Angel is in a ship, waiting for the others to show up. She signed up for a mission that's far north of Greyhawk. She's sitting at the top of the ramp, writing in a book.

Lucky shows up, carrying lots of luggage.  He was worried about missing one of those 'really need this one thing but out to sea' situations, so he overpacked.

"Hiya, Angel," he says with a cheery smile, "You the first or the others on board?"

  Terdisas has a bag of holding because we said so, tagging along with Lucky as he so frequently does.  Also, take a while guess what fitting situation has now occurred?

  That's right,  Superbird is sporting the Parrot look.  "Squawk.  Polly want some Rum."  "I was not aware you had a drinking problem.  I would prefer to remain unaware of it."

  He also waves hi.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 00:43, Tue 27 Dec 2011.

Angel says, "Ah. Welcome, you two. Actually, you're the last ones to arrive." Lucky spent all that time packing, after all. "The captain said he'd be ready to take off when you bunch arrive. I also made sure ahead of time that we got the easier chores so that we'll be ready and able to protect the ship at all times. Just in case."

She then turns her attention to Superbird. "Ask the captain for rum. He's the one who controls how much each crewman gets."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Tue 27 Dec 2011.

"Never met a hard drink I liked," Lucky says, "Though I've never tried rum specifically.  I guess I'll likely take one sip and barter the rest of my ration."

He steps up the plank carefully, but drops one of his suitcases on his way up and it falls overboard.

  "I may have to remind people that 'Storm Sorcerer' is not literal."  at Lucky's UnLucky, Terdisas hmms, "I suppose I shall justify my lack of cantrips possession with the fact that was too heavy to retrieve in such a manner..."  Maybe if it hasn't instantly sunk, he could try to fish for it with a rope and grapnel?

Angel does have cantrips, thanks to hedge gloves. She uses Mage's Hand to slow the fall of the suitcase and heads over to the base of the ramp, where she has the suitcase effectively "glide" to her. It may weigh about 50 or so pounds, but the mage hand is still able to slow the fall enough that it doesn't get wet. "Honestly, Lucky. You could have asked for help. You don't have to prove your manliness to me." she teases. Then starts toting the luggage with her back up the ramp. "Help him with his other luggage, Ter, before he drops any more."

"Thanks for the help, Angel," Lucky answers with a blush, "Appreciate it."

He wobbles about on deck, not much for having sea legs yet, suitcases threatening to slip before he's had a chance to divvy them out.

  Terdisas may have less strength than the average girl but... Wait, he has the same strength as Angel.  Of course, they were both min/maxing.

  Either way, the sorcere does help out with Lucky Luggage Lugging.  L word.

  "If strength were a measure of manliness', I do not think I would even manage to enter the competition, let alone win."

Angel chuckles. "Maybe... but most men seem to feel strength is how they prove their manliness. It's why nerds get picked on."

She then goes to assist Lucky further. "You sure brought a lot of stuff.."

"I wanted to make sure we were ready for anything," he answers, "And I don't mean just monsters.  And if most women I've seen are any indication, wealth is the real measure of a man's attractiveness.  Present company excluded of course.  Thanks again, you two.  Happen to know where I'm supposed to put this stuff, Angel?  What am I saying?  Of course you do.  Just lead the way."

He follows.

  Lucky has it close, some women find the combination of how wealthy, and how easily their death can be made to look like an accident attractive.

  Of course, maybe this has to do with where Terdisas was raised.

  "I would suppose ensuring your own supply of food when out in the open waters is a reasonable enough form of self assurance."

Angel leads Lucky and Terdisas to the area where luggage is being stored. She then shows him where the adventuring group will be sleeping. Currently composed of some adventurers Lucky and Terdisas are familiar with by now. After hellos are exchanged, Angel gets to showing what chores are assigned to who and then reports to the captain that everyone's ready when he is.

The captain sets sail and the group gets to sailin'! :)

Lucky's doing his best to get used to the wobbly deck.  This is all very new to him, and even cat-like reflexes is no substitute for experience.

"So very neat!" he says with a smile, "This is exciting!  A always dreamed of going on a voyage like this when I was a kid."

  Speaking of Terdisas's upbringing, it's fortunate that initial rushed flight from Amn had already desensitized him to the sleeping conditions of Adventure.  So working stiff boat sleeping arrangements are downright pleasant seeming.

  Of course, it's no Harpy Captain ship.

  "Hopefully the most adventurous times occur after we leave the boat."  "Tweet, I can fly."  "You're also on a metaphysical leash"  "I can work without air, chirp."  "Well played."

Angel hangs out with the bunch and generally, they have a good time, all things considered. As they get farther north, they are shown where the winter gear is kept (Not that Lucky didn't pack such, as prepared as he was). Angel finds herself wondering if she ever got into the arcane, would she want a familiar? ...maybe. Maybe not. Hard to say.

Lucky bundles up complete with scarf covering his nose and awaits the others... or maybe they await him depending on who's ready quickest.  In any case, he gives the obligatory clericy prayers and such for successful travel and such.

"Something on your mind, Angel?" he asks.

  Advantages to being a Sorcerer over Wizard.  You don't need complicated hang gestures for your magic so you can wear mittens and shoot lightning just fine... Wait, 4th ed you probably don't need to do that as a wizard.  Whatever.

  "There is often something on her keen mind, though I will admit she seems slightly more contemplative than usual."

Angel hmms? "Oh just thinking about what kind of familiar I'd wind up with. And coming up blank. Nothing spectacular. Of course, I'm also thinking about this arctic mission we're about to go on..."

"Me too," Lucky says with a nod, "The arctic mission I mean.  I don't know how I'd handle having a familiar.  I guess it would be nice to have an invincible friend who I wouldn't have to worry about dying.  At least...  Invincible is the impression I keep getting from Superbird."

  "Squawk, when you can't interact with anything physically, you tend to focus on the benefits."   "From what I've come to learn, it seems most familiars are not much for conversation.  Barely even able to communicate with their summoner, let alone understand what anyone else is saying."

  Of course, some Wizards really like the tome caddy despite that.  Those spellbooks can get heavy.

  "Any specific thoughts on out mission to come, or just broad general things such as 'We probably will not freeze to death."  Why can't cold damage resistance mean cold weather resistance?

Angel answers, "Personally? I'm excited. I heard we'll get to see an ice castle. And frankly, I always loved snow and ice. It's very beautiful." that last part, a hint of girly can be heard in the tone of her voice as Angel has a soft spot for winter and its white beauty.

---

Far as I'm concerned, it does. Heck, it's even implied by the Calimshan regional benefit as listed in Forgotten Realms.

"Calimshan’s unforgiving desert can sear the skin and strip the bones of the unwary traveler, but its inhabitants pose the greatest danger."
"You gain resist 4 fire and a +5 bonus to Endurance checks made due to thirst."

And even if that hint isn't enough, I would say house rule it because it makes sense. But where exactly does it indicate cold resist doesn't mean weather resist? You referring to the section on endurance skill?

"Oh right," Lucky says, "Ice cleats.  Brought spares.  And yes... snow is pretty."

He digs said cleats out of one of his packs and passes them out.

"No sense in slipping and sliding around in said castle.  Beyond that, just bear in mind that just because it's huge, charging, and yelling 'yaarg!' doesn't necessarily mean it isn't an ice giant child who's just frightened."

  "Hmm, I wonder if safety codes do not account for loopholes such as your railings being made out of ice?"  He looks over to Lucky, "Thank you for your practical planning...  You can stay up front in case of rampaging giant children though."

  OOC Style:  Yeah, pretty much was thinking of the Endurance check sort.  But then, my brain was also thinking of DS.  Where fire resistance doesn't help you any out in the desert (but then, they have a special sun that hates you personally).

Angel chuckles. "In case of ice giant children? Lucky would be the best choice to take point. The child would see the care and love in Lucky's eyes and no longer be a danger."

Angel starts adding the cleats and says, "Thanks for your planning, Lucky. And by the way... do you even know what an ice giant child looks like? For all you know, they are BORN with beards."

(OOC: Yeah. No accounting for weather that has an axe to grind.)

Lucky smiles and blushes a little at Angel's praise.

"You're welcome, you two.  And thanks back at ya.  I haven't seen any, no.  And what you pointed out is why I figured I'd remind everyone not to make any assumptions."

  "Both good points Angel, though hopefully neither will be points that have their validity proven.  I would much rather not get charged in the first place than see Lucky deal with such a situation in a peaceful manner."

Angel smiles, getting excited. Eventually, the ship docks at the place it's able to (which has plenty of snow, but at least it HAS a dock. It isn't getting trapped by drifting ice). She begins traveling with the group towards the destination: Ice Castle. She has a bounce to her step, but most of the group is not as excited as she is. Still, her attitude seems to help.

Angel gives a tip or two during the trip that gives them an edge. "Fun fact... these were tips given by Emerald for our benefit. Says she's done this sort of thing before..."

"Thanks for the tips, Angel," Lucky answers, "And I wouldn't doubt she has.  She's more traveled than even most adventurers it seems.  But even knowing that, she never ceases to amaze me, that woman."

  "That was kind of her, was there anything she had hoped we would do while we were out here?  Or merely passing along her knowledge while she is busy elsewhere?"  The owner of the Ice Castle has owed emerald 5 gold for ten years.  So sending other adventurers will inevitably result in a destroyed castle with no direct link to her.

  That will teach you not to pay the fox.

Angel says, "She asked I capture pictures with this device." she shows them some odd looking contraption. "Other than that, she knows if we found any souvenirs we can get for her, we'd pick 'em up."

Angel nods to Lucky. "Yeah... for a li'l fox, she sure is a big person inside."

One of the men traveling with the group says, "You all have admirable traits. All of you are heroes. Never forget that."

Lucky gives a big smile and bows to the man.

"Thank you!  You too!"

He gives the device a curious look, but doesn't ask about it and keeps on moving.

  Boom, Superbird is a penguin.  A penguin that can fly.  "Squawk, they all hide their egotistical moments behind complimenting others.  Except for me, I'm above that sort of thing."   "Of course you are.  And if there are rituals to copy text and drawings, I suppose it was only a matter of time until something came along for copying the view."

Trudging through snow is at first, easier than it seems. But as one mile gives way to another, it becomes harder than it seems. The group has to set up camp eventually, only a few miles out from the ice castle. As they camp, most of the group joke around and tell heroic stories. One of the guys gets a bit flirty with Angel, who just acts like she doesn't notice, complete with happy smile and thanking the guy for the compliments.

The merriments help the group forget how cold it is (so does the fire, but nevermind that).

Lucky's thinking <Yeah, good luck with that one,> regarding the flirty guy and makes no effort to play match maker.  But he does join in the complimenting of folks present.  Male or female.

"Terdisas here is possibly the most capable casters I've ever met," for example.

He passes around extra blankets and such, having expected this to be antarctic weather.

  "While I would argue the academics of my skill, no amount of modesty false or real would have me deny the resulting damage."  You are in an ice themed area about to go into an ice themed castle, odd are good your ice powers won't be very helpful, seeing how 'snow storm' isnt part of the 'Storm Sorcerer' package deal.

The night goes by without incident. The following day, they all pack up camp, travel the few miles and come across the ice castle! Which is, indeed, huge. It towers at an amazing 1,000 feet tall and seems to be built into the side of a glacier cliff wall. Angel takes a picture.

Lucky shields his eyes looking up at the shiny castle and gives a low whistle.

"Remind me again the nature of our mission?" he says, "I sure hope 'find a certain box inside huge castle' doesn't wind up part of it...  Even if it glowed and made noise it would take forever finding anything in there unless we knew exactly where to look."

  If they had tricorders, then they would have a glowing light cone that points in the direction of the nearest objective item!... Or salvage node.  Either or.

  "I suppose making the walls out of ice is a rather simple way of discouraging intruders from climbing in from the outside."

The heroes can feel... effected. Terdisas is feeling more cynical than ever. Superbird is feeling more self-centered than usual. Lucky is feeling more romantic / in need of adopting kids than usual (and thus, Angel is looking awfully cute / attractive). The ice castle just seems prettier the closer they get.

Angel is glancing around, not smiling. "Our objective is to investigate why there are disturbances originating from here. Presumably, there are dark forces at work here..."

"I can already feel it affecting my feelings," Lucky says, "Some kind of charm that makes my normal desires stronger.  I recommend we consciously steel our minds against this and proceed cautiously."

In other words, full defense action.

   No wonder Emerald hadn't come herself then, she could fall victim to early onset midlife crisis.  Nobody wants to see that.

  "Well, it's not like any of us are secretly bitter enough to push eachother down some frozen steps and claim it was an accident.  Kind of a stupid mental effect really, unless they are prone to get suicidal intruders."

"Careful." Angel says, "Don't underestimate it. Our emotions can cause us to turn on each other normally, let alone enhanced. Like Lucky said, stay alert. If whatever it is gets worse deeper in the castle, we may have to call it quits until we have something to shield our minds with."

Lucky nods and continues on without comment.

  "Chirp, not even a will save.  total waste of a Charisma score."  Superbird, you're flagrantly breaking the 4th wall.

  "Must be a very generous definition of 'turn on eachother normally' you have there.  If verbal disagreements count then it would be all the time.  Physical assault, not so much 'normally'."  Occasional urge to slap people upside the head doesn't count.

Angel says, "I did say "can cause", not "always causes".... and my absolute need to be right 100% of the time is trying to get me to argue with you."

The one who was flirting with Angel earlier says, "You can be right as much as you want, beautiful..." and goes for a kiss. This one is either weak willed, or was just THAT close to trying to pull a smooch before the enhanced emotions.

Angel flips the guy onto his back out of reflex and looks stunned. "....darn it! Stay focused! This isn't the time for that!"

The would-be kisser looks almost as stunned. "....what happened?"

"Clearly you succumbed to her angelic beauty," Lucky concludes, "But you won't win her heart with those kinds of advances.  Not today anyway."

He glances at Terdisas.

"And what would have normally not been physical just got so."

  "Hmm, yes.  My lack of large explosions to cast is looking pretty good about now for our continued safety. However, let us continue onwards before this man forgets the weather and gets frostbite in unfortunate locations when he takes off his pants forgetting where he is."

Angel says, "If he does that, we knock him out and turn back."

The guy looks pretty embarrassed. But as the group gets inside the castle, the emotions apparently don't get worse. A person only Terdisas had seen as of yet is inside the castle; Shelly. She seems to be toying with some kind of magical cube.

"Uh... excuse me, miss," Lucky says, "If you would be so kind, if that's the source of the mind control me and my friends have been experiencing lately, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop."

He looks to the arcane types.

"Any chance you could tell us what that thing does?"

  Terdisas does indeed attempt that whole 'Arcane knowledge reference/sensing' thing in regards to the Cube (So, City crafting cube reference?).

  "Well, this is not exactly where I would have expected to see you next Shelly.  Do forgive me if I refrain from swimming through arctic waters to keep up with you though."  She had seemed nice enough at the time, but then giggling murderous Gnolls can seem downright reasonable when compared to those overtly hostile.

Angel has her weapon handy, but pointed down. Seeing Terdisas recognizes the odd cute critter, Angel calms a bit. Terdisas' magic detection results in knowing the cube is not the direct source of the emotion spell.

Shelly looks over at Lucky and lets out an otter squeak before noticing Terdisas and smiling. "Terdisas!" she exclaims with an added squeal to the i. "Don't worry... this cube here isn't the cause of your troubles. Actually, it's an artifact that belongs to my people. I'm trying to use it to dispel the effect you're talking about."

"Well thanks for trying," Lucky says, "Nice to see you two know each other.  If there's any way we can help you break the spell, please don't hesitate to ask."

  Terdisas's pattern recognition gets into a brutal knife fight with his low expectations.  Metaphorically.

  "Squawk, The A word.  Don't feel bad if you can't figure out what it is bossman, Arcana can barely identify at-will powers"  Terdisas just sort of stares at his familiar for a moment, then comments "I think the bird is probably the worst off so far.  Though at the very least it is true it is not responsible for out current situation.  Why were you sent alone though?"

Shelly answers, "I'm not completely alone. My team's in the other room, studying the runes and stuff. Well... most of them. My elite guard are in hidden positions waiting to ambush anyone who tries to sneak up on me. So who are your friends?"

"My name is Lucky, Shelly," Lucky introduces himself with a courteous bow, "This is Angel the lovely and heroic archer..." (he introduces the rest) "...and apparently you've met Terdisas.  Elite guard you say?  Interesting."

  Pesky generic Perc Score.  Why, you should totally be able to notice small white seabears hiding amidst... white... scenery...  Okay you know what it actually makes sense to not notice something for once.

  "How pleasant I did not receive a trident through the back of my skull before I could finish a sentence.  Beyond the already known effects, have you run across or know of any other dangers lurking in this castle?"

  "One of her study aids is going to stumble into the room with an ancient dark tome made of ice and die mid warning, Chirp.  Tweet, then his blood will melt the only evidence."

Shelly says, "Trident through your skull? Blood melting things? You all sure think violent thoughts, don't you?" she asks in a Yeesh tone. "I assure you, my team will not harm you. I mean, gosh, Terdisas... last I met you, you rescued me. As for any dangers..."

She points toward another room. "There's a baby ice giant in there. She's relatively harmless compared to you bunch. She's asleep for now, but I figure if she wakes up, we can just give 'er a block of ice to suck on or something."

"Comes with the territory," Lucky answers Shelly, "Thanks for letting us know to not wake the baby.  And nice going there, saving the cute otter girl, Terdisas."

 "We are a touch more bitter than usual, for reasons you are working against...  Ah, it seems you made correct assumptions after all Lucky."  Actual ice giant baby involved, go figure."

  He shrugs in regards to Lucky's compliment.  "Not like you would not have done the same in my place... Well, perhaps not the swimming considering the chainmail."  Now, if lucky had Scale mail then swimming would be easy.