The Winds of Change ...

The evening started, as some do – and probably should – with all of us taking a little extra time to eat our dinners and warm up the gaming table over the first 40 minutes of “Snakes on a Plane.” During the naughty scene, Dan piped up, “This is what D and D should have been a long time ago!” also adding that he “loved it when Jared works blue” (whatever that means).

Picking up where we left off last week, Sven explored the ice cave stealthily. Greymane yelled out at him, “Are you OK?!?!?” which of course ruined the stealthiness. Luckily no savages heard him. Greymane insisted Sven explore the nearby river of ice-cold water, to which our pig farmer replied, “What does it benefit a Viking if he gains a river but loses his head?”

(Sven Slotra)

Leading up from the river was a sheet of ice. Granny Weatherwax windwalked up to the top of the ice and saw a plateau from which two corridors lead away. There was nowhere to tie a rope so the others could climb up. Granny would have to make a Strength check to cram a spear in the ice to tie the rope to. Everyone was worried if the old crone had the might. What should the roll be? Nat 20.


The rest of the party scrambled up, Mountain Woman feeling perfectly at home with such scrambling. Sven skulked down one of the corridors, with Greymane in his mind telepathically to maintain communication. Sven saw heard a group of savages fighting in a distant room. It sounded as though there had been a quarrel, so we hoped the surviving savages would be easier to handle.

The group hatched a brilliant scheme to dispatch the savages. Sven rushed in and killed one of their dogs. Thus catching their attention, he then ran back down the corridor, with them in hot pursuit, and ducked in an alcove. Mountain Woman grabbed onto the spear in the ice, acting as a decoy, so the savages and dogs would charge her. Once they were in position, Granny unleashed her wind powers, rolled a Nat 20, and spent a Conviction point to boost the power so that she produced gale-force winds.

The winds pushed most of the savages and dogs off the icy cliff. The rest were easily dispatched. All told, Mountain Woman rolled four Nat 20s the whole night. “Who needs to read books when you roll 20s?” Devina challenged.

Sven hollered, “Not in all my primitive days have I seen such a gale! Granny, when will you stop this cursed wind?” which was, of course, responded to with Granny’s maniacal cackling.

Greymane put one of the savages to sleep with his mental powers. As the savage then, powerless, flew off the cliff to his doom, Greymane did not have time to break mental contact with his victim before he died, which dazed the shaman. It also become a kind of drug to him. Greymane made mental contact with the last remaining survivors before shoving them off the cliff as well so he could re-experience the psychotropic high of experiencing someone die.

(Greymane the Wanderer)

Two of the savages escaped, though, and returned with five more of their kin. The wind spell had elapsed, and Sven was standing at the mouth of a cavern with his spear set to receive a charge, anxious for back-up from Luntnursun and Mongo…