Session 4: Shelter from the Storm

You wake up before the sun rise to prepare for your long trip north. Agna double checks all the supplies to ensure everyone is ready to face the cold, Izuhn confirms his merchandise is loaded to the caravan and Adaia takes the opportunity to refill her spell components and alchemicals.

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You all recognize the grey eyed dwarf with mahogany hair tied into long deadlocks behind her back as Helda Silverstream. Wearing her hooded silver-stitched blue cloak fastened with a silver clasp in the shape of a dwarven war axe, she greet you all before jumping to her wagon.

Beorn Seelstrike, a lean older dwarf showing streaks of grey in his neatly twin braided beard is taking charge of the final preparations. The leader of the enterprise wears simple, sensible, confortable travel gear, including a brown bear-skin cloak and a broad-brimmed hat to shade his deeply tanned face.

You also notice Aldo Fetcher, a balding, middle-aged human walking with a slight stoop to one of the wagons. As one of the merchants, you can't help but notice how he is obviously unused to the rigors of the road.

Two human women are talking together. One, Nass Lantomir is holding a small white arctic weasel in her arms. The other, Ezahne Darmor carries a great tome under her arm.

Besides a number of guards taking position, you spot another human, Godric Orchard, who seems to be dressed in higher quality clothes, though not the nobility level quality.

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As the first ray of light makes its way through the clouded skies, the caravan is ready. With it you see Griggle Duskloch calling you as he runs towards you, half sleep deprived.

Griggle moves slightly away from Agna the orc warns him that they are not taking him anywhere, naturally drifting towards Izuhn for no other reason that that the dwarf was moving his way. "Ah my good dwarven friend! Deliverer of the letter!" Griggle starts greeting, looking behind his back a few times as he does so. "I heard you are going to the Ten-Towns" he looks around at the caravan ready to leave and then quickly side glances at Agna.

"I worked all night testing that recipe your elven friend helped with and this is revolutionary! I bet that old Fallstaff Shorthelm in Hundlestone will love to try a sample of it. Got himself quite the reputation as a master adamantine craftsdwarf. " He quickly open a bag to reveal another fleshly smelted bar. "Twice as easy to work If I had to guess. I bet you with this we could secure a trade deal with those Hundelstone's blacksmiths".

He looks over his shoulder and then nervously at Izuhn. Standing from a bit behind, Adaia can see three humans waiting a bit further behind. That seems to be what the duergar keeps checking.

"Oh no need to be back. Just give this one to the master smith and the folk in Hundelstone will be ruining this way as fast as they can I assure you. This elemental infused metal is the future!" He looks back once more. "Eheh and talking about the future it seems I have places to be" he laughs nervously and quickly rushes away disappearing into the alleys of the town.

The caravan master approaches Agna, noticing the strange encounter with the duergar. "Everything alright? Ye people ready to get on the road? If we walk fast we can get some good rest in Hundelstone tonight" He looks at the grey sky for a moment. "Damned winter sure is early this year! Not sure I want to take any chances with it... What yer thoughts on it?"

Noticing the unwelcoming clouds in the horizon, everyone is keen to start the travel and make it to the next town for one last comfortable sleep before the mountain trail. As you set out, you look back and see under the morning light the reconstruction works slowly starting. Interestingly, you also notice a number of humans miners concentrated around Griggle's place, but you can't tell what exactly they are doing there.

The travel is uneventful so most of you relax and take the opportunity to pass the time by talking to someone else. Izuhn decides to join the other dwarves and try to learn more about the people traveling north.

Adaia doesn't care much for the mundane practicalities, preferring to leave that for those less academically gifted. She is naturally attracted to the two women discussing something and carrying books and tries to join them for the ride. Her first impressions were right. Both are arcanists of some sort, though both look more like apprentices than full spellcasters, despite what they say.

While everyone slowly gets distracted, Agna stays focused, her eyes constantly checking the clouds. As morning gives way to a gray, overcast afternoon, the orc can tell those clouds covering the sky promise snow... and likely a storm. Beorne agrees with Agna's assessment and tries to hurry the caravan to make it to Hundelstone. Snowflakes begin to fall within the hour, and grow thicker and thicker in the next few hours of travel until it becomes difficult to see even thirty feet ahead through the torrent of snowfall. Quickly the Ten Trail becomes almost completely invisible beneath the snowfall.

Beorne agrees with Agna and tries to push the caravan to move even faster for the last part of the travel. However, the weather switches far quicker than expected and most signs of the road are quickly lost. Without the sun or any clear landmark, the caravan wander aimlessly for an hour or so, until Agna manages to put it back on track by correctly estimating their location from her experience of traveling these parts often.

After awhile you emerge from the snowstorm into a wooded glade. You can faintly see a rustic cottage within this glade - but you can most definitely hear the sounds of bestial roars and battle cries. You can just barely see a huge man with a massive greatsword fending off a hulking, white-furred beast.

About thirty feet away from the Agna she notices the huge man slaying one of the white-furred beast, which drops dead, its red blood staining the snow around it. Trained to hunt in the snow, the orc looks for another beast approaching like a ghost against the frozen landscape. She plants her feet on the snowy ground, paying close attention to her surroundings until she notices another creature. Muttering guttural syllables under her breath she cast an incantation to scare off the monster before it sneaks on the wounded man. Instinctively, the white shade in the storm stands still.Scene Tracker:

History

CESN September 11, 2023 2:29 pm

Though Adaia's ice magic as little effect on the creature of the tundra, Izuhn's growls and roars seem to catch the beast's attention. It looks at the dwarf with what could only be described as surprise and appears to be thinking its next move. After a brief moment, the white furred creature steps back, merging into the storm and disappears.

The huge human stops the caravan and quickly rushes towards you "This blizzard will kill you just as sure as the yetis if you stay out in it! I can offer you some shelter" He looks at the wagons. "Maybe we can improvise something with those"

The man looks surprised by Agna's tone "Your friend is right" he tells Izuhn. "I can't fit everyone inside, but maybe we can form a improvised wall with the wagons..." he draws a circle around the hut's entrance with his hands. "Should at least help us keep the beasts away until the storm ends."

Rushed by Agna, Beorne quickly gets the the merchants to move the wagons, forming an improvised shelter around the hut. Adaia's magic makes the entire process smoother than expected, though it would looks like Nass Lantomir and Ezahne Darmor also helped, though Adaia recognizedthe gestures performed as small cantrips of questionable use...

Once the wall of wagons was almost done, Borne turns to Agana and the tall man. "Beorne Steelstrike, it be nice to meet a friendly face in this weather." he offers his hand to the human who identifies himself as Alvan Shorthelm. ""We be setting camp jut ere outside the hut if ye nae mind that. The wagons keep us shelter from em freezing winds and the guard keep a look fer em beasts"

elusiveness

The man looks surprised at Agna's question. "Me? No. The two beasts came out of nowhere. I got caught by the storm when returning from town and these things probably have been stalking me for awhile." he thinks for a moment. "You think they could have been attracted here by something?"

"I know it doesn't looks like it in this storm, but the town is not too far so I'm not as isolated as it looks." he tells Agna to reassure her. Noticing Adaia eyeing the inside of the hut, Alvan shows her way in and offers some warm furs and a place by the fire. As he opens the door he stops to look back at Izuhn. "Fallstaff? You mean the old dwarf in town?" he laughs. "Yes I do. He's my father. Well, adoptive father."

"Ah thanks. Those beast sneaked up on me. Before I could tell, their claws were on me" He sort of half shows his arm to Adaia. Though it doesn't look too bad at first, as the elf sits the man down and starts to bandage him, she noticed Alvan has been badly wounded.

"ahahah ouch" Alvan laughs at the idea of his parents staked and then stops to check what sort of concoction the elf is applying, trying to deal with the unexpected burning on his skin. "The town you... The town is at most ... At most one hour walking from here. Probably best... best waiting for the morning."

In the mean time, Agna leaves the hut and checks if everyone in the caravan is ok. "Ah! Comin to check how the caravan be doing now? " Beorne laughs as he turns to Helda. "This one be very good indeed. Always takin good care of us". The dwarf gives Agana strong and friendly dwarven pat in the back as he takes her around the camp showing the guard posts and the tent organization. As far as she can tell, no one was harmed by the brief encounter.

"Me? Out here?" Alvan looks a bit surprise by the question at first. "Ahah, well I guess you have to leave and get your own life at some point." he chuckles nervously as, for a human, he looks a bit too old to live with his parents . "But I like enjoy the quiet life in wilderness, you know, trapping, exploring, gathering local herbs. It's really nice out here"

After a few more moment of get ready to sleep. The camp falls silent as everyone is tired from the day's travel. When morning comes, Alvan offers to lead the caravan northward to Hundelstone as he will be joining his mother, Grimelda Shorthelm, to continue his apprenticeship.

Alvan looks the ingot surprised. "A new allow?" he inspected it for moment "Looks like adamantine. Why did ... Griggle want the old dwarf to have this?" He turns his attention to Agna. "Ahaha is it cursed?" he asks, half joking.

Alvan looks a bit uncomfortable as he takes the ingot "Well, it it's dwarven it should be ok. They can be ..." He looks at Izuhn, stopping a moment to pick the word. "... dedicated. I'm sure the old man will know what this magic is."