Rime of the Frostmaiden - Adventure

Athletics 4 — reroll with heroic Inspiration … 0

Month: Hammer, 2, Day: X, Time: 1630

Marva with assistance from Dvu and the divine along with Ophelia and Ellora power up the perilous icy and rocky face while Zuleika and Drift struggle. However, the group effort is enough to see them safely through the worst and to emerge on the upside without any damage or lost time. It is now dark and the wind howls. Or is it something else that howls in the wind? Garret says, prepare yourselves, not too far away is where the Yeti attacked me. After about 30 minutes, you see on the left a fifteen-foot-high, ten-foot-wide cave mouth. There’s blood on the snow some distance from the cave entrance. Do you go into the cave or continue up the mountain? 

"In Kelvin's Cairn did Auril's beast
Any icy den of death decree
Whence dragged in darkness to the cave
The halfling, tiefling, goliath brave
Trailed blood for all to see."

Ophelia thinks the adventurers Garret had accompanied must be in the cave, based on the blood in the snow.  She casts Blade Ward (every minute) and waits to see if her companions agree to proceed towards the cave mouth, or whether they wish to continue up the mountain first.

Dvu squints and looks toward the cave, listening for any sounds of movement as well.  (Perception : 9).  He looks to Ophelia and hears her verse, getting used to the way she expresses her suggestions and thoughts.  "Yeah, the cave.  I think we should look there.  I don't hear anything other than this wind, see anything either.  Let's go, but everyone be at the ready.  Ready for yeti."  Dvu begins to examine the ground as they get closer to see if he can find any tracks.  (Survival :26)

Ellora merely nods. It was likely that what was left of the expedition was to be found in that cave. She could only hope any of them were still alive. Cautiously and quietly she follows along once the team moves into the cave, Oculus perched on her shoulder, helping to stay wary of threats.

Perception: 9
Stealth: 21
Nature to know stuff about Yetis: 11

As Marva surveys the scene, she whispers, “Are yeti intelligent? Is there any hope of reasoning with them? Or are they more like the crag cats, predators who only see us as prey? Also, could that blood over there suggest that injured folks went that way?” She points toward the snow.

(Is the blood leading toward the path further up the mountain? Also, she is trying to remember anything she has read about yetis and whether they are humanoid enough to be affected by a Charm Person spell.)

Nature: 5

Survival: 10

Stealth: 11

"In Calimshan, sailors used to bring us stories of yetis. I always thought them far-fetched - who in their right mind would believe in twenty feet tall bloodthirsty gorillas with flaming horns, fangs as long as a man's thighbone, and fur as white as snow?" Zuleikha replies to Marva, shaking her head in disbelief as her simurgh, a preposterously improbable beast in its own right, is perched atop her turban. "And yet it would seem our dear charge Garret is convinced they are real! If this is truly so, well, then for battle I must prepare."

Taking her lead from Ophelia, the foreigner closes her eyes and a spinning blue cloud of scimitars blinks into existence, protecting her from the most lethal of attacks. The paladin periodically maintains the cantrip in the same fashion and begins inching forward, firmly in agreement with Dvu and Ellora as they begin moving towards the cave ominously decorated with blood. Keeping her fabulously attired form close to the ground, she heads in the direction of the cave mouth, as her familiar's beady eyes whip across the snows for movement. 

Stealth: 16
Perception: 18

Sheherazade's Perception: 21
Shereazade's Stealth: 21

Drift stealth: 11

The old cartographer doesn’t say a great deal as he follows his burlier and/or more magically puissant compatriots into the chill cave, his eyes only absently noticing the whorls and stratifications in the permafrost slick that coats the walls and crystallised mosses. 

Quietly, he reaches up and his flying wonder alights, and in a small and quick snap of springs and catches, falls into the shape of a long, closed fan, which he hangs from his hip. In his other hand he holds his bullseye lantern, while his wand is only a twitch away from being drawn with his free hand — now held out for balance. 

“Lead on,” he whispers. “Lead on.”

Ophelia brings up the rear as always, continuing to cast and concentrate on Blade Ward as she trudges through the bloody-soaked snow towards the cave.

Ophelia's Stealth if needed:  12

The snow crunches as you lightly and slowly enter the cave. The dark stains on the white provide a not so subtle reminder of the importance of stealth. Garret's grimace when passing the stain reinforces this feeling. You smell little and hear only what you hope is the wind, but that is normal in the frozen land of Icewind Dale. The air in the cave is calmer, crisper, then that outside. As a result, your lanterns and torches flicker less and provide a steadier, stronger light to guide your way.

You consider what you know about yeti and feel a chill go down your spine. They are large beasts that can attack solo or as part of a group. Although it stands on two feet, it is not humanoid and acts in a most monstrous manner. A grown yeti is capable of smelling living beings even in a blizzard, which makes that weather condition their favorite time to attack others. It is said that a yeti's stare can turn your very blood to ice and that its huge claws first cut then freeze your skin. They live in small family groups and are very protective of their offspring, which are called "tykes" when they are young (less than seven years old). You have heard people attempt to domesticate a yeti tyke but have never heard of anyone living long enough to do it successfully. 

You pass through the initial room of the cave, which has a 20-foot-high, concave roof and a 80 foot deep chasm. The stone bridge looks and is in fact solid and safely conveys you to a tunnel with a low ceiling (Dvu can easily touch it) with gruesome decorations in its walls. Garret recognizes the head of his former companion, Mokingo Growling Bea, stuffed in a niche dug out of the tunnel's snowy sides. You all see bones, some with flesh still attached, which presumably belonged to Mokingo, as well as torn bits of his hide armor and his still functional greataxe. Seven other crude niches in the walls hold the frozen heads of humanoids previously decapitated by the yetis. Thankfully, you do not recognize any of them. There are what appear to be mountain goat remains here as well, testifying to the diverse diet and hunting skills of the yeti. You hear periodic thumps and light squeaks every now and then on the far end of the tunnel. 

You traverse the tunnel and step up to what appears to be the yeti's den. The cave contains a female adult yeti watching a yeti tyke as it plays with a lightfoot halfling dressed in cold weather clothing and curled up in the fetal position. The yeti tyke is knocking her around like a ball, and it’s clear from her cries that the being is still alive. Your sudden appearance terrifies the yeti tyke, which crawls up onto its mother’s back to get away from them. The mother yeti lets out a terrifying roar directed at the group. Garret exclaims happily, Perilou, you are alive! when finding the second of his three companions. 

Marva calls out, “Quick, Perilou, join us!” gesturing for the halfling to run over toward the group. She readies a Ray of Frost if the mama yeti moves aggressively toward any of the party.

(Attack if needed: 13; Damage: 7 cold damage)

Zuleikha lifts a fold of her veil to her nose as the company pass the grisly, decapitated remains of Garret's companion and assorted humanoids, all of whom have been turned into a macabre cabinet of curiosities for visitors. "I find myself torn between revulsion and a reluctant appreciation for the creativity of these artistic instincts." She stops before a series of tendons and ligaments swinging from an indeterminate arrangement of bones, and blanches visibly. "No, I correct myself. Entirely all revulsion."

She moves swiftly along with her new friends deeper into the cave network, until they happen upon Perilou's torture at the hands of the yeti and its spawn. Her lips tighten like a drawn bowstring, fingers gently grasping the hilts of her scimitar and shortsword.

"You there, mighty creature. Speak you the common tongue?" She says fearlessly, frowning up at the yeti and tilting her head to one side as if appraising it against the legends she has heard. "The sages say that a mother's love might wrest the moon from the sky to give shade to her young, if she could do so. Understand this - we do not venture into your den to sunder the bond you have with your child. But this halfling... he is under our protection. He is no plaything. Yield him to us, and we shall pass from this place as gently as a zephyr over a dune. If you do not... the blood we shall be forced to spill will be on your hands."

She throws back her thick, expensive robes and draws her weapons in a flash, cracking steel upon steel. "What say you?"

Intimidation: 12

Her lavender gaze lucid for now, Ophelia offers her characteristic inscrutable sing-song corollary to Zuleikha's offer, not really expecting a response.

Mother, mother, let's pretend,
We are born as innocents
To bleed on snows upon the mountain high

To wish, wish dangerous,
Let the halfling come with us,
Or fall and leave your precious tyke to die

Renewing her concentration on Blade Ward, Ophelia suddenly pales as an uneasy thought crosses her mind.

Where's daddy?

A memory swims up from her subconscious of her own father, murdered...she pushes it back down frantically, unshed tears in her lavender eyes.

Being rear guard, she turns to glance carefully behind her.  Ophelia's Perception to check for any threats coming up on the party:  19

The young white-haired woman grins at the calishite warrior's comments on the grisly scene they pass. "Come now, can you blame them, it's all the colour and material they have to work with apart from the snow and ice, everyone's a critic." She says quietly with a soft chuckle.

Ellora isn't all that convinced the Yetis can be talked to and weaves magic that she believes might be more convincing to a Yeti, making a sphere of white fire appear in front of the mother to keep her at bay while the team cautiously retreats out of the cave. Ellora too is however concerned with the absent father, staying wary and attentive to her surroundings, expecting him to burst forth from hiding at any moment.

(Cast Minor Illusion)
Perception, assisted by Oculus: 20 

Dvu draws himself up to be as big as his Goliath frame can make himself and he holds his right hand up, producing a ball of flame in his hand, having it hover above with his arm cocked in an obvious threat to throw it.  He points at the mother Yeti and the Tyke and points over to a corner, indicating that they should move away from the halfling.  In a loud, forceful voice, Dvu says “Perilou, if you want to survive, you should slowly stand and walk toward us.  Now.”  If the yeti mother or tyke make any threatening motions, he acts like he’s going to throw the fire at them, making clear his threat.

Marva, at your words, Perilou stumbles to you, clearly exhausted after being the tyke's plaything. She has no obvious injuries but the vacant look in her red but dry eyes show the damage done to her heart by seeing her companions being eaten or disappearing while she was used as a plaything. Garret comforts her and asks, Is there an alternate exit to this room? We do not want to depart the way we entered, no doubt thinking it best to avoid taking Perilou past the remains of her dear friend, Mokingo. Perilou waves weakly to the opposite side of the cave, one thankfully not occupied by the mother and tyke, and says in a whisper, It is ice. The two yeti, pay no attention to Zuleika's colorful posturing or Orphelia's rhymes but focus on the ball of flame in Dvu's hand and blue glow in Marva's hands. 

Garret leads Perilou to exit down an icy path, and yells, Be careful, it is mighty slippery here, as those two make their way back to the exit of the cave. Ophelia, Ellora, Oculus, and Drift's gadgets do not sense any threat approaching the den where the group has congregated. The two yetis in front of you do not act aggressively as you take their toy but are noisy in making their displeasure known. If you follow Garret down the icy path, roll for Survival or Acrobatics (your choice). 

Hoping the Yeti's are also having some respect for the sphere of white fire hovering in front of them, Ellora cautiously follows Garret.

Survival: 20

Marva keeps her Ray of Frost cantrip prepared for any aggressive move by the mama yeti, as she follows Garret toward the new exit. “I hope there isn’t more trouble down this way,” she mutters quietly. "I should be grateful for the opportunity to explore a yeti cave, I suppose!"

(Survival: 21)

"Well done, Ellora, Dvu! Your diversion appears to have worried them into staying those fearsome claws. And a good thing too - I would not have relished the slaying of a child, even one so... 'spirited' in its playtime. There are lines the heart resists, no matter how cold the world grows." Zuleikha beams as the company cautiously depart the cave.

Upon noting the slippery path crusted over with smooth ice, the paladin takes a deep breath and begins her descent along it, attempting to skate as much as skip and bound down the path. Unfortunately, the Calishite has yet to perfect her footing in this foreign climate, and the effect is rather less graceful than she hoped... 

Acrobatics: 5

Attempting to follow Zuleikha down the path, Drift steps where she steps and moves where she moves, breathing heavily as the noises of the angry Yeti beat down on his back like a scourge.

Survival: 7