Danger In The Snow

February 24th 2007

Players: Taladan, Alance, Amari, Trysta, Heather

Word has been spreading around the city that people have been going missing out in the woods in the Taiga just outside of Golden Glade near one of the caravan roads leading out of Vintermor. A posting in the market asked all who were interested to show up at Golden Glade entrance to venture out and see what's going on. That's why you're here, free rp to the Entrance to Golden Glade. Taladan is one of the first to arrive, having rented a horse from Sascha for the journey out. Unused to riding, he dismounts and tethers his horse to a low hanging branch and moves around a bit, stretching out and resting his 'saddle' muscles, waiting on others to arrive. Alance rides through the forest approaching the Glade. He grins a bit when he spots Taladan. Dismounting from his Warhorse "Strange seeing you all the way out here Taladan" Heather comes moving not much behind Alance on foot. "damn I forgot how far it is here." said a bit out winded from her long run here. After a few moments to get her breath she says "you know I never been pass here in this area before."

Trysta sits upon the back of her own warhorse as it trots along at a leisurely pace. Her head is dipped to stare at the ground while it passes by and it's not until people speak up that she raises her head. Brows furrow as she tugs on her mounts reins, causing it to slow down further, before stopping completely.

Amari rides up just behind Alance,"I thought that was you Alance. Taladan, good to see you here also. I trust we shall soon dispatch the monsters or whatever plagues this area with both of your blades." she sits atop a powerful black stallion and pats it's flank to calm him when Heather approaches."Ladies." she says offering a nod to them as well.

Taladan rolls his eyes and shakes his head, "Blame your sister Al. She's been after me to get out more, to do something. Said if I stayed underfoot much longer, she was going to use me for target practice." he shrugs and nods a greeting to the others who gather together. "'Tis almost as if it were old times once more, no? Except I'm not as young as I used to be." he flexes his hands to work the cold out of his fingers. Alance Laughs and nods "Sounds like her" He turns as he hears Amari and gives her a warm smile "Hello hon" Moving to the side of her horse he looks up "Need help down?"

Heather looks around "I know I should of borrowed my wifes horse." said as she notices she is the only one with out a horsie.

Just after everyone arrives a small human woman walks out from the inside of Golden Glade, she has a small but sad look on her face as she sees the small band of adventurers. "Thank you for coming" she says in a small voice "I was the one that posted the message in the market" she continues looking about the group "My father went missing a few weeks ago when he went into the woods:" she points southward towards the Taiga "he sometimes cuts thru that way but I have not seen him, and I have been worried as I've heard that others have disappeared thru that way as well"

Taladan glances at Heather and chuckles saying, "Heather, I swear, you'd forget your head were it not attached sometimes. You can probably double up with either Amari or Trysta if needs be." he swings back around as the human woman comes out of the Glade. He listens to her for a moment and nods when she halts her speaking. Glancing at the others he takes the initiative and says, "What was he traveling through the woods for m'lady?"

Trysta just looks amongst all the others as they start to talk. When the woman arrives her attention drifts in that direction and brows furrow a second time when 'a few weeks ago' is mentioned; clearly she thought it odd to take so long in sending for help.

Heather looks to the lady "does he normally take long hunts?" asked as she knows a certain some one that loves to hunt a lot.

She looks to Taladan "He sometimes cuts thru the woods rather than take the roads to meet up with another road that he says is that way, I've never asked him, but I assume it's that there is another road that way." She turns and speaks to the whole group again "See normally I would not be so concerned for sometimes his trips take him away for a couple of weeks, but after the initial 2 weeks when I started hearing rumours and stories of others who have been disappearing I got really nervous"

Amari smiles warmly at Alance shaking her head and extending her hand to him. She looks over to the woman who approaches,"It would appear that we have further yet to go. Shall we ride or walk?" she asks of the others before looking down the path,"Miss is the path clear enough for horses or should we leave them here?" she asks of the woman.

"Well the forest does get pretty dense in spots" the woman says to Amari in answer.

Alance takes Amari's offered hand "Might be better to walk" He looks at the forest then back to the others "That way we can go places we'd be blocked"

Taladan nods and says, "'Twill be easier for me to operate without yon beast beneath me, that's for sure. Tell me m'lady, what does your father look like? What manner was his dress? These things will be useful to know if we are able to find him."

Amari nods at the woman's reply and then looks to Alance,"Yes that does sound wise." she agrees with the paladin. She is wrapped up in her green cloak this day and snowflakes dot the shoulders and hood."There should be a place here where we can stable the horses, right?" she asks as she allows Alance to help her down from the saddle.

She looks to Taladan "He wears a well worn dark green wool cloak and carries a hide backpack and uses a really long dark brown walking stick, with a sword on his hip" she tells him. She turns back to the group again "If you wish to leave your horses then I would be more then happy to take them up to the stable here" she says then turning to Amari. Alance nods "There should be with the Druids of the Glade" He helps Amari down, lifting her from the saddle easily, placing her next to the horse. He nods to the lady as she speaks.

Trysta continues to sit atop her horse for the time being and listen in as the others talk to the lady who apparently put up the fliers. Despite mention of 'dense spots' in the woods she doesn't seem to be inclined to leave the equine behind. Heather listens to what is all been said "I am not a tracker, but I don't mind walking

Taladan glances back over his shoulder at Trysta, "There may be a problem with leaving all the mounts here, but if needs be Trys can always dismount and walk her horse through or around anything particularly nasty." he turns back to the others and says, "Well, I know all I need to for the moment." he moves off in the direction that the woman pointed, studying the forest as the others prepare to depart, or ask other questions as they prefer.

The woman smiles a small smile and takes the reigns of the horses that are being left "I wish you all well, and I hope that you are able to find my father and any others that might be out there" she says a little sadness in her voice. The day is still clear and not very cold as the sun is still high in the sky, very few snowflakes fall and even those might just be blowing off the treetops as you walk into the forest.

Taladan moves off ahead of the others for the moment, a good fifteen or twenty yards as he gets into his 'scout' role. Pulling his cloak about him and shifting the hood up over his head he all but disappears into the surrounding forest-scape.

Alance glances at the others then shifts his shield to the fore and makes sure his sword is easy in it's scabbard.

Fast forwarding a bit, you've been walking in the forest for a couple of hours, the sun sits lower in the sky and it's starting to get cooler as the sun disappears behind the denser trees and as it sets.

Trysta hasn't been very talkative! Fancy that. She mostly just sits there atop her horse, watching ahead, occasionally to the side, but mostly just keeping attention to steer the equine from running into anything when it gets particularly thick.

After two hours of scouting and seeing nothing more alarming that a couple of hares bumping uglies, Taladan decides to circle back to the party and call a brief halt for rest.

Heather is willing to stop but she is not that tired "how you all feeling?" she mentions about the cold. "I have one fur in my haversack for who ever needs it, and I also can cast the endure cold spell once today." offering the spell or cloak for who ever needs them.

Amari settles on a stump and rubs her arms lightly as the cold seems to descend with the sun."How much longer will we walk before breaking camp?" she asks as she shoulders her pack off and onto the ground beside her."I think I may cast one on myself here in a moment also." she says to Heather.

Alance glances at Taladan "Find anything Tal?" He smiles at Amari and starts to gather wood for a small fire "A cup of good tea would help I think Amari"

After a few moments rest you can smell something, that represents wood burning a little bit off in the distance.

Taladan shakes his head at Heather and says, "No thanks, for now. I might take you up on it in a bit though. Just wanted to rest my legs a bit," his voice is quiet and he hunkers down near a fallen log. "Been a while since I've gone trudging through virgin snow." he shakes his head at Alance's question, but, little by little he begins to smell the woodsmoke through the trees. He quirks an eyebrow and shoots a questioning glance at the others, then indicates for them to quiet down a bit as he peers off through the forest, standing up once more.

Heather looks "its a bit dark, but I see smoke over the trees." pointing to the area.

Alance looks where Heather is pointing and nods "So do I, like a fire perhaps?"

Trysta sees trees. Trees trees trees. And more trees. She lifts her head upon smelling smoke and starts to look around a little while squinting against the fading light.

Amari nods as she looks up also and sniffs the cold air,"It might be her father making camp." she suggests.

Taladan nod to the others as they seem to see what he's seeing - at least some of them. He pitches his voice quietly and says, "I'm going to go take a looksee, maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be someone wanting to share a fire. If all hell breaks loose, come a'running." with that he draws his rapier and speaks it to flame. Gathering his cloak about himself he disappears off into the forest, circling around the fire.

Amari looks to Taladan with concern knitting her brows,"Might we follow you at a distance Taladan?" she asks before looking to the others."That way we will be close if it's a big ugly." she suggests.

Alance walks as quietly as he can, giving Tal time to get well ahead of him. He heads straight for the smoke.

Heather is thankful for her boots as she keeps up with Alance that is doing good being quiet with all his armor.

All of a sudden a bustle of activity starts around the fire, you can hear a strange language being spoken in horse whispers.

Amari stays a bit further behind in the hopes that she wont be heard and give the others away. She knows her armor is not conducive to sneaking around. So she stays towards the back of the group.

Taladan has been circling around whatever is out there, almost invisible blue scrim of flame running the length of his blade as his only company. Invisible as death itself, he moves in towards the encampment once he has them between himself and Alance's group. Halting when he hears the whispers, he listens closely.

Heather ears perks up as she hears some strange speech but doesn't know what it is.

Alance shakes his head at the buzzing in his ears, slowly a bit at the voices, silently drawing his sword. Trysta is not the quietest person. In fact she's plain out noisy while following after. Nevertheless, she doesn't open her mouth to say anything and listens intently as the whispering catches her attention. Taladan continues to quietly creep up on whatever there is, recognizing the speech and the words, but giving no signal to the others just yet.

Heather points out 5 bodies getting weapons "they know we are here

Alance stops just insight of the fire. He's not bashful, his armor gleaming in the firelight. Lowering his visor as Heather speaks. Taladan creeps up to striking distance from some of the creatures, watching and waiting to see what they're going to do when they spot the others. Being right on top of them he barely even breathes, eyes locked on them, senses opened fully to any danger that may be about to pounce.

Trysta is certainly NOT the reason the people know they're there. Nope. However, she does go to reach towards her weapon when everyone else seems to getting ready for a fight.

Amari 's longsword appears in her gloved hand and speaks a few words of magic over it making it glow for a split second. She narrows her eyes as she approaches the encampment and she lifts her off hand in preparation for some spell casting if it should be needed. Her shield hovers nearby following her into battle and protecting her as she moves forward.

You seem to see a bunch of creatures scurrying around trying to hide and they seem to be gathering weapons together, they are scared but ready to fight. In the dim light it seems in might be a mixture of Goblins and Gnolls.

A silent wind of death is blowing through the gnoll and goblin's camp this night. Padding in on leather boots it is. Grabbing Gnoll1 gently by the chin, Taladan swiftly whirls around it, silently excising the creature's heart with his rapier, which bursts into a ball of flame when it penetrates the creature's body. He moves on silently to Gnoll3, a black hearted wind that nearly blows that poor creature from limb to limb when the fireball rolls out once more, leaving a small pattering of gore and gobbets of flesh raining down where Taladan used to be.

Gnoll11 looks and sees some woman on a horse and starts moving past the fire into the wooded area.

Gobbie5 is still over at the fire trying to figure out what's going on.

Gnoll10 sees Amari and tries to take a swipe at her but completely misses.

In the hustle around the campfire Gobbie4 tries to find a weapon, while GObbie10 tries to impale Alance by throwing a javelin at him and missing, and Gnoll7 tries to take out Amari with it's battle axe and misses the woman.

Trysta squints as one of the gnolls begins to come towards her. The woman's hand moves from sword to bow and grasps the weapon, pulling it from its sling, along with an arrow. The sound of twanging can be heard as she fires the first projectile, striking it in the chest, hand going to grab another arrow that she knocks and releases. Another through its chest causes the jackal humanoid to crumble. ".. That was hardly satisfying."

Heather holds her spear tight and says in common "by the power of the water goddess I command you to fall." said in forceful tones that drop 4 of them to there knees.

Gobbie9 attempts to throw a javelin at Alance and falls miserably. Gobbie6 falls to it's knees as well as Gnoll8 in front of Heather. Gnoll2 takes a shot at Amari and misses miserably as well. Gnoll4 sees his buddies go down by Tal's sword and runs towards him swinging a battle axe and missing horribly.

Apparently the Goblins think that Alance looks like a pin cushion as Gobbie8 tries to impale him with a javelin as well, again missing just like his friends.

Gnoll6 just saw his buddy burst into flame in front of him and decides to run away. Gnoll12 thinks the woman on the horse is a good target and tries to fire an arrow at her completely missing her.

Amari lifts her hand and and a wreath of flames surround her. She doesn't seem to burn or harmed in any way but it does make her attackers back off. They seem a bit put off by the flames that seems to flow about her. She lifts her empty hand to the sky and calls down Tuli's fire upon gobblin 7, Gnolls 2, 10 and 7. They are all consumed by the column of flames that decends upon them. Her red hair waves in the wind and the flames flicker about her making her glow in an eerie light.

Alance looks at the things flying at him, fending them off with his shield, then tiring of that steps in and that sword flashes down, glowing with holy power as he becomes a deadly whirlwind. Blood and body parts flying as he goes through 4 or 5 of those fighting, stopping when all around him lie dead.

Gobbie12 squints and musters up some courage and throws a javelin at Taladan, hoping to hit the man and failing.

Gobbie1 sees the woman on the horse shoot and kill his buddy and hides behind the tree so that she can't see him. Gobbie11 and 2 have the same idea even tho they're no where near each other, 11 throws a javelin at Taladan while 2 tries to do the same to Trysta. Both miss their intended targets. Gnoll9 pulls out his little short bow and tries to fire a shot off at Trysta but misses horribly.

The wind of death hasn't stopped, flitting from one place to another, the dark rogue silently moves towards three more opponents, first drawing their attention with a blurred set of feints he quickly stabs Gobbies 12 & 11 and then Gnoll #4, liver, kidneys, then heart, without stopping he moves past the three of them just as quickly as he moved in, not even watching as they fall.

Gobbie3 is still under Heather's control and is just lying on the ground unable to do anything. Gobbie5 looks around at all the carnage around him, drops his javelin and turns around running away from everyone. Gobbie4 walks towards Heather and chucks a javelin at her it flies past her hand close enough to give her a sliver in the side of her hand. Gnoll8 and Gobbie6 are still laying on the ground from Heathers spell last time around.

Heather growls as the gnoll nicks her with his javelin but in a fast movement Heather got her short spear in the Gnoll stomach killing it.

Trysta leans her head aside as an arrow whizzes by. "Sigh. You really need to work on your aim." Then a javelin goes and hits the tree next to her. The woman reaches over and, using only one hand, snaps it as if doing so to a twig. "You see that? I'm going to do it to you both if you don't get the hell away from me." Sure enough goblin and gnoll alike flee like scared children.

Gnoll12 looks around and even tho he has a brain the size of a pea realizes they are greatly outnumbered and decides to save his own hide by running off.

Amari's open palm blasts light at one of the standing creatures that is about 25 feet away. It falls to the ground seared and smoking. The stench of it's burnt skin fill the air with the blood and gore. She wields her longsword and it flashes as it finds it's way into the chest of the creature who lays on the ground in front of her." Leave one for questioning." she calls out to the others.

Alance lowers his sword seeing that all but one are dealt with, he moves over to where Heather is looking down at the ones on the ground "Let's keep these alive"

A tree blocking it's way, Gobbie1 did not see just how terrifying Trysta can be and steps forward throwing a javelin at her and completely missing, makes an odd eep sound.

Taladan takes a length of rope from his pack and, sheathing his rapier, moves to bind the two creatures under Heather's control. While doing this he calls out to the other goblin, "Drop your weapons and you won't be harmed. Continue fighting and you will join your dead companions in the fires of the abyss."

Heather nods to the others "I hope they can speak common." said as she moves to help tie up the ones she used the spell on.

Trysta just leans aside as the javelin tossed at her passes by. The woman goes to take her sword out and, with a knee, nudges the warhorse. A snort comes forth as it immediately moves in the direction of the unlucky goblin. Meanwhile the human twists around and goes to swing her sword in a golfer motion--the hit sends the pint-sized critter rolling and unconscious.

Taladan glances at Trysta's 'golf' swing and quirks an eyebrow, "Or you can do that." he finishes binding the hands and feet of one of the creatures and tosses Heather another hank of rope. Glancing around distastefully he says, "They were afraid of something. They were wondering if we were 'it', if 'it had come back again'. Something out here had these creatures on alert.

Heather is pretty good at tying some one up... what does she and Meyla do at night. "now are you going to talk to us?"

The Goblin and the Gnoll look at one another, the gnoll seems to have said something to the goblin in another language.

Heather steps back a little and says something in celestial while fiddling with her holly symbol.

Alance stands over the ones who gave up. He sheaths his sword and looks around, scanning the area for anymore.

Taladan quirks a brow and snaps his fingers a bit as Heather goes into her trance, casting her spell. After a bit he tries, "**** ****** ***** ** *********** ***** ******* ******** **** ****** ****** ***** ********** *** **** *********** ****" He appears to be speaking in a language you do not understand.

Amari arches a brow and comes over to the two captives,"If they do not tell us anything I say we let Trysta and Tal have some fun with them." she says as she nods to the warrior woman and the rogue so the two know exactly who she means.

Trysta shrugs her shoulders at Taladan. "What? He threw a javelin at me. And now he'll learn not to do that again." The woman puts her bow back into its proper space before sliding off the large warhorse's back. Upon getting down she takes time to secure her greatsword in place and then goes about tying the downed goblin.

Both the Goblin and the Gnoll look up at Taladan confused as if they known he was speaking to them but not understanding any of what he said.

Taladan shakes his head and says, "They know I'm talking to them, they're trying to figure out what /we're/ saying. Maybe when Heather's done casting her spell she can translate for you guys."

Alance shakes his head "We won't harm them, they surrendered..Unless they try to harm us they can't be harmed"

Heather looks to them and suddenly speaks goblin to them.

The Goblin's and Gnoll's head snaps towards Heather and they start chattering her both at the same time.

Heather looks to the group "they thought we were some one else." she looks to the tied up group and asks something short.

Taladan rocks back on his heels for a moment as he listens to the exchange between Heather and the creatures. He glances up at Alance and says, "Get them some water Al, They're going to need to calm down a bit before they're coherent."

The goblin gives the gnoll a dirty look, says something to it and then looks back to Heather and starts talking to her.

Trysta, meanwhile, tethers her horse for the time being so he doesn't decide to wander off upon seeing something distracting. Then she goes and starts to make herself comfortable by the fire.

Heather translate "they say some monsters under the snow, any one want me to ask them more questions?"

Taladan shakes his head, "That's not all Heather...your spell is missing nuances. They've heard some creatures in the woods around abouts, but haven't seen them. And the word he used was 'horror' not 'monsters'. Can you translate something out for me?" he thinks for a moment and says, "What is this horror beneath the snow of which you speak. And why did your people immediately begin to attack us instead of moving to palaver? Have you been attacked before?"

Heather repeats the same thing Taladan says as he is saying it.

The Goblin suddenly looks scared and looks to the gnoll who has started to tremble. The goblin then starts a long winded tirade in goblin.

Amari furrows her brows,"Ask them what these monsters look like." she says to Heather. she then grows quiet at Taladan's remarks and wipes her sword blade clean. It then disappears in the palm of her glove.

Taladan shakes his head, "They haven't seen them Amari, not that I can tell anyways. It's something that would horrify a whole tribe of gnolls and goblins though, it's gotta be something nasty." he says this quietly as he listens to the goblin speaking, watching the creature, trying to ascertain if it's lying or not.

Trysta says, "Maybe the monster is a giant bar of soap," as she continues to sit by the fire--no sense letting it go to waste now was there?

Heather looks to Taladan "do you think a plant can do that?" asking the one here she thinks would know more about stuff like that. She looks to the group "he was saying his own people been taken. and he also said there is a area where no animals tend to go."

Taladan shakes his head and says, "I know of no plants that make a noise like that. It's gotta be something under the snow." he glances around at the others for a moment and says, "Ask them this: If the clearing is so dangerous and there's nothing alive but plants there and no animals will come near it, why are you here, so near to it?"

Heather nods and says before she asks them that "I was about to ask them that also."

The Goblin starts talking to Heather, "we used to have our camp in the clearing but we went out on a raid" he looks embarrassed at admitting that. When they came back that's when it had changed and the noise would come.

Heather says "can you mimic the sound?"

The Goblin quirks it's eyebrow and beside it the gnoll makes an ear piercing shrilling noise, that hurts everyone's ears.

Trysta reaches up and rubs at one of her ears. "Great, as if I don't already have to worry about going deaf from fighting as is."

Heather winces "bloody hell sorry about that, so any other questions?"

Taladan sits through the shrieking and other commentary for a moment, his eyes glazing over, thinking back on something, trying to remember if he's ever heard that sound or not.

The Goblin gives the gnoll another dirty look and the gnoll just shrugs as an apology.

Heather says to them "don't apologize, I asked you to."

Taladan suddenly looks up and the colour drains from his face. He says, "Is the ground all churned up in the clearing? Like something came up out of the ground?" he turns to the others and says, "Alance, you remember the Frost Worm? It made a noise like that."

Heather translate for Taladan The Goblin nods at Heather.

Trysta asks, "Why are they afraid of a worm?"

Taladan shakes his head to Trysta, "Not an earthworm. A worm that could swallow the White Hart Inn, whole, without slowing.

Amari 's face grows grim too,"I remember. Alance was eaten by it. SO I doubt that he would forget either." she says as she pats him on the shoulder in a reassuring way and moves to the fire to warm herself. She sighs deeply and stares into the flames,"Tuli be with us." she utters.

Taladan shakes his head and says, "Cut 'em loose. We've got bigger things to worry about than them if that really is a frost worm out there." he turns to the two captives and says, "I'm sorry about your companions, but you would've attacked us and killed us if we had given you the chance. Leave your weapons, take some food and water and leave the area."

Heather cuts them free as asked by Tal and translate but adds something about taking some extra supplies also.

The two look at each other kind of scared, "what of the things in the woods?" the gnoll asks as they looking into the now dark woods.

Trysta says, "So it's a big worm. That just means it'll make a big mess when it dies." Apparently she's not feeling like taking things seriously at the moment.

Taladan shakes his head at the two creatures, "You can take a javelin each with you. We're not going to attack you unless you attack us. Don't come back around here. Head south and steer clear of humanoid villages. Don't let me find out you've been raiding here again. I suggest you pack your shit and get, as there's about to be some very bad mojo going down in that clearing very shortly."

Heather translate again "and if you got any loot leave it we will be giving it back from the people you taken it from."

The goblin and the gnoll pack up a couple of bags with some of their food and grab a javelin each and head off into the woods without another word.

Heather adds 2 gems to the collections.

Taladan finds a couple of small pouches and peers into them. He tosses them both over to Alance and says, "Hold on to those if you would? I've been known to do some crazy shit around big monsters, and if I don't make it back, that can go to getting me back, or Mirra'll hunt down my ghost and kill it."

Alance laughs and catches them "She'd hunt me down for allowing it I suspect"

Trysta goes and starts to get up. "Well I'm glad we're going to do something; I'm getting bored sitting here staring at the fire."

Taladan rolls his eyes and says, "What, Trys, slaughtering an entire tribe of Gnolls and gobos isn't enough entertainment for you, we need to cart out a dancing monkey now, too?"

Amari snorts,"Perhaps you should give it to me then. Last I checked you have both been eaten by big monsters and such." she notes as she ties a purse full of gold onto her belt."There's quiet a bit of gold here. That should help resurrect any of us should bad things happen."

Trysta says, "Yes, yes, I'd like a dancing monkey. And an organ grinder to go along with it."

Taladan chuckles at Amari as he piles the bodies roughly together. "The carrion eaters will be here to find this in a couple of hours, we should remove ourselves back to where we stopped before if we intend to camp tonight before tackling that damned worm."

Alance nods "I agree Tal, a good nights rest and good meal in the morning will do wonders"

The day has long since turned into night it's been a few hours since the goblin and gnoll were sent on their way. A new camp has been built further back from where the gnolls and goblins were. You've all stopped and decided to rest for the night, a fire flickers in the middle of you.

Heather says "tell me more about the frost worms you said earlier.""

Taladan leans back against a log with his pipe clamped between his teeth and says, "Well, it's damnably cold...I think it has some sort of breath weapon, like a dragon, but ice, not flame. When the thing dies it explodes outwards in millions of shards of ice, razor sharp and deadly as Mirra's arrows." he takes a pull on the pipe and glances around at the others to make sure he has their attention, "If you're in its path when it explodes and you can't get out of the way, it /will/ kill you." his voice is quiet and somber. Finally he takes a piece of meat out of his pack and pushes it onto a stick, holding it over the fire to cook it.

Heather thinks "so its made of ice?"

Trysta sits cooking a piece of food, too, mostly just listening to the others as they talk about the frost worm

Taladan nods and says, "I think so...maybe it has roots in that plane of existence for all I know. Ellis could tell us more if he were here, I'm sure. The main thing is, it's big, it's voracious, and when we fight back it won't run and hide. It may go underground to come up from somewhere else - it burrows better than anything I've ever seen....it's nasty as hell and in our path."

Taladan is instantly up on his feet, rapier in hand, moving towards the shadows as he hears something moving through the woods.

Alance sits up reaching for his Shield and Sword "I heard something" His voice soft.

Heather summons her spear from her glove "me to." said as she gets to her feet.

Trysta immediately picks up her sword. "I guess we might not have to go find it."

A whisper is heard on the breeze "I think they heard us" comes thru the trees quietly.

As Taladan slips into the shadows his whispered voice carries across the fire lit snow, "5 winter wolves..." and he is gone.

Alance stands up tossing some wood on the fire, the flames flaring up.

Trysta mutters something to herself rather incoherently and goes to stand up but otherwise makes no other move just yet. Amari stands also,"The ice worms are hurt by fire of course..." hers words dying off as she looks around to find the source of the sounds in the woods. Her sword appears in her gloved hand and she stands by the fire looking into the darkness. The sparks rising as Alance adds wood to it. Those same sparks reflecting in her green eyes.

"It's not the little stupid ones anymore...." comes another low growling whisper from through the trees.

Heather sighs and mutters something to her self about stupid creatures.

After a few moments of listening to the animals walking around on the other side of the trees, you can spot them circling around the camp area. Large white and in some spots greyish wolves, they're watching the merry band of adventurers as they pass be the trees. A couple of them snapping their teeth.

Wolf1 is nearing the tree closest to where Taladan was when he disappeared and keeps circling around. Wolf3 is circling around, his head just disappeared behind a tree near Alance.

Wolf4 sees the small elven woman (Heather) nearest him and you would swear he just smacked his lips at her, taunting her but not going after her.

Wolf5 growls low and glares at Amari as he walks out from behind a tree.

Trysta happens to see a wolf! And she decides to go be violent as usual. The woman, still holding her sword, moves towards Wolf2 and immediately swings away. Suffice to say it doesn't look happy about getting sliced.

Wolf2 pissed at being cut by Trysta lunges forward and snaps at her trying to bite her and misses.

A whining yelp and an explosion of flame jetting from the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth and anus of Wolf1 announces Taladan's presence, and the death of one of the winter wolves. A malevolent chuckle comes from the nearly invisible half-elf as he moves towards his next kill-to-be.

Heather stabs the wolf two solid times hurting it nicely with her flaming spear "you wolves are too clumsy and loud." said to it.

Wolf3 growls at Alance for smacking it and lunges at him and just barely misses biting him.

Amari spies the wolf who is salivating at the sight of her. Her blade flies and hits it twice. Each hit leaving bloody gashes though the second one hits harder.

Alance frowns, tired of the gamers and lays into the wolf, his blade flashes downward three times, cutting the Wolf in half.

"I'm not a meal damn it," says Trysta as she moves her arm out of the way when the winter wolf goes to bite at it. The human turns, swinging, and manages to open a gash up along its exposed side. Then she goes to deliver the finale--a slice straight downwards that cuts into its back and causes the creature to slump dead.

Wolf4 lunges at Heather growling while he lunges and bites her hard on her right thigh.

Taladan moves, unseen and unheard through the forest, angling towards Heather and her wolf, hearing her cry as the wolf bites down on her. He'll be there soon enough to attack the beast.

Wolf5 glares at Amari just moments before lunging at her to try and bite her, but his injury makes him yelp and he misses.

Heather smirks as she stabs it twice again "Hey wolf how many winter wolves does ti take to creep threw the woods... it seems none because they cant shut up."

Amari swings her sword again as the wolf tries to bite her. She manages to hit it and do a bit more damage.

Alance sees Amari is having a bit of difficulty and steps over, his glowing sword slashing down to finish off the wolf. He smiles a bit at Amari 'Like old times hmm?"

A wounded and angry Wolf4 lunges angrily at Heather, missing her this time.

Trysta decides to go help Heather--although 'help' is the working word considering she manages to completely miss the wolf upon trying to swing. "Stay still damn it. The harder you make me work to kill you the more I'll make it hurt."

The wind of death has come to this final wolf, whispering on booted feet, silently the sword does its wet work and the wolfs steaming innards are glistening on the snow pack before it even realizes it's dead. The last thing it sees is the malicious glint in Taladan's hooded eyes as he leans forward, watching the life bleed out of the wolf's eyes and they go expressionless and dead as it slumps on the snow.

Heather now takes the time to heal the wounds on her side "thanks you two." she says to Tal and Trysta. she then looks down "ahh man I doubt magic will fix my dress." said as she kicks the corpse of the wolf.

After the slaying of the winter wolves and band of gnolls and goblins, another camp was erected just away from those bodies.

Now that daylight is peeking and the fire has burned right down. The merry adventurers are waking.

The sun just above the horizon tho there is very little warm breaking through the dense trees of the forest, no clouds in the sky, it actually looks as tho it's going to be another clear day. Altho it seems that it might be a bit colder.

Trysta upon the back of her trusty warhorse headed back to town to see if there had been anyone else coming out this way to lend a hand.

Taladan glances up as Trysta rides off. He sits cross legged near the burned down fire, cleaning his blades. Once he's done with that he stokes up the flames a bit and glances around at the others as they start to waken. Taking out a small trail biscuit and a piece of meat he idly begins to eat as he waits for them to finish performing their morning rituals.

As soon as the little half elf wakes up she reaches in her haver sack and pulls out a brownie... some need coffee but Heather needs fatty foods. After her not healthy breakfast she starts her morning prayers.

As the adventurers awake they discuss where it is the goblin said the clearing was that they need to get too. The clearing to the south, where the snow looked churned up and they would hear the ear piercing shrills. The plot of land that stands silent of wildlife, no birds, no critters of any type. They discuss their options of whether or not they should even go out there.

Taladan snaps his fingers and says, "Damnation. I didn't even think to ask those boyos if they'd seen that young lady's father." shakes his head and mutters to himself. "Well, what do you all think? You with me?"

Heather summons her spear from her magical gloves "I dont think he is alive, if he came hunting down here."

Taladan nods quietly to Heather and says, "Aye, that's my thought as well, but it would've made more sense if I'd thought to ask about him. I'm slipping in my old age."

Heather starts to clean the top part of her spear of the goblin gunk "well we had a lot to handle that night."

Amari sits before the fire with her legs crossed in meditation. Her eyes open when she finishes and she spoons some warm porridge from the pot on the fire. Sitting down on her bedroll she quietly eats and observes those around her.

Taladan nods and says, "Aye, well, if we're lucky we may still catch some sign of the poor man. So, do you still want to go on with me, or are any of you second guessing the decision to fight this thing?"

Heather shakes her head "No I am going, but if it is the thing you said it is, I got a good spell ready that might kill it. And if not it will hurt it a lot.... Hopefully."

Taladan quirks an eyebrow and says, "What kind of spell? Something that might take me out with it?" Heather shakes her head "no it only effects one target, its called Destruction."

Alance returns after making a scout around the area, brushing some of the snow off his armor that a branch had the nerve to dump on him.

Taladan nods and says, "Sounds nasty. Don't make it /too/ easy though. I've got a reputation to live up to." he grins and winks.

Heather gets up and stretches "Well I cant promise much." smirks as she packs her things.

Taladan chuckles and nods, glancing up at Alance he once again grows serious, "See anything on your scout, Al?"

Alance shakes his head after removing his Helmet "Just a lot of snow and trees"

Amari arches a brow at Heather's words,"What sort of spell is it Heather? Perhaps we could both use it in flanking the best." she suggests to the other cleric. She finishes her breakfast and scrubs it out with a bit of snow.

Heather replies to Amari "its one of the seventh circle, and its one of the point and hope it didn't shrug off the effect spell. There I will use the spell on the first chance I can, but there is a good second effect of the spell if the first one is shrugged off. There will be a bunch of tiny explosions in side it causing a lot of damage."

Taladan nods to Alance, finally standing he hands the man a piece of biscuit and some jerked meat. "Here, I had some extra. Might as well fuel up while the girls are talking about their magicks." he stares off toward the south where the churned up ground of the clearing awaits.

Amari packs her bowl up and listens as Heather speaks. She pulls a glove onto her hand and another on her left hand that doesn't match perfectly. She lifts the hood of her cloak to warm her slightly pointed ears."How far away is that spot that we are heading towards today?" she asks of Taladan and Alance.

Heather looks ready to go with her weapon.

Alance takes the offered food "Thanks" He eats while he rolls his bedroll up.

Taladan glances over to Amari and says, "Just through the forest." he stamps his feet lightly to clear his snow-clotted boots and then glances around at the others. He says, "It might be a good idea to build up that fire there for later, in case we might need to thaw someone or perhaps even draw the worm over to it and use it to hurt it if Heather's spell doesn't kill it."

Trysta returns, sans any further help, grumbling softly to herself about failing to locate any one else that'd help slay the frost worm. Upon getting close to the camp she nudges her mount to slow down.

Alance smiles at Amari as he shoulders his pack. Looking at Taladan "Lead out Tal? You're our best scout"

Heather fakes a hurt look "ahh what you don't want me to lead, I promise not to get that lost."

Taladan nods to Alance and smirks at Heather saying, "He's afraid that he won't get a swipe at it before you blow it to bits." with that he heads off into the underbrush, heading south towards the clearing.

Trysta says, "What? Does no one care that I came back in one piece? Not even a 'hi, how'd it go?'" with a loud grumble as everyone starts to head off. She follows, staying in back, still mumbling and grumbling to herself.

Amari chuckles,"Hi Trysta. You 'look' fine enough." she notes as she takes up her quiver and pack and shoulders them. Looking to the others and grins a dimpled grin,"Well I would be happy to help 'blow it to bits' so long as you boys don't get in my way." she says in a teasing tone.

Heather walks with the group keeping to her self as she mentaly goes over the parts of the spell.

While walking thru the woods soon you start to realize that there is no sounds, the only sounds you hear are the ones the band of adventurers is making. The crunching of the heavy snow under your feet (except Heathers), the light snorting sound that comes from Trysta's horse every once in awhile. Not a screech of a bird over head, not the scurrying of little critters upon the adventurers coming into their space. It's eerily quiet.

Taladan stops after a good bit, allowing the others to catch up with him. His demeanor is a bit different, obviously weirded out by the lack of wildlife, he has drawn his rapier and the tip of it switches little slices in the air, back and forth as a nervous tick. Speaking a short, guttural word, nearly invisible flames scrim the blade of his rapier and says, "What do you all make of this silence? Maybe something besides the worm, or perhaps just that it's a really bad one?"

Heather hmms and looks around "well all the Silence might be telling us, not to be here."

Trysta says, "At least someone acknowledges I'm alive," with another grumble as Amari speaks to her. The woman remains atop her horse, for now, since he has a much easier time traversing the snow what with never actually stepping through it but rather atop it. "Well whatever it means can't be good. Usually when animal life is this quiet it's bad."

Alance smiles a bit "Or telling us it's time to be very very alert?

Taladan rolls his eyes at Trysta and says, "You crept up on that evil beast of yours." he winks at her and digs through his pack for a minute, coming up with a bit of carrot for her horse. "Do you have any way of communicating with your horse? Perhaps he can tell us if he senses anything awry about this." he keeps his voice pitched low, almost whispering.

Trysta says, "I don't need to communicate with him to know he's getting nervous about something. Which means that thing is either lurking nearby or coming to us." The equine leans, sniffing at the carrot, before biting a piece off and starting to chew it.

Taladan scritches the horse's chin a bit and says, "I figured as much. I think we ought to spread out a bit while we have the chance." he peers at something through the forest for a long time, "That clearing is right up there, less than a minute or two to walk. If it /is/ a worm, and we're bunched together, it'll be able to get us all at once."

Heather says "if it is the worm we think then the bigger the group the more sound waves we give on the ground."

Amari nods her head,"I need clearance to cast some of my spells anyways. I wouldn't want you all getting hurt by mistake." she agrees as she begins to mutter a few protective spells under her breath. The first one washed over her and then the second one wreaths her in a flickering of flames.

Trysta says, "Well who's going out in front?"

Taladan glances up and says, "You have to ask Trys? I'm disappointed." he glances to Alance and says, "If you can help me flank the bastard when it comes, I'd appreciate it." he takes off into the forest again, moving silently as he goes, getting about 15 to 20 feet out from everyone else as he heads to the clearing.

As the group gets closer to the tree line before the clearing, the eerie silence still a little creepy. One can see that the clearing seems to be about 100 ft across, strewn about the clearing is a couple of fallen trees at the edge of it. If decided the group would enter the clearing at the northern point. the fallen trees are towards the east and west quadrants of the clearing. (roll spot pls)

Heather sighs "well at least its not a tidy monster." said pointing to some clothing scraps in the clearing.

Taladan glances over at the others, about 15 feet away he says quietly, "Be ready. It looks like it feeds right there where it takes its victims." he points to the clothing scraps and something that glints in the sun to the south. Without waiting he steps into the clearing, not trying to hide now, only moving silently.

Alance frowns and walks over, looking around before glancing at the scraps "Or it could be bait"

Trysta says, "It looks like it's been moving around underneath the snow," as she notices all the powdery white is churned up.

Amari nods to both of the men and moves into position about 15 to 20 feet off from Taladan. Though she stays near the edges of the clearing for now. She seems to be waiting to see what may come. Her hands appear to be empty but gloved and her shield hovers near her in an effort to guard her from enemy attack.

Heather is also keeping in the edge of the clearing edge like Amari as she holds on her holy symbol getting a few tactics ready for now.

The eerie silence is still all around the clearing, nothing that's all you hear as you step into the clearing.

Taladan continues across the clearing, nerves on a hair trigger. He seems to be moving towards the shiny object, wanting to ascertain what it is possibly. He is still taking his time and moving silently.

Trysta, like the others, waits patiently while remaining atop her ever-faithful steed. She also goes to reach down and draw out her bow in the meantime--never hurts to have something weapon-y on hand.

Alance looks around "I don't like this"

As Taladan and Alance get approximately 25 feet into the clearing everyone suddenly hears a high pitch ear splitting trill, coming from everywhere all at once. Suddenly Alance and Amari have stopped moving, seeming to be stunned in the spots where they stand.

Heather grabs even tighter on her amulet as she says a spell in Celestial like always sends a light blue light to us all but from strong will the second effect doesn't bother the damn over grown worm.

The earth suddenly starts rumbling beneath everyones feet as all of a sudden this huge white bluish worm breaks through the snow in the clearing, it knocks Taladan down being only a few feet away from where the worm breaks the surface. With the trilling noise growing in intensity, huge mandibles open and a blast of freezing cold air spews forth, hitting Alance, Trysta and Taladan as the cone of coldness blows forward.

Alance stands frozen, from fear or cold it's un certain for the time being. His hand has his sword half way out almost by instinct.

"Gah, motherfucker!" is all Trysta has to say when she gets hit by the cone of cold. The warhorse beneath her starts to move, carrying the human back towards the forest, before coming to stop once more. Now far, far away from the dratted thing she fires an arrow--and manages to.. scratch it.

Silently cutting through the frost of the worm's icy breath, a dark, shadowy figure feints first left, then right, spinning into a blur that is so fast the figure can barely be recognized as Taladan. His sword flashes out over and over, slicing and ripping into the beast that attacked. Fireballs explode outwards from the creature, the flame edged blade scoring wounds into the creature's sides both deep and painful. The worm does not die, but it knows that it is threatened now by the small half-elf.

Amari stands there frozen from the effects of the scream of the beast. Unmoving and her eyes round and starring at it as if she is caught in a trance or something. Her cloak blows in the wind and the flames of her spell still flicker about her despite her corpse like stance.

Heather points to the the corpse as she gets a wicked black glow whips around her even her celestial speech sounds wicked and hollow as she makes it erupt in a holy flame slaying it dead.

After Heathers spell is spoken the moment that it's cold heart (if it has one) stops beating the worm turns to a giant ice sculpture and starts to rumble and as it starts to be consumed by the flames it explodes, shattering into millions of flaming ice pieces. Everyone (save for Trysta who's in the woods) gets hit with these minute pieces of sharp flaming ice. The explosion is massive, but at least the worm is dead.

Taladan wipes bits of flaming ice off of his jerkin, glancing around at the others he ensures that they are all well. After ascertaining their wellbeing, he makes his way across the rest of the clearing, examining the leavings all around the clearing as he does.

Alance staggers a bit as he takes some damage his armor soaking up most of it finally freed of the 'spell'.

After digging about a bit, Taladan pulls a sword from the snows, "Looks like it may've belonged to the girl's father." he glances at the other substandard weapons and shakes his head, instead moving back over to where the rest of the group stands.

Heather by chance as the spell goes off was standing behind a tree that taken most of the damage and her boots fought off a little of it. First going to Alance to heal him up as he gotten hit pretty good and then heals every one else even Amari if she doesn't want to heal her self. And last on the list is her self to be healed "is that all in there?" said as she gives the sword a quick once over.

Amari seems to jerk out of her slumber when the ice shards slice into her unguarded face and neck. She gasps at the pain and suddeness that she was wrenched from her trance and looks about confused. She has the good sense to let Heather heal her and takes a deep breath,"I...I don't know what happened. I have never just frozen up like that before. I have even fought one of these things before." she shakes her head feeling a bit embarassed. Her cheeks flushing a little as she touches them with her hands

Taladan nods to Heather when she asks her question, "Indeed it is. Would one of you rather carry it?"

After some rest everyone starts out on the long walk back to GoldenGlade to pick up the horses and go get a drink and a decent meal.