Day 5 (continued)
Temerity retrieves Korako and Guido from where they have been hiding themselves. He places Korako on the altar and site, cross-legged, before him, staring at the rabbit. Lavender glares briefly at his strange behaviour, but says nothing. She can hear him muttering to Korako but can’t make out what. As she strains to listen, he suddenly calls out to save some of the troll for dinner. Lavender replies that she isn’t sure if the thing is edible and, when he continues to make strange remarks, ignores him.
Throughout this, Theren has lain semi-conscious on the floor after having collapsed post-battle, weary from the exertion and that of searing the vines before. His state goes ignored by both. Temerity continues muttering, causing Korako to wonder why his master is doing so. Temerity asks him if he can recall the attempt that they made to summon the deities. Korako is confused; all he recalls is…grass. This recollection simply instils in him a desire to eat grass. Temerity apologises, since they are currently surrounded by snow, and offers him a treat instead.
Disappointed, Temerity goes to assist Lavender and Orion with the removal of the troll’s carcass; the torso is so massive that it requires all three of them working together to shift it out of the church. Temerity, in his usual way, begins to make potentially insulting remarks to Orion, but the monk is too badly injured to bite back. Lavender works to smooth things over between them. Temerity again states his desire to eat the troll, but Lavender disagrees, as it may be diseased or poisoned. Temerity brings out Guido and asks him to sniff the troll for diseases or poison. Guido is hungover, but gives it a sniff and declares that there’s nothing there. Temerity, not quite trusting the rat after too much beer, asks Korako; Korako says that there’s no poison and that the troll smells delicious. Lavender is curious as to why Temerity so desperately wants to eat the troll. Temerity simply gives an impassioned motivational speech to get them to eat the troll with him. Lavender falls under the sway of the speech and agrees that Korako has never steered them wrong before, so she decides to eat the troll as well.
Temerity declares that he will cook the troll. He wants to set the fire in the church next to Theren, so as to awaken him with the stench of it cooking. Lavender puts paid to that idea, as it would blaspheme Auriel. She makes it very clear that she will not tolerate this. As she does so, a huge snowflake lands on her nose and sits there, unmelting. Lavender carefully removes it and places it on her head. Temerity tries to interfere with the snowflakes, but she repels and rebukes him.
Lavender picks up an unresisting Theren and carries him outside over her shoulder. Temerity goes to find wood to burn, but everything is too wet from the snow. He wants to burn the broken doors of the church instead, but Lavender refuses. Without a fire, they cut up some of the troll and wrap it for transport. Temerity suggests burning a piece as a sacrifice to Auriel. Lavender feels a warmth glowing through her and agrees that this would be a good plan. She cuts out the troll’s heart, places Theren on a pew and the heart on the altar. She rests on her knees and speaks a prayer, stating that fate had guided her to the church to defend it from a brutal troll, preventing it from desecrating the church. She offers the heart to the lady of balance. Frost creeps up and over the heart, enveloping and encasing it until it shatters and vanishes. Temerity observes this, fascinated, while Lavender simply sits calmly.
Theren starts to come round and Temerity decides that it’s time to move on. He thinks that they should rest somewhere without any snow before they make the climb up the mountain, so they head back to Gorg’s Inn.
Gorg looks at them in their dishevelled and injured state and asks what happened. Lavender explains about the church, which causes confusion in the locals. Gorg’s expression is inscrutable. Lavender continues to explain about Auriel and the frost troll and their sanctification of the shrine. Gorg is pleased that they are still alive and offers them respite. Lavender is grateful, but at the innkeeper’s offer, Temerity begins to look shifty. Lavender notices and glares at him, but he simply grins beatifically back.
Theren heads upstairs and slams his door, collapsing fully clothed onto the bed and sleeping. Lavender bathes, prays and then sleeps. Temerity stays down with Gorg and tries to talk to him about other-worldly beings. However, he first inquires about the gnome, but Gorg informs him that he was sent home for the night and warns Temerity to stay away from his cook. Gorg uses magic to enforce this. Temerity places Korako on the bar, which irritates Gorg, and states that he wants to know what his rabbit is behaving strangely. He suspects it is connected with other-worldly beings. Gorg agrees to speak with him on the subject, as long as Temerity agrees to behave appropriately for the remaining duration of his stay in Mightrest. Temerity agrees, but only while he is within Mightrest’s boundaries. Temerity surreptitiously slips Guido up his sleeve. As the two shake hands, Guido runs out of Temerity’s sleeve, blocks the handshake, runs up Gorg’s arm and throws back the hood from the half-orc’s head. Gorg grabs Guido by the scruff and holds him up. Temerity shakes Gorg’s arm and agrees to be very, very good from this point on. Gorg thrusts Guido back at him and tells him to get lost. Temerity retrieves Guido and places him back in the bag. Guido is buzzing after the prank and wants to do others in the future, to which Temerity agrees.
Gorg is annoyed, but fulfils his part of the bargain. He states that many years ago he travelled to the upper planes to deal with something that he withholds. He spoke to some of the gods and counts himself lucky to have done so. He heard whisperings from the god of the elves about a god that had touched all of the others, who had affected all lives in many planes. The name Wild Wanderer is all he heard, and he reasons that it could be related to the “grass” that Korako recalls. This Wild Wanderer is likely the god of nature that the party seeks. Temerity thanks him and agrees to be good until he leaves the town. He takes Korako from the bar and heads up to his room to meditate and sleep. Gorg cleans fur off the bar, disgruntled.
Day 6
The following morning, all are beautifully refreshed, although Theren still nurses a headache from the day before. Orion is already up, sitting in a plush armchair, reading. Temerity greets him by name. Orion wonders if Temerity is feeling well. The others descend and he greets them all by name and again, they are shocked. The gnome brings their breakfast and Temerity thanks him cordially, leaving the whole party and the gnome completely baffled.
Lavender and Temerity discuss the ascent of the mountain. Lavender suggests that they will need winter clothing, food and a tent at the very least. Theren and Temerity both agree without argument, so they all head to the market.
The clothier greets them by rambling on incessantly. Theren, with his continuing headache, interrupts her but she is not impressed by this. Lavender apologises and asks for four sets of clothes. Temerity also asks for coats for a rabbit and a rat. The clothier is confused but agrees to let them have some fur off-cuts. She asks for 80 gold pieces in total. Lavender is willing to hand over the gold, but Temerity offers to hunt for wolf pelts instead. The clothier agrees, requesting six wolf pelts in exchange for their clothes. Theren agrees and so does Lavender, albeit reluctantly.
They head north west, into the Alpine Forest. As they leave the town, Temerity’s demeanour shifts. Theren sends Runcible scouting, but he cannot locate anything. A snow fox cub appears and Temerity speaks to it. The cub is highly excitable and now believes that Temerity is his best friend in the whole world. He emphasises this by repeating the phrase incessantly and bouncing up and down. Temerity uses this enthusiasm to his advantage and asks about wolves. The snow fox says that he knows the wolves, but that they’re scary. He agrees to show his best friend where the wolves are. Temerity presents Guido and Korako to the snow fox and says that he must not eat them, because they are also friends. The snow fox cub is overjoyed to have so many new friends. Korako, however, is disconcerted by how hyperactive the cub is and dislikes that it keeps calling him cock-a-doodle-doo instead of Korako. The snow fox takes some venison jerky from Theren as payment for helping and leads the party perched on Temerity’s shoulder. Lavender and Theren follow along in disbelief.
They reach a large cave with paw prints heading in and out. Blood is spattered in places. The remains of a campfire suggest an ill-fated group stayed in the clearing outside the cave at some point. Temerity names the snow fox cub Aurius. Runcible carries the three animals one at a time into a tree to keep them safe. Lavender suggests that they bait and trap. Theren suggests drawing them out and then he can use his shatter spell on the group as they emerge, causing them considerable damage and allowing the party to finish them quickly. The group agrees with this plan. Temerity uses his motivational speaking and the party is flabbergasted, feeling themselves filled with magical energy. Theren sends Runcible into the cave, but he cannot find any wolves. Orion hears movement from all around them.
Three massive ice wolves appear. They are grey and white and bigger than bears. One stands to the front of the party and one behind, while the third is off to the side, near where Temerity stands beneath the tree holding his menagerie. The ice wolf behind the group blasts them with its cold breath, hurting both Lavender and Theren. The one in front lunges at Lavender, but she blocks it with her shield. The one by Temerity drops a snow fox carcass from its mouth. Aurius screams when he recognises his parent. The distraction causes the wolf to miss its attack upon Temerity.
Orion turns to face the rear wolf, lashing out with his fists, but causing little damage. Temerity tries his vicious mockery, but it fails. Theren unleashed a shatter on the two wolves to the front and side, causing moderate damage to both. Lavender, like Orion, chooses to focus on the wolf to the rear. She swings a double-handed attack and causes it serious damage. Orion continues his assault, but while they are both concerned with the rear wolf, the one in front of them swipes at Theren and knocks him to the ground, injured. Cold damage from the side wolf’s breath overwhelms Theren and he hovers at the edge of death. The cold breath also affects Orion; he begins to look badly hurt. Temerity is damaged by the cold breath also, but his hellish rebuke causes it some fire damage in return. Temerity heals Orion and then mocks the wolf before him, dealing further damage.
Runcible, meanwhile, retrieves a healing potion from Theren’s pack to try and revives his master. Lavender rages beyond all measure and, bringing her sword round in a graceful arc, stabs the wolf behind them through the jaw and down its throat. Somehow, however, this does not equate to a killing blow. Orion is impressed with her power and hits out at the same wolf, wounding it further and causing it to stumble around. The wolf in front of the group lashes out at Lavender, but she survives the attack. The wolf to the side again uses its cold breath and hits not only Temerity, Orion and Lavender, but also the wolf to the front of the party. Temerity uses the distraction to heal Lavender and mocks the wolf behind the party. It collapses, finally defeated, as Temerity throws the discarded snow fox corpse at it. But this act takes a toll on the badly wounded bard and Temerity falls to his knees, nearly dead.
Runcible feeds the healing potion to Theren, who gasps back to life, still lying on the floor. Lavender charges over the wolf by Temerity, receiving bite damage from the other remaining wolf as she does so. She causes serious damage to the wolf by Temerity, but it still stands and snarls at her. She snarls right back at it.
Orion moves to attack the other wolf before them, hitting it with several blows. Both of the wolves then use their cold breath, causing near fatal damage to Theren and Temerity, who both fall. Runcible takes a hit too and desummons. Lavender sees her comrades fall and recalls the lessons of her grandmother. Her focus comes to her, her blade glows, sweeps through the air and cleaves off the wolf’s head beside Temerity’s prone form.
Orion smacks the last remaining wolf, but it survives and knocks him down. Lavender steps back menacingly and meets the wolf’s glare, charging forward, but her charge misses. Orion staggers back up and swings again, but he misses the wolf and falls again, unable to continue. The wolf uses its cold breath once again and Lavender takes serious damage. She is nearly dead and spitting blood, shivering with the cold, but again she remembers her grandmother’s words and shoves the sword downs the wolf’s throat, bisecting its tongue and cleaving its jaws in half.
Temerity is on his deathbed. Lavender rushes to him, with his animals gather around him, having climbed down from the tree. They all appear to be mourning him. She shoos them all away and gives him her last healing potion, cradling him in the crook of her arm. Temerity gasps back to life. The animals all jump onto them both, overcome with relief. Temerity instinctively grasps Lavender to him without thinking. Aurius, who is perched on Lavender’s head by this point, is so excited that he wets himself, weeing down the back of Lavender’s neck.
Lavender peels Temerity off her, removes her pack and props him up with it. She checks the other two: Theren is just about stable but Orion is seriously wounded. She tears through Theren’s pack and finds his last healing potion. Temerity croaks out a healing word, but it misses Orion and instead rouses Theren from unconsciousness. Lavender feeds the healing potion to Orion, bringing him round. As the other three recover, she skins the three ice wolves, managing to recover two pelts from each wolf, given their massive size. They have what the need to satisfy the clothier, even though it nearly cost them all of their lives.