Chilling Adventures in the North

Arogna picks up the rope and safely abseils down next to Muharg.

Artus is watching Arogna descend the rope when Qinfaren bumps into him. Artus is knocked to the side and he turns to look at Qinfaren. He fails to see Shad creep up behind him and grab the ring. When Shad touches the ring he feels the immense cold radiating from it, and his hand feels numb. As he slips the ring off of Artus' finger Shad starts seeing vision of what it would be like for him to wield the ring.

Shad sees a vision where he is now the greatest deliverer and is able to defeat any foe that tries to stop him. He wields the magic of the ring to freeze countless enemies and charge into battle with his own ice creatures. All the time he sees that he no longer has to be concerned about the cold.

Then Shad sees him leading a revolution in countless cities as he topples regimes across the land. Forcing the wealthy to answer for their crimes against the poor.

At the same time Artus begins to shiver in the cold, "What have you done?" 

Qinfaren looks from Shad to Artus.

”The ring. It was possessing you. You were on your way to being lost.” 

Qinfaren looks back to Shad and the ring.

“Let’s put that somewhere safe.”

Bjorn watches the scene carefully, ready to restrain Artus should things go awry.

Shad considers never having to be cold again. He remembers the wolves and other creatures that have brought him and his friends too close to death so many times. The huge skeletal creature on the boat. He sees himself riding a gigantic ice sabertooth tiger into the vaults in Waterdeep and pouring the coins on those who really need them. Baldur's Gate could be a wonderful, safe place for everyone, not just those with money to pay off the Flaming Fist.

He holds the ring up between his thumb and index finger and looks at Artus, Qinfaren, and Bjorn through it. 

"One of my pockets would be safe," he says to the three of them, "but perhaps not safe enough." He thinks about his last few thoughts. He thinks about what Artus has said about the ring. The ring doesn't seem evil to him. Not at all. But the decision feels like a big one. He ought to consult the Cat Lord. And he ought to consult his friends. "What do you think I should do with the ring?" he says.

(OOC: Sorry to have been gone so long.)

(OOC: Not being cold anymore! The ultimate temptation for Shad!! The ring could probably have skipped all the power things. Seriously and OOC, it is risky to wear it, but also I don't imagine Artus will let you just keep it unless you put it on and use it to stop him taking it back. Or maybe promise him that we will destroy it.)

Arogna looks up anxiously from the bottom of the rockface with Muharg. "Don't give it back to him, Shad!" she calls up. " 'S dangerous."

 Artus ignores Qinfaren focusing his attention on Shad, "I think you should just give the ring back to me."

Bjorn would carefully edge closer to the space between Artus and Shad incase he needs to intervene.

Qinfaren looks at Shad's face as he holds the ring. 

"Did the ring show you something, Shad?" Qinfaren asks. "You looked distant for a moment."

Then seeing what Bjorn is doing, Qinfaren moves similarly, to help create a wall between Shad and Artus.

Shad steps back from everyone. He makes eye contact with Artus. "Why would I give it to you? You've just been under its influence. You're too weak for such a precious thing. And why can't I be warm for once?"

"The ring has already had an influence on him," Artus adds. "It seems that I may have to take the ring back by force. It's for his own safety as much as anyone."

Bjorn looks back and forth between Shad and Artus trying to figure out what to do next. 

Insight: 7

“Shad! Use this opportunity to show the Cat Lord you are worthy of his blessing! The ring has much to offer, I’m sure! But you have seen what it has done to Artus! All the benefits you’d gain from it would translate into suffering for those you are meant to defend!” Yells Muharg from down the gap. “Don’t use it, Shad! That thing is evil!”

"An influence on me! Ha! You had nothing but murder in your eyes moments ago, Artus. The ring rules you," Shad says.

But he hears what Muharg says about the Cat Lord as well. He remembers what Qinfaren asked and the vision the ring did give him. He has noticed Bjorn's movements. And Shad considers his own thoughts, wondering if he can really tell if they have changed since he's touched the ring. Are they different, his thoughts? Is he being influenced by something besides the Cat Lord?

That this question even arrises at all is only because he holds the ring. But Arogna seems right: Artus can't really be trusted with the ring either.

Shad throws the ring as far as he can into the dark undead cave. (If that is too far, he will aim for the piled ashes of the undead they burned.)

Qinfaren watches the ring soar through the air and disappear into the cave.

"I did not expect that," Qinfaren says to no one in particular. "How're you feeling Shad? Up for a bit of a climb?"

He watches Shad and then Artus.

"I expect you'll be spending he day looking for the ring?" Qinfaren says to Artus. Then looking at the others "I think we should get going. Nothing good is going to come from that ring."

Qinfaren tugs on the rope to make sure it's still secure.

"You fool," Artus snaps at Shad. "If I don't find that ring, you may have just doomed the whole of Faerûn. True evil is searching for that ring and if they find it, that ring will grant them more power than I ever wielded. More than it would ever tempt you with. Frost giants will be looking to use the ring to freeze the whole world. Djinni will be looking to summon white dragons under their control, or even Cryonax, the mighty ice primordial, himself.

There's a reason why I have been guarding that ring for over a century, despite the risks. You're all so unbelievably naive."

He then turns away from you all to begin searching for the Ring of Winter, shivering in the icy cold weather.

Qinfaren watches Artus go into the cave to look for the ring.

"Sounds a little melodramatic, don't you think?" Qinfaren says to Shad. "One little ring could destroy all of Faerûn?"

Qinfaren leans over the edge and relays what was said down to Muharg.

"Any of that sound plausible?"

He looks back into the cave and sighs.

"Should we help him find it?"

"The ring done somethin' to him," Arogna calls up. "He looked crazy like. I think we oughta get out of here before he finds it, Qinfaren. If it's all powerful like what he says, it can tell him where it's at."

Qinfaren takes one last look into the cave after Artus and just shakes his head.

Then he turns and moves quickly down the rope to join the others.

(Athletics: 6  )

"I don't know, lads. This seems to be something to keep an eye on. I don't doubt Artus' intentions to keep the ring away from the greater evil, and I believe him when he says it would be very dangerous if it ended up in the wrong hands —although I admit he sounded a bit over the top with those descriptions. But what if it corrupts Artus himself... for good?" Says Muharg once the party is gathered together at the bottom. "I don't think we should just walk away from this. We could suggest him to destroy it... Though I don't know how we could do that."

Shad inhales and exhales slowly. He shivers but not from the cold, though he does pull his coats tight around him. "I say we go. It's more power than I'm ready for, certainly. Let him fight off the pursuing frost giants, djinni, and primordials, if they exist any place besides in his head." Shad heads down the cliff.