to unearth something valuable or lost - but to no avail.
Grimacing, the warrior nods at Geedra's fire notion and collects and hefts some larger pieces of wood and debris.
"Aye. A seyðir might at least serve notice to others - for weal or woe."
"This bodes ill." Cara says quietly as she comes upon the butchered wolves with Katie. "If we could find trees or some type of cover, I would feel safer than trudging out in the open snow with whatever did this."
Calling Aran back relax and preen for a few minutes, Cara takes the opportunity to look around the area for any clues that might be helpful to the duo.
Katie makes an attempt to help look as well--
--but knowing full well that Cara's easily twice as good at it as she is her heart isn't completely in it. She draws her sword, holding it in both hands as she stays on guard for possible enemies.
"Yeah... me too. I dunno if the storm did this to them, or if it was something else... But if it was something else, it doesn't look like it ate them, at least."
That could mean anything, though. An intelligent enemy, a particularly full bear... A witch (not the unexpectedly cute, gobliny kind). Regardless, she can't let her guard down at the moment.
You take stock of the grim canine gravesite, but can find no sign of the culprit. Though the snow has been thrown about by wind from the storm, Cara does spot a few scattered wolf tracks, but none belonging to any other sort of beast. Eyeing the corpses more closely, it certainly doesn't look like the wounds and killing blows on these wolves was the work of any beast.
Cara does notice that the corpses exhibit a strange behavior...and that at random intervals a slight green hiss of static dances across them, as if the bodies were charged by the green lightning that you saw in the storm.
While looking around further, you notice that some of the snow in the area seems to be blowing around. You don't think much of it at first until you realize that there is now wind, and the snow just seems to be moving on its own. Before you can puzzle out the reasoning, the bloody snow churns a bit quicker and gathers up in a few small mounds, swiftly taking shape into that of vaguely humanoid figures. The snow-monsters shift so that they "face" you, blood dripping from their newly formed fists.
Init:
Cara: 13
Katie: 11
Enemies: 5
You take some time to gather supplies - leather cord and rope is collected by Geedra while Skäne hefts the scattered chunks of wood that could be used for a fire. It takes a few minutes to get everything together, and you spend a bit of time looking for more of your belongings as well.
As you work, Skäne suddenly feels something rush by him, though no wind blows he can feel the gust off of it. A moment later, Geedra senses the presence and suddenly feels the weight of something closing in atop her. A fraction of a second later, some force has her icicle wand, and though she tries to make a grab for it its wrenched free from her person before her hand can make it. Then a sound - a flap of wings! The presence moves away, and a second or two later a large black crow flickers into visibility about thirty feet away from the goblin - a crow whose body rivals that of the little witch and who has an impressive wingspan. The wand is in its right talon and it turns its head back and laughs.
Geedra recognizes this creature as the dreaded witchcrow - a sentient magical beast learned in the arts of witchcraft and who greedily seeks out magical items.
Initiative:
Geedra: 20
Witchcrow: 20
Skäne: 20
Skane and Geedra :
"Give wand back, dumb magic crow! Am Geedra's!" the goblin starts casting a spell at the creature. A small cloud appears right on top of the crow, and tiny bolts of lightning strike it.
"It would appear we spent too much time investigating." Cara says dryly as she fires two arrows at the closest monster.
"I don't suppose you have something to help me heal some of my injuries?" The elf asks Katie afterwards, realizing a strong blow could easily knock her unconscious.
As the fell crow steals Geedra's wand, Skäne can do little else but curse loudly and give chase, drawing his blade as he does;
"Skit! Damned big Hrōkr..!"
"I can do it, sure." Katie replies. She's not at 100% herself, and would normally throw up a Mirror Image here if she were alone... but she's not alone right now, is she?
Nope. She has a friend who is relying on her. Time to support the totally awesome archer!
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Cara readies her bow and fires two well-placed arrows at the nearest bloody snow monster. Both projectiles slam into the creature and rip clean through its back, filling the air with powdered snow. It holds together, however, and it doesn't look like the arrows did as much to harm the creature as they should have. Still, it obviously took a beating from the doubleshot.
Katie lays a glowing hand on Cara and heals some of her residual wounds from the storm's thrashing.
The strange enemies move more quickly than you'd expect through the snow, gliding atop it with easy. They close in around you, with two attempting to slam their bloody fists into Katie while the third assails Cara. The first elemental delivers a punch to Katie's gut Caught off guard, Katie lurches into the blow from the second creature. . Cara also is struck by the snow-beast's icy punch. The blows from the creatures sound out in sickening plops that cause the bloody snow they are comprised of to shower over you. The smell is horrible and does its best to churn your stomachs.
Geedra shrieks and curses the witchcrow, plying her magic to cause a burst of lightning to descend upon the bird. The intelligent crow sees it coming at the last moment, however, and turns on the wing, and the electricity streaks by it. The witchcrow inclines its head and caws darkly, and starts screaming back at the goblin.
"Use witchcraft on me, will you?!" spins in the air and casts a spell of its own. The edges of the bird distort momentarily and exact copies of the bird lift out of its own form. The birds move, speak, even breathe as one, making it virtually impossible to pick out the true witchcrow. "Let us play your game!" they squawk.
Skäne starts hoofing it towards the damnable pest, running past Geedra while drawing his blade.
Cara manages to keep her cool despite the disgusting attacks of the enemies, then steps back and fires two more arrows at same creature she attacked before.
As the fell crow taunts and caws its defiance, Skäne continues to close the gap - blade drawn hoping it swoops low enough to let his steel bite feathers of pitch...
Katie, wincing as her knees buckle from the pair of blows and she feels more than a little queasy all of a sudden, takes a deep breath and exhales.
With a shout, she hefts her longsword with both hands and brings it down on one of the two near her as well, using her Arcane Strike to give the blade a magical cut.
Tag Team Champs.
Damage . DC 16 Relfex for half. [/ooc].
She then follows Skane, wanting to be in range to grant him hexes when he closed with the beast.