[3.5E] Heretic's Bane Icewind Dale

[Katasi]

Arum tries some of the soup and finds it immediatly to his liking, smiling softly as he takes another spoonful. "This really is very good." he says.

[Yuki Akuma]

Raltise looks around the table, then sighs slightly. "I'll go, then." She stands, pushing his bowl away from him as he does, and puts on his cloak. "Come on, Lythe..." And with that, he's off to find Clinkscales.

[Diarmuid]

Bundok

Edit - Putting my post into a spoiler, must have taken too long writing it and the other posts got in before me. Just ignore it for now, I guess

Spoiler

Show

Bundok waited a few seconds to see if anyone else was going to volunteer, even though he knew no one else would. Grumbling under his breath a bit, he unceremoniously hopped off his bench and pulled the cowl of his fur cloak up over his head. With a weak salute of a fist against his chest he ambled out the door, in no particular hurry, but nonetheless in the direction that would take him to see Clinkscales.

He made little effort of greetings to anyone he passed along the way, offering salutes only when it was required of him, more than happy to just be left alone once again wishing he was back home in front of his forge and anvil. Times of recollection like this he usually found himself patting the armor on his chest and remembering the loving care with which he had crafted it.

Shaking himself away from his rememberences, he found himself standing front of his destination. Unravelling a meaty fist from within the confines of his warm cloak, he pounded on the door a couple of times.

[ooc] leaving it there in case you plan on there being more happening here. [/ooc]

[mshady]

It takes almost a minute before someone responds to the knocking on the door. Outside, ye can see several horses and a few ponies tied up on hitching posts along the side of the warehouse. A dwarf stands guard with axe and shield while a dwarven child is carrying buckets of water to their troughs. Bundok does not notice that Raltise and Lythe have following them out of the Goblin's Groin. One of the forgemark legionnaires opens the door with a creak as the ice pops off hinges with a crackling noise.

The dwarf is wrapped in furs of his own and has a short, yellowish beard with a long scar on his face and bleary eyes. Underneath the furs, Bundok can see his finely crafted mithril banded mail. Considering the dwarven preference for plate armor, most would find it any lighter armor an unusual choice for them. However, the Forgemark is expected to travel long distances and rely on mobility in battle. Doing so in plate armor can be both impractical and tiring. The dwarf also wears an axe on one hip and a short sword on the other.

"Ye see to see High Iron Clinkscales? Course ye are, the one with all the furs and the stick... that one behind with ya too?" He blinks his eyes to adjust to the morning light. "Aye, I recognize that one too... well, come on down..."

He turns and walks back down the stairs into the basement of the warehouse. While the first floor holds all manner of stores, the below ground basement holds the group, using the earth to protect them from the biting winds and cold. Given its likeness to a cave, the accomodations are quite comfortable by dwarven standards. Bedrolls are spread out along the floor and many dwarves are standing in a line as a cook prepares their food. An open barrel of ale sits next to the stove and they fill their mugs with it before returning to their bed rolls.

At the very end of the line stands the High Iron Knight Clinkscales towers over most of the other dwarves. He looks strong and has a hard, angular face partially hidden behind a medium length black and grey beard tied into three braids held by ornate clasps and is waiting silently, a pipe in his mouth. As the legionnaire approaches with Bundok, Raltise and Lythe in tow, he turns to greet the soldier and the new comers.

Giving a salute, the legionnaire says "Some of Tolrin's folks here to see ye, sir."

Clinkscales nods and pulls at his beard, frowning ever so slightly towards Bundok and wrinkling his nose.

"Little early for company, eh? What can I do for ye this morn?"

[mshady]

Meanwhile back at the Goblin's Groin....

Tolrin and the rest of the remaining party finish their morning food. Yvira comes by a few minutes later and informs Tolrin of the tab and gives her some coins. He looks like he wants to ask her something, but says nothing and the gnome walks away, giving the party a sideways glance.

Standing up and patting his belly, Tolrin smiles.

"I'm goin' to get into my gear and then we're goin' to see the tomb of Hundle. I suggest ye do the same, and don't forget yer furs. It's a long climb on broken trails." Without waiting for a response, Tolrin heads back up to his room. Within ten minutes, he has returned. He is wearing black and gold plate armor with a red tabbard bearing the holy symbol of Moradin below the personal crest of the Mountain House, the head of a mountain lion. On his head sits a bejeweled open faced helm with a horse hair crest. His winter wolf cloak flows around him. Tolrin also bears a hammer, a shield and a stave on his back, among other accessories.

Sitting back down again at his chair with a clank, he light his pipe and glances at the door.

"Ready whenever ye folks are and the others return."

[Katasi]

After finishing eating Arum seeks out Yvira to apologize for his rudeness earlier. "Madam, I am sorry I yelled earlier, but you insulted my frined who I hold in high regard. And you where treating us all rather badly."

After saying his peace Arum gets ready and is ready when Tolrin comes out.

[Tharar_Greenleaf]

Kelith

After finishing his ale Kelith stands from his set and gathers his gear.

"Considering the chill outside i'll be returning with something it take away it's bite." With that he leaves out the door and returns a few minutes later looking the exact same as before.

edit: "Well it seems the worms aren't out yet, so I'll just have to make due with my furs. I'm ready whenever everyone else is."

{{ I'm going to buy 4 scrolls of endure elements, if there isn't a place that sells them i'll edit my post accordingly with a response.}}

[bchilders]

Magnum also finishes his meal and goes to his room to find his winter clothes. He appears again with cover in thick furs and says, "Nothing like visiting a tomb to get ye goin in the mornin."

[Diarmuid]

Bunduk

Bunduk shifts from foot to foot while waiting for his knocks to be answered. He found that constant motion helped stave off the cold.

He nodded and grunted out an "Aye." at the dwarf's first question. He quirked an eyebrow at the second question and turned to notice his entourage for the first time. A shrug and a patented non-committal grunt and he was following through the warehouse.

Pulling his cowl down he scratches at a spot behind his ear as they approach the High Iron. Returning the salute, he leaned on his staff and his gravelly voice responds,

"M'Lord, Forgesmith Tolrin means ta' take 'is band o' men ta' tha tomb o' tha Hurler o' Hammers. E' doesn'a plan ta be at it all day and aims ta' keep 'is meetin wit da council fer later tonight. E' thought you should know."

Not really sure what else he should do, Bunduk waited for some kind of response/reaction from Clinkscales.

[mshady]

Clinkscales rubs his eyes tiredly and you suspect this dwarf has not been getting much sleep lately. Thinking for a moment and shifting forward as the line moves, he seems a bit surprised but simply nods.

"Didn't know he intended on goin' there. I'd feel more comfortable send'n some of my boys along with him. He is goin' up into the Spine, afterall. I hear that ain't always the safest trek. What's he up to anyways?" Clinkscales asks, more rhetorically.

"Well... Tolrin can take care o'himself, rest of ye shoulds be able to take care of him. If he's not back before the meet'n though, we'll come looking. Have a good hike." Turning back to the chow line, Clinkscales returns to his waiting and ends the conversation.

"Come on folks." The dwarf you met at the door. He ushers ye back to the door gruffly.

Presumbably, you two return directly to the Goblin's Groin and prepare for the journey, moving out with the rest.

[Diarmuid]

Bundok

With a hearty salute, Bundok turns on his heel and follows their escort out. He doesnt waste any breath on smalltalk with his escorts as they make their way back to the Groin.

Pushing into the inn, he tries to stamp the cold out of his boots as he calls over to Tolrin from nearer the fire,

"Clinkscales says e'd prefer if'n ye took some o' 'is boys widja, but e' knows ye can keep yer skin on yer bones mostly. But if'n we aint back a'fore the meetin'...e'll come lookin' fer us."

Laying his staff on the ground beside him, he squats before the fire and waits for the others to finish their meals and get ready to leave. His mind echoes the thoughts his mouth wouldnt vocalize in front of Tolrin,

"I canna believe we're takin that gnome with us...and the human. They'd better nae do anythin' ta defile our tombs. Tolrin should know better'n ta bring those types ta our sacred places."

[mshady]

Tolrin nods in response.

"I bet that's what he said!" He chuckles. "All the better to go as we are. More folks'll just slow us down."

Looking around, Tolrin smiles and nods.

"So... I think we best be off."

With that, the group gathers and departs the tavern for the mountains....

[Butch]

Hjalmar

It's about time, he thinks. He takes a position quite far back in the order, but keeps a remarkable pace despite his heavy armor.

[Diarmuid]

Bundok

The unkempt dwarf sets out and takes up a point position on the way to the mountains. Occasionally he stops to check the trail, looking for recent traffic or to check a stool pile, making sure that there hasnt been any unwanteds through the area recently.

[Tharar_Greenleaf]

Kelith

Kelith pulls his furs from his pack as they leave the inn and readies himself for the journey to come. During the trek he positions himself near the middle of the group with his red spiked chain still slung over his shoulder for easy access.

{{I'd like to go ahead and cast a vote for speeding up to when we get to the tomb on account of not many people seemingly wanting to post.

[Katasi]

Arum stay to the back of the group, just following along.

[bchilders]

Magnum stays around the middle humming loudly and occasionally throwing in words here and there. You can tell he is fairly unsuccessfully trying to make up a song about traveling to a tomb in the morning.

[mshady]

The party exits Hundlestone by its eastern gates. The guards at the gate house let you exit with a minimum of conversation. They are not rude, but they are certainly not friendly and you doubt their enthusiasm for letting the party back into Hundlestone. A light, chill, wind is blowing causing an occasional flurry of snow. While it is morning, it is still relatively dark out here. This far north to the north there are far fewer hours of daylight. Later in the season there is hardly any daylight if it comes at all. The best this day will offer for several more hours is a meager attempt at dawn.

Following a road to the mines along the eastern face of the Spine of the World, the party marches in single file, with the exception of Bunduk the dwarven ranger. He ranges significantly ahead of the group as a scout, looking for any signs of danger. To the rest of the group, the squat dwarf in furs looks like a bipedal grizzly bear from a distance, but all appears to be quiet. The path to the mines is sloppy and filled with ruts from passing wagons, with half frozen dirt crumbling at every step and testing ankles at every step. The increasingly sharp climb only makes matters worse and the more precarious sections at least have some form of crude fencing. Along the way the group notices at least two wagons that plunged off the path and down the side of the mountain. It is unlikely anyone survived the fall. No wagons pass during the early morning hours, although it no doubt sees regular use. After walking for three hours, the party reaches the mining tunnels and stops for a rest to the side of the entrance and starts a fire. As they are preparing the fire, one of the human guards saunters over to the group from the entrance to the mining complex. He wears an expression of a man beyond boredom with a rough looking face covered in chainmail, boiled leather and furs. His question is predictable.

“So uh… what brings ye to the Mines of the Spines but… not to them, as yer resting? Headed somewhere else? If so ye need to state yer business…” The guard says, scratching his scraggly beard.
Rising from the fire, Tolrin walks over to the guard and pulls him aside, speaking quietly to the man and gesturing up the trail and occasionally back at the group. The guard is soon joined by another guard and the conversation takes a heated turn. Finally, Tolrin pulls out his holy symbol, the mountain lion symbol with the glittering green eyes. Tolrin points to it and gestures down the trail winding parallel to mountain slope. Both guards look at it and he speaks to them once again in calm, even tones. The guards nod, shake his hand and walk back to their post and Tolrin trots back over smiling.

“Well, that went well! I reckon we ought to keep moving before them lads change their minds and give me another hassle. All that just for want of a few coin…” Tolrin chuckles and adjusts his cloak once again, tests his footing with his staff and kicks some dirt on to the pathetic little fire.

“Off we go again…. Really must get there and back before we meet with the Stone Council. Don’t worry folks, we be almost here. Mind yer step and Bunduk, keep yer eyes ready. Folks don’t come up much this way, and tis for a reason these days. Some talk of a mad priest of winter in these parts. Spine o’the World though, course there is that and more. Folk have to swallow a fair share of paranoia to live up here.”

The path to the tomb of Hundle, Hurler-of-Hammers looms in front of the party. Is a winding path that barely merits the term “trail.” Along this part of the trail, the mountain seems to have a far more gentle grade and further down one could as much walk on the trail or up the side of the mountain with only some difficulty. The gentle slopes are covered with snow and even the stumps of small, scrawny trees may be seen. It is still dark, although it is approaching afternoon by now.

[Yuki Akuma]

Ralts is not dead. Neither is his player. He just oculdn't think of anything to post until now.

On the way up the mountain, Ralts just follows along, chattering animatedly with his rocky companion (who, of course, chatters even more in return). He seems to be treating this little excursion simply as a hike into the mountains, and not at all as seriously as he really should. Doesn't he know how honoured he should feel to be allowed inside a dwarven tomb?

Sitting around the fire, Raltise's eyes fall on the guard, and then narrow slightly as the second approaches. His eyes take on a faint, greenish glow, the same colour dancing around his fingertips for a moment, before Tolrin returns to the group. He then grins, and follows once again, now talking about the scenery with Lythe. He does love this mountain air, after all.

[Paper_Bard]

OOC: Sorry folks! I didn't notice the second page!

IC: Duervar follows wordlessly, seeming content in his thick cloak. At Tolrin's complaint about the guards, however, the half-breed speaks up. "Most dwarves suffer from avarice. It is a disease that infects the goodly folk as much as the evil."

[mshady]

OOC: Hey everyone. With the large group here, please post in this thread even if you cannot think of what to say or there is nothing to say. That lets me know you're acknowledging the post and are ready for me to move the thread forward. So every time I post something, try to post something yourselves. I don't want to cut anyone off.

As a general rule for combat to keep things flowing, if there is no post within 2 days of the post I may make the move for you to keep things going. Any move I make will be a conservative option, of course.

MShady

[Tharar_Greenleaf]

Kelith

For now Kelith continues his trek, paying attention to his comrades and the lay of the land around him. Unless a topic of interest is brought up he keeps silent and just treks along in the middle of the group.

[bchilders]

After Tolrin mentions the idea of a mad priest you can hear snippets of Magnum trying to include that into his tune but he is content to walk along and fail miserably at song writing.

[Diarmuid]

Bundok

The scout nods at Tolrin's comments and slows the pace a bit to account for the possibly tricky terrain. As usual, he is as often out of sight as he is within sight, though he checks in at regular intervals and/or leaves trail signs directing the party and warning of dangerous footfalls.

Survival - (1d20+5)[9]

When the tomb looms within sight, he halts a good few hundred feet from it and waits for Tolrin and the rest to catch up (assuming we make it that far).

[mshady]

As Bundok is scouting ahead of the party, he stops to leave a trail sign marking an area where the side of the trail looks like it might crumble and cause someone to slip and possibly fall off the ledge. Looking ahead, the trail continues to wrap around the side of this particular mountain in the Spine. Finally Bundok is able to catch a glimpse of a non-descript cave just around the bend.

Between Bundok and the cave is a dip between two mountains that flattens out and is at least passable. As he is looking towards the valley and examining the flow of the land and snow covering for activity, something seems out of sorts to him.

Two hundred feet in front of Bunduk, he notices two unusual lumps in the snow. There is freshly packed snow around them, like something had burrowed into the hard packed snow. There is no way to tell how big whatever dug them is, but it looks like something tried to cleverly camouflage the activity. They look like they have been there for awhile as the wind has blown away any sign of prints that Bundok can see from this distance. Bundok is too far away for his infravision to see any heat to tell if the place is still occupied. (Spot roll of 21). The ridges at least look undisturbed, but it is disturbed.

The rest of the party is several hundred feet behind Bundok, marching along to the sound of an occasional bad song and idle chatter.

[Diarmuid]

Bundok

[ooc] What race are Kelith and Arman? [/ooc]

Thinking to signal his companions, the dwarven ranger starts to reach for his pack with thoughts of digging out his mirror...but then he realises that the lack of light will make that somewhat difficult. Silently cursing the near-endless darkness, he leaves himself a marker and begins heading back towards the others.

When he reaches them he addresses Tolrin,

"Oy Cap'n, der's somethin' 'idin' in da snow off tha road a few 'unnerd feet up. Almost missed it meself. Whate'er it is, it done a good job gettin into da snow. I dinnae think we kin pass it an nay get it's attention, so we might'n wanna ambush tha' ambush. I kin 'ide pretty good, and the tall one sneaks OK, but 'e prolly cannae see much with the sky like it is. Mayhaps one o' da finger wagglers's got a trick up der sleeves. Some kinda...I dinnae, illusion or sumin' to make em thinks we're walking into der trap...and then we jump em when they come outta 'idin'."

He describes the area around the two strange snow lumps and the trail leading up that point as best he can so a plan can be formulated.

[bchilders]

Magnum cuts of his singing and listens intently for Tolrins response. He is already anxious and excited that there might be some action on this trip.

[Paper_Bard]

Duervar nods towards the dwarven ranger. He then waits for Tolrin to answer before he inputs any ideas.

[mshady]

Tolrin listens to Bundok's news intently and stands quietly, mulling over the news. Taking a wand off belt, he turns it on its end and squats down. The squeal from his armor gives an irrating whine. Staring at the snow for the moment, he closes his eyes for a moment. Opening his eyes, Tolrin begins a simplistic drawing of the trail and landscape in the snow. He marks the general location of what Bondok sited with lumps of frozen dirt and stands up to regard the snow diagram while pulling at his beard in thought.

"This 'ould be easier to figure out if I knew what 'as there." Tolrin looks at the diagram pensively. "The way its sited, prolly is an ambush, agreed? If 't was orcs or goblins, there'd be alot more. I'd nay credit them with the craftiness to hide in open ground like that 'nd do it well. Hobgoblins could, much smarter, but again numbers. Where be the rest of'em, hmm? Also be the fact Bundok seen not any prints 'nd that is deep snow 'ndeed. Means they been there awhile. Or gone awhile. That means, if they still be there, tis been a couple days at least and nay moved. I nay care how many furs ye wear, that's too cold so..." Tolrin taps the two lumps with his wand, one than than the other and back.

"...so that means cold nay bother them. Could be a remoraz, but they move 'round alot. Winter wolves maybe, but the packs are larger. They do bury themselves 'n the snow and ye may not notice there tracks, so it could be more recent. So... could be ice trolls, maybe gnolls, frost giants or a mated pair o'young white dragons." Finish his thought, Tolrin chuckles to himself.

"Tis a good thing regardless. The Stone Council comes up 'ere once a year to pay respects at Hundle's tomb, so by us bein' here we get to spring the ambush before the Council does. Us being composed of dwarves, humans and a gnome means we look just like what whomever up there 'ay be expecting. Which means 'his could look good to the Council if we live, which largely be the point of us being here. Whomever 'r whatever they be, I'd be surprised if they're acting alone here at that place at that time. A good surprise, 'hey could push someone 'ight off the cliff. No real way around'em either. So.... what do ye folks think 'bout what to do?" Tolrin smiles and looks at the group.

[Tharar_Greenleaf]

Kelith, Human

Un-slinging the spiked chain from his shoulder Kelith starts twirling it in unconscious patterns.

"Well, unless someone needs to get prepared for the battle I'd just as well say we move up and let the archers take some shots at the mounds and see what happens. Anything pops out and tries to attack us my chain should take care of.

With that, Kelith will move to the front of the group taking (or sharing be it) the front position.

When the group decides on an action he will mutter a chant and raise his hand into the air. As he drops it to the ground the hand glows red and you faintly see a transparent blue-flame, shaped as a breastplate, form around his body.

Spells Cast
1st-1 of 7

{{OOC: Just for reference, I have 10ft reach and combat reflexes. I'll also be casting shield of faith on myself once we decide what we want to do and start moving out}}