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  1. - Top - End - #241
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Noon, Day 3
    Complication Pool: 3 of 6

    And indeed it was because he chose that particular moment to hook his foot into Stormrir's stirrup, just as he swung himself into the saddle and grumbled "Best be about it then" that Njal saw it, out of the corner of his eye. Something that didn't quite match.

    Nothing hostile; nothing living. It was in what remained of the stables: one small part of the structure was still intact, a couple of roofbeams still with old-looking thatch on them. On top of one of those roofbeams (and maybe that explained why neither Ramiro nor any of them had seen the thing from ground level) there was a glint of steel: something that looked like an arrowhead. And when he focused, what might have been some sort of arc, perhaps that of a bow.

  2. - Top - End - #242
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    DrK's Avatar

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    Njal

    Njal froze, and slowly dropped from the saddle "Why be this eh? Hey, big man, heft someone up there, there be something on that beam" he calls to Roland approaching the dilapidated structure carefully.
    Thanks to Emperor Ing for the nice Avatar

  3. - Top - End - #243
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Verglas

    Sometimes, the way to burst through a wall is with brute force, or by climbing over it, or squeezing through a crack. And sometimes, you just recognize that it's a wall, and follow along until it agrees to move on with the journey because you need it to follow the tracks in the f*cking snow.

    Verglas follows Njal's point, and wearily glances back at Roland.

    "I'm small and light. Heft me up there."
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  4. - Top - End - #244
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

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    Roland

    Breathing a congested sigh of relief at Njal's decision, Roland sneezes into the snow as the dwarf spots something previously undiscovered. Roland follows the other 3 pairs of eyes up to the glint of steel on the snow-covered roof and nods, stifling a groan as he rises.

    "That you are, Verglas," Roland says, walking over to the edge of the structure and lifting her easily. "Up you go." With little effort, Roland lifts the wisp of a gnome up as high as he can to try to make it as easy as possible for her to get a closer look.

  5. - Top - End - #245
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Noon, Day 3
    Complication Pool: 3 of 6

    Roland boosted Verglas up onto the beam, which was a horizontal supporting the ruined triangle of the roof and actually a little sheltered from the constant bite of the wind. The beam was thick and made of oak or perhaps wanderwood; rich foundations indeed and surely imported here. The only oaks she'd ever heard of grew in sad-looking twists, barely green, on the southernmost coasts of Gullcry, and didn't last long. This oak could have been brought all the way from the Archipelagos.

    Either way, with its two-foot-wide span, it was easy enough for her to sit on, and from here she had a decent view of the snow-covered yard which all of the farm buildings faced on. An old, frayed-looking hemp rope hung listlessly down from this beam to the stable floor a good eight feet below, secured by a nail and lashed around the beam.

    This was a sniper's nest. Or maybe some last desperate redoubt in the event of attack. She realised that now. Because the gleam of steel Njal had seen from horseback was that of a crossbow, lying under an old, stained oilcloth, with a bolt in the flight groove but the bowstring unlocked. Another ten bolts sat beside it on the beam under another cloth. The crossbow at least looked to have been well-cared-for, or maybe it was more the expense of it: the wood of the foregrip, trigger, stock, and limbs gleamed with oil and the steel parts of the weapon didn't seem to have rusted. The wood of the weapon's foregrip had also been carved with what looked to be representations of gems and a hammer and anvil, which was odd.

    As were the other carvings she could see. The beam itself and the wood around her had been scratched into with markings that looked to be writing. Not the calligraphy of gnomes, and certainly not the flowing, beautiful, terrifying text of the samples of elven writing she'd secretly studied over the years. No, these were much more runic. Dwarven. The one language she hadn't learned to read. And even then, the runes didn't have the customary, straight-up-and-down forms of dwarven runes. These were more ... haphazard. Scrawled, insofar as you could scrawl carvings. As though the writer wasn't fully in his (or her) right frame of mind while doing them.

  6. - Top - End - #246
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Verglas

    Verglas looks around the hidey-hole, then calls down reluctantly.

    "Njal you may want to have a look up here There's a bunch of scrawled and weird-looking dwarven runes Almost like someone hung around in this spot too long and went crazy I wonder what that would be like And a fancy-ass crossbow with like a hammer and anvil worked into it and the solid dwarven kind that you might know more about than me Not being racist about this but if it were gnomish in make then the anvil would have a longer and narrower horn plus the crossbow wouldn't be as big as I am So it seems like this is the kind of spot you hole up in when you want to shoot a bunch of people before they oh say for instance get angry and burn your f*cking house down."

    She bends to take a closer look at the crossbow, and takes another look around up in the nook. If she sees nothing else, she hands the crossbow and bolts down to Roland, and lowers herself into his arms with a grunt of sore joints.

    Spoiler: OoC
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    Search (1d20+4)[13] to notice any other hidden bits in the nook
    Knowledge History (1d20+9)[15] to determine whether the crossbow's markings have a specific meaning
    Decipher Script (1d20+5)[6] to try to make out any of the language in the runes.
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  7. - Top - End - #247
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Noon, Day 3
    Complication Pool: 3 of 6

    Spoiler: Verglas
    Show
    The hammer and anvil marking on the crossbow indicated, so far as Verglas could remember, that it was of dwarven make. Magical weapons - such as the maul Roland had found in the roadside shrine - tended to have more intricate patterns carved on them since there was a certain art to causing the energy to flow correctly through the weapon. But the hammer and anvil mark was common enough to indicate a dwarf of the Dragontooth Mountains or perhaps one resident in the city of Thandar had made this weapon. She seemed to remember that the precise angle at which the hammer was carved in relation to the anvil had some relationship to which clan or which smith had actually made the weapon, but the specifics otherwise were lost to the mists of time.


    Verglas had a good look around but couldn't see anything else of interest in the nook; no space for a secret door or chamber, even for someone the size of a gnome, and nothing else but the random scrawlings written here or above her.

  8. - Top - End - #248
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    Njal "Stormcaller"

    Njal shuffles hurriedly across and clambers up with Roland's help. He spends some time looking at the dwarven runes with curiosity reading them aloud to everyone to see if the words have any meaning to the wider group. At Verglas's words he nods, "Aye, looks to be a last stand so it does." He glances at the crossbow then down at the pot where the skull had been, wondering if there is a link between them.

    Looking at the crossbow itself, he nods in approval. "A finely made think. Sure one of you folks would bear it well."
    Thanks to Emperor Ing for the nice Avatar

  9. - Top - End - #249
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Verglas

    Happy that the mystery was solved*, Verglas was content to sesttle back on Horsething and wait.



    * Or, at least, had exhausted the small amount of curiosity she had felt for it.
    Last edited by Toliudar; 2020-10-16 at 01:27 AM.
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  10. - Top - End - #250
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Noon, Day 3
    Complication Pool: 3 of 6

    Njal frowned over the runes written all over the beam and the vertical. They were certainly dwarven, but whoever had written them was clearly most of the way out of his mind if not completely departed. The phrases were mostly gibberish, random words here and there, and phrases that didn't even seem to be familiar in the dwarven tongue.

    KA-TET!
    O DISCORDIA!
    HAIL LOS THE RED!
    BLAINE BLAINE THE TRAIN IS A PAIN
    COMMALA AND O-RIZA
    THANKEE-SAI
    .

    Here and there the phrase 'THE TOWER AND THE BEAM' had been dug deep into the wood as well.

    The most understandable bit of text amongst all of what Njal could see was also the one written in what seemed to be the strongest hand, or the neatest carving anyway. It actually wasn't just a phrase. Njal was surprised to realise it was a dwarven kang-soha, a form of poetry popular in some segments of dwarven society; the rigid form appealed to dwarves' mindsets. It was practised often by elders of the dwarven clans as they drew near to the time of their call to join their ancestors.

    She sings the sad wind
    Woman of tears and water
    A lover alone


    Njal had to translate it into Common, of course, which meant the stark beauty of the phrases were lost.

    Spoiler: OOC
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    By the way, the crossbow is a masterwork crossbow - Njal or Roland would see that. Comes with 11 bolts.

  11. - Top - End - #251
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Roland

    After helping Verglas down from the roof and up onto Ember, Roland grabs the crossbow from Njal and examines it for a moment, stopping briefly for a bout of coughing. It was indeed well-made, but ultimately wasted in his hands.

    For a moment he's a kid again, hunting with his father, shivering in the cold with what passed for their furs. They'd spotted a few deer tracks, but even when dad was in his cups he wasn't stupid enough to think that was a good idea. Those were Lord Wayland's deer. They waited in the brush and sure enough, a plump hare bounced through the clearing not 10 feet away and came to a stop, sniffing the air. Grandpa's old crossbow bucked in his hands and the shot went wide by a mile.

    "I'm not much of a marksmen," he says, looking around at the others for one of them to volunteer to take the weapon. "Dad used to say, 'Roland, you couldn't hit water if you fell out of a f*ckin' boat.'" Rubbing his ear subconsciously where dad had cuffed him, he hands the crossbow over to Ramiro for him to take a look. "Suppose he had to be right about something eventually," Roland says, turning back to Njal and frowning at the dwarf's expression. "What's wrong?"
    Last edited by Riggdgames; 2020-10-15 at 07:15 PM.

  12. - Top - End - #252
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Njal "Stormcaller"

    THe dwarf hands the crossbow over without a word, the cold metal not a thing he was fond of, he preferred the honest work of stones and bones. "A sad poem that one, a well worded one and ye' can feel the loss keen, like the wind blowing through ye'." Happy to let one of the others look after the fine dwarven weapon (or if no-one claims it he'll tuck into the saddle bags) he'll saddel bag up. "best continue after the lass then..." followed by a lower mutter in druidic "even whilst she be prey and likley bones by now...."

    He kicks Stormrir into a canter, eager to be away from the sad ruins of the hut and the bodies and misery within
    Thanks to Emperor Ing for the nice Avatar

  13. - Top - End - #253
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Mid-Afternoon, Day 3
    Complication Pool: 4 of 6

    The four adventurers resumed their course, heading northwest. The hills continued to grow in size and treacherousness, the wind howling and now taking up the scream as it passed through thin defilades of rock and ice. There were still the occasional stands of dead and living fir in the more sheltered areas, but nothing blocked their passage. The mountains of the Spear rose high above them now, a great black ridge dotted with snow.

    And it was sometime around mid-afternoon that Njal realised they were lost.

    Spoiler: Njal
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    According to the map of the Valley of the Spear, they should have reached the Old Fort around noon. Allowing for their various sidetrips and confrontations with local monsters, the time had still clearly passed for arrival. There was no sign of any approach, nor of Lastbreath Pass - only the high wall of the Spear, unbroken and seemingly impassable.

    They were, in spite of his best efforts through howling wind and half-blinding snow, lost.

    Or at least off-target, anyway. The Spear itself was a landmark in itself, so at least they weren't wandering on a flat glacier or unbroken snowfield. And it stood to reason that if the Old Fort stood at the southern end of Lastbreath Pass, then at least there were two clear options to try and find the Fort. One was to assume they had veered west of the Old Fort, and accordingly follow the line of the Spear east. The other was to assume they had veered east, and do the opposite: head west.

    Travelling east, at least, had a concrete anchor available to it: if they went east and found themselves coming to that part of the Valley where the range turned south, they'd know they'd gone east of their target and accordingly turn back west. They would certainly not miss the Old Fort that way, but it would take more time to find the Pass.

    Travelling west, on the other hand, was more of a gamble. If they had come out east of the Old Fort, then they should run into the Old Fort fairly shortly. If they had come out west of the Old Fort, though, then turning to travel west was moving away from the Old Fort and taking so much more time ... especially as they had no idea how far west they had come out.

    And there was one other alternative: trying to reach higher ground still and attempting to see if they could spot some sign of Lastbreath Pass. That would surely take a couple of hours and involve possibly dangerous climbing up into the Spear ... a mountain range impassable except at the Pass, although certainly not devoid of life. Oh, no. All manner of things survived even in cold mountains in Horizon.

  14. - Top - End - #254
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Late Afternoon, Day 3

    Complication Dice: 5 of 6

    It was a short conversation between the adventurers.

    They accepted the situation without great outbursts or accusations of incompetence towards Njal at all. The seriousness of the situation precluded it. When the wilderness closed around them, there was no time, and no energy to be spared, for recriminations or wild outbursts. They simply considered the situation, reasoned out the alternatives, and made a choice. That choice was to brave the slopes of the Spear itself, to try and spot Lastbreath Pass from higher up.

    And so they did: four adventurers, a husky, and two horses, into the mountains, specks against the black and white-blue colours of the Spear's peaks. But an hour into the attempt, it became clear exactly why the Spear had not been crossed, or only crossed at Lastbreath Pass, if at all. For it became apparent, even clearing the foothills of the Spear, that they were entering a battlefield of the wind against the mountains. Screaming gales were cries of battle and pain alike, ice-sleet like needles lashing at any exposed surface were the hurled spears. An unending war, one that echoed off hills and slopes with whomps of sound like thunder, bringing surprise attacks from howling eddies of wind that blew out of nowhere, unsteadying the feet, making the body slide or trip on the precarious slopes. The gradient of the ground below them became their enemy, rising, falling, then rising, the angles of inclement reaching nearly forty-five degrees at some points.

    Roland, joints aching, had to lead Ember. The horse wasn't getting cold ... yet ... but even with four feet to his two, the animal's eyes rolled at the slopes and the challenge of the rises. He was only able to trudge on thanks to the tough pair of crampons on his feet, which crunched and chunched and scraped through the snow and ice.

    Ramiro had never seen an environment so fierce. Even with the training in Red Hand he had been given, concentrating, keeping every step light in keeping with the teachings, the fierceness of the wind and snow was like a constant assault on his senses.

    Verglas could only cling harder to Ember, in the saddle. Not having to trailbreak up, she could see the hundred-foot drops they passed and missed only by momentary mercy of the wind not hurling them off a cliff. The wind snapped and tugged at her clothes.

    And Njal?

    The dwarf's face grew more grim with the passing hours, even as ice came back into his beard and even his eyebrows began to bloom with snow, leading Stormrir, with Gromnir staying close and snuffling at him. The others probably couldn't feel it yet, but the temperature up here was indeed dropping. The Spirits of the wind did not appreciate visitors here. The enchantments they'd cast allowing them to defy the cold would likely stand up, but he didn't want to spend a night up here. And it was heading towards night: not content with the noise and push of battle, now the slow march of the sun into the west began to turn the sky pink, as though the battlefield of mountain and wind now finally began to give up the blood spilled in it. And he had been looking for a sign of Lastbreath Pass, while trying to watch each step he took. None as yet.

    But there was yet some hope: ahead, a great outcrop of rock which bent out above the valley like an eyrie. If there was any place they'd be able to see the pass from, it would be there. The path up there looked treacherous, but if they pushed now they'd be able to get up there and then back off the slopes overnight. For if the Spirits were angered by his presumption in transgressing this wild battlefield in daylight, it perhaps was better not trying to imagine what their temper might be after dark.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    So as you'd see, time has passed and the Complication Pool has risen by one ... because what you're doing is kind of dangerous to say the least. That outcrop that Njal can see ahead might well give you the best chance at spotting Lastbreath Pass, but the path up is dangerous and one more dice will be added to the pool if you choose to take the party up there. As noted, that would bring the total to 6 and the pool would be rolled, with a 1 result on any of those 6 dice indicating that a complication has happened. Which you may or may not want to risk up here on precarious mountain slopes. But if you do decide to take that course, you'll most likely have time to have a good look around from there and get back down to the Valley again before nightfall.

    The other option, of course, is to turn back now. You'd get back to the Valley floor, but the complication pool wouldn't be rolled at this point; instead the 6 of 6 would likely tick over at night, consistent with the passing of time and absent anyone doing anything else dangerous. Or you might figure some other idea. Up to you once more.
    Last edited by Saintheart; 2020-10-23 at 06:45 PM.

  15. - Top - End - #255
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Verglas

    As they proceed with caution, Verglas simply clutches the saddlehorn and stares straight ahead. Everything hurt, and she felt the cold gnawing at every seam and exposed inch. There was no point in looking to the side, looking behind. Her life was in the hands of others...not a comfortable place for Verglas, but Njal, Roland and Ramiro has been stolid throughout.

    Spoiler: OOC
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    I vote for continuing on, even if it means something happening while we're in a vulnerable spot.
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  16. - Top - End - #256
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Njal "Stormcaller"

    Njal dipped his head into the wind, pulling his wolf hides tighter around him and clutching tight to Stormrir. His eyes narrowed in the driving snow he paused, reaching into his pouched coat to pull on a strange pair of goggles to protect his eyes from the biting wind and blowing snow. He glanced at the others, worried for their health and safety and looked around for a sheltered crevice in the rocks.

    Pausing he reins back to speak to the others. Pointing through the snow towards the spire of rock. "Aye lads. Shall we seek to pitch the hut in a shelter eh? A couple of us can climb the spire, have a wee look and get the bearings. Gods cursed this place to lose our tracks in the snow. But we can get 'em back with a glance frae the rock."
    He offers the portable hut to any who wish to remain back there when he finds some shelter, and looks to see who wishes to go onto the lonely and bleak spire.


    Survival check (1d20+10)[25] for somewhere to pitch the portable hut
    Thanks to Emperor Ing for the nice Avatar

  17. - Top - End - #257
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Ramiro Sanda
    Think warm thoughts. So much for being an disciple of the hidden flame...

    I do not want to be on this mountain come nightfall. I can make better time to the perch solo. Do any of you have a climbing kit I could borrow?

  18. - Top - End - #258
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Verglas

    N'jal's 'lads' comment slid past Verglas with barely a ripple. There were much greater issues at stake. Like survival.

    "I don't want to slow you down, but I also don't want you to have retrace your steps if you don't have to. So I say we continue on until you have to leave the horses, and then I'll stay to watch over them."

    It's not clear how much good she'd be able to do if anything were to menace the mounts, but the offer was tangibly sincere.
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  19. - Top - End - #259
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Late Afternoon, Day 3

    Complication Dice: 5 of 6

    While the adventurers considered the subject of who was to go on to the summit, if anyone, Njal did spy a serviceable patch of ground. It was a narrow gap between two massive ice-covered boulders, where it looked like there was enough room to erect the hut and provide it a little protection from the ferocity of the elements. It still wasn't perfect; the wind would still beat on the canvas walls of the shelter if they built it here, and there wasn't much to be done about the occasional sprays of snow that fell into the gap from further up the slopes above it, but it was really also the only practical spot to build a portable hut on the Spear in ... well, judging by current conditions, the nearest hundred miles or so. The horses would likely also just fit in the gap.

    Even building the hut still wasn't a complete guarantee of safety from the wind. Nightfall usually brought a drop in temperature with it, and in mountains like these it wasn't impossible for the cold to grow so bitter that even an incantation of Endure Elements might not provide full protection. But if they were going to stay up here overnight, that would have to be a chance they had to take.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    So yes, you could take a night up here because there does appear to be a spot available to pitch the hut, but as said -Njal is aware of the dangers inherent in staying up here overnight.

  20. - Top - End - #260
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Roland Parnum

    Ramiro's willingness to ascend alone despite the obvious difficulty and danger warms Roland's heart even as the cold wind bites deep into his furs. Nodding, Roland shrugs off his pack, pulling the kit free and passing it to Ramiro along with a pair of crampons, snow goggles, and an ice axe.

    "Take these brother," Roland says quietly to the young man, proud to count Ramiro among the Firekeeper's faithful, "I'll have no need for them waiting by the horses."

    Turning with a half-smile towards Verglas, Roland opens his mouth to respond before a fit of coughing shakes him. Recovering, he says, "We'll make a horse folk of you yet, Verglas. But truly, I've no wish to prove that I can't climb much further. I will stay with you and the horses if Ramiro and Njal can get up there and find our way."


    After Njal reports a suitable spot for the hut, Roland nods gratefully, relieved at the thought of having a place to lie down soon. Even so, it would be best if they stayed as close as possible, even if they didn't all ascend the spire.

    "Leave anything you don't need for the climb with us," Roland says, accepting the hut and any other gear the two leave behind.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show

    To Ramiro: Climber's Kit (+2 climb), Crampons (+2 climb), Ice axe (+1 climb), Snow goggles (+2 ST against snow blind)

    I agree with Verglas, let's all four get as far as we can with the horses, then we'll split into two and two.

    I'd rather not set up the hut immediately knowing the danger around (complication incoming). If we face a complication that delays us, using that spot Njal found and staying the night may be the only good choice since I don't think descending at night is going to be possible. If we don't face a complication then I think we should try to get back down to the valley before nightfall.


  21. - Top - End - #261
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Ramiro Sanda puts down his limited gear, and dons the equipment graciously loaned from Roland.
    A mountain is kinda a really big building...

    Alright, I'm off.

    Spoiler: OOC
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    If he can take 10 on the climb he will do so for a 21.
    If he cannot, climb check: (1d20+11)[25]

  22. - Top - End - #262
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Late Afternoon, Day 3

    Complication Dice: 1 of 6

    It was strange. Ramiro hadn't done a lot of serious rock-climbing either in the training or in his daily life, but Roland's climbing gear seemed to fit perfectly to his hands, and the ice axe had a beautiful heft to it that didn't just seem to come from good balance. As he began the arduous task of scaling a good three hundred metres of steep slope covered in ice, snow, and buffeted by freezing wind, he had a flooding intuition go through his mind that this was fine; that he was going to make it.

    And so he began.

    It went quicker than he'd thought. Once he got his body up against the face of the rock, the wind wasn't quite so bad from the angle he approached it. It was cold, certainly; the kiss of the rock against his face was like the touch of the dead. But he hadn't been born with red hair and devoted to the Firekeeper for nothing, and the young monk moved fast enough that he even left Njal well behind. It took him a good half hour to make the ascent, but make it he did, pulling himself up and onto the top of the spar with a final grunt of effort and a second to take a few deep breaths.

    The view was astonishingly beautiful. They'd been in the mountains on the southwestern edge of the valley, and now he was looking back south at the great white pan of the vale again, slopes rolling with snow and ice like a frozen sea. And somehow the air tasted of salt and distant smoke.

    Then a shriek of high wind slapped him in the chest, and the young man staggered to his right with the force of the wind ...

    ... but regained his footing just in time to see that had he taken one more step, he would have made close friends with a crevasse at least forty feet deep and ten wide, which now revealed itself with the collapse of its thin layer of covering snow, the shape of it like a great jagged smile filled with rocks for broken teeth, and a throat that curved away into shadow.

    He realised he hadn't even brought a rope with him.

    He could see the spots of Roland and Verglas huddled by their horses, but Firekeeper knew how long it might have taken them to figure out what to do if he'd fallen. And if he'd survived the fall.

    Ramiro shook himself and turned to the actual reason he'd crawled up here and damn-near killed himself falling down the other side. Ramiro crouched against the wind, scooting out along the thin wedge of the spar, taking a good look around.

    And to his delight, it took a short time for more good news. To the west of here, low down where the foothills crooked to become mountains, he spotted a white expanse, like a forgotten stroke of white paint in the midst of the Spear's impassive wall. He didn't have to be any sort of cartographer to realise that had to be Lastbreath Pass. The fortification might be too small to see from this distance, but they certainly had a path figured out now. Njal had steered them just a little too far east, so when they got back down out of the slopes, they'd be able to turn west. No chance they'd get to the Pass today, it appeared, but neither would they be wandering in the wrong direction.

    Making sure of the direction, he started back down. This wasn't quite as easy as going up, strangely; and another hour or so, he finally trudged back to their little informal base camp, every muscle in his legs and arms screaming at him.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    So: Ramiro has figured out you're east of Lastbreath Pass, i.e. you'll have a very clear direction now and should hit the Pass (and the Old Fort) mid-morning tomorrow if nothing else intervenes. If you head down out of the foothills now, you should reach the floor of the Valley by nightfall. The Complication Dice resets to 1 of 6.

  23. - Top - End - #263
    Titan in the Playground
     
    DrK's Avatar

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Njal "Stormcaller"

    As Ramiro slides down the mountain with the grace of mountain hyrax Njal grins. "Ye be fast at climbing lad. Us dwarves are slow and steady in all things aye." At hearing the pass lies to the East Njal grins and pats him on the back. "Well spotted lad, we can let the others know and push on a bit to get back down to where the wind ain't like a stab to the gut eh!". Reaching the others he lets Ramiro share the goods news and is happy to lead the way down lower down the treacherous mountain slope towards safer areas, his eyes still on the look out for a safe place with good shelter to pitch the portable hut for them to shelter in, ideally somewhere with enough cover that the horses can be out of the wind as well,
    Thanks to Emperor Ing for the nice Avatar

  24. - Top - End - #264
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Ramiro Sanda
    To Njal
    Thanks

    To the others
    Good news! We are close. The pass is not far to the west of us.

    (While returning the gear) To Roland
    This really helped, thanks.
    Last edited by Novabomb; 2020-10-26 at 10:57 PM.

  25. - Top - End - #265
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    SwashbucklerGuy

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    "Well done," Roland breathes, huddling beneath his furs as Ramiro returns unscathed. He'd always thought of himself as a reasonably capable climber in his own right until he'd watched the monk ascend. Now all he felt was the age of his years and the sickness in his bones as he tried to keep his smile intact. "Take it anytime," Roland says, accepting the gear back. "The Firekeeper knows you can make better use of it than I can."

    Grateful to be traveling down instead of up, Roland cautiously follows Njal down the side of the mountain, grunting with each new twinge of pain in his joints. "Come on girl," he encourages Ember as much as himself, "just a bit further."

  26. - Top - End - #266
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Verglas

    Even the shivering gnome seems impressed by Ramiro's feat of daring in climbing the peak.

    "Indeed That was stirring Ramiro My people are more accustomed to digging up inside a mountain than walking around outside of one, but you made it look exhilarating if not particularly safe Thank you also for not dying I'm assuming that this means that we will be tobogganing down the slope or somesuch in the morning I'm sure that descending a mountain at a rapid rate of speed on horseback will be just what we need to get us back on track.

    "So we are staying here for the night is that correct? Because relatively few things tried to eat us today my need to study in the morning will be somewhat less but still I do not wish to delay our progress unduly and so i will sleep now unless there is a need to discuss some other aspect of our journey then I will retire."
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  27. - Top - End - #267
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Nightfall, Day 3

    Complication Dice: 1 of 6

    The journey down out of the battlefield of wind and snow was mercifully shorter than the journey up; even if walking down was harder than up, they managed to cut some time off the descent by path of a stable-looking rock path that revealed itself with a sudden shriek of wind. So they had the opportunity to push a little further westward, which was welcome.

    Dusk came down red on the snows, and luckily, by nightfall Njal managed to find a crevice by a small hill where the wind didn't blow so badly and the portable hut was able to be erected. There was even enough room for the horses to swing their tails. By some favour of the gods and Spirits, they'd managed to get through the day without anyone getting killed, and recovered a little of their lost time. And the horrendous ascent into the Spear had at least given one small grace: for the time being, the howl of the wind down here on the flat of the Valley didn't seem anywhere near as bad as it was back in those murderous peaks.

    The party stopped to settle in for the night.

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show
    So, no chance to forage, and so everyone needs to mark off 1 trail ration.


    And oh ... Spot checks, everyone.

  28. - Top - End - #268
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Verglas

    Now that the group has made camp three times, Verglas is somewhat familiar with the rota of necessary chores, and steps forward to do a few tasks as she's able - filling a container of snow to sit by the fire to melt for water, and so on. Still, her torrent of words has shrunk to a trickle, and she retires early, so as to not slow up their departure in the morning.

    Spoiler: Spot
    Show
    (1d20-5)[5]
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  29. - Top - End - #269
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    SwashbucklerGuy

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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Roland Parnum

    Muscles aching, Roland drops to the ground by the fire to rest for a few minutes before accomplishing anything else. The minutes stretch out as he avoids doing anything until finally his stomach gets the better of the shooting pain in his joints. Creaking like a rusted suit of armor, Roland rises and prepares a small meal, soaking the hard biscuits in hot water just so that they don't chip off a tooth, frozen as they are. He looks at what's left of his rations and realizes he should be worried, but at the moment he's too exhausted.

    "Wake me for the next watch," he announces, retreating from the fire early. "Just need to get a few hours first or I won't be worth a damn."

    Spoiler: OOC
    Show

    Spot: 12 (rolled in OOC)

    Last edited by Riggdgames; 2020-10-28 at 06:21 PM.

  30. - Top - End - #270
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    Default Re: A Gathering Storm

    Njal "Stormcaller"

    Njal recovers as best he can in the small shelter. He looks solem before speaking, "Apologies my friends, I have led you astray. I'll dae my best fer the snow and ice tomrrow.". Marking out the route on the snowy floor he gestures, "In the morn' we can head west, get to the pass and find this lass. Or her man if has turned up. Hoping we find 'em before any of them bastrd frostfolk do eh.."

    When its his turn to keep watch he makes sure to keep the tigerskull club in hand and a second hand on Gromrir's neck, the husky a cheerful companion for him in the freezing night as his sharp dwarven eyes easily penetrate the darkness.

    Spot (1d20+5)[19]
    Gromnir (1d20+6)[11]
    Thanks to Emperor Ing for the nice Avatar

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