"I will take second watch then." he blows into his hands. "Seems like it's going to be a cold night even with this shelter Paletress was fortunate in finding us. Let's make sure we have enough dry wood for tonight."
"I'll handle second watch as well, heh... the wizards need their beauty sleep."
She begins to poke around for firewood, but comments over her shoulder as she gets further away.
"Need people doubling up on watches anyway. Heh heh. Don't want people getting gored within an inch of their life again. Heh."
Tounis starts to gather wood with Paletresss while the others unpack their gear and start setting up the camp for the night. The process is slow but they finally finish as the daylight is replaced with night. The cold has set in and already Tounis can feel his fingers are getting stiff from the unusually cold weather.
As Paletress lights the fire Tounis breaks out some of his dry rations. The rations are saltier than he would like but he appreciates it nonetheless. He looks at the others gathered around the warm fire. A sombre mood seemed to have fallen over the group with each lost in thought.
As he continues to bite into the dried beef from his rations he speaks to the group. "Sparhawk will need extra rest to gather back his magic. So it makes sense for him to go first. For the rest of us we can set up will need to do the bulk of the watch. I say we have our four watches overlap one another. Paletress you go, then me. Followed by Brocken and ending with Beollimandus. If there an objections then let's finish eating and turn in early."
Sparhawk/autumn, Brocken/paletress, bellio/tounis 4hrs each 12hrs with 8hr rest gogogo.
Two down, the rest of you ok with where you are?
About 7:30 dusk and 6:00 dawn as it is in the spring. With three watches of 4 hours each, all will get eight hours.
watch times
8-12
12-4
4-8
Second watch is up. Roll perceptions.
Settling close to the fire, Tounis adds another piece of wood to it to fend off the cold. The shift had been uneventful other then the trench Paletress had made circling the camp and her random chucklingredients that while unnerving at first had begun to grow on him.
While Paletress continued her patrol he peered into the dense foliage. Gifted with the sight of his mother he could still relatively well aided by the light of the campfire.
The crunch of snow underfoot keeps Paletress awake in the firelight. Though cycling around the camp over and over could get hypnotic after a time, she allows her innate skittishness to take over in the understanding that fight-or-flight reflexes are the best to keep at the fore in such a hostile environment. This has the side effect of causing her to let out the occasional nervous 'heh heh' while looking around.
A snap brings her attention around, and she whips her head around, trying to determine the source of the sound. Did her snowshoes creak? Did a branch, stressed by the rigors of expanding ice within its plant veins, cause it to crack of its own volition?
From the north end of camp comes a cone of cold air directed at Tounos
DC 13 Reflex for half
A whirlwind comes in from the south, throwing up snow blinding everyone in that area and putting out the campfire.
Roll init.
Tounis feels the hair on the back of his neck rise and before his mind can register he tucks and rolls covering his body with his heavy winter cloak. Almost instantly he feels the cloak go stiff as it freezes.
Looking up he shouts a warning to the group, "Ambush!"
Feeling the cold wind bite into his nose Brocken wakes up caughing.
Go ahead and react Paletress and Tounis
Effectively blinded by the snuffing of the campfire, Paletress lets loose a peal of terrified laughter while bringing her sword and shield to bear in a defensive posture.
"HA HA HA LIGHT! WE NEED LIGHT! HA HA HAHA HA..."
Ok, waiting on Tounis then top of round. We are live!
woot