Icewind Dale (Main)

[Sherwood]

Mor'du looks around the cave as he shakes off a layer of snow off of shaggy hair and horns, searching for signs of some wood with which to make a fire. If there isn't any available, the burly minotaur will take one of his hatchets to go and gather up some wood. Time to get some warmth going on.

 

[Psychie]

Once the fire is going, Gurk finds a place to set down next to the flames and tries to thaw out his aching joints. He then looks around at the others, most likely doing the same thing as he is, and says, "Well, I can firmly say that I do not like the friggin' snow."

 

[Ilikepie]

Strawberri has her painting supplies out is making a painting of the other group of adventurers that they meet earlier in the day, but is intentionally making the halfling woman's head oversized because of how rude she was. "Snow is pretty the first time you see it, but the enjoyment really goes away when you discover how cold it is and how terrible it feels when you can't fly over it."

 

[D. Rex]

Rans little cave is just that, little. Enough for most of them. Though the addition of the minotaur is cutting it close...but at the very least. With all of them together, it should make it warm in no time.

It was a sparcely decorated shelter. By sparcely, I mean not decorated at all. Because it was a shelter. Aside from some basic campware, the campfire was surrounded by stones, and what was within was barely smolderimg embers. But this at least made making a fire all the easier, it had at least not gone completely cold.

Bedding was a simple bedroll atop a pile of evergreen needles.

The front of the cave was protected from the elements by a lean-to of bark and branches. Not perfect but it kept the snowdrifts from spilling inside.


Back near the pool of water, there was a small shrine set up from common materials. Nothing fancy, but Gurk may recognize the symbol etched into the rock as that belinging to the goddess Selūne, a friend and ally of Sune.


"I am sorry. I was not expecting guests else I would have had some more food prepared for you all. But I think I may have something around here." She said and began rummaging through her sack to pull out some rations she had been saving. She normally didn't need them, she liked to think she was pretty good at living off the wild.

"A pot of water and little time and I'm sure we will be warmed up inside and and out."






"It surprised me too," she said to the fairy, "I wasn't expecting it to be so painful. I was in for quite the shock. Normally it isn't this bad though... and it only seems to be getting worse."

 

[Sherwood]

Mor'du sits carefully to avoid knocking someone in the noggin with his horns and says to their host, "No need to apologize. We are hardly in a position to be complaining about the quality of the shelter. If you don't mind me asking, what brings you out here in weather conditions like this? It is hardly a pleasant walk for anyone, even those of us with a thick coat of fur to keep me warm."

 

[Psychie]

Gurk sticks his feet out towards the fire, feeling the warmth slowly sinking into his aching bones. "Yes, thank you for sharing your shelter."

 

[Firelie]

Carrie
Everything had been such a blur up to this point for the damaged automaton. The young goblin by the name of Fret had given her a phrase and a command, then the group was whisked away outside. Something about a sled, and a beast. Carrie could not pull the words from her memory bank, most likely due to the damage the freezing winds had done on her systems. She hardly remembered anything of that snowstorm, but now sheltered in the safety of cover, it felt like nothing more than a faint memory.

Now in the warm comfort of the cozy cave shelter, Carrie had a moment to process, a moment to recollect herself. The cloaked automaton wordlessly made her way to the small lean to in front of the cave and neatly sat down upon her knees at the entrance. She couldn’t hear or see anything because of the storm, but she waited and watched diligently anyways. Protocol demanded that she keep watch in places of potential danger, and that she may not speak unless spoken to. Carrie could not quite recollect where those directives came from, but she followed them anyways.

Staring out into the white expanse of the storm stirred something within the automaton. She couldn’t quite grasp what she felt, but she remembered feeling it when she was stranded and barely functioning not long ago. Without thinking she shrugged her cloak from her shoulders, leaving it in a pile on the grumd and rose slowly to her feet, gently pushing the lean-to aside with a hand of metal and porcelain. She stayed still as a statue, the snowstorm pushing against her and sending her pastel hair aflutter. Beneath the chain, cloth, and porcelain that was fused to her frame, her systems glowed through the cracks, a faint pink barely noticable under the amalgam of layers and armor on the automaton.

 

[The Dapper Mog]

Fret had been so chilled to the bone that even the idea of speaking seemed impossible. Her sharp teeth chattered all the way to the shelter, which probably made a fairly amusing clicking and clacking sound as they collided. She was lucky that she didn't get too lost in the storm after all, given that visibility became zero and she couldn't even find her little feet. Fortunately, the stranger provided them with a shelter to wait out the storm. The small goblin girl would eye this stranger, and frankly, the others, as often as she could find time to try and study them without attracting too much attention. Fret was never particularly stealthy, though, so it was doubtful they wouldn't notice.

"Thank you soooo much for your help, Ran. I was gonna be a goblin ice sickle for sure if not for your." Fret managed, once she warmed up a bit, offering a friendly smile to the stranger.

Her large eyes scanned the little cave. "I like your cave! It's homey and cozy. Get some books in here and I think it could be like the library back home."

After a few moments and a little more warmth, she offered a quick nod to her allies before moving over to the large automaton, on their knees by the lean-to. It seemed like they were keeping watch for everyone, but they never seemed to speak. In truth it made Fret feel a little bad. Maybe they were lonely?

Fret stepped over, wrapping herself up as warmly as she could, considering she was approaching the exit where the horrid cold was coming in from. She gave a gentle tug on Carrie's sleeve, a means she had grown accustomed to using to try and get big people's attention.

"Hey, Carrie. Why don't you come in and warm up a bit? The cold can't be good for you." The goblin asked, offering her small hand to the much larger form of her ally.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Thanks to Rans’ hospitality and small shelter, the party is able to rest, recuperate, and wait out the storm. The next morning, they pack up and set back out into the wilderness to find the missing sled they had been tasked with finding.

After another hour of walking, they crest a snow-covered ridge and see a frozen, dismembered corpse in the gully in front of them. Snow covers some of the gory bits, but the headless torso and severed limbs are visible. They see tracks in the snow all around the corpse, and the telltale grooves in the snow left behind by a sled that has been hauled away.

 

[Ilikepie]

Strawberri does her best at trying not to look at the corpse on the ground. Her body shakes a little at the horrible image she saw and she tries to focus on what to do about the shed so she doesn't have to think about the corpse. "So either the yeti took the shed or someone else did. I guess we should just follow the shed tracks so we can take the shed back from whoever that stole it."

 

[Psychie]

Gurk lets out a sigh. "So much for a quick outing to get this sled and go back. Very well. I suppose there is nothing for it except to go after it." With a slight grumble, he starts out on the path that the runners have marked in the snow.

 

[Sherwood]

Mor'du nods in agreement with Strawberri and Gurk, shifts his greatsword a bit on his back to be a bit more comfortable, then says, "We'd best be on our way before another snowstorm catches us in the open. Besides, the sled isn't going to come to us." He sets out on the path, keeping his eyes open for any sign of trouble.

 

[D. Rex]

"But here is the question of the day..." Ran pondered, stroking her chin. "...what would a yeti want with a sled?" She asked. "I would think someone else would take it before a beast would." She pointed out. "But I do suppose the only way to find out is to follow it."

 

[WlfSamurai]

Any of the party who get close enough can see the corpse is most likely Oobok the dwarf, though he's missing his head, internal organs, and both arms. Hruna mentioned him when she was asking for your help. Further inspection of the tracks, for those of the group that have skill in survival, reveals the tracks are fresh (made in the past hour) and belong to a half-dozen small humanoids wearing snowshoes.

 

[D. Rex]

Ran began suiting off some of the snow around the area. The bodies in particular. Though upon getting to the the probable dwarf, she recoiled with a squeak. "By the moon!" She exclaimed, turning away. Dismembered and carved out, like a gourd. Now frozen to be like that. "Selune bless the poor creature. It looks like he was made into a nest by a ringed fanbanger..." she shook her head and held her own body. A poor way to go. Though they didn't exactly have those creatures here. Did the yeti do that then?

(Ran would not know about the Dwarf, as she wasn't there to hear about it)


Looking around the area she did eventually see some tracks. While expecting giant yeti footprints, these were... not so much. Maybe five or six sets? Four if one of the group was particularly hyperactive. Small, judging from the size of the snowshoes and depth of imprint.

"I dont suppose yeti's are tiny things? I thought they were supposed to be solitary mountain monsters that were quite big..."

 

[Sherwood]

Mor'du shakes his head. "No. The damage done to that man's body was not done by something small, so we must be on the lookout for a large creature capable of doing that kind of harm. These other tracks are obviously not from the yeti; must be someone or something else out here that has taken the sled. Either way, we are here to get it back to the city in one piece. Shall we move on?"

 

[Ilikepie]

"Okay let's go ... the sooner we get away from this body the better." Strawberri said the second part in a softer tone hoping no one would hear it. She begins following tracks slowly since she doesn't want to get too far ahead of the group in case she is attacked or the snow gets bad again.

 

[WlfSamurai]

The party follows the tracks in the snow, pressing on from where Oobok's remains lie.

After thirty minutes of following the grooves and tracks, the group discovers their quarry. The creatures they've been following appear to be goblins, based on their stature. All six of them groan, grunt, and curse loudly as they haul the bulky sled toward what appears to be a twenty-foot-tall wagon parked in the snow. Harnessed to this conveyance are two roaring polar bears that don't look happy.

The goblins pulling the sled have not noticed the party and are too distracted with what they're doing to pay attention. They're about 120 feet from the group and the huge wagon is another 120 feet beyond that.

 

[Sherwood]

Mor'du frowns, but it is clear that they are not the yeti that attacked the group before. They are just making use of something left unattended, so I really can't say that I blame them. I wonder if we can just ask them nicely for it back.

Clearing his throat, the large minotaur calls out, "Excuse me! Thank you for securing that sled, but I hate to break the news to you, but the sled you are pulling along does belong to someone else, and they want it back. I hope that there won't be any issues for us to take it?"

 

[Psychie]

Gurk doesn't say anything, letting the loud minotaur take that lead. He does mentally prepare the spell of Sacred Flame just in case the friendly approach does not go well.

 

[The Dapper Mog]

Fret follows close behind Mor'du, figuring his massive size would help keep her safe. However, when she noticed those who had found the sled appeared to be goblins, she moved around the large bull man to get a better look.

Now, in Fret's experience, goblins only ever did things for their own reasons, and those reasons were usually awful, if not stupid. Sometimes both. But this was the first time that she could remember in her life since the human man had taken her in as a baby that she had seen goblins. She swallowed hard, mustering up courage, then spoke out to them with a forced confidence, almost in a parody of Mor'du's bellowing tone;

"Hello! That sled belongs to some nice people. May we please return it to them?!"

The small goblin girl's voice cracked ever so slightly at the question, her false bravado failing in light of her inexperience and shy nature.

 

[Ilikepie]

Strawberri hopes Fret will be able to talk these goblins into letting them take the shed. She could try talking to them herself but she feels that they would be more likely to listen to another goblin then they would a fairy and Strawberri doesn't know how to speak Goblin. She begins preparing herself to cast eldritch blast, but is still going to wait until the fight gets closer to use her form of dread.

 

[WlfSamurai]

The goblins stop pulling the sled and turn to look at what is calling out to them. Seeing the group—and mostly the minotaur at this moment—the exchange a look and shrug to each other. Then, they shrug back to the party and pull out their shortbows.

[Everyone roll initiative.]
[Goblin initiative: 20]

Sherwood Psychie Ilikepie The Dapper Mog Firelie D. Rex

 

[Ilikepie]

initiative = 19

 

[The Dapper Mog]

Fret's Initiative: 10