The party rested for one day, scoured the village for items, magic or otherwise, the next and then got ready to leave for the lodge to rebuild the bridge.
They collected a few items for free or nominal cost including cold iron sling bullets and ammo. Casia asked some old timers about repairing the bridge. Fanara suggested the spell mend that Santrel then added to his book.
Lady Argentea asked for the return of her signet ring and any other items the party found in the carriage. These were respectfully returned to her as they party was grateful for the reward she had bestowed upon them.
It took a day to return to the lodge, where no fire burned and the party did not see any new footprints in the snow. Everything seemed as it was when they had left the grounds. After a night of rest in the warm lodge the party set about looking at the bridge. Fanara looked in the only part of the lodge they had missed before, a tool shed, with axes, shovels and rope. This rope was of larger circumference and seemed stronger, quite like the bridge ropes.
One rope held the bridge. Casia had barely cut it so it was an easy target for Santrel's first mending spell. A rope was tied around Jorgen and he moved acrobatically out onto the bridge where he could grab a severed rope, tie an new anchor to it then let the party pull it back to the landing ground. They cut and spliced two ropes together and Santrel again used mending to further hold the new anchor. The two hand rail guides were similarly repaired and after a good two hours work the party headed across the bridge to the west toward the source of the snow.
As the party continued they came to an area where the forest stood deathly quiet. Even the wind had grown still as snow softly fell through the stark branches overhead. Tracks, human in size but oddly misshapen, mar an otherwise unblemished trail through the trees. As the party moved slowly forward three Frost Skeletons rose up from the snow and moved to attack. Casia lit a torch, Amadeo fired a crossbow bolt. Jorgen and Fanara threw Alchemist's fire which seemed to do additional damage. The party tried to stay away from the skeletons as best they could recalling the frost explosion when they died.
The battle was quick and uneventful as the fire damage was effective and only slight damage was taken by Amadeo and Jorgen. The group then began to look around for a source of these monsters. The oddly misshapen prints certainly came from the skeletons and the party tracked them to an area where the ground had seemed to explode outward, dirt and rocks scattered on the snow. They seemed to have come from graves and exploded into existence.
The group headed further for around two hours climbing to the top of a ridge. They took some cold damage and stopped for an hour to warm up before continuing. The rocks and snow along this part of the ridge were stained a reddish brown, and many tracks, both animal and human, crossed the area. Ahead they could see what appeared to be a body, covered with blood in the snow. It was clearly not recent as no steam rose from the blood and there was snow on top of the body.
Jorgen approached cautiously, checking for traps and looking for the animal that did this. He found a mutilated corpse lying in the snow, its blood almost drained. A broken shortbow lay close by and a quiver with five arrows was still strapped to the body. Jorgen noted a small pile of snow nearby which was actually a backpack. Inside three days of trail rations a hip flask and a book. Grabbing the rations and flask he ignored the book.
"See if that is a journal or if it identifies who this is." Casia barked toward Jorgen.
Santrel headed over and pulled out the book which was a journal. The name Dryden Kepp was lettered inside the pages. Casia recalled that Dryden was an esteemed hunter in Heldren but she had never met the man,
The journal detailed Dryden's efforts in tracking a giant white weasel. The journal mentioned bear traps he set at the head of Somir Valley, as well as his discovery of a strange hut nearby and the even stranger doll inside it. The party knew that the Somir Valley was where the center of the cold area was indicated on the map.
Searching found large tracks headed into the woods, possibly carrying a bleeding giant weasel. But they found following was harder than they thought. Dryden had a pair of homemade snowshoes on that Amadeo took and strapped to his feet. He found that moving slightly atop the snow was easier than plowing through it.
As the group moved forward, still on the ridge so they were not yet worried about the bear traps a cold wind blew through the forest atop the ridge. Heavy snow burdened the boughs of the evergreen trees, but someone had apparently cleared the snow from a large patch of ground to dig in the pine-needle-carpeted soil. Around the patch were smaller evergreens among the larger trees.
Again the party approached cautiously with Jorgen again checking for traps and any other unusual emanations. Suddenly one of the human sized evergreen reached out and smacked Jorgen. Santrel threw Alchemist's Fire on a tree, which began to burn. Casia lit a torch and moved closer to the tree that followed Jorgen away from the snowless area. Two other trees came to life and advanced on Casia and the flaming torch. Fanara and Milos were further away and tried to move toward the battle. The party didn't take much time at all defeating the three enemies. No one else was even damaged by the evergreens.
Searching the area where the snow had been brushed away revealed holes dug in the detritus on the floor of the forest. Some places seem to have been dug and filled back in. Amadeo stepped up and uncovered a pine cone in one of the holes. It had completely opened and the seed were on the bottom of the hole.
"They seem to have been planting seeds for new firs to grow from." Casia surmised.
Leaving the area the crew marched forward along the ridge. After another half an hour they spied bloody animal tracks marking the snow as the trail descended from the ridge.
"Be careful. We should look for the bear traps that we read about." Casia again suggested.
Jorgen moved forward and soon identified a buried bear trap. He skirted it, pointing to its location and examined the tracks. They were the size of the Giant Weasel tracks they had seen around the body of the hunter. As he moved forward Fanara and Amadeo tried to pry the trap from its snow covering. Then Jorgen picked up a branch and used it to trip the trap. Now the party could drag it off the track and they moved forward where Jorgen again found another trap. The group applied the same technique to this trap. Jorgen climbed higher on the ridge looking for an enemy but he saw none. The weasel tracks led off to the north in the woods.
The party then headed down the ridge further into the Somir Valley where they came to an area with more than a dozen boulder-sized chunks of ice littering the clearing ahead. A strange hut sat perched on tree trunks atop a raised mound of snow-covered earth. Amadeo and Jorgen moved to investigate the mounds of ice which seemed normal although Casia was really unsure of getting near them.
"I'm sorry! Don't hurt me! I never meant to call you names!"
As Jorgen moved slightly toward the girl she darted in behind another block of ice. As he moved forward he heard her again.
"Please don't keep me here. It's so cold. I miss my mother."
Then she again darted away. At this point the party all began to moved around the clearing in the woods outside the blocks of ice and definitely away from the hut. They were moving toward an exit from the clearing on the southwest. As they moved they also intermittently saw and heard the young girl.
"I don't want you stupid doll! I want to go home! Take me back!"
As the ice blocks ended the group got a better view of the hut. A small hut stood there on four legs, each one a single tree trunk whose gnarled roots resembled the toes of a giant chicken. The hut was constructed of heavy logs with a patchwork roof of shaved bark shingles.
"Stay away from the hut," Casia warned in response to Jorgen moving slightly toward the snowy mound.
Again the girl appeared'
"I have to get away! And you should, too, before they see you. Run!" she intoned looking directly at the party.
Again the party ignored her, heading toward the exit from the clearing at there best speed. Fanara and Casia were in the lead as they came upon an unusual pattern of lines scratched into the fresh snow covering the trail at the edge of the clearing. Closer inspection revealed a warning written in Common.
"Turn back before winter devours you."
"We should get out as fast as we can." Jorgen said.
Fanara moved past the lines of text and she and Casia were hit by a blast of cold.
The creature moved quickly at Jorgen, bit him in the neck and attached itself causing the wound to bleed. The rest of the party moved toward the Weasel as Jorgen extricated himself from the bite. Santrel stayed far away from the battle and then saw a small female appear as a spell was cast and frost fell upon Milos and Fanara. She bore a strong resemblance to the phantom girl the party had seen at the hut, traditional Irriseni dress and flaxen hair. Her face was of an old crone and appeared to be porcelain. More unnerving however, were her mismatched eyes -- one a blue gemstone, the other a small round mirror the size of a coin, reflecting the world around her.
The Weasel fell to the attacks of the party, Casia turned her attention to the doll. Milos told everyone to be ready for a healing channel which stopped the bleed damage of Jorgen and Amadeo. The party then focused on the doll who also fell to their attention. No magic was found on the doll, her porcelain crone face as ugly as they had ever seen. Santrel identified the blue gem as a sapphire which he collected along with the mirror eye.
Again the party pressed forward further into the valley. Another hour later a part of the party saw a whirlwind in front of them moving quickly toward them. As they focused on the whirlwind Santrel, Casia and Milos were hit by magic missiles from the rear of the party.
DM's Notes: The party earned 700 XP for the night and now have 1870 XP and are second level.
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