Malnival returns the Ulfen's hug then smiles at her statement of his swordsmanship prowess. "Next time I face a dragon I will need you beside me to show me how it is done. Just not any time soon I hope."
The magus steps away from Kelda and reaches out, taking Shalelu by the arm and pulling her into a hug of his own.
After a brief moment, Malnival releases the ranger and looks to the others again. "I am not sure what exactly happened, but bringing me back could not have been an easy thing." The elf gives the others a half grin that does not seem to have any humor behind it as he continues.
"Already the memory of where I was after my apparent death is slipping away. I was at peace, that I know, but I have unfinished business here. For that I thank you."
"Actually Mal all we did was open the Seal. Of course that means we might have problems. We should keep moving, but it's good to have you back. Sorry it's so much colder."
Harlan beams at Mal before turning back to the caravan.
Once all the others are finished, Parity clasps Mals arm, "Just make sure that none of us bite it again, apparently we can only do this once a month. I was a bit leery about going into any fight without you. Glad you were able to shortcut this ... inconvenience.". The gladiator grins.
Dates: 8 - 14 Kuthona 4711
Route: The High Ice (?? -> The Storm Tower)
Distance: 336 miles (Total: ~1913 miles)
Weather: Cold and Clear
Special Events: Black Slush, Crevasse
After returning Malnival from the dead, you continue on into the bleak, freezing waste. The weather remains relatively clear, though the wind is constant and bitter, often kicking up blinding walls of icy snow. The sun is but a distant memory. Happily, though, Ulf and Shalelu scout out a good track, and you start to make excellent progress.
***
Date: 10 Kuthona 4711
Long into your travel on this day, Malnival calls a sudden halt from his scouting point up ahead. As you move to meet him, you see the ice field ahead has been turned into a slushy lake of tainted snow and noisome, polluted effluent. The area is stark black under the starlit sky.
Ulf looks perplexed and annoyed. "What, in all the Hells, is this?"
Maeve frowns at the phenomena herself. "Let me see..." She takes a high tip-toe position on the wagon, leaning forward to peer at it.
"...I'm going out on a limb and saying that getting anywhere near it is a bad thing." Maeve follows up Heng's insightful analysis with an observation of equal magnitude.
"I agree with Heng, let's not take the wagons through that if we don't have to."
"As you say," Ulf agrees with a shrug and shaking his head. "I've crossed the High Ice several times, though never this far north, and not seen or heard of anything like this."
"Putting our back to it isn't going to be something we regret, now, is it?" Parity asks shakily after its described to him.
"I have never seen anything such as this, then again I had not seen much snow untill this journey either."
Keeping a wary eye on the polluted expanse, you hurry around the obstacle as fast as your fatigue will allow. Happily, you see no further disturbances across the surface, and nothing else bars your progress.
***
Date: 13 Kuthona 4711
After you wake from resting and begin your day's travel, Koya warns of a vivid nightmare she experienced, and a dread premonition. Her words make you especially wary, and that vigilance pays off. About mid-day, you spy a slight but irregular ridge in the terrain ahead. Calling it out, Ulf stops the wagons and moves to carefully investigate. The ridge turns out to be a long crevasse, covered and concealed with a thin layer of ice and crusted snow.
Unfortunately, even though you found the danger, finding a way to bypass it becomes a struggle. Given the size of the crevasse, the uncertainty of where its edges lie, and a few false starts, you lose a full day of progress. Worse, a wagon gets too close to a thin spot and falls through.
What did we lose?
"Guys! NPC Driver 1 is holding on, help me brace this!"
Harlan helps the others unhook the wagon and rescue the horses and driver. Looking down at it it's obvious he's torn on what to do.
"Should we try to get it out? It's going to take us a while, we'll need to scavenge some parts but I think we can do it. I'd hate to lose a wagon but it only has food in it."
"Let's go get the food. Koya's disgusting mass sickens me ... I need to cook something."
Maeve frowns, looking over the damage. "I might be able to manage something, but we'll need to get it out of there first..."
Malnival looks down at the wagon and shrugs, "Cross load the food onto some of the other wagons?"
"If we're going to leave it then we're better to leave the food as well. Better they think we all got lost. The wagons are burdened as is, there's really no way to load more on them."
Maeve looks at the ground again, actually drawing out an outline of the high ice map back in the main wagon to look at. She spends a very long time staring at it, frowning, and when she looks back up with a shake of her head. "...since we didn't go into the Storms, that plan isn't going to work. Nothing between here and Ordu-Aganhei to sneak around, and at this rate we can't afford not to stop there. There are no villages, no way-stations, no supplies. Going this way with a small caravan that can drag around enough supplies to travel is doable, if crazy enough to make people wonder. Taking the Path of Aganhei with enough of a force to mount a credible search is easily doable, especially in the spring. Trying to search the High Ice is beyond a mortal foe's capacity."
"What will most likely happen now is that the Five Storms will station agents in Ordu-Aganhei to wait for us. Those agents won't have a major organization to back them up like the Frozen Shadows, but it's doubtful they'll need to be. Out best chance is to appear weakened and distracted by the city, and move in small groups of three or four to lure the agents out. If they think they can get the credit, they'll attack us without informing anyone."
"And since that particular efreeti is already out of the bottle, there's absolutely no good sense in compounding the error," Maeve concludes. "It's best to get the food."
It takes the better part of a day to gather the materials and tools needed to extract the fallen wagon. The real break comes when Sandru finds a forgotten repair kit buried amongst food supplies!
The extraction effort moves along slowly but steadily. Unfortunately, your time spent in a single place draws some undesired attention. About halfway through the extraction, the glacial ground rumbles perceptibly a half-moment before a massive beast bursts from below. It is a massive white worm with a single, circular eye in the center of its head. Wisps of icy fog waft up from between its mandibles. (Picture)
;
;
;
The worm strikes fast, attacking one of the horses and wounding it severely, and damaging Koya's wagon. It grasps its leg in its mandibles and starts to retreat, but Sandru dives in and pulls it free.
The worm disappears beneath the ice for a few moments, before reemerging beside another wagon. You are ready this time, and pummel the worm with effective hits. Unfortunately, in its attack, it snatches one of your drivers. Before you can counter, it pulls the screaming man beneath the glacier, burrowing off to enjoy its meal.
Almost as suddenly as it appeared, the monstrous worm is gone, and silence returns to the benighted glacier.
"Ok...ok...I...I didn't expect that. We would've been better off leaving the wagon! I didn't know. I didn't know."
Harlan sinks to the ground after the worm attack.
Malnival stands over the hole the worm left as it made off with the driver. The elf does not seem to move for along time with his head down. Finnally the magus sheaths his scimitar and draws his bow as he moves off away from the others.
"Ok...ok...I...I didn't expect that. We would've been better off leaving the wagon! I didn't know. I didn't know." Harlan sinks to the ground after the worm attack.
Sandru moves to Harlan's side, kneeling and resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself; none of us could have known. That worm could have struck us anywhere... could do so again," he finishes ominously, looking out at the starlit horizon.
"That's irritating ... this damnable weather is such a beating. Sorry I voted for getting the food."
"No, it's not your fault any more than mine Parity. It could have easily got us on the move. Let's go, the sooner we put this weather and glacier behind us the happier we'll all be."
"Indeed," Sandru agrees. "Desna's smiled on us that we've got this far without such a loss. We have to keep pushing forward and hope that thing doesn't come back for more." He walks over beside Malnival, making a gesture and prayer over the burrow. Koya and the other drivers join him for a silent moment before getting back to work.
Date: 18 Kuthona 4711
Solemnly, you leave the crevasse behind and continue north. Despite the setbacks, you continue to make steady progress. The Alabastrine Peaks, white-covered mountains emerging from the ice against the blackened sky backdrop, lead you toward your destination. At the end of the next day's travel, you begin to see a bluish glow at the northern horizon. This glow intensifies as you go further north, reflected against high swirling clouds gathering above.
Near the end of the day, as you pull within ten miles, you gain first view of the tower itself, a massive black spire, three-hundred feet tall, with a strange blue light emanating from its apex. Winds whip and whirl around the tower, surrounding it in an eerie haze.
Maeve frowns at the setup. "Even with this damned eternal night, no way they won't see us coming. Assuming they're paying attention, anyway."
"Leave the caravan here and press on with our away team ... hopefully they'll send any greeters to the small group."
"I think Parity is right, if we hide the caravan here and move in they should come for us. But I don't think I like it. What if they just fly around us and go for the wagons."
|
Heng rubs his scalp, "I would say that the caravan should keep traveling while we deal with the tower, there is certainly nowhere to take shelter, but perhaps it is best that those left behind secure themselves as well as they can until we return lest rift or storm or worm return and strike them unprepared."
"Let us take the offensive and keep them occupied before they can attack the caravan."
"Right." Maeve nods. "Time to get to it I guess. Uhm, Ame, I'm going to need my boots back if I'm going to be leaving the sashimono."
"Vould you like any of us to go vith you, or just stay vith the carawan?" Kelda asks with ill-disguised anticipation.
Malnival grins at Kelda. "I think you should come with us. If there is another dragon it would have someone else to try to kill other than me."
"You know, every time we wander into some where uninvited, we always struggle with locked doors and traps. Any chance of bringing someone to help with that vice kicking the door down and bringing the wrath of the entire tower upon us as we walk through the first entrance we come across?"