Sorry Oksana, I must have cross-posted with you, so I completely missed your last post. I'm not sure what you're hoping for - how can your familiar save everybody down there and bring the chest up? I'd need more of a plan. But I can't imagine a little snow man being able to do much by itself, even if you are distracting the giants.
The chest is 100 lbs - I have a hard time imagining your snowman being able to drag it. How big is it?
Also, do you want to wait with the snowman, or go on the sled?
Oksana gives the final orders to her familiar then turns to try and catch the retreating sleds.
Crazy. I'm going to do some research on witch familiars, then decide what he can do. I was thinking more like an animal familiar, not a party member in its own right. I'll get back on what he can do later. In the mean time, make the Con roll to dash to the sled.
Ok...sounds good!
Con Save:
The women dash for the sled, which is picking up speed. Koyuki stumbles, but Petronia sweeps her up in a brawny arm and half hurls her towards the sled. Ner catches her neatly and pulls her aboard, just as Petronia flings herself to safety. Oksana practically skates over the snow with consummate grace, and grabs Matheus's hand and is hauled aboard.
The added weight of the five of them slows the sled considerably. The dogs strain and scramble to run with their burden. "Too heavy!" the musher screams in Ulfen, "lose some weight!"
As he yells, an enormous boulder of ice and snow comes crashing down just in front of the sled. Yelping, the huge dogs pull left to get around it, and the sled just clears the obstacle. Behind them, the giants appear to be splitting up. One is making quick work of the remaining dwarf, one is going for the other sled, and one of the giants is gaining ground on the Pathfinder's sled. With one enormous hand, he reaches down as he runs and scoops up another hut-sized snowball.
As Ner reaches to cut the rope lashing the four large, heavy crates to the sled, one of the Ulfen brothers grabs the halfling and tries to shove him aside. "No way!" he cries in Ulfen, "this is OUR sled, our stuff." They both look ready to try and knock the five of you off the sled.
Not expecting the Ulfen to turn on them, Petronia's reflexes were a little slower than she would have liked but she was more than ready to protect their position.
Sill in beastial form she growls, "And that's my halfling. Hands off before I bite them off!"
Ner got behind Petronia, "Yeah! That's her halfling!!", and made to cut a strap.
"Vilket är viktigare för dig," Matheus shot back in Skald. "Liv eller dina varor? Om varor, vad sägs om jag köper handelsvaror från dig? Du kommer inte ha något emot att slänga mina grejer?"
If I don't get init rolls from K and O by tonight, I'll roll for them and move us along.
her relief at being grabbed and pulled aboard was immediately cut short as the Ulfen turned hostile, though she noted they had a point it was all about group survival now.
"I can save maybe a hundred pounds without losing anything here, but it will cost you a promise to keep a secret!"
In the blink of an eye, her form shifted, dwindled, until there was a white-furred fox with amber eyes where she had been standing a moment ago. As the sled lurched she struggled to keep her footing, but her slight form was able to remain hunched securely amid the packs.
Init:
Oksana frowns at the threat from the two brothers.
"Unless you want to be removed from this sled, I would be careful how you address us!"
The brothers stare a moment at Matheus as if he's out of his mind. They clearly don't take his offer seriously.
The taller of the two grabs for Petronia, who is nearest to him and protecting Ner. However, the brawler easily sees the maneuver coming a mile away, and is able to avoid the clumsy attempt, despite the lurching movement of the sled.
The slightly shorter brother winds his left hand into the ropes holding the crates, then draws an axe and chops it at Matheus, hoping to at least convince the druid to jump from the sled and take his chances with the giant. Alas, the movement of the sled spoils his aim, and the axe goes wide.
Oksana, furious with the way the men are reacting, casts her slumber hex at the shorter brother, as he's the one with the weapon. Fortunately for him, the adrenaline of the fight and the chase aid him in keeping awake.
With little warning, Koyuki suddenly turns into a small, white fox, and leaps to a secure spot amidst the merchandise. As the load lightens a bit, the sled dogs are able to pull a bit harder, but it's not enough.
Behind them, the giant continues to run, gaining a few feet. He winds back his arm, preparing to throw a second snow-boulder.
Is there any reason why Tailwind wouldn't affect the giant too? He's within 120 feet of you.
As for the ice wall - I'd give him a Ref save to try to avoid tripping over it. But it might work.
Hmmm....reread it a few times, and I think you're right. You can change the direction every hour, so I'll rule that you can spend a standard action to change it, and make sure you're just on the edge of the wind and the giant is out of it.
Petronia snapped her jaws at the Ulfen's arm, drawing blood. "I warned you," she snarled.
"But we don't have time for this!" Petronia channeled all her strength into her fist and unleashed a devastating blow on the larger Ulfen. If he was unconscious, he couldn't stop them from releasing their crates. She was more than happy to kick them off the sled but the others may not be so willing.
Matheus muttered a curse in Druidic as the brothers ignored what he himself thought of the perfect solution to the problem – they cared for their merchandise, he didn’t see much point in the coin he carried. To him, it had all sounded so reasonable, but this wasn’t the time and place for proper debates. Certainly not now when it was coming to blows already – he winced in sympathy as Petronia’s fist connected with one brothers’ chin, hoping the brawler hadn’t inflicted any permanent damage, as the druid found in his heart to sympathize with the brothers even in this situation.
The druid was a bit at a loss as he raked his brain to figure out some way he could help. He didn’t feel like trying to stand in the moving sled to try and wrestle with the cargo, not if he could help it, and the prayers he had prepared didn’t really include anything that could more than inconvenience foes of such power and stature. They were moving too fast for any fog cloud he could summon to be of any particular use, and the few combat spells he had were very much unlikely to deal enough damage to a foe so large to do more than annoy and anger them. But if annoying them was all he could do…
Deciding to try something, the druid lifted one arm over the sled’s railing to trail his fingers over the snow they were speeding across, eyes closed as he concentrated. They were riding over hard-packed snow, it was true, but there was solid ground below. In some places, deceptively close to the surface, in others, buried deeply, but it was there. And he could do something with it. Whisper suggestions to it, urge it to take new, temporary forms according to his bidding. Forms that the giants, he hoped, never saw coming.
With a low rumble that was lost under the baying of the hounds and heavy thud of the giants’ footsteps, a line of earth across the giants’ path shuddered into a new form, pushing the snow piled atop it before it, helping to disguise the wall Matheus’s spell was building as just another wind-blown snowbank. He just prayed it would work well enough to help them make a little bit of headway to their pursuers…
Ner scrambled across the surface of the sled and looked for bindings to cut so that merchandise could be let loose. He tried his best to avoid the brothers as he slashed at ties.
Shocked by the vicious bite delivered to his arm by the crazy southern woman, the tall brother was unprepared for the sledgehammer of her fist. His head slammed back into a crate, and he immediately went limp. Unfortunately for him, that meant that he was no longer balancing on the bouncing sled, and he immediately tumbled off the side of it.
The smaller brother had been taking a swing at Ner as the halfling scrambled past him to slash at the bindings. However, seeing his brother fall spoiled his shot. "NEJ!" he screamed, instinctively reaching out to catch his brother. He was too far, however, and his axe went spinning off into the snow and was lost.
"Du tik! Du monstrum!" he swore at Petronia, using language that would have earned him a slap from his mother. With no thought to his own safety, he launched himself at the shifter, his only thought to hit, to batter her. He struggled to grapple her, to knock her from the sled, but the brawler was too used to this sort of melee, and was able to keep her feet and keep him off of her.
Behind them, the giant watched the man topple, and his eyes followed the future meal as it fell, marking the spot for later. As he did so, the ground suddenly erupted just in front of him, nearly causing him to trip. Throwing his arms wide, the giant managed to leap the barrier and keep his balance. However, the snow-boulder fell harmlessly to the side and he fell a few steps behind.
Ner slashed through one of the straps holding the nearest crate, and it began to wobble. The halfling could tell that another strap would release it, then it would just need a good shove to fall off.
Petronia uses the man's awkward attempt to grapple her against him and wrapped her arms around him to immobilize him. As much as she felt it would be easier to toss him over to join his brother rather than have to deal with his wrath later, Petronia held on to him tightly so that Ner could finish releasing the cargo.
Ner watched the tall northerner tumble off of the sled and his eyes went glassy. He cringed at the shouting of the shorter northerner and almost forgot that they all needed saving! He continued to be mindful of the last northerner as he thrashed against Petronia's strength and looked for a strap that looked important!
He slashed away and looked up at Petronia, "Umn, who's driving???"
He slashed away and looked up at Petronia, "Umn, who's driving???"
Matheus muttered a curse as his clever plan was foiled by the giant's quick reflexes, but the halfling's innocent query brought his mind back to present in a hurry. He took a hurried look at things, but the hounds seemed to have things well enough at hand. "I think the hounds are fine driving themselves as long as there's open snow plains ahead," the druid said, hoping he wasn't jinxing them - he really could do with them not running right at yet another crevasse the dogs in their panic didn't realize they should try to avoid.
With that comforting thought in mind, the druid decided it might not be a bad idea to have someone – himself, perhaps, as he was of little use wrestling with the remaining Ulfen brother. He envied Koyuki’s ability to shift her shape – it was a type of magic that he had not yet mastered, and considering his bulk, having the ability to transform himself into some small, easy-to-transport shape would have been decidedly useful just about now.
Claws digging in to the packs, the white fox noted Ner's attempt to cut loose the merchandise and crawled over, snapping at the leather bindings with her little sharp teeth.
After sending the message to her familiar, Oksana holds on tightly as the sled skips and sways over the snow.
"What should we do know? The others should be ok, I hope, and the chest is safe."
Meanwhile...
The scene at the edge of the crevasse was momentarily quiet. Two giants had taken off after two sleds, both in opposite directions. The final giant had killed the remaining dwarf, and had grabbed the string of dogs that had been cut from your sled.
The little snowman took advantage of the giant's distraction to slither through the snow to the top of the crevasse, looking for a place to tie his rope. Finding a likely-looking crag, he secured the double length of rope and tossed it over the side. There was no movement on the rope, however; either there were no survivors, or they hadn't noticed the rope.
Following the orders of its mistress, the snowman burrowed through the snow, down about 100 feet, until he was even with the ice ledge. Popping his head out, he saw that the scene on the ledge was very grim. A few people had survived, but were in no condition to pull themselves up, much less climb. The chest wasn't immediately visible, buried as it was in a tangle of 3 sleds, over a dozen dead and wounded dogs, nine dead and injured people, and a hill of ice and snow that the climbing giants had dislodged.
Provisioned with the dwarf and the last 5 dogs, the remaining giant began climbing back down to the ledge to discover the extent of their bounty. Oksana's elemental realized there was no way it would be able to dig the chest out without being seen. It burrowed back into the ice, and let her know the situation through their empathic link.
So does the knowledge that you have a musher change any actions? This is what I have.
Petronia - grapple man
Ner and Koyuki - cut/bite straps
Matheus - possibly work with musher to avoid hazards but disguise them for the giant?
Oksana - ?
Oksana - Will cast Sleet Storm to try and break contact with the giants.
School conjuration (creation) [cold]; Level bloodrager 3, druid 3, magus 3, shaman 3, sorcerer/wizard 3, witch 3; Domain weather 4; Elemental School water 3
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M/DF (dust and water)
EFFECT
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area cylinder (40-ft. radius, 20 ft. high)
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
DESCRIPTION
Driving sleet blocks all sight (even darkvision) within it and causes the ground in the area to be icy. A creature can walk within or through the area of sleet at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check. Failure means it can’t move in that round, while failure by 5 or more means it falls (see the Acrobatics skill for details).
The sleet extinguishes torches and small fires.
Ner works on the straps
The brother, desperate to escape the iron bands of the southern woman's arms, thrashed wildly, kicking and elbowing in an attempt to free himself. He was completely heedless of his own safety, and that's the only reason he was able to break free. He immediately scrambled up onto the pile of goods, hoping to stay away from the beast of a woman.
Unable to stop the giant, Matheus tried to move forward towards the musher. However, between the fight between Petronia and the Ulfen, Oksana casting a spell, and the halfling and fox trying to cut straps from the sled, the way was blocked. He'd need to be careful to get up there. He began to pick his way forward.
Ner and Koyuki continued to worry away at the straps, and were able to free the largest of the crates. Ner then made sure he was hanging onto an intact strap, put his back to a secure crate, and shoved at the loose one with his legs. However, his small form didn't have enough leverage to knock it from the sled.
Oksana, hoping to slow the giant down enough for them to gain some headway, summoned a storm of sleet and ice, and positioned it directly in front of the giant. Suddenly, the sprinting giant couldn't see, and found himself pelted by driving sleet from all directions. The ground below became even more slippery, and he fought to catch his balance. However, the sudden change from packed snow to sheet ice underfoot caught him unprepared, and his feet shot out from under him.
From the sled's perspective, a small storm appeared, then immediately began to get smaller as they pulled away from it. They waited breathlessly for a moment, but the giant didn't come out of it.
The brother, from the top of the heap, shouted at the musher, "Vänd dig om. Gå tillbaka!"
Petronia's eyes narrowed as the Ulfen barely broke her grasp. As punishment, the brawler snapped her jaws at him and drew blood.
She stalked the man over the pile of goods and grabbed at him from behind. But her aim was foiled as the sled made a sudden move causing her to grab the sled to retain her balance.
There was only one giant chasing you, and last round, you didn't see him come out of the sleet storm. You don't know if he's given up, or will reappear this round.
"I don't like to leave any of them behind either," Matheus grunted as he continued his perilous trek towards the musher. "But to save anyone, we'll first have to survive ourselves! So please for the love of big dinners, stop fighting and start helping!"
Indeed, Matheus hated the idea of just leaving so many people to the fickle fates, and there was the matter (although secodnary now that so many lives were in the play) of the chest they were tasked to protect. Now, the druid was more than willing to sacrifice their mission in favor of saving lives, but even those lives would be quite the challenge to safe. Frost giants, of all things! Those were no runts of the litter, but true titans, strong and with the intelligence to use their might to its fullest. Against one, the five of them might have a chance. But three of them...?
I have to admit, I was not expecting to lose people in the middle of what I thought was a pretty exciting scene. What's up?
Oksana looks back at the storm she had conjured and nods in approval.
Let's hope that keeps the giants off our back until we can get these people to safety, she thinks as the sled continues to careen through the snow.
Looking over the remains of the expedition, she feels a stab in her gut as she realizes that only those left on this sled are probably going to make it out alive...even though she commanded her familiar to try and rescue those in the crevice, she had little hope that they might escape.
Looking back once again she waits until she is sure that the giants are no longer following them before turning back to the fight with the musher.
"Your brother made is choice, as you will too if you keep up this nonsense. "
Intimidate:
Ner looked back over his shoulder as the storm hit. Wind whipping his face, his cheeks rosey and the rest of his face white and icy. When he didn't see the giant leap out of the noise and sleet he smiled widely. Beneath him he could feel the ground mushing by.
As the storm looked smaller and smaller he looked at the load on the sled. He tried to think and looked for a smaller package to free. He started cutting it loose but left it slightly attached another bigger package.
If he did this right the small package would come free easily and help for when he pushed the greater bundle away. If he did this wrong the smaller package would act as an anchor and drag alongside the sled.
But he couldn't even shift the smallest package ... which, to be honest, was not so little to begin with.
Koyuki's amber eyes smouldered as she stared at the crate in hatred. She gathered her small form and pounced to the side of the crate, digging her nose in painfully to the cheap wooden planking as she tried to barge it off the edge of the sled.
Her slight form simply didn't have the weight nor the leverage to budge the crate even an inch, she stopped completely when one jostle nearly sent her flying overboard.
The diplomatic efforts of Matheus fell on deaf ears. The man was apoplectic with rage and bloodlust. Realizing that his chances against Petronia were close to zero, he decided that the winter witch, a lifelong enemy, was his next best bet. Her words of warning shook him, but not enough to counter the rage coursing through him. Throwing himself at the woman, he tried to grab her and throw her from the sled. However, rage made him clumsy, and Oksana was able to dodge his grasp.
The sleet storm was now a little more than 100 feet behind them, but to their dismay, they saw the giant lumber out of it. Wiping sleet from his eyes, he scooped up another double-handful of snow and threw it hard at the sled. Clearly near the edge of his range, the giant still managed a direct hit on the back of the sled.
A snow-and-ice ball the size of an ox landed square in the middle of the sled. Breaking up as it landed, it knocked almost everybody flat. The world went dark, silent and icy for a moment, and snow filled ears and eyes. The lucky ones managed to stay on the sled. The Ulfen merchant, mere inches from Oksana, ended up half-crushed under what felt like a mountain of snow.
The musher swore as the sled lurched to a near-standstill from the impact. Cracking his whip above the air at the dogs, he got them moving again. A moment later, Ner's freed crates tumbled free, along with some snow, and the sled picked up speed.
The giant, seeing his missile hit, began moving towards the sled again, hoping to pick up some fallen people to bring back with him.
Matheus could feel the corona of loose snow trailing the massive snowball sting his face as the missile barely missed him. [b]”Gozreh’s frozen teats!” Matheus swore as the giant’s missile almost took off his head. If anyone had entertained wild fantasies about fighting the brutes, this was a great reminder why it was a horrible idea, no matter how much abandoning all those people stung. The druid spat out snow and rose to his knees, trying to make a quick headcount to see if everyone was still alive and aboard – if they weren’t, there wasn’t much time to get them back.
While his eyes were busy taking inventory of his co-passengers, the druid murmured a quick invocation to the fickle spirits of the winds, to gather up some of the moisture in the air into a thick blanket of fog between the sled and their pursuer, hoping the milky-white insubstantial barrier might spoil the giant’s aim.
Nope, anybody buried is automatically on the sled, but buried.
Petronia was so focused on keeping the Ulfen brother from throwing anyone off the sled that her back was facing the giant snow boulder that was hurtling towards the sled.
One moment she's grasping at the man's jacket to keep him away from Oksana and the next moment everything went black as she felt like she had been hit by a landslide.
The only thing that told the brawler that she wasn't dead was the pain radiating through her limbs and an overall feeling of cold. She still wasn't sure what had happened but she felt the need to claw her way out towards fresh air.
Everything went dark. As the stinging of the left side of his body stunned him the ringing in his ears found a new pitch. Petronia and Ner were practically glued together with wet snow. He put all his effort into getting up again. He searched the sled, "Oh! the packages are gone. Well tha' was easy." He turned to Petronia smiling. All it had taken was nearly half of everything Ner had in him.
He started to reach for his belt...