"You can relax," Kylma says, winking at Kjell. "All the little spiders are gone. Are we unharmed?"
With the torch, she sets about clearing the room of webs and any further spiders, while keeping an eye peeled for treasure.
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Kylma swipes at the swarm of spiders again, still falling back.
Kylma swipes at the oncoming swarm with her torch again, falling back to stay out of their reach.
Looks like they have the big bug well in hand, Kylma thinks to herself. That leaves the little ones. Crap. She sweeps the torch low against the oncoming mass of little biters, falling back to stay out of their reach.
Wasn't that about what the Russian Army WAS using in WWI?
Seeing the others lining up behind or beside her, as the dwarf suggested, she turns and gives him a nod. "I guess we're ready, then." She holds the torch up and goes slowly into the room, her eyes darting from floor to ceiling, looking for any signs of danger.
"Someone's been here already," Kylma says. "And something's been inside. Looks like an animal." Tracks:
She lights the torch, holding her axe in her other hand, and steps carefully towards the NW arch.
Kylma dismounting stiffly, listening to Kilain's complaint and decides she must be at least part dwarf. There's just something unnatural about sitting on something's back for hours and miles. When she has shaken the feeling back into her legs, she frowns at the tower. "It'll be better if we all can see," she says. She holds her axe in one hand. In the other, she holds a torch, ready to light, as she walks slowly across the rubble towards the entrance, her eyes scanning the ground around and ahead of her. "So this is it."
Typical Qadiran. Too shy to speak, and wonders why nobody talks to him.
Kylma leans back and pulls the bundled skin of the beast from her saddlebag. She smiles at Kjell and tosses it to him. "Yours was the killing blow. By rights, the skin belongs to you."
ooc:
@ Kilain: Yay, full hit points! Thank you!
as a reward: [spoiler=ooc with an end bracket. "Thank you, my friend," Kylma says to the dwarf, as her wound closes, leaving barely a scar. ***** She rides easily, her eyes scanning the landscape for any sign of a threat, or a meal. As she rides, she talks easily with her companions, the shared danger having broken any reserve she had held to.
ooc: A big crit can change everything at this level. His next hit was going to take me out, so that's challenging.
ooc:
7/12hps Kylma scowls at the sky and mutters dark curses in Kellid at the rain as she feeds her horse, but she brightens considerably after skinning the dire-wolf. While it's too cut up to be worth much, it makes a satisfying trophy. Shortly after, she saddles up, and though she winces getting into the saddle, she grins. "Off we go to Targen's hold, then!"
Kylma looks at Kjell with unreserved admiration. She knew she had fought well, but the big Ulfen had cut the things head off like something out of a fireside tale. She stared for a moment, and then shook her head, looking away. "Yes, they often hunt in packs," she said, her voice a bit shakey. Well, now you sound like an idiot, don't you? She walks slowly around the fire, stopping when she reaches Kilain. "My thanks, friend, to you and your God."
Long have the people of the Frostwolf following known that all halflings are just goblins waiting to happen.
For a moment, Kylma and the dire wolf are wrestling each other for her axe, both of them bloody and snarling. The wolf tries to shake her loose, but she steps to the side, twisting the axe out of its grip and slashing another bright red gash in the beast's hide.
"Gorum's blood, we're attacked! Here!" Kylma yells, bleeding badly. Standing, she swings her ax at the thing.
"That seems fair," Kylma says. As an added precaution, she sets a simple tripline around the perimeter of the camp, connected to an empty pot, to give a warning.
Kylma watches Grey's performance with awe, grinning at the end, when he has fully changed. "I confess, I wondered what we were meant to do with you," she says, laughing. "This is like a summer's night at home. Feed the fire and keep a close watch for wolves."
The days ride was long, and Kylma gratefully dismounts. The land has proved barren so far, yielding little in the way of food or water. At least with the patches of forest, there is plenty of wood for a fire. As the sun sinks low, she gets a fire started, building it up high. She sits on her bedroll, with a blanket pulled around her shoulders to keep the chill wind off her back. "I'm Kylma," she says. "A hunter and warrior of the Frostwolf following. I'll try to throw a big shadow"
I fully support you doing that, Grey, and I'm willing to pitch in, should it be needed.
Kylma heads out to the stable with the others, mounting a horse a little unsteadily and trotting out into the sun. "You're right, Kjell, was it? Best thing would be if we can get close enough to scout it out tonight, then go in in the morning," she says, and looks up at the sky. "If we're lucky enough to have a moon."
Kylma nods, rising and walking slowly towards the door. As she steps outside, she gives a crooked smile. "This should be fun," she says. "But that's a long hike if we want to be there before dark."
Kylma listens, her face set, until the 'boy' speaks. That is when she sees that he is not actually a boy, but a halfling. A scowl of surprise flashes across her face for a moment, but then she chuckles softly. "They're sending us because nobody'll mind much if we die," she says. "Though I expect they'll find prettier words to tell us so."
Yeah, me too. As I discovered when I made that last post. Annoying, but work-around-able.
Out of curoisity, is Thorvald part of this party?
@ Grey ... I've been getting the same thing, if I hit the "1 new" or whatever for the discussion. If I click the actual discussion, it works.
"Shall we then?" Kylma says to the others. She heads out in the direction of the council's hall.
With the Guard Captain:
Kylma met the captain's stare with cold blue eyes of her own. She waited a long moment after he finished speaking before she replied, her voice icy and rough. "I'll go into Targen's Hold, yes." She smiled, on one side of her face only, the right side being too damaged to lift the corner of her mouth. "I am Kylma, born of the Frostwolf following. There is no one place I call home. Like all true Frostwolfs, my home is with my band. As for this quest, fighters, archers, scouts will be wanted. I am all of those things. I offer my bow, my axe, and my skills as a hunter and a trapper."
Kylma comes into the bar a bit later, having spent the day checking traps in the back country and only meeting with the Guard Captain a little after dark. She kept her chin up and refused to look at the ulfen. She had noticed him eyeing her before, but she had long since grown accustomed to people watching her. She knew no one would admire her for her beauty again, but they would respect her prowess in battle. The dwarf and the Qadiran, she acknowledged with a nod, took a pint from the bar, and sat at the table with them.
Sorry all, been a bad couple of days here for posting.
*ponders swapping out a feat or two*
I think... that will require me changing the word Heldren to Ralstead.
Merry Xmas!
IC recommendations: Start war between Taldor and Qadira BEFORE we start the AP.
If we're going to go ahead and use Heldren as it appears in the AP, then I think we don't want to do too much actually in the town. Unless we want to treat it is Generic Fantasy RPG Base Town #2745.
A month and change to hunt and trap, then, and to see who these other strangers are at this remote place at the edge of the world.
Just poking my nose in here to get it dotted.
No need ... I was just being silly. Looking at all these characters, I have to say it must have been a tough choice. They all look awesome. I am really looking forward to this. Hurry up, Paizo!
Did he just call me a rogue? grrrrr Assuming that was a slip, since we have another rogue, I'd just like to say ... woo! Thanks NEFG!
Putting on my best zoic fetishes for the occasion.
It's gonna be fun!
>Big Hug< thanks for the snacks!
OK ... done. backstory: Not all the tribes of Numeria have given up the old ways. The Kellid of the Frostwolf following still held to the traditions, following the game and crafting fetishes, living the hard life that their people had lived for thousands of years. Kylma was an unusual child, born with white hair and impossibly pale eyes. Despite the dire predictions of some of the tribe, she was not left to die in the snow. Nor did she grow up to be a witch, or to cause the land to wither and trap the world in endless winter, or drive the game away so the people starved. She grew up fierce and proud, and fought anyone who spoke ill of her or her family. She hunted and trapped from the time she could handle a bow, and learned to fight with sword and axe as she grew stronger. Maybe she was cursed, or maybe it was just bad luck, but when she was in her teens, famine came. A series of hard winters drove the game away, and the clan grew desperate. At last the chief, in desperation, was convinced that they must try everything, including ridding themselves of the white child. On the banks of the Sellen, she was sold to a pirate Captain who thought the exotic-looking girl would bring a good price in the decadent markets of Cassomir. The first night she was on the ship, one of the crew went to her. He came out bloody and beaten nearly to death. The next night, another went with a dagger. He came back without his dagger, beaten as badly as the first. The third night, the captain went to her. He did not attempt to force himself on her, but discussed her future with her. It was clear that she would not make a good concubine, and the scar the second pirate's knife had left across her face had ruined whatever value she may have had. For five years, she sailed the rivers, fighting alongside the pirates. It was not so different from being part of a tribe. Though she would laugh when her shipmates teased her about the disfiguring scar, any remark about her white hair would earn a cold glare. A second remark was enough to earn her hatred. A handsome bard hired the ship to take him to Cassomir, and he sang for the crew. Kylma heard his voice and fell in love instantly, fiercely. Still, it was several nights before she could bring herself to speak to him, and more nights before she could tell him how she felt. There had been much to drink that night, as they sailed through the Verduran Forest, and she was surprised above all by how easy it turned out to be. He didn't seem to mind the scar at all. In the morning, though, he laughed and told her he had only done it out of pity, and so he could say he had had a white-haired Kellid. She left most of him in bed, but took his head with her so she could look at his face whenever she wanted, and remember never to love again. She knew the captain would have to kill her, for the payment was waiting in Cassomir for the bard. She slipped off the ship and swam to shore, wandering through the forest and into the warm scrub lands beyond, hunting and trapping and trading furs in the smaller villages she passed. By the time she came to Heldrin, there was nothing left of her lover but his skull.
A chilly ranger, for your consideration. (backstory to come. The site just ate the one I wrote, so I'm starting over) |