North by Northwest, Chapter 3: The Winter of Our Discontent

The Old North Line near the Foothills of the Caerrhenians in the shadows of the Westernmost Tower — Today, Just after Sunrise

The door was just where the tall svirfneblin said it would be, and it opened exactly as described. A short climb up a hewn rock stair, and the party found itself outside for the first time in a while — at least one week, if not more. The weather, previously atypically warm for the late fall season, had turned, and the ground was now hard with frost. The air was crisp and cool. The jagged peaks of the Caerrhenians loomed over head, their peaks covered with a white snow, made dazzling by the rays of the early morning sun. High above you was the abode of the Mahatkata, a wise man, spurned by the Frostmaiden, but vouched for by the caster. To the north, in the scrub plains between the Broken Lands and the Ice Sea, waited Coldfoot Willie. Both of them had answers, presumably, although how likely they would be to yield those was another matter entirely. And somewhere else out there was Delmozen's Forge.

Turning northwest, the party begins to head towards the mountains and the Mahatkata. After marching for the rest of the day, you find yourself in the beginning of the foothills, patches of granite and sandstone jutting out amid the hard earth, green and white with moss and frost. And still above you, the mountains, the Mahatkata's dwelling atop the highest peak -- an odd, treacherous, needle-like formation, jutting out from behind a line of smaller, but still steep, mountains.[sblock]I need to know a few things:

• Marching order?
• Are you camping or forcing the march a while longer? The area's fairly exposed, but a lot of places will be until you get into the mountains. Will you have a standard operating procedure for this sort of thing? (That is, always rest/never force march or some such?)

Just let me know what you plan to do if you're going to camp, and what you'll do in the morning, and we can pick it up there. If you have any plans on tackling the range or making provisions or plans for climbing, now's the time to do it.[/sblock]

Zeegra

“We shouldn't force it. We are no mountain goats, and should take this treacherous climb well-rested,” Zeegra advises.

When they rest, Zeegra will cast a Detect Magic spell, to examine the wizard's items, and if anything stick's out, further look at it using the Object's Loresight. Furthermore, she will try to decipher the spellbook they found on him, not having prepared the right spell for it yet, she has to do it the traditional way, though.

Herev

You are right
Herev replies
We don't know what denizens are going to lurk over there, we need full strength.

* I guess Herev is on the lead … with scouting Ghur maybe?

Cellan nods his agreement. There's also no imminent danger, he thought. It would be much better to not rush, but be rested and prepared for any surprises. The druid will bring up the rear with Manakar.

Admiring the beauty of the scenery, Cellan's thought turn toward his friend, Thrimistar. It's too bad he's not here to see this, the druid thought. He absent-mindedly fingered the necklace his friend had given him. He's probably recounting the story of how he lost his leg to some youngsters. Cellan chuckled picturing his friend, tankard in hand, exuberantly telling his story to a crowd of kids.

Cian Dark Elf Bard

OOC: Cian and Keita would best be placed near the center of the party. I would also suggest we proceed at a normal pace.

Cian seems to be facinated by every rock and tree you pass. His eyes are wide at the sights and sounds of the surface world which he hasn't visited for more than a 1,000 years. He moves with a spring in his step eager to see what lies over each hill. He mumbles lyrics and hums a tune as he walks, the excitement of the surface encouraging him to create a new song.

Zeegra: The flask, or rather its contents, are magical, but nothing else is.[sblock]Thanee: You're going to need to spend at least one day in study for each spell you want to copy (PHB 179). If you do this tonight, you won't be able to rest and prepare new spells. I'll assume that you got the chance to study at least one spell while the group outfitted itself back at Cian's village. Spellcraft is 18, and you've identified the spell color spray. I'll assume that you've taken odd bits of time to copy it over to your book, so you can add it to your list of spells. Let me know if you want a sleepless night.[/sblock]Everyone: You wake up to another cold day, the ground hard with frost. Cellan, Ghur, and Zeegra can tell by looking at the dark sky to the west that some sort of weather is coming in over the peaks sometime later today. Yet, for now, it's clear and travelling should be easy.

The first section of your journey towards the needle-like peak is easy enough. The foothills and early stages are still fairly level. After about three hour's march in to the mountains, you come across a narrow, but swift river, the water pale brown with silt. About twenty-five feet wide, it rushes down through the hills before twisting off to the south. You will need to cross it, and, looking up ahead and to the north, you see a likely place -- the muddied shale of the banks slopes slightly more gently there, and the river seems wider, maybe forty or so feet. Small standing waves indicate a shallow, rocky ford.

Cole Braddock

"Ideas?" Says Cole as he looks over the rushing and probably very cold river. "We could spend time looking up and down river for somekind of crossing?"

Zeegra

“That looks pretty treacherous. Give me a few minutes, and I should be able to get on the other side, though. With a rope.”


[SBLOCK]OOC: It's about 25 ft. to clear? Zottel would be able to jump that distance with a Take 10, when Zeegra prepares a Jump spell into her free slot and uses that.

Oh, and I just updated Zottel's Jump to +10, since it appears to be wrong. +2 Str +4 racial +4 from 40 ft. speed.

Sleepless night sounds good. Since Zeegra hasn't used up many of her spells on the last day (only Detect Magic and Object Loresight from the evening before, IIRC), she would still retain them and does not really need to prepare anything, anyways that day.[/SBLOCK]

"Uhm, why don't we cross, uh, there," Cellan says, pointing north at the place that looks more easily forded.

"Let's all cross at the ford, or what appears to be a ford. A rope would make that easier" says Ghur as he heads forward to the low spot on the banks.