Death, But No Weasel

As the group readied to trek back to town, it was decided that the necromancer was too much of a burden. They ceded decision to Lady Argentea to decide Rokhar's fate and the execution was held without ceremony or recourse.

The trip back to town was uneventful until they arrived at the ambush site, where Yrrah decided that the carriage was an unnecessary blockage on the road, so he set it on fire. This outraged Lady Argentea, as her carriage had still been in a repairable state. The rest of the trip back to town was colder than the weather would account for.

Once back in town, Lady Argentea arranged for a rider to go to the next town to arrange for a new carriage as well as a military escort. Doyle became a bit alarmed at this and encouraged the rest of the group to wrap up their business as soon as possible; however, Ash and Yrrah had just put in orders with the blacksmith for cold-iron daggers. Yrrah only insulted the blacksmith a little bit, so was only punched once.

While waiting for the daggers, Ash and Yrrah investigated the armory. Initially thinking to take most of the supplies there, they decided they didn't have much use for most of it anyways and left it to be used to defend the town when the fey invaded. Zacarias managed to pick up a couple healing potions and several alchemist fire vials from the local alchemist, promising to hunt trolls for the alchemist's vengeance.

That evening, the town celebrated the return of the Lady and cheered the heroes, and Yrrah celebrated by getting in a bar brawl. The daggers arrived by the blacksmith's daughter the next morning and the group set off to return to the Lodge. The zone of cold was much closer to town now; by the time the group reached the original ambush site, the burnt remains of Lady Argentea's carriage where hidden under a carpet of snow.

Travel in the snow was increasingly difficult. The group returned to the Lodge and made for the rope bridge across the ravine on the opposite side, which the rangers that used to be stationed here used to access the broken hills beyond. Doyle inched his way across the ravine first, almost disappearing from site in the snow fall as he reached the halfway point. The small figure of Izoze appeared on the far side of the bridge and breathed a cone of frost at Doyle, which he luckily managed to avoid the worst of. In reply, he cast color spray towards her and she did not fare so well. The spell stunned her for quite some time.

Ash next tried to come to the entertainer's aid, but slipped and fell to the icy river below. Zacarias tried to get out to help, but fell as well, barely grabbing on to the edge of the bridge's walkway before falling beyond reach. Yrrah inched out and assisted Zacarias back on to the bridge as Doyle crept forward and ended Izoze's life. Eventually, with the assistance of a rope, Ash climbed back up to the bridge and the party moved on.

Soon after, the group found tracks across the trail, a hunter following a large weasel. Following the tracks in to the woods, they discovered a trap with copious amounts of blood around it, then the tracks indicated the weasel was now hunting the hunter. Shortly after, they came across the hunter's frozen corpse, and his journal. Shaken by mention of the dollhouse in the woods and suspecting something similar to the guardian dolls found near Irrisen's borders, the group moved on.

Returning to the trail, the group came to a clearing in the wood where the snow had been scraped from the ground. The woodsman stepped forward to examine it and was attacked by a pair of Frost Firs, stunted relatives of treants from the far north. True to his profession, Ash quickly felled both trees.

After this, the group arrived at a ridge line mentioned in the journal as being where the hunter had set several bear traps. They quickly disarmed the traps and carried them along.