Reign of Winter, Snows of Summer, Session #8
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| Raven swarm on the road to Waldsby: The eyes of Nazhena Vasilliovna |
Through the portal! Brrrrrrr. Giant Mantis! New friends, shelter, food and a visitor. Ravens from the sky will peck out your eyes. Really, that's a 3rd level spell? Harwood is how far?
• The travelers held their breath and jumped through the portal. On the other side there was more winter, but the winter seemed to fit here....northern looking trees and shrubs.... and even colder!
• The party soon found themselves helping another band of travelers that had come under attack by a giant mantis that must have snuck through the portal. It was cold, hungry and pissed!
• Nadya Petska thanked the group for coming to their aid, offered shelter, food and a guided trip to the nearest town, Waldsby.
• On the trip to town the party came under attack by a swarm of Ravens and some were blinded as the birds clawed at their faces...the wounds do not seem to be healing on their own.
Town of Waldsby:
• Emil and Katrina run the White Weasel• Iziamir is the Blacksmith
• Verana Stolya runs Verana’s Sundries
• Rolf Salzburg runs the village chapel
• Nadya Petska:
She has a small house on the outskirts of the town and offers you food and shelter. She has two7-year-old twin boys, Orm and Mjoli who are looked after by an old woman named Kashka when Nadya is on the road. When her husband Hjalnek's died, Nadya took over his trade as a food merchant and importer for the eastern reaches of the Hoarwood including her home village of Waldsby. She makes multi-week runs on her dogsleds through the forest and tundra. She also supplies the Pale Tower, but the guards frequently pay her less than she asks. She feels compelled to provide for them out of fear and because they seem to leave Waldsby alone for the most part and don't harass the villagers as much as in the past.
Diary of Zaaz Bloodfortune Continues…
The voices urge speed, yet I still hesitate to go straight through the portal. Do we not need supplies? What of our wagon and gear still in it? Yet.. Yet.. The voices say go now! In the end, we have gathered more treasure than all of it was worth in just a few days and also, what is the worth of time lost. So in we go to who knows where to fight a power that is enough to shake the balance of seasons…
Gathering our gear we hurl ourselves into the midst of the portal and find ourselves elsewhere. Deep in a northern forest, white and deep with snow and crisp in the air. The winter wind is strong here and I am reminded of the days of my youth spent on the shores of the northern ices. Lessons learned there help as I pull tight my winter gear. This icy cold will freeze the skin in minutes if left unprotected. Bear grease… I must get some bear grease to cover my delicate skin. My companions fare not so well not having grown up with this cold. We must get them to shelter soon…
We take a moment to get our bearings and adjust ourselves, then start our across the snows. Soon we hear the sounds of battle. Hoping it’s not something to be wary about, but needing to find some idea of where we are we head towards the sounds. As we come over a hill we see a sight that is passing strange. A giant mantis do be fighting a group of humans, one of them grabbed in the mandibles of its mouth. With a “Hya” to the horse I ride forward as fast as it can go in this snow and toss a hex at the creature. Did you know that hexes don’t work on insect creatures? What do you mean you did? If you voices won’t help, then keep silent. The travelers were startled by our appearance and keep fighting the creature. They are mostly ineffective except for a strong female warrior with long blond hair. We battle the creature back and forth and eventually finish it.
After the battle we meet them as we helped. It seems they are local villagers traveling with supplies on dog sled and they are led by Nadya, the woman warrior I mentioned. We travel a bit with them and they are shocked by our lack of winter wear. They haven’t heard of the portal, but we soon learn they have no love of the winter witches. We learn we are now in far north Irrisen. Nadya tells us later in camp that her daughter is being held captive of the local witch Nazhena (The ruling queen Elvanna's great grandaughter). Tis sad news indeed for soon we realize she is the mother of Thora, the girl spirit we encountered days ago at the strange hut on the road. Like as this means she is probably no longer retrievable to this world. Nadya was frustrated and angry learning this, first choosing not to believe us, but later aiming her anger where it belonged, back at Nazhena.
In camp we soon had an unexpected visitor, a strange creature named Mierel. This strange part fiend, part nymph, is a bard travelling the area. We are somewhat uneasy with this creature as she seems very curious of us, but her answers are somewhat reluctant to our queries. Myself I enjoy her songs, but something seems off with her. After a time we all sleep and in the morning she leaves on her rounds.
We spend most of the next day journeying to Walsby. Along the way we are attacked by a murder of crows that serve as eyes for Nazhena. Nadya tried to hide us, but it was not enough. Fought and beat them away, but not without cost. Two of our number had their eyes pecked and cannot see. We aren’t sure how to cure this problem, but we must. We finish the journey to the village, but find no solution there. Walsby by the way is a strange place. It is the mirror image of Heldren as if the two villages are linked. No coincidence say the voices, but more they do not say. Me thinks it is indeed a connection, but what? What I am not sure.
In the village we get warmer gear and a variety of winter supplies. We also talk with Nadya about what to do and come up with the idea of going with her to the Pale Tower bringing tribute and using that to make our way in. This witch is of the kind that give us witches a bad name. Why must some feed on the essence of children? Lazy, Lazy, mother used to say about them and I must agree. The shortcut to power twists the soul and makes them drunk with their power. This one must die once we figure out a solution to the blindness of our members… Soon we must journey on, but to where? A larger city to search for the cure, wait here a few days and see if it gets better? Perhaps instead of tribute for the release of Nadya’s daughter we bring it as payment to cure the blindness… hmmm…
