Onto The High Ice

The party’s relief at having survived their encounter with the white dragon was tempered by Zhustin’s death, and their mood was somber as they climbed out of the glacial rift, bringing the boy wizard’s body with them. They wrapped it in a shroud of furs, counting on the extreme cold to preserve the body, and began the long, cold trek back to Iqualiat.

The village must have posted lookouts watching for their return, because as they approached, the entire village was gathered to greet them. But their cheers were also muted as they saw the shrouded form the party carried with them. Ameiko could see immediately who was not among those returning, and ran forward to Zhustin’s body, tears freezing on her cheeks. As soon as they were out of earshot of the crowd, she whispered, “We must get him to the Seal!”

They carried Zhustin’s body to Tunuak’s tower, and brusquely sent his apprentice packing. Koya hurried to her wagon, and returned with the Warding Box concealed beneath her cloak. Ameiko took it, and moved to open it, but Bella put a hand on hers to stop her. “If you open it, your location will be revealed to the Five Storms.” Ameiko shot her a withering look. “What kind of empress would I be if I put my own safety above the lives of those who would risk everything to put me on the throne? What kind of friend would I be?” She fingered the medallion around her neck, the one that had belonged to her lost love, Alder, who had sacrificed himself for her so long ago. Then, without hesitation, she snapped open the Warding Box, and withdrew the Amatatsu Seal. “She has honor, that one,” Suishen muttered, almost to himself. “A true Amatatsu.”

Ameiko placed the jade statuette on Zhustin’s chest. Then she spread her arms and raised her face to the heavens. “I call upon the honor of my ancestors. I beseech you to return life to Zhustin, scion of House Amatatsu and my beloved friend.” The statuette began to pulse with a green light from within, growing brighter and brighter until all in the room had to close their eyes against the intensity of its blaze. Then the light suddenly faded, and when their vision returned, they saw the Seal gently rising and falling as Zhustin once again drew breath.

They exited Tunuak’s tower to find the villagers once again gathered around. If they had been overjoyed to see them return victorious from their encounter with the dragon, they were now awed to see Zhustin emerge from the tower, pale and leaning on Sawyer’s arm, but upright and alive. Now they exploded into the celebratory cheers and dancing they had suppressed before. This evolved into a full-fledged feast in the party’s honor. Sandoval wove the tale of their battle with the dragon, extolling Zhustin’s bravery in confronting Vegsundvaag and single-handedly keeping it away from the rest of the party until he was overwhelmed by the dragon’s might. (He conveniently neglected to mention Nicki’s role in Zhustin’s demise.) As an expression of the village’s gratitude, Sonavut presented them with a pair of Wands of Endure Elements and the Sashimono of Comfort. “May these protect you from the bitter winds of the High Ice, as you purse your destiny on the far side of the Crown.”

The next day, the village turned out once again to see them off. During their absence, Ulf and Sandru had maneuvered the wagons to the top of the plateau, and removed their wheels, replacing them with heavy sleigh runners. Each wagon now pulled a crude sledge heaped with fodder for the yaks; as they were emptied during the journey across the barren wastes ahead, they would be abandoned. With the cheers of Iqualiat fading behind them, they set off across the High Ice.

If they thought they had been cold before, they had had no idea what cold really was. The temperature rarely rose above minus 40, and wind whipped almost constantly. They had entered the depths of the polar winter, and the sun no longer rose above the horizon. Their “days” were short periods of dim twilight separated by long stretches of polar midnight, with black skies lit only by blazing stars or the occasional eerie glow of the aurora. With the help of Endure Elements spells, and the protection of the Sashimono, they survived, but the pain of the cold was bone-deep, and constant.

The terrain was a maze of broken blocks of ice, littered with hidden crevasses, and they were lucky to travel at half the speed they had on the roads farther south. About a week into the journey, one of the wagons toppled sideways into a crevasse that had been drifted over with snow. They managed to keep the wagon from falling into the depths, but its runner was broken, and they spent a full day making a repair that would have taken a couple of hours under better conditions.

Another week passed, and already the days were blurring into one another. It began to snow, with the snowfall growing heavier and heavier. The wind began to pick up, until it was blowing with gale force. Spivey was forced to stay inside Koya’s wagon; outside, the tiny lyrakien would have been blown away. They struggled into the teeth of the blizzard, shouting back and forth between the wagons as to whether they should make camp and wait for the storm to pass.

Suddenly, the air was rent with an agonizing wail. It was a sound of unending anguish and abandonment that left many of the party badly shaken. Fearing the worst, Bella leaped off her wagon and began making her way towards Ameiko. Shinjiro, fearing they might become lost in the blizzard, began tying a rope between the wagons, to provide an anchor against the winds.

Suddenly a figure appeared, floating in the air to their left. It was the ghostly figure of a beautiful Tian woman, clad in thin silk robes, her skin blue from cold. Perhaps she was the spirit of some poor passenger on an earlier caravan, frozen to death in the snow and never given a proper burial. Whatever her past, she was now intent on imposing her own cruel fate on the others. As they met her baleful gaze, at least half the party felt their strength and confidence drain away from them.

Zhustin and Nicki did what by now had become reflexive to them: they cast Fireballs. Marie moved forward and did a Channel Positive Energy against the undead creature, while Koya cast a Bless on the party. Several members fired arrows at her, but the raging winds made it almost impossible to hit a target. Sawyer invoked Suishen’s Air Walk ability and charged up at her, but the swirling winds pushed him aside, and he ended up too far away from her to strike.

The Lonely Maiden moved effortlessly through the air, the winds swirling around her like a hurricane. She focused her attention on Nicki, and he felt a wave of energy sweep past him, but steeled himself against its effects. In response, he cast another Empowered Fireball. Marie cast an Air Walk on Bella, and Koya granted her a Bit of Luck, and the rogue climbed up into the air to engage the apparition. The winds battered her, but she was able to hold her course and slashed at the Maiden with rapier and short sword. Both hit, but did limited damage to the incorporeal spirit.

The Lonely Maiden ignored Bella’s attacks, and shifted past her. Facing east, she unleashed a massive Cone of Cold that hit everyone except Nicki, who was behind her, and Zhustin, who was just outside its reach. Bella nimbly leaped aside, but the others were not so lucky, and Ameiko and Sandru both fell face-first into the snow. Marie immediately responded with a healing Channel Positive Energy, and Ameiko and Sandru sat back up, shivering badly.

Zhustin fired off a pair of Scorching Rays, but both missed. Nicki unleashed one last Empowered Fireball, hoping he wouldn’t repeat his friendly fire fiasco with Bella. Once again, she was able to leap aside at the last instant, but the Lonely Maiden was not. With a sob of anguish, her form faded from view. As she disappeared, the winds suddenly died, and the group was left in the silence of the falling snow.

Marie, Koya, and Spivey were able to heal the party back to full strength, and over the next week the clerics spent every evening casting Restoration spells to restore the Strength, Constitution, and Charisma that the Maiden had drained from everyone. No sooner had they finished their task, than they were grateful they had.

One of the scouts returned breathlessly to the caravan. “There’s another one of those black stones up ahead!” Sure enough, as they peered down over the next rise, they saw another basalt monolith, inscribed with Sithudd’s sigil, a short distance ahead. To their right, a vast crevasse yawned, far too wide to attempt to cross, while to the left was a jumbled maze of broken ice, impassable to the wagons. It seemed they had no choice but to move forward past the monolith. Proceeding cautiously, on high alert, that’s what they did.

And so they were not too surprised when nearly two dozen figures suddenly emerged from where they had been hidden by weeks, or months, or perhaps years of snowfall. They had once been human, but now they were Frostfallen Zombies, mindless undead killing machines. One

Frostfallen Zombie

appeared slightly more regal than the others, a corroded circlet on his head. Spivey immediately flew out over the monolith, well out of their reach, and did a Channel Positive Energy against them. But she felt something blocking her conduit to Desna, and the spell had no effect against the creatures below.

The rest of the group reacted immediately. Sandoval cast Mirror Image on himself, while Zhustin cast – you guessed it – Fireball. Ameiko cast Arcane Strike on herself, then charged into combat. She whirled Whispering Shrike over her head and slashed it into the neck of the nearest zombie, bringing him down. Marie also charged towards the Zombie Lord and cast her own Channel; like Spivey, she could feel something inhibiting her power, and while she did some damage to the nearby undead, it wasn’t much. Bella fired a pair of arrows; one finished off the Zombie Lord, while the other took out one of his minions.

The Zombies were closing in on the caravan from both sides. Nicki gave Shinjiro a quick poke from his Wand of Mage Armor, and he and Sawyer both charged off to the south to take on the attackers coming from that direction, while Marie and Ulf joined Amieko on the north side. One of the zombies reached Koya’s wagon, and raked her with its claws. The thing’s intense cold did more damage than the actual cuts did, and Koya knew she couldn’t take another such hit. She rolled off the wagon and scuttled off through the snow, trying to put distance between herself and the undead. Sandoval, at the back of the party, found his wagon surrounded by half a dozen of the creatures, and as he madly tried to fight them off, his Mirror Images began disappearing one by one.

The party received 2,571 XP for the night, putting them at 58,445 XP with 75,000 required for level 9. We’ll be at Leo’s next week. Rich and Joette won’t be there. There’s also a chance Roger will have to miss; if that’s the case, we’ll probably call it and not meet. Rich and Joette will also be gone the following week, but we’ll be back at their house in three weeks.