"Well, I'm going to miss the carriage. Was able to get some good reading done in there. Let's mark this spot on our maps. Hopefully, it'll still be here on our return," Ink says.

"Let's be mindful of the rations. Marav can pull only so much from these environs."

//during the trip, Flint will have changed his spell selection. Waiting  for Marav's results on changing rations, flint has some in his pack that he'll use as needed.//

"Love that mountain air." Has become a mantra by now.

Marav helps to try and hide the carriage, using Druidcraft to try and make it more believable. Not gonna spend too much time on it, but a few minutes at least.

Survival: 19

Marav sees a perfect place to hide the carriage, in an empty cave hidden under a rocky outcropping a few dozen yards off the mountain trail, but the horses look like they are trepidatious; they don’t seem to understand the need to take the carriage off road and towards this scary cave.

//Can we take the horses with us? The smaller folk could ride the horses. Otherwise we could butcher them real quick for meat.

// Yes you can take them with you; they just don’t want to pull the carriage into the cave. //

"I am sure between Harshnag and the rest of us we can get this carriage into the cave." Marav unhooks the horses, brushes them and gets them ready for travel.

Harshnag sighs, and easily pulls the carriage into the cave, stooping as he goes, so as to fit.

“Let’s be off then,” says the giant. He dusts himself off and leads you to the trailhead, pushing ahead into the mountains of the Spine of the World.

As they make their way through the trail, Ink comments, "Marav, I've seen you hunt and forage for food for us without slowing down the travel pace - I'm asking you the favor to do that or otherwise we'll burn through our rations and be stuck eating horse."

// Speaking of, did Marav do any hunting or foraging on the first leg? If not, we would have used 12 of our 29 rations. (CG doesn't need to eat.) //

//Here is a few survival checks for foraging/hunting//

Survival: 16
Survival: 23
Survival: 9

Whether it’s the presence of the giant with you or the  increasingly blustery weather, you have seen no other creatures so far on your ascent through the mountain pass. Despite the howling winds and unstable snowdrifts, Harshnag encourages you to soldier on as he plows through deep snow and assists you in scaling the treacherous rocks.

While foraging in the valley the last couple days, Marav and Steele had been able to find enough food to feed everyone including the animals, and stockpile enough food for two days’ travel in the mountains (except for Harshnag, who requires more food than everyone in the party combined).

No food is to be found here as you climb higher and higher among the snow and rocks of the Spine of the World, although water is of course plentiful, simply by melting snow. 

 “It should be a full day’s climb from the trailhead,” Harshnag informs you as you climb a rock pile that interrupts the trail. “To my knowledge, no giants have made this pilgrimage in some time, and the temple is long abandoned.”

// Everyone please post what you are doing while you ascend. In your post, I need you to include the following things:

1. A Strength or Dexterity check, adding your proficiency bonus if you’re trained in Survival. This is to determine how easily you progress through the hidden pass.
2. Two Constitution saving throws for the long and arduous trek up the mountains. //

Crownsguard will summon another of his mech-animal friends. The light surrounds what once was Horse as a shape appears in the light. A creature of tall and noble stature with a mighty pair of antlers! It is none other than... Elk! Crownsguard will offer Elk to Rip, because he is tiny.

Strength: 17

Save: 24, 19

Don't forget your +3, everyone

 As they prepare for the climb, Ink whispers to his fellows small people, "So who's going to be the one to persuade Harshnag to help us carry these horses up this climb?" Ink looks directly at Rip as he poses the question. Before waiting for a response he offers, "Or we set them free here and pray to the gods they survive the wilds and the colds and can make their own way home."

Ink starts preparing for the climb, pulling out a climber's kit from the bag. He comments, "We were dealing with giants - I knew one day, I'd have to climb something big, but I didn't think it'd be a mountain."

 Survival (DEX) Check w/ Climber's kit 21

CON Saves w/in CG's aura 17, 22

Survival: 24
Con Saves: 11
Con Saves: 19

Marav travels behind Rip and Flint, helping them when he can to make sure they can get up. "This will be so much easier when I finally get the hang of flying when I shift." He sighs.

Flint is soldiering  through, trying to keep everyone's spirits up.  Str: 12 Con saves: 23 24

"Hey Harshnag, would it be possible to carry our horses? or would that be to difficult for you?" Rip clambers on to 'Elk' and pats his side "Im going to call you 'Skippy'"

20 survival 

con 5

con 3

To Rip’s suggestion, Harshnag shakes his head and sighs before throwing both horses over his shoulder to climb a rock face. “It’d be smarter to just eat them,” he intones.

The wind whips around you as you climb higher through the perilous pass, making the journey all the more arduous. On more than occasion, your footing slips on the compacted snow & ice, and you only just catch yourself from sliding. Flint and Ink have their own particular spots of trouble, with Flint falling straight into a deep snowdrift and nearly being buried alive, and Ink taking a short tumble off an icy rock. But thankfully, the others are there to recover you. 

// Flint and Ink both suffer minor injuries—6 cold damage to Flint, and 7 bludgeoning damage to Ink. //

Sadly, one of the horses doesn't make it. At one point, Harshnag sets them on a ledge that turns out to be unstable, and it collapses underneath them. Harshnag catches one of the horses, but the other is lost as it falls several hundred feet to its death among the distant white-capped trees. 

Rip is having particular trouble. He seems stressed, and not very rested. The cold has gotten to him, seeping under his heavy clothes and chilling him to the bone. He is uncontrollably shivering as he rides atop Crownsguard's summoned elk, and has rings underneath his eyes.

// Rip is suffering from two levels of exhaustion. //

Just when you feel as if you can't take any more of this snow-covered pass, Harshnag calls over the howling wind, "There!"

In the failing light of late afternoon you see it. A 40-foot-wide, naturally formed stone causeway leads to a huge domed entrance supported by massive pillars. Sheer cliffs plunge hundreds of feet on both sides of the route. The causeway is covered with over a foot of snow, in which you can see fresh tracks heading toward the mountainside. 

​

"No time ta  waste!" Flint leads the way across the causeway. Pointing at the tracks as we approach: "Whaddya  make o' that Marav?"

"Marav, what kind of creature made those tracks? Can you tell use anything about them?" 

Survival to check the tracks: 18