More than Nothing: Finding Warmth

[Part of the Party Time journal]

On the other side of the forest the team makes their way up the Stone Dragon mountain where Eagley says the profitable pink salt trade has stopped for some reason. Asking at a tribal camp they learn it was due to the sudden appearance of Mikra (abominable snow men things) after an earthquake. Rather than ask any more questions they start heading up the snow covered mountain (Eagley buys them warm coats) and ignore a wind-blocking campsite (with dead bodies under the snow) to forge on into the night and howling winds - taking cold damage as they do so.

Half a dozen Mikra appear and are slain just before the PCs start dying themselves, and Jerghonson has the great idea of pulling the corpses together and sleeping inside them for warmth (like Star Wars). The next morning Bal Bahadur and four assistants find them and declares he's going to solve the Mikra issue, asking for their help, offering 1% of the future pink salt profit and shared credit for their troubles. Aah convinces him (with a good dice roll) to make that 90% of the profit but he can keep all the credit. At the summit they find a dark cave in the rock face where no doubt the Mikra are coming from and so work to collapse it - doing so before the sun sets again.

They manage to make it back to the village where Bal declares the threat ended and pays the team their earnings. They and Eagley quickly get out of there in case Bal's over confidence is unfounded. Their last stop is the town of Drystan, near a swamp. Luckily its leader, Lord Moroney - the best physician in the region (I introduced him accidentally killing someone who had a cold), is already an ally to Praetor Artorias and outfits them with better arms and armor. While waiting for the Praetor to arrive he asks they look into the "toad demon" tribe in the swamps who have recently become organized and have started kidnapping his townsfolk in raid. They also all seem to only have one hand?

The squad finds them easily enough in their swamp. Hundreds of them. Jerghonson prays to Luna for assistance and this time becomes a big wolf himself, then howls to get majority of the tribesmen chasing him (in vain, he's too fast as a wolf) while the rest circle around to an important looking ruin where they fight more tribals and hand-spiders (Mamita again leading a good spear throw), rescue the now handless victims, and slay their leader (Mamita and Ugh snipe him) - who turns out to be caravaner Jhonen!? The remaining tribesmen lose all cohesion and don't give chase.

Returning to Drystan with the captives they learn Jhonen always had it out for Moroney, as Moroney was unable to cure Jhonen's wife of a sickness (probably also a cold).