Episode 03 - A Tough Climb.

With the 2 crag cats bested Tor transformed back into her Goliath Druid form to undertake some much needed healing. Using her Healer feat she was able to expend uses of her healing kit instead of using up valuable spell slots.

Counting Garrett among the healed he was able to divulge that the rest of his missing party had fled up the mountain and he did not know what had become of them but would welcome our help in finding out. His party consisted of the following:

Mokingo Growling Bear Akannathi, a male goliath warrior determined to find Oyaminartok and test his mettle against her.

Perilou Fishfinger, a female lightfoot halfling follower of Yondalla (halfling god of fertility and protection) and Mokingo’s stalwart companion.

Astrix, a female tiefling who mumbles and swears a lot (Garret doesn’t know what her story is).

Agreeing to help our heroes pushed on. The gentle mountain slope now gave way to a sheer vertical cliff. Grom with his climbing gear and Tor with her natural affinity to the mountains made the accent without trouble. Shayde and Aldrick however, neither used to such arduous or harsh conditions succumbed to exhaustion (3 levels by the top of the cliff). Determined to see this venture through our adventurers proceeded up the mountain path passing a cave mouth. With lookout as their eyes and ears, he had spotted something further up the mountain, the remains of an old campsite and figures seemingly frozen in the snow and ice. 

Upon arrival at the campsite it was clear that the figure frozen in the snow was Astrix. Checking her personal belongings for anything that may prove useful (this included her spell book, 2 daggers and a potion of invisibility). Oddly there was also a pair of blue boots sticking out of the snow. Heaving them out freed the decapitated body of a dwarf, recognisable only as a member of Clan Battlehammer.

After a brief prayer over the fallen, our would be heroes headed back down the mountain path towards the cave. Lookout flew into the cave allowing Aldrick to see and hear while staying back at a safe distance. What Aldrick saw defied belief. A mother Yeti watching on as her offspring battered a halfling around like a ball. And so the 2nd of Garrett's party had been located. Seeing the danger to the halfling our heroes entered the cave. Upon searching more of the cave system further remains where discovered, those of Mokingo the Goliath along with the heads of Bartoum Hammerholm and Grom's friend Ubok.

Seeking revenge for those lost souls our party leapt into the fray. Crossbow bolts from Grom, Firebolt from Aldrick and the create bonfire cantrips from Thor had the Yeti and it's offspring trying to seek shelter further in the cave. In an explosion of fire the yeti tike met its demise which lead to an enraged mother becoming more aggressive. The battle raged for a number of turns until the Yeti using it's chilling gaze on Shayde.

Using her recently acquired circle of the mood combat wild shape Thor transformed into a brown bear for the 2nd time dishing out some big hits including a critical to defeat the Yeti.

Suddenly another loud roar echoed through the cave. The adult male Yeti had returned with a dead mountain goat. At this point Garrett and Perilou Fishfinger had made for the exit and where fleeing back down the mountain. 

Managing to defeat this second adult Yeti the group took their time to search amongst the debris of the cave our heroes found a small cache of coins, a great axe, 2 additional cold weather outfits and a small box containing 4 Skrimshaw figurines. 

Aldrick, Grom, Shayde and Tor departed the cave and made their way back down the mountain, hoping to find Garrett and Perilou waiting for them at basecamp. It had been an exhausting day and all were relieved to take a well deserved long rest.

The following morning having packed their supplies onto the dog sleds the party set out again for Bryn Shander. Not far from where the road bends towards Termalaine the party came upon a group of dwarves whom Grom recognised by voice as being Korax, Runa and Storn of Clan Battlehammer. They relayed how they had been ambushed by a yeti while on route to Bryn Shander to make a delivery of iron ingots to Black Iron Blades. Seeing the yeti attacking Ubok, the rest had fled leaving the sled and the delivery in the snow. They were heading for safety at the nearest town, Termalaine. Grom let it be known that Ubok had been avenged and the yeti was dead. With the agreement of the rest of the group Grom told the dwarves that they would search out the sled and ingots and complete the delivery as they were heading to Bryn Shander.

As the party continued it's journey, a blizzard swept in but fortunately Grom's affinity for the frozen tundra wilderness and his ranger training proved invaluable in preventing them from getting lost. After a couple of hours they found the site where the dwarves had been attacked, but no sled. On investigation they also found a number of tracks heading off looking like they were pulling the sled. Easy enough to follow the tracks lead them to a party of Goblins. Not wanting to risk loosing the element of surprise Aldrick sent a magic missile spell at the Goblins.

A skirmish ensued and the exhaustion suffered the previous day took its toll and both Aldrick and Shayde missed their rolls on a number of occasions leading to Aldrick being reduced to 0 hit points. The Goblins numbers proving to make this encounter harder than foreseen. 

The Goblins pulling the sled were on a rendezvous with another group of Goblins travelling in a wagon being pulled by 2 polar bears. Once again Tor's ability to shape shift into a ferocious brown bear proved decisive, combined with lookouts ability to cause distractions. Once the Goblins had been defeated Tor set the polar bears free and they headed off into the snow chewing on a fallen goblin. 

And so with Aldrick restored to health the team harnessed up the dwarven sled to some of the dogs to make it 4 to each sled and they set off once again towards the relative safety and comfort of Bryn Shander.  And that is where we end this latest episode. A very enjoyable session that introduced a number of new game mechanics such as exhaustion and blizzards and other survival elements. We're already looking forward to the next session to see how the story develops for our growing group as they reach level 3 following these successful developments.