Chilling Adventures in the North

(Yes, survival.)

"Here, do you want help with building shelter?" Bjorn asks Ricky.

Ricky waves a hand expansively, for Bjorn to jump in and help

(Dice aren't rolling yet, for some reason. I'll try again)

Survival 4 

Between the two of them working together, Bjorn and Ricky manage to build a suitable campsite out of the group's belonging and the local resources.

Taking turns to keep watch, the group rests for the night. The night goes without disturbance.

Qinfaren watches the slight graying of the sky, indicating the morning.

"It would be nice to have the sun all day again," he muses to himself, missing the green valley of his home.

He quickly packs up his gear and takes two balls of fur from the gray bag of tricks and rolls them out to the open space in front of him. His eyes grow wide with anticipation about who their traveling companions might be today.

Roll 1: 1   and Roll 2: 2  

Qinfaren also fingers the charm he received from the forest spirit. That may come in handy against the duergar.

"Ready to continue on?" he asks the other.s

Qinfaren claps his big hands together when a boar and a badger grow from the balls of fur.

He greets both of them then asks the badger to use its keen sense of smell to help the group notice anyone coming towards them on their path. The boar he keeps closer, knowing that the creatures ability to charge forward and use its tusks far outweighs any help it can provide keeping watch.

     "Right then," Bàn says once he's awoken, refreshed and fed.  "Where we off to today?  If we keep getting sidetracked we'll never make it to our destination..."  Bàn isn't really annoyed by the delays as he's almost thankful for them, he doesn't feel entirely sure they will survive the final destination. (And quite frankly it's a good thing Bàn isn't leading for I've totally forgotten our destination! lol)

     Seeing the board and the badger, Bàn shrugs and summons his owl familiar.  "Fly up high and watch over us, eh?  Warn if anything comes too close..." The owl makes a small noise and then flutters into the air and promptly lands right upon Bàn's shoulder and begins preening it's feathers.  "Or... You know... do that.  First..."

Ricky does a series of stretches, then blearily drinks from his endless coffee thermos as he considers the directions. 

"We gotta... Um... Gotta head like. South. Or whatever. Mountains?" 

"We should make it to Xardorok’s Fortress before the sun sets today," Bjorn replies. He then turns to Qinfaren, "Do you still remember roughly where it is the mountains? I believe I do. Hopefully, we will get there before Xardorok finishes building this dragon of his. Then once we've put a stop to his plans, we will be able to find those parcels that we promised to deliver and the dogs that were taken from us.

Then I plan on returning home to my people, but we still haven't figured out how to end this winter. Nor have we found out what's causing it exactly. There were some rumours that it was caused by a god. I don't know how you'd stop a god. At least we found that cauldron though, Qinfaren. That should keep everyone fed."

Then Bjorn addresses Ricky and Bàn, "What about you two? What do you plan on doing after dealing with this business with the duergar at the fortress?"

Qinfaren smiles sadly at the mention of the dogs.

"I hope they're being treated properly," Qinfaren says quietly.

He nod at the mention of the Sunblight fortress. "Pretty much due southeast of here, just as we get to the mountains I think."

Ricky's face twists up in a grumpy expression. "Gotta head back home and show folks who really oughta be mayor, I guess. Go bother that neighbor o' mine." 

     “What?  Now?!?” Bàn asks with alarm as he turns to Ricky. “We’ve mountains to climb, fortresses to drive and dragons to besmirch!  Surely the mayor thing can wait…?”

"Once Ricky helps save Ten Towns from this duergar threat, he'll be mayor for sure," Qinfaren says.

"I think you meant afterwards, right, Ricky?" Bjorn asks. "I don't think you meant to come all this way and then turn back at the last minute."

Ricky nods. "Yeah, of course. After dealing with the duergar. It'll be fixed by then, right? Taken care of? What were you guys talking about?" 

Bjorn shrugs his shoulders, "Seems that Bàn here thought you were returning home already."

With that Bjorn begins to lead the group across the frozen tundra to the mountains. Near the base of the mountains are smaller snowy foothills. However, after spending so much time crossing the snow, these hills pose little challenge to the group. Beyond the snowy foothills, low-lying clouds obscure the icy peaks of the gargantuan mountains that form the Spine of the World.

Looking up at the mountains Bjorn says, "Looks like we've got no choice but to start climbing."

Qinfaren starts to look at the climb ahead of them, seeing if he can pick out a trail or route that will be the least dangerous.

Survival: 10  

Qinfaren starts to lead the group over the snowy foothills and up the mountain. With his expertise in survival, he safely leads the group up the mountain avoiding any dangerous terrain. After spending an hour climbing, the group takes a moment to pause and catch their breath.

"Okay, who wants to lead us next?" Bjorn asks. "Although, you've done such a good job so far, Qin."

(Who ever leads next needs to roll for Survival too.)

Ricky heads for the front of the line 

Survival 14 

     Bàn has owl flying ahead to scope out what they’re heading into and then behind to make sure nothing is coming up behind them.  The little owl zips back and forth between rests upon Bàn’s shoulder when they give him updates, if any.