Chilling Adventures in the North

     "So our working theory is the giant there up front was a wizard who granted a mammoth and a couple of wolves the power of speech.  The animals resented his throne so they kill him.  But then the mammoth is all like 'go get me people' and the wolves fall in line?" Bàn asks skeptically.  Thinking on it a moment though he shrugs and decides it's good enugh for the moment.  "Sure, checks out."

     "But... not to be impolite or anything...  What is wrong with your ears?" Bàn asks the boy.

     "And your teeth?" he asks, turning to the girl.  "This a fashion choice amongst the kids these days or...?  I can't see the wolves doing this."

"Well, not exactly," Bjorn replies. "Anyone could have cast the magic on the animals. And the mammoth seemed pretty loyal to the frost giant, even in death. I think someone else killed the frost giant."

Qinfaren looks at the two rescued villagers closely to see if they're injured or not. 

"We may never know," Qinfaren says. If he sees no sign of injury he will add "We should get going now before any of them come back."

If they're able to walk and have boots or coverings of some sort for their feet, Qinfaren will start retracing the path they used to get here from Dougan's Hole. If they are still cold and don't have adequate footwear, Qinfaren will offer to carry them (believe he has about 320lbs of load left without affecting his movement).

The only injuries that the two teenagers seem to have are the results of the harsh living conditions in the small village in the middle of Icewind Dale.

The girl pulls a face at Bàn but otherwise ignores him, "Come on, Finn, our mother must be worried."

Seeing no other reason stay at the lodge, Bjorn begins following the two teens.

Qinfaren follows along too, keeping an eye out for the wolves or mammoth as they make their way back to town.

Perception: 12  

     Have we searched the entire lodge?  No others to rescue, etc?  Alrighty, back to town it is!

(Yeah, you cover most of the lodge.)

As the two teenagers start making their way back to town, they seem to be certain of the direction back. Qinfaren searches the area for any sign of the mammoth or the wolves, but there is no evidence.

     Bàn asks the rescued due about the wolves and the mammoth in general terms - Did they ever hear of them before, are they known pests to the town, that sort of thing.  If they aren’t a malevolent force Bàn is half tempted to drop concentration on his spell so that they can return and go about their lives.  If they’re a nuisance, however, he’ll hold the spell for its full duration, if he can, and hopefully that’ll put them out if the townspeople’s lives for hood..  if they get lost or trapped or killed or such..

"Oh yeah," the girl replies. "It all started about a year ago. We were not the first to be held captive by the wolves. Sometimes the previous captives were released if the town offered enough food, mostly fruit and vegetables. Not sure what happened to the ones that didn't get released.

We were never sure why wolves wanted fruit and vegetables. I guess now we know. We were taken about four days ago. They did feet us raw scraps of meat."

     “So hopefully their adventure brings them woe then,” Bàn says and commits to holding his concentration on the spell the full 8 hours.

"Fine me," the girl replies.

Bjorn seems to ponder the girl's words, "I am not so sure. As you say, wolves are carnivores, mammoths are herbivores. And that mammoth did seem distraught enough to attack us with little cause."

The walk back to Dougan's Hole is uneventful. However, it is very late in the day.

Ricky sighs. "That was the strangest distraction from our task. Let's go back to doing something useful." 

     “But what if the Mammoth returns?  And brought bananas for all of us?”

Qinfaren looks over at the mention of bananas. 

"As smart as that mammoth was, I don't think they will have much success," Qinfaren says then smiles. "I haven't seen a banana any where in Ten Towns."

As they get to Dougan's Hole, he claps his hands together and nods at Ricky.

"We should tell the villagers about the mammoth and wolves. It's late, so we should probably camp here again before heading towards the fortress."

"Should we mention the weird children?" Ricky seems pretty concerned about sleeping outdoors now

Qinfaren looks over at the kids.

"Where do you live?" Qinfaren asks. "We need to make sure you get all the way home."

He looks back over at Ricky.

"Maybe they've a barn or something we can sleep in."

"On the opposite side of town," Fin replies.

Then the girl adds, "You won't find a barn in Dougan's Hole, though."

"I guess we could always just camp outside of town by the ring of rocks," Bjorn adds thoughtfully. "Hey, do you know what the rocks are for?"

"You mean the Stones of Thruun?"

"The stones were there when Dougan Dubrace founded the town. All we know is that they are linked to Thruun. Not sure if Thruun was a god or an elemental spirit though."

Qinfaren nods.

”They might provide some protection. It sounds like our best option.”

He starts heading that way to set up camp and get a fire started.