Near the tracks in the clearing lay scattered packs and gear, apparently an abandoned campsite. A heap of cold ashes and half-burned logs was surrounded by packs, a crude set of sleeping furs, and a pair of skis.
It is obvious that someone left in a hurry, without bothering to take any of the supplies or equipment. Form the condition of the packs, it would seem that wild animals discovered the camp. Seglun set to rifling the packs and turned up 10 days rations (dried meat and cheese), two frozen water skins, furs, a tinder kit and kindling. She tossed the tinder and kindling to Drovic who set about starting a fire in the pit. Baru was cutting boughs from the trees to make a crude shelter. In the remains of the fire Drovic found a tattered journal. The journal was largely destroyed, a sturdy map inked on caribou hide was the best remaining part. Drovic flipped the journal to Arvien who began to read it.
The journal was written by Igor Rikorsky, in the year 1127 of the Patriarch's calendar. It showed his journey to towns(?), being chased or attacked by wolves. He appeared to be headed to Torgov to warn them of the boyar's coming attack. He said he was trying to lose the wolves in the mist. Arvien thought it might be five days journey to Torgov, the closet town. "I don't think I can stand this cold for five days," she reported to no one in particular. Meanwhile Drovic had started a fire and Baru was completing his lean to.
The night lasted forever, or so it seemed. When the sun finally rose, it was dim and weak, and from the way that it barely cleared the southern horizon, it was obvious that there would be less than five hours of sunlight. Perhaps, with the twilight that lasted for a few hours before dawn and after sunset, there would be eight hours of usable light during the day. That would be subject to surviving the cold also.
The heroes found that they could not memorize new spells, the hardship of the cold night was upon them. The damage received from the white wolf and the ever present cold did not heal during the long night. Frostbite could start to set in if the party was not careful but without any winter outfits, fingers and toes began to ache just standing still. Varrid took the skis and started to lead the party toward what they hoped was the town of Torvog. Even so the constant struggle to walk through the thigh-deep snow was rapidly exhausting. The forest had the maddening tendency to conceal the path and force travel to go from side to side, and the silent malice of the trees weighed on the groups spirit.
Form time to time, the unearthly stillness was broken by the mournful howling of wolves in the distance. At times it seemed that dozens of the animals were calling to each other through the empty forest, their voices rising and fallng.
Baru followed Varrid trying to break a path for the rest of the party. Selgun, Grunyar and Arvien had the worst of it, their short legs and small stature meant they tired more quickly than the rest of the party. The wind changed and began to moan with a low, chilling tone. It was difficult to keep thoughts from returning again and again to the mesmerizing sound. Exhaustion was really setting in, and it was hard to keep moving. Limbs seemed heavy and bodies ached with pain and weariness. It was almost as if the moaning of the wind was draining away the strength and will to go on.
Baru and Ralom began to drag some dead tree branches together, trying to form and wind break. Grunyar searched for small branches to start a fire. As time past the party noticed that Drovic, Varrid and Seglun had stopped moving altogether. As cold, thick lethargy descended over everyone, the sinister moaning filled all thoughts like gelid ice, numbing away all other sensations. A ghoulish white shadow drifted into view from beneath the pine boughs and enshrouded Seglun in a horrible embrace!
The party leapt into action, Baru and Grunyar attacked the creature that was engulfing Seglun. Arvien threw magic missiles with frozen fingers. The moaning stopped as another shape emerged and engulfed the stationary Drovic. Varrid found that she could move once again and moved to flank the enemy but there seemed to be multiple creatures on Drovic. It took some time to eliminate the mirror images but he battle was over quickly as the heroes overwhelmed the two creatures. After healing was applied by Ralom the heroes continued looking around for shelter. About 200 yards away the group found and snow cave. The floor of the cave was covered with warm pine needles. There were two parkas, two sets of snowshoes and a sturdy pack. Ralom detected two magic items which were discovered to be a dagger +1 and a ring of jumping. There were also 215 sp and35 gp deep in the pack.
Given no hole in the ceiling of the snow case, the party started a fire outside the entrance and fell into a sleep for the night. Given that the wind was blocked and the snow gave some insulation the heroes found that some of the cold damage was healed. The spell casters also awoke being able to memorize new spells.
The group cast endure elements on five characters, Baru and Varrid had the ability to endure some cold damage. The two parkas were worn by Baru and Varrid to help block the wind and the party set off again through the thigh deep snow. The movement was just as slow as the day before, though the party was not nearly as cold it was still exhausting to wade through the drifts. For some time the howling of wolves had been plain to hear. After two hours it was obvious that the beasts were following behind, hot on the scent of the group. To either side, dark shapes flit through the trees, darting and disappearing in the shadows. The crunching of paws on the snow and the sudden snap of twigs and branches could be heard. The wolves were circling, and it was only a matter of time before they closed to attack.
The only defensible ground was an open clearing where the party gathered in a circle to watch for wolves on all sides. It seemed that the forest itself was alive with menace. Suddenly, a great black wolf was there, watching with keen, intelligence form the edge of the clearing, its yellow eyes burned with hunger and hate.
The power and malice of the black wolf inspired awe. It turned and abruptly vanished into the woods -- just as its pack mates dashed in, faster that the eye could follow. Gray wolves surrounded the party, attacking viciously, snarling and snapping at the heroes. Several members of the party found themselves lying on the snow after being bitten by the wolves, having seemed to trip over the legs of the wolves. Just after the party had their attacks several larger wolves with glowing red eyes emerged and attacked with unbelievable savagery. The party was back to back as the were pushed by the wolves into a tighter circle. The wolves were easily damaged not so the larger wolfen creatures. As the battle swung back and forth, the large black wolf charged into the battle attacking Varrid, who had a flank uncovered. Seglun beheld the creatures attack and fled from the battle dropping her weapon along the way. Drovic became gasseous and floated up above the fray after he had delivered a flaming sphere onto a wolf in his midst. Summergale delivered Greater Invisibility from Arvien to Varrid, who attacked the great wolf. Arvien who had ddoored into the tree line, shuddered in fear as the sneak attack did no damage to the wolf, she wanted to run away also but stood her ground, timidly.
Two were?wolves trailed Seglun and she ran even faster as their bites were deadly. The rest of the party continued attacking both kinds of wolves while the great black wolf tore into Varrid. Several gray wolves fell onto the now packed snow, while two other large wolves died -- and turned into human males.
Just as suddenly as they had attacked the wolves retreated, dashing into the woods, followed at last by the great black wolf. Arvien cast a fireball at the retreating wolf, who ran through without apparently taking any damage. The party gathered around Ralom for some healing. Ralom waited until Seglun returned to apply the balm.
At this point the party was completely spent and moved into the trees to camp again for the night. Digging into the snow, starting a fire and building a shelter gave some warmth but once again the group took cold damage even with the endure elements active. Ralom wondered if it could ever get any colder. The night passed with cold damage still being taken by the heroes as the temperature fell again to a new low. Another day was spent pushing through the snow drifts, some of the heroes began to feel frostbite in their extremities before they camped again for the night. The next day was more of the same. When night began to fall again the weather was bitterly cold. It was unnaturally still and quiet, and the forest was flooded with silver moonlight. Off in the woods there was a dim orange glow. Summergale returned from reconnoitering with news of a campfire and person sitting before a small lean-to.
The fire was about a half-mile away, through the forest. There was a small clearing, and the campfire crackled before a lean-to made of pine boughs. A dark-haired young man sat before the fire, warming a steaming cup. The fellow was wearing weathered buckskin, with a great parka of fur hanging over his shoulders. A sturdy bow and large battle axe lay close to his hand. A pair of rabbits were roasting on a spit over the fire. Ralom, Baru and Seglun approached cautiously, when the young man looked up, surprised, he beckoned them over. "Aren't you freezing?" he enquired. "Come, join me around the fire. Do you want some tea?" The three heroes moved forward slowly and sat around the roaring fire.
As the rest of the party emerged and joined the group, the young man introduced himself as Mikhail Zolnik. He queried the party as to their homelands and how they had arrived in Vorostokov. The party's answers were gibberish to Mikhail but he listened intently with interest especially in the fighting prowess of the group. When asked about himself he answered, "I am Mikhail Zolnik. I live in the village of Torgov with my mother's kin. I am Torgov's marshkovik, leader fo the village's warriors." Arvien said that the party was headed to Torgov, but didn't mention Igor's journal. Barun asked for help getting there.
"It is fortunate for you that I was out hunting today. If you had not seen my campfire, you might have frozen to death. You certainly lack the necessary parkas and furs for this weather. I will take you to Torgov in the morning -- it is about a day's march away. For tonight, I would be honored to share my extra food and supplies with you."
Seglun unloaded some food from the Haversack to add to the meager meal. Ralom was interested in the land, wondering where they had arrived to. "The land is known as Vorostokov. As stated I am from Torgov. I have visited the villages of Voronina, Kirinova, Nordvik and Vorostokov -- the boyar's hall. There are several other villages, but some are very far and would take weeks to reach." Arvien asked "What is a boyar?" Mikhail replied, "The most powerful man in Vorostokov is the boyar Gregor Zolnik. He is an evil man, and his warriors -- the boyarsky -- enforce a reign of terror over the other villages. The boyarsky demand tribute from the other villages and take it back to Vorostokov, starving the rest sot that Gregor's favorites may be fed. My village refused to send tribute when the boyarsky came last week, and I fear that the boyar will make us regret our decision."
"Speaking of the weather, is it always this cold?" asked Varrid. "This winter has lasted all the days of my life. No one knows why spring has not come in a generation, but the village elders say that some awful curse lies over the land. I wouldn't know -- I have never seen a spring, and sometimes I don't believe the stories the elders tell. Just be thankful that you haven't seen a zilinya neshka." Mikhail related. "What is the zilinya what?" asked Arvien. Mikhail replied, "It is the coldest, windiest, worse snow storm you can imagine."
Ralom at last asked about the wolves, which led Mikhail into a long diatribe against the creatures. "They are the masters of the forest. You want to avoid them -- they have been know to attack even large and well-armed parties. There is a great black wolf, the grandfather of all the wolves, that leads them with a devil's cunning." Ralom related the party's encounter and mentioned that some of the wolves turned into men as they died. This was news to Mikhail, he had never seen this occurrence.
With the fire and some additional furs, the party spent a peaceful night, interrupted with dreams of wolves. In the morning they once again cast their endure elements spells and set off with Mikhail toward Torgov.
Twilight was fading into darkness as the trail ended at Torgov. The trek had been exhausting. Mikhail's home is a tiny little hamlet nestled in the shadow of a barren, snowy hill. A dozen small cabins sat in a circle in the center of the village, and about a dozen more small farmhouses and workshops were scattered around the general area. Farmland covered by a blanket of snow surrounded the sleepy village. The granaries and livestock pens were almost empty.
Mikhail led the way to a small cabin and entered, stomping the snow off his boots and shaking the ice free from his parka. Inside, warm firelight filled a cozy taproom. A handful of villagers were drinking hot tea of hard cider, with somber expressions on their faces. They acknowledged Mikhail with smiles and handshakes, but watched the group with suspicion.
"Anna, Pyotr, Kerin, these are strangers I met in the forest," Mikhail said, making introductions all around. "They are exhausted and half-frozen, but they have an odd tale to tell. Bring cider, bread, and blankets for them."
DM's Notes: The party earned 1,371 XP for the night's adventures and now have 75,179 XP. They need 1821 more XP to reach 8th level.
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