The Coming Storms

May 14, 2020

As Kaji, Rolen, and Dio leave the fortress, snow drifts to the ground.  They meet up with Tristan and Gorstag, who were watching the entrance.   Tristan suspicious nature comes out that they were just let go but wants to get back to Adgrove to rest.  They head back and get back to town, going to the Salted Squirrel Tavern.  Roldan, Samm and the others assault them to find out what happened!  While feeling better, their injuries stand out.  The group tells the story of what happened and then go to bed.  

The next morning, snow covers the ground, in some places up to eight inches.  Undeterred, knowing it will only get worse from this point, they head out with the wagons and horses.  After several mishaps and losing wagons in drifts, which require digging them out with shovels, Rolen goes forward to scout out the way.  They still take a long time to reach the stronghold.  The drivers get a fire going, the wagons stowed, and the horses inside.  They insist the group scouts out the caves and makes sure it's safe.  

Checking the cave system reveals the bandits they killed setup around unlit fire pits.  They bandits cleared out everything of value leaving behind their former comrades in these macabre poses.  Rolen spots the secret exit and opening it has snow hit them in the face.  Seeing that it just goes outside, they close it and go back inside.  During this, Tristan was looking at one of the books but couldn't find a way to open it.  

They pack all of the things on wagons but then bed down for the day, hoping the storm will end.  It doesn't let up until next morning.  Not a lot of new snow fell, the wind pushed everything around.  The wind still blew as they started but they again wanted the comfort of the Salted Squirrel.  

The journey proved difficult.  More drifts and loss of their previous tracks meant that Rolen and Gorstag had to guess.  They recognized more landmarks, even covered in snow, and made decent time.  They came around a hill to see the village ahead of them.  

The building burning.  Smoke still pouring out.  

The group leaves the wagons and men behind to rush up to the town.  It's too late.  The buildings have been set on fire; the people dead.  The Salty Squirrel collapsed inside, leaving piles of debris atop the bodies.  Edward and Gretta died near the bar.  Dora is there and while Dio tries to save her but the wounds too grave.  She asks, "why did you betray us to Viktor?" before dying.  

The group sees red at the realization of what happened.  They gather the villagers and think a dozen are unaccounted for, wondering if they were accomplices or prisoners of Viktor.  They want to go out and find him but the snow has covered all tracks.  Besides, they want to get back to Sundabar quickly before word gets back.  They get going after burning the bodies.  

Stopping that night, again wolves attack them.  Even knowing they will be flanked, it's a tough fight but they make it.  What they didn't expect was the wolves to rise up and attack again!  Gregor, Andrew and Samm all went down before the zombies wolves fell to the sword and arrows.  Dio heals what he can but he also knows that the three who went down are diseased.  The disease turns them into zombies slowly unless they can be healed.  

250 xp

GM Notes

• I think the drivers wanting the area clear was good, given the later fight with the wolves.  
• I think PF/DND works great as an action game but it doesn't help for drama.  
• Case in point, the NPC Dora.  With a simple healing spell, most recent editions would see her saved.  
• I didn't allow it for the drama and while I had game mechanic ideas to back me, I'm glad my players went with it.  
• How does word get back to Sundabar from Adgrove when there are no survivors?   
• The wolf fight was tough and when the Winter Wolf showed up with a breath weapon?  Brutal but they survived.
• They didn't seem excited to fight the wolves a second time.  
• The NPCs were running cold.  I think they had one or two good rounds out of six but that was it.  
• The NPCs were also nearly killed, with several down and close to death.  
• Now they just have to make it back to Sundabar!   

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