Rough Road

The party built a funeral pyre for the unfortunate victims of Rimakak, and slid Arnaalak’s body through a hole in the ice and into a watery grave. The pyre was still smoldering the next morning when the caravan set off in silence, deeper into the Gaarjuk Hills. As Ulf had predicted, they came to a small Erutaki encampment a couple of days later. They left Rimakak’s lone survivor in their care; the girl had not spoken two words since they’d left the remains of her village. Hoping she would be all right, the party forged on.

The days were growing ever shorter and darker, and snow was falling more heavily in the rugged hill country, making for hard going on the seldom-traveled road. As they were passing what looked like an icy patch of snow, it suddenly bulged upward, and flung out a pseudopod that narrowly missed Sandoval. The thing was a white ooze of some sort, almost impossible to distinguish from the fresh snow in which it hid. Sandru, hearing Sandoval’s warning cry, stood up in his wagon seat and fired off an arrow at the thing. As it sank home, the ooze gave a shudder and split into two. Sawyer leapt off his wagon and charged, cleaving Suishen into the newly formed pudding. Not surprisingly, it, too, split, and now three oozes threatened the caravan.

Marie warned everyone to stop using blades against the things, and tried to follow her own advice by striking with her mace, but missed. Bella was luckier, and slammed her warhammer into the original pudding without creating another. She then jumped away, hoping to stay out of its reach. Sandoval began singing, then unlimbered his Wand of Scorching Ray against the same one. Nicki followed suit with his own Scorching Ray spell, sending one ray each against two of the puddings; they bubbled and hissed, then melted into the surrounding snow.

That left only one, and it lashed out at Sawyer, enveloping him in its caustic body. He felt its powerful digestive acid begin eating away at his body (as well as his clothing). Worse, the creature began feeding not only on his flesh, but on his very life force; he felt two levels drain away as the creature swelled with new strength. Zhustin saw that there was no time to be cautious; he dropped a Fireball behind the creature, hoping that Sawyer would be just out of range. He got lucky, and his spell’s flames licked at the pudding’s surface while just missing the fighter. Sawyer staggered backwards as the creature dissolved into a pool of slime.

Sawyer had a sleepless night, worrying about whether his loss of levels was permanent or only temporary; no one in the party had a Restoration spell to bring them back if they were permanent (although he recalled that, in a pinch, the Amatatsu Seal could perform a Restoration on an Amatatsu scion, although removing it from its warding box would reveal its location to the Five Storms). The next day, his friends did what they could to improve his odds; Zhustin cast a Bear’s Endurance and Koya granted him a Bit of Luck. Thankfully, his lost levels returned, and with a collective sigh of relief the party journeyed on.

The terrain was growing even more rugged, and by midday, the road was following the base of a 100’ tall cliff, topped with dangerous-looking overhangs of drifted snow. Suddenly, a bellowing roar echoed off the cliff face. Some of the party looked up just in time to see a wall of snow and rock hurtling down the cliff directly at the caravan below. They tried to leap to safety as the avalanche swept over the wagons, yaks, and crew. Most of the party managed to stay near the surface, but as they looked around in the strangely silent aftermath of the avalanche, they realized that Marie was nowhere to be seen. She’d been buried beneath tons of snow and ice, along with most of the caravan’s crew and many of their wagons and livestock. Sandru began madly grabbing shovels and picks from the remaining wagons, tossing them to his men who were still on their feet. Not waiting for any tools, Zhustin and Koya began madly digging with their bare hands at the snow where they had last seen Marie.

Before anyone else could join in, another roar echoed through the canyon. They looked up to see an Arctic Chimera flying down from the top of the cliff, where it had apparently triggered the avalanche to trap its prey. The fearsome creature had three heads: the center head was that of a white dragon, while its two mates were a polar bear and a long-tusked walrus. It swooped down and the dragon’s head breathed a Cone of Cold that enveloped Zhustin and Ameiko. Ameiko gave a small cry, then fell unconscious in the snow.

The chimera was flying well above ground level, but Sawyer was not deterred. Calling upon Suishen’s Air Walk power, he ran up to the beast as if he were running up a steep hillside. He swung the magical katana and slashed deep into the creature’s flank. With a roar, it turned to face him – he’d gotten its attention. Nicki set off a Fireball behind it, and Bella hit it with an arrow, but the chimera kept the murderous gaze of all three heads focused squarely on Sawyer.

Back on the ground, Koya cast a Bless, then felt the power of a Channel Positive Energy flash up from somewhere beneath the snow; apparently Marie was still alive down there, and using the power of Desna to keep herself that way. Unfortunately, the energy couldn’t penetrate through all the ice and rock to reach Ameiko. Zhustin, ignoring the Chimera, fumbled for a Potion of Cure Light Wounds and with trembling hands, poured it between Amieko’s blue lips (thinking all the time just how soft and full those lips were). Her eyes fluttered open and her color began to return, as Spivey zipped over to add some additional healing of her own. Zhustin just knelt there, with Ameiko’s head in his lap until he realized that he was, well, sitting there with Ameiko’s head in his lap. Flustered, he jumped to his feet, letting Ameiko’s head drop with a thud onto the hard-packed snow.

Up above, Sawyer and chimera were oblivious to the little tableau below them. With a roar, all three heads lashed out at the fighter, and it slashed with its claws as well. Sawyer did his best to parry the blows, but several found their mark and blood began to rain down from the sky. Undaunted, Sawyer planted his feet in mid-air, and let Suishen flash out. The blade bit deep, and the chimera let out a yelping cry before tumbling down to the ground below.

With the threat ended, the entire party was able to focus on digging out those buried by the avalanche. Marie was one of the first freed, and she, Koya, and Spivey began to criss-cross the bury zone, casting Channel Positive Energy in hopes of keeping those still buried alive. It mostly worked, but in the end, three of the wagon crew did not survive; their necks were broken or chests crushed by the force of the avalanche. Several yaks were also killed, and the party began to wonder again about their odds of making it intact across the Crown of the World.

It took three more days to finish digging out the wagons, and then repair them well enough to travel again. No sooner had they started, than they encountered a vast herd of reindeer, and lost another half day waiting for it to pass by. Everyone was cold, and exhausted, and cold, and wet, and cold.

Late the next day, they came to a cabin not far from the road. They’d passed several such cabins along the way, built by trappers or prospectors, but all had been empty, their occupants long since headed south to avoid the long dark winter. But the yellow glow of a fire could be seen in the windows of this one, and the sound of some jolly tune could be heard faintly from inside. Spivey flitted up to try to peer in through the window, but a rag curtain blocked any view of the interior. But the music was louder, perhaps coming from a fiddle. She tried Dectect Magic and Detect Evil on the inside of the cabin; she got a faint whiff of magic, but no sense of evil. The party asked Sandru what he wanted to do, and he shrugged. “We’ve got to make camp pretty soon anyways, and it seems like it would be nice to spend the night with a roof over our heads and a warm fire.” That sounded awfully good to everyone else, so Marie and Nicki walked up to the front door, and knocked, hoping they could persuade whoever was inside to let them spend the night.

In response to their knock, and bolt of green fire came shooting from behind a rock to their left. It struck Marie, burning her, and it left her engulfed in sickly green flames. The flames outlined her body, making her stand out against the dusk, and left her feeling sick to her stomach. Worse, she could tell that the green flames made her more vulnerable to any further fire attacks.

The source of the attack floated out from behind the boulder. It was the form of a gnarled old woman, hunched and clad in rags. She too was outlined in green flames, but unlike Marie’s, these cast no light of their own, and didn’t seem to cause her any harm. As soon as he saw her, Ulf gave a frightened shriek. “It’s Old Maguyu!”

Later, he told them the legend of Old Maguyu. She had been a hag who had prowled the lake country for years, disguising herself as a trapper and befriending those who came to the lakes before turning on them and adding their flesh to her cookpot. A few years ago, a group of trappers had turned the tables on Old Maguyu, not only slaying her but burning her body and scattering the ashes in hopes of laying her menace to rest forever. Sadly, Old Maguyu’s malice endured even after cremation, and a year after her death she rose again as a witchfire to resume her reign of terror.

But that was much later. For now, everyone was intent on eliminating the threat she posed. She was clearly incorporeal, so normal weapons would do no damage to her. While Sandoval began singing, Sawyer fired off a Flame Arrow, and it struck her, but it was difficult to tell how much damage it did. Nicki smugly pointed his finger at her and dropped a Fireball directly on top of her. When the flames cleared, Old Maguyu stood unscathed, grinning evilly at Nicki. Uh oh.

The party was scrambling to come up with something that might affect her. Her wavering form was difficult to target, and Bella and Zhustin both missed with ranged attacks. Marie and Spivey both called upon Desna to Channel Positive Energy against this obviously undead creature, but it seemed to do little damage.

Old Maguyu cackled gleefully, waved her hands, and summoned a pair of Will-o-the-Wisps. One appeared next to Sawyer, blocking his path towards the old woman, and zapped him with an electrical attack. Another appeared next to Nicki and did the same. Nicki took a quick step back, and fired off a pair of Scorching Rays at point-blank range. The rays shot through the wisp with absolutely no effect. Uh oh.

Sandoval cast a Sound Burst on Old Maguyu, and it might have had some effect, but not much. Bella charged forward, and slashed at the hag with her magical rapier. It connected, doing a little damage, but as it did, the green witchflame flowed along the blade to engulf Bella, sickening her and making her more vulnerable to her fire-based attacks. Uh oh. Zhustin summoned an Archon Hound which raced around behind the hag. Its attacks passed right through her incorporeal form, but it was providing flanking for Bella, and perhaps its aura of Protection from Evil would be of some help.

The PCs earned 2,343 XP, putting them at 44,691 XP, with 51,000 required for level 8. We’ll be at Leo’s next week. I’ll be there in person, but Rich and Joette will be in North Carolina; Rich may or may not be able to call in.