Lem scales the cliff with the aid of the rope?
Lem looks around the room, sees the goblet, and takes a sip. "Hey, it tastes like... well, I don't know. Thurl, you know lots of stuff, give this a taste."
Lem also looks around the room carefully...
But didn't even notice any bones.
"Oh, right, I assumed the lantern was already here when the dragon moved in. This cold must be affecting my head. I guess dragons really do just like shiny things."
Arbaro detects magic on the room to try and identify anything magic and worth looking taking.
Left alone with Roccavisk, Brag happily strikes up casual conversation about her adventures before she joined up with the group
Through use of his knowledge of healing, Arbaro
Arbaro detects magic.
Thurl sees Arbaro uncover the magic scrolls and rushes over to him saying, "May I? I make something of a study of magic scrolls and wands and such, they are so interesting."
Arbaro arranges the bones and does a heal check while Thurl checks out the scrolls.
"Huh, maybe Brag can make something of these bodies. Hey Brag, get up here."
Brag hears the call from Arbaro and excuses himself from Roccavisk. He removes his encumbering armor and climbs the rope to the lair.
Brag looks around the room to see what he can perceive.
Brag closely examines the bones with Arbaro.
There are enough pieces (though no single, complete skeleton of any one) of bones to tell that they are of two orcs and either a female child or halfling.
"Well, seems like we're done here, I'm going to head back down."
Lem Climbs back down.
When he gets down, Lem greets saying"Quash! I think we're about ready to head out, you missed out on seeing some bones, a drink, and I think Thurl found some scrolls or something. Nothing too interesting."
"Well, looks like a couple of orc and a smaller humanoid. Nothing special, just dragon victims. We should bury them, nobody else will."
Arbaro bags up all the goodies and heads down the rope. At the bottom, he pulls out his shovel and digs a grave for the three. He finds something suitable as a marker and carves into it these words:
"Here lie, three victims of the dragon Viburnulum. Two orc and a female child or halfling. Avenged by The "
"Uh, what do we call ourselves? The Theseus Seekers? The Theseus Tribunal?"
"I am glad I did not waste my time," Roccavisk says to Thurl. "But Thurl, in Aquan, the nickname is taken from the last few syllables, not the first. Proper etiquette would render my nickname Lb'p'p."
To Arbaro, she says, "The Sycophants of Roccavisk, of course."
Brag attempts to climb down the rope.
Brag slips on the ice as he moves over the lip of the cliff, loses his grip on the rope, and falls to the ground nearly 50 feet.
To himself, "I guess there's no chance that no one saw me fall!"
With his pride damaged more than his body, Brag picks himself up off the snow, which did cushion his fall somewhat, and nonchalantly brushes off the snow. He silently lays-hands-on himself to heal the twisted ankle and shoulder.
Without a limp, Brag walks away from the group and begins to put on his armor to embarrassed to speak.
Thurl says to Arbaro, "I may study that cup some other time. Its possible someone at the Monastery would be able to identify the potion for us."
Thurl climbs down after the others have done so. When they are all down, he grabs a hold of the rope and after a moment, it slithers its way back down the slope, unknots itself and coils back up. Thurl puts it in his pack and then assists Arbaro in any way necessary for the burials. When they are finished, Thurl says, "Lets be on our way, we should be close by now."
Roccavisk laughs at Bragoleb's fall. "That was even better than watching you dry-legs trip. Two legs above water? What were the gods thinking? Always shifting your entire weight from foot to foot, a balancing act about to topple with the slightest interference..."
She takes a deep breath and says, "But to the matter at hand, I, too, would have fallen from such a height. When we are at a place of purchasing, let me buy you some Boots of the Cat."
Brag, still too humiliated to speak, nods his approval with look of genuine appreciation for Roccavisk. Eventually he'll be able to laugh at himself, but not quite yet.
To Roccavisk Arbaro says
"So, we should call you THBBPTHBPT? Maybe PBBBBTH!"
To Thurl
"'url, thank you for your help. Let's get a move on."
"Sounds like Aquan to me, Quash, but I agree, let's move onward!"
After burying the bodies and looting the cave, you continue through the snow-packed valley. The winds have picked up since entering the valleys, and you can feel the cold blowing down the ridges into your faces. You travel for the rest of the day before the sun starts to drop behind you. The chill goes deeper into your bones the further you hike, weaving over your scarves and under your shirttails. Through winding cliffs and banks of snow, you wonder if there is any chance of finding a safe place to rest for the night before the sun truly sets.
As the last rays of the sun hide behind the mountains, you see a faint red glow far ahead, bouncing in the winds. The lantern soon grows clearer, a clear copy of the one found with the dragon, hanging from a pole over a small wooden cabin. On the lantern is written "Swaying Lantern, 8 miles," in various languages. The small cabin is likely a refuge for those traversing the pass that, like yourselves, cannot make it to the bastion of civilization in the thick snows.
Wooden steps lead up from the snow to the door, some ten feet above the snowdrifts. The cabin door is shut tight, but not locked.
"This snow does seem unnatural for this time of year." says Thurl as he pulls his warm clothes tighter around himself. Lets see if we may shelter in that cabin for the night.
On the trek up to the cabin, Thurl notices some hoofprints and says, "Hmm, we may have some company, looks like something bipedal with hooves is nearby, be on the alert. Hmm, they're steaming... It might just be a caretaker for the cabin, but we won't know until we find out."
Arbaro asks the group to halt while he checks out the area before they investigate up close.
Arbaro cautiously detects alignment and magic in the direction of the steaming C.
Brag detects evil at and around the cabin as Arbaro investigates.
Lem awaits the determination of scouts as he stands, with Quaker at the ready.
There is the faint aura coming from the door, the lantern, and the walls of the shed.
The hoofprints give off a faint aura of Evil.
As you detect Evil, a glow appears on the door. It is a magically inscribed rune, as per the Arcane Mark spell.
Weapon at the ready, Arbaro attempts to make contact. ”Guys I detect evil on the hoof prince but nothing for the body.” Then loudly “”Hello? Anyone there?”
The only response is the cold wind.
Arbaro approaches slowly.
Brag prepares his bow and follows Arbaro and moves with great stealth - hood pulled up - to between Arbaro and the shed. He releases Shadow to fly to a safe place. When close enough, Brag reads the rune and share with his companions what it is or says.
Hearing Arbaro shout, Lem moves forward and takes position ahead and to the left of Arbaro not swinging his weapon, but at rest in his hand.
Thurl pulls out a simple wand with bands of iron around it from one of his pack’s side pockets and waves it at himself.
Thurl then puts himself between the archers and the direction the hoof prints went and remains on alert as the others investigate the cabin.
The hoof prints continue on northwards, away from the shed, over the ridge and out of sight.
The mark is a simple symbol of a horned triangle.
Nothing else is noticeable from the shut door of the shed.
Absent a reply, Lem goes forward and knocks on the door with a rap.
No response from the door.
Arbaro checks if it’s unlocked and opens it.
The room is ransacked. Shelves and bedrolls are strewn about, food and water spilled on the floor, and sacks and crates are all torn open. The mess looks fairly recent in its destruction; the foodstuffs are not spoiled, though the water is frozen.
When Arbaro indicates that the cabin is unoccupied, Thurl says, "Lets get out of the cold and stay the night. I am nervous about an unknown being wandering around trashing cabins but I'm ready to warm up."
"Agreed, lets clean up what we can and get some rest. Tomorrow we can follow the prints if we want."
Arbaro casts Keep Watch on himself, so he does not have to sleep.
Lem goes in and started looking through the food for anything that might be at risk of spoiling soon, "so that it wouldn't go to waste..." if anyone were to inquire his making himself at home.
Thurl goes about the cabin, starting a fire , reorganizing the food into its various places and just generally tidying up.
Brag remains outside after seeing the shed/cabin unoccupied. He calls Shadow to him, shows the owl the prints, and sends him away with the command to seek and track the maker of the prints. Shadow will, by training, will not move more than 1 mile from Brag without an explicit command.
The food is good enough to keep. Mostly food that stays preserved for a long time. The fireplace is magically always on, providing warmth continually.
The night passes uneventfully. Shadow comes back reporting that the tracks do not go very far before he cannot follow them anymore.
In the morning, the tracks are still there, though they are no longer smoking. They go a few hundred feet away from the cabin and then they simply stop. The snow around them is undisturbed. It is as if the creature flew away or teleported after leaving the small cabin.
The Swaying Lantern lays a days walk away.
The room is ransacked. Shelves and bedrolls are strewn about, food and water spilled on the floor, and sacks and crates are all torn open. The mess looks fairly recent in its destruction; the foodstuffs are not spoiled, though the [u]water is frozen[/u].
Brag enters the cabin/shed and enjoys the warmth of the magical fireplace. He quickly notices the water frozen on the floor and comments. "How can this water be frozen? It's too warm in here for that."
Brag detects evil towards the water and floor and around the room.
Brag considers his knowledge of geography trying to remember what could freeze water in a warm environment.
The heat does not exist until someone steps into the room. The water quickly melts in the heat.
Thurl gets up early and does his reading in the morning. He updates his journal and map with the relevant information. He dons his cold weather gear and is ready to go when the others are.
Thurl wracks his brain trying to remember some creature that has hooves, and can possibly teleport or fly, is evil and produces heat using his Ki to speed his mind.
Thurl pulls his hood tighter around his head to keep out the cold and says, "We may not be able to determine what happened here, let's continue on to the Monastery and see what we can learn there."
Arbaro draws the wizard's mark from the door, so he does not forget.
"Those tracks will be a mystery forever I guess. There are so many magical creatures, some waking up for the time in ages. We can ask the Monks at the Swinging Lantern."
I'll be sure to look into the mark as well, I'd like to thank the wizard who lent us a place to rest. When we have completed our task, I will have to remember this place and add it to my patrol. Help with the upkeep and food stores. The world needs more oasis like this one.
Arbaro bundles up and heads out into the snow towards the SL.
Brag can read the rune, but not necessarily understand its meaning. Is the rune a word or a letter or a symbol of some kind?
Lem wanders around a little bit looking at the tracks, but defers to the more experienced woodsmen's judgement that we should move onward.
"Who knows, maybe the tracks are something the folks at the latern are well aware of and know all about!"
Lem puts quaker over his shoulder and starts moving onward to the Swaying Lantern eager to find out what challenges await.
The next day you head toward the Swaying Lantern and arrive in the afternoon. The snow is rough trudging through, the winds still howl, but the warmth of the night before keeps your hearts warm and your packs light.
The mountains loom to your right and left, and you see the path making way for the shoulder of the mountain, a low pass between two rocky peaks capped with snow. The terrain is rough and snowpacked, and you can easily tell that this pass through is the only way through the Shattered Range for miles and miles. Every mile another Lantern is seen swaying in the wind, some from poles high above on easy-to-see rocks, some from other cabins similar to the one you slept in. (There are no suspicious hoofprints or marks on or around any of the other lanterns).
As you reach the highest point, you see the horizon open below you to the west as you straddle the spine of the mountains. To the east is a long roofed pagoda painted red and black, immediately behind it is a single storied building with Tian Xia architecture. Under the pagoda is a massive bell shaped like the lanterns you have seen for miles now, and standing before it is a woman in orange robes.
Thurl trudges through the snow toward the Monastery and says to the others, "Ah, at last, we can be out of this snow for a bit! We have so much to learn here, but let us first inquire about lodging for a few days."
When the 5 companions come within comfortable speaking distance, Thurl hails the orange robed woman, "Greetings! We are travelers come recently from Pridon's Hearth come to learn at this Monastery."
Arbaro casts Guidance on Thurl if it would not socially unacceptable.
+1 on a skill check