Hunted and pursued

As the rabbit with horns erupted from the bush and ran off across the edge of the road, darting behind bushes and around trees, branches and rocks in its escape from the humanoids that had discovered it in its hiding place the party watched it with weapons at the ready lest it was another beast ready to attack them, or worse. As the parties tension eased in the following silence they moved about the snow covered road they put their weapons away and started to move across the road to check for anything else that was nearby. No matter how far and thoroughly they looked they were unable to shake the feeling of being watched, or a predator being nearby – the cold and fatigue of the last days travel taking its toll on the adventurers making shapes in the snow look like beasts and spirits getting ready to lash out at the party and strike them down where they stood.

After they were certain nothing was near by the party and the wagon rolled onwards down the road, returning to being alert and keeping an watchful eye on the walls of the valley, the trees and the snow.

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She watched from a nearby wall of ice and rock through the sporadic leaves and branches between her keen eyes and the humans that were travelling through her lands – the one that had been marked by the shadow and the queen. Twisting her neck around she moved away from the rock, her strong neck moving away from the wall of rock and ice as her claws and broad axe-like graft of everfrost that adorned her forelimbs dug into the rock, dirt and ice to secure herself and support her weight. As she moved her body upwards to a crouching position she compressed her body until it was like a coiled spring and released, spreading her forelimbs wide as the framed membranes spread wide and her weight was caught by the wind and she soared higher into the sky as the wind tunnel help carry her higher into the sky quickly – her eyes never leaving the humans and their wagon as they moved onwards.

Creatures scattered in the forest as she revealed herself from her hiding spot, she loved this feeling, the fear, the reverence. She was the mountain itself and those who lived in these rocky outcrops were her subjects, only fit to live her by her good grace. As she soared higher she saw the sun setting on the end of the valley causing the spikes of ice she had created sparkle like jewels through the rift between her rock and snow. Latching onto the tallest rocky peak, digging the ice blade in deep to secure purchase, she watched the humans, they not being aware that they would be dead with the coming sun. A smile formed on her lips, rare for her species but she was an oddity for her kind any way and as long as she was still ruler of these rocky lands she cared not for the wars that happened to the east and west of her, for here she was queen.

Content to watch and plan she climbed to the peak, using her four limbs and he thick and wide tail to give her balance as she gripped into the cold earth. Reaching the peak she sat there and preened her feathers, the yellow sunlight causing her white and blue feathers and scales to glow like the snow that surrounded her as she made sure that she looked her best for the guests she had in her hunting grounds – for the hunt was about to be on and she did not want to disappoint.

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The cold wind nipped at her exposed nose and ears as she looked up at the wagon in the distance and sighed with relief. After finding her aunt half eaten by the creatures that came at night she didn’t care about the warnings of the Yuki-onna or even the creature that had been destroying her village – nothing had bothered her, even the cold didn’t bother her half as much as normal. But the things she had seen on her pursuit of the adventures and the wagon had worried her, the creatures big and small, malicious and marvellous all threaded upon everfrost like grim warnings of what travellers in the valley could expect between the valley walls.

That is why she needed to find them, those foreign adventures the one from the same place as Hugh and Jason, her aunt had tons her the night before that they were the only ones that could stop the attacks and had left a single talisman out for their good fortune. Ester was sure that is what had drawn the creatures to her aunt’s room and they had decided to make a spectacle, a statement from her defiance. And now she was racing to them, making up lost ground as they seemed to be moving slower now, whether by choice or not was yet to be determined but it gave her a chance to catch up and ask for help.

Running across the snow was nearly impossible but she moved as quickly as she could, holding her fathers bow with a notched arrow ready to defend herself if anything thought her an easy meal. The talismans and charms draped around her neck should keep most things away or help her natural senses keep her from harm but there was always a cost to such enhancements and she had trouble hearing anything over the wind in the valley. Her heightened senses seemed to be picking up the overwhelming noise of the mountain itself, animals and creatures as well but the wind, groaning trees and cracking twigs – everything was loud.

Surprisingly so she didn’t notice the massive white creature until she nearly bumped into it.

Large thick claws adorned the rear feet and powerful legs, claws and a large blade made of everfrost capped the middle of two large wings that where covered in feathers and scales that made it blend in perfectly to the surrounding snow and frost. A large avian head and sharp beak with Jagged teeth contrasted with the highly intelligent eyes that looked down upon her with amusement and mirth.

Raising her bow she pointed it at the creature who’s beak twisted into the mimicry of a smile. “A brave one to point such a small arrow at the mountain itself” the massive creature said in a chirpy song-like voice. “You get one shot so I’d make it count. But to shoot me results in only your death and not mine little creature” and Ester knew it was true. The creature was as big as the trees, the scales were like metal plates and the volume of feathers made it hard to see where flesh was beneath them. She considered her options and looked towards the wagon, a few hundred feet away, the wind whipped her hair and covered her eyes as it fanned out in the direction of her gaze. A carrying wind she thought. Grabbing one of her talismans, one of luck, she wrapped it around the arrow slowly as the large creature watched her with amusement and curiosity. “I’m afraid to tell you that those talismans don’t work on me little one” the monster said as it moved forward, the everfrost blades biting into the snow and earth giving its massive form purchase. As quick as she could, drawing from her talismans to augment her speed and skill with a bow Ester raised the bow and loosed on a single shot, carrying the talismans with it.

The arrow soared past the creatures head who turned its to watch the arrow fly off into the distance, a breeze pick it up and push it into the wood of the wagon next to the rear door.

“Very clever” the creature said as she turned to look at he girl. “Very clever indeed” it repeated as it lunged upwards grabbing Ester and carried her in her powerful hind claws into the sky, the sudden appearance of a flurry of snow blocking visibility and shrouding the creature and Ester in white as it ascended into the mountain peaks.

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Hana stared at the snow as the talisman swung backwards and forwards in the rocking motion of the wagon. She had seen it, she was sure she saw a massive creature fly into the sudden snow flurry and ascend into the sky. As the party arrived around her, and Kyoko gripped her shoulder she realised that she was shaking. Grabbing a quill, a pot of ink and some paper she started to sketch what she thought she saw, but no matter how she tried to describe it with words, or she tried to draw it no one had a clue of what was out there – but they recognised the charm attached to the arrow embedded in the door.

After half an hour the party returned with a bow and reports of the same large scrape like markings in the snow.

NPCs

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Environment and running the adventure

Part 1 – Fight.

So the first part of the encounter is a slog fest with some hindrance or handicaps on my creatures due to holding Ester. The creature moves slowly, half speed, with disadvantage on attack rolls and dex saves as it’s currently carrying a prisoner and because one of its back feet is occupied in its attempt to stay upright in the snow its a bit more clumsy. This however doesn’t restrict some of its abilities which it will use as often as it can. The goal of the creature is to immobilise or cause as many of the player characters to become restrained by the ice or environment so it can savour their death.

The snow it self makes the players move at half speed but wont affect the creature, as its already slow. This evens the Playfield a smidge and grants a small advantage for the creature as it can cause parts of the battlefield to become hazards where they are nearly impossible to cross over. The goal of this round is to shatter the ice that cover the front clawed sections of wing which will cause it to slip over until it puts down Ester. The creature will also throw Ester at a party member that is within 30 feet as a reaction to their action (movement, attack, spell cast) when its at or below 50% health. Once it does this it will leap into the sky and summon spears of everfrost into the mountain peaks nearby creating an avalanche.

Ice Blades

For the purpose of damaging the ice blades they have resistance to all piercing and slashing attacks, take normal damage from Two handed melee weapons (as they take more muscle to wield) but vulnerability from bludgeoning. the blades have AC14 (as the creature needs them for balance, but they are durable) and 40hp. When ever the Laelóng uses its ice breath attack the ice blades heal 1d10hp.

Part 2 – Avalanche.

Round 2 is avoiding a terrain hazard, the avalanche, whilst fending off the creature as it swoops down to try and kill or drown (in snow) the party. It will always move in, attack once then bonus action disengage during this phase whilst sparing its ice breath. After the avalanche begins they party has five rounds until the avalanche his them and the exit/entrance to the valley is 300 feet away. The in party’s goal is to get out of the valley alive whilst the creatures goal is to prevent them from doing so (but not make it impossible). The wagon is back a further 200ft. If the party are caught by the avalanche they have 3 rounds of fighting a against the avalanche with a mixture of either skill and saving throws before being dumped onto the soggy ground at the end of the valley, just past its walls, from up high a battered creature is now furious for being denied it’s prize, but its now un-inhibited and mad gaining some additional combat options.

Swooped

Dexterity contests are in order to avoid the creatures attack. DC is the attack roll vs the Dexterity checks. If you fail then the creature can still miss based on AC but you are knocked prone in your attempt to avoid the attack. If you succeed then you don’t get knocked prone and suffer no damage.

Caught up

If the Avalanche hits a party member a Strength saving throw (DC15) is required immediately or they are taken under, if they succeed they maintain their footing and are considered to be 5ft away from the avalanche.

This taken under by the avalanche are considered to be restrained and suffocating. The Party member can repeat their saving throw at the end of each of their turns in which they at restrained to attempt to surface and break free.

( A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds). When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round).)

Regardless of constitution modifiers after 3 rounds they stop moving through from the avalanche and end up at the mouth of the valley looking at a very angry Laelóng, (mixed between Laniidae which is greek for Shrike and Fēilóng which is Chinese for Wyvern).

Final confrontation

Now some of this will come during this week as the complexity of making it challenging but not overpowering after the ordeal of the avalanche is something I want to spend more time on but the creature will have access to more legendary actions to use against the party will be able to spend its frost breath charge on repairing its ice blades and will no longer have disadvantage (unless the party inflict it) on any rolls as it fights at full ferocity. It is however at half health or wounded to some degree due to the previous confrontation.

I would assume that the party is at level 7 but will not be fully rested (due to the earlier fights or encounters) – this is intentional to make the fight feel more desperate but it should be balanced to not make their failure a sure thing.

The Inn of no Vacancies

As the party walk back into the village they are see many of the people that call this place home are busy repairing doors, windows and shutters that look as if they were torn open or broken into forcefully but despite the party offering help they receive a brief, fake, smile and their help is refused.

As the party move through the village they see that the inn seems to have received the worst of the attacks that happened the night before as the owner, Hugh, and a few other villagers were busy rebuilding a wall. Upon seeing the party he moved towards them looking nervous.

“You cant be here, the spirit-folk somehow knew that I had spoken to you and I woke up to one of the inns walls being ripped down.” He paused as he nodded to Jason “when this is over please do come back, but I can’t lose the inn, not after all it has cost me.” As clasped Jason on his should and nodded a sorrowful nod to the party, Kyoko, Hana and Kuang he looked at the wall as it was put back into place and stood there with his hands on his hips.

Following his gaze the party noticed that the wood itself looked like something large, wide and sharp had bit into the wood on one corner of the wall and ripped it out with very little effort – no evidence of blade, club or other known weapon seems to have caused the damage. Moving up towards the wall while Jason took the princess, her cousin and the general to get more supplies for crossing through the ranges the party noticed that large shards of extremely hard ice were imbedded into the wood along the mark where the wall had suffered the blow that tore it from its housing. Taking a shard of it the shard of ice seemed to permeate cold through the holders hands and only several layers of cloth, or two bags could stop the chill from numbing the flesh. Whilst holding and examining the ice Ester appeared behind them “It wont melt. We tried everything the first time we found it -in our well – we call it forever frost, or permafrost for those who found that the name sounded too much like an attempt at poetry. Don’t hold it for too long as it will bond to your flesh and start to freeze your insides. Shen found that out when we had to cut off his frozen finger before it spread to his hand.”

Jason arrived not too long after and after Ester did and after some some quick goodbyes they jumped into the back of the wagon and were heading off – towards the Kunagi ranges whilst the weather was still on their favour.

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The dusting of snow between the ranges was miraculously thin on the frozen mud of the road yet it piled up next to the rocky cliffs and trees either side of the road where the wagon squelched behind an anxious draft horse.

The weather had turned slightly to the worse, small flurries of snow had begun to drift down upon the wagon but it it wasn’t the weather that was cause for concern, the sheer number of tracks from spirit folk and the creatures that called this valley and mountain ranges home were the source of growing concern. It was beginning to be unusual to see a section of snow that didn’t have discarded cloth, foot prints or even bones of a meal and they all seemed to be heading in the same direction. The trees offered some protection from the snow regardless and while the party wasn’t used to this level of snow and cold but the wagon was kitted with double walls and a level of cloth and material on the inside that made the inside comfortable if not cosy.

The old grey stallion whinnied and the wagon came to a stop as the horse spooked and started to retreat backwards causing the wagon to lurch before the wheels met snow by the side of the road and stop abruptly. “It may take me some time for me to be able to convince this old thing to move forward. But what ever is spooking it isn’t far from here and I’d rather be prepared than having to make a quick exit from this valley.” Jason called as he tried to pull the horse into line.

Leaving the wagon and moving forward as quietly and stealthily as possible the party moved further into the valley as a strange and foul smell crept down from the wind that swept down into the valley from the peaks above them. Up head the snow had been disturbed and great furrows had been embedded into the frozen soil, similar to the ones that they saw on their approach into the village before the ranges. A wide crescent of fresh footprints gave a wide berth to the marks and from the looks of them the creatures that made them were scared, terrified even. Looking around for traces of what could have caused the owners of the footprints to act as such they eventually drew their investigation to the valley walls above them and there they saw the cause.

A great rupture of spikes made from the same ice that they had a shard of burst forth like lightning made from ice. The dark blue of the ice as it erupted from the stone face extended into the middle of the valley, a good sixty feet from the wall and at the end of each of the spikes that had erupted forth resided a skewered creature. Oni, ogres, Nat’s and even bears the size of the wagon they travelled in lay skewered on the ice, pushed on with enough force to pierce even the stone-like hide of the Nat. Looking at the ice as it had exploded out the trees themselves had their upper branches frozen, splintered and a few shards of frost encrusted splinters of wood lay just under the surface of the snow.

The ice must have been so cold that there was very little blood from the creatures that hung their, rigid and dead and what blood there was hung like frozen spears of ice suspended fifty feet in the air above the area where the scrape was. Something or someone would have had to have done this and to best that many creatures at once would indicate something both large and strong beyond anything that the party would have faced thus far.

Returning back to Jason they found him having blindfolded the horse and moving towards them and when he saw the gruesome display the colour drained from his face. “I have known some of the creatures of the ranges to be vicious but to be cruel like this is another level. We can make it through the ranges today if we hurry but it will get dark early inside these ice covered walls so we can’t dally any more.” he urged as he ushered them into the back of the wagon to join Kuang, Kyoko and Hana. “Hold on, we won’t be slowing down for some time and I pray that the old horse makes it.”

NPCs

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Environment and running the adventure

The cold air blasted along the rocky outcrops high above the valley below like a great exhale from the frost itself. As the mountains awoke, small creatures scurried forth from their dens to begin a day of foraging for food and keeping an ever watchful eye above and around them for predators.
The trees braced against the wind as flurries of snow and frost spattered their frozen trunks with the white powder, great long icicles growing from branches like teeth from the jaws of a many jawed creature that waited for the foolish or unprepared to wander within. As the wind jostled the branches high in the ranges a wagon crossed beneath down far below the edge of the lip of a crater that has been carved out by sharp ice over many years.

The groan of axle and call of great of burden could not be heard over the wind, the mountains song, but creatures spooked by the presence in the ranges dashed for cover, a fox cowering under the roots of a tree that clung onto the edge of the cliff. Scenting the air around it the fox moved out on soft deliberately placed paws, its eyes darting around as the sense of danger was strong and it had a burrow to return to.
Dashing across the snow, its twin tails leaving a wisp of a trail as it moved from hiding hole, to bushes, to ledge as it slunk towards its den. A final check to see if the coast was clear before it darted for the base of a tree where the entrance of its den lie. The Fox should have moved slower, or kept one eye on the sky or simply should have waited between the cage of frozen roots as no sooner than it leave the seclusion of the ledge a sickening thud followed by a crunch as a row or everfrost descend down upon it, piercing and severing multiple organs at once.
The warm red blood splattered across the snow, a similar contrast to the colour of red of the for from the fox as it died shredded by ice.

The creak of an axle, groan of a wheel and cry from a hawk high above the scenes below joined the wind in praising the strength of the mountain, a song for its power and its unquestioned rule.

Shapes behind the flurry of snow

The image of those creatures, large and small alike threaded upon those needle like spikes of ever frost was enough to rattle even the bravest of souls. As the party moved through the valley more large scrapes, cuts, and spikes of ice with threaded animals and creatures were encountered but all other evidence of the cause, natural or otherwise were no where to be found.

As the party turn a bend around a particularly expansive spire of ice a sudden flash of movement in the ice and snow gave them cause to pause and press themselves up against the spire of ice, well close to it at risk of freezing themselves. Focusing on where the movement was, their heart beats fluttering like mad, a tentative white rabbit with little stag-like horns appeared, sniffed the air a few times before quickly hopping from the bush it hid behind to another one further down the road.

This wasn’t the only such encounter that set the parties senses on edge as they continued, slower since they wanted to scout the way for the wagon a few hundred feet in advance, but after seeing, and continuing to see the threaded creatures on spikes of un-melting ice they were not going to take any chances.

Potential Encounters

Horned Rabbit – the Jackelope

The Horned rabbit (Jackelope) is a strange creature. Small, non vicious but adorned with razor sharp horns that could gut a non defended man these creatures dart around skittishly without warning and their white coloured fur makes them difficult to see amongst the snow and ice.

Giant Boar/ Giant Goat

Although two distinct animals the giant boar and giant goat play the same role in this adventure – something that may attack if threatened, whether they believe they are or are actually in danger. I’d say a low perception check would lower the distance between the party and the creature before they are discover each other – if its within 20 feet (which, lets be reminded is only 3.5 times the height of an average person) then the Goat or Boar is spooked and will charge at the party.

Dire Wolf

This one is simple – its hungry, maybe in a pack, maybe its stalking the Goat/Boar/Jackelope and it meets the party. Either it feels cornered or its just hungry but either way the party look mighty tasty to the Dire Wolf.

The encounter(s) should be suspenseful, moments of fear whether its something that summons ice, or one of the spirit folk or more undead creatures sent after them. What ever it is we want the party to guess the worse because, oh, its coming for them next week.

Between this adventure and the next I would assume that the party are at level 7, if not there already, as they will need it.

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Aftermath

As always its up to you, but for me I’d have them finish the last combat with the feeling of a presence, something looming near by in the white.

This adventure flows onto next weeks which will be centred around an encounter between the party and what has been watching them and leaving little gifts for them so whether the party fight it tired from a fight or fresh faced is up to the party.