"Sounds good enough" - Hedrak grunted.
Night fell. You gathered round the front of the sleigh, offering your horse a bowl of oats while you conferred briefly. Will poked his head out into the night air, snow sticking unnaturally to his face where it fell. ”Are we going on?” he asked uncertainly. After a moment, you picked up the oat bowl, Zordt cast a magical alarm on the road, and you resumed your progress.
Your feet began to ache, and your backs and shoulders grew stiff from your packs. Your stomachs began to groan, hungry for food you couldn’t stop for. The darkness was complete as it had ever been.
The sound of Zordt’s second alarm split through the night like an axe through soft wood. You had been walking for nearly an hour and a half, and something had just crossed the road nearly a mile behind you.
"There it is. About a mile."
"They are also walking I am guessing, so it will take them some time to get here" - Hedrak grunted - "Though granted they seem to move easily in the snow, unlike us"
"The healing wand can relieve fatigue if necessary," Gitana observed as the group pushed on into the night. She cast a spell on a part of the harness near the horse's head to provide light for travel.
When Gitana noticed Zordt showing signs of strain as he trudged through the snow, she offered a hit from the wand.
After the alarm went off, she recast light so it radiated from her belt buckle and walked so her body and cloak limited the light to the path in front. She also put on a fresh coat of mage armor from her wand.
She put earplugs back in her ears and urged everyone to push on. "Buck up, everyone! I don't know, but they are still human enough that I expect they get tired too and need rest."
Zordt weaved a new alarm spell, carefully marking their location. "About a mile behind us right now, so we'll see if they get closer when it goes off again. Onwards."
Woot!
"So, w are staying on then? Excellent."
The group carried on, trudging on into the snow and the night. Your horse seemed to be having significant difficulty, and looked at Hedrak with wide eyes a few times. After a shockingly short amount of time, Zordt's third alarm sounded off. They must be moving more than twice as fast as you, as you had traveled less than half a mile from the spot Zordt had marked.
"No way we're getting there in time. Let's find a good spot to ambush them from, hide Will away, ideally get some high ground, maybe even a chokepoint. We know how fast they're going now so we can get all of our magic up in preparation right before they arrive."
"Don't worry, it will be fine. As long as we keep moving, they will only ever keep halving the distance between us, and thus, they will never reach us for a fight. We've made it!"
"Other than my crossbow, I can't hurt them with magic until they get within 30 feet. If they are grouped together I can hit them in groups with Flurry of Snowballs and Burning Hands. After than I can direct individual ranged attacks with Burning Gaze and snowball. Let's end this here!"
Zordts third alarm went off about five minutes after the second one, indicating that, despite Norde's speculation, your pursuers were traveling at about double your speed. They would catch up to you within another five minutes, unless you sped up considerably.
Following Zordt's suggestion, you found a good spot to ambush them, with a high rocky shelf next to the path from which you could shoot undisturbed. You managed to stash the sleigh fairly well, Will promising to stay inside no matter what he heard.
After about a minute, your pursuers came into sight. There were six of them, one with the look of a spellcaster, and three spiders beside them. They hadn't seen your sleigh yet, and began to walk along the road below you.
Zordt cast heroism on Norde and gravity bow on himself, then hunkered down and waited for the monsters to come.
Hedrak prepared his wand of Shield - he would zap it at the first sign of trouble.
Gitana planned to unleash a rain of snowballs on as many as she could get in her spell's area. She waited from the ambush spot, trying to keep her breathing steady.
Zordt waited for Gitana to launch her assault and began his own song in response, this time aimed for a more high baritone with an upbeat and joyous edge.
Hedrak will zap his wand as soon as Gitana starts casting.
Gitana stood suddenly, the falling snow swirling around her in a sudden burst of air. A moment later and she was obscured, a thick cloud of icy spheres flying towards the clustered enemies. When the dust settled, the spiders had fallen limp at the ground, but the remaining foes seemed only moderately damaged. The spellcaster laughed, speaking with a raspy, hollow voice. "Who is the true lord of winter here?" He asked, a mocking tone in his voice. He didn't seem to have even flinched, his bare chest the same grey tone it had been before Gitana's assault.
Hedrak zapped his wand, for added protection.
Norde moves down the embankment a bit, ready to repel boarders!
Gitana advanced to the edge of the small cliff and cast a spell that shot tongues of flame out from her fingertips and into a cone of heat. "Summer is coming," she said in reply to the winged one's taunt.
DC 15 Reflex Save for half damage
DC 16 Fortitude save negates. If the fortitude save fails, must make a DC 16 Reflex save or catch fire.
Hedrak prepared himself to swing at the first one which approached, by enhancing his weapon with Arcane Energy.
----------
The spellcaster threw his head back and screamed, the sound muffled behind your earplugs. Everyone but Norde was mostly unaffected, but the blonde giant once again felt his heart falter.
The rest of the foes ran towards either side of the cliff face, attempting to flank you. Now that you could see them running, they seemed tired to you. It must have taken a lot of their strength to chase you as they had done.
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"Although his heart did quake
He would not shake!
And he turned to crush his fears!"
Norde briefly felt the pangs of fear deep in is heart, and he considered running away from the foe, but Zordt's song stilled his heart and he moved forward to swing at the one closest to him as his eyes became glossy with rage...
x3
Gitana’s eyes sparked, and the spellcaster she had been exchanging words with suddenly burst into flames, dropping to the ground and rolling in the snow for a moment before casting another spell. For a moment, Gitana felt a horrible chill creep under her skin. But then she shook it off.
Elsewhere, Norde felt his spirits lifted by Zordt, killing one of your foes in a single blow. The second enemy attacked him, landing one weak blow. They seemed sluggish and weaker than normal.
Across the battlefield, Hedrak felled another who ran towards him, the other two closing in.
Zordt knew Norde would have no problem crushing his foe, so he turned back and notched a pair of arrows. "Down!" He shouted to Gitana, firing just over her head.
With a look back at Will, Hedrak stepped over the body of the creature he just put down, and attacked again.
----------
Zordt's arrows missed their mark. Hedrak, however, landed a solid blow, his foe a bit slower to dodge out of the way than usual.
Hedrak saw no sign that Will had left the sleigh, though it was some distance away and hidden behind a thick stand of trees. The boy had promised to stay still no matter what he heard, and had stuffed earplugs in his ears before you left him.
Norde continues his assault against the next enemy in his path...
x3
Gitana kept her gaze locked on the spellcaster. Her eyes flared with flames again and another burst of heat struck the winged one. She hoped that bought more time and reached into her pack for a flask of alchemist's fire. The magic of the pack shifted a flask to her hand, and she held it read to throw.
DC 16 Fortitude save negates. If the fortitude save fails, must make a DC 16 Reflex save or catch fire.
The enemy Hedrak had struck down fell to the ground a moment later. The half-orc then skillfully feinted halfway through the other foe's attack, causing it to pull back and not hit him.
Across the battlefield, Norde slipped on the snow, his strike going wide. As he struggled back to a stable stance, he was struck twice on the head, the cold seeping in through his helmet.
Gitana continued her magical duel with the winged spellcaster. This time, her eyes flashed with a special malevolence, and he burst into flames that wouldn't go out no matter what he did. He tried vainly to cast a spell, but his hands faltered and twisted, and his voice was a bare whisper amidst the growing flames which quickly consumed him.
Norde continues to trade blows with his opponent...
x3
Zordt's second arrow struck the creature in the face, shredding bone and passing through its skull fully. Norde struck down the last opponent on the other side of the field. You had dropped them all, though some were not quite dead yet.
The snow kept on falling, soft, silent, and inevitable. Norde's lightstone cast a warm glow across the dark trees, slowly circling his steaming head.
We finish off any survivors.
Gitana checked on Will, gesturing for him to remove his earplugs and then telling him the greyskins were killed. Then she found her wounded friends, providing a healing hex to start the healing process.
Self:
Hedrak:
Norde:
Zordt:
Seeing Norde's wound still hadn't completely healed, Gitana applied two more charges from the wand of healing.
"Perhaps now we can sleep undisturbed, although perhaps we should move away from the scents of blood and death. We don't want to draw predators."
"Thank you Gitana" - the half-orc nodded a thank you for the healing, then set to the usual grim task of searching the bodies, not only for valuables but also for any hints of whom these creatures might once have been.
"Why don't we keep traveling?" - he inquired even as he searched.
Zordt nodded grimly as Norde finished off the survivors. "Thank you Gitana...everybody alright? That went pretty well, being on the ambushing side was nice for once." Zordt looked up at the dark sky with a frown. "If we are sure our final destination is friendly it would make sense to press on. How confident are you in this city?" He asked the others who are more local.
"We are close to Khel Zhed. I'm not sure what minor villages might be in the area surrounding it, but they are not likely hostile to travelers this close to a city with a garrison of troops ready to defend against attack. I can prepare spells that will speed us along once I've rested and slept."
"Yeah, I can swap out my spells too!"
Khel Zhad is a relic of the past. It was built on a monumental scale, hundreds of years ago, when the region was more heavily populated. Now, the architectural wonders which still stand attract visitors from far off, especially as this is one of only four of the old dwarven cities which still survive. Chief among these marvels is the scowling and gigantic face of the former Queen Theodora carved into the very mountain under which the city is built. Her eyes are filled with a lit flame that never goes out, reflected by finely polished rubies within her massive eye sockets. Her gaze is stern as granite. The flames are said to be magical, and very few non-dwarves have been permitted to see the city through her eyes.
Still, the overall wellbeing of the city has declined in recent decades. Only about thirty thousand souls now inhabit the eternal city, where the figure had once been closer to eighty thousand. Once crucial cisterns have been filled in and covered with glass to create winter vegetable gardens, while the aqueduct of Leo, which once carried water across nearly forty miles of mountainous terrain, was cut in a siege and never repaired. Despite the lower population and weakened economy, the legendary double layered Phodican walls have never been successfully breached by a besieging army.
While the surrounding countryside is full of pastoral herders and a few traditional farmers, and the mushroom gardens on the interior of the mountain still yield a successful crop every three months, the city is and has always been dominated by long distance trade. The famous workshops of the dwarves churn out an impressive array of goods each year, many of them enchanted by grey mage-smiths. Perhaps you carry some of their handiwork yourself. This profession is the highest honor one can reach within the city, something young dwarves are taught to aspire to. During the summer months, these goods are taken to Burkesville, where they are loaded onto ships and sailed far to the south. By autumn, if all went well, they would return laden with enough grain to last for at least a year. The poor of the city received a stipend of this grain from the ruling family, making an intimate relationship with this long distance trade network a prerequisite for the regency.
You can expect to find an extremely wide variety of products, services, inns, and other diversions waiting for you in the eternal city.
Being a city whose economy is founded on long distance trade, the city is generally quite welcoming of strangers. Once behind the line of fortresses which guard the entrance to its valley, those who mean no harm to the city are generally safe from the dangers of the hostile wilderness.
Still, the ruling family of dwarves exercise an unparalleled level of political and social control over the people of the city. Once, in elder days, there had been many nearby cities of other dwarves which could sometimes represent a substantial external threat. Now, the main threat to the city was the loss of a flotilla of trade ships, which usually only happened once in a decade. King Justin has ruled in peace for nearly fifty years, a long reign even for a dwarf. Few in the palace can truly threaten his rule, and the ordinary inhabitants of the city were generally mollified by the grain dole. Should the central government get their hands on you, they would probably be able to do whatever they wanted to you. Seasoned adventurers such as yourselves were a rare and valuable commodity.
The only thing which might save you in such a scenario is the church of Seranrae. Led by the eminently holy father Frances, this church was looked to by all non-dwarven inhabitants of the city, which made up the bulk of the food producing population outside the city and a significant subsection of the population within it. You had the letter from Sister Benedicta, now nearly two hundred miles behind you, so he would probably be sympathetic to your plight if you could reach him personally.
Gitana checked on Will, gesturing for him to remove his earplugs and then telling him the greyskins were killed.
"Thank you," the boy said with a relieved sigh. "How much longer do you think before they kill me?" The boy asked, as though he were wondering if it might rain.
The group stopped for the night. You made yourselves a hasty meal, setting food out for the horse as well, before hunkering down against the falling snow. The sleigh was helpful, providing a roof for those inside and a bulwark against the wind for those who couldn't fit. You had eaten off a lot of food by now, and the interior was starting to open up a little bit.
Once again, Hedrak stood watch, magic keeping him patent and well rested.
It had been several hours, and the snow had nearly stopped. Your footsteps on the road must have been nearly buried. You turned slowly, watching the woods all around you with your night eyes. Now and then you could see small furtive eyes watching you back. Suddenly, there was Will, his eyes looking strange. He carried no light, which seemed odd, as the sky was still dark and covered with clouds. Could the human boy see even a few inches in front of his face?
"I think I'll just go over there," Will said, pointing into the pitch dark woods in the opposite direction from the road.