Stabby's best is definitively good enough--
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Watching Granitt plunge into the snow Elsha remarks Oh boy. Is it skis we should have or snow-shoes?
He dredges up knowledge of the natural world in his might while he lets others go decidedly first. He looks for the crunch tracks left by the dwarf that he can safely step into so as to not get bogged down.
Finally he remembers some ideas from his formal learning... but doesn't have a lot of practical experience with it in this climate.
Does anybody know how to dig snow caves to keep the wind off of us at night?
Elsha remembers a lot about snow and how to follow crunchy tracks-- and keeps up wit the speedy Dwarf.
He glances back, wondering where Irth is and if the smaller person will have to be dug out of a snowbank?
After a good day of trekking where you are happy to be doing well, you see tall pines ahead, heavy with snow, and the forest is quiet.
Up there, 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.
A short rotund official comes up to you, puffing and wheezing and sweating like crazy: "You do not seem to be in great physical shape, like us Ulfen!", he says.
He seems particularly concerned about the health and well-being of your team.
"Are you going to perform the trial, or do you want to abandon now?
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Ha! We're in our own kind of shape. Maybe not the brutish hardiness you have, but our minds and our crafts will serve us at some point!
He smiles at the official and wades into camp with his group.
Okay, that could have been worse. I'm as tired as I've ever been... from memory anyway. At least we'll sleep well. Who needs help setting up camp?
He begins setting up a tent at the edge of the tree-line. Alchemy in this tent hopper? Maybe we'll make some headway on new formulae we've acquired since the sea voyage.
The official shrugs-- but then smiles when Elsha goes straight to the camp site.
"I see you have chosen to go stop for the day.
So I will cross you off the list for the trial."
And he uses an inkpen to make annotations on his papers.
"Anyone else forfeiting for the trial?
Good idea to rest-- and who cares about the trial."
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Granitt sqeezes out his braided beard, the cold wet drips land making an icy puddle on the floor. "What's wrong with me shape! And anyway what is the trial? Thought just getting here was enough of a trial?" the dwarf grumbles at the official. "How's everyone else, hope they're all in fine fettle too?"
As he helps Hopper, Stabby and Elsha with the camp, he turns to Stabby, "They're at it again, all they ever think about is their chemiciacal stuff!"
Other officials approach, and call out to Graniit.
"The first trial is over here."
In the area that is cleared out for it, you 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.
The object at the top of the pole is-- an egg.
"Your team must retrieve it without breaking it."
The first official shows his list: "One of them already declined to participate."
The other officials shrug, and go on: "Today's 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!
Balgird was great, Balgird was cool!"
You all look and see that 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.
The 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.
Who wants to try and get the egg down?
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Hopper is huffin' and puffin' when they stop.
"Alchemy? Yes, alchemy. I just need to catch my breath. I think I left it at the beginning of the race." says Hopper.
"I am certain Elsha is not resigning from the test, we are not familiar with the rules but we would gladly do with that pole, whatever needs doing. " adds as his face returns to his natural green color.
Hopper removes a rope and a climbing gear.
"I think Granitt and Stabby should try to get the egg. I can support you from the ground."
Hopper gets ready to aid, his feet slipping a bit in the snow.
The portly official shows his register: "It says here, he passed on the trial."
As Elsha looks around, and up at the tree, trying to see how hard it is to scale, the portly official waves his finger at Elsha: "It's too late, foreigner. We have rules here. Do not try and participate after having chosen not to."
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Granitt, scratches his head, pulls his beard and with a twinkle in his eye, "Got it!, if we get hot air in the pig's bladder, it could take a small net into the air to scoop up the egg and bring it down safely. Of course I'll hold onto the twine we attach to the pig's bladder to move it into position and bring it down." Granitt looks to the others in his excitement of finding a solution to the puzzle.
The official rolls his eyes...
Elsha stands to the side, the portly official having crossed him out of the trial.
Hopper is waiting to aid--
Granitt is looking at pig bladders.
And Stabby is still trekking around the snow and not arrived at the trial grounds yet.
Oh, wait, yes, here comes Stabby, wiping snow of his feet.
As for Irth, he has not been seen arriving yet.
You do feel a bit guilty? Could he have lost his way in the snow?
Well, first deal with the trial of the pole and the egg.
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As Granitt starts to play with his pig's bladder, working out how to get hot air into it through a small aperture, you hear him speaking under his breath, "It's just stupid, climbing up when you want to place your feet firmly on the ground. "
Whilst Stabby catches up with the party and sees no problem with climbing the tree, if only the first branches weren't so high. Seeing Granitt under the green branches, Stabby just steps onto Granitt's helmeted head and pulls himself up to the first branch. The dwarf, barely noticing, brings his head up, knocking his hand on his helmet, shaking his head, blinking he sees nothing to left or right. Meanwhile Stabby starts to climb the tree.
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Granitt stands under the pole-- and Stabby moves up onto the Dwarf's head, who motions Stabby to grab a branch.
Stabby tries to grab a branch, but becomes unbalanced: "There are no branches--"
Hopper comes up to help-- but is a bit too slow and just stands there watching.
Stabby tries to recover--
--but falls face first into the snow.
The tree shakes when Stabby drops-- and the egg falls from the platform and breaks on Granitt's head!
The portly official just sighs and leaves.
The other officials hand Granitt a towel, and help Stabby up-- but say that you must move on, and can go and camp for the night.
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With the failure in the test, Granitt wanders back to the campsite, carefully put up and laid out by Elsha. "...Good job I was wearing a helmet, otherwise that egg would have got right into my hair." the dwarf says with some relief, before the disappointment of their performance in the trial sinks in, "I said, didn't I, pig's bladder ... but they wouldn't listen...oh no they never seen a pig's bladder fly before..." He stops, thinks what he's saying, "But I'm sure it's possible, I know I never seen it yet, but must be possible. I mean you chemiacalists, you do strange stuff with herbs and other stuff, why not a pig's bladder flying...we should da tried." He stamps his feet, to remove the cold, them before tucking into the food that Elsha had prepared whilst they were at the trial.
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Hopper looks a bit sad when the egg has fallen down.
"Tomorrow is another day, we can still regain some of the lost points. And honor"
Goblin listens to Graitt, his eyes looking all around
"It was a good idea, worth trying. We could have also worked on a way to catch the egg in a situation like that. Sorry I was tired after all day of walking and didn't think straight. "
He turns towards their camp to eat something, preferably warm, tonight.
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You are now quite distraught about the fact that Irth never shows up.
When it becomes quite dark, and the Halfling having now Darkvision would not be able to see-- the officials come back and start asking questions about his chances of survival:
"Would he bury in the snow and wait? Or try to move on? Can he navigate on starless nights?"
When a message returns from Karslgard-- Irth has been found, he simply doubled back just after the departure, and is spending the night in a room at the Merry Wench tavern, on the docks of Iceferry, with, it seems... a certain ship captain he met during a trip out West!
The portly officially grins as he crosses Irth's name out: "He is disaqualified."
The other officials look at one another: "Yes, but he is... lucky!"
The campsite area has been cleared for use, and Elsha had put tents up on the ground that had been cleared of brush.
Excess snow has been removed, and a large fire burns toward the back of the campsite, keeping you warm all night.
Some can dream of giants eggs dropping on the heads of portly officials.
Unless anybody wishes to do anything-- the next morning you set out... into a storm!
A real storm filled with wind and snow and cold.
Severe cold!
This is going to be harder than yesterday...
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Up early the next morning, Elsha gingerly slumps out of his tent with blankets still pulled tightly close, swaddling his tall form in comical fashion.
I don't know that I'll ever get used to this brutal cold. I never realized first hand how important keeping up your energy is here. I alternate between extreme hunger and cold-induced nausea and makes it hard to eat as one should...
When he looks up and sees the storm approaching, he jumps as if an ogre swiftly kicked him in the backside. It's all the motivation he needs to tear down camp quickly and lean into the storm.
He remarks to Hopper. Once we're hiking I think I-I'm, generally o-okay. It's just w-waking up out here isn't f-f-fun.
Elsha focuses on looking for shallower snow, or following Granitt's trail of packed snow. He starts trying to do his part a bit more today, pulling ahead of the goblins to also provide them with a safe path.
As Elsha walks along, he wonders about that portly official, and really thinks something was off in how he applied the rules, and was so strict, and talked of foreigners and such-- was he trying to impede you? Maybe it would be a good idea to keep one's eyes open...
As for impeding the others, there are ways to do that, Elsha thinks, but if we are caught, he knows, that means being banned from the race, and it would be very embarrassing for the Society. Does Elsha believe he wants to really risk this?
As he treks, he gets a glimpse of the Bluetongue Brawlers, out there, passing by in the storm.
It is hard to even see them-- let alone talk.
But Elsha is proud to have made progress and he is light-hearted - but heavy-footed - as he sees some officials ahead, signalling the end of the day.
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Hopper wakes up in the morning and takes his time to prepare himself.
When dressed and folding his tent he listens to what Elsha is saying
He remarks to Hopper. Once we're hiking I think I-I'm, generally o-okay. It's just w-waking up out here isn't f-f-fun.
"Yeah I hear ya, for me it is the hike that takes all the wind out of my sails." That might be the first time that you heard him saying this ship-related phrase.
He then attempts to follow Elsha in his struggle the fight the path and the storm.
Well Hopper gets a lot of wind in his sails now, as the snowstorm blows hard... so that is maybe why he treks along so well!
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Waking up to a storm, Granitt closes the door to the tent and prays to Torag, "Torag master of the forge and dwarven lore, please keep my footsteps and beard straight and dry." With that he wraps his beard inside his furs as he tightens the warm clothes around him, before boldly walking out into the storm, whilst he grumbles, "Irth had the right idea, if it didn't also bring shame on the family. I mean ... drinking ale .... by the warmth of a fire ... lucky! ... no he's not ... here we gain glory ... and for the pathfinders ... and I'm doing Torag's bidding ... wish it was a forge though!"
He helps Stabby along as much as possible, as he wasn't able to catch him as he fell from the tree. "That leg must be hurting ... come lean on me.."
Stabby has problems fighting the wind.
He is just too light...
But Granitt just grabs Stabby, and pulls him along through the snow, talking about beer and warm chimney fires!
As you arrive in view of the officials you think the Bluetongue Brawlers are behind you, and maybe another team.
This checkpoint consists of a large clearing formed over a frozen pond.
You see--
A small, frigid stream runs between the dense pines, opening onto a frozen pond.
To the east, a few small columns of smoke rise above the trees from several small campfires.
This area has been cleared for use by any teams wishing to rest for the evening. The camp area runs along the eastern side of the streambed, tucked into the trees and larger rocks.
To the north, a dozen caribou walk along the surface of the ice, snuffling and pawing at the thin grasses poking up from the snowy shoreline.
As a race official watches over the small herd, the wind carries the gentle sound of bells.
"Come here, come here!"
The official announces that: |This trial is meant to recreate the events surrounding the loss of Balgird’s beloved pack horse.
When the steed was lost in a terrible blizzard, Balgird tracked a herd of caribou across the tundra, and watched their behavior from a distance, looking for one that he might be able to tame.
The legendary Ulfen spent more than a week trying to get close to the herd, and narrowly escaped death by hundreds of stampeding hooves before he finally managed to sling his saddle bags over the animal’s back and lead his new companion out of the herd and into the taiga."
You look around and see--
--that race official patrols this area, watching over the restless herd of taiga caribou (a skittish breed of deer) that has been gathered here as a part of the trial.
Four of the caribou have had small bells tied into their antlers.
The goal of the trial is to retrieve a set of the bells without disturbing the caribou. There are a total of 12 caribou currently on the ice, spread out enough to have room to walk between them, but not far enough apart that any of them would be isolated from the group.
The caribou might seem docile, but they run if startled.
You must retrieve at least one of the bells from the caribou’s antlers without harming any of the animals to pass the trial.
The frozen pond the caribou walk on is ice, making it both uneven ground and difficult terrain.
"How do we do it?", you ask.
What a great question!
Elsha cannot spot the bells--
--but an official nudges him on the shoulder: "Hey, Eagle-Eye, check the antlers. Antlers are the things on the HEAD, not the feet. Those are the "hooves"!"
Elsha can still go out there and try get close enough to see and grab one.
The official laughs: "Anybody can make better use!
Sorry... just joking.
You guys are doing good. Moving all ahead of a few in your trekking!"
None of you three can spot a bell.
Suddenly, you all three turn towards the official at the same time, glaring at him:
"Wow! Cool down... I promise, there are bells out there."
You all look at Stabby-- will he confirm.
Otherwise it seems Elsha and the Hopper will just have to grab one at random.
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Hopper will attempt to grab a caribou. He removes his alchemist kit and quickly assembles a potion. The liquid is of dark silver color that flows slowly within the flask.
"Here goes nothing" says quietly and gulps the whole mixture and hides the empty flask in his bandolier. As soon as he was able to do that his body begun to twist in an odd manner. He bends down making odd noises like his body would be transforming. His fingers stretching and becoming longer, and his body thinner. As he stands straight you can see him looking different.
He walks on the ice and attempts to go stealthily
He slips and almost falls on the ground, the animals turned their heads towards him.
But he was able to stand on his feet, and attempted to grab one animal.
All the caribou look at the strange slipping Goblin who ends up sprawled out on the ground.
But, seeing that he is not a threat-- or only to himself... the deer go back to eating, and disregard Hopper-- who grabs a bell!
The Goblin prances around: "Victory!"
The official notes this done.
Stabby does not understand what is going-- as he can spot the bells.
Anyhow-- he slips in and detaches that bell without the caribou spooking!
Bravo, Stabby--
Granitt seems to be ready to go warm his feet in front of a camp fire-- but is Elsha?
Or is Elsha going to go for a bell?
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Granitt takes a step gingerly forward, but the creaking armour gets the attention of the official, who barely holds back a smile. Granitt scowls at the official, "Well, if I can't sneak past you, I got no chance with the funny antlered cows." He walks away in disgust at his own ineptitude. "Next time... I'll be good enough next time ..."
He turns round to see Stabby returning as though hiding and moving silently were things he did in his sleep, just as Stabby rings the bell and plops it into the officials hands.
The official looks at Elsha: "So, are you going to try your chances, young man?
Or is it off to the campsite?"
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Elsha straightens his arms and shakes his hands at his side, in some manner of "loosening up" ritual that he imagines is a clear enough answer.
I couldn't even spot a bell... how am I going to grab one?
He draws his spare batch of reagents from his belt pouch...
Here's goes nothing!
He carefully but quickly heal-toes towards the frozen surface of the lake...
He painful aware that he keeps landing on crunchy patches of snow... this may not end so well...