Seeing Nadya in distress, Yagello hurriedly begins moving towards her position.
Arkady follows Yagello toward Nadya.
Nevinia also runs towards Nadya, looking to jump in an heal her without drawing the remaining guard.
The guard glances over his shoulder to see Yagello come up behind him, and turns to attack the foreigner.
The guard is in a panicked state, though, seeing foes gathering from all sides, and swings wildly, allowing Yagello to easily step to one side. Yagello is given a clean opportunity to attack.
Seeing the guard swing wildly, Cervin snaps off two more arrows. Once again one goes wide while a second, better shot is a little weak.
Bloody cold freezing my fingers. I need to learn to shoot in this miserable climate.
Arkady moves around to trap the remaining guard and cover Nadia.
Yagello dodges the guard's blow as well as one of Cervin's arrows and goes back on the offensive.
The guard parries Yagello's blade, but Cervin's arrow hits him in the side as he does so. Nadya raises her axe and pick and brings them town in two slashing motions.
The axe completely misses the guard, but the axe cuts into his free arm, and the guard shouts in pain. However, he remains standing.
The guard, seeing multiple threats, decided to focus on Yagello.
The guard misses again, the last two blows clearly taking their toll.
"The fight is lost! Just surrender!"
Muttering to himself about the folly of man, he fires off two more arrows.
The man scoffs aloud before Cervin's second arrow hits true, and he slumps over in the soft snow. All guards appear to be dead or dying near their sleds, their dogs nervously whining at the commotion.
Cervin scoffs back before he trudges through the bloodstained snow towards the bodies. With a short prayer to Erastil, he begins to bandage their wounds.
"I have little love for men who would do harm to their own home, but we all have chance to redeem ourselves. Unless you object I will bandage their wounds and leave them to Erastil's judgement. The cold will likely take them, but so it goes. Nevinia, can you see to Nadya's wounds? I will assist where I can."
Cervin does what he can to save the bleeding-out guards, working steadily and grimly.
"It pains me to have to treat these men so, but we have a mission that we have to complete."
Nevinia obliges, touching Nadya's fresh wounds as she chants in a strange language.
Nadya sighs with relief as the wound disappears almost completely, blinking a few times. She then looks around at the sleds.
"Three guards here, plus captain. Four uniforms, but five of us. Also," Nadya watches Cervin bandage one of the wounds on a guard, "Lots of blood. Need good story for your plan to work." Nadya looks towards Yagello for ideas.
Yagello looks upon the scene stoically, his jaw clenching and unflinching in rhythm. He finally speaks up when Nadya turns to him,
"The four of us could pretend to be the guards while Nevinia serves as our prisoner. We'll say the rest of the invaders were killed in battle, and the blood is evidence of that fracas. It'll give us a plausible way into the tower..."
He pauses, waiting to hear everyone else' s opinion of his plan.
Cervin looks up from his work, nodding in agreement.
"Simplest and makes the most sense, we can all be 'wounded' if the blood is that bad... and it may be."
Arkady nods. "Simple and believable. Though what do we do if asked about the bodies of the other "invaders"? Is it common for bodies to be just left in the snow for predators?"
Nadya thinks for a moment. "At first, is five guards." Nadya shows her open hand with all five fingers to make sure she is being understood, then retracts her thumb into her palm. "Left body of one guard behind. Irrisen is cold, makes guards cold. Missing guard not big deal" Nadya indicates the captain, slung over the front sled. "But guards brought this one for reason. Why?"
Cervin looks at Nadya with some confusion.
"Wait, I think I know what you're saying. We can bring the captain's body with us to fill out the numbers of missing guards? That makes sense to me; ranking officer and all that."
Nadya turns to Arkady and Nevinia to help translate.
"Jeg er bekymret for vakt kaptein kropp. Hvorfor gjorde de få ham sammen, og ikke de andre vakt som døde? Hva er det med kapteinen? Hvorfor ble de tar kroppen hans tilbake til den Bleke Tårnet? Kan du forklare dette for Cervin og Yagello?"
Nevinia translates the message for the benefit of Yagello and Cervin.
As Nevinia translates, Arkady looks over the body of the captain, checking for spells or magic items as well as anything else he might be carrying that could shed light on the mystery.
Cervin lets out an 'ahhhh' as Nevinia speaks.
"Well, my first guess would be that he's a leader and so more worthy of uh, whatever burial rites are observed up here. It is sort of strange now that you mention it. Why bring just his body and leave the others? Perhaps they hope to resurrect him? Or uh... there's something special about his body? Not sure."
As Arkady peers over the captain, he detects multiple magical auras, all faint. Going through his gear, Arkady finds multiple potions with different auras, a pair of magical bolt for his crossbow, and the small box that the captain was opening earlier, which appears to be a jewelry box of some kind. Other than the magical items, the captain has a decent quality sword and crossbow, chain shirt, shield and dagger.
Arkady quickly jogs over to the other guards, who have lower quality replicas of the captain's gear, and each posses another magical potion.
Yagello rubs his hands together in a feeble attempt to stay warm.
"I must agree with Cervin. I assume his rank affords him privileges and respect denied the others. It is the way things work in our world, regardless if we're in Irrisen or Taldor. Maybe he's related to one of the commanders in the Pale Tower?"
He walks over to one of the downed guards and begins removing their uniform. As he works, he calls over to Nadya, "As the only native among us, I'm guessing you'll be our "leader." Unless the guards there can recognize you by sight or sound?"
Nadya shakes her head. "Guards know me. I must bring much of food for them. Better I not talk."
Arkday examines the magical items he has collected, trying to determine their uses.
First, he notes that the potion all of the guards had were in matching containers, and matched one that the captain was carrying. Arkady could tell from smell that it was a variation on a spell he knew, being able to avoid the effects of the cold.
The guard captain also possessed two healing potions that Arkady could easily identify from their pale blue color and light airy smells.
The final potion stumps Arkady, though, and he can not determine the ultimate use. He does detect an aura of necromancy, though, figuring that the potion has some negative effect.
Arkady puts the potions aside and looks at the bolts. He examines them for a moment, before being reminded of an old relic from his family. These bolts make a frightening loud wailing sound when fired, both drawing attention and driving away the weak-willed.
Finally, Arkady takes a look at the box. After concentrating for a few moments, he sighs in frustration. Perhaps he has been concentrating too long, but he cannot understand the use of the box by examining the outside.
Arkady opens the box, and is surprised to see another man staring back at him from the mirror embedded in the top lid. The man has flowing brown hair, with a goatee and beard, and Arkady can see white furs about his shoulders. Startlingly, the man breaks out into a devilish grin as he appears to see Arkady. The man in the mirror begins to laugh, although Arkady can not hear anything.
Arkady quickly closes the box, and tells everyone what he saw. "I suspect this is some sort of scrying device, and I have been seen. I have no idea who that might have been or what it means."
To Yagello, he says, "I speak the language, and am fairly good at convincing people I know more than I do. If Nadya can coach me a bit, I may be able to buy us some time as we make our way."
Yagello's eyes grow wild. "What! A scrying device! It seems our opponents are always one step ahead of us! Perhaps we should make haste to the Pale Tower at once before this man warns the entire garrison!"
He finishes putting on the pilfered uniform and gathers all of his belongings, including the longbow he dropped earlier. He then scowls and adds, "Should we also distribute those potions?"
Cervin crouches in the snow, the short, slender man's face weary and haggard from the strangest days of his life. He takes a moment before speaking.
"If Arkady can speak for us all the better. That mirror concerns me though. A long-haired man in white furs laughed at you? He plainly knows something that we do not."
Cervin stands, taking a moment to look out for lost arrows before quickly giving up.
"Still, all we can do is move on. Let's continue. I think we have a plan. Wear guard uniforms, shroud ourselves so our faces are not visible, Arkady attempts to barter our entry. But if that mirror was for scrying or communication, we should be prepared for a hostilities."
Extending his arm, Cervin prods the captain's body with his bow.
"Do we bring the body? If they were bringing his body it may add credence to our ruse, even if I dislike using the dead as a prop."
Nadya nods. "If make feel better, Cervin, if we fail guard captain taken to Pale Tower anyways." Nadya chuckles slightly.
The party packs and heads out. The small point on the horizon steadily rises over the next hours, until the dog sleds crests a hill and the base is visible a couple of miles away.
Sharp winds whistle across this stark white plain, stinging the eyes along with the near-blinding rays of the reflected sun. A great eruption of frozen ice rises in the distance—an imposing pale tower crowned with icicles spearing into the sky. Seemingly born of the land itself, an unbroken circular wall of ice guards the tower’s base, with no means of entrance visible. High above, a large gash opens in the tower’s bowl-like crown, ringed in icy spikes and split by a massive plane of ice resembling an inverted crescent moon.
Nadya speaks softly, as if afraid of being heard even at this distance. "Signal tower with mirror. Show we are friends. Normal thing for guards to do. Otherwise they close gates." Hoping to make herself clear, she points to the box Arkady had opened earlier.
Arkady frowns, and turns the box so that the mirror is pointed away from everyone. "Is there a particular signal? Or just flash some sunlight at the tower? I don't want to have this thing open too much, for fear the man I saw will scry us further."
Nadya reaches over and closes the box. "Not this one. Use another mirror. Just flash tower with sun. Anyone have safe mirror?"
Arkady shakes his head. "I don't ... let's check their pockets, maybe one of them has one?"
"Hmmph," Yagello snorts. "I don't have a mirror either, but these guards should have one if signalling is the usual procedure."
He searches through the pockets of his uniform as well.
Surprisingly, the guard captain does not have any other mirror available.
"WAIT!" Yagello suddenly intones. "How could I have been so foolish! My shaving kit!"
He frantically rummages through his backpack for a few moments before finding a leather pouch. He unbuckles the container and produces a small mirror. Relieved, he holds it up to the sun and flashes the tower several times in sequence.
Cervin lets out a groan of relief. "I was wondering how you kept so baby smooth. The Gods are with us, I can feel it!"
After a pause that feels like an eternity, a series of flashes from atop the tower come back to the group.
Nadya lets out a breath. "Good, now we go."
A trampled path of snow, heavily tracked by footprints and sled trails, ends abruptly at an opaque wall of ice. Carvings and ancient glyphs depict only the semblance of a gateway on its surface. The wall itself if twenty five feet high, and as the sleds pull up to the wall a trio of guards appear from atop the battlements.
"Som går der," one of them shouts, "Og hva virksomheten har du på den Bleke Tårnet?"
Arkady looks up, and says, "Vi er tilbake fra patrulje. Vi ble angrepet av inntrengere. Vi klarte å fange en." He points toward Nadya.
Knowing how he is best used in a situation like this, Cervin keeps still and keeps his mouth shut.
The guard sniffs the air for a moment, then reaches down for something out of sight.
"Du kan ta med fangen til Radosek, og se hva han mener."
The wall melts away instantly in front of the group, revealing a portcullis which blocks entrance to a courtyard beyond. After another moment, the portcullis rises as well, and everyone is able to ride their sleds into the courtyard.
A massive ice sculpture of a dragon dominates this open courtyard, standing with raised wings upon a dais of solid ice. Seven squat shacks sit along the inner wall, with several dogsleds stored outside. Between them, four ice chutes descend from the battlements of the outer wall, where the guards look down. To the west, large double doors studded with icicles lead inside the Pale Tower itself, just beneath an overhang of sharp icicles dangling from above.
After they have all of the sleds pull into the courtyard, the guards lower the portcullis at the wall of ice freezes over once more.
I can't believe we're doing this. I can't believe we're doing this.
Cervin's hand is beneath the mass of furs he calls outdoors gear, clenching his holy symbol as he fervently, but silently prays for the group's ruse to work. He forcibly relaxes himself and tries to shoot surreptitious glances to Arkady and Nevinia, hoping to figure out what the next steps are.
Yagello also looks warily from side to side to get his bearings. He can feel the enemy closing in on him, but he forces himself to remain calm and nonthreathening. He moves with the group, slowly putting one foot in front of the other on a path towards the inner door.