Boztun Badlands, Klos 18th, 350AC, 10:52  (fog, 45 degrees, crescent moon)

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Bren’s nearing voice starts counting, as irregular footfalls approach.  He appears through the fog when he gets to “six”.  He is limping, bleeding from his right leg, and is clutching his unloaded crossbow.  Zarr is with him, knife drawn, moving sideways while looking back the way they came.

“Arks!”  gasps Bren.  “We only saw one, and he’s runnin’ away.”

There are no more cries from the fog.  Nothing attacks.  Ragnor life leeches nothing.  The fog remains.

Awareness rolls, x 1/2 due to fog and talking/shouting from allies:

• Zeebo (4): 5 4 = white, too much jibber jabber around him to notice anything
• Bren (6): 2 7 = white, same
• Arvak (4): 7 3 = blue, same (likely would have noticed without the talking and new scouts on the scene)
• Ragnor (8): 90 0 = yellow.  Hears faint footfalls moving towards the top of the map (not close enough to attack)
• Phallon (7): 90 3 = yellow.  Hears the same footfalls.  Thinks the fog around him is lifting a bit more.
• Zarr (6): 9 6 = yellow.

Zarr waves his hands to get your (Bren’s, Arvak’s, Zeebo’s) attention, then points at the ground between Arvak/Zeebo.  Looking, you see a set of dog-like footprints in the snow.

What now?

Boztun Badlands, Klos 18th, 350AC, 10:52  (fog, 45 degrees, crescent moon)

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Phallon moves forward into the fog, and uses sun ray hands (12): 50 0 = blue.  The golden light flares through the fog causing everyone to wince a bit.  Phallon can see a lot of misty vapor ahead of him rise up into the air (very local lifting of fog).  The ground in front of him is now muddy with rivulets of trickling water.  No enemies are in sight.

Ragnor also moves forward into the fog.  After moving ahead about 8 meters, he uses life leech (11): 00 7 = white.  No enemies in sight.

Arvak and Zeebo prepare for attack.  After a couple of quick yips, the enemies calls cease.  You can hear soft movements in the snow but cannot distinguish friend from foe.  The noises are all around you but seem distant:  again probably rock throwing range and many are getting softer.

You all hear a thump/splat in the snow off towards the top left of the map, then a bow-string twangs.  Next you hear someone yell, “AAaaarDAMMIT!” at the same time that something yelps in a high pitched animalistic cry of pain.

No other missiles are fired at you.  The howls have stopped.  You hear Bren shout (from the top left of the map), “We’re commin back to ya, don’t shoot us!”

What next?

Boztun Badlands, Klos 18th, 350AC, 10:51  (fog, 45 degrees, crescent moon)

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Standing in dense fog, you continue to hear yips and howls.  A few more missiles fly through your group from both sides.  Its unnerving how you can only see them just before they strike.

Ragnor waits until he hears a howl nearby (randomly determined), then fires his shotgun to his right.  Column x 1/2 due to total obscurement, but +3 CS due to shotgun scatter.  The shot (11): 20 8 = white.  The shot echoes loudly and everyone smells gunpowder.

Zeebo and the other soldiers wait, weapons at the ready, for enemies to show themselves.  None do.  Phallon does nothing.

Arvak’s precognition roll (8): 5 5 = white (so close to a blue!).  The chunks of rebar come flying through again.  The first one is too high and sails over Arvak’s head.  Another is about to strike Nevlok and Arvak stretches out his arm and gestures.  Telekinetic force (10): 5 4 = blue.  The rebar comes to an abrupt halt less than a foot from Nevlok and falls to the ground with a thwack.  The fog doesn’t seem to be affected by the telekinetic blast.

A third piece suddenly appears and strikes Phallon.  BD 8 – 4ac = 4 x 2RF = 8 points of damage.  Down to 87 hit points.  CN save vs. stun (8): 80 8 = green.  Several more unseen objects you assume are more missiles thump into the snow/ground around you.

What now?

Boztun Badlands, Klos 18th, 350AC, 10:51  (fog, 45 degrees, crescent moon)

http://bollywood-mp3.com/video/fifteen-birds-the-hobbit_1:08__LLVgGADHg60.html

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Ragnor attempts to wolf out (11): 00 3 = black!  There is no transformation.  It is as if he didn’t have the power at all…

Zeebo shouts for the scouts to return.  He gets an anti-charisma roll (to try to negate the negative effects, column 9): 0 9 = white.  Umm, Rank 6 -1CH – 5 defect = column C.  (C): 5 4 = white.  Unless they’re coming back anyway, no one would respond to that command.  Except maybe Zap Rowzdower from Alberta.

Arvak shouts his defiant demands to the unseen howlers as Ragnor yells for everyone to circle up.  Ragnor command (Rank 7, CH normally +1, but no bonus presently = 7): 30 9 = white.  But fortunately, he is technically in charge of the soldiers, so the three non-scouts start to bunch together.  The scouts are still out of sight.

The map below shows your approximate postions, although you can’t really see each other that well.  You hear some swooshing noises and see some shadowy spear-like objects fly though your group.  One thumps heavily into Zeebo’s chest  (displacement (9): 2 1 = white) but his armor keeps it from giving him more than a bruise.  2 points of damage, hp down to 73.  (CN save vs stun (7): 0 0 = red)  The object looks like an ancient rusty piece of metal rebar.

What now?

Boztun Badlands, Klos 18th, 350AC, 10:50  (fog, 45 degrees, crescent moon)

Your group trudges northeast towards Car Isle.  Misty vapors swirl around your feet, then engulf you in fog as you continue forward.  Everything is gray and damp, yet the air feels warmer to you.  The snow becomes thinner until it is merely a thin layer (1cm or less) on the hard packed earth.  After walking a few minutes, the fog becomes much thicker and it is difficult to see more than a few meters away.  Bren and Zarr, scouting ahead disapear entirely into the gray.

Suddenly you hear a number of high pitched howls and baying yips.  The noises come from both your right and left, and sound fairly close (maybe not reach out and touch close, but hit ’em with a rock close).

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What now?

Boztun Badlands, Klos 18th, 350AC, 10:50  (partly cloudy, 39 degrees, crescent moon)

Leaving the gravesite, your group trudges through the snow to the northeast (upwards on the map).  After doing a mix of math and game rules, you normally would trudge at a speed of 4.25 km/hr (all of you have a MV of 17 except for the unburdened Arvak whose MV is 29).   That speed is about halved due to the snow and uneven ground.

After an hour and a half you move beyond the crumbly spikey ice-covered shlack and ruins that were way off to your left.  You peer ahead to see if you can make out the ruins of Car Isle or the byllka forest, but they are obscured by a gray fog.

Boztun Badlands, Klos 18th, 350AC, 9:20  (partly cloudy, 36 degrees, crescent moon

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You find yourselves standing in silence in the cold morning looking at the empty sky.  Bren lowers his crossbow, “What the frick just happened?  That was one of those Reevers, right?  If that’s one of the ‘good ones’, then I can see what you guys were up against.  (sneers) No thanks.  Zarr, you ok?”  Zarr rubs his neck, shrugs and gives the rocking ‘so-so’ hand signal.

The river bubbles in a gully to the southeast (chunks of thin ice flow down it).  Where to now?