A man steps out of the whirling snow and wind. He carries a longbow, held lightly in his fingers, ready to be used. The silhouette of a tall elk emerges immediately behind him.
He holds a hand up, and speaks quickly on sighting you; keen observers might notice his grip on the bow tighten as he eyes the group.
"Ho! Who goes there... be you friend or foe? Are you loyal to Jadwiga?"
the group watches as the atomie flies away, not able to prevent it from escaping. several people move to Hal, but it is clear they are too late, and he is gone.
the troll has a large magical boar spear. he also has a pouch with a key and 50gp, and a small hand mirror.
now having dealt with the troll you can tell that the deep footprints are from a troll. they lead to the North towards a rocky outcropping and to the West, which is the direction the snow and wind are coming from.
a figure emerges from the West and calls out to the group in Ulfen
Linge's eyes fill with tears as she notices that Hal isn't breathing anymore, his body turned cold and rigid by a magic against which her healing skills are powerless.
"I'm sorry," she tells Paldo softly, shaking her head slowly. Sadness overwhelms her, and she lets out a strangled sob that is only suppressed by the arrival of a strange man in leather armour, who calls to then in Ulfen.
How strange it is, she thinks bitterly, while getting up, "that help only arrives after we've lost someone.
"There's no need for that bow, stranger," she answers in her native language, somewhat curtly. "We won't attack you, and we don't know who the Jadwiga you're speaking of is. Where are you coming from?"
The bear cub, who has grown quite a few inches since the beginning of Linge's journey and now stands almost as high as her hip, takes his place by her side, his eyes riveted on the elk with fascinated curiosity.
Eladorn raises an eyebrow at the response... they seemed sincere enough, but how could any who venture into Irrisen not know of the Jadwiga?
"I hail from Waldsby; not far from here." The woman's words were right, but that accent... where was that from? "Your accent is strange to me; be you from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, perhaps? What brings you to Irrisen? What is your business in these woods?"
"Well we only knew him a short time, but he was a great warrior. If only the ground was not frozen we could give him a proper burial. Perhaps we can return after we have cleansed this area of this forsaken winter and dispose of his body properly. For now we will have to mark his location well so we know where to return to."
Paldo pulled his cloak closer too him, watching the colour drain from Hal's skin and feeling chilled at the sight despite his magical protection from the cold.
Paldo looked puzzled at the Trolls possessions wondering why he would have a small mirror. Paldo tries to determine if anything has any magical properties.
Paldo startled by the appearance of a stranger instinctively hid behind Sigrun, as he would have hidden behind his larger brother.
Sigrun begins heading over to Hal, but stops short as she sees and hears the newcomer. She replies in Skald: "Irrisen? We're not in - wait. The portal that the fey talked about. Did you come through that?" She looks at Eladorn suspiciously, but doesn't prepare to fight. If he doesn't even know where he is, he's probably not with the fey.
”Iomedae ward your soul on it’s journey, Hal.” Garran intones soberly. The priest is about to say more, perhaps launching into a sermon, but Eladorn arrives.
”My father was from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. But I was born in Zimar.” Garran tells the newcomer, speaking in Skald. Then he adds: “This is Taldor, you have wandered far from home, friend.”
paldo finds that the troll's weapon is magical, but the mirror is just a mundane hand mirror, made with glass and metal.
the group discusses what to do with Hal's body and greet a new visitor speaking a foreign language.
for now all seems calm, and no one spots any further movement in the clearing, though the snow and ice is still blowing all around you. it is quite cold out, and hard to have a conversation. there are small igloos around the clearing, and you can barely make out a cave to the north. to the west you see the tips of massive icicles sticking out of the ground
Eladorn studies Garran, a look of confusion crossing his face... and lingering. Suddenly, though, he bursts into laughter, and points at the man with a smile. "You... you almost had me there! At least I can trust you're not in league with the witches; neither they nor theirs have the humor to pull that off."
"Taldor...." he chuckles, shaking his head.
Garran smiles. ”I like to think I have a sense of humor. But jokes of this kind are not my style.” Garran’s face grows thoughtful. ”Unless we passed through the portal unknowingly... Meant to get some winter clothes first...”
"I think we would have known it if we had gone through the portal," Linge says thoughtfully, taking another look at the map indicating where the magical portal is supposed to be.
"Why were you travelling alone? Where were you going?" she asks Eladorn.
Could they be speaking truth? Whatever it was he'd stepped through... it could have been some kind of magic portal.
At Linge's question, Eladorn gives the towering elk a pointed look before answering. "I never travel alone; Shae is always with me. We were tracking a nasty troll; the witches are up to something, and I was hoping to learn more about what that is."
"I never imagined it would lead me to Taldor, though," he adds. "Are you sure we're in Taldor? That just seems... crazy." He motions his arm at the snowcover, igloos, and swirling winds. "What about all of this? I thought Taldor was all sun and gilt-gold."
Linge looks at the map again. with the blowing snow it's hard to make out landmarks, but your sense of direction and skill in the outdoors makes you pretty confident that you are basically right on top of the dot on your map that marked the portal
"It's hard to say, but I think we might actually have went through the portal," Linge exclaims, beckoning the group (as well as Eladorn) to take a look at the map. "See? We're right over here. So maybe the igloos marked the emplacement of the portal?" she adds thoughtfully, before closing the map. "We were in Taldor -or at least we are close to its border," she answers. "Things have been... strange. Climate has changed. Our town, Heldren, found itself in the middle of an unnaturally cold winter, when it should have been summer. We've followed the trail of the feys to a magical portal that led to Irrisen. The troll you were hunting is right here," she says, gesturing at the burned, massive corpse of the creature lying in the snow.
"Portal? I think we would have known if we walked through a portal. And usually one needs a key to go through said portals." Paldo examined the small mirror the troll possessed and held it aloft. "A small non-magical trinket perhaps?" Realizing Paldo was actually holding the mirror he found himself thinking out loud... Unless of course in my curiosity I did actually trigger said portal...
Eladorn did in fact come through a portal. from the side you cam from it would have been easy to miss, but on this side the doorway is surrounded by a fence of icicles sticking out of the ground in a circle with one open section. it is just to the West of where everyone is currently standing
not entirely sure what the knowledge roll was for. are you trying to ID the spear, determine why the troll had a mirror, or figure out what you know about portals? from your post I am ssuming the last option.
Paldo knows there are many types of portal that are possible, but he does know that almost every kind of fixed portal would be pretty hard to walk through without noticing, even if it was just a simple door that led to an unexpected place. he doesn't have any more specific info to share with that roll and without seeing the particular portal in question
Sigrun scans around, but doesn't seem to register anything around her. "Well, I don't see a portal anywhere." She finally moves over to Hal, kneeling and looking over the broken body with a look of sadness.
"So, maybe I came through a portal. There was... something... that I walked through. It's in the center of that icicle fence over there." He points in the direction he came from.
"If that truly has carried me... in a few steps... from Irrisen to Taldor, then it's quite some portal indeed. Do you think that's why it's winter here? The portal carries the weather along with it?"
From her spot next to Hal, Sigrun looks over to where Eladorn was pointing. "Oh." She visibly starts turning red as she stays silent.
"We don't know," Linge admits. "But it seems that this strange weather has more to do with the feys than with the portal. They spoke of being sent there by their masters, of following the orders of the Jadwiga (whatever it is), and their attacks are so coordinated that I think their changing the weather was intentional. The portal must have been created simply as a means of transportation to get them to Taldor. Nonetheless, if we find a way to close it, maybe we can stop the feys from coming here, and Heldren will be saved."
As the question of the portal is settled, she approaches Paldo:
"So this mirror is the key to the portal?" she asks, somewhat surprised that such a small trinket could enable one to travel so far. "Did you find anything else?"
"What's in these igloos; have you checked them out yet? And didn't you say there was a cave? We should probably check those out before we head back to Irrisen." Eladorn catches himself and pauses.
"I guess I'm assuming some things here. I've been fighting the witches for a long time. Jadwiga--that's the name for the daughters of Baba Yaga that rule Irrisen. Simple, underhanded stuff--guerilla warfare, really. I guess I'm thinking you all are too, but maybe that's an assumption too far. Are we together on this? If the witches have found a way to bring their unnatural winter all the way to Taldor... they could threaten the whole world. I'm going to have to go back and find a way to stop this... are you with me?"
"We haven't," Linge admits. "But I can take a look right now before we move on. It was our intention to follow the witches' trail. We should probably team up," she says, glancing at her teammates for assent.
Linge checks out the igloos. all but one of them are furnished for small creatures, with tiny little beds and chests suited for sprites and such. the final igloo looks bare, but Linge is able to spot a trap. the floor of the igloo is false, and falls away into a spiked pit trap. luckily no one fell into it.
Linge picks up the spear and looks around to the others, asking if anyone is interested in carrying it. as she holds it, it shrinks in size to be comfortable for a medium creature to wield.
"There is nothing very interesting in the igloos, they seem like tiny houses built for the feys," Linge tells her teammates after exploring the small structures. "That spear is much easier to wield than I expected! Is anyone interested in it?"
no nothing useful is found in the tiny chests. clothing made for tiny people
"I had no interest in these... Jadwiga." Garran tells Eladorn. "But they seem to be planning an invasion. So they must be stopped. At very least, we need to close their passage to Taldor."
* * *
"A neat trick, that." Garran comments. "That spear seems to like you Linge."
Looking questioningly at the mirror Paldo responded to Linge"Well I cannot say for sure that it's the key no. But it is an odd item for a troll to be holding. Unless of course it was concerned about it's looks of course."
Feeling a little more at ease with the new stranger Paldo approached Eladorn. The small Halfing reached out his hand to shake it "Names Paldo, nice to meet you! It seems that we have a lot to be worried about with these Fey creatures. I agree with my companions that we are in need of more help as the last person we ran into was slain by these creatures. Are you sure you want to join us? This is a risky endeavor."
Paldo motioned for Linge to pass him the spear. "Let me take a look."
Paldo closed his eyes appearing to be lost in thought as he channeled his arcane powers.
Paldo examines the spear, and is able to figure out what it does. this is a spear of manhunting. essentially a +1 boar spear with a once per day crit ability to hold person
Linge turns to Sigrun with a questioning look, thinking that she might want to replace her shortspear.
"I suggest we all rest and heal our wounds before we attempt to go through any portals." Paldo suggested with a smile.
Spreading out his bedroll Paldo directed his questions toward their new acquaintance "I personally hate this cold, I need to get back to relaxing with a good book in my backyard. I agree that we need to stop this winter and you are right that the could threaten the whole world.
What should we expect on the other side of this portal? Are the lands harsh in Irrisen?"
Sigrun shakes her head at Linge. "Too unwieldy for me to use, unfortunately." She notices Paldo getting ready to settle down, and comments while glancing back uneasily at the portal, "Perhaps we shouldn't rest within sight of the thing, just in case they send reinforcements through."
"We could return to the weasel's empty lair, since it's not that far," Linge suggests. "Or cross the portal, and find some place to rest on the other side. You've just walked through the portal, apparently," she adds, looking at Eladorn. "Was the area were you came from? Did you meet anything? And do you know where we can rest?"
you can barely make out a cave to the north
"Let's check out the cave," Eladorn points through the blowing snow, where the faint outline of a cave entrance can be seen. "That might be a better place to hole up for the night." He turns to Paldo, and answers the halfling's question, "because the lands are harsh in Irrisen; every bit as cold and snowy as this, or more."
"I had completely forgotten about that cave," Linge shakes her head, amazed at her own heedlessness. "Good idea, let's see if we can rest there."
She gives own long, sad look at Hal's lifeless body, already getting buried under a layer of fresh snow:
"I wish we could have given him a decent sepulture," she says quietly. "Please forgive us, my friend. We'll never forget you."
Linge says goodbye to Hal, his body already hard to see in the piling snow.
Eladorn leads the wya to the north where the group sees a small cave. insides, they see that the cave has been roughly furnished, and has a large bearskin rug across the floor. there is a large locked chest and several smaller boxes and barrels. the cave offers good protection from the cold, though it is still much colder than most of the group is used to
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Paldo is glad to see the inside of a cave, although protected by his magic from the bitter cold, the constant whipping snow in his face is frustrating to deal with.
"Well this is cozy. Paldo said sarcastically. "But better than the igloos of the enemy. Glad you noticed this cave in this weather Eladorn."
Paldo looked suspiciously at the containers in front of them. "I don't trust these little bastards to just leave things lying around.
Any volunteers to inspect these things closer?"
Eladorn does his best to examine the locked chest for traps--or other danger--but hopes that someone has tools to open it. He cautiously opens the other boxes and barrels after a cursory inspection.
Eladorn's mighty elk companion follows the group into the cave. She examines the length of it, then turns around and awkwardly sits--crossing and folding her front legs neatly in front of her--near the entrance, facing out.
Linge is about to walk in the cave when Horn abruptly slows down, remaining near the entrance of the cave in spite of the druidess' best efforts to coax him into joining the group inside. After Eladorn has checked the place for traps, she comes inside and swiftly rolls up the rug.
"It's making him nervous," she says apologetically.
”You found a key in that troll’s belt pouch, didn’t you Paldo?” Garran asks. ”Might fit the lock on that chest...”
The cleric turns to Sigrun. ”Iomedae grants me her powers of healing. Blessed and mighty be Iomedae.” Garran reaches out a healing hand to the wounded magus.
"Ah...thanks." Sigrun hadn't noticed how badly she was hurt until Garran healed her - the adrenaline from the fight must not have fully worn off yet.
Once that's done, she helps with the poking about in the cave, standing by as Eladorn opens some boxes in case something unsavory pops out.
If the way is clear Paldo will use the found key on the chest.
the boxes and crates contain food and basic supplies. it looks like someone has been stockpiling rations and supplies for more creatures to be coming through the portal soon.
Paldo does detect magic coming from the chest, but Eladorn does not find any evidence of traps.
you detect 4 faint auras coming from the chest.
Linge beams at the sight of the rations, but soon her smile is replaced by a worried frown:
"We've got enough food for the night, but it looks like we might be disturbed in this cave by... Whoever, or whatever this was all for."
”It’s certainly a possibility, Linge.”Garran agrees. ”We’ll need to post watch if we stay here tonight.”
"I can take the first shift," Linge offers.