Pandora nods thankfully to Carina. 

(Ok now really back to Elro's cabin. ;))

Quote from Rubikow >>

 

...

As the door is shut, Elro gestures you to take a seat.

"Now, tell me. What are your plans? And how I can I help you?"

Carina pauses respectfully, allowing anyone else who wishes to speak first to do so.  If none step forward, after a moment, she replies to Elro Aldataur:

"I do not think our plans have changed.  Take the elf bandit as a guide to Croakers' Cave, carrying out your decreed punishment as agreed.  Attempt to retrieve all of Urgon Wenth's other Aeorian artifacts (besides the dagger) from the Tulgi Lutan's sister Hulil and her bandits.  The ones who Tulgi claims the Uttolots of Shadycreek Run are paying to steal such relics.  Our hope is that one of the items on Pelc's receipt for Urgon is he cause of the disease so that we can contain or destroy it.  Be aware that other such bandits may lurk in Palebank, perhaps even a pair we saw at the Frozen Elk last night."

She catches Elro's eye significantly as she warns him of the ongoing threat.  Your glassblades seem outmatched, Elro, she muses, unspoken.

"Speaking of Aeorian relics, even if we are successful and find the cause of the disease, Urgon's items may not include the cure.  In such a case, I humbly suggest you consider the possibility that someone..." (she speaks the word 'someone' innocently) "... perhaps more than one someone, may need to be on board the Remorhaz, docked in the harbor as we speak.  If there is a cure, it may be at Eiselcross where I understand the vessel is headed."

She pauses a moment to let the thought sink in as the voices whisper in her heart.  You could be on that ship.  The relics... the death that waits...

"But back to the task at hand.  We have outfitted ourselves with snowshoes and crampons at Old Burrold's.  Yet, some of my companions lack the needed cold weather clothing," (She points to her own) "and we cannot currently afford it.  Old Burrold himself suggested the four sets of cold weather clothing we could harvest from the belongings of the bandits who were robbing Pelc's?  Our guide will need theirs, but the other four should no longer."

Elro sits down and listens with concentration at every word Carina says without any visible motion on his face. As she finished he leans back in the chair laying his hands in his lap while looking onto the ceiling for a moment. He then nods to himself and and the group and rises from the chair and speaks to you all.

"The belongings of bandits will always be used to benefit the community. That is the rule as written. Now, I do see a great benefit in you all completing your task. So there cannot be any rejection of Old Burrold's suggestion here. The winter cloth of the bandits is currently at the Nowhere's Quarter. The main hall of the Glassblades here. You will find some of the coats and cloth, that had been cut or ripped off during your fight, already sewn together. I will give the order to bring you the cloth immediately after we are done here."

He walks to the fireplace to stir in it with the poker.

"I have chose the right group, as your perception seem to match your strength. The Remorhaz is one of Palebank's ships and yes, it is currently preparing for a journey to Eiselcross."

He turns around to Carina and smiles.

"I agree, that ... a group of someones ... should board the ship, if it turns out, that this illness is no curse that can be broken easily."

He walks over to his desk and opens one of the drawers with a small key. He takes out a small pouch and then locks the drawer again and he walks over to Carina and gives her the pouch.

"You already did a lot and made more progress than my Glassblades. I know they are mostly untrained, but believe me, they have other qualities. I hope you must never see them fighting, as every fight means some danger to the village, but if you could see them fighting, you would understand why each one is valuable. Now this ..." and he points at the pouch "... is well earned and you can see it as the first part of the payment that I owe you. These are 150 gold pieces and if you come back from Croaker's Cave with the information we seek, I will reward you with another 100 gold pieces. I wish I could offer you more, but if you would know our financial situation better, you would see that this is already a lot."

He pauses before he speaks again to the whole group.

"Should you find a cure to this disease and help the village, I will try to reward you in a more satisfying way."

With that he shouts out to Galven and orders him to go and fetch the winter cloth. The captured elf is given to you now.

"Keep an eye on him. I beg you to carry out, what we have discussed earlier. A thief must be punished or the people will start thinking that we grow soft. Chaos would be the result and we would not survive this again. So, whatever you do. This man can never return to this village and if he will be spotted in the surroundings somewhere, it must be clearly visible, that he is a thief and that he was punished."

He looks you all in the eyes again.

"It can be no other way."

(Carina, you can add 150g to your pocket or you can all share the coins as you like. If you have more questions to Elro, you can ask him now.)

As they all put on the winter clothing and gather up their things, Ashton will check the thief's bindings and take him outside.  There he will tell him.  "You know there is only death for you anywhere but with us right?  We would like your help to get us to, and through the cave, but honestly, we will get through with or without you." 

Ashton points to the thiefs hand.  "You may lose a hand in this, but if you are honorable with us, we may find it in our hearts to possibly give you a chance to make it out alive.  Ashton looks to see if his words are having any effect on the thief.  "And we could help you on your way, maybe we can give you clothing, food, and a bit of gold to help you in your new life." 

Pandora observes the dialogue between Elro and Carina. As he finishes she nods thankfully in his direction "Thank you Elro for your support."
Carina is a good speaker. We're not done with the mission yet, but we already owe her something. 

She turns to Asthon and asks "Ashton? How about the thief? Is his bondage tight? I can't wait to go to the Nowhere's Quarter and finally have warm clothes." 
That she does not have the same manners as Carina, she realizes just at that moment again. Thank god that we have her. I am too impatient for all the talk. 

Looking at the rest of the group, the elf asks "What about you? Do you have any questions or can we finally get some warm clothes?"

Without hesitation, almost absent-mindedly, Carina splits the 150 gold pieces five ways among herself and her companions, 30 gold each.

She is thinking about Elro's words.  She leaves the elf to the others, but now fully accepts, if she did not before, the need to carry out Elro's justice.  We must be on that ship, and for that we need Elro.  We must not fail his trust until then.  Not with his decree, not with our quest to Croakers' Cave.

I do wonder why he seems so defensive of his glassblades.  As if we have been dismissive of them.  We have all treated them in a friendly and respectful manner (e.g. Mila), even buying others of them drinks at the Frozen Elk.  She tries to remember whether anyone had denigrated the glassblades' fighting ability.  If anything, it has been Elro who has gone out of his way to suggest that his glassblades could not have achieved what we did.

She puts the matter aside mentally.  Regardless, we cannot fail Elro's quest.  The information and relics that may be available at Eiselcross, not to mention the possible cure to the disease, are too rich a prize to miss out on.  The familiar voice in her heart adds the final bit as it always does.

And the lives to harvest... never forget that, Carina.  I hunger.  It has been long... our pact compels you.

"I think it is time you go on now." Elro states.

"I do not mean to usher you out ..., but I guess that is exactly what I do right now."  He says with a light smile.

"Your quest is of utter importance, but there are other matters, that might impact the well being of this Village just as much and my day has too few hours. So please don't think bad of me and I wish you all the luck in the world."

With this he opens up the front door for you. Just in this moment, Galven runs up the path to the cabin in a good spring, carrying two backpacks with what looks like the winter cloth he was sent to catch. He meets you outside the cabin, handing out the cloth to you all and with some heavy breathing he announces:

"Nothing ... but ... a good ... run. ... To keep ... the body healthy."

"Well done Galven." Elro responds "Please be so good and guide the group to the north gate. Thank you all!"

Elro waves you goodbye and closes the door behind you. He really seems to be in a bit of a hurry today.

"Well then! To the north gate it is this way." 

Galven points towards another path, that leads a bit uphill behind Elro's cabin.

The sun is shining now in a sky with some clouds, but its warmth does not reach you. It is still cold and windy but the glittering snow and ice everywhere paint the Village as a friendly winter settlement. Smoke rises from the huts that you pass on your way to the gate and you see people here and there, working in their small yards next to their cabins. The wind carries the voices and noises of the village to you and after some minutes of walking, you finally reach the north gate. Two Glassblades are guarding the open gate on the ground together with a massive beast that must be a direwolf. Two more are on their post up on the wooden battlements and a small cabin with a smoking chimney seems to be the guard house.

"There we are. This is the north gate. I'll quickly inform the others."

He says and walks over to the guards on the ground, telling them something and pointing in your direction. They nod at his remarks and then step aside and gesture to you, that you might freely pass, if you like.

(Those of you without winter cloth can now add them to the inventory. If you do not want to go straight to the gate, let me know, then I will change this part.)

"Oh that was a quick kick out. I really wanted to change my clothes in a warm place." Pandora sighs. 

With the rest of the group she follows Galven to the north gate. Seeing all this people working on their stuff is a little bit satisfactory for her. They're not knowing what's going on. They can live their life and do their work without this dark cloud over them. 

As the group arrives at the gate she says "Okay before we move on i would like to change my clothes. Give me a few minutes please." Pandora hurries to a slightly less obvious spot by the gate and quickly changes clothes. "Ahhh much better now!" she says as she comes back to the group "I'm ready for our journey. What about the rest?" the elf looks expectantly at the group. 

Carina looks Galven and the other glassblades in the eye and murmurs sincerely.  "Thank you.  For the help and for the cold weather clothing."

Then, with a little wink she quips.  "And keep your doggie well-fed so it does not mistake us for a meal when we return from our little sightseeing trip."

With that she is ready to venture forth, once everyone has put on their winter clothes.  She looks at the others with a warm smile.

"Lets do this.  We've worked well together thus far."

Ashton takes the thief, puts him in front and says.  "Lead the way sir."  Ashton will follow very closely behind him.

The thief looks at the group with big frightened eyes and then looks out of the gate. His hands are bound together with a thick piece of rope. 

Even as Ashton ushers him to move, he still hesitates. 

One of the guards sees this and walks over to the thief with this spear in hand.

"You look like you do not want to go, thief."

He readies his spear and points it at the elf.

"Take your time to decide. You can still decide to stay here ... together with your friends as fertilizer in the ground."

The elf winces at the remark of the Glassblade and starts to move reluctantly. If he moves on with this velocity, the hour long trip to the cave will take the whole day.

Carina starts to threaten the elf, hinting that there are other... body parts that the group could cut off in addition to the hand.

But her heart isn't in it, and it's obvious she's bluffing, distracted as she is with future possibilities involving the Remorhaz and Eiselcross.

Intimidation:  9 (12 if Xerim was providing guidance but I'm guessing not).

She pulls the dragonborn cleric aside.  "Could I ask you to offer some divine guidance to the next of us that tries to quicken the elven burglar's feet through persuasion or intimidation?  Otherwise we will not make it to Croaker's Cave before our own feet are frozen solid."

Xerim nods at this and closes his eyes to silently pray for the light to shine upon the group on their current quest.

The elf still has not spoken a word. He definitely does not look like he wants to help you in any way. His look switches between fear and hostility as he slowly trots along the way.

Pandora sighs. She rolls her eyes and steps to the hesitant elf. With a swing, she pulls her daggers out of her shaft and places it right at the thief's throat. "You don't have to believe her. But you can believe me. If you don't get up your ass i will hurt you in a way you can't imagine. But i can promise that you will beg for your death. Look into my eyes. This is no joke. I'm definitely not in a mood for jokes." she presses the blades even harder against the thief's throat while staring him in his eyes. 

Persuasion: 22 (with guidance 24)

Ashton kind of smirks.  "Look dude, decide to live or die.  I don't think she is joking."

That worked.

The elf is utterly terrified by Pandoras threat and believes her every word.

"No! Please! I will do as you say! To Croaker's Cave ... yes!"

He stumbles backwards, before he turns around and now walks in a speed that is more than appropriate to your quest. You all hail the guards goodbye as you follow him down along the winding path into the boreal hills that lead towards the mountain range in the past.

From the rumors you know that the way to Croaker's Cave should take only 1 hour under normal conditions, but as the blizzard has raged last night, it might take you  a bit longer. Therefore, none of you is surprised as you have not reached the cave after the first hour. You have been traveling through the mostly silent forest all the time and the elf has said nothing more, since you left Palebank Village.

(Each one of you can roll either Survival or Nature if you like to try to forage while you are walking through the woods)

You have all stepped, through the undergrowth all the time, but now the elf heads towards a clearing.

(I need a perception roll from all of you)

Relieved that the elf has seen reason, Carina gives each of the guards a direct, smiling farewell, making respectful eye contact.  We hope to be back here and the circumstances are so strange.  Suspicions could arise.  We want to be thought of well by those who can help us... and by those who can't.

Southerner that she is, Carina still cannot get over the sheer frigidity of the air and depth of the powder beneath her snowshoes.

After the hour passes, she reminds the elf:  "Be aware that if you lead us into a trap, Pandora will take more than just your hand."

Carina Survival to forage - perhaps winterberries or small game to bring down with her Eldritch Blast:  15

Carina Perception:  17

To give more meaning to Carina's words, Pandora pulls out her dagger and playfully maneuvers it through her fingers while looking deeply into the thief's eyes. Sometimes she is surprised by her own dexterity. 

Survival: 7 (might be starving today^^)

Perception: 15 

Ashton survival: 6. Guess I'm eating rations with Carina

Perception: 13

(You are all well provisioned for now, and you are also not too hungry. It is just to see if you would find something you could add to your provisions. I hope it is okay that I rolled for Elmira and Xerim this time. They got => Elmira Perception 14, Survival 14 and Xerim Perception 15, Survival 11)

On your way through the undergrowth, none of you, apart from Carina, was able to find something to forage. Ashton has seen a small rock, that looked a bit like Elro, but as he showed that to the others, they just raised their eyebrows. Apparently he was the only one with a good imagination here, he thought. Pandora on her turn was too busy keeping the elf at bay to search for something under the snow. Xerim, meanwhile silently stepped through the woods, sunken in thoughts and silent prayers.

As Elmira has experience with foraging in the woods she was able to find some stashes filled with nuts. Obviously the winter ration of some squirrels, so she did not take all of them, but it made a half days ration in the end.

Carina was even more "lucky". A whisper in the back of her mind directed her attention to a spot that looked like any other at first glance. But the longer she starred, the more she could see the shape of a snow white hare emerge from the snow that surrounded it. It was clearly hiding from the group ... not well enough, though. The rest of the group, was a bit surprised by the sudden flicker of light and the slightly thunderous sound of an eldritch blast, that followed a short verbal enchantment of Carina, that the others had thought of as the start of a song. The elf's eyes got wide again and his fear of Pandora's daggers now extended towards the unseen capabilities of the rest of the group. All in all, he had never witnessed magic so far, only heard of it. The hare was clear to see now as the force of the Eldritch Blast had pushed it some feet over the ground and rolled it against a tree trunk, where it's lifeless body now waited to be picked up by carina.

(Does carina know how to proceed with skinning a hare, bleed it out and making a meal of it later? If not she can ask one of the others. So or so, Carina can add the hare to her inventory. It weights 8 lbs)

This all has happened in the hour, the elf had led you to the clearing. Still in the forest, but only some trees away from the start of the clearing the elf suddenly stopped. He pointed in a certain direction, away from the clearing and announced with fear in his voice.

"This is as far as I am allowed to go. The cave lies in this direction, but I do not have earned to walk this way yet. I was ordered to put all we could find into the cart here on the clearing."

And with this, you all realize that there is indeed a cart in the center of the clearing. None of you had seen it before, as it is covered in snow and looks as a large boulder at first glance. But now you can definitely make out the rough shape of a cart under the snow. The blizzard must have buried it last night.