Zooska does an excellent job, adjusting the terrain to aid future navigation. she does a less excellent job identifying plants.
Once they're done investigating and constructing river crossings for the survey, the Pathfinders probably want to continue on. The mountain terrain is getting rougher.
Identify local wildlife: Success, no change
Identify local plant life: Failure, no change
Chart the terrain: Critical failure but Zooska's was better, no change
Identify the best place to ford: Failure, no change
Improve the ford: Critical failure, but the party already has a success
Select a bridge location: Success!
Zooska feels like she's on the cusp of some useful discoveries... but isn't quite there.
The Pathfinders have notes on local wildlife and the best places to build a bridge and to ford the river, and they've done some work to make fording easier as well.
Overall, the Pathfinder team is pretty good at navigating the terrain.
After several more days of travel , the Pathfinders move out of the mountain forest, cross the tree line, and approach the snow line. Without cover from the trees, the freezing temperatures can quickly turn deadly. Without the winter clothing Karla Wesver had provided, the cold alone could be dangerous.
The wind has built up layers of snow on the slope; however, the bottom layers are unstable, as they lie on top of loose scree. When disturbed it might trigger an avalanche.
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“Brr …” Zooska shivers, huddling her arms around herself for warmth. Fortunately the cold is merely uncomfortable rather than deadly, thanks to the thick furs provided by Karla.
Oblivious to the danger, the little goblin tries to make the ascent more interesting by turning it into a race. “Last one up rotten egg!”
Kazaleti realizes the best way to to tie tethers to make the task easier. This isn't quite enough for Zooska to keep her footing, but High in the Mountain seems to be quite skilled at being high in the mountains and she's able to cover for and help her.
Once the two of them are at the top, they're able to secure the lines from above. That should help Kazaleti and Deosil even more!
Kazaleti and Deosil?
Deosil looks very concerned at the snow as he begins to traipse his way up the mountain. A silent prayer on his lips to whatever god might be listening.
Deosil and Kazeleti make it up with even less difficulty. The Pathfinders have ascended without causing any avalanches at all!
And yet, they hear the rumbling sound of an avalanche echoing through the valley shortly after they crest the summit. Well. Not their fault, anyway. Perhaps some less skilled travelers?
Investigating the noise reveals the young Chelaxian nobles they'd met before disappearing under an avalanche several hundred yards behind them, Amyas’s bright red coat the only thing visible beneath the tumbling rock.
Backtracking to rescue them would cost time , but if nobody rescues them this disaster will likely prove fatal...
What will the Pathfinder team do? Press on, or fall back to rescue the nobles?
Deosil shudders at the prospect of someone being lost in the snow. He happily follows Kaz to find the nobles.
The Pathfinders are able to dig the group out just in time. The nobles are wounded, but not dead. They are intensely grateful for the rescue, and quickly reach the decision to retreat and call off this expedition until they're better equipped to handle it.
An elderly half-orc man approaches warily . He has a very large and extremely fluffy dog as a companion. This dog wears a small barrel of alcohol on the thick leather collar around his neck.
"I see you beat me to it," he says (the half-orc, not the dog). "A good thing, as I'm not sure we could have gotten to all of them in time. Rare to see two different groups of travelers out here at once, though, but there seem to have been more out here recently. What are you all doing out here?"
He looks over the shivering Chelaxians and shakes his head. "Although maybe we should discuss it over at my house." he points towards the treeline. "I'm Bark, and this is Wilbert." He turns and looks up at Kazeleti. "don't see a lot of you either. You're a big one, huh? Though I suppose that's normal for a minotaur... ? I don't exactly have a lot of extra guest rooms, but I think I have enough floor. Fortunately your companions are all very small."
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“Me Zooska” the goblin introduces herself to the half-orc with a toothy smile. However, her reaction to Wilbert is decidedly less warm—indeed, she even growls at the dog, though she controls her prejudice enough to do nothing more. After all, they are representing the Pathfinders.
“Yes, make fancy people warm,” she agrees with Bark’s suggestion to convene at his house. “But not stay long. Adventure awaits!”
"Adventure, huh?" Bark leads the way to his house, were there is indeed a fire burning in a large living space. On the way he stops for a moment to listen to a passing bird. He offers around hot coffee, tea, and cider as well as his home-brewed pear schnapps. The Chelaxians eagerly accept the warm beverages.
Bark looks at Zooska as he starts making a stew. "So you've had a run-in with some local wildlife. They aren't usually so aggressive, and I'm sorry that happened. I hear you tried to show some consideration for the animals, so thank you fort that."
To the group at large, he says, "So what are you doing out here? Do you know why I've been seeing more people around recently? It's usually just me and Wilbert, most of the time."
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“Yes, think orcs treat birds bad. Break nest, steal egg, make birds angry birds. Not nice.” Zooska explains what happened by the river crossing. She gulps down her cider, letting its warmth spread through her belly before continuing.
“Cheliax make prize for make trail from Isger to Molthune. We try make trail, they try make trail.” She gestures as the young nobles. “Maybe many try make trail for prize.” She pauses, considering Bark. "You live here long time. Maybe you know best path for trail?"
"Orcs? Hm. Yes, something has been off about the orcs for a bit now."
Bark warns the Pathfinders that their journey up ahead might become more dangerous. He has an understanding with the orc tribes in the region. They leave him alone, and he leaves them alone. He mutters something about mutually assured destruction. But recently they have been crossing through his territory more often, even hunting and placing traps. This is strange. While the local tribes can be as brutal as any other orc tribe, they have kept this arrangement for many years. Bark was unable to contact the tribe to find out what’s going on. He suspects either a dispute between the individual groups over territory, or otherwise a disease in one of the camps.
"If you're going to keep going that way, you'll need to watch out for--"
"I think--I think we're done going that way," says Amyas, "I think we bit off more than we could chew. The next time we plan expedition, we need to ether start smaller or hire guides. Stick to the types of terrain we practiced in."
"I think that's wise," says Bark.
We'll go back the way we came. Go home."
Bark nods, and returns his attention to the Pathfinders. "Making a trail? Like a trade route? Well, that means more people passing through, and needing me to pull them out of avalanches. Although if there's a marked route they're less likely to get into trouble... and I'll know where they are if they do. And I won't need to travel down the mountain to go into town as much if merchants are passing near my house. This is kind of my territory, although I guess I don't have a legal claim... but it doesn't matter, because I don't have an objection. For a caravan to be safe, though, you'll need to figure out what's going on with the orcs and reach an agreement with them. Or drive them off, I guess, but they were here first. I can direct you to one of their scout camps so you can make contact, if you'd like."
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"If you're going to keep going that way, you'll need to watch out for--"
“Watch out for what?” Zooska asks, wondering what might be so dangerous. “More orcs?”
“Making a trail? Like a trade route?”
“Yes, trade route,” the goblin nods in eager agreement. “Make safe for make money. Where orc scout camp? One leader, or many leader, many group, fight each other? Which tribe strongest?” Zooska pauses, trying to remember something else the man said that bothered her.
“You say no can contact tribe. Why not? And what mean mutually assured destruction?”.
"Well, that's the trouble. I don't know exactly what's going on with them other than that something about their routines has changed. They didn't respond to my usual signal, though I haven't tried very hard yet. The leader of the camp I'm directing you to is a woman named Grakcha. If you want to seem friendly, make sure to approach with weapons stowed. And maybe offer her some of that gin."
In the morning, Bark works to equip the nobles for their return trip.
"It's still cold out there," he advised the Pathfinders, "but not so dangerously bitter as yesterday. You should be okay to travel."
He advises the team that staying exposed above the snow line is dangerous, so the Pathfinderss should press on and reach the tree line while descending from the mountain.
Along the path is a tall cliff that reaches above the surrounding trees. It is immediately clear this cliff would give a great view of the surroundings and assist with scouting the terrain.
There are some hardy bushes growing at the base of the cliff. Climbing up from there would provide some cushioning if an attempted climb goes poorly.