Arctic Fey

"I will lead further following the tracks," Jorgen told the party.

"We will follow your lead," Milos seconded.

"Just be sure to check for traps if you see anything unusual," Santrel added jokingly.

"I wonder how many people we are following here," Casia stated.

"I will try and see if I can figure it out," Jorgen continued as he led further to the southwest deeper into the Border Wood.

As the party traveled further into the forest they seemed to enter into a gully.  The snow deepened so that movement was cut to a quarter of normal.  Pushing their way through the snow was a slow go.  A soft cascade of snow fell from an overhead branch, hissing softly as it struck the ground. A white serpentine body with the head of a ferocious dragon and two small forearms ending in tiny claws charged at Santrel and bit him holding on to grapple.

Jorgen fired his new crossbow but missed and then moved slowly toward the grappled pair.  Fanara charged at the duo and merely pushed both Santrel and the Wyrm back five feet.  Santrel tried to cast Grease but failed as grappling made it difficult to use.  Amadeo and Milos move toward the duo but the deep snow limited their movement.  Casia tried to move where she could get a shot with the crossbow but couldn't find an opening. The Wyrm then continued its grapple and then breathed a green vapor into the face of Santrel who felt his strength sapped.

The battle continued with the heroes still having trouble getting to the creature.  Fanara and Amadeo managed to hit the monster but when it was the wyrm's turn it let go of Santrel and attacked with bite and claws. The party slowly whittled away at the wyrm's defenses and it fell into the deep snow.  Santrel determined that this was an Artcic Tatzlwyrm, although was it was doing in Taldor near the equator was a mystery.  Of course the same could be said of the snow!

After some healing from Milos it was onward as the group had still not found any evidence of the Lady.  The tracks in the snow seemed to indicate 4-6 humans but who knew what fey were around since they could fly.  Leaving the gully meant the snow was less deep and they could move again at half rate.  Even with their cold weather outfits, it was cold enough to bother the group although they seemed to be shrugging any damage off easily.

The path started to head back to the northwest but as the party approached an area of thicker set trees they were suddenly attacked by tiny arrows flying from three different trees.  Jorgen was staggered by the Numbing Cold of the arrow that hit him.  Looking around the party spied three slightly luminous, flying, diminutive creatures with wispy moth-like wings and long, thin ears.  They were humanoid but very small brandishing tiny bows.

The party returned fire on the sprites with arrows and crossbows.  One sprite flew out of cover and cast Color Spray which caught Casia and Santrel.  Casia fell unconscious to the snow covered ground but Santrel stood his ground.  Jorgen returned fire and Santrel cast Burning Hands which did extra damage to one sprite.  Amadeo moved under a tree and reached with his rapier but missed. He was then dazed by the sprite.  Milos was ready with healing if the party required it.  The battle continued with the party using fire when they could as the sprites appeared vulnerable to it.  The sprites fell one by one to the parties attacks, even with Casia out of the fight.

After the battle the group again needed healing from Milos, who was then out of spells.  Santrel indicated that he was out of spells also.  The sprites had tiny arrow, bows and swords of no use to the party.  Casia recovered consciousness and then recovered the blindness.  As it was getting late in the day the group decided to camp out under a tree. As they were now directly under a tree, the party saw feathered bundles and strange fetishes hung from the lowest branches of the trees. They swayed and shifted in the wind. All were stuck through with small pins holding pieces of leather bound around them. The group used the burning sprite to help promote a fire of twigs and branches collected from under the snow.The warmth was appreciated after the long afternoon tromping through snow and cold.

DM's Notes: The party earned 300 XP for the day.