08 - 5/14

After concluding with Zith, he offered the group a set of sending stones as a token of goodwill. The group could either keep one and he would take the other so they could call for him if they wished to trade, or they could take both to use as they saw fit. The group decided that having easier access to a trader would make life easier, so they took one.   Afterwards Shane and Honey took the deer to Caryl who along with the others prepped and dressed it. Theta requested the bones be set aside, and though it was a strange request she complied   Shortly after Treya returned holding a kobold-cicle, with the rest tucked in her jacket. While she didn’t care for the kobolds she figured Valerie would be upset to learn they all got caught in a Blizzard, so she grabbed them up before returning. Hilda forced Snun to cuddle with her, much to his dismay. He struggled to get away for some time before crying out for his companions, who rushed to his aid. Hilda grappled them with her strangely magical hair, and it took Valeries muscle to free them from her grasp. After they calmed down, they later showed up at the forge and crafted some crude pick-axes and appeared to be digging on the second level. The rest of the kobolds proved to be mischievous nuisances, with Zis climbing into Honeys bed and Shane having to upend it. Hildas strange companion Nera pecked at the poor thing and drove it off   Theta took the downtime as an opportunity to try out a new spell he had gotten from the mysterious trader, and proceeded to raise the deer from the dead. He realized only now this thing might not quite be strong enough to ride, but it could at least provide its strength in pulling a sled or possibly in combat. Many of the others would later find this skeleton abhorrent and question it, but were unwilling to act on their discomforts.   Finally after a couple days of preparation Shane gathered up her team and set off to the Arctic Run Sawmill. After the blizzard passed the temperature had risen quite a bit, and in the lowlands even grass was beginning to poke through the snow. The way forward was relatively easy compared to the hills, and the group made good time to the Sawmill. They stopped off at the Rangers cabin for the first night, and another spent in the forest. On the final stretch the group encountered a poor wolf that was caught in a trap. Hilda, despite being bit and trashed at, pinned the wolf down and tended to its leg. It limped off, surprised at the event but without looking back. Up the hill the group spotted and enormous black dire wolf with one ear missing gazing down at them, but when the injured wolf limped past it lept off into the trees   Finally the group showed up at the sawmill but it appeared to have some inhabitants there already. A partially constructed palisades spanned the perimeter, and the group approached cautiously. Thankfully they spotted Honeys father Bronze Frog, and figured if he was there it must be safe. It turned out that Anton, Delane and some children had fled here and met up with a group of hunters from a nearby village. It had been attacked by Humans bearing the same banner that attacked Helgafel. They had been on the return trip and managed to escape, but while skirting the arctic run the slid down the hill, losing a few of their members in the process. Tishmera had heard them, and Delane with his new-found faith managed to heal them up.