(IC) Quickleaf's Rime of the Frostmaiden

[Kobold Stew]

"Agreed," echoes Corse, and begins to ready the ascent, preparing the ropes and pitons.

 

[Quickleaf]

GM POST

Slumping into the sled, Garret descends with Boy and Logrim's strange steel creation drawing the way down the mountain.

The route Corse sets up as she lead climbs up the 50-foot ice shelf is well-planned out, with ample foot-holds for the smaller members of the party, and dips into the chimneys to brace one's back for a quick rest and repositioning. It takes about 20 minutes for your entire party to top out. As you catch your breaths and secure your rope again, the northwestern sky begins to glow with a bluish-purple light that starts as a faint ribbon and grows brighter as midnight approach, trailing eastward across the sky. Dim light washes over Kelvin's Cairn so you can see the flurries of snow around the silhouette of the mountain's upper reaches.

You don't need to be a tracker to spot the massive five-toed footprints of some creature that must be at least 9 feet tall, leading up the same switchback ridge that you're following. Up ahead on your left is a 15-foot high, ten-foot-wide cave mouth. Flecks of blood stain the snow near the cave entrance.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Corse takes her ice-pick, and attaches it to her backpack. The bloodstains upon it do not appear recent, but are nevertheless quite visible. In doing so, she retrieves her walking stick, and attaches a small but heavy buckler to her wrist.

Using her staff, she points at the footprints, even though everyone sees them, and gestures for silence. She closes her eyes for a moment as she holds he staff to her forehead, and then looks up. Had she kept her eyes closed longer, her lashes might have frozen shut.

OOC: Cast shillelagh once all are up, and proceed cautiously, but no longer tied to the group.

 

[Necropolitan]

Zeth looks at the footprints. Then the blood. Then the cave. He turns to the rest of the group.

"Do any of you know anything about yetis? I'd like to avoid any nasty surprises like what happened with those cats."

He gestures with his hands to mimic the spells being deflected off the crag cats.

"Fire seems to work for just about everything in this frozen wasteland, but if I can use other spells I'd like to know."

 

[Neurotic]

Lumrolur seems quite relaxed after that little drama at the bottom of the chute. Once there is a cave apparent, he just smiles a wistful smile, doesn't comment anything, just slinks into the shadows using his superior darkvision to spot the enemies before they can spot him.

OOC: still needs work on his team skills if he finds something he will return and warn the party, not just go alone

Spoiler: Actions

neurotic: D20 + 7#lumrolurstealth → 15(8 + 7)#Lumrolur stealth
neurotic: D20 + 6#lumrolurperception → 19(13 + 6)#Lumrolur perception

 

[domminniti]

Russet follows Corse's lead and unslighs his sheild and unties himself.

We Harengon have a saying about yetis. "Yetis are big, scary and hard to see in snow" Thats all I know

[If we are still in exporation mode, ignore the below]
He cautiously makes his way to the cave entrance. He inspects the blood splatters - are they humanoid or from the goats or yeti?

OOC: Medicine check on blood spatters - its a -1 if its nature: 1D20+1 = [11]+1 = 12

Do the blood spatter patterns indicate a fight here or just feeding? any other flecks of fur or clothing here? If it was a fight, how did it go?

OOC: Investigation check plus tac assessment.: 1D20+1D8-1 = [18]+[8]-1 = 25

 

[VLAD the Destroyer]

As the others investigate the mouth of the cave Logrim looks down the mountain towards the base camp. He hopes Ludo makes it down to Keegan without trouble. Logrim sighs feeling lonely without the ever present construct to watch out for him. He shakes his head clear of the distraction and pulls his wrench from it's loop on his belt. He scans for any threats as the others investigate the blood splatters.

 

[Steve Gorak]

Aric confers with Corse to extract more information from the tracks and the bloodstains.

OOC: Survival check: 22, same if advantage because of Corse's presence. The goal is to gain information on the possible number of Yeti and the prey.

 

[Quickleaf]

Russet follows Corse's lead and unslighs his sheild and unties himself.

We Harengon have a saying about yetis. "Yetis are big, scary and hard to see in snow" Thats all I know

[If we are still in exporation mode, ignore the below]
He cautiously makes his way to the cave entrance. He inspects the blood splatters - are they humanoid or from the goats or yeti?

OOC: Medicine check on blood spatters - its a -1 if its nature: 1D20+1 = [11]+1 = 12

Do the blood spatter patterns indicate a fight here or just feeding? any other flecks of fur or clothing here? If it was a fight, how did it go?

OOC: Investigation check plus tac assessment.: 1D20+1D8-1 = [18]+[8]-1 = 25

Once red blood is fallen, it's virtually impossible to tell what creature it came from, unless you have a wolf hound's scent.

It looks like the blood streaks are from a creature being dragged, and then hoisted up at which point they become blood specks that dripped down. However, as you get closer to the cave entrance, the blood is a bit more erratic – there was some kind of a scuffle here with multiple yetis and at least one humanoid trying to escape. If it was a fight, it was one-sided – there are no flecks of fur or sign of yetis being injured.

Aric confers with Corse to extract more information from the tracks and the bloodstains.

OOC: Survival check: 22, same if advantage because of Corse's presence. The goal is to gain information on the possible number of Yeti and the prey.

The tracks are definitely a yeti, judging by the position of the 'big toe' towards the rear of the print, and of course the sheer size. At a distance from the cave, there seems to have been only one yeti, probably male judging by the hip width suggested by the track, and probably carrying one or more people judging by the depth that the print pushed through the snow.

However, as you draw closer to the cave, there are a chaotic tangle of tracks – definitely another yeti, probably female, came out to meet this yeti. But then there are small tracks that might be some other humanoid with a print similar to a yeti, as well as small boot tracks the size of a halfling or gnome.

A set of medium-sized boot tracks are visible about 20 feet from the scuffle, having moved rapidly up the slope (and away from the cave), but they have mostly been swallowed by snow and wind, making discerning more information (beyond direction) impossible.

GM: I'm noting that Russet is acting as an "investigator" (instead of navigator) now, and that Aric is acting as a "tracker" (instead of handing Boy, who has now gone down the mountain). You can use the results of your rolls – Investigation 25 & Survival 22 – for any other investigation or tracking, respectively, that come up traversing Kelvin's Cairn.

 

[Steve Gorak]

Aric is thinking out loud. "There are several Yeti, a Male, a female, and likely a young one. We are the intruders in their homes. Coming to take their food away. This is how they will perceive us. Maybe we should consider a trade. The cat carcasses are big enough. But I'm not sure we'll be able to reason with them..."

Gimlak thinks, he wants to avoid a confrontation, but isn't sure that will be possible. He doesn't want to be responsible for making a Yeti orphan, a path he is painfully aware of.

He stares down at the cave, as far as he can see, concentrates, and light appears.

OOC: Aric will cast create bondfire as far away as he can see inside the cave in an unoccupied space. The range is 60 ft. The point here is a show of force, to see better, and to show that they aren't outright attacking.