Alva is ready to move on to the next area, unless anyone else wants to check anything last minute.

EDIT: Before we take off to the next area, Alva will actually gather anyone willing around for a period of 10 minutes. Having seen some of the wounds on the bodies, as well as hearing the stories of the winter-touched from the injured Ulfen man at the meeting, she'll weave a tale of caution of winter fey up from her homeland of Irrisen: likely similar to the ones in the Border Wood here. Alva will share that it's unlikely that we'd be facing more zombies, but the cold-iron blade that Bart wields will be useful in dealing with the tiny winter fey. Or at least, the ones she suspects are responsible for the wounds of the fallen men here.

Anyone that wishes to listen in to the cautionary tale can gain two (2) temporary hit points from Alva's Inspiring Leader feat.

Sounds like people want to move on, so move on we shall to area B on the map, after Alva's rousing speech.

As it enters the full expanse of the Border Wood, the trail passes through a small clearing among the taller trees before continuing uphill and out of sight. A large chest lies half-buried in the snow, apparently dropped or discarded by those who hastily passed this way.

"Well, that's not suspicious at all," Cora says, looking at the chest.

After Ini expresses that she has no weapons, Bart willingly offers to her one of his: a handaxe or a shortsword. "I have this new sword. And I have my pike and crossbow on Fode," he says, patting the horse's saddle.

Upon seeing the chest, Bart (who is leading Fode, not riding him), stops. But after Cora declares it isn't suspicious at all, he moves toward it to pick it up. (If no one stops him, he'll pick it up and try to open it.)

"I can't use these as well... I'd probably have bought a weapon if I knew how to use any..." Ini explains, but she moves her hand to pick one of the weapons anyway. "... but I guess it's better that I have some weapon, huh?" And she takes the shortsword. There'd be no strength behind a swing of an axe on her hand, and she knew that.

The moment the group finds the chest and Bart starts heading in first, Ini follows only to put a hand out to ask him to stop. Instead of telling him anything, she looks at Cora. "I got a feeling he didn't understand you. He's not good with sarcasm... I tried it before..." She looks down at the chest while they're closer and refers back to Cora when asking a question. "You think it's at least worth investigating it? ... I might have a plan if it's trapped or locked..."

"Part of me 'dinks 'de chest is probably some sort of fey trickery, knowing some vinter-touched are here. 'Dat being said, I dink it might be best to look it over and not leave it unattended. Vere you vanting to take a look, Ini?"

Alva will make a gesture to Bart. "Might be good for you and I to spread out. Just in case it might be an ambush, jah?"

Anyone interested in examining the chest, roll me an Investigation check.

Ini gives a single nod to Alva, and although she was agreeing with everything she said, there's really not enough clarification coming from her to know that that's the case. As part of the things she agreed to, there was investigating this chest, and so that's what Ini does.

Investigation: 9

OOC: I've removed my shortsword from my equipment.

Bart isn't sure why the females are scared of a chest, but he backs up and takes a defensive stance to mirror Alva just the same.

Cora sighs, "Its a chest its not going to bite," she says.

The viking woman, paranoid that there might be others in the woods hoping to ambush them while they search the chest, is going to keep her eyes peeled.

Perception: 5

The chest, while suspicious-looking, does not appear to be trapped in any way.

Ini shrugs. She did all the investigating she could've done. She'll try to open the chest, and if it's locked, she pulls up a pair of Thieves' Tools, which should be able to help her, even if she has little to no practice with it.

Dexterity(Thieves' Tools) Check: 21

As Ini opens the chest, she reveals what appears to be a heap of leather armor and weapons, likely looted from the guards of the caravan. She only gets a moment to see them, however, before a spiked log swings down from the trees! Attack: 15 Damage: 6

Ini closes her eyes and moves her hand up to protect her face. It was an instantaneous reaction that'd probably still leave her arm wounded, except... As soon as her arm is entirely in front of her face, a dark spectral shield appears out of nowhere, and it takes the hit instead of Ini, bouncing the spiked log backward. The shield looks like a dark cloud blowing in the air in front of Ini, and, in a matter of a few seconds, it dissipates, as though the wind blew it away entirely.

Right before the cloud disappears, Ini opens one of her eyes to look at why she didn't get hit. Both her eyes open wide in surprise over her own shield. She gets up and away from the chest, in fear of another log somehow appearing. She looks at Bart and the others and makes a question. "What happened? I thought I was going to get hit... and yet..."

Ini was somehow spared from the log trap, which now hangs harmlessly from the tree. Inside the chest there are five sets of leather armor, three sets of studded leather armor, five shortswords, and two light crossbows with two cases of 20 bolts each. It appears that these were looted from the caravan guards, and left behind by the bandits to reclaim later.

Bart lifted an eyebrow with curiosity as two small thieves' tools made their appearance. He took a step toward Ini and craned his neck to try to watch her work. As the lid of the chest popped open, he made a throaty cheer that died away when he saw the log swinging down. He had just started to yell a warning when Ini's shield appeared and deflected the heavy piece of wood. As Ini retreats from the chest, Bart reaches out toward her. "It's OK, Ini. Your magic stopped it. I didn't know you had magic. What else can you do? Can you make doors open and close? I knew someone who could do that once."

As the log comes down on Initish, Alva curses to herself for not being able to spot it sooner. Yet, in the aftermath, she seems especially cautious of Initish. "I dink, Bart, she didn't realize she had any magic, either. Either 'dat, or she had a bit of a magical outburst she vasn't expecting."

With that, Alva does nod to Bart. "Though, I 'dink Bart is on 'de right track. Seeing 'dat a few of us almost got 'de vits knocked out of us in 'de last fight..." she looks a little embarrassed mentioning it, as her eyes drift to the floor, but continues: "... it might be good to share our areas of expertise. Know vhere our strengths and veaknesses may lie."

Alva has no use for the equipment in the chest, and will leave it be unless anyone else grabs it, or needs help carrying it.

Ini gives Bart a confused look. "I don't know any magic..." She says, confident in that answer, but she pulls her hand up just to take a look since apparently the shield that protected her came from there. Looking at her hand, anyone would be able to spot the remains of the spell, in the form of a small trace of dark smoke still trailing around her fingers. It scares her, and she closes her hand forcefully, making the wisp of smoke disappear. "At least... That's what I thought."

As Alva chimes in, getting a correct deduction and then backing up Bart's question. "I... don't know what this "magic" of mine can really do... I never even knew about it. As for what else... I... I guess my education was good? I had a teacher who would help me learn new stuff... People would praise my observation skills, but I don't know about that one anymore..." She looks back at the hanging log, which she believes is the thing she shouldn't be missing easily. "I'll be honest now... I haven't come here to help. That's because... there's not really much I can do. I just wanted to get somewhere, and this seemed like an easy way to do it... If I'm right, I have yet to find the easy part..."

Ini looks at the crossbows. It seemed simple enough in design. Perhaps she could learn how to use it quickly. As a test, she takes one of the bolts and one of the crossbows and fires it against a tree. Attack: 8 Damage: 6. "This will work well..." She keeps the crossbow and grabs the case which still had 20 bolts.

The four of you make conversation as you head deeper into the wood. The snowfall begins to intensify, making it harder to see. I'd like everyone to roll Perception checks with disadvantage, please, as you keep an eye out for dangers.