The woodsman is used to plain speaking and is bemused at the aires of the people in the room. all sorts of people here... .
Otta will take a set of cold-weather gear and make a quick stop at the Willowbark Apothecary for an endure elements potion.
When he is finally ready to go, Otta joins Jujo. He nods a greeting at the gnome;
"Hello friend, you already prepared, do you spend a lot of time on the road?"
The party sets out on their journey to the Border Woods. From the description of where the Lady Argentea went missing Ottast and Randgríðr would know that this is roughly six miles south of Heldren. The journey takes about two hours traveling at a comfortable pace for those with shorter walking legs.
Once the party is roughly a mile away from the Border Woods, the effect of the cold on the woods themselves become obvious. It looks as if a blizzard has taken over the area. This is clearly some divine or supernatural magics at work. Near the forest, the temperature grows noticeably colder.
As you approach the site you see that the road ahead is littered with debris and the corpses of slain humans and horses. A carriage stands in the roadway, its team of horses missing or cut free, while another overturned carriage lies sprawled and broken next to the tree line. To the south, more bodies have fallen around what appears to be a statue of ice. A snowy trail leads deeper into the forest.
Whatever happened hear is significantly worse than you imagined or were made aware of. About 50 feet ahead of you, you see the massacre site. What do you do?
Trawets looks at the massacre sight and shivers. "Let's hold here a minute. I can cast detect magic and in a few seconds I can see if there is any magic around. If we move slowly forward and I spot emanations and hopefully get the whole site before we walk into it."
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Seeing the grim man from the night before was starting a conversation, Jujo decided that he was more of a daytime man. He replied "Oh, yes! The road is my home, more than any place. I am a collector of stories, you see. It is on the road that I learned of Absalom's Lord Gyr's affair with a commoner woman. Or even Pitax's king Castruccio's not so honorable rise to power!" He paused to let his words sink in. He then continued saying "Of course not all stories one hears on the road can be trusted, but man, do I enjoy the thrill of meeting young couples moving to another town and also experienced men leading a cart full of ripe plums to sell. A good conversation will always yield a piece of fruit from a good hearted farmer, and that alone is worth sleeping under the rainiest of skies." He was sweetly smiling by the time he finished talking.
They had walked for an hour and Jujopotamous was struggling to keep pace. He didn't seem bothered by this at all. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it, and told everyone of the time he convinced a human child it was better to have shorter legs.
The cool in the air was also something invigorating for the gnome. He seemed to prefer the colder weather. However, the strangeness of it all seemed to contagion him, as he started a monologue. "Sorrowed be the man who loses his house as I have." His convincing yet sudden act seemed to affect him. The group realized he had just cast a spell, as if the world itself had reacted to his monologue.
"Don't worry, I didn't lose anything", he said. "It's a part of a very sad sketch I wrote when I was younger, but it seemed fitting to those without homes, if the cold spreads." Without addressing the fact that he just used magic, the gnome focused on his surroundings, looking for a magical source for the cold.
Jujo watches the site with his mouth open at the carnage. He had been in battle before, but he had never seen anything like this. Knowing not to approach anything yet, he scanned the area with his eyes first. He was worried there might be someone lurking behind the trees.
Then, focusing on the statue, he tried to recognize who it was depicting.
Calie took in the dismal scene of the massacre from afar with a grave expression on her face. It was hardly the first time she'd seen such displays of wanton death and destruction, but even so, the sight of carnage still chilled her heart more than any snowstorm ever could.
"Smart idea, Trawets," she says in a low whisper. "It's possible that the villains that did this are still around. See if you can pick any lingering magical traps or presences." Remembering that they had another member in their party that could probably help ensure they didn't walk right into a trap, Calie asked Otto much the same in a low whisper. "Otto. Do you think you can see or sense if anyone is watching us we can our way?"
Coming from the West(left), Trawets moves up the road a bit to allow him to scan the entire field. Pausing just north of the wagon wedged in the now, he uses his Detect Magic spell.
You do a thorough scan of the field and detect no magic. Being roughly 20 feet away from the wagon on the road, you do, however, hear jostling coming from within.
Jujo tries to take everything in and the scene is a bit overwhelming to take in. There is more death and destruction than he was prepared for and is trying to take it all in. Focusing on the statue of ice you cannot actually tell what it is from this distance. Some kind of pillar, human height in size.
Trawets stands and scans and then shakes his head. He points to his ear and then a wagon 20 feet ahead.
As the group approaches the massacre site, Randgríðr goes pale. She has seen dead before, even dead who she had killed herself, but this was something else entirely. "Old Deadeye watch over us," she mutters, trying to appraise the situation around her.
As Trawets points to the wagon, Randgríðr nods. Drawing her halberd and shield she approaches, standing right next to the wizard. "Is it magic?" she whispers, wary of the possibility.
Trawets shakes his head to Randgríðr's question and whispers "I hear Movement. I'll be ready to cast if you want to investigate."
Giving a slight nod to the tall man, Randgríðr slowly approaches the overturned wagon to investigate the source of whatever sound Trawets heard.
Otta's head swims as Jujo keeps talking; This fellow doesn't stop... it was a simple enough question I thought.. He doesn't understand many of the references to the politics of other nations but catches snippets and just nods his head in agreement.
(+2 vs humans)
The snow obscures Otta's awareness of the scene and he spends a moment longer to take in the remains of the massacre. He stares dumbly at the carnage and is snapped back with Trawets' words.
Otta draws his bow and notches an arrow.
Arriving at the massacre site proper, Calie shook her head in sorrow at the bodies before her and made a prayer to Shelyn just as Grida did for Erastil. "May our deeds this day wipe away the ugliness of this travesty. And may the Lady of Graves be kind in her judgment of the slain." She wanted to gather the bodies and give them the proper burial they deserved, but the earth was cold and she was bereft of a spade to break it.
Still, even with her heart and mind troubled at the prospect of just leaving the dead to the elements, she immediately stood alert when Trawets warned them of movement in the nearby overturned carriage. Sallying up next to Grida as she made her way to the down vehicle, Calie whispered a quick, " I have your back," to the warrior as they now both advanced closer to the noise.
Randgríðr takes the lead an approaches the upright wagon on the road that the sounds are coming from. As she approaches she notices tat the decorative chasings on this expensive carriage bear the marks of Taldan heraldry, as well as damage from the many arrows fired in the battle that took place here.
Rounding to the south facing side, Randgríðr notices that a spear has been wedged between the handles of the carriage doors holding them closed. She can clearly hear the sounds of a struggle within, almost as if someone or something is trying to get out and is fighting to do so.
The party moves forward with Randgríðr, some keeping a safe distance.
Jujo takes a few looks back towards the statue that he was interested in previously. From a closer more direct view, this ice statue is not what it seemed to previously be. From here, anyone that would look, would notice that this is not an ice statue but instead someone frozen solid within ice. Moving towards the icy tomb would provide a clearer picture.
As you approach the ice pillar you move to wipe away from of the frost that covers the details of what is within. You see a man who is wearing a breastplate with Taldan heraldry emblazoned on the front of it. Looking him over you notice he doesn't have arms. Your eyes naturally move towards his feet and you see two encased in ice, the right hand clenching a beautiful longsword.
The scene makes you stick to your stomach and you throw up this mornings breakfast.
The party sees Jujo approach the ice pillar and in a few brief moments he turns, hunches over and vomits.
Rangríðr, confident with Calie having her back, is going to use her shield-hand to remove the spear from the handles and try to open them. She takes note of Jujo's sickness, though she figures potential survivors are most important right now.
Trawets sees Jujo get sick and puts a hand up to stop Randgríðr. What did that man get himself into. Impatient gnome goes and causes more trouble while we are trying to deal with the carriage. Trawets then walks toward Jujo "What have you done? Couldn't you wait while we took care of the carriage. What can we do to help your stomach?"
Otta pads through the snow 20 feet behind Rangríðr, readying himself for whatever wants to burst out of the carriage. something is in there trying to get out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Jujo wander off and moments later hears the gnome painting the ground with breakfast. Then trawets gets distracted by the gnome too- he hisses as the wizard heads off to the sick gnome; "Wizard, don't wander off, the gnome can clean up after himself. Whatever is locked inside the carriage is more of a threat than the sour smell the gnome is producing"
Trawets looks at the short man and waves him toward the carriage. "Come on, the statue isn't going anywhere. We need to take care of the carriage then we can examine the statue." He then starts heading back toward the carriage behind the more martial people.
Calie was torn. One part of her wanted to leap to Jujo's side to see if he was truly alright, while another wished to stay beside Grida and watch her back as they cautiously moved the carriage. In the end, she choose the former over the latter, though she felt some shame over the fact that she couldn't be in two places at once.
Still, even if she couldn't directly console the gnome she could still give him a hail. "Are you truly alright, Jujopotamous? Best to avoid that ice pillar for now while we deal with this," she tells him. Still feeling guilty that a friend was in distress while she was close at hand, Calie took one hand from her glaive and joined Grida in removing the spear barring the carriage door in the hope that together they could quicken the removal process.
Rangríðr reaches out to remove the spear, as she does the door flies open with two people struggling. One aggressively trying to attack the one whose back is facing you. As the one whose back is facing you falls backwards our of the carriage you realize that the one attacking had bitten the other and still had a grasp of the others cheek with its teeth. As the man falls backwards it rips and pulls off the meaty part of his cheek. He lets out a painful cry and falls to the ground clenching his cheek as blood pours from his face.
The one in the carriage takes a step forward out of the carriage. He has a crazed unnatural look about him. Something is not right. As the shock of the horrific scene quickly gets pushed to the back of your mind with pumping adrenaline, you snap into action.
With a quick glance both of them are wearing items with Taldan heraldry showing.
Trawets is comforting Jujo when he decides to look over the encased man in ice. As he is looking at the man in an instant his eyes fly open and begin to frantically look around. In this same moment Trawets and Jujo hear the commotion happening back at the carriage and see that horrific scene unfold.
Initiative
Ottast
Cale
Jujo
Rangríðr
M
X
Trawets
Calie's mind snapped to attention as the two men stumbled out of the carriage in a rush of frantic movement. Quickly assessing the struggle and noticing the fevered, unnatural look in one of the men's eyes and the grievously torn cheek on the other, Calie moved to position herself between the aggressive one and their fleeing victim.
"Cease your attacks, sir! You are both Taldans guard are you not? I don't wish to harm you but if you continue I'll be forced to act!" she warms the seemingly insane stranger. When the stranger doesn't stop in his movements, Calie responded by mentally asking Shelyn for forgiveness as she tried to knock the madman out with the butt of her glaive before he could do more harm.
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Jujo, although in awe at seeing such a horrific scene, jumps into action. Knowing himself, he could trust the world to react to some of his act. "Hello, good sir, I am your entertainment for today, the circus is my specialty!" Although he doesn't understand how, acting helps him channel his magic, and he attempts to magically capture the beast-like man's attention.
"Stand down, we do not wish to kill you!" Randgríðr commands, swinging the butt of her halberd at the man Calie attacks in an attempt to subdue him. What sort of horror has this man seen to bite at another person like that?
Without hesitation, Otta will let fly an arrow at the crazed man. Better to kill a rabid dog than let it live to infect others.
Otta snarls as his arrow flies wide, embedding itself in the side of the carriage instead of the cheek-chewing man.
Calie and Randgríðr both land solid blows to the man before you. It reacts as if the attacks only drew its attention to you!
Jujo gets the sense that the Daze spell had no effect on the man.
Ottast arrows flies wide, embedding itself in the side of the carriage. As it thunks into the wood, snow that has collected on the top and side falls free.
The man who had his cheek bitten off is still screaming in pain on the ground.
Calie stepping between the two men draws the attention of the crazed man. With a wild swing he is able to catch her high on the side of her head. Striking her with a fist between her temple and ear. For a brief moment, in pain, Calie sees stars cloud her vision before clearing to see the crazed man snarling at her chopping his blood soaked teeth at her. Bits of spittle and blood fling from his mouth and lands on her Cold-Weather outfit.
From back near the frozen man whose eyes come aive, Trawets sees the flurry of attacks happening before him.
Initiative
Ottast
Cale
Jujo
Rangríðr
M
X
Trawets
Seeing the man attack Calie, Trawets casts a spell and a ray of frost comes from his hand toward the man.
Trawets from behind everyone lets go a Ray of Frost that might have normally hit the crazed man but Trawets is not used to firing into the fray of combat with precision.
Calie's vision clears up perfectly to see the crazed man eager to lunge at her again.
Initiative
Ottast
Calie
Jujo
Rangríðr
M
X
Trawets
The moment Calie saw her blow and Grida's do absolutely nothing she realized they weren't dealing with just a deranged man. On closer inspection of his glassy eyes and grayish flesh she suddenly knew the man to be animated corpse.
"By the Rose. This is no living man. Not anymore. He's a zombie, the walking dead!", she warns the party. Almost immediately after saying that, the zombie swings at the side of her, managing to hit her square at the side of her head . Though reeling from the attack and seeing stars in her eyes, Calie still manages to hold her ground and return the swing with a sideways slash of her glaive aimed at the zombie's head.
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Jujopotamous opens his eyes wide with Calie's words. He had only once briefly seen a walking dead. Fortunately he had managed to run away before it noticed him. Now there was no running away, but it seemed he wasn't the center of attention anyway. He pointed his crossbow at it and said "I'm gonna shoot it, please stand still everyone". Only after saying it did he realize he was asking for something absurd, but he usually shot stationary targets. I'm gonna have to practice shooting moving ones, in case this happens again, he thought.
However, the recent ordeal with the frozen statue made the gnome very sick and he failed to concentrate on the task at hand. His bolt flew wide, becoming lost in the snow on the north side of the road.
The gnome is startled by the movement in the frozen statue. , he shouted at the wizard.
Randgríðr attacks out on the undead that is on Calie and ready to take a bite out of her. With a slash over Calie's shoulder, Randgríðr sinks her Halberd into the head of the crazed man. His eyes lose the spark of whatever life it had and crumples to the ground.
Otta notches and lets loose an arrow;
"the rabid creature bit the other guy- watch him too, no telling if the infection spears quickly"
Again, the arrow thunks into the carriage.
"By the blasted fates!"
After seeing the crazed man go down everything seems to be silent. Looking over at the man who was bit, everyone sees him slowly stand up. He is not making a noise as his back is towards the party.
Initiative
Ottast
Calie
Jujo
Rangríðr
M
X
Trawets
@Trawets you are up my friend.
Trawets sees the main combat seems to be over and waits to see what the man does.
Trawets stands waiting for what happens next. Before the group, the man that had his cheek bitten and ripped off stands next to Calie with his back to her and the rest of the group. His screams eerily cut of moments before standing up.
Initiative
Ottast
Calie
Jujo
Rangríðr
M
X
Trawets
Calie eyed the rising man with suspicion. Not sure if Otto was right in his concerns and that the other man was indeed as well, she put her glaive in guard position and scanned the unnervingly quiet stranger for the tell-tell signs of zombification.
"Sir... are you alright?" she says hesitantly.
Otta notches his bow, keeping it trained on the bleeding man.
Calie rounds the standing man to get a better view. When she gets to where she can see the mans face, Calie notices the blood still coming out from his face. The mans milky eyes are lifeless and he begins to make a lunge for you as a guttural growl comes from the man.
Ottast your held action goes off.
Jujo and Rangríðr can still also do their turns before the man finishes his lunge at Calie
Randgríðr will close whatever gap there may be between her and the growling man. Seeing that he is attacking Calie and considering the temperament of the last fellow, she takes a powerful swing at the man hoping to stop him dead in his tracks.
"Careful, Calie! He's just as gone as the last one!"
Between the attacks of Randgríðr and Jujo the man that was attacking out at Calie was taken out. Pulling her halberd free, Randgríðr sees that Calie was badly wounded from the first undead man.
Jujo, from afar, sees the man go down after he loosened his arrow and feels a bit of pride. Possibly thinking it was his arrow that dealt the final blow.
The group does a quick scan from where they are standing and sees there is no other possible threat. Other than the one encased in ice.
Trawets approaches the more martial members of the group and asks "Are you all right? You for one aren't Callie! Can anyone here heal her? If not I have two potions that will, I can give you one."
Taking a good look at her grievous wound, Calie makes a weak smile even as she winches with pain. "I'd hate to part you with one of your healing potions, Trawerts, but I may be in need one of them."