Looking shy Horgan responds Wow Issa. Best hug ever! I am so glad you are gonna be alright. That was sooo scare when they Knocked you down.
"It's weird that there were even skeletons in this part of the forest. Undead don't just conjure themselves" says Soinari.
Tacey interrupts, "I've heard that Rohkar has that kind of power, but I've never seen it myself. He's creepy enough, for sure. We'd better be back on the road early tomorrow, I'm sure he won't just let us leave with his prize hostage."
"Aye lad, I will be takin' first watch if ye don't mind. We can build a small fire for warmth too." Henyan says pulling out his flint and tinder
"I agree, I am up for taking a watch. I better get some rest.
Donovan begins to try and figure out how to get out of his breastplate.
The skeletons were bare of any possessions, though their manner of dress was vaguely Keleshite, suggesting that they may have been the remains of invaders from many, many years ago.
In the morning, as your set out on the road once more, you are interrupted by a strange, low tone, followed by a bright light that illuminates the early morning sky, and then a crashing sound nearby, as if something fell out of the sky into the trees about 60 feet ahead of you.
Almost....there...must...reach...the beacon... says a voice in a hoarse whisper carried on the wind.
Donovan begins to move quickly in that direction.
Horvan is somewhat better in the morning himself He hears the voice and asks Did anyone else hear that?
"Hear what?" asks Tacey. "I didn't hear anything".
Soinari looks ahead sternly, towards the source of the crash. "I can't hear anything from here, but we'd better be careful, if this is what I think it is."
The glow around Issi's hair grows gradually brighter as she approaches the crash, until it looks as if her hair itself is on fire.
Amid a mass of trampled trees and foliage, Issi can see a man in black armor, his face covered by a helmet with curving ram horns lying crumpled on the ground, struggling to to stand up. A long shard of ice, as long as a knight's lance, pierces through him from behind. His horse lies beside him, already dead from its wounds. He looks up at the girl with the fiery hair and stretches out his hand. As if to answer him, a tongue of flame reaches out from her hair to touch him, and the forest itself seems to burst forth in red-orange light.
Tacey covers her eyes and ducks for cover, while Soinari simply turns to Donovan, Horvan, Henyan, and Raggnor and says, "It's time." just before the light envelopes them, filling each child with a sudden rush of power and strength. For some, you can hear the voices of nature surrounding you clearer than you ever have; for others, it is as though your weapons sing to be used, to pierce the hearts of the wicked, while for others still a world beyond the veil that was ever out of reach has suddenly reached back to you.
Horvan moves to the fallen man, unsure what has happened. But he knows this man is hurt. Help him! He is hurt. his armor says in his head. He is too far gone. Give him the mercy stroke his sword seems to say, contradicting the armor. He stands confused and asks How can we help you?
The ram horn helmet melts away into shadow as Horvan approaches, revealing the aged, frail face of a man who has lived for uncountable years.
"I am dying, boy. There is nothing you can do for me. What you must do is help your homeland, and then the world. The portal at the center of this wood must be closed to spare this land an eternal winter. Then the other portals as well. You must find Baba Yaga, the true Queen of all Witches. Only she can unmake what her daughter has done. I thought I would find grown men if I followed the light, but the power...it's a little girl, and her friends. You must be very special children."
"What be this power?" Henyan syas as the light touches him and power infuses his dwarven body.
Donovan drops to his knees in the snow, the vision of Grandmother Crow smiles down on the boy, as he reaches out to her she fades and a large crow flies through the fading image to land in his outstretched hand.
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"Baba Yaga?" Issi says, her mouth open. "You mean witches? Eternal winter? It's all real? I thought they were only stories that Mummy would tell!"
She kneels by the man's side, taking his old and wrinkled hands in hers. As she does so her entire body begins to glow softly, until she gives the appearance of a gently banked fire and radiates about the same amount of warmth...
The crow hops forward and pecks Donovan on the nose.
"Pay attention, there is important information, Grandmother needs an agent in this"
The old man grimaces in pain as he adjusts himself into a seated position, then continues. “Once, I was called Illarion Matveius. Now I am known as Black Midnight. I am Baba Yaga’s Black Rider, harbinger of the Witch Queen’s return. Something has happened to Baba Yaga. Every hundred years, she returns to Irrisen to place a new daughter on the throne. But Queen Elvanna has other plans, it seems. Baba Yaga has not appeared as planned, and Elvanna intends to slay everyone loyal to her mother. She hunted down those of us who would herald Baba Yaga’s return and slew my associates. I am the last of the Three Riders. If no one stops her, Elvanna will open portals all over the world, and cover it with ice and snow. Beyond the portal is a white tower; there you can close this portal, but that will only save your home. Deeper within Irrisen, in the capitol city, Elvanna has chained the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga, a powerful artifact that can travel great distances, even to other worlds. The hut has many keys— objects attuned to the hut—that can take it almost anywhere. I managed to secure two of these keys, but Elvanna stole their power to prevent anyone from using the hut to find her mother. Once they are reactivated, placing the keys in the hut’s cauldron will retrace Baba Yaga’s path.”
"You all ready have 2 of these keys? How can they be reactivated?"
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"So we find the tower, close the portal, find the Dancing Hut and then use it to stop a nasty witch queen making eternal winter?" Issi summarises. "That sounds important. I think we should help..." She looks at the others for confirmation.
"May I have the keys please?" She asks 'Illarion Matveius' politely.
"I will reactivate the keys. With the blood from my last heartbeat..." says the old man, carefully drawing a dagger from his belt, then pulling a bundle of white hair and a plague doctor's mask from a sack. Raising the knife, he draws it across his throat and lets the blood run over the keys, restoring their power. He then falls silent and still, his armor fading away until only the body of an old man in a black tunic remains.
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"Wait!" Issi gasps, but she's too late and can only take the two keys from the man's now limp hands.
She sniffs for a few moments, clearly holding back tears and then looks up to the boys.
"We should go." She says, without even a tremble. "We have to do what he asked, we have to stop the Queen Witch."
But we gotta take the lady back to our town. Horan voices,.
Henyan watches silently as the man explains the dire circumstances they face and then takes his own life to give them the power to help out. "Poor man, we need to find this tower, find out how ta close these portals. I be likin' the cold but not eternal cold, that just stiffens yer bones." Henyan says.
As everyone is cleaning up a suspicious looking Pony comes into the area, Henyan stops instantly eyeing up it. "What ye be doin' here? Ye looks lost." Henyan holds his hand out as the Pony comes over, noticing what looks like a Saddle already on the Pony Henyan quickly mounts it and looks around. "This be what it like to see from yer eyes Grub?"
Donovan speaks over his sholder without turning from the portal "Please tell my Ma that I am ok!"
Lady Malassene frowns almost imperceptibly as she looks over at the half-orc woman. Tacey sighs and shakes her head. "The only way back to Heldren takes us back in the direction of Rohkar, and there's no way I'm heading back there. I can try to get her out of the forest to another town, but it could be rough going for the princess here." she says, jerking her thumb in the direction of the Lady.
"If there are more of these strange creatures in the forest, it might be safest for us to all stay together for now." says Lady Malassene. "It feels odd to say that I might be safer among children, but it seems clear now that you are not ordinary."
Lady Argentea Malassene gasps in shock at the sight of Raggnor's claws, but quickly regains her composure. The cold is getting worse, however, and she isn't really dressed for this weather. The fire (and huddling for warmth) kept her alive overnight, but you'll need some kind of long-term solution.
After a few more hours on the trail, you come across a ridge stained with blood and the tracks of both a human and an animal. Nearby, in an area of reddish snow, is the body of a man. You will need to approach him to learn anything further, or you can continue past him.
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Issi offers Lady Malssene her coat, which is nowhere big enough for the woman but does st least give her something to wrap her hands in. Issi herself seems largely untroubled by the cold ever since the meeting with the Black Rider. As Raggnor steps forward she looks at the other boys and makes a *go for it* gesture, as golden flames appear in her other hand.
The body lies motionless. As Raggnor approaches, he can see what looks like a hunter, judging by the broken bow and quiver of fine-looking arrows. He has seen this man before, talking to his parents: it's Dryden Kepp, a local hunter known to drink more than is wise, and who recently became something of a town laughingstock for his wild tales about a giant white weasel roaming the forest.
It would seem that poor Dryden had been telling the truth, as Raggnor identifies the tracks near the man's body as those of a giant-sized weasel, easily the size of a bear. Judging by the tracks, the creature was injured, and savaged poor Dryden terribly. His fur coat is still usable, however, and Raggnor can recognize two intact +1 animal-bane arrows. The hunter would surely have come out with more provisions than this, but they must be lost in the snow. Will anyone else take time to look for them?
Horvan has a look around.
Horvan finds the hunter's pack buried in the snow. Inside, he finds 3 days of trail rations, a half-full hip flask, and a battered journal that appears to detail his efforts to hunt the giant weasel, including locations where he set bear traps for the beast.
"The world is a whole lot stranger then I ever thought, Lets go get this thing before it kills more folk."
Henyan keep his spear out and at the ready, not wanting this giant white Wiesel to sneak up on him.
"Ye think it still be around ere?"
According to the notebook, the area where Dryden set the traps isn't far from here. You begin to head in that direction, moving through a forested area of the ridge, swept by cold winds. Heavy snow burdens the boughs of the evergreen trees, but someone has apparently cleared the snow from a large patch of ground to dig in the pine-needle-carpeted soil.
The crow that recently joined Donovan cries out in alarm, as Henyan notices two of the smaller trees (still easily the size of grown men) begin to move. Cold, malevolent eyes open on their trunks, gazing at the fiery young girl, Issi.
SURPRISE ROUND INITIATIVE
Donovan - 20
Frost Firs - 19
Henyan - 11
"They trees be alive here." Henyan says moving to the front of the group to ready for an attack.
Donovan moves up beside Henyan to make a stand between the trees and Issi.
The tree creatures quickly close in on the two boys; Henyan ducks under a branch swinging at him, but Donovan gets hit square in the chest. The trees are both covered in thick, sticky sap, which Donovan narrowly escapes being covered in.
ROUND ONE INITIATIVE
Donovan - 20
Frost Firs - 19
Issi - 17
Henyan - 11
Horvan - 6
Raggnor - 6