14/06/745 A.E. Nearing Midnight.
Though the party estimated that midnight drew near on the PMP (prime material plane), one could hardly tell by the brilliant look of ice and white snow gleaming across the Para-Elemental Plane of Ice. The sky, whatever it was, shown brightly in all directions, its illumination spreading evenly out across the ice fields below the gray expanse. And it was there, against the backdrop of that dull gray sky, that their vision was fixed, watching the bird-like creature drawing closer with each passing second. Occasionally, it would flash like a mirror caught in the sun, and though its reflective properties were perhaps not all that unusual for a creature made primarily of ice, it did make one wonder why it flashed at all in the absence of any sun. Fortunately, such minor mysteries seemed unimportant to the party members as they gauged its incredible speed. It would be here in less than two minutes.
Cyris wished Belamay were here, for he always knew what to do. But such wishes often go unanswered, and now was no exception. Not sure if it would help, Cyris cast his Protection From Enemy 10' R spell. Katsumi Yuriko drew Zantetsuken and Shoumetsu Kaze (her weapons) and prepared, though she wondered how she might reach a bird high in the air if it did not come down to fight. Aarkon the monk, a new member, spun his staff about and went through several training exercises to limber up. His magic staff, however, felt heavier than normal, for some of its magical properties, which made it weigh less than normal, seemed diminished here on this plane. (All plus items were, in fact, plus one less, except Ekibar, which seemed at home on this plane a well as the PMP). The other party members similarly prepared, drawing their weapons and spreading out. The huge ice bird closed in, but it did not get any lower while doing so; perhaps it intended to simply fly past. Jarmain cast a Dust Devil spell in the hopes it might aid them. It began to pick up flakes of ice and snow and could clearly be seen.
The creature, an impressive bird of ice, somewhat reminiscent of a pterodactyl, though hardly that as it was clearly made of shimmering ice, swooped past while ice needles rained down upon the party. Multiple needles strike each of them like daggers of ice, piercing their skin and then melting within seconds. Red blood began to color the pristinely white setting. Just as Lycorne was hit, her Magic Missiles flew forth and struck the bird. A lurch of movement revealed it was indeed injured by her attack. At least that was working. Gillmesh, on the other hand, hit the bird solidly with two arrows from his composite shortbow, yet they simply bounced off. "Damn!" he thought, "it'll prolly tak magic ta hurt tha thing." "Did ye all see tha?" he uttered. The Ice Pterodactyl glided away and began to circle, its wide arc taking considerable time to achieve, thus giving everybody 4 or 5 minutes before it made another "strafing run." Though incredibly fast, at least it was not highly maneuverable. Some spells are cast in the interim to heal and prepare before the next attack.
After a few minutes, it returned for a new attack. Cyris, Gillmesh and Aarkon had taken cover, but there was little else for the others with which they could conceal themselves. Katsumi lit and threw a small flask of alcohol. Hardly proficient with such a weapon, and at that range, it missed and landed many yards away, breaking, the blue-yellowish cast of flames spreading out from the point of impact upon the icy plane. More non-magical weapons were tried, but they, too, failed. Then the huge flying elemental spit out a large ball of ice. Badly aimed, it hit next to Gillmesh, who was concealing himself in the ice shelf, and it fragmented into many flying shards of jagged ice, but his armor bore the brunt of it well. More of Lycorne's Magic Missiles hit it again and this time the bird diverts its flight path and makes toward the mountain. It seems to have broken off the attack. One might surmise it wasn't used to its meals being so adamantly against ingestion.
The party regroups and watches the elemental fly away to what they believe is its home, the mountain, perhaps half a day's march toward what Gill arbitrarily calls "north." Cyris wishes to go in search of Belamay, but he has no idea where to look. Wishing to rest and heal, they set out toward the mountain, hoping to find some place to rest. While a bit of cover would be greatly appreciated, unfortunately their magical tent is not working. On the way, Cyris learns more about how they found him in ice and a yellow field and he begins to get the uncomfortable feeling he's been here a long while. Finding Belamay may not be so easy, his trail obviously old and cold.
14/07/745 A.E.
Marching "north" for three hours reveals only one unexpected feature. They find a pool of liquid. Thinking it odd since they estimate the temperature to be below freezing, despite the relative warmth afforded them by the guardian's blessing, they examine the pool. Aarkon sticks the tip of his staff into it and the liquid bubbles and boils, a cloud of white vapor rises, and he draws his magic staff back. It is coated in ice. He hits the staff on the ice to crack it off but too late realizes the tremendous cold has made his staff brittle. Luckily, the magic of the staff prevents disaster (barely made save) and it does not shatter the metal-shod tip.
Meanwhile, Gill spots something odd about 500 yards to the "east." Jarmain becomes an eagle and flies over there, but soon flies back, beckoning them to follow him. They decide to glide on over and inspect whatever it was, and there they are greeted by something similar to an igloo, though the blocks were carved from solid ice instead of packed snow. Gillmesh draws upon the power of his sword and illuminates the way, entering first. Inside he finds a skeletal figure impaled upon the floor by a giant icicle running right through were a man's heart should have been. They search, but can conclude nothing other than it's a nice place to rest, if the dead isn't the sort of thing to bother you too much. Yanking the ice stake out, they remove the skeleton and it falls apart. They gather the bones and bury them outside in the snow. Jar returns and all party members rest within, cast spells to heal, then proceed to wait, relax, and rest, while their minds prepare for the new imprinting of future incantations. Hours pass. (In fact, over 15 total hours pass before they feel ready to sally forth once again).
Exiting the ice structure, they discover, as expected, the light has not changed at all, the cold, brilliantly illuminated fields of white ice and snow remain just as well illuminated as they had left them. Or had they? Actually, there is a new trail of tracks leading away (going "east") and they discover they started from where they buried that pile of bones (which a quick inspection reveals to them they are now missing). And there is now a slight wind blowing "north," as well. Not certain what they are looking for here, they decide to follow the tracks. Jarmain cast Endure Cold on Cyris Blackbane again since he does not have the guardian's blessing and it is still well below freezing here.
A mere hour's march eastward brings them all to a shallow depression in the plane of ice. In a hollow at the bottom, the trail leads into a cave-like entrance. Gillmesh, Jarmain, and Isabelle enter, the others remain without to guard against a possible trap. The ice is strange here, being rather dark in color, and somewhat sculpted into steps, but they are not slippery, so it's easy to negotiate the stairs cut into dark ice. They descend more than 50 feet and then find a chamber of ice, within which they can hear the sound of running water. "Running water?" thinks Bell, "at this temperature?" Again Gill leads the way using the Light spell from his sword, Ekibar. Then the light is reflected back from a wall of ice, the twinkle apparently caused by liquid running down the wall from above somewhere. The liquid collects along the floor, runs along a groove or trough where the floor meets the wall, and then funnels into a small arm-sized hole. There it disappears below. Gill can no longer find any tracks here and quits looking for any, convinced the hard ice wouldn't leave tracks, and although an actual ranger would have come to different conclusions, Gill had no such skill-set, and so that didn't really occur to him.
Then, without warning, the 7-foot skeleton attacks as it emerged from a secret door. Armed with a long, two-handed sword of icy material, it hacked into Gillmesh with a force sufficient to spin the warrior around. If not for his armor, it might have killed him. Jarmain invokes the power of Zeus and attempts to turn undead, but it doesn't seem affected by this display of faith. Bell's Magic Missiles, however, seem to help get its attention.
The fray continues for many rounds and Gill concludes, as he draws nearer to death than he would like, the skeleton is a superior warrior and swordsman. Only Gill's incredible strength, Bell's Magic Missiles, and Jarmain's occasional hit with his pole arm save the warrior's life. In fact, Jarmain delivered the deathblow and shattered the skeletal figure into shards of icy fragments, its two-handed sword clattering to the icy floor below, its sound marking their eventual victory. Gill could feel the frost on his wounds even through the guardian's blessing of warmth. Had it not been for that magical protection, he still may have succumbed to the Icy Bone Warrior's superior combat prowess.
Outside, the sounds of battle alert those who waited to make sure nothing tried to surprise them in this potential trap. Obviously, considering the sounds of battle, the real threat was within, and they rushed to the aid of their comrades. Too late, but better late than never, they entered to find Gillmesh breathing heavily and Jarmain and Bell kicking through the icy fragments, looking for clues. "By Athena's will! What has happened?" exclaimed Aarkon, revealing to all here for the first time some connection to that noble goddess of wisdom. Jarmain uses magic to partially heal the warrior, then Gill hefts the ice sword and finds its weight surprises him for something seemingly made of ice. (It weighs as much as a steel sword ought to, despite ice's density being 7 or 8 times less than steel). It's cold to the touch, too; even through his magical protections, he can still feel the cold. Taking in the scene and searching, they finally decided to brave the unknown hallway revealed by the secret door from which the skeleton had emerged earlier. The hall of dark ice slopes upwards. Luckily, like the dark ice stairs outside, it also does not seem too slippery, like normal ice should be, so they ascend.
The hallway leads them to a small chamber (8 x 8 x 8 feet) wherein there is a dark, opaque ice coffin and a dark ice table off to one side. On the table there is a bag. They discover 10 overly large ice crystals within the bag. The coffin has carvings upon it, a scene depicting a mountain and a setting sun. "A sun?" they think, on a plane with no sun? A search for traps by Bell reveals none. Without warning, Bell cast Flaming Sphere again (she seems to like that spell) and almost fries her companions in the small room, but they rushed out in the nick of time. She opens the coffin (melts it open, really) and discovers a long, dead body of a frozen women, her flesh turned yellow with age as her fat had turned soapy, just as many bodies do look when they freeze. Of the party members, Jarmain examines her body more closely and discovered a tattoo. Concentrating upon it to discover its significance, he feels drained of power and a pinkish cast of light gleams over the entire length of the woman's body. Alas, nothing comes of it. He even tries again while others pay closer attention this time. Again, he feels drained while the pink light washes over the dead form with no results. This time, however, he realizes the draining effect has erased the mystical energies from his mind as if he had cast a spell (each attempt had drained one spell from his mind). Obviously, it seemed to him, the tattoo was trying to do something by using Jarmain's power to cause an effect, but what that effect was other than a pinkish glow could not be discerned.
Meanwhile, Cyris had problems of his own. He alone braved the bag of ice crystals and took one out. Examining it, he found it cold and tried to return it to the bag. Not only could he not get the bag open again, he found he couldn't let go of the ice crystal either. His hand was stuck to it. Though the vague impression "it" wanted to be put somewhere remained with him, he couldn't figure it out and thus had the damn cold crystal stuck to his hand. He couldn't even cast spells while like that (unless they had no somatic components), and this greatly worried him.
They decide to leave, having not found anything related to the ice devil or demon or what have you that Gill was supposed to defeat on this plane. Bell remained behind a little while to look the body over and before departing she took the necklace from it. She knew it was not magic, for Jarmain's spell revealed only the bag and the ice sword to be magic there (though the body was slightly magical too, particularly the tattoo). It was a crude ornamental piece of gold jewelry, obviously primitive in craftsmanship, and she figured it to weigh about 20 GP worth and felt its value would not really exceed that, but she took it anyway, donning it while she hurried to catch up with the others.
They started their march back toward the igloo and Cyris was unhappy with the icy bauble still attached to his hand. He stared at the ground and kept shaking his hand, trying to flick the thing off with some force, the snapping action of his hand directed toward the ground while trying to dislodge the unwelcome guest. After he did this a few times, to his surprise, it suddenly flew off his hand and hit the ground at his feet where he had been trying to flick it. The ground bubbled where it hit, and the crystal melted down into the ice and quickly disappeared. Within a half minute, the ice cracked open and an icy spider-like creature scurried up and charged Cyris, trying to bite him or stick him with icy fangs. Just before it hit (doing who knows what, he never found out, lucky him) Bell's Magic Missiles knock it to the side, Aarkon landed a mighty blow with his staff, and though it still recovered from those jarring blows, and though it almost got to the mage, before it finally could, Lycorne's Magic Missiles shattered the Giant Ice Spider into 32 pieces (not that anyone actually counted them) and an oozing black trickle of liquid seeped into the ice from its icy body.
"Oh my . . . that was . . . interesting. The spider formed from the crystal, it seems," commented Cyris. Though everybody had seen it for themselves, he felt it still was worth mentioning since such things hardly happened everyday. All feel messing with the remaining 9 crystals is best left for another time, and so Cyris carries the bag with the nine remaining crystals in it safely tucked away.
Again, they take up shelter at the ice igloo, resting, praying, studying their spells, and healing the massive wounds inflicted on Gillmesh. Time passes. Nothing seems interested in bothering them here. They get to know one another more and talk a great deal about "stuff."
14/08/745 A.E.
The next day they set out and march toward the mountain, passing the odd pool, and making good time over the ice. It takes about two hours more before they arrive at the mountain and start climbing. Yet, before they get very far at all, they see it, upon the air against the gray sky, the flashes of the ice bird, that frosty pterodactyl that gave them a problem before. And it was headed right for them - again.
A very similar scene to the one before, they prepared, were strafed with ice needles, got in a few shots with Magic Missiles, and made ready for another run. Already they keenly felt their wounds, but they still could not reach the creature. Cyris used a Spectral Hand spell and with that he could reach it, but only for that one round while it was in range. Others took what little cover they could find. Cyris succeeded damaging it with a Vampiric Touch. And then Magic Missiles (god, three people who can cast such a highly useful spell in the same party, what is a DM to do?) was cast again, which always seem to help, but the thing was so huge even they were only a minor annoyance. Luck is with them, however, as it seems (probably is the case) the thing cannot endlessly shoot these ice needles at them, and on the third pass it lands to do melee. A fierce creature, both of its wings had claws, there was a long, sharp beak, and even its tail (with poison) had quite a range.
Now on the ground, Bell could finally reach it with her Flaming Sphere, and she cast it after her missiles were gone, and thus she continued to melt it as best she could. Fortunately, the ice bird was large enough so her flames didn't get close enough to hurt Gill. Gillmesh fought bravely, but he had the only melee weapon that could do any real damage (one needs +2 to hit elementals, and Ekibar alone amongst the party's weaponry still had that quality on this plane (though, surprisingly, no one tried the ice sword, hmmmmmm). Knowing this, Gill's already fantastic strength was wisely further enhanced with a Strength spell.
During the epic battle, many take serious damage. Gill almost dies (and would have if not for Jarmain's and Aarkon's healing spells, as the clerics bolstered the warrior from behind since they had no weapons to otherwise help him fight, but eventually Garren falls (unconscious, not dead, the tail's poison greatly sapping his strength), and others who were virtually ineffective took damage but did not fall.
Once, when Gillmesh delivered a rather nasty blow, the ice bird looked genuinely surprised, stopped for a moment, and only then actually gazed at Gill's sword. Suddenly, a look of fear actually played over its frigid features as it said is a thin whisper, "Eeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkiiiiibarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Cyris tried spell after spell, but the bird seems to ward off each attempt, its powers obviously impressive (well, lucky saves always help, too).
Most battles do not really last that long, but this dragged on for nearly 10 minutes. Potions were consumed, nearly all spells that could be cast were cast, and still the thing would not die. "Eeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkiiiiibarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr," it hissed again as its beak impaled Gill's chest, almost dropping the warrior, though Jarmain's and Aarkon's healing touches kept raising the stalwart fighter, or prevented him from falling again, and so kept him engaged in the toe-to-toe battle of attrition to the bitter end. The claws lashed out, hitting Gill, raking Jarmain, the tail poisoned Garren and he fell, and still they went on. Then they were at their last dregs of energy, the beast also committing to its last efforts. For either side, now, it was do or die. It almost came down to who would get in the next blow. Aarkon was hit and falls, Lycorne felt helpless, Bell concentrated on her Flaming Sphere. Gill tries to desperately land another blow before he succumbs to the arctic onslaught. "Fuckin' die, die, die!", he said, continuously uttering that vocal prayer, and unlike many things he often said, this was something that everybody could understand. But he continues to fail to penetrate its frost-covered hide, and just when the creature is about to deliver the death blow, the last dregs of energy from the Flaming Sphere snuff out and the final gasp of heat melts the beast just a little bit more. Only a little, though. But enough. A battle of inches, a narrow escape, the warrior eludes certain death yet again and the ice para-elemental falls to the cumulative effects of a party of brass adventurers.
Thankful, Lycorne begins to breath again when a psionic wave washes over her. It startles her at first, but then she recovers and concludes the emanations that ring forth like a mental bell somebody just struck are coming from Ekibar. At first, a feeling of elation, then a shuddering feeling of warmth, power, finally followed by concern, then pain. After that, only the feeling of pain from some heat. Hot! Too HOT! That mental impression lingers.
A confusion of disorganized frenzy ensues while those who remained standing tried to save those who were wounded and bleeding to death. Potions, rather expensive and so reserved only for emergencies just like this, were dumped down throats, bandages were applied, and a half hour of chaos occurred before everybody was up and even able to walk, with more than a few of them just barely able to manage that. Jarmain had collected the creature's eyes and wanted to do more, but the party had greater need of shelter again. He flew off in eagle form and found a small cave (of ice, naturally) about 15 minutes away (well, 30 minutes, at the rate the party could currently hobble along). But they make it there and find it cramped, but empty.
The party rests here for four hours. A large white snake, apparently the owner of the cave, returned and tried to swallow Gill whole (it was pretty big), but Gill and Bell managed to dispatch it with little effort (it wasn't all that weak, either, though bad luck was on the snake's side this last time out).
During this time, Lycorne continued to sense Ekibar's growing pain. "THE HEAT! THE PAIN! AGONY!" were common feelings she could sense with her psionic empathy, and considering she wasn't even trying to do this, she shuddered at the thought of how powerful the torment must be. She tells Gill and he tries to cool it down by sticking it in the ice wall of the cave. It seems to help a little, but only a little. Soon the sword actually begins to glow, and after a short time it starts to hum, a low even tone, like a tuning fork. What few healing spells they regained were quickly passed around. Aarkon tries a Freeze Metal spell on Ekibar, and it helps, but when the spell's duration expires, Ekibar's growing pain continues. Waves and waves of searing pain continue to emanate from the sword, but only those sensitive enough to feel it really know this. Bell then suggests the liquid pool might be cold enough, and not wishing to risk staying any longer (as the sword looks on the verge of melting), they force-march for a couple hours and reach the pool near the ice igloo.
Just as they arrive, Lycorne grabs her head in pain, screams, and then collapses. They try to revive her but nothing helps. Meanwhile, Gill's sword is now cherry red and still growing hotter with each passing second. He thought he might throw the blade in the pool, but not knowing how deep it was, he figured he could lose it forever that way, and so he used the hot blade to quickly cut an ice trough near the pool, and then lays Ekibar down inside it. Then he hacks away at the side of the pool with a dagger until the remaining, thin ice dam breaks and liquid pours along the trough. Almost like throwing an ice cube into a vat of hot grease (only much, much worse), the effect is violent and Gill steps back since the sound is deafening, and the spattering bubbles of super cooled liquid fly out in all directions amid the rolling white clouds of vapor. There is little they can do but watch for nearly an hour. Bell tried to get a closer look, but the spattering liquid helium hits her and she receives frost damage. She backs away, thinking better of the idea. Then the violent reaction finally subsides, and soon after, Lycorne recovers. She had collapsed in empathetic response to Ekibar's agonizing pain. Not only was the pain gone, but also she felt (aside from one hell of a headache) a sort of song coming from the sword.
"In times past, when bright and true,
A songbird came and then he knew,
'Twas not the fight for valor true,
But quest of stone, of light, of blue.
Tarry not on ice domain,
Sally forth to claim thy reign,
But stay thy hand 'gainst those so dark,
And seek your cause on Esterark."
She repeats it to Gill, having heard it twice, but then Ekibar went silent. No pain, no thoughts, no feelings, just as usual and as before when she felt nothing from the sword. Gill recovers his sword by flipping it out of the trough with a dagger. It is cold to the touch, be he can handle it with gloves. Again, they go to the igloo and have a proper rest and healing session. They are undisturbed for a long time.
14/09/745 A.E.
They do not leave the confines of the igloo until toward noon of the next day. Everyone is healed, spell compliments are mostly near maximum, Endure Cold is cast once again for Cyris, as he still does not share the on-going blessing of the guardian, and they head out. Three hours later, they arrive at a shimmering curtain (where they had entered and found Cyris encased in ice). They pass through and find themselves in the altar chamber of the Nexal gate, suddenly freezing their asses off, except for Cyris, since the magical protection of the guardian was now apparently gone. Gill wishes to speak to the guardian but they need a sacrifice of a rock bunny. They spend days camping on the mountain looking for one. With magic, they manage to keep fed and warm while doing this and they even found a place they could set up their tent only a few hours away from the altar too, though they had to first sculpt the icy ground a bit with a Flaming Sphere to make it flat enough.
14/12/745 A.E.
On the 12th, Aarkon and Lycorne finally find a rock bunny and kill it. Bringing it back, they smear its blood on the altar and the guardian appears.
"Speak," it insists. Gill does. "We killed yer evil. We fulfilled yer quest. What is tha reward?" The guardian looked puzzled. "My Quest? In times past those who sought power, the Oroto, came this way and petitioned me thus. Ekibar, the purpose lies with him, not me. I am only the guardian of the gate." Gill seemed less than happy with the answer. "Tell me what ye know of Ekibar." The Guardian obliged thus. "Since before your race crawled across the planes of Hotoru, I have guarded this pass. Ekibar had need of passage, and I granted it to him and those who wielded him in perpetuity. I cannot tell you more. I will not tell you more. It is not my place, nor my function. I am the guardian of the gate. Should you ever need to pass this way again, should you still wield Ekibar, I would be honored bound allow it. Without that sword, however, I might yet allow it, for a price, just as before when the Oroto dealt with me. But for now, I suspect we are done, so fare thee well, warrior." And with that, the guardian vanished.
Gillmesh clamored, "Ta what end is all this?" but he got no more answers from the guardian, for only empty space remained there above the altar.
"I fear you will have to figure that for yourself," said Aarkon, and they all moved out the small chamber and went outside. Not finding what they wanted, or if they did, not knowing it, they begin to make their way down Mt. Windus toward Korale.
As night draws near they are still on the mountain and must camp. Thankfully, this far down the mountain, it is easier to find flat, open spaces of sufficient size, so their tent works and they find a spot to set it up. But while doing so, they are attacked! Perhaps it is only small comfort, but at least their magical weaponry is once again performing as intended, now that they were back on the Prime Material Plane, however comforting that might be given how hostile the place could be at times.
SESSION ENDS:
14/13/745 A.E. Soon to be.
© June of 2000
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096