On The Road Again

Having come to an “arrangement” with the King, the party’s preparations for their arctic journey proceeded rapidly. Ulf replaced Sandru’s wagons with heavier models, with sturdy sleigh runners that could be affixed to the axles when the path became too snow covered for wheels. He hired a crew of Erutaki with leathery faces wrinkled from years of exposure to wind and cold. The party spent their time upgrading their magical gear and worrying that they wouldn’t have enough protection from the cold (Ulf merely snorted at their concerns). On the day they set out, Thyrie Tarnalsdottir met them at the edge of town with a banner embossed with the sigil of King Sveinn Blood-Eagle. Mounting it to the lead wagon, they set out for the north.

The first five weeks of the journey north from Kalsgard passed without event. The road was well-travelled, and by carrying the banner of King Sveinn Blood-Eagle, the caravan enjoyed the protection of his thanes during their passage through the northern reaches of the Linnorm Kingdoms. The caravan stopped in the town of Turvik, where they traded in their faithful horses for teams of sturdy yaks; their thick fur and broad feet would made them far better suited for the arctic terrain ahead. The caravan then followed the line of the Stormspear Hills to reach the taiga and tundra beyond the Stormspear Mountains. At this point, the two Avistani ends of the Path of Aganhei joined together: the one they’d been following that led south to Kalsgard, and the eastern route from Icestair in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. By now, the road was almost empty, with no other caravans attempting passage over the Crown of the World in the off-season. The wind was biting cold as they climbed the passes of the Rimethirst Mountains and looked down upon the white expanse of the arctic below.

After dinner, Ulf pulled a section of mammoth tusk from his gear, uncapped one end, and pulled out a large map which he unrolled on the ground before the party. "The trick to crossing the Crown of the World is to strike a balance between deadly cold and impassable storms. If you try to avoid the High Ice, and get too near the coast, there are constant, year-round storms, called morozkos. The word means “hungry storms” in Erutaki, and they call them that because the wind and ice will strip the flesh right off your bones. But if you go too far north, into the Boreal Expanse, the cold is almost unbearable, and there are creatures and other dangers there that make that route close to suicide.

“The solution is the Path of Aganhei. It goes from Unaimo here, the last town before the High Ice, up and around past the Steaming Pits of Gheit, then past the southern faces of the Alabastrine Peaks. Then after we clear the Alabastrine Peaks, we'll veer south, making for Dead Man's Dome. It used to be a trade station, but they said some nameless hero held off an army of giants and helped the merchants and folks escape. Supposed to be haunted but I doubt it. We’ll steer well clear of it in any event. Past Dead Man's Dome, we go down into the Ruun Uvas basin to Ul-Angorn, the first town of any size on the far side of the Crown. Then up and over Ovorikheer Pass and down to the Osman Confederation, through the lake country there, and then over the tundra to the Wall of Heaven. One last pass to traverse, and we're back into the warm lands beyond!

“Hard to say how long it will take us. During the summer, if you have good weather and no accidents, you can make it in three months or so. But it ain’t summer, and it wouldn’t surprise me for it to take us half a year to make the crossing.”

The party exchanged grim looks. They’d known the journey would be long, but they hadn’t realized it would be that long. Ulf didn’t seem to notice, and stabbed his finger at a point on the map not far from where they currently were. “Now you’ve got a choice coming up. In a few days, the Path veers west and skirts the Gaarjuk Hills. It’s actually a shorter path going straight through the Hills, but more dangerous because it’s less travelled and there are few settlements. But given that you folks might not want to be noticed, that might be better for you. Your call – I can take you either way.”

The party quickly agreed that the shorter but more dangerous path through the Gaarjuk Hills was their preferred route. Maybe it was out of a desire to keep Ameiko’s location secret, but more likely it was that they were still in shock over the length of the journey ahead of them, and anything that might shorten it by a few days or weeks was welcome. In any event, within a couple of days, well before they reached the decision point, they encountered their first obstacle. A landslide had blocked the road ahead of them. Ulf and his wagon masters examined the terrain carefully, and Ulf sent a scout ahead to determine how far the road was blocked, but in the end he reluctantly had to turn the wagons around and begin to retrace their steps. They backtracked for half a day before he turned off onto a narrow track the led west. Ulf thought this road would reconnect with the Path of Aganhei some distance on; the party wished he sounded a little more confident.

The trail led into an area of rolling plains, dotted with large hummocks. Ulf explained that these were the Giant Downs of Urjuk, the ancient burial grounds of the giant clans who had once ruled this territory. Before Bella could leap off her wagon with a shovel, Ulf explained that the barrows had all been looted over the centuries. Nonetheless, Bella eyed every hill they passed with avarice.

They made camp that night, and as usual the wagon masters tethered the yaks well away from the camp (yaks are aromatic animals under the best of circumstances, and not pleasant to sleep around). Near dawn, there was an eruption of bellowing from the yak herd, followed by a human scream that was suddenly cut off. By the time the party arrived, they found one of the drivers dead, his throat ripped out, and one of the yaks missing. A bloody trail led away through the snow where, by the sign of the tracks, a very large wolf had dragged away the missing yak. Fearing that the wolf pack that had killed once would keep dogging them if they did nothing, the party geared up to track the beast to its lair, while the others waited behind with the wagons.

The bloody trail was easy to follow, and after about an hour they found themselves among a cluster of small hills dotted with trees and boulders. The trail led around one of the hills ahead, and out of sight behind it. Before they could investigate further, a booming voice suddenly rang out. “I am Kjaerulff, spirit guardian of the ancient giant-kings of old. How dare you violate these sacred lands and disturb their rest! Flee now, puny mortals, before the spirits of the valiant dead rise up to destroy you!” The voice seemed to be coming from behind the hillock to the north of them, but they saw no one. Sawyer had been worried since they first saw the enormous wolf prints that they might be facing Skygni, the winter wolf they’d freed at Ravenscraeg, but this sounded nothing like his voice.

Ignoring Kjaerulff’s warning, the party began to advance, fanning out across the terrain ahead. Sandoval cast Good Hope and Marie a Bless followed by a Prayer, but neither were able to get all of the rapidly scattering party with their spells. Shinjiro climbed a nearby tree; from its upper branches he could see behind the hill from which the voice had come. He could see the bloody carcass of the missing yak, but nothing or no one else. Bella climbed to the top of the hill and stood watchfully.

Suddenly as small boulder came hurtling from the west, striking Sandoval in the side. An ancient giant stepped out from his hiding place behind a large boulder. Simultaneously, a pack of three winter wolves charged out from concealment. They were spread out to the west, north, and northeast of the party, dividing their focus. Bella quickly zipped an arrow at the giant, while Zhustin targeted him with a Ray of Enfeeblement. Nicki set off a Fireball around the wolf charging from the north, and was satisfied to see that the flames seemed to do even more damage than usual to the arctic creature.

Sandoval's Haka

Sandoval, shaking off the pain of the boulder strike, whipped out his net and began a Dazzling Display, doing the haka, the war dance of a distant island tribe. Kjaerulff was unfazed, but his wolf companion gave a yelp and began quivering with fear. Marie followed up with a Holy Smite on both the giant and his pet; again Kjaerulff shook it off, but the wolf found himself temporarily blinded (at least he didn’t have to watch Sandoval dance any more).

On the opposite side of the battlefield, Sawyer charged the wolf who was running towards him and Bella. Bella crouched down, and as soon as Sawyer struck, she launched a Spring Attack, dashing around the bewildered animal to strike it from behind with rapier and dagger. It was clearly badly injured, but continued fighting, breathing a Cone of Cold at Sawyer. Luckily for the fighter, Suishen absorbed the cold damage, leaving him unscathed. He whirled the ancient katana around him in a blur of flashing steel and then stepped back. A brief look of surprise crossed the wolf’s face as it fell into several pieces on the ground.

Sandoval and Marie were not so lucky. The other two wolves converged on them, and both howled out their icy breath, leaving the bard and cleric coated in ice (although Marie somehow resisted some of its damage). Kjaerulff chanted a spell in some ancient tongue and suddenly grew even larger, towering over the nearby trees.

Shinjiro shinnied down the tree he’d been using as a lookout post, and attacked the wolf nearest Sandoval. Nicki carefully centered another Fireball behind the two wolves, catching both of them in its periphery but avoiding all his comrades (at least he claimed that was due to careful aim). The wolves yowled as their fur caught flame, and they ran in circles briefly before collapsing on the ground.

Despite the damage he’d taken, Sandoval was still dancing, and by now even Kjaerulff was beginning to look intimidated by his antics. That didn’t stop him from attacking, though. He unlimbered an enormous greataxe, and took a swing at Shinjiro. The huge blade sounded like a hurricane as it sliced through the air. The first cut all but carved the monk in two, and the backswing nearly completed the job. One attack, and Shinjiro once again found himself face down, contemplating eternity.

Watching the giant cut down Shinjiro like a farmer cutting hay, no one wanted to be his next target. Zhustin and Nicki decided it was time for a big finish, and both unleashed Fireballs on Kjaerulff. Like his pets, the frost giant was particularly vulnerable to fire, and their combined infernos proved too much. With a crash like a falling tree, Kjaerulff toppled to the ground.

Marie rushed to Shinjiro’s side, and was relieved to find he was still salvageable. As she administered healing, the others searched the giant’s body. They found little, but did discover a used-up Scroll of Ventriloquism which he had apparently used to make it sound like he was behind the hill, and draw the party into his ambush. The party skinned the wolves and salvaged what meat they could from the dead yak, then returned to camp.

A couple of days later, the trail they’d been following did indeed rejoin the Path of Aganhei, and a few days after that they reached the fork that Ulf had described. They were still set on taking the road through the Gaarjuk Hills, so they continued north, while the more well-traveled Path disappeared off to the west.

The next day, they came to a small Erutaki village. Ulf insisted on stopping, both to keep good relations with the locals, but more importantly to see what he could learn of the road ahead and its dangers. He and the headman spoke for over an hour, while the party warmed themselves by the village fire. When Ulf returned, he was scratching his head. “He says their shaman says the morozkos are coming. That doesn’t make any sense – the storms never come this far south, or this far inland. But that’s what his visions say, and the whole tribe is making preparations to pull up stakes and move farther south.

“He also said they’ve been finding these strange stone pillars popping up. Some are along the road, but more are scattered in out of the way places, with no obvious rhyme or reason. They don’t know where they come from, but they’ve got folks spooked – he says they’re often guarded by the frozen dead, whatever that means. But they’re yet another reason they’ve decided it’s time to relocate.”

The caravan continued on north, although their Erutaki crew was noticeably subdued; they’d obviously heard that their kinfolk were headed south. Within a few days, they began to pass out of the mountain valley they’d descended into, and entered the Gaarjuk Hills. These were  not rolling hills like they’d seen in the Giant Downs; here the terrain was rugged and rocky, with rushing streams cutting deep gorges through the steep hillsides. Occasionally a broad flat meadow would make for easier travel for a few hundred yards until they reentered the badlands.

They were passing through one such meadow when the ground suddenly erupted on the left side of the caravan. An enormous creature with a heavily armored head pounced up out of the snow and earth and landed between Shinjiro and Nicki’s wagons. It lashed out with surprising quickness for a beast of its size, slashing sword-sized claws at the monk and sorcerer both. Moments later, another burst out of the ground on the other side of the trail, landing awkwardly near Sawyer. They were Boreal Bulettes, fierce burrowing predators of the frozen north, but Ulf knew them by a more common name: “Landshark!” he cried.

Bulette

The party responded quickly to the ambush. Sandoval cast Slow on the one attacking Sandoval and Nicki and began singing, while Marie cast a quick Prayer. Nicki, hoping that these creatures of the north would also hate fire, cast a Fireball, which again managed to barely miss his compatriots. Bella began zipping arrows at the bulette attacking Sawyer, and Ulf hurled a well-aimed throwing axe. Zhustin cast a Ray of Enfeeblement on the one to the left. Even Koya tried to get in on the action. She cast a Summon Monster, but in her excitement she called forth a giant frog. The cold-blooded creature made a feeble bite at the bulette attacking Shinjiro, then began falling into a frozen torpor.

Shinjiro tried fending off his attacker, but missed. It was Slowed, thanks to Sandoval, but still managed to snap its powerful jaws at the monk. They closed on him, and its massive jaw muscles nearly crushed him. He didn’t fall after one attack this time, but another like the first would surely do him in. Nicki tried to make sure that didn’t happen. He fired off another Fireball, taking out Koya’s poor frog in the process, and Sawyer slashed at it with his echoblade; together they took it down and saved Shinjiro from another embarrassing death. On the other side, Zhustin cast his own Fireball, while Sawyer scored a hit with Suishen. Ulf threw another axe that caught the bulette square in the eye, and it too toppled over.

The PCs earned 3,200 XP for the night, putting them at 38,805 XP with 51,000 required for level 8. We’ll be at Leo’s next week, although Scott will be singing (for real this time). Looking ahead through the rest of the month, we’ll meet at Joette and Rich’s on the 14^th, following the holiday party. On the 21^st, I’ll be in Chicago and will be able to join you in person, although Rich and Joette will be in NC instead of me. Rich might join, depending on internet connectivity, but Joette will be a good daughter. We won’t meet on the 28^th, and will be back to normal(ish) on Jan. 4.