The Toad Shows Contempt

The hex numbers on the map have been adjusted due to Mikael's decision to move back [moving 3 hexes would have cost him 4.5 AP, with the note I made after, so I moved him back 2 hexes, saving the 2 AP Mikael asked for].  I forgot to add a red line to indicate the move [sigh; out of practice].

The toad merely moves to the left of the whirling "snow"-devil, letting out a loud croak.  A gas cloud emerges with the croak, obscuring the toad for a moment before it is sucked up into the snow-devil.  The toad takes no other action.

The party can move again.  This means Engelhart can take a second attack.  Lothar and Embla did not make a move with the last post [that I saw].  I'm just going to rule that, given that they had plenty of time, that the opportunity passed them by.

Everyone has the freedom to act as they will.

Snow Drift

Taking the moment where Embla has seen the open gate across the windswept snow-covered floor of the cavern, the assassin realizes that something is amiss.  Frozen from the march across the lake, the chilled sweat on Embla's body, she is a might slow on the uptake ~ but her eyes focus on a nearby three-foot snow drift.  As she stares at it, unsure and with concern, after several seconds the snow moves and falls away ... and Embla sees a huge eyeball, as large as a cantaloupe, robin's egg blue in color with a vertical iris that's pale yellow.

Whatever it is, the rest is hidden under the snow; the eye's lid is all that moved, so it is all that is revealed.

Embla is not surprised, but she does not necessarily have the initiative, either.  The eye is close; no more than ten feet away.  For the moment she stands as still as she can in the slicing wind; but at some point she will have to test her speed against whatever is under the snow.

I will remind you:  Engelhart is two rounds away; the cleric's arrival could in a bit more than 20 seconds could ignite something.  Rob Munro is right behind Engelhart.  Then Mikael, who has time to hurry along, with Lothar close behind.

I will make an image for this, though that will eat time so it will have to wait until Wednesday; I want to see what Embla does, first.

Move and roll a d6 for initiative.  Wait and see what happens.  Decide what else you might do.

The Lake's Edge

Long before Embla has to walk 500 yards, the height of the cavern ceiling above here will slope until it is only about 150 feet up.  The narrower space will seem to put an end to the blustering snow.  After moving about 250 yards from the party (who, I presume, will make efforts to keep Embla in sight), the wind will drop until the snow is swept across your knees and shins but your visibility becomes clear.

From here you can see the far edge of the lake, another 200 yards away.  There a humps of snow piled upon rocks, forming shapes that are twenty or thirty feet high, about a 3rd of the way to the cavern ceiling, a hundred feet above the lake's edge.  The ceiling continues to slope downwards, until it meets something that might be an enormous grate-like wall ... perhaps another 50 yards past the lake's edge.  You cannot see the bottom of this grate, only the top where it meets the cavern ceiling.

There is nothing you can see that is moving or gives any sign of being alive.