Frozen Temple - Heroic Quest

[Maereth Selakiir]

Maereth realized quickly that the Dragon and its Portal had just cut him off from the halfling that likely possessed all the information available about what was going on. This happened to be an unpleasant fact that the Arcanist did not truly wish to deal with. There remained alternatively of course.. and a reward at the end of the day if all worked out in his favor. Payment for his services certainly proved a motivator. 

This did not change the cold, hard facts of being cut-off from resources due to his lack of teleportation.. and his brand of escape would not lead to a pleasant enviroment at all - the Cania hellscape was far colder than Alzorc. A thickly gloved hand wiggled its way into the portion of the cloak where Sonne once more hid-away. 

" I need eyes, Sonne, make yourself scarce but able to watch the path the bear-shape loving Halfling rolled in from. " 

" Boss.. not liking this ..no clue of the dark about this job. So... you pullin' a Dustie Peel or what? " 

" Sonne.. fly. " 

Maereth truly was not a talkative sort of spellcaster. Speaking of spellcasting though.. he directed himself in the direction of the survivors of the snow-bear-ball that had rolled through, if there were any. 

" Something or someone made that happen best we assume your monsters are going to make another visit. Let us pit monster against monster then, yes? Well ladies and gents.. I am going to need a few corpses.. horses preferably.. better yet.. one of those monsters.. if any of you managed to fell one? " 

They couldn't have all been useless sacks of flesh! Besides he was feeling generous.. and when he felt generous it meant not exactly acting like himself.. even if unsavory acts of magic came about during it. Generous as he might intend to be at that moment.. well that did not mean those he spoke to would feel like helping him commit unsavory acts to save their own hides would they? He could only hope they were desperate.. he could work with desperate! 

Course there remained the actions of a certain charming Imp. Sonne was inclined to follow the requests of his Boss. Contracts and specific wording .. things he liked to leave to the Baatezu Bureaucracy. Only meant the crimson-skinned critter got to go find himself a hidey-hole that might prove a good place to set up perch and watch for unwanted guests on the horizon. He had this feeling.. the feeling that things were bout to get hotter than a Balor's breath, real nasty if they were breathing down your neck especially! 

[ Stealth Roll for the Imp -- +12 qck, Skill: Stealth +5 ] 
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[ and just in case a diplo check for Maereth - Skill: Elven Beauty - +10 diplomacy ] 
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[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Reply To Garthog

The sounds of arrows breaking against the dragon's armor sounded as he made his way into the town and then out of it. Various responses sounded upon realizing the dragon was escaping; some were upset that the dragon was leaving instead of staying and fighting, others were cheering out of happiness a supposed disaster had been averted and others were cheering as if they had just won a major battle to drink and "sleep" over that very night. One exceptionally happy person was the screaming guard that had been dropped and left behind because, well he was screaming after not hearing or believing in the dragon's words. One thing, arguably good thing ,was that now that the dragon had left and the portals no longer remained, the caravan guards, caravan owners and merchants no longer had anything to fight over.... well maybe nothing... this was Northness after all.

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Reply to Badger

Well she came to... juuuuuust after the owner of the first portal winked out of existence near the other side of town. The guard she yanked up, still slightly dazed but somewhat coherent pushed the "child" away with a grunt before saying gruffly "get back inside young one, there is a dragon about!" Trying to push himself up (if he actually pushed the halfling away) he would look around and see the city guards moving about hastily.... they never moved that fast, even when it was time to eat. This isn't good.

"Let's go lads! It seems it went that way! Let's get there before all the fun is gone!" And off they went, trying to get to their feet and join in "on the fun." 

Whiiiiich pretty much left Badger to her own devices, unless of course she got really really angry and tackled  one and made him talk.

(If that is the chosen course of action please roll an intimidation, diplomacy, gather info, etc. Check and add the appropriate bonuses.)

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Reply to Maereth

A hero! A hero had come to save the.... heroes! That elven beauty, even one of Maereth's nature, certainly did the trick when dealing with the adventurers turned.... well pathetic. They notified the magic user that they hadn't killed anything the night of the attack, that they had only sustained losses. However, Maereth was shown where the bodies of those that had been killed were covered by a piece of canvas from one of the destroyed tents. 

Sonne's feeling may in fact come to be truth. For now though he would see nor hear nothing; except for the trail formed by the massive bearball disappearing up around a bend in the path. It would be another hour or so before the "monsters" returned to finish the "job." He would be well hidden and be able to warn Maereth in advance unless one of the attackers noticed him by chance or had exceptional eyesight (high enough roll to counter the stealth roll).

For Maereth's preparations, there were at least a dozen bodies, if not more, under the canvas, as well as four horse corpses and even a dog.... poor pup. Of course there was the one he had traveled upon and there were approximately four more horses left alive, plus Glitterfoot who was still alive and huddled next to her rider's empty tent. Poor, poor Glitterfoot...... Was Sonne's much shorter than Badger? Could he ride Glitterfoot? Hmmmmm.

[badger]

Badger was left sputtering indignantly. Young one?! Sure it was a tactic she often abused in the past - acting as an innocent child to con their way into a honeycake or two being an adult halflings special gift - before she started doing weird and wonderful things to her hair .. but still, what kind of an upstanding member of society simply ignored someone when they were busy yelling about pain and death and destruction and the slaughter of an entire camp full of innocents??!

"Rrrrrr... gods damn them all!"

Turning she took a swing at the nearest wall, chipping a tooth in the process as she ground her teeth in high levels of frustration. Nursing her now damaged hand, she'd glare out at nothing as the cogs in her brain churned doggedly away at the situation. She couldn't think of anything: unless another member of the Obsidian Heart chose to come and investigate, one that was adept in the art of opening portals - she was stuck in Northness and had no way of getting back to the camp before the damage was done, which surely would be taking place soon.

And so, she mentally wrapped up her anger, frustration and helplessness into a little dark ball and shoved it somewhere else for the time being: following the throng into Northness itself and seeking out the nearest inn .. she wanted to get well and truly bladdered before she decided to research how in the bloody hell she was going to get back to Sarkotos and the Enclave.

There was nothing else she could do, the bad luck with the portal had really screwed her and possibly the rest of the adventurers over. Though of course, she would still be alive by nightfall whereas they, may not.

[Deleted]

     The twelve foot at shoulders dragon was standing at the Hearts inn, awaiting Maria. He looked over the two dead bodies. Curious as ever, he began searching them, verifying race, sex and even looking through their gear, using his True Seeing. Would he find anything of interest? Any rare treasure? Any coins? Any table scraps?

     Since the dragon had only seen the snowball-bear, he had no reason to return to the camp. The unreasonable guards would have slain the poor creature by now. Good thing he was not an evil dragon, or he'd just go ah-slaughtering in Northness. While he awaited Maria, to have a talk about the deaths and the bad behavior of those in Northness, he thought about his options.

     Should he go back to Northness today? Why go back at all? They were hostile fools.     

     Simply not worth his time and bother. Avoiding the city itself would be a far better idea.
Should he return to the camp? The only way to proceed to this ice castle was by going to the camp. Therefore, he would need to return to the camp. But, should he go now, or wait a day? Since he had tried to grab the two dead via snowball and the one injured, he had no reason to rush back.

     Instead, he would talk to Maria, work on his animal training of horses, oversee the construction beginning on his shop and take a nights rest. The camp remains would be there tomorrow. Maybe Maria would like to set up a small, wooden tavern and inn where the camp is temporarily. That was another thing to discuss with her when she came to talk. Plus, he had left his barrel of oil back in the snow.Was it at the camp, when he scooped up bodies? He would get another barrel of oil, and a barrel of mead to go, but would stay and enjoy a meal. Who expected the only adventure would be rolling snowballs? Was that Maria now?

[Maereth Selakiir]

Pathetic adventurers were not the sort Maereth liked to find himself working with. He liked more than his fair share of coin and favors owed his way.. now that could do him alot of good! Once he knew where the bodies were Maereth decided to get to work. Odds were a few walking corpses weren't going to be the secret to holding off what was coming their way. It'd take a lot more manipulation than that to get this working.

Well maybe the remaining adventurers wouldn't like it too much but Maereth did trick of conspiring with diabolic forces to inspire several such entities to possess one corpse at a time. These things took time and effort!

In between animating corpses Maereth began handing out orders.

" If this is going to work you lot need to be out of sight. This needs to be a ghost town if more come this way. Any of you have a needle and catsgut thread?"

Because if they did he could make the distraction a whole lot meaner looking! And that would be entertaining if nothing else.Sewing horse heads and dog heads onto an assortment of other parts could do a whole lot of intimidation. Something he figured was his best bet.

The was a bit shorter than a halfling much closer to a gnome's height at best. Why a devil with wings would want to be riding a pony the imp couldn't say! Distracts were more fun with glitter though weren't they?

[ Skill: Animate Dead - somewhat reserved if there are some supplies to be suturing body parts together with. ]

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Reply to Badger

All Badger found was cheerful talk of the earlier events in which the town of Northness chased away the big bad dragon. Despite his earlier acts of.... relieving himself and screaming like a little girl no one seemed to care and were more interested in hearing the tale of how close he came to being eaten by the dragon. This was of course all from the perspective of the townsfolk and their side of the events earlier in the day.

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Reply to Garthog

As he waited for Maria (myself or Pam will respond with Maria's part in this - if any - as soon as it has been determined) Garthog would find that both bodies were male, and each had some gold and minor weapons on their persons. It would seem the larger pieces of equipment weren't too secure as during impact they were sent elsewhere. Perhaps a dagger, or two, and as mentioned, some coin would be noted. Whether or not the happy to help, save and heal dragon took the items was a different story. 

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Reply to Maereth

After an hour or so of Maereth scheming and building Sonne would, sooner or later, pick up sounds of shuffling and grunts. Soon three massive bodies lurched back and forth and side to side as the Frozen Grotesques lumbered down the pathway. Sadly for Maereth, Badger wasn't there to point out something was different. These three bodies looked like massive, bloated, disfigured humans, not the strange apparitions from the previous night. Grunts and blank stares added to the vile forms and a gurgling like sniffing would also be noted. They were moving closer toward the camp and would be there within 10 minutes or so (depending on where the minion had setup camp).

Here comes the pain (nasty, stinky, icky, ew gross!, zomg what is that?, I think I'm going to be sick! PAIN)!

[badger]

Well then, after this particular escapade she would be glad to find no resistance, no monsters, and no yelling at the tavern she availed herself of. If she knew what was going on with Maereth she might have even felt sorry for him .. or at least Sonne .. but as she was holed up in a snowboulder at that time she had no idea what was taking place seven days ride from where she sat. Giving the barkeep a friendly grin, she slapped some coin down on the table and proceeded to get well and truly ratfaced! If she was needed later then .. oh well, sucks to be them!

[Maereth Selakiir]

A little scheming here or there could do either a lot of good.. or a whole lot of nothing. When all was said and done of his bloody work upon the corpses.. he had five undead Adventurers and one monstrosity stitched together from dog, horse, and the largest Adventurer's corpse he could drag out from the pile. (as per Skill: Animate Dead - 12 int/2 = 6 undead max)

The arrival of the disfigured, massive and bloated humans spurred Sonne to go answer to his Boss. Preferably without being caught.. leading to the Imp trying to keep out of sight even after reaching the Elf.

(Sonne's Stealh Check - +12 qck, Skill: Stealth +5 , assuming its opposed)
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Assuming the Imp succeded in passing on the information - Maereth took the oppurtunity to remove himself from immediate sight. If the Adventurers had been smart they were already out of sight themselves. Or perhaps if he gave them too much credit already? Overall.. Maereth was very much aware that he was on his own in this..and the more he acted the more cold logic sought to override the misguided attempt of his magic-altered pscyhe to do some sort of 'good'. (Magical Flaw - Misled)1-20

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Reply To Maereth

A perception check would be rolled, however, since there aren't any bonuses given the nature of the creatures, there is no way that Sonne could have been seen. To best utilize the tools available to us for adventuring I'm going to suggest we schedule a time this week to RP out the battle in the room. This particular battle will bring a close to the Frozen Temple quest (or at least this one - others may exist in the future). 

As such, with Sonne getting away without being seen Maereth (or his controlled minions) will have first strike when the combat takes place. 

Let the games begin!