Winter Special - Day 5
General Summary
The heroes awaken to absolutely frigid conditions. Soren for his part is eager to leap out into the snow and roll around. He is a snow leopard and this feels like summer to him. Most of his time in warmer places has felt more like crossing a desert, given his thick fur. Unfortunately the experience isn’t mirrored by his companions. Alistair gets to experience a fresh breeze between his knees while Thistle spends most of the session seeking warmth and shelter wherever she can get it.
From their high spot over the mountains, the party is able to check on the land below. They see movement in a frozen field and a log cabin in the distance. They’re able to determine this is all magical snow. The result of some sort of spellcraft.
Upon descending the group encounters their first signs of life. They see the creatures in that large field. At first approaching with caution. What could they be? They’re dragon-like, but it’s hard to tell anything further. By now, Thistle is hidden in Soren’s backpack and Alistair is making his approach. The creatures are playful, in the midst of a snowball fight. They’re able to somewhat understand Alistair’s words, that they’re peaceful and harmless.
Talks break down slightly when one of the creatures, a Snowbold, hurls a snowball at Alistair. He’s able to just barely dodge it and battle begins. Snow balls flying. Soren tackles one of the snow bolds. Razor Beak accidentally tackles one, having hit a patch of ice and lacking brakes. Poor Thistle is left to deal with snow pouring into the backpack. She does her best to bail it out the top. It is an afternoon of laughing and playing.
Alistair still wants to communicate. He suspects the Snowbolds may speak Draconic. Soren speaks Draconic. He begins to chat with the snowbold he’s crashed into, and through some challenges with their dialect, he works out:
1. The snowbold’s are afraid of the dark, they have no memories after sundown. 2. There’s a cabin in the area, but they’re afraid of it (melting) 3. They just wanna run and play.
The heroes set out for the cabin. Alistair peeping through the windows scares its occupants, a pair of kids. They promptly lock the doors. It takes a great deal of persuasion to convince them to open the door and even that isn’t a full success. The kids fight until one is able to get the door open. The party enters. It’s a brother and sister, 10-12-ish in age. They’re dodgy about answering any questions in a helpful manner. The boy in particular is hostile, wielding a cast iron, red-hot poker from the fire.
At least the heroes are warm now.
Investigating the room and through a great deal of persuasion, the heroes manage to work out a bit more useful information:
1. Their parents are missing 2. The kids have a spellbook meant for winter merry-making 3. The kids probably caused this
Thistle is most effective at getting answers out of the girl. She may be the ringleader in this whole thing, but it’s hard to tell. Mid-way through, the kids are both startled by Jane the Manticore looking in the window. The boy seizes on it as a reason not to trust Alistair and the rest. WHO GOES AROUND WITH A MANEATER!? He believes the heroes just want to feed them to their evil manticore. Alistair’s story about that being a former elf girl doesn’t seem to convince them.
Unfortunately for Alistair, the boy tricks him into going outside to Jane. And then he promptly locks the doors. Alistair complains that his pink hoof will fall off while he’s trapped in the snow. Inside negotiations and work to convince the kids continues.
Outside, Alistair is able to investigate things. He examines the area around the shed, finding some form of paint and a few tools. With work, he’s able to clear some of the deep snow to reveal a summoning circle. He doesn’t recognize most of it, but one section he does, written in Infernal. A summoning circle someone connected to Demons. The other lines and markings suggest necromancy and other fields of magic. This circle merges several fields, but without proper knowledge of how to do so. It seems on the surface that they have summoned a demon and that it now controls the Snowbolds. Except.. they’re so cute and playful.
As Alistair investigates, several of the Snowbolds emerge from the woods as shadow sets in across the area. It is evening now, with Night time closing in. These snowbolds have glowing red eyes and move with menacing intent. Alistair flees to the house, but remains locked out. He’s briefly cornered by the monsters, though words them off with an attack of his flaming hand.
The flaming hand nearly obliterates the first Kobold it hits. These creatures are extremely weak to fire.
Through the fighting inside, the door is unlocked and Alistair makes it in. Jane and Razorbeak take shelter in the trees for the night, out of the Snowbold’s reach. The fight inside isn’t quite done yet. Soren tells the boy that they’re going to stay the night and be gone to fix this in the morning, so the boy had best behave.
With that, the party is able to retire for the evening, sheltered in the house. Alistair for his part is amazed at the indoor plumbing. A modern item of comfort. Soren threatens to dismantle the plumbing to understand how it works (Alistair promises to find him SOMEWHERE ELSE to dismantle the plumbing that will be less messy and less inconvenient).
Note: This session was run short at a bit over an hour due to the holidays. This was originally planned as a 2 hour session but has been expanded to last a few weeks.
From their high spot over the mountains, the party is able to check on the land below. They see movement in a frozen field and a log cabin in the distance. They’re able to determine this is all magical snow. The result of some sort of spellcraft.
Upon descending the group encounters their first signs of life. They see the creatures in that large field. At first approaching with caution. What could they be? They’re dragon-like, but it’s hard to tell anything further. By now, Thistle is hidden in Soren’s backpack and Alistair is making his approach. The creatures are playful, in the midst of a snowball fight. They’re able to somewhat understand Alistair’s words, that they’re peaceful and harmless.
Talks break down slightly when one of the creatures, a Snowbold, hurls a snowball at Alistair. He’s able to just barely dodge it and battle begins. Snow balls flying. Soren tackles one of the snow bolds. Razor Beak accidentally tackles one, having hit a patch of ice and lacking brakes. Poor Thistle is left to deal with snow pouring into the backpack. She does her best to bail it out the top. It is an afternoon of laughing and playing.
Alistair still wants to communicate. He suspects the Snowbolds may speak Draconic. Soren speaks Draconic. He begins to chat with the snowbold he’s crashed into, and through some challenges with their dialect, he works out:
1. The snowbold’s are afraid of the dark, they have no memories after sundown. 2. There’s a cabin in the area, but they’re afraid of it (melting) 3. They just wanna run and play.
The heroes set out for the cabin. Alistair peeping through the windows scares its occupants, a pair of kids. They promptly lock the doors. It takes a great deal of persuasion to convince them to open the door and even that isn’t a full success. The kids fight until one is able to get the door open. The party enters. It’s a brother and sister, 10-12-ish in age. They’re dodgy about answering any questions in a helpful manner. The boy in particular is hostile, wielding a cast iron, red-hot poker from the fire.
At least the heroes are warm now.
Investigating the room and through a great deal of persuasion, the heroes manage to work out a bit more useful information:
1. Their parents are missing 2. The kids have a spellbook meant for winter merry-making 3. The kids probably caused this
Thistle is most effective at getting answers out of the girl. She may be the ringleader in this whole thing, but it’s hard to tell. Mid-way through, the kids are both startled by Jane the Manticore looking in the window. The boy seizes on it as a reason not to trust Alistair and the rest. WHO GOES AROUND WITH A MANEATER!? He believes the heroes just want to feed them to their evil manticore. Alistair’s story about that being a former elf girl doesn’t seem to convince them.
Unfortunately for Alistair, the boy tricks him into going outside to Jane. And then he promptly locks the doors. Alistair complains that his pink hoof will fall off while he’s trapped in the snow. Inside negotiations and work to convince the kids continues.
Outside, Alistair is able to investigate things. He examines the area around the shed, finding some form of paint and a few tools. With work, he’s able to clear some of the deep snow to reveal a summoning circle. He doesn’t recognize most of it, but one section he does, written in Infernal. A summoning circle someone connected to Demons. The other lines and markings suggest necromancy and other fields of magic. This circle merges several fields, but without proper knowledge of how to do so. It seems on the surface that they have summoned a demon and that it now controls the Snowbolds. Except.. they’re so cute and playful.
As Alistair investigates, several of the Snowbolds emerge from the woods as shadow sets in across the area. It is evening now, with Night time closing in. These snowbolds have glowing red eyes and move with menacing intent. Alistair flees to the house, but remains locked out. He’s briefly cornered by the monsters, though words them off with an attack of his flaming hand.
The flaming hand nearly obliterates the first Kobold it hits. These creatures are extremely weak to fire.
Through the fighting inside, the door is unlocked and Alistair makes it in. Jane and Razorbeak take shelter in the trees for the night, out of the Snowbold’s reach. The fight inside isn’t quite done yet. Soren tells the boy that they’re going to stay the night and be gone to fix this in the morning, so the boy had best behave.
With that, the party is able to retire for the evening, sheltered in the house. Alistair for his part is amazed at the indoor plumbing. A modern item of comfort. Soren threatens to dismantle the plumbing to understand how it works (Alistair promises to find him SOMEWHERE ELSE to dismantle the plumbing that will be less messy and less inconvenient).
Note: This session was run short at a bit over an hour due to the holidays. This was originally planned as a 2 hour session but has been expanded to last a few weeks.
Report Date
21 May 2024
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