Chilling Adventures in the North

Qinfaren watches and listens to the fire shine and crack, taking a moment to center himself and feel their surroundings, his large feet reaching down to feel the ground through the soles of his heavy boots.

"This is a hard place, but even though it's covered with ice and snow, the ground, and life is still beneath us, sleeping," Qinfaren says.

Then he laughs and smacks his big hands together.

With the fire set, he goes about getting the rest of the camp set up and getting the tent put up and anchored. He looks at it for a moment and then decides to try and build some snow and ice walls around the base to cut down on the wind that might come later.

Survival: 10   Second roll (advantage from Muharg's help): 10 

"Arogna," Qinfaren calls. "Do we have any of that winter wolf left?"

"Yeah, I cut a bunch a steaks an' bits off. 'S all on the sled in that wrappin'. Hope it ain't frozen," Arogna replies with a slightly concerned frown.

Qinfaren finds some of the steaks and brings them over to the fire.

"For our stomach's sake," Qinfaren begins, "I believe frozen is better than warm."

He holds a frozen steak above the palm of one hand and casts Produce Flame keeping the steak out of the flames but low enough to defrost it.

"I'll thaw them out a bit before we cook them over the fire."

He then looks over at Shad.

"I can take the second watch after you," he says.

When Qinfare, with Muharg's help, attempts to build the ice walls, he succeeds. However, the ice walls are not the strongest. They will keep the wind away but are likely to collapse under intense air pressure.

"All right, we have seen 'a', 'r' and 'o', now this here," says Muharg pointing at the letter 'g' on Arogna's name written on a piece of parchment "is the 'g'. See how it's also on my name at the very end? ... "

Muharg grins happily at the mention of steaks. "I'll take the third watch then." Nods at Shad and Qinfaren. "Let's hope for a peaceful night."

Bjorn busies himself with looking for twigs or moss that will help them keep their bodies above the cold ground as they sleep. Settling down by the fire he smiles as he listens to Muharg and Argona while his eyes continue to dart around keeping a lookout for any wild animals that may have been drawn their way.
Perception: 23
Survival: 6

Shad joins in with the others. He asks for his steak warm, but barely cooked. When it is appropriate, he mentions the "a" in his own name.

When it is his turn to watch, he will try to hide (13) just outside the camp, watching it and the surrounding area, Perception: 22.

 Arogna admires her own name written on the parchment. " 'S a good lookin' name. Like a big mountain there, an' a river runnin' down off it." 

She looks a little puzzled. "Wait, that's an a, and that's an a an' all?" But by the end of Muharg's lesson, she can reliably identify the shapes of the written names of each party member, In the Shadow of the Mountain being especially easy to distinguish. She can also pick out all of the vowels, although she feels like the evidence so far does not support Muharg's assertion that the letter "e" is very common.

"Thanks, man. Hey, I'll watch with you, an' we can read some more. I mighta forgot some by the mornin'."

Perception for third watch with Muharg: 16

(OOC: Couldn’t help to actually smile at the finally good stealth roll for Shad, yay!)

”You see, the letter 'e' is very common in common words, but when it comes to people’s names... well, that’s another story” Shrugs as he scans the surroundings for any possible threat.

Perception: 21

Bjorn settles by the fire and keeps a look out, but does not notice any other creature nearby before ending his time on watch.

On his turn, Shad, possibly guided by the Cat Lord, moves out of the camp and manages to almost make himself undetectable. However, he sees nothing else either.

Then when it's Arogna's and Murharg's turn they don't spot anything either.

By morning, you all manage to get a plenty of rest and have not been disturbed by anything during the night.

(No kidding! Finally, he hides.)

In the morning, Shad slowly extends first one hand and then another out of the pile of blankets he sleeps under, testing the cold. Disappointed to find the weather still there, he eventually makes his way out to the ashes of the fire, which he vigorously stirs, yawning and holding his luckstone. Once tea has warmed him, he packs his things and is ready to go.

Qinfaren wakes up and makes his way outside to join Shad. 

"I thought where we had already been was tough, but can you imagine what the towns ahead must be like," Qinfaren asks Shad. "How do people survive out here?"

He lets out a long sigh as he has his tea, and then following Shad's lead, he quickly gathers his belongings and checks on the dogs to make sure they're ready to go as well.

"Do we know how much farther the next town is?"

As Shad and Qinfaren are about to have their breakfast tea, Muharg arrives back at the camp after a short morning walk. "Morning there! It was a quiet night after all. Did you lads get a good rest?" Asks them as he serves himself a cup of the as well, and starts to make some oatmeal. "Oatmeal anyone? Not sure about how far that might be, though I think it already is one of the Ten Towns... Bjorn any idea?"

Arogna takes a bowl of oatmeal, thanking Muharg. "Be nice to be in town again soon. Least we wasn't ate in the night. Anyone gotta map? Or else I guess we just gotta follow this road. 'S not a bad road."

Quote from marbosp >>

OOC: Did we get a map of the area? I know TheBritGeek posted a general map of the northern Sword Coast, but not sure if the characters got one, and if so, how detailed it was. Do they know the next town to be Brin Shander?

(Yeah, that's the map that was given to you.)

Shad will move along with the others toward Brin Shander. He watches the surrounding mountains and snow for movement: Perception 10.

"Ah oatmeal," he says. "Have you ever added honey? Crushed peanuts into a paste? So tasty."

“Aye, honey I’ve tried, have to admit I have a slight weakness for anything sweet” smiles “that peanut thing, though... now I’m curious about it! Will have to see if we can get some peanuts in the next town.” Says as he adjusts his belt.

”Now about the next delivery, do we know where to go? I think the recipient is somewhere in the Icewind Dale... but we don’t have many more details, right?”

"You learn to survive quick, and if you don't well ..." Bjorn responds to Qinfaren's question before trailing off and leaving the obvious unsaid.

Coming along side Muharg, he falls in step, "Bryn Shander is the largest of the ten towns. We should be able to reach the other towns easily from there. Were we told which town our delivery was to?"

As Shad scans the mountains he spots a flock of birds flying down towards you.

"That flock of birds seems to be headed towards us," Shad will say to the others. "Interesting, but probably innocent, right?" He will think about wild birds and any dangers they might cause: Survival 6. "Maybe travelers regularly feed them." He willl also watch the dogs to see if they are reacting to the flock.