Ice Hunters

The caravan had come across another of the strange black monoliths bearing the emblem of Sithhud planted in the bleak polar landscape. Based on past experience, they weren’t too surprised when a couple of dozen Frostfallen Zombies rose up from their burial places in the snow and attacked. Marie and Spivey had tried Channeling the power of Desna against the undead abominations, but something seemed to be inhibiting their connection to their goddess. One of the zombies seemed to be more regal somehow than the others, and when the Zombie Lord fell, the clerics felt their goddess’ presence return.

But while they might have been happy, Sandoval was anything but. He’d been riding in the trailing wagon, and he now found himself surrounded by half a dozen animated corpses. He was pretty sure they weren’t fans of his singing, and he didn’t really want to become zombie chow. He leaped off the wagon, and sank his Harmonizing Echoblade deep into the nearest zombie’s innards. It’s harmonic vibrations did the trick, and the zombie collapsed. An instant later, a Fireball erupted just to the north of his wagon, killing two attackers and leaving a third badly scorched. He glanced to his right in time to see Zhustin give him a quick grin, blowing a wisp of smoke off the tip of his finger.

Ameiko and Marie stood back to back, fending off the advances of a pair of undead suitors. Marie suddenly Teleported to a strategic spot a few yards away, and called upon the now full-force power of Desna. The blast of positive energy blew away Ameiko’s attacker, and staggered two others.

Nicki had a zombie clawing its way up onto the wagon with him, and was closer than he cared to be to the crowd around Sandoval. Pulling out a never-before-used wand, he pointed it at the nearest zombie and cast Command Undead. “Protect me!” he screamed. His attacker staggered a bit, then turned and faced his comrades chasing Sandoval, snarling menacingly. Nicki heaved a sigh of relief - he hadn’t been at all sure that would really work.

The tide of battle quickly began to turn. Shinjiro attacked a pair of zombies with a Flurry of Blows, sending one flying and injuring the other. Sawyer swung Suishen in a blur around him, disemboweling one enemy and driving back another. Ulf killed a zombie, and moved towards Zhustin, who took a Dimension Step out of danger. He fired off a pair of Scorching Rays at two of the zombies threatening Sandoval, and Nicki did the same. Both spell casters hit the same target and both missed the other, leaving a charred pile of zombie ash in their wake. Ameiko killed her attacker, then moved to protect Koya, who was casting Bit of Luck on Bella as she fired off arrows. Marie Teleported again, and again cast Channel Positive Energy, blasting another pair of undead.

For their part, the zombies seemed spectacularly incapable of hitting anything. In its hurry to chase Sandoval, one came around the team of yaks pulling his wagon and got too close to Nicki’s wagon, provoking an attack from Nicki’s new bodyguard. One managed to get a claw on Zhustin before Ulf took him down, but the others grasped futilely at their quarry, who always seemed to remain just out of reach.

Meanwhile, Shinjiro and Sawyer were dropping zombies left and right. Bella discarded her bow and launched into attacks with her short sword and rapier, taking down still more. Even Spivey got into the act, flying overhead and casting Channel Positive Energy from her tiny holy symbol.

Ameiko drew her bow and sent an arrow winging at Nicki’s pet zombie. It missed, but drew a harsh rebuke from Nicki: “Cut that out!”. He saw Marie charging their way, her holy symbol in hand, and quickly cast Protection from Good on his guardian. “Leave him alone!”, he cried. “He’s mine!” Shinjiro killed the last uncontrolled zombie, and everyone closed in on Nicki and his zombie, who snarled and snapped at anyone who approached his master. There was a short debate about what to do with him – everyone but Nicki wanted him dead, but the sorcerer was adamant. Finally Sandoval threw up his hands. “Oh hell – let him keep the thing. Nicki needs a friend.”

And so for the next few days the caravan divided into two factions: Nicki and his new guardian, and everyone else. The thing stank to high heaven, and the crew made Nicki and it ride in the last wagon. Nicki even had to drive the yak team himself (a task which he immediately delegated to his undead servant). Even if the crew had been willing to share a wagon with the zombie, it was extremely territorial, snapping its jaws at anyone who came within a few feet of Nicki. At mealtimes, it hung back at the edge of the camp, staring hungrily at the group gathered around the campfire – although it wasn't their rations it was hungry for. Finally, after several days of this uneasy truce, and knowing that the spell would expire soon, Nicki led his pet off onto the ice. The darkness was broken by a series of orange flashes, and a few minutes later Nicki returned to camp, alone and whistling happily. “Just getting in a little target practice,” was all he would say.

The caravan continued on. They were in the deepest part of the polar winter, traveling through unbroken darkness. Despite their magical protections, the cold was taking its toll, and they struggled to cover each mile. Several times a day, the drivers had to stop to comb the ice off the yaks’ coats and off the beards around their mouths, so they could breathe and not become too encumbered by the weight of the ice. The winter solstice came and went, unmarked by any celebration. The stars that had illuminated the night were gone, hidden behind a thick cloud cover. Infrequent distant flashes of lightning would occasionally illuminate the horizon, revealing jagged, white mountains far to their right: the Alabastrine Peaks. Whenever the lightning flashed, Ulf would mutter unhappily to himself. “There shouldn’t be lightning up here, not this far north, not this late in the year.” But the brief glimpses of the mountain range, along with Sandoval’s Wayfinder, told them they were still on their chosen path. They trudged on, day after day.

Then the sky was lit by a bright flash of lightning, not far off in the distance, but from directly overhead, flashing down directly onto Sawyer. As he blinked the afterflash out of his eyes, he saw an enormous figure emerge from behind a boulder to the north. It looked like some sort of troll, but it was far better dressed – OK, just far more dressed – than any troll he’d seen before. He could also see that it was clearly female, even through the heavy layers of furs it wore. He leaped off his wagon and started to charge, but a chorus of voices warned him to keep his distance. They knew what was coming next.

From his perch on the wagon seat, Nicki cracked his knuckles and smiled wickedly. Everything up here in the far north seemed to be vulnerable to fire, so he’d make short work of this troll spellcaster. He unleashed a Fireball that exploded directly over the Troll Fury. It engulfed her in a sphere of angry flame, but when the smoke cleared she stood unharmed, and returning an evil grin of her own. Uh oh.

Three more trolls appeared, one from behind the same boulder as its mate, and two more from the south, and began lumbering toward the party. These were clearly male, unless the codpieces made from polar bear skulls were just for decoration. Everyone leaped into confused action; Sandru moved to protect Ameiko, while Koya cast Sanctuary on herself and Marie cast Shield of Faith. Bella fired an arrow at the Troll Fury, and the arrow struck home, but the troll plucked it out and cast it aside as if swatting a mosquito. Zhustin fired a pair of Scorching Rays at one of the trolls charging from the south, hoping that it didn’t have the female’s apparent immunity to fire, but the flames licked at him harmlessly, and it continued its advance.

Shinjiro was champing at the bit to get into action, but Nicki was telling him to stay put. “Just wait a second until I can get that Wand of Mage Armor out for you!” But the sight a charging troll was too much for the monk – he went flying off the wagon and engaged the beast with a Flurry of Blows. It was like hitting a wall; you could hit it pretty hard, but you weren’t sure the wall noticed.

But the Troll Ripper did notice. It snapped its vicious jaws closed on Shinjiro’s arm, and sank both sets of claws into his back. Then, with every pointy part of its body embedded in Shinjiro, it ripped at him, tearing his flesh with a Great Rend. It wore barbed metal tips on its claws, and the wounds they opened bled profusely. Suddenly, after one attack, the monk was near death (yet again) and wishing he had listened to Nicki. He knew he had to get out of the troll’s (long) reach, and quickly. Calling on his ki, he attempted a leap over the boulder that the troll had hidden behind. His feet slipped on the ice as he launched, but he just barely managed to clear the rock, and his awkward movement was enough to make the Ripper miss on its opportunity attack.

The Troll Fury waved her hands, and a vast area of ice between her and the party suddenly heaved into frozen life. Icy tendrils snaked up around everyone’s legs and ankles, entangling them as if by creeping vines. Movement was possible, but difficult. Ignoring the difficulty, Sawyer charged the Fury, slashing at her with Suishen. The ancestral blade hit, but the flame on its blade had no effect on her. Her mate came pounding around the other side of the boulder, intending to hit Sawyer from behind as soon as he could reach him. Sandoval tried a desperate gamble, and cast Glitterdust on the charging Ripper. It was illuminated in golden light, but more importantly, it began clawing at its eyes as the motes of golden dust blinded it.

Nicki was well and truly pissed that his Fireball had been for naught. “Well, maybe you're fire resistant,” he thought to himself, “but how do you do with acid?” He ripped off another Fireball, but used his Elemental Spell ability to transform it from flame into acid. The Ripper charging from the south was engulfed in a cloud of green mist, and it bellowed in pain as its flesh blistered from the caustic blast. Nicki smiled at the result, but cast Greater Invisibility on himself all the same. These guys looked tough, and it might be that the last man standing would be the one no one could see.

The Ripper was hurt, but not stopped, and it was charging directly for Ameiko and Zhustin. Sandru stepped in front of them, and got off a quick arrow before the creature ripped into him. Its bite missed, but both claws found their mark, and once they sunk deep, the thing tore them apart. Sandru didn’t even have a chance to scream as he dropped to the ground, bleeding out. Zhustin and Ameiko were shocked by Sandru’s fate, but knew they couldn’t help him with the troll still there. Zhustin zapped it with an Acid Arrow and ran one way while Ameiko fired off an arrow and ran the other. As soon as he had some distance, Zhustin turned and summoned a Dire Wolf to block the pursuing Troll Ripper. The wolf sank its teeth into the Ripper’s leg, and then the Ripper disemboweled the wolf. However, Zhustin’s acid arrow was dealing ongoing acid damage, and interfering with the troll’s natural regeneration. Unlike its buddies, this one was actually starting to look weak. Zhustin fired off a volley of Magic Missiles, and hoped they could bring it down in time to get back and save Sandru.

Meanwhile, to the north, Bella was harrying the blinded Ripper. The nimble rogue had little trouble navigating the area of entanglement, and she used her Spring Attack ability to dash in, backstab the blinded foe, then leap away again. The troll would turn and blindly lash at whatever was hitting it, but of course by then she wasn’t there anymore. Luckily, it couldn’t seem to clear the glittering dust from its eyes, and had no idea where its attacker was. Sawyer kept after the Troll Fury, but she seemed to view the big fighter as more of an annoyance than a threat. She blasted him once with Burning Hands then moved away, ignoring Sawyer’s attacks as she angled to get line of sight on the larger party. Then she fired off a Fireball of her own, catching Ameiko, Nicki, Koya, and Sandoval in its blast. Nicki was once again pissed, and he fired off a pair of Scorching Rays, transforming them into rays of acid. They splashed over the Troll Fury, and this time she felt it.

To the south, Shinjiro and the Ripper were playing a game of tag. The big troll came lumbering around the boulder, seeking the monk, but Shinjiro was much faster, and easily managed to stay out of his reach. Spivey darted in and cast a Cure Moderate Wounds on him, and Marie Teleported into the vicinity and Channeled Positive Energy to deliver healing of her own. Shinjiro was in much better shape, health-wise, but in no mood to go toe-to-toe with the big Ripper. He ran to the north, rolled under a wagon, and kept on running, the Ripper in hot (well, lukewarm) pursuit.

The Ripper in the center had finally moved far enough away from Sandru for Marie to attempt some healing on him. She called upon Desna once again, and Sandru’s eyes fluttered open. But he saw the big Ripper’s backside looming over him just a few yards away, so he shut them tightly again and tried to lay very, very still. Sandoval, hoping to distract the Ripper from Sandru (and still survive) stepped up and slashed it with his echoblade.

As Sawyer and Bella continued to harry their foes to the north, they heard a small voice calling them. Glancing south, they saw Zhustin, struggling their direction through the entangling ice. “Get closer together, so I can cast Haste on you!” Unfortunately, there was a Troll Ripper between them. Could this work?

The characters earned 2,457 XP for the night, putting them at 60,912 XP with 75,000 required for level 9. We’ll be at Leo’s next week.