The Long Road: IC

[Catodon]

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I’m happy for Killishandra to spend 30 reputation to gain a rank of heroic renown using the downtime action as an explanation.

Vashkars by scent and prints determines that the trail heads north apparently making a b-line for the distant mountains and glacier but little more can be gained from the tracks and snowfall is aleready beginning to slowly obsure the trail.

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The Monster’s sneak 1d20+5
Verses track (1d20+5=18). Vashkar just makes it.

The drake turns in time to hear killishandra’s comment “She favours him with an expression that is half quizical, half expectant 'I'm a doctor, damn it! Not a miracle worker”. The old man crooks a finger drawing the warrior/healer closer he whispers something.

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Mr Andersen you will receive a PM on this

After the exchange killishandra pokes around the hall of bone and hides. After the brief inspection it becomes apparent that three sets of large footprints have stomped around the hall, from investigating the items there and questioning Tenloowaq it seems that none of the ‘Jarl’s’ valuables have been taken. The guard  Aglaktoe has suffered a stout blow to the head from a blunt weapon. Kieri aiding the investigation notes that that no-one seems to have heard the assault. Hmmm the tracks are not very deep, it seems the creatures have large feet to spread their wieght like snowshoes. Kaze, with prompting, agrees with this assessment.

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What specifically would grandmother like a hint about?
Ok. If you want to follow the tracks after the first half day I’ll want a tracking roll.

[Fiendbasher]

The draku's catlike pupils narrowed slightly as he watched the exchange between Aglaktoe and Killishandra, but it is only a brief pause before he continues his investigation. It leads him back outside, where he stands back up to his full height, fixing his imperious stare on the distant mountains for a moment. He vents a snort, sending a small blast of condensing breath to rush out his nostrils as if he were breathing smoke. The spiked end of his tail swayed slowly from side to side behind him.

After this short interlude Vashkar ducked back into the longhall and began to speak, in his characteristic mix of low grumble and piping notes. "If there is more than one of these creatures, there may be another attack after night falls. We have scant hours to act." Vashkar cants his head in an almost birdlike fashion to observe Grandmother's bone casting out of one fire-hued eye. He continues, "I am going to try to track the creature as far as I can. When Grandmother is done with her ritual, tell her to catch up to me, I will not be going fast."

Taking up his polearm and clutching his furred cloak tightly about him with a clawed hand, the draku steps back out into the snow. As he follows the tracks, hated winter folds him in its embrace, slowly rendering him into a horned and tailed silhouette against the white.

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He'll follow the tracks while they last, getting as far as he can. If he loses the trail but the glacier and mountains might be reachable before nightfall by air, he'll fly to them and see if he can find signs of habitation there. The others can decide what we're going to do as a group but he figures no matter what we're going to want a pinpoint on where this critter came from, if we can get it.

If Grandmother meets up with him he will ask her what she found out and to renew his protection against the cold, it will make his job easier.

Extended Tracking check: 1d20+5=19 + AD: 1d4.open(4)=2 Total 21. Better than a poke in the eye I suppose.

3 AD remaining.

[Catodon]

Grandmother's eyes widen when she hears the voice inside her head.

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Jigger look for a personal message

[Jigger]

Grandmother drops her bones in shock, and begins to mutter to herself.

"'Ruk' drnu'? Rok drnu'? R'n drnu'? Kus'u' 'mk'k? Tu'k'd sudd'n od 'uk rok,od 'uumt p' r'nk u'. Ov kr''k rok romt, kr' or'nodk, ut 'ru''n muosk or'nodk po nokrd uv uu'kd. Un suop' r' rut u k'um, kus'drok dr'o ''t't du kd'um. Suop' od'k pudr." (click to show/hide) "Whose throne? His throne? Her throne? Someone elses? Doesn't matter it was his,it would be hers now. If she's his child, she inherits, and whoever claims inherits by right of conquest. Or maybe he had a seal, something they needed to steal. Maybe it's both." "Damn it you old bastard, why you always speak in riddles!", she snarls. Grandmother looks around the village, and turns her head to the caravans warriors, and begins to silently whisper words in their direction.

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Whispers
MP: 0 Casting: Free Duration: 1min Range: Close
Effect: Can communicate to each other by Whispering. Included: Bolo, Vash, and Kaze.
Spell Casting 1d20+9 DC:13
1d20+9=29
<Woohoo! Kind of a waste of a 20, Although I'll include Killshandra and Kieri too if I can with it>

"Beware, this is the work of treachery! They killed the Jarl and stole the girl to secure a throne. Whose I don't know, but it most likely has to do with their odd colored eyes. In any event your chasing men, not monsters. I'll fill the girls in, you can talk among yourselves without being heard for the next sixty heart beats, you do what you have to do.", you hear her whispered words carried to you by the wind. Before she heads back to the Kieri and Killshandra, Grandmother renews Vashkars protection against the wind and snow, and chants something over one of his arrows while rubbing one of her concoctions on it. " Ouu drog ouu gu' dr' kus' uv drnu'k, ouu gu' udrok. Suo drok buoku punkd ouun r'und ut pumk' ouu'n' 'o'k. Dn'ur'no p'mukk du s'. , she chants. (click to show/hide) "You think you know the game of thrones? You know nothing. May this poison burst your heart and bulge you're eyes. Treachery belongs to me.". "If you see them and they flee, give them this arrow as my gift.", she snarls a toothy smile.

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Endure Elements
MP: 0 Casting: Half Action Duration: One Day Range: Touch
Effect: No harm from cold environments
Spell Casting 1d20+9 DC:13
1d20+9=23


Venomous Weapon 1/2
MP: 0 Casting: Full Action Duration: Until Used Range: Touch
Effect: Envenomates one arrow with Necrotic Poison. (Lethal 2d6 1 Min. DC 12)
Components: Bluff, a little prestidigitation and a bottle of Spider Venom.
 
Prestidigitation: 1d20+8 DC: Vash's and Kaze's Notice

1d20+8=12

Bluff: 1d20+5 DC: Vash's and Kaze's Sense Motives
1d20+5=19

<Bollo may notice, but I doubt he'd care.>

[Catodon]

Following the Raiders
The tracks initially hasten North but the steady snow and wind soon make tracking a difficult task. How fast is your group travelling?

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A Survival/Tracking roll vs the villains’ Sneak. Track modified as follows: prey speed +2, +2 for ‘Size’, soft snow +4, per hour of snow-2 but starts at 5hours -10max TOTAL=-2
If characters moving faster than half speed another -2
Therefore the Draku has a total of 19, 17 if you are travelling at full speed.
Once travel speed is decided I’ll roll for the opposition.

[Fiendbasher]

Vashkar wastes no time following the tracks, walking as fast as the treacherous snow allows him. Periodically, he casts off his cloak and takes wing, mostly to gain altitude and spy out the path ahead. The quarry has a long lead, and the stinging wind and swirling flakes conspire against him, but he seeks at least to spot any dangers that may lie in the group's way.

The flights are short and he returns to the others who followed before much time passes in order to minimize any risk of becoming lost or losing the trail.

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Notice: 1d20+5=17
Search: 1d20+3=18

Ignore if not applicable.

[Jigger]

After filling in Kieri and Killshandra, Grandmother mounts her ox, and falls in behind Vash and Kaze.

"No time for short legs, and less time for a cart. Move you foul beast.". She says, as she tails the trackers.

[Catodon]

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sneak to foil tracking (1d20+6=26)
Looks like they have out foxed you for the moment. I’m running the chase in eight hour ‘shifts’.

Vashkar makes steady progress at first despite the quarry taking measures to obscure their trail and laying false trails. What- or who-ever you are pursuing are experienced trackers themselves. Several times the only spoor is a small drop of blood, red against the white snow. As the hours march on and the light fades and the snow obscured tracks become unfindable. Taking to the air reveals nothing more beyond snow on the ground and falling in the dim orange light. Soon you will be in the foothills.
As the Sun vanishes and the Moon begins to show, there is terrible sound ahead, a loud moan long and hollow, too deep to be the howl of a wolf.
Warily you press on for several more hours trying to regain the trail by lamp light. You all begin to feel the effects of exhaustion but the blood and sound lend urgency to your task. Even now the dark has closed in and you must consider whether to press on into the dark without sleep and hope to refind the trail or whether to wait until the red dawn of the brief polar day.

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The party has been on the trail for 8 hours. First: everyone make a Survival check DC20 to dress and act appropreatly in the freezing cold.
Those who pass take 1d6 cold damage every four hours. You may apply any magical or gear cold resistance etc to this.
Those who fail take 1d6 cold damage every hour (i.e. as much as 8 lots of 1d6!).
Roll each die of cold damage separately. Players may have their character turn back for the village at any time, it takes equal time to return to the village and I’m going to be nice and assume you can retrace your steps without another survival check. Quiters could also set up camp (see below).

Do you press on foregoing needed sleep or do you get needed rest and hope to find the trail come the light of dawn? Is there something else you want to do?

If you settle down for the night could someone other than Vashkar make a DC20 forage check to represent use of survival knowledge to survive the cold and scrounge meagre food and potable water. Vashkar has been too busy tracking to scrounge as he travelled. If successful the shelter provided prevents cold damage while you rest. If this check fails you will have to eat any supplies you are carrying (if any) and will be exposed to more cold damage while you rest (but don’t roll that just yet).
If you press on I’ll address what happens in the next post.

[foproy]

bolo shivering in the extreme cold "next time lets go south ok"

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1d20+2=4

[Mister Andersen]

The temptation to remind behind in the village is great. The outlook is grim, the likelihood that the girl is alive even worse. Yet the rumblings of her companion, the need to assuage its appetites, weighs heavily against her own desire. And so it is that Killishandra joins the suicide mission, with a gruff and half-hearted explanation to the elders about how the obligations of hospitality require the effort be made to at least ascertain the fate of the jarl's daughter. (click to show/hide) The terrible child of the depths laughs at such trivial matters thanks to Endure Elements! Since we've only been up 8 hrs I say we press on with killishandra, who isn't affected by the dark, in the lead: Tracking check,  and a foraging check: 1d20+5=19, 1d20+5=7

[Jigger]

Grandmother curses herself for failing to notice Bolo's distress in her haste to leave the village, and she rides by and offers him a soothing touch.

"Forgive my oversight, we need your to be able to work your knives.", she says as she begins to chant. "O' uu'n von', von' uu'n o'. Ud mog' u su! Vot dr' r'ud uv ouun pmuut. Knukb dr' 'od'n po drnuud ut t'v'ud od!" (click to show/hide) Ice conquer fire, fire conquer ice. Act like a man! Find the heat of your blood. Grasp the winter by throat and defeat it!

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Endure Elements
MP: 0 Casting: Half Action Duration: 24 hours Range: Touch
Effect: Protects the target and their gear from heat and cold enviromental damage. Does not protect against heat or cold attacks.
Spell Casting: 1d20+9 DC:13

Casting Total: 10+9 = 19

She'll just take ten so she can easily drop the same spell on anyone else who needs its.

[Antilles]

Kaze walks with the rest of the group, trusting in his thick winter clothes to keep him warm, which so far it seems to be doing quite well. He tried to help with the tracking, but as the light quickly grew dim, so did his chances of successfully using his meagre tracking skills. Now he just follows the rest of the group, keeping both warm and an eye out for trouble.

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So, yeah, Kaze's got Cold Resistance 7, so is there any point in me rolling that Survival check then? I'll fail anyway, I'm untrained in Survival and I'm not using an AD on possibly get above the cap.

Notice check 1d20+10=15 + Keen Sight/Sharp Hearing to keep an eye/ear out for trouble.

[Fiendbasher]

Protected by Grandmother's magic, Vashkar is in no danger from the cold air... but still it endeavors to defeat him. It gnaws at him where, of necessity, his clothing is thinnest. Even doing his best to splay his long toes as he walks, his feet sink deep into the fresh powder, leaving large duck-like tracks and slowing him down. Yet his feet were not numbed... no, that would almost seem merciful... they burned from the cold.

Over the thickest drifts, the draku drops to a quadrupedal stance, the better to disperse his weight and keep him from sinking in. Moving in this manner he looks like an awkward beast indeed, a trundling, snow-dusted mound of heaped hide and fur. It keeps him close to the tracks, however, and even as the light grows dim, he is still able to follow them.

Hearing Bolo's comment about the cold, the draku utters a grunt of agreement. He straightens up and looks back, concerned, but relaxes when he sees that Grandmother is attending to the pech.

"We must press on as long as we can... we may grow tired, but the ones we chase have made this same journey twice, and then some.... depending on where we catch them. They will grow tired as well."

Since Killishandra seems to be doing as well at following the tracks as he is, the draku takes another scouting flight before the light gets too dim... somewhat concerned that if the snow continues to fall, the clouds may block out enough illumination from the sky that even the half the group that sees well in the dark will have trouble.

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When he comes back down, he will take up the back of the group to keep an eye out for trouble from behind.

Search: 1d20+3=22
Notice: 1d20+5=18

[LordKruelos]

Kieri Vane

Keeping pace through the cold, Kieri trusts in the trackers to lead them true and concentrates her efforts on keeping warm and keeping her companions' spirits up, while racking her brain to uncover some clue unexplored or idea yet uncovered to help bring their chase to a hopeful conclusion.

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Free Hint: Once per session, you may request a free hint from the GM. If he refuses, you gain 1 bonus action die.

As she notes her companions endurance flagging in the face of the cold, she speaks of the legend of Mythrices and Eluria, where Mythrices pursued the kidnappers of his beloved across the earth and even into the land of the dead.

...and as he walked the dark paths of the land of death, the cold breath of the unseen specters burned Mythrices' strength, and nearly froze him standing were it not for the love of Eluria and the fire of justice that burned within his heart.

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Encouragement: Once per scene, you may speak to 1 of your teammates for 1 minute to grant them a +1 morale bonus with saving throws until the end of the current scene.
(apply to the most in need of the bonus)

[LordKruelos]

As the Sun vanishes and the Moon begins to show, there is terrible sound ahead, a loud moan long and hollow, too deep to be the howl of a wolf.

Kieri Vane

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The blood drops on the trail and that long low moan play on your mind. The blood was first spotted pretty early in the trail, that moan didn't sound like the wind, the goblin diety believes the kidnappers came for a throne. The moan, too deep to be a wolf.
hmmm....Holy crap!
A huge canine predator of some kind is ahead of you but following the kidnappers! If it realises you are on the trail behind it or if you pass it in the long night...

Kieri shivers at the sound of the moan...

I have seen and heard many things in my travels, but that sound was neither wind nor wolf and I worry what we might stumble upon in the dark of night -- and how large its teeth may be.