The Vanstermen IC

[MintyNinja]

Day 9

The decision made, you trudge along in the early morning's rain. What mist accrued during the night clings to the ground until nearly midday when a break in the clouds allow some pale sunlight in. As the rain continues to dwindle the cacophony of it is replaced with birdsong and mating calls. The forest is thick around you and somewhat lively with small critters and flitting birds. Once a rabbit surprises itself by bolting right across your path, seeming to ignore whatever it thinks you are. A few hours past midday and the temperature seems to drop with the sunlight. Everything the three of you are wearing is laden with moisture, if not from the rains then from the air itself.

It's hard to tell how much progress you really made today. There's no trail and there aren't any landmarks that you could recall from your time on the mountainside. All you know for sure is that you're heading steadily downward, slowly, towards where you think the lake is. All you can really do is gauge your position from the mountains around you. To this end, you're pretty sure you're going the right way. As night falls, though, you lose sight of even them and must settle down to make camp. Supplies are hung, a fire is lit, and shifts are agreed upon. What food you do gather is serviceable, but by now you're really missing hot stew and fresh bread from home. It's better than being stuck on the water for weeks at a time, but only barely.

Day 10

Come morning the sky is blanketed in clouds and a strong wind is blowing from what you think is the southeast. You're pretty sure that the lake is in that direction and so a strong wind makes some sort of sense, right? Well you don't have a bevy of options as of right now, and so the three of you reclaim your supplies and start making your way to the Southeast. The rains fall in spurts and flurries on and off for the rest of the day. What wildlife seemed abundant yesterday is mostly hiding today, and the early morning mists hold nearly as long as yesterday.

It's about early evening when you at last break from the trees and find yourselves on a small rock bluff overlooking the lake. The sun is just slipping behind the western mountain's southern ridge at this point but you get a clear view of the open water shimmering in fiery gold before you. The lake's waters feed into the river to the west and you're surprised to see it so far away from your position. To your immediate left, you can see quite a few streams and rivulets pouring off the mountain you scaled into the northernmost shore of this lake. To the south a massive mountain rises up and you can see a waterfall coming down from it to crash into the trees far below. More eastward you see a game trail rise up away from the south side of the lake and disappear into a natural canyon between the two southern mountains. To the far east of the lake, you see what must have been that southeastern mountain when you saw it from the peak a few days ago. Many of it's streams and freshwater melt have formed into another middling sized river, feeding into the lake from there.

There's no sign of Lim's creature, but you do spot a small herd of deer across the lake to the southern shores. To estimate the size of this lake, you think that if you were able to walk across it would take maybe two days at it's longest point, and a little less than a day at it's widest. It definitely looks much larger up close than it did from far above. The next real question is where do you go from here? If across, how?

Spoiler: OOC

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You've reached the shores of the lake. It's quite hard to tell it's exact size from here, but the distant shorelines look pretty far off. If you're making a raft then we'll need to use some checks. No one seems particularly skilled at this, so I'll take a d20 from each person involved and use the averages. If your going around and hoping to find a place to cross, which way are you going?

[SaintRidley]

Gerðr gawks at the lake when they get there. "I guess I didn't expect it to be quite this large. It looked smaller from up there."

She ponders the thing a little. No creature in sight, but that's not unexpected if it lives in the water. And there's a lot of water to live in.

"It's starting to get dark, so I don't think we should try to hike further today. Let's see what we can find for camp, maybe see if we can catch a fish or two, and sleep. Come morning, I'd rather try the canyon than spend a day going across the water."

[Woggle]

On the rocky bluff, Kára gives a small laugh when Gerðr mentions the lake's size. "Heh, you're not kidding. I definitely got a wrong sense of it too. I don't fancy our chances crossing it, so the canyon sounds promising to me. If we had a proper boat, rather than a make-shift raft, then maybe. But we don't."

Kára goes about helping Lim and Gerðr with camp. With camp set, she pulls her lantern from her pack, and attaches a line of rope to one of her javelins. "We haven't got any fishing line, but maybe we can spear one or two if they're in the shallows. We may be able to attract some with the lantern"

Spoiler: OOC

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Apologies for the delay, I meant to have this up yesterday.

[HatMadder]

With the lake this close, Lim thinks of the size of the creature he saw from atop the mountain. He hopes it's his imagination or something to do with the distance, there's no way it could have taken up that much of the lake...

Lim will say nothing about fishing, but as long as the group is away from the lake he'll join in conversation.

"If the river isn't too deep we could probably make a go of that tomorrow, looks to be the best way to get to the canyon. Plus I don't know if I'm up for climbing another mountain so soon."

If anyone goes to fish, Lim will follow with his weapons handy and keep a watchful eye on the lake for anything coming up from below.

[MintyNinja]

Day 10

The light of the day fades away and Gerðr sets up camp while Kára and Lim go fishing in the shallows. By the time it's dark you have three decent sized trout roasting on an open fire and all the nightly forest sounds harmonizing with the crackle and pop of the flames. It's the first properly hot meal you've had in a few days and it seems to bring some missing warmth back into your bellies. The three of you are camped just off of a rock outcropping over the water, and with the fire and the dry skies it takes a while for you to tear yourselves away from the peaceful scenery and turn in for the night.

Day 11

The watches passed peacefully and in the morning Gerðr has another pair of trout roasting on the low coals of the night's fire. A hot meal is a great way to start the day, and you break camp with a bit more life in your step than you have for the last few days. You're following the lake's shore southwesterly in an attempt to join back up at the river. The weather is windy and cloudy and while you hear the low rumble of thunder far off, the sky seems to be holding it's water for the time being. You cross numerous small game trails leading to the water and away, but nothing larger than a human is leaving tracks on this side.

As you follow the rocky shore west, the far side of the lake seems to be drawing closer. It's nearly the end of your travelling day, maybe two hours of sunlight left, when you come to what could be called the head of the river. The distant shore's pretty far from here, maybe an hour's swim if you aren't weighed down, but you think you know the current's only going to get faster the farther west you go. There are plenty of trees near at hand and you've some practice with building rafts now, so that's an option. Or you could keep following the river to the west and hope for another slow spot closer than your last crossing.

[HatMadder]

Over the night's hot supper, Lim started to open up to his travelling companions, telling them stories of past raids, of vicious fights and the beautiful carvings and piles of treasure his parties would bring back.
"Easiest run I ever had was when I was able to lure a group of warriors, if you can call them that, out into the woods near dusk. Entire party was there waiting for them, couldn't have taken more than a minute to clean up that mess.
Hardest fight I was in, probably one of my early raids. Entire village was trained to fight, even the kids were throwing rocks and damn if they didn't hit hard. We ended up turning tail and running away from that one. Lucky that it was a small ship we were on, got out of there as fast as we could. I didn't hear much from the captain after that, I think he retired. Something about being humiliated one too many times.
My favorite raid, well that would have to be when I met Ruthar and Marre. Brother and sister, didn't look too different from Sera and Merrick, but that's where the similarities ended. These two were the wildest humans I've ever met. They would throw themselves into battle wish such passion, I was surprised they didn't have a death wish. Turns out they partied with the same attitude they took to battle. Found that out when in one of the huts we found massive stocks of wine and ale. Heh, the ship barely made it back to the docks, the entire crew had used up most of our bounty but nobody was complaining. Had to take a couple days shore leave before heading back out after that one."

Then there were the stories of the raids in between, nothing as lively as those three, but Lim still mentioned the little bits he had learned as the years passed.
"There were even a couple times where we lost more people on the way back than on the raid itself due to bad weather and neglected ship repairs."

Lim jokes about how this armor is probably the oldest one he's ever had.
"Ever since I started these raids, I'd trade in the old armor for something newer. Found a good place and kept going back, guy was just happy to have business. I never knew how people did it, day in and day out with the same armor. I think I kind of get it now though, it grows on ya. Still the smelliest bit of leather I've ever had."

***********************

The next day, as they reach the mouth of the river, Lim takes note of the direction of the current.

"Well, as long as we don't go further into the lake, I'm good to try and cross here. What do you two think? Build a raft tomorrow and give it a shot?"

If that's the plan, Lim will start looking for trees that would be suitable for raft making and mark them for cutting.
Being this close to the lake, he doesn't want to take any chances so Lim stays ready with his weapons and pack on him until camp is set up.

[SaintRidley]

Gerðr listens with interest to the old raid stories. She doesn't have much of anything like that to share. Maybe some times avoiding the wildmen in the mountains while hunting deer, but nothing terribly exciting.

"I completely get where you're coming from with the armor," Gerðr says. "It's a bit of relief knowing I don't have to worry about that anymore. Hard work,
toughening up the skin like this, but if it keeps extra weight off me so I can move better, I'm okay with that."

***************

"I think this looks good. Not too wide to cross, and if we build a good raft we can probably get some branches long enough to pole across to make it even easier. I'd rather everyone be up out of the water if possible."

[Woggle]

Kára smiles and laughs along as Lim tells of his raids over a hot meal. "I've not had any raids as extreme as those, though we've had to beat a hasty retreat once or twice, when scouting hadn't told us the whole story."

*****

When they reach the river-head, Kára studies the water for a time with her hands on her hips. "Well, I doubt we'll find a better crossing." She nods to Gerðr's suggestion of poles for the raft. "There's plenty of wood about; I'm sure we can find suitable trees. That should get at least part of the way across, depending on how deep the river is. We should get started, then." Kára sets off to help Lim with choosing suitable trees for the raft and potential poles, and remains somewhat on her guard in case of aggressive wildlife.

[MintyNinja]

Day 11

The three of you go about your business, hunting down logs, trees, and branches suitable for a makeshift raft. It gets dark soon and while you've got a good start, you're no where near ready. You set up camp in the usual pattern and take the same turns on watch.

Day 12

You come awake to the shaking of leaves in trees as the winds continue to speed on by. The rumble of thunder is gone for now, but it's a day that promises rain. The first half of it is taken up with building the raft. What comes of it is a long, four log wide platform bound tightly with ropes. It's just long enough to balance the three of you and your gear, if none of you are lying down. The proper balance of the thing means that Kára will be in the middle with her pack, and the halflings will be on either end to help steer. When you think it's ready, you stop for a midday meal and start packing up camp. With some effort, you bring the large misshapen craft up the shore of the lake a ways and set it onto the water. It seems to work as planned and you load it up. The halflings can stand and push with their poles, but the raft becomes unsteady if Kára tries to rise.

It's not easy, and soon you're each soaked with freezing waters as the splashing of the poles fights the draw of the river. As the wind continues to blow the first, fat drops of rain fall, and then sheets of it all at once. The one upside is that the rain water is slightly warmer than the lake water. Heaving at your guide poles, you position the raft halfway across the mouth of the river by the time it draws you in. Now it's a real challenge as the new current tries to pull you farther and farther down away from the lake and the three of you try to pole yourselves over to the far shore before being swept away. The wind howls at your back and the driving rain has you all squinting and the sound of water reigns supreme over your own thoughts. It's all you can do to keep your balance, footing, and pace as you try to reach the shore.

And then you hit the rock. It was nearly impossible to see, and maybe Lim shouted something from the front, but it was soon too late. Your front end comes to a sudden jarring stop and the raft swings around quickly in the current, now spinning. Lim fell overboard in the crash and his safety line quickly goes taut. Before either of you remaining folks can get more than a word out, the entire raft comes to a stop. You've hit a dead log jutting out from the shore. Quickly, Kára pulls on Lim's safety line and drags the older halfling up out of the freezing waters and back onto the raft. A moment of wracking coughing is her thanks, but you don't know how long the dead log will hold. With a mighty effort, Kára throws her own gear onto the bank, out of the river's reach. She does the same for Lim's gear as he unties himself and clambers up off the raft. Gerðr looks determined as she unties her own self and pulls her gear with her up onto the bank. There's a sudden, low cracking sound as the dead log starts to give way more and more. With the smaller folk up to safety, Kára leaps up onto the bank as well just as the raft is swept out from under her feet by the current.

Thoroughly soaked, freezing in the wind, it's quickly decided that a fire is the most important thing this moment and thanks to Gerðr's talents it's up in only minutes. Shelter becomes a concern once the three of you stop shaking and soon the rest of the day is spent between constructing a small campsite and staying warm by the fire. It's almost dark by the time the wind blows itself out and the rain seems less driven as it did earlier. That was a close call, but you've all survived worse and closer in the past. Sometimes it's just enough to make you appreciate the little things in life, like a proper rowboat.

Lose 30 ft of Rope.

Day 17

The last few days were nice, for a change. After crossing the river so many days ago, you trekked around the southern side of the large lake towards the canyon. Nothing seemed to catch your eye as far as lake creatures go, but there was plenty of smaller wildlife to be found. The canyon was a different beast altogether, though. Not actually a canyon, but a great big crack in the stone between two mountains. There was a path leading along the eastern side of it, but for the entire two days spent in that sparse, dark place you only saw the sun for a quick hour a day. At it's peak it lit up the hole far below and curiosity being the force that it is, Lim leaned over to look. Far below he saw the shimmer of what might be water, and now that he saw it he realized he'd been hearing it all day. A low, soft rumble that is easily obscured by regular footfalls.

Today, however, the three of you just crossed another, much smaller river. One of the melt streams from the large mountain now to your immediate west tossed and turned itself into a waterfall before that pool fed into the small lake fed by the other nearby mountains. You all crossed by lashing together a pair of long logs at a high point over the running stream and walking. Definitely an improvement over rafting. Now you're camped in the shadow of one mountain overlooking a long way down out of this mountain range entirely. The trail, if it can even be called that, switches back and forth down with the falling river bleeding from the small lake beside you. At various points you can see the river become a waterfall and drop again and again. On the other side of it is the largest mountain you've seen yet. It's nearest ridge ends up here, up in the range itself and it climbs up into the night sky above. You've seen this frozen peak from that first mountain of yours, and now you can definitely say it's larger than you expected. From what you saw on your journey, winter still seems to reign on it's top quarter, and the ascent looks sheer and jagged in places. It would be a difficult climb in the heart of summer, let alone Spring's first month.

Down below you three can see that the mountain range and foothills drop farther to the south and there seems to be a large forest visible from up here. Across the treetops you see another mountain range spike up from the land. And while it's hard to get a great view, you're pretty sure that the eastern side of the island stays rough and hilly throughout, like a row of teeth.

Spoiler: OOC

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I need Perception Checks.

Also, do you intend to climb this very large mountain? It was always the tallest, and I'm not just amping it up because you folks said you wanted to climb the tallest, but you might need winter gear, climbing claws, etc. It is a dangerous ascent.

[SaintRidley]

"That looks like a mountain we would want to prepare for. I know you two might want to climb it, but I'm going to point out that if that first mountain got scarce on resources and cold, this one's going to be colder and even more likely to starve us," Gerðr says. "And after that river crossing the other day, I'm still trying to get properly warm."

Gerðr looks into the forest and the hilly, toothy island interior. "Looks like we made it through the Teeth just to find the fangs. I'm willing to be outvoted on this one, but I say forest and come back to the mountain at some other time."

Perception: (1d20+3)[15]

[MintyNinja]

Perception Results

Out in the forest there is a single plume of smoke lazily snaking it's way skyward. No raging inferno, but possibly the smoke of a campfire or cottage.

[SaintRidley]

"Not sure if you're seeing this, but that looks like camp smoke down in the forest. I'm even more interested now."

[HatMadder]

Staring at the mountain towering above them, Lim turns to the other two and mirrors Gerðr's sentiment.

"I don't remember where everyone was going, but maybe one of the other groups got lost.
I'd like to check it out though, there's gotta be something out there."

[SaintRidley]

"If it's the others, they came a long way inland. I thought they were surveying the coasts."

[HatMadder]

"Hmm, been a while since I've seen any of the maps, but that's a good point. S'more of the islanders? Like on the Bloodbath?
I'm in for checking it out either way. Not that I'm gettin' tired of you two, it'd just be nice to see another face out here y'know?"

[Woggle]

Kára eyes the plume of smoke rising in the distance. She nods along with Lim and Gerðr, adding "It's definitely out of the way of where the other groups were headed. Could it be natural? No, there hasn't been any thunder that I've heard recently. We'd best investigate, no matter who it turns out to be." Kára glances at her pack. "I've not got much rope left for climbing anyhow, and I like not having to camp in snow, if I'm honest."

[MintyNinja]

Day 21

The sun's near it's highest point in the sky and you're just closing in on the column of smoke you first saw a few days ago.

The trek from there to here was uneventful aside from gorgeous views, majestic eagles, and part of the trail that went behind a waterfall. The last couple days were forested and the game here was less skittish than you expected.

In fact, everything seemed a little bit off as sweat sticks to your body and underclothes and armor alike. Even the air feels heavier, less crisp. The trees started just like those back in mountain range and northern forests, but more and more they're looking larger and a bit stranger. It takes a while to notice it, but once you do it sets your nerves on edge: the fruit trees are ripe. There were orchards in Vansterland and you might know that fruit trees lose their leaves in the winter and grow their fruit in the summer, but these are ripe right now in early spring.That was a day ago.

That was also when Lim noticed the lone raven following you. Always about 60 feet back and quick to fly off when he turned to it. For the last hour or two there's been no sign of the black bird, which is just as unsettling.

You find a break in the trees and the source of the smoke comes into view: a medium sized cottage. The stonework of the chimney looks mediocre at best, but serviceable. The immediate area looks to be well-tended and there's a small garden under a pair of open shutters on the north wall. Inside you see someone shuffling about inside at a busy pace. It takes a second to really look, but, yeah, it's a woman. Mousy brown hair grown long and tied back, her features show her to be about her fortieth winter. She seems to be preparing some sort of meal but from this far it's hard to tell what she's doing. The house looks cluttered, as well, but the details are difficult to make out.

What do you do?

Spoiler: OOC

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You've got about 50 feet of forest and 10 feet of clearing to the shuttered window. The shutters are open, and the door looks to be on the other side of the cottage.

[SaintRidley]

"We should watch this place for the day. See if there are others, if there's anything valuable. If we can avoid a fight, that would probably be best. There might be a settlement, and fighting a whole settlement or tipping them off to our presence could be a disaster."

[Woggle]

Kára crouches in the underbrush, watching the cottage, and nods to Gerðr's suggestion. There was no sense in rushing in without a good idea of how many other people were about. "We need to make sure to stay within the tree-line. Maybe we can see about scouting a circle about the cottage, staying in the trees? To see if there are any paths or the like." Kára shifts slightly uncomfortably, wiping perspiration from her brow.

Spoiler: OOC

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Is there any way to make a complete round of the cottage while staying well within the trees? As far as we can tell from where we are, anyway.

[MintyNinja]

Lim doesn't disagree with anything suggested and soon the three of you are creeping through the treeline. You're all suddenly aware of every small noise you make, even if only barely perceivable by your own senses, and the surrounding wilds. The air is still thick and heavy with the heat and moisture while ripe fruit hangs heavy in branches. Even berries are flourishing in the underbrush and what creatures you do come across seem at peace with your presence. A full circuit of the cottage reveals one more window on the south side of the cottage and the door on the west.

The shutters are open and again you spot the older woman fussing about, seemingly talking to herself. It's impossible to make out her words, as they're not in any language you've ever heard, not even that of the strangers you met at sea. The lilting tone of the conversation seems to be two sided, but you're only hearing half of it, as if whoever is responding is doing so quietly while out of sight. Occasionally the woman looks out the windows to the north, checking the trees, then the light of day, then turns back to her work.

To the west of the clearing is a slight path deeper into the strange trees and the warm, heavy air. It doesn't seem to be heavily trafficked.

Spoiler: OOC

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Sorry for the delay.

I need Stealth Checks from all of you if you're trying to remain unseen or unnoticed. If you intend to follow the trail, you have about half a day of sunlight left.

[SaintRidley]

Gerðr stops to watch and listen. After what feels like a week, she motions westward to the others. "Not sure what's happening here, but I bet we can get a better view over there."

Spoiler: stealth

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(1d20+3)[21]

[MintyNinja]

The GM has decreed the game ended, prematurely, but appropriately.

Explanation Here.