Ice and Honor - IC

[Lycan 01]

Gothard manages to keep the fire going, adding broken twigs and smashed branches occasionally. After awhile, though, he finds his gaze drifting into the flame. The twisting, flickering firelight steals his attention, and before long his mind is lost in the roiling plasma.

With a start, he returns to his senses. He has no idea how long has passed. Other than the crackling of the flames and soft snoring of his comrade, Gothard can hear nothing.

The woods are absolutely, deathly silent.

[Trobby]

Gothard looks up into the stars, trying to regain his focus. The fire...he knew the fire well. A forge is a fire's home and workplace, it is where fire bends the earth it its will and makes it into tools for man. It separates them from the beasts of the world.

With a fire going, Gothard feels safe.

He keeps his lookout for a little longer, keeping an eye on the stars to track time. Once enough time has passed, he gently nudges Niklaus awake.

"Niklaus...it is your turn to take watch."

Spoiler

Show

Spot: (1d20)[18]
Listen: (1d20+4)[12]
Survival: (1d20+4)[13]

[Benson]

Niklaus stirred from a cold dreamless sleep until eventually he woke up and rubbed his eyes. "Oh...yawwwn....mmmm, anything on your watch Gothard, any squirrels? Just joking." He smiled and sat up.

[Lycan 01]

Niklaus:

Spoiler

Show

As you blearily look up at your comrade, you realize something. There is, in fact, a squirrel perched on Gothard's shoulder. He doesn't seem to know its there. Its black, almost soulless eyes are staring into your own.

Gothard: Nothing seems out of the ordinary, other than the forest being so eerily quiet.

[Benson]

"Waah..." Niklaus sleepily yelped and rubbed his eyes. What in the world...he must still be asleep, or rather, he wondered what was in those berries. Niklaus found himself staring back into those soulless eyes, if there really was something there.

[Trobby]

"...Something wrong, Niklaus?" Gothard asks, tilting his head in the opposite direction of the squirrel.

[Benson]

"I think there's a squirrel on your shoulder."

[Lycan 01]

If Gothard looks, there is indeed a squirrel on his shoulder, which will turn its beady black eyes to stare into his own.

[Trobby]

"...Wow...I must have lost myself in the fire a little more than I realized..." He yawns, feeling the grip of exhaustion pull him down. He attempts to brush the squirrel away with one hand. "I think it is your turn to take watch."

[Lycan 01]

The squirrel runs down Gothard's body, skitters across the campsite, and disappears into the darkness.

The fire crackles as another twig breaks apart, sending sparks skyward. The flames flicker as a chill wind blows through the clearing, wailing hauntingly through the nearby trees...

[Benson]

"Yes...that I got....damn...this was frankly a surreal moment for me, haha..heh..mmm, anyways, yes, you go lay yourself down Gothard," He watched the squirrel scamper off into the darkness and stiffened for a moment at the wailing winds. Right. Ahem.

[Trobby]

Gothard blinks, then gives a general tired shrug. Even if he were inclined to be frightened, he's too tired to emote it right this moment, and simply sinks back into his bedroll to sleep.

[Benson]

Niklaus sighed and grabbed his brow and quiver of arrows and sat down in front of the fire and did his watch.

Spoiler

Show

Spot: (1d20+6)[13]
Listen: (1d20+4)[17]

[Lycan 01]

Niklaus stays watch for a couple of hours. He doesn't see anything, though there's not much to see beyond the campsite. Occasionally, the clouds above crack and break slightly, allowing slivers of moonlight to pierce the darkness.

The wind dies down, and the woods fall silent again. Niklaus doesn't hear a sound throughout his watch, other than the gentle crackle of the fire.

[Benson]

And so....it was morning. I guess.

Niklaus woke up. Stretched, did his thing. The stuff he does. Stuff. Morning. Thing. Yawn. Not much else to say at this point. He woke up.

[Trobby]

Gothard drags himself out of his bedroll, sits up, stretches, and looks out...towards the frozen river.

"...Oh. Right. That's still there."

[Lycan 01]

There is a loud growling noises.

It is coming from the viking's stomachs.

Spoiler

Show

Breakfast time. Y'all can either find something to eat, or press on with a small (-2) penalty.

The berries, while filling and nutritious, aren't the best source of energy. Plus, there aren't many left. You'll have to eat something else besides berries, unless you're fine with a tiny (-1) penalty.

Also, uh, you need a plan for crossing the river.

[Benson]

Food wasn't a problem for the two vikings, they still had a day's worth of rations. So Niklaus would content himself with his designated breakfast portions of the day's rations.

So Niklaus was fine with food at the moment, the pressing matter was the river.

"I really have no good ideas, most of them involve chance of serious injury."

[Trobby]

"How about an idea that will minimize chance of injury?" Gothard suggests. For his part, he supplements his rations with the nearby berries, thereby reducing the level of ration consumption to a manageable level.

[Benson]

"I don't know, something involving our ropes," Niklaus rubbed his chin thinking hard about this.

[Trobby]

"Mmh...if we had time, we could build our own bridge across." Gothard mused. "But felling that much wood and getting it across the river with just the two of us would take all day."

[Benson]

"Indeed...maybe a small makeshift raft to ride ourselves across? Particularly riding along the calmer areas of the lake," Niklaus scrunched his brow.

[Trobby]

"You ever navigated across a river on a raft before, Niklaus?"

[Benson]

"I'm not much of a sailor or fisherman let's say."

[Trobby]

"Hmm...I suppose now is as good a time as any to learn though. Gothard says as he looks out at the river. "If it's shallow enough, maybe we can just pull a raft across....what do you think?"

[Benson]

"Elaborate please," he asked of gothard

[Trobby]

"I'm thinking, if the river is shallow enough, perhaps all we need to do is make something which we can float across, and take a sturdy stick to guide ourselves..."

Gothard takes a look at the river to see if this is at all viable.

[Lycan 01]

The howling of wolves can be heard in the distance.

Spoiler

Show

Perception (or any other skill you think is reasonable) to recognize how far off they are.

[Trobby]

"...That doesn't sound good."

Spoiler

Show

Listen: (1d20+4)[11]
Spot: (1d20)[15]

[Benson]

Niklaus sharply turned his head from the river and to the forest.

Spoiler

Show

Spot: (1d20+6)[7]
Listen: (1d20+4)[16]