The path to Ikaya

* In the picture: Mulchanor role playing Griselda as Griselda herself was role playing Lightning, missing in this session

13th October 5000, somewhere over the Vlad Glacier in Kalte

Going on. They knew they needed to go further and quicker to recover the time lost in the blizzard. the days and nights passed without any event. the company had asked their guides to make stops every 3 hours in order for themselves to have a brief moment of quiet when the sickness attacks were about to happen.

A short discussion lifted a part of the mystery around the guides, while both siblings were indeed Vassagonians, they were in exile in these countries. their family had fled from the clutches of the Zakhan to Kalte only to be almost immediately slaughtered by the ice-barbarians. in these lands death could come very swiftly and surprising as the third day showed.

the three sleds were progressing pretty fast even through the foggy weather when, out of the nowhere, two ice-barbarians appeared in the path of the sleds. unlike the company both of them had a clear idea about what would happen. while some members of the group were about to claim that they meant no harm, some arrows were already whistling towards them. Alast and Gustavius cursed as the projectiles grazed them and the complete group immediately riposted with iron and blood. the combat was swift, Lightning had managed to incapacitate one of the barbarians thus allowing Griselda a deadly strike, the second barbarian was defending himself as best as he could but was overwhelmed easily. as the group looted the bodies they discovered a macabre fund. during the combat they kept wondering how the barbarians were able to fight with spear and sword while still letting arrows rain upon them.. the answer was simple: each barbarian had a child in its backpack, armed with a bow and trained to kill whatever did not belong in those iced wastes. the bodies were quickly looted, most of the equipment was broken and useless except for a finely crafted spear, which quickly became the new property of Griselda and 2 pairs if skis.

the group decided it would be best to press on, as a searching party would probably be soon sent after those two scouts...

but their hope for a refreshing and reposing night would soon be shattered. Gustavius, Griselda and Mulchanor were taking their second watch when it became apparent that they were not alone in the area. out of the darkness a slow moving figure came moving towards the sleds and camp-fires. it was too far to clearly distinguish what it was but it seemed to be a giak. strangely enough it did not seemed to move aggressively or be rushing in frenzy into a battle. it seemed to be wounded and was clearly moaning. while Mulchanor and Gustavius were trying to figure out what the creature was and why it was moaning so strangely, Griselda quickly woke the guides up and pressed them to ready the sleds for a quick escape. three other figures appeared, following the first. limping and moaning. "who goes there ?" asked Mulchanor and gave a warning shot. As no response came, Gustavius decided to put some light into the situation and grabbed a burning piece of wood from one of the camp-fires and threw it spinning it towards the figure. Griselda was now back and urging the dwarves to get on the - now almost ready to go - sleds as 4 other of those creatures appeared, limping... the torch landed right in front of the first creature, illuminating it brightly. It was indeed a giak, but decaying and decomposing. "Zombies !!" yelled the dwarves while rushing to the sleds. "lots o'them !" - "oh, so you finally decided it's best to go" ironically stated Girselda while whipping the dogs to make them start quickly. in the commotion one of the undeads had managed to grab the first sled, while the others - a complete army as it seemed to the company - were still moving at full-zombie speed towards the now departing sleds. a gaunt hand was trying to grasp its hold on the first sled but Gustavius quickly dispatched it with a swift strike of his axe, letting out a disgusted sound.

with relief the group watched the figurines disappearing in their trails and decided to press on. questions were forming in their heads. Giaks in Kalte are uncommon. not to say rare. but undead giaks are far more disturbing. clearly there was some evil force at work thy could not apprehend yet.

but the clear sun and white blue landscape dissipated their thoughts while they were rushing continuously northwards through bizarre ice formations, the sun light was reflecting and shining through the glacier and once again they were glad to have correct equipment all along. without the goggles they would probably have gone blind form the reflections and without their warm equipment covering their skin they evaded any risk of sun burn. it was almost warm. too warm for the area even. the foreboding signs of water dropping down ice formations would have been a clear sign of impending doom for them. if they had paid attention to it. but the landscape was whizzing to fast around them. it was only a thunk but clearly cracking noise that alerted them. too late, a fissure opened in the glacier just on the left of them. Another big crack and ice debris as well as clouds of ice particles were erupting into the air just to dissipate only moments later. the fissure had now the size of a large crevasse running along the path of the sleds, and it was gaining speed on them. soon the cracking noise would not come to halt and large ice block in front and around the speeding sleds were breaking apart and disappearing into the dark depth of the growing chasm. a frenetic panic had taken control of the dogs as the glacier started breaking apart below them, the sled driver were trying to manoeuvre them as far as they could to move to the right but they had no chance. the ice was breaking way faster than they could run. "do something!" yelled Erleothir at lightning, knowing - or hoping - that the Dessi Mage would maybe be able to control the forces of nature unleashing around them...

Just in the moment Lightning was assessing the situation around him and going through any possible spells in his minds, a trembler went through all three sleds as two large slabs of ice collided next to them. the scream of Mulchanor was heard as the two dwarves suddenly lost grip and fell off on the shaking ground. Lightning concentrated on his incantation and suddenly, forming out of the clouds of melting ice appeared a water spirit shaking itself vigorously in the cold air. Now both the first and last sleds were driving a tight U shaped turn to the right, while Hassan and Radja were masterfully conducting this manoeuvre Griselda and Erleothir quickly grabbed some ropes to throw at the incoming running dwarves. next to the second sled, still thrown at full speed, the water spirit was receiving mentally his orders from lighting. "hold both pieces of the glacier together" was the oh so simple task. quickly evading the stomping feet of the slowly freezing water spirit, the two dwarves respectively threw themselves on the dancing ropes, while Mulchanor jumped, head first, toward the rope, Gustavius felt on his back, no sooner had he caught the rope that he was dragged over a small bump of snow and got catapulted in the air, only to land with the artistic grace of a sack of flour seated on the back of the first sled. Mulchanor on his side was holding tight and in an impressive movement managed to stand up, ice-skiing behind the last sled... without skis. "hey look at me !" he yelled proudly. sadly Erleothir misunderstood this for a cry of help and quickly pulled the rope towards the sled "I will save you my friend!" as a result Mulchanor face planted in the snow and got dragged for a few meters unceremoniously. In the mean time the water spirit was performing a split over the chasm, the shaking and trembling of the glacier went lower and lower and finally stopped. Our heroes had a last look on the back to the now frozen water spirit. holding both pieces of the glacier together like the statue of an ice colossus.

Great was their joy on this evening, recalling the events like school kids who just played an enormous prank and managed to run away from their master in extremis before getting caught. As they looked around them on the desert landscape a few members of the group noticed a large mountain in front of them. "This is Cloudmaker Mountain" explained one of the guides "but don't trust your eyes, the mountain isn't in front of us" - "what do you mean?" - "in these countries you have to learn not to entirely trust your eyes. they can show you wrong things. you have to *know* your environment...." these word from the guides slightly irritated Griselda. She waited for a quiet moment to turn to Erleothir. "do you think we can trust our guides?" she asked him without emphasis. "why ? yes... I mean until now everything went" he stopped recalling the events of the last days and searched for a fitting word "eeerrmm fine... I mean, it could have gone worse" - "no, i mean, what they just say about not trusting our eyes and the mountain, it's disturbing me. do you really think we can rely on them ?" - "I understand your doubts but honestly, these are the only guides we have and... " he got interrupted by Gustavius who was overhearing the conversation "they have spent basically their complete life in the hanor interrupted him "and besides, if they wanted to kill us or get us lost they could have done it already on the first day and just a few kilometres from Ljuk..." - "point taken. in fact, it's not like we have any choice."




On that night everyone slept pretty good and there was no interruption, they were just fairly impressed as pale lights appeared in the sky, seamlessly moving from reddish to green and moving between the stars like a snake ondulating in the water. "is this magic?!" - "no it's called... let me remember.." - "aurora Borealis, never thought I'd live long enough to see some" - "and let's hope long enough to tell about it"

as their trek started on the next morning they could notice that the cloud maker mountain was in fact behind them and it did not lasted too long until they left the glacier to reach a more accidented area. the ground wasn't now even and plane any more but formations of black rock could be seen here and there scattered around and rolling hills were marking the landscape. the colour was the only constant though. white , white and more white. Erleothir scouted the landscape with a keen eye trying to figure out what the best path for the sleds would be. "we need to be careful sahib, said Radja, you see those caverns far away in the mountains to the east and west ? these are home to some worms, big ones, ever hungry and looking for prey..." a discussion quickly erupted "we should go on rocky ground then and follow the top of the hills" - "we would be sitting duck then, everyone could see us" - "but then again we would be able to see our surroundings" - "going between the hills would hide us from enemy eyes" - "and we would be blind as well, and easier to catch for the worms" finally all opted to go the route on top of the hills. the complete day passed by without bigger incident. around late afternoon the mount Range was clearly recognisable in front of them and Ikaya suddenly did not seemed far at all any more. it was only at nightfall that a new discussion started. the guides warned them that they were now in great danger, Ikaya wasn't far away and lots of barbarian tribes were settling in the surrounding area, surely a fire would attract the attention of unwelcomed guests. nobody in the group was really hot on spending a night without fire and several ideas were proposed. after dismissing the igloo as too time consuming all decided to build up the tents on the sleds themselves and huggle together with each others and the dogs. But Alast remembered the baknar oil vial. now would be the perfect moment to use its cold blocking effects. he was about to open the vial when Hassan hastily stopped him movement. "don't open it. in any circumstances. this is baknar oil, worms, eat baknars..... in simple words: the smell of the baknar oil would attract the worms. they could swallow our encampment in a few gulps."

Luckily for them the night wasn't as cold as expected and all could start the next morning. they were gaining distance to Ikaya and everything was running smooth. no enemies in sight, the air was clear and crisp. Hassan turned back an announced proudly "we should arrive in Ikaya by tonight and then..." he would not be able to finish his sentence as words got stuck in his hals. missing the first sled by a few meters, a gigantic mouth full of teeth and fangs just swallowed all the dogs from the second sled as a huge worm errupted perpendicularly out of the ground. Alast had no time to react and the vehicle crashed against the partially discovered body of the upright standing worm. in a rain of snow, wooden debris, ropes and teared packages he got thrown far away to the right side. Lightning had bigger chance and the impact just made him roll to the left. Surprised horror over their face, they watched as the beast plunged towards Alast. Again Hassan showed his great conducting skills and quickly turned the dogs to the right, Erleothir, on the last sled quickly ordered to rush to Lighting at the right, in their attempt to catch him they almost drove him over, but more scared than harmed he managed to jump on the bypassing sled. Alast on his side was still alone facing the giant beast, his shadaki senses warned him accurately and he quickly jumped to the side as the beast reached for him . A gun shot cracked, it was Gustavius' rifle, but throwing pebbles would had the same results. As Alast was preparing himself for a second attack of the beast, his life almost defiled in front of his eyes, backwards. the events of the last evening. "baknar oil attract worms" was echoing through his mind. as the saliva dripping teeth were hovering dangerously 2 meters over him he grabbed for one of his fials of baknar oil. time seemed to suddenly slow down and the yelling of his friends suddenly grown silent. the bright sunlight shun through the yellowish fluid as he tossed the bottle as far away from him and the sleds as he could while making a daring escape toward his friends. the bottle shattered on hitting the ground. the sickly odour filled the air. and while the worm was still analysing this sudden appearance of baknar and rushing towards the source, our pirate was safely aboard one of the sleds driving away at full speed...

their adrenaline level slowly sinking they assessed the damage, things could have been much worse, but they could also be better, while everyone was safe, they had lost three dogs and one sled complete with provisions. now driving side by side Gustavius was starting to point out a weakness in their plan. "So Erleorhir, tell me, what do we do once we arrive in Ikaya in a few hours. do we just knock at the main gate..." - "and say 'hello we're the peace envoys from Sommerlund'" added Mulchanor - "'and we just happened to kill two of your scouts and their kids on the way here...'" finished Alast. Griselda rolled her eyes at the childish behavior of the group while Erleothir frowned. after a brief pause he shook his head and started "well, since..." - "sahib, there's someone on the road."

They stopped hastily the two last sleds preparing themselves for another battle but the man in from of them looked more like a rag. uncertain about what to do they started to conference about attacking or not while Griselda was already taking her spear in an attacking movement. The man felt in the snow. Only the wind could be heard between the two hundreds meters separating them. Slashing the dogs Hassan and Radja covered the last meters separating them till they reached him. Instinctively our heroes took defensive positions around him, Mulchanor took one of the laumpsur potion to cure the barbarian. He was hurt but alive due to them. Slowly he recovered senses and started to talk.
- Thanks... Thanks you stranger... I am Aliki counselor to the brumalmarc... or should i say ex-counselor.
- what do you mean with ex counselor, what happened to you ?
the wounded man continued,
- i've been sent away by the guards, they hunted me down and i had to flee out of the city. the brumalmarc, my old friend, isn't himself anymore. friends are turning enemies and this since the recent arrival of that new ... emissary.
- emissary ? you have seen the kai-lord ?
- Kai-lord,... the old man frowned. yes indeed but he is not the emissary. he was *with* the emissary, him and and some merchant. At first everything seemed as usual negociations, I was uncertain about one of their foreign emissaries and I talked about him to the brumalmarc before he had a private meeting with them alone. When the meeting ended the brumalmarc came back alone and told us to put them in the dungeons. I tried to interfere as this is not the way to treat emissaries... but he would listen. We came in, me and some soldiers, to find the suspecious emissary dead, Kilitanin and Dark raven unconscious. The two guards and the two other emissaries also dead. After my constant questioning about what happened and the craziness of getting our allies in prison he banished me. Some of us are against his will, but as a brumalmarc, we'll all follow him. Except now.
I won't attack him, nor our man... but I have to flee...
- Will you attack him with us? Said Mulchanor
-Never! I will never attack him. We, ice people, are barbarians for you. But we are people of peace. We just follow orders. Of o mad man. Some thing happened to him maybe you can find out...
-Yes! But how will we enter? Can we attack them said Griselda?
Alki looked at her smiling, and replied:
- Ikaya is a magical fortress with more than five thousands soldiers ready to die serving the Brumalmarc. I would use other ways if I were you...
After this, our heroes were listening to him attentively. Even without his company in this mission. But he provided them an important piece of information.
- On the right side of Ikaya there is a mill. behind it you'll find a grotto with a secret entrance to the fortress. And take this as a gift and luck-bringer. he added and pulled out an amulet out of his clothes. this should help you on your quest. Barbarians will recognize this symbol. All the company took the sleds to the fortress. After this they all silently covered the last kilometers to the fortress. Night felt upon them, behind the hill, hidden from Ikaya's eyes they waited for someone to uncover its secrets...