As Klatzu gets in the face of the Bluetongue’s Brawlers, making handstands and waving his wet feet in their noses, you all see that the team is quite taken aback.
They frown, but, for now do not react.
There are four burly Ulfen.
Jori and Sigrun, both females, and Sigurd and Baltus, males, all of them seeming to be rather martially inclined, some sort of warriors.
They seemed quite friendly and open... but do they like Goblin antics?
Maybe--
Coptidel manages to get a bit close to the leader of the Wyrding Wayfinders, but all Faergim Axebinder does is tell him how to protect his ears, that, because they are pointy, will get frosbite and so on... she does not listen to him.
Then he is pushed a bit to the side, and has to listen to a lot of silly tales about how she used to go iceskating as a child and that gave her stamina... of course the scribes write all down.
In the end, after two hours, Coptidel gives up.
It is time to start the race anyhow, at least he feels he has gotten the ill luck out of the way!
No one else acting anymore, and we move to the race, or some talking still?
Having talked as much as you wanted to talk with the others, you end up having some free time, except for Coptidel, who tries in vain to get some decent information from Faergim Axebinder, most of you have a couple hours free before the race starts, and finish your shopping and preparations.
A bit before the departure, the powerfully built Ulfen ranger, in his early fifties, that is the leader of the group of three rangers and their cleric companion who were sitting far from you in the sled, comes up to you and hands Klatzu a shovel:
"A gift. Likely you'll be needing it."
Then he spins around to leave--
You hear people laughing, and by their talk you understand that this is Ostog Oakfeller of Without Trace or Fail.
Just about then, a song starts, soon taken up by nearly all the crowd.
It is a sad lament--
The heads of the tarn linnorm are their own creatures,
If one is stubborn, the beast becomes indecisive and will likely die.,
Those tarns that survive are those that.. work together!
And with that, all rush to see the race start!
You all line up, six teams, of over two dozen contestants.
Someone yells: "Hey, Kebab's, aren't you taking your sled?!"
And everybody laughs but in a good spirited way, as though cheering you on.
Ahead of you, you see that snow is starting to fall.
And your breath makes little clouds in front of your faces: it is quite cold.
Frogger remembers what Olin Tuskbinder said, that tomorrow will be fog, and that he knows the first trial this year will be linked to Balgird getting some dragon egg, and thus scaling some pole to retrieve an object and not break it.
A tall Ulfen shield-maiden steps out, and waves her tower shield, that is painted with black and white squares... and the race is ON, amidst cheers.
And you start trekking along, in the fresh snow that will fall all day long, with nice cold weather.
The snow falls non stop, and makes things harder.
But your warnings gathered by Frogger do come in handy, and help you out--
You are in for your first day of overland travel.
How will each of you try to make this leg of the journey in the least amount of time possible?
Sylvia stutters a bit "I'm glad I read up on ov-ov-overland travel back at the lodge."
Sylvi is happy for having read up, because she manages to move along without, at least, making the group fall back and lose time.
But she does not help either-- she makes a note to read more for next time.
Next time, really?
Frogger's eyes spot every small detail.
"Sylvia, you are supposed to tie the shoelaces to the same shoes, not lash one shoe to another!"
Frogger just heard about a New Linnorm King, who was a Varki, not an Ulfen, and who is named Nankou.
He might have heard about a legendary Ostog the Unslain that has a saga about his adventures...
Nevertheless, Frogger the Eagle-Eyed trudges happily through the snow, and makes good speed.
Frogger talks with out about Ostog's, and tells you that Ostog the Unslain is the man of legends, yes, the new King of Jol.
But most probably not the poor soul trekking along in the snow today, no.
Dran'Thil plows ahead and is trailblazing but, because of the snow, blowing in his eyes, covering the path ahead, he is not able to go as fast as he would wish.
And Sylvia, who was not doing too bad-- slips and falls in the snow, scattering her belongings.
You all grumble as you must remove gloves to pick items out of the snow.
Losing valuable daylight time...
Coptidel nearly runs on the falling snow, often passing ahead of Dran'Thil, before coming back.
Well, he did say he was from the North!
But, being too alert, too careful, does mean one is not that fast... sometimes.
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Sylvia heroically trudges along... and slips and loses more time, and somehow does not like the beginning of the race at all!
You are pretty happy with the progress made, except for Sylvia, who thinks she should have taken a crate of elixirs and other such items.
Finally, quite tired for having trekked some 30 miles in the snow, you spot the checkpoint ahead, a clearing in a little cove of trees, all covered in snow.
The Fangs of the Remorhaz are already there, and doing some kind of contest.
While you arrive, others get in around the same time as you--
--Without Trace or Fail a bit before you, soon followed by Two Houses and the Wyrding Wayfinders.
No sign of the Bluetongue Brawlers-- probably too far ahead.
Having trekked overland, with a "simple" day of walking, you enter the checkpoint, which is cordoned off by a thick-braided rope tied to wooden posts carved in the shape of a linnorm head.
The tall pines around you are heavy with snow, and the forest is quiet.
The officials for the Balgirdtrek stand around a roaring fire.
Several campsites have been cleared nearby as clerics stand ready to examine and treat any injured racers.
Beyond the fire and campsites, in a small, raised clearing, is a tall, thin pole carved with the intertwining necks of a Tarn Linnorm.
Atop the pole rests is a small platform, an oval shape resting within it.
Around the pole, you see the Fangs of the Remohraz team being cheered.
Before you have time to drop your gear, the officials wave you over.
You move over, and see that the pole is in fact a small tree, and though the tree itself is dead, it is still flexible and strongly rooted in the ground.
You understand that the object at the top of the pole is an egg which each team must retrieve without breaking.
The officials at the trial explain to your team that this trial "hearkens back to Balgird’s time in the wilderness.
While searching for a Linnorm in the frozen reaches of the Saga Lands, Balgird Bluetongue survived by living off the land itself.
In particular, Balgird was known to have scaled a great tree and retrieved the egg of a massive bird.
He did this so swiftly and carefully that the tree did not bend, and the bird did not notice its egg go missing.
Can you do the same, Kebabs?"
Can you?
Well, you first check it out.
The tree stands 20 feet tall.
The base of the tree is 8 inches in diameter, tapering down to 3 inches in diameter at the top. T
he small platform holding the egg has a short lip along the edge to prevent the egg from being blown out of the tree by the wind or nudged out by an errant creature.
You imagine that attempting to climb the tree will show that it is very flexible and bends as you shift your weight and climb higher.
Climbing to the top of the tree without knocking down the egg from the top requires a successful Athletics to Climb, or an Acrobatics Check to Balance.
Since the cold weather has also made the branches dangerously brittle) it is not that easy.
Yes, as Coptidel moves up, he remembers what was told to your group thanks to the news you had about this today, and fog tomorrow.
So, this came true, and will there be fog tomorrow?
Coptidel manages to scale the tree and get to the wooden egg--
--but if he is honorable, all do not seem to be!
He pulls-- and pulls... and nearly falls off!
He sees that the egg has been adhered to the platform using a sticky tree sap.
He manages to retrieve it-- and come back down.
What was that? You know the egg was not supposed to be glued up there!
The Fangs of Remorhaz just finished the trial a bit before you were called over to do it, yes.
The Officials are very concerned about what Coptidel shows them.
"- Hmm, yes... it seems so.
- Or it might just be a lot of sap suddenly appeared on the top of the tree?
- No, impossible.
- It could be.
- Who did that?
- Is there proof?"
The officials wish to know if you have any proof of who did this?
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"Dra'thil is right. It could be from a team before us. But this event just arrived, and it was our responsability to say it to you.
But as I noticed you would like that we do the inspection and confront suspects, I will happy to do this. Iomeadae hates when justice is not served. I know this as her Paladin.
So I will ask a question. Does Bluetongue Brawlers is already gone or hadn't arrived?
Who has the responsability to put the egg on top?
Also, you should look at the others teams, they may have the same problem." says Coptidel with a impassive face.
He turns to the group.
"I will need People to analyse this glue, good eyes to inspect the scene for clues and Silver tongues to speak with the Fangs of Remorhaz and the other teams. If you have other ideas, i am open."
The staff thinks things over: "- Yes, unless powerful magic has been used, it would have been glued by someone coming before you.
- Or by one of you.
- Also true.
- But we are not accusing.
- No, just saying.
- Yes.
- No.
- Maybe."
They all nod.
"But we take due note of this and will be very wary of any clues found.
- Or repeat offences.
- If this was an offence.
- Yes."
They look at one another... before:
"Well, if you wish to inspect, please do. But let us confront who you believe might be suspects."
Then they inspect their notes:
"- Blue Tongue Brawlers... is that under B for Blue?
- No, you fool, it is under B for Brawlers!
- Oh, of course..."
After looking at the notes for a while, they just glance over to the campsite:
"- No, doesn't seem like they arrived yet.
- Unless they passed by without stopping.
- They wouldn't do that.
- They might."
A slender young man, as tall as a bean pole, and very muscular, steps forward.
"The great and important responsibility to put the egg on top is--"
"--mine!", says an old fat short man.
If you follow Copitdel's idea--
--who of the silver tongue talks with the Fangs of Remorhaz--
--and who checks for clues, and analyzes the "glue"?
Sylvia will look over the glue
"k, K, Klatzu can you take a look at this too, I'd hate to miss something." stutters Sylvia as she adjusts her glasses.
Sylvia will look over the glue
"k, K, Klatzu can you take a look at this too, I'd hate to miss something." stutters Sylvia as she adjusts her glasses.
Syliva looks over the glue, and sees that it was not made to have wooden egg stick to the pole for good: "This is just very sticky, not true glue. It was aimed at making things difficult..."
Klatzu then analyzes the sap-- and tells you that it is sap taken from a fir tree, of the type that are all around you.
Just pure sap: "It is very thick and sticky because we are in winter."
Copitdel's Hireling looks arond the tracks on the ground, muttering about "Join the Pathfinder Society they said, find adventure and riches, and here I am, ordered around by an elf to put my nose in slush and mud."
He sees too many boot and mocassin prints to be of any real help.
Coptidel himself talks with the Remorhaz group.
He finds out the names of the twin hunters are Marbin Slickhide and Ylva Tunnelwalker, while the druid is Runa Frostleaf - Olin Tuskbinder being the orc as you know.
The Remorhaz are really taken aback that someone would cheat like: "We are here to participate, winning is a lot less important than showing the Varki are fair and honest competitors, and can finish without humiliation. Trust us: we have a lot more to lose by being caught at cheating, a lot more, than possibly winning."
Coptidel does not feel they are deceitful.
Then the officials examine you - and though they wonder about some of the bruises Sylvia got from falling in the snow - ]"You are all cleared to continue!"
You are now free to spend time at the campsite, rest for the evening, in the area that has been cleared for use by any teams wishing to.
The ground has been cleared of brush, excess snow has been removed and a large fire burns toward the back of the campsite.
The next morning you set out, with muscles all creaky from last day's hard trekking.
And-- yes, the fog is there!
But it is a bit less cold, and even if you do not see far ahead, the going is a bit easier than the day before.
Well, you are getting used to it now, so on you go--