Post by Dead Greyhawk on Jan 26, 2007 13:45:57 GMT -5
Otto’s wounds slowly heal, but the rest of the Company is quite battered. Cedrus continues to pray and heal the others, using his simpler benisons. Soon he is stymied by the need to pray to Ehlonna for longer and longer periods before receiving benisons and miracles. While his spirit is refreshed, the prayers are more complex. The leaders quietly discuss their options. Otto wishes to descend and enter through the igloo opening. Winthrop thinks venturing out of their cave here is a death sentence, as giants on the far side of the rift will pummel them with boulders and ice. Dell sees two options: drop down to the floor of the fissure using a minor incantation to protect them from falling to their deaths or stretch across the rift to the opposing ledge, and hole up in whatever lies beyond. “Over there is likely giants and ogres,” he says. “Down below is probably more white wolves and another dragon. You pick.”
Raven stands up, the ice cracking from his armor. “We’ll go across. Dell, use the rope. Winthrop, Oaklock, one of you do something to keep the weaker alive as they cross through the winds.” He strides out to the ledge and tries to see the ledge, limned with the glowing green light.
Dell pulls out the fire lizard rope, whispering to it. Like a snake, the rope uncoils and threads through the air across the ravine. The wind swings it to and fro, but doesn’t seem to knock it aside. Eventually, the rope strikes like a snake, adhering to the icy wall. Dell turns and places the other end of the rope just inside the passageway, near the corpse of the dragon. The rope tautens and holds steady in the gale without. “Ready,” he says.
Winthrop steps forward and extends his arms. A faintly visible trough, about three feet in diameter, with walls about a foot and a half high, grows from the ground under the rope and extends out into the ravine. Winthrop leans to one side and then the other, guiding the extending trough to the far side of the ravine. “Don’t miss the wall if you slip,” Winthrop says. “It’s as big as I could make it.”
Otto grabs hold of the rope, swings his leg up over it, and quickly goes hand over hand into the void. After a moment’s respite, Raven follows. The two of them sway in the wind, separated by ten feet or so. The rope is slippery with ice and blown snow, and the warriors’ hands are more than a bit numbed by their time in the glacier. Both of them make it across the ravine without a problem though, and stand up on the ledge.
Inside the ledge is a slight charnel odor, the first to be smelt on the glacier. Peering inside, they can see ahead a tunnel that forks, a smattering of bones, humanoid-sized, strewn on the floor. Seeing nothing moving, they wave back at the others, and the Company tries to navigate the rope crossing. Knowing that Winthrop’s bridge, their proverbial safety net, will not last forever, they try to cross quickly. Al and Diego shuttle the others before them, sending those clad in bulky armor interspersed between those in lighter gear. Winthrop, halfway across the ravine, is unable to hold to the rope and slips. He falls the four feet to the force wall bridge, barely staying within the tube, stunned. The others continue to climb along the rope, ignoring Winthrop’s plight.
As each gap between the struggling Company members appears, Winthrop reaches up for the rope to drag himself along, but it has been a long day and night, punctuated by magic, fear, and pain. Winthrop’s strength and powers are mostly spent, and he can’t seem to get up to the rope. Twice he tries and fails, Company members passing by overhead, until all have passed over him. Knowing that the bridge beneath him will fade from existence at any moment, Winthrop summons his strength and lunges up for the rope. The rope slips from one hand, but the other holds tight, and with a supreme effort, Winthrop gets one leg around the rope. Beneath him, the snow collected on the force bridge silently sails down into the bottom of the ravine as the bridge dissipates.
It is a very shaken Winthrop who crowds onto the ledge, the last of the Company to arrive. Dell shouts to the rope, and it obeys him, disengaging from the far side of the rift and coiling towards him. The four warriors shift to the front of the huddled Company and step into the tunnel. An archer and a warrior each split into one of the two forks, covering the possible approaches to the Company. The fork to the left is covered in small bones, shattered femurs, and the occasional fragmentary skull. The passage beyond leads into a large chamber with no apparent exit. Trash, skeletons, pottery shards, broken weapons, and other refuse is piled high in the chamber, flowing into the corridor. The odor smelt before is stronger here.
To the right is a chamber coated in flowing whitish ice. In the middle of the room, and where the flows seem to end, is an icy pedestal. Upon it is a strange reddish-purple thing, likely a stone, about the size of a human head that looks, at least from this distance, like a toad. Skulls and bones of humanoids, many crushed, litter the floor of the chamber, surrounding the pedestal. Otto and Diego, backed by a curious Hugh, enter the room to look at the stone. To Diego’s eyes, the stone looks like a naturally formed amethyst, likely of high value, even with any flaws. As Diego leans towards the huge gem, a ferocious croaking begins from above.
Giant whitish-blue toads leap from ledges above, one from each of the flowing, whitish ice areas. They land on Otto and Diego, while Hugh dodges to one side. The claws and fangs of the strange toads are sharp, and their jaws strong. What is most insidious though is the intense cold that they radiate. It saps the strength and the life from the three of them. Al and Raven run in to help, and the toads turn their attention on them. Again, the stark cold radiate by the toads is enough to chap and crack exposed skin, and Al nearly collapses from the cold. Swearing, the Company falls on the toads. The toads fight bravely, hopping about randomly and trying to keep the Company from the large, toad-shaped gemstone, but they are no match for the giant and dragon killing Company. Once the toads are slain, the Company scours the cave, looking for more, hidden adversaries. Finding none, they collapse in relief.
Both of the caves are out of the wind and lack another exit, though the cave filled with refuse must have another entry. How else would the refuse get there? The Company sets up camp in the former ice toad lair, unlimbering the coal and the brazier taken by Naboth from the other cavern. With the brazier relit, the room is barely bearable. Winthrop takes back the ring from Cedrus, knowing that many more hours must pass before he can use it effectively.
The Company is too beaten and sore to do anything but hide in the cave. Otto makes certain that the ledge is swept clear of any sign of the Company’s passage. With the collapse of the glacier in two places, hopefully the ice giants will think that the Company has slain itself. With much stealth, the Company may be able to get enough rest to heal up to some modicum of health. Naboth and Gitmo are given the unenviable job of watching the ledge from within the passageway, while the others search through the trash-filled room to find its entryway. After a half hour or so, an ice wall holding a large boulder within it is found. Like the boulder up above, this must be a doorway of sorts. The warriors trade off watching the boulder for movement.
Hours pass. As the sky outside lightens, the storm continuing as a snow storm, rather than as a frightful blizzard, the priests and mages are awoken. Cedrus has spent the time praying to Ehlonna, and so has many of the major mysteries prepared. The others begin their ablutions and study, attempting to organize their thoughts for the minor magics and benisons they shall receive. After several hours, the spell casters are ready. Adrienne and Hugh use their blessings to heal the wounds of the Company, quickly depleting their store of miracles. Otto has been restored to health by Myrick’s ring, and most of the others are healthy, if not hale.
The enhancements to the Company’s strength, cast so long ago before the descent into the glacial rift, have faded. It takes the combined effort of all four of the warriors to move the great boulder from the ice, the ice cracking like the Company heard before. The boulder rolls aside, revealing another icy ledge before them. Another large cave exits the icy ledge some thirty feet away. The Company has no option but to continue forward across the ledge and into the cave.
The passageway loops around to the left, the green glow of the ice increasing as the sun rises behind the clouds above. Eventually, the passage comes to a great intersection, with three other passages exiting. Otto, Cedrus, and Hugh all squat down to read the tracks in the ice and remnant snow. They run their fingers along scratches, look at the walls, and glance towards the ceiling. After a brief huddle, they pronounce what they’ve found.
“Many ice giants ran back and forth here. Some ran to the left and right, only a few ran up the passage ahead of us. Armored ogres came out of that passageway ahead of us and went left and then eventually to the right. Hill giants ran up from the right to the left, accompanied by less well armored ogres. They are probably the ones we fought and killed. Their prints don’t return. Injured ice giants also retreated from the left to the right, helped by others.” reports Otto, summarizing their conclusions.
The Company turns to the right, deducing that the rest of the ice giants must be where the injured were taken. They carefully work their way down the corridor until it enters into a large room. Stacks of ice boulders, carved and then neatly piled, are arrayed within the room, and three exits leave it: two to the right and one to the left. The passage to the left leads into another large room, this with heavy, carved ice furniture, mostly stools and a large block table. Only a single passageway, out the opposite side of the room, exits the room, and it connects back to the large room with the stacked ice boulders.
The Company hikes down the remaining passage, which turns once and then goes long and straight. The passage extends a good fifty feet through the ice and then branches, with another passage exiting to the left. Beyond the branching, the floor of the passage becomes jagged, with great shards of ice protruding up out of the floor, and then the entire passageway disappears in a mass of crazed ice.
The Company carefully hikes up to the corner, and Otto peers around it. The passageway extends forward about one hundred feet and then turns in an arc to the left. Winthrop and Dell both feel a bit antsy as Otto takes his time studying the floor before him.
The mages’ uneasiness is well-founded, as out of nothing appear two tall, horned ogres, wielding odd polearms and clad in ornate platemail of a familiar style. The armor appears close to identical to that made at the Davish headwaters, absent the axe and ziggurat symbol. That realization is the last the many of the Company make, as the two ogre magi extend their left hand and fill the corridor with rays of utter cold.
Al drops to the ground, covered in frost. Dell and Jasper duck and writhe, using the shadows of their fellow Company members, the walls themselves, and their dextrous nature to avoid the worst of the blows. Many days of training under the fierce gaze of Master Lynne serves Jasper well as he avoids the cold unscathed. Dell is less fortunate and collapses to the ground, unconscious. Otto and Raven stagger against the wall, frozen but still functional. Adrienne, Pfiffwin, Gitmo, and Naboth all shudder and die, their exposed skin cracking and bleeding as their internal organs freeze. It is the worst day of their lives. Oaklock falls backwards, covered in frost, while Winthrop keels over, his eyes wide open and staring. Cedrus and Diego, at the tail end of the Company’s marching order, also survive the attack, but are sorely wounded. The Company has been decimated, and the ogre magi are not finished. With a gleeful shout, they whip their weapons around and attempt to gut Otto, their strange bladed polearms poking and prodding at his armor.
“Cedrus, bring Dell up now! Winthrop’s dead! Diego, cover me! Move! Move!” screams Raven, as Otto stands alone against the two ogre magi. Raven throws his longbow into the face of one of the ogre magi, whips his longsword out, and drives it into the ogre’s midriff. Jasper sails in over the dead and unconscious bodies of the Company slashing wildly with his halberd. The ogre magi are taken aback at the ferocity of the attack and are forced back beyond the intersection. The retreat is a fatal one, as Otto steps forth and lops off both an arm and a leg from the nearer of the ogre magi.
Diego and Cedrus, seeing the carnage before them, have two different reactions. Cedrus rushes forward, calling down blessings from Ehlonna onto the unconscious form of Dell, who gasps in surprise as half of his wounds are suddenly healed shut. Diego turns and rushes backward, fleeing from the magi who have destroyed the Company. His flight is futile, though oddly fortuitous. Not twenty steps around the corner, he comes face to face with another ogre mage appearing from nothing. The mage thrusts forth a hand. Ice-cold sprays forth and Diego collapses to the ground, coated in rime.
“Raven, I hear bad things from down there,” says Jasper, a worried look on his face as he hews at and dodges the blows from the ogre mage. Indeed, the sound of tramping, armored footsteps is audible even to Raven as he fights against his opponent. The remaining ogre mage impales Jasper on his odd polearm. Jasper slides off the sharp blade, clutching his stomach.
Raven shrugs his shield onto his arm, slashing twice at the ogre mage, lopping off one of the mage’s arms. “Dell! Get your ass up here and fry stuff, now!” he screams, clearly on the verge of losing his composure. The ogre mage’s arm writhes on the ground, clawing at Raven’s leg. As the ogre mage sags to the ground, Raven falls, spouting femoral blood.
Otto fumbles at the thick cords binding the sack tight, finally opening it to scoop out the last of the gem encrusted chalices. He pours the ice-filled water from the chalice onto Raven’s face, and Raven suddenly gasps and stirs. Gawking at the hand clamped around his leg, he pries it free and lurches to his feet.
Dell does stagger forward as Cedrus revives Al with more of Ehlonna’s might. Al staggers to his feet and lurches into the battle. A small horde of nine ice giants, led by an ogre mage, charge up out of the passageway towards the struggling Company. Many of the giants are injured and showing signs of having been burnt, bandages wrapped around their extremities, and appear intent on repaying the Company. “I’m not going to get them all!” shouts Dell, as he rummages through his collection of scrolls.
“No excuses!” replies Raven, Otto standing beside him as the first of the giants reach the two of them. Otto draws their deadly attention, and they crush him with great delight. The giants’ maces pulverize the battered ranger, driving him down, snapping his bones. Raven steps up to hold them back, but the situation looks bleak.
“Right, this one,” mutters Dell as he pulls out a scroll tied with black ribbon. He looks around at the Company, mostly dead or unconscious, with Al and Raven locked in deadly struggle with creatures almost twice their size. He rolls the scroll in between his fingers for a moment, and then sighs and swaps it for a scroll with a blue ribbon on it. Unrolling the scroll, he chants the words of power written and slows the charging ice giants, his magics causing them to move as if time had slowed for them. Most of the ice giants move slowly enough that they do not reach him, and the blows of the three that do are easy enough to dodge. Backing up ten feet, he pulls forth another scroll, this with a yellow ribbon on it, and reads it. A great bolt of lightning streaks forth through the ice giants, electrocuting two-thirds of them, including the ogre mage and those ice giants directly before him.
Al and the ogre mage at the rear of the Company are locked in mortal combat, Cedrus trying to heal the Al’s wounds faster than the ogre mage is causing them. Al eschews creative fighting styles, instead standing over the bodies of his fallen comrades and hacking at the ogre. Al’s anger and the healing of Cedrus combine to overcome the ogre mage, but Al doesn’t stop hacking when it falls, instead dismembering the ogre mage into a scattered array of parts.
Dell sends another bolt of lightning from a second yellow-ribboned scroll through the remaining ice giants, electrocuting them as Raven slays the other ogre mage. Raven’s shield is heavily scarred, as several of the mage’s blows were only barely turned by it. “These things grow back,” says Dell, “Al, drag yours over here!”
Raven treats Jasper’s gaping wound, stabilizing him and packing the wound enough to allow him to move about, though somewhat gingerly. As Cedrus begins reviving the unconscious, Dell sends arrow after arrow of glowing green energy into the ogre magi’s corpses. The bodies hiss and sizzle as the arrows strike their flesh, and then they slowly blacken and sag. Raven and Jasper help Cedrus patch up those that can be patched, while Al and Dell pick over the corpses of the ice giants. The ice giants each are wearing an emblem, an armband made of gold with a rampant ivory bear mounted on it. The ogre magi each carried a collection of gemstones, all sapphires. Once Oaklock, Diego, and Hugh are brought back to consciousness, the dead are hoisted and carried. The Company returns to their hiding place, Otto removing the traces of their passage.
When the Company opened the boulder, the ice surrounding it was shivered and broken. Even to a casual observer, it is plain that it is no longer sealed. Oaklock, who still has his complement of memorized spells, agrees to remain outside, invisible, to watch for any patrols. Cedrus heals him fully. The rest of the Company piles inside the refuse chamber and closes the boulder up behind them.
The dead are brought into the chamber of the toad gem. Hugh and Cedrus perform the now well-known dwarven ritual of the rod, returning Winthrop and Adrienne to life. Jasper watches the ledge, while Diego sits quietly in the refuse room. Otto, Raven, and Dell have a quiet conversation about what to do next. Dell says that the dwarven rod is not an unlimited resource. The Company has drawn on it heavily, and it is likely soon to be without power. Using it to bring back the three thieves, Pfiffwin, Naboth, and Gitmo, will likely drain it further, perhaps to an unusable point. Do they really want to use the rod on them? Raven is fairly certain that Cedrus would choose to use the rod rather than save it, but that Hugh will follow their lead.
Otto is strongly of the opinion that Pfifwin should be brought back from the dead, since he is the Company’s charge, at least during these six months. Raven is surprised that Otto would support Pfiffwin, especially since Pfiffwin has tried to avoid his responsibilities multiple times since being placed under Otto’s authority. Otto, not normally a rigid adherent to laws, claims that his personal agreement is at stake, and it would be a great blow to his honor and respect. The two ex-militiamen are not wrapped in his honor, so he is less invested in them.
Dell comes up with a solution. They’ll search the two dead militiamen and see if they’ve stolen from the Company, conveniently forgetting his previous admonitions regarding stealing earlier rather than later. Naboth is heavily laden with crystals from the pool above and gold coins from the ebon giants’ lair. Gitmo, on the other hand, makes Naboth look poor. In addition to crystals and gold coins, he has on him a heavy silver statuette, a good two feet high. The statuette, a rearing bear, has topaz eyes and eight ruby fangs. Its claws are blackened with some material as well, creating a remarkably attractive objet d’art. Raven looks at the statuette and whistles. “That’s worth a pretty copper. I’d say around five or six thousand gold eagles at the least,” he exclaims.
Their dilemma solved, Raven strips the magical chainmail from Gitmo and piles it, along with the gold coins and the crystals, next to the bodies. Otto hauls Pfiffwin’s corpse over to the priests and has a quiet word with them, gesturing over towards the dead thieves. Cedrus looks especially sad and thoughtful, but agrees to return Pfiffwin to health once the Company is finished in the glacial rift.
Winthrop tells the others that it will take him almost half a day to memorize all his necessary spells. Given his recent death, he refuses to leave the security of the cave until he is fully prepared. Winthrop’s obstinacy hinders the Company, but also allows them time to recover from their wounds and recharge their powers. The cold is brutal though. Mostly everyone tries to stay close to the coal brazier and to feed it often, but Otto notes that several of his fingers have gone white and stiff. He decides not to worry about it. Myrick’s ring will pull him through.
Raven stands up, the ice cracking from his armor. “We’ll go across. Dell, use the rope. Winthrop, Oaklock, one of you do something to keep the weaker alive as they cross through the winds.” He strides out to the ledge and tries to see the ledge, limned with the glowing green light.
Dell pulls out the fire lizard rope, whispering to it. Like a snake, the rope uncoils and threads through the air across the ravine. The wind swings it to and fro, but doesn’t seem to knock it aside. Eventually, the rope strikes like a snake, adhering to the icy wall. Dell turns and places the other end of the rope just inside the passageway, near the corpse of the dragon. The rope tautens and holds steady in the gale without. “Ready,” he says.
Winthrop steps forward and extends his arms. A faintly visible trough, about three feet in diameter, with walls about a foot and a half high, grows from the ground under the rope and extends out into the ravine. Winthrop leans to one side and then the other, guiding the extending trough to the far side of the ravine. “Don’t miss the wall if you slip,” Winthrop says. “It’s as big as I could make it.”
Otto grabs hold of the rope, swings his leg up over it, and quickly goes hand over hand into the void. After a moment’s respite, Raven follows. The two of them sway in the wind, separated by ten feet or so. The rope is slippery with ice and blown snow, and the warriors’ hands are more than a bit numbed by their time in the glacier. Both of them make it across the ravine without a problem though, and stand up on the ledge.
Inside the ledge is a slight charnel odor, the first to be smelt on the glacier. Peering inside, they can see ahead a tunnel that forks, a smattering of bones, humanoid-sized, strewn on the floor. Seeing nothing moving, they wave back at the others, and the Company tries to navigate the rope crossing. Knowing that Winthrop’s bridge, their proverbial safety net, will not last forever, they try to cross quickly. Al and Diego shuttle the others before them, sending those clad in bulky armor interspersed between those in lighter gear. Winthrop, halfway across the ravine, is unable to hold to the rope and slips. He falls the four feet to the force wall bridge, barely staying within the tube, stunned. The others continue to climb along the rope, ignoring Winthrop’s plight.
As each gap between the struggling Company members appears, Winthrop reaches up for the rope to drag himself along, but it has been a long day and night, punctuated by magic, fear, and pain. Winthrop’s strength and powers are mostly spent, and he can’t seem to get up to the rope. Twice he tries and fails, Company members passing by overhead, until all have passed over him. Knowing that the bridge beneath him will fade from existence at any moment, Winthrop summons his strength and lunges up for the rope. The rope slips from one hand, but the other holds tight, and with a supreme effort, Winthrop gets one leg around the rope. Beneath him, the snow collected on the force bridge silently sails down into the bottom of the ravine as the bridge dissipates.
It is a very shaken Winthrop who crowds onto the ledge, the last of the Company to arrive. Dell shouts to the rope, and it obeys him, disengaging from the far side of the rift and coiling towards him. The four warriors shift to the front of the huddled Company and step into the tunnel. An archer and a warrior each split into one of the two forks, covering the possible approaches to the Company. The fork to the left is covered in small bones, shattered femurs, and the occasional fragmentary skull. The passage beyond leads into a large chamber with no apparent exit. Trash, skeletons, pottery shards, broken weapons, and other refuse is piled high in the chamber, flowing into the corridor. The odor smelt before is stronger here.
To the right is a chamber coated in flowing whitish ice. In the middle of the room, and where the flows seem to end, is an icy pedestal. Upon it is a strange reddish-purple thing, likely a stone, about the size of a human head that looks, at least from this distance, like a toad. Skulls and bones of humanoids, many crushed, litter the floor of the chamber, surrounding the pedestal. Otto and Diego, backed by a curious Hugh, enter the room to look at the stone. To Diego’s eyes, the stone looks like a naturally formed amethyst, likely of high value, even with any flaws. As Diego leans towards the huge gem, a ferocious croaking begins from above.
Giant whitish-blue toads leap from ledges above, one from each of the flowing, whitish ice areas. They land on Otto and Diego, while Hugh dodges to one side. The claws and fangs of the strange toads are sharp, and their jaws strong. What is most insidious though is the intense cold that they radiate. It saps the strength and the life from the three of them. Al and Raven run in to help, and the toads turn their attention on them. Again, the stark cold radiate by the toads is enough to chap and crack exposed skin, and Al nearly collapses from the cold. Swearing, the Company falls on the toads. The toads fight bravely, hopping about randomly and trying to keep the Company from the large, toad-shaped gemstone, but they are no match for the giant and dragon killing Company. Once the toads are slain, the Company scours the cave, looking for more, hidden adversaries. Finding none, they collapse in relief.
Both of the caves are out of the wind and lack another exit, though the cave filled with refuse must have another entry. How else would the refuse get there? The Company sets up camp in the former ice toad lair, unlimbering the coal and the brazier taken by Naboth from the other cavern. With the brazier relit, the room is barely bearable. Winthrop takes back the ring from Cedrus, knowing that many more hours must pass before he can use it effectively.
The Company is too beaten and sore to do anything but hide in the cave. Otto makes certain that the ledge is swept clear of any sign of the Company’s passage. With the collapse of the glacier in two places, hopefully the ice giants will think that the Company has slain itself. With much stealth, the Company may be able to get enough rest to heal up to some modicum of health. Naboth and Gitmo are given the unenviable job of watching the ledge from within the passageway, while the others search through the trash-filled room to find its entryway. After a half hour or so, an ice wall holding a large boulder within it is found. Like the boulder up above, this must be a doorway of sorts. The warriors trade off watching the boulder for movement.
Hours pass. As the sky outside lightens, the storm continuing as a snow storm, rather than as a frightful blizzard, the priests and mages are awoken. Cedrus has spent the time praying to Ehlonna, and so has many of the major mysteries prepared. The others begin their ablutions and study, attempting to organize their thoughts for the minor magics and benisons they shall receive. After several hours, the spell casters are ready. Adrienne and Hugh use their blessings to heal the wounds of the Company, quickly depleting their store of miracles. Otto has been restored to health by Myrick’s ring, and most of the others are healthy, if not hale.
The enhancements to the Company’s strength, cast so long ago before the descent into the glacial rift, have faded. It takes the combined effort of all four of the warriors to move the great boulder from the ice, the ice cracking like the Company heard before. The boulder rolls aside, revealing another icy ledge before them. Another large cave exits the icy ledge some thirty feet away. The Company has no option but to continue forward across the ledge and into the cave.
The passageway loops around to the left, the green glow of the ice increasing as the sun rises behind the clouds above. Eventually, the passage comes to a great intersection, with three other passages exiting. Otto, Cedrus, and Hugh all squat down to read the tracks in the ice and remnant snow. They run their fingers along scratches, look at the walls, and glance towards the ceiling. After a brief huddle, they pronounce what they’ve found.
“Many ice giants ran back and forth here. Some ran to the left and right, only a few ran up the passage ahead of us. Armored ogres came out of that passageway ahead of us and went left and then eventually to the right. Hill giants ran up from the right to the left, accompanied by less well armored ogres. They are probably the ones we fought and killed. Their prints don’t return. Injured ice giants also retreated from the left to the right, helped by others.” reports Otto, summarizing their conclusions.
The Company turns to the right, deducing that the rest of the ice giants must be where the injured were taken. They carefully work their way down the corridor until it enters into a large room. Stacks of ice boulders, carved and then neatly piled, are arrayed within the room, and three exits leave it: two to the right and one to the left. The passage to the left leads into another large room, this with heavy, carved ice furniture, mostly stools and a large block table. Only a single passageway, out the opposite side of the room, exits the room, and it connects back to the large room with the stacked ice boulders.
The Company hikes down the remaining passage, which turns once and then goes long and straight. The passage extends a good fifty feet through the ice and then branches, with another passage exiting to the left. Beyond the branching, the floor of the passage becomes jagged, with great shards of ice protruding up out of the floor, and then the entire passageway disappears in a mass of crazed ice.
The Company carefully hikes up to the corner, and Otto peers around it. The passageway extends forward about one hundred feet and then turns in an arc to the left. Winthrop and Dell both feel a bit antsy as Otto takes his time studying the floor before him.
The mages’ uneasiness is well-founded, as out of nothing appear two tall, horned ogres, wielding odd polearms and clad in ornate platemail of a familiar style. The armor appears close to identical to that made at the Davish headwaters, absent the axe and ziggurat symbol. That realization is the last the many of the Company make, as the two ogre magi extend their left hand and fill the corridor with rays of utter cold.
Al drops to the ground, covered in frost. Dell and Jasper duck and writhe, using the shadows of their fellow Company members, the walls themselves, and their dextrous nature to avoid the worst of the blows. Many days of training under the fierce gaze of Master Lynne serves Jasper well as he avoids the cold unscathed. Dell is less fortunate and collapses to the ground, unconscious. Otto and Raven stagger against the wall, frozen but still functional. Adrienne, Pfiffwin, Gitmo, and Naboth all shudder and die, their exposed skin cracking and bleeding as their internal organs freeze. It is the worst day of their lives. Oaklock falls backwards, covered in frost, while Winthrop keels over, his eyes wide open and staring. Cedrus and Diego, at the tail end of the Company’s marching order, also survive the attack, but are sorely wounded. The Company has been decimated, and the ogre magi are not finished. With a gleeful shout, they whip their weapons around and attempt to gut Otto, their strange bladed polearms poking and prodding at his armor.
“Cedrus, bring Dell up now! Winthrop’s dead! Diego, cover me! Move! Move!” screams Raven, as Otto stands alone against the two ogre magi. Raven throws his longbow into the face of one of the ogre magi, whips his longsword out, and drives it into the ogre’s midriff. Jasper sails in over the dead and unconscious bodies of the Company slashing wildly with his halberd. The ogre magi are taken aback at the ferocity of the attack and are forced back beyond the intersection. The retreat is a fatal one, as Otto steps forth and lops off both an arm and a leg from the nearer of the ogre magi.
Diego and Cedrus, seeing the carnage before them, have two different reactions. Cedrus rushes forward, calling down blessings from Ehlonna onto the unconscious form of Dell, who gasps in surprise as half of his wounds are suddenly healed shut. Diego turns and rushes backward, fleeing from the magi who have destroyed the Company. His flight is futile, though oddly fortuitous. Not twenty steps around the corner, he comes face to face with another ogre mage appearing from nothing. The mage thrusts forth a hand. Ice-cold sprays forth and Diego collapses to the ground, coated in rime.
“Raven, I hear bad things from down there,” says Jasper, a worried look on his face as he hews at and dodges the blows from the ogre mage. Indeed, the sound of tramping, armored footsteps is audible even to Raven as he fights against his opponent. The remaining ogre mage impales Jasper on his odd polearm. Jasper slides off the sharp blade, clutching his stomach.
Raven shrugs his shield onto his arm, slashing twice at the ogre mage, lopping off one of the mage’s arms. “Dell! Get your ass up here and fry stuff, now!” he screams, clearly on the verge of losing his composure. The ogre mage’s arm writhes on the ground, clawing at Raven’s leg. As the ogre mage sags to the ground, Raven falls, spouting femoral blood.
Otto fumbles at the thick cords binding the sack tight, finally opening it to scoop out the last of the gem encrusted chalices. He pours the ice-filled water from the chalice onto Raven’s face, and Raven suddenly gasps and stirs. Gawking at the hand clamped around his leg, he pries it free and lurches to his feet.
Dell does stagger forward as Cedrus revives Al with more of Ehlonna’s might. Al staggers to his feet and lurches into the battle. A small horde of nine ice giants, led by an ogre mage, charge up out of the passageway towards the struggling Company. Many of the giants are injured and showing signs of having been burnt, bandages wrapped around their extremities, and appear intent on repaying the Company. “I’m not going to get them all!” shouts Dell, as he rummages through his collection of scrolls.
“No excuses!” replies Raven, Otto standing beside him as the first of the giants reach the two of them. Otto draws their deadly attention, and they crush him with great delight. The giants’ maces pulverize the battered ranger, driving him down, snapping his bones. Raven steps up to hold them back, but the situation looks bleak.
“Right, this one,” mutters Dell as he pulls out a scroll tied with black ribbon. He looks around at the Company, mostly dead or unconscious, with Al and Raven locked in deadly struggle with creatures almost twice their size. He rolls the scroll in between his fingers for a moment, and then sighs and swaps it for a scroll with a blue ribbon on it. Unrolling the scroll, he chants the words of power written and slows the charging ice giants, his magics causing them to move as if time had slowed for them. Most of the ice giants move slowly enough that they do not reach him, and the blows of the three that do are easy enough to dodge. Backing up ten feet, he pulls forth another scroll, this with a yellow ribbon on it, and reads it. A great bolt of lightning streaks forth through the ice giants, electrocuting two-thirds of them, including the ogre mage and those ice giants directly before him.
Al and the ogre mage at the rear of the Company are locked in mortal combat, Cedrus trying to heal the Al’s wounds faster than the ogre mage is causing them. Al eschews creative fighting styles, instead standing over the bodies of his fallen comrades and hacking at the ogre. Al’s anger and the healing of Cedrus combine to overcome the ogre mage, but Al doesn’t stop hacking when it falls, instead dismembering the ogre mage into a scattered array of parts.
Dell sends another bolt of lightning from a second yellow-ribboned scroll through the remaining ice giants, electrocuting them as Raven slays the other ogre mage. Raven’s shield is heavily scarred, as several of the mage’s blows were only barely turned by it. “These things grow back,” says Dell, “Al, drag yours over here!”
Raven treats Jasper’s gaping wound, stabilizing him and packing the wound enough to allow him to move about, though somewhat gingerly. As Cedrus begins reviving the unconscious, Dell sends arrow after arrow of glowing green energy into the ogre magi’s corpses. The bodies hiss and sizzle as the arrows strike their flesh, and then they slowly blacken and sag. Raven and Jasper help Cedrus patch up those that can be patched, while Al and Dell pick over the corpses of the ice giants. The ice giants each are wearing an emblem, an armband made of gold with a rampant ivory bear mounted on it. The ogre magi each carried a collection of gemstones, all sapphires. Once Oaklock, Diego, and Hugh are brought back to consciousness, the dead are hoisted and carried. The Company returns to their hiding place, Otto removing the traces of their passage.
When the Company opened the boulder, the ice surrounding it was shivered and broken. Even to a casual observer, it is plain that it is no longer sealed. Oaklock, who still has his complement of memorized spells, agrees to remain outside, invisible, to watch for any patrols. Cedrus heals him fully. The rest of the Company piles inside the refuse chamber and closes the boulder up behind them.
The dead are brought into the chamber of the toad gem. Hugh and Cedrus perform the now well-known dwarven ritual of the rod, returning Winthrop and Adrienne to life. Jasper watches the ledge, while Diego sits quietly in the refuse room. Otto, Raven, and Dell have a quiet conversation about what to do next. Dell says that the dwarven rod is not an unlimited resource. The Company has drawn on it heavily, and it is likely soon to be without power. Using it to bring back the three thieves, Pfiffwin, Naboth, and Gitmo, will likely drain it further, perhaps to an unusable point. Do they really want to use the rod on them? Raven is fairly certain that Cedrus would choose to use the rod rather than save it, but that Hugh will follow their lead.
Otto is strongly of the opinion that Pfifwin should be brought back from the dead, since he is the Company’s charge, at least during these six months. Raven is surprised that Otto would support Pfiffwin, especially since Pfiffwin has tried to avoid his responsibilities multiple times since being placed under Otto’s authority. Otto, not normally a rigid adherent to laws, claims that his personal agreement is at stake, and it would be a great blow to his honor and respect. The two ex-militiamen are not wrapped in his honor, so he is less invested in them.
Dell comes up with a solution. They’ll search the two dead militiamen and see if they’ve stolen from the Company, conveniently forgetting his previous admonitions regarding stealing earlier rather than later. Naboth is heavily laden with crystals from the pool above and gold coins from the ebon giants’ lair. Gitmo, on the other hand, makes Naboth look poor. In addition to crystals and gold coins, he has on him a heavy silver statuette, a good two feet high. The statuette, a rearing bear, has topaz eyes and eight ruby fangs. Its claws are blackened with some material as well, creating a remarkably attractive objet d’art. Raven looks at the statuette and whistles. “That’s worth a pretty copper. I’d say around five or six thousand gold eagles at the least,” he exclaims.
Their dilemma solved, Raven strips the magical chainmail from Gitmo and piles it, along with the gold coins and the crystals, next to the bodies. Otto hauls Pfiffwin’s corpse over to the priests and has a quiet word with them, gesturing over towards the dead thieves. Cedrus looks especially sad and thoughtful, but agrees to return Pfiffwin to health once the Company is finished in the glacial rift.
Winthrop tells the others that it will take him almost half a day to memorize all his necessary spells. Given his recent death, he refuses to leave the security of the cave until he is fully prepared. Winthrop’s obstinacy hinders the Company, but also allows them time to recover from their wounds and recharge their powers. The cold is brutal though. Mostly everyone tries to stay close to the coal brazier and to feed it often, but Otto notes that several of his fingers have gone white and stiff. He decides not to worry about it. Myrick’s ring will pull him through.
