Page 1

Bran records our departure from Moonrest and wishes us a safe return.  The first leg of our journey is quite. The snow is light and it's only slightly cold. We see sights and evidence of animals, nothing out of the ordinary.  We forage as we travel; Guru gets Iron Stone, Aethswold gets frost hardened wood, Aethlwynn gets Snow Moss, Salus gets Pale Ritual Ash and Sebastien hunts to get meat.

The paths become more complicated as we head into the ice fields. The tracks now reveal much heavier footprints in the snow which Aethlwynn believes to be from a Daeodon, an unfriendly boar like which will attack on sight. They're substantial animals about 10 ft long and about 2000lbs in weight.

Guru scouts ahead prepared for combat. He hears rustling in the reeds to the North East. Aethswold can  hear it as well he can also see the reeds moving slightly. Guru investigates the reeds and hears a scurrying, he moves the reeds and disturbs a rabbit which runs up the road. It is attacked by a Daeodon which then sees us.

We are all seen by a second Daeodon and both attack. It is a hard fight with them using their Tusk Attack to great effect. We discover no weaknesses or resistances, but the have ferocity and need to be at wounded 3 before they die. Aethlwynn ran form one, as it did not attack we assume they do not have a reaction attack. It takes all Salus's skills to keep us fighting but eventually Guru finally kills the last one while screaming like a mad man.

It's now late and the snow is blustery as we head down through some of the rockier outcrops. We see a small cave to the north and as the snow is getting thicker we decide to check it out. As we approach we can now see three caves and decide to check out which is empty. Aethlwynn can see all caves have a lot of bones in them, but  they don't look like anything has been here for a few days. Aethlwynn sees a partial footprint belonging to a large creature and thinks it might be a Smilodon. These large cats are known to prowl the land and may not return to the den until they have caught prey.

We look at the bottom cave first. Aethswold checks the cave and sees some large boulders at the back. As far as he can tell it doesn't go any further. We head in out of the weather, set a watch and create a fire. Aethlwynn keeps watch as the snow drifts into the cave. Aethlwynn doesn't see anything, but she senses something is watching us. She hands over the watch to Guru who senses eyes are watching from somewhere. He hears noises echoes from behind him and occasional scratching. He hands over the watch to Aethswold who starts to hear echoes coming from somewhere behind him . He senses the caves aren't quite what they first seemed and that there is something in there. It sounds like a living creature and the sounds it's making are echoing around. Aethswold makes sure the rest of us are secure and explores the boulders. He now sees that there is a small tunnel system behind us which the boulders previously hid. There's a branching path and seems to split with one path going up and another going down. As he passes the boulders the echoing growl gets louder. He wakes Guru and tells him he's investigating. He takes the path that leads up. It's narrow but he can see over to the other path going down. The path he's following doesn't go far - maybe 100/150 feet before he starts to see the glow of the moon, then starts to see the other cave at the top of the cliff. The growling is fainter up here so Aethswold turns back. He looks over the cliff edge  and sees something prowling at the bottom of the lower pathway. It's a massive cat with huge teeth; it's the Smilodon. Aethswold heads back to the party, trying to be as quiet as possible but gets the feeling it's seen him. It has.

To be Continued....