(woo hoo!)

Ursula heads over to the blue elf, "Are you ok?  What is going on here?"

Xal, still in Dire Wolf form, pads over to the blue elf and Ursula, standing close by and watching for signs of trouble.

Perception: 8

Xal sticks his snoot into the impenetrable inky black of the sphere of darkness around the blue elf and prisoners, and can't see anything. He backs out, and a few moments later she drops it, revealing the prisoners huddled together and her standing protectively in front of them.

"We are alright... who are you? Who sent you?"

“Nice trick with the darkness” NImble calls out to the Blue Elf, then seeing Ursula talking with them, he makes himself busy by going around the room, picking up his thieves tools, and searching the Winter Orc bodies for equipment, valuables, and the keys to the manacles for the other prisoners.

Perception 6.

Investigation 23.

Nimble quickly finds that the Winter Orcs weapons are painfully cold to the touch, moisture on the surface of the skin immediately freezing to them.

He does, however, find a potion of healing, a flask of what smells to be strong spirits, and pouches of assorted gems, which seem to be the form of currency used by the winter orcs. He'd judge their value to be the equivalent of 79 gold.

When the last winter orc fell, Elafirs sighed. The whole mess wasn't pretty but they had no choice. He slowly walks to the closest body to tear a piece of cloth from their coat. With the cloth wrapped around his hand, he starts to cleaning the blood stains from his weapon.

Hearing the question of the blue elf, he answers without looking up from his work: "Thomas sent us to find the Winter Father. Is he with you?"

Lala is still staying near to the walls. Her purple eyes wide scanning the room for anything that might try to hurt her or her new friends. 

Perception: 9

"Ah, good old Thomas! No, his brother has my husband! Somewhere on the floors above."

The elf introduces herself as Clau, the last of the Noel Elves to call the island home, alongside her husband the Winter Father. She shares the following with you after thanking you for the rescue.

Nimble holds up the jewels, squinting at them in the light, before sliding them in his pouch “We will divide those up after the tower is cleared.  I also found a potion of healing if anyone is injured.”

Grimacing at his own wound, he drinks the tea Arthur provided earlier, feeling slightly restored. 

Healing 6.

Healing 9.

Turning his attention back to the Blue Elf he holds his thieves tools and asks “How did you all come to be here? If we free the others, will you help with the fight ahead?”

She gives you a wary look.

"Are you otherwise NOT willing to free the others?"

“Apologies, my lady” Nimble stammers  “I didn’t realize you were with the Winter Father.  You can never be too safe after all and I just wanted to be sure.“  his face flushes with embarrassment. “But we could use the help.”

Nimble moves around the group, freeing them from their manacles.

Thieves Tools: 17.

She relaxes a bit, "I am no fighter, though I may have some magics at my disposal that could help. My best plan was to free my husband long before the warlock started his ritual, but I fear I got here too late. I managed only to be captured by ones such as these, and lacked even the ability to free myself or protect these others. I think I would be best served helping the others here from the tower... is the way to the workshop clear?"

Xal listens to the conversation but in his dire wolf form cannot contribute.

Instead he takes up a position in front of the group, keeping an ear and nose out for trouble, seeing if he hears or smells anything else.

Perception: 18

"We didn't see any more mad toymakers or evil orcs along the way, if that's what you mean. But it's pretty snowy outside so we could easily have missed some buried in all the white. Honestly, I think you're better off waiting here for us to return" Elafir suggests.

"Do you happen to know how long this ritual takes? I suppose, some of us could need a short rest before taking on a mad warlock, if there is time for that."

Ursula listens to the conversations and nods in agreement to what Elafir is suggesting.  "We took the shortest route we knew and ran into some nasty snowmen.  We have no idea how many of those are out there."  As for heading upstairs, Ursula waits to see if a short rest is needed before proceeding, she is not in need of one.

Xal doesn't sense anything from the next floor up.

"I don't know exactly what the ritual entails, but I know it involves trying to break my husband... I'm sure he can hold out a while, but the more time passes, the closer the warlock is to freeing Krampus. Nasty snowmen? I won't take these folks into danger like that... we'll barricade ourselves in here, and I'll see what I can do for them."

She tears a strip from the bottom of her dress, and knots a piece of it on each of you, raising her hands and calling out in a language that is similar, but slightly different from Elvish.

All of you feel somewhat more hale and hearty.

Elafir nods. "In that case we should not waste time. Thank you, for your magical aid!"

Towards his group he asks "Should we go ahead?"

“Thank you, my lady” Nimble murmurs after feeling the blessing strengthen him.  Turning to the others, he states that he is ready to move on “I still have the healing potion I found on the orcs if anyone needs it.  Otherwise, I am ready to go.”

He sends Comet bounding up the stairs to the scout ahead to the next level.

Comet Stealth: 18.

Comet Perception: 22.

Xal looks to the others, his dire wolf head cocked to one side, then turns to follow comet towards the stairs, stopping a few steps up.

He once again turns to the others and cocks his head to the side.

Another floor of homes await you at the top of the stairs, but there is something significantly different about this floor, the central room seem smaller, and while there are a number of doors here, half of the wall is lined with an incredibly realistic carving of a seemingly eternal forest.

On the far side of the room are stairs to the fourth floor.