Most people would have died in this avalanche. But let's be honest, most people would have died when facing down an orc battle hoard. Most people would have died in a ruined city full of death. Most people would have died a thousand times confronted by the madness that had taken over this part of the Sword Coast and decided to take it head on. The The Leilon...Some? were not most people.
With a sickening crunch a mass of snow, rock and uprooted trees headed towards them, signaling certain death. Acting quickly, now recovered from the frostbite that had seized her, Zenari reached out and touched Siax's shoulder, maintaining control in her unstable magic and teleporting them 200 feet away in relative safety. Seeing that the others may be sweapt away Siax quickly took note of his new location and then fired a special arrow out, willing vines to grow out of the mountain and form a net that would hopefully catch any who were swept away. Tokk plunged his sword in the mountainside and attempted to use it as leverage but quickly discovering that an Ogres strength was no match for a mountains as he was swept away. Pine, a small gesture signifying his divine power, simply melded into the very rock. Idris manifested his hjeavenly wings and flew upwards, almost being caught by the avalanche but proving the faster as he hovered over the rumbling mass.
The avalnce hit and passed. The stillness that followed was unnatural. Zenari transformed into a giant eagle and with Siax on her back surveyed where the path once used to be. They dug in places, joined by Idris and joyesly found that Tokk was alive afterall, having been caught by the makeshift net. Eventualyl finding the place where Pine had taken refuge Siax used their special knock that only the two of them shared and the cleric deftly climbed out of the snow completely unharmed. Shaking off the snow, the party continued upward.
Siax Falls
No matter their skill, their preparation, not everything could be be planned for. Siax, usually so dexterous, had been struggling on the unfamiliar terrain of the mountain, and it only took one slip to spell disaster. Although hands grabbed to try and save him, none were able to get a good enough grip, and they all watched on in horror as the elf slipped past them, tumbling down the snowy landscape they had just ascended.
Leaving Idris and Tokk on the path they had forged, Zenari, still shifted as a giant eagle, carried Pine back down the mountain, hoping to find signs of their companion. Down and down they flew, but nothing could be seen, no body in the snow, nothing but the relentlessness of the mountain they had struggled to climb.
It was only when they reached the very base of the mountain that something was seen that was not usual. It was not a body, but three sticks poking out of the snow in a line. They were ranger markers, and while they didn't have in-depth knowledge of the language and nuance, they had been around Siax long enough to understand it was a direction marker. Considering the vast drop Siax had taken, it was unlikely to be him that had placed them, for surely only death awaited such a fall, and so warilly they followed the markers, only to find more and then an entrance to an icy cave.
There, laying beside a campfire and seeming to be in a stable if dire condition, was Siax, alive, if barely.
He wasn't the only one the pair found though, for stepping from the shadows at seeing them, Falcon the Hunter stood, half frozen in the temperature, and missing most of his arm, but alive against all the odds.
It was a slightly staid but heartfelt reunion between them, and while Falcon donned the extra cold weather gear Pine hadn't needed, Pine went about healing Siax as best he could, before Zenari started the gruelling flight to take the three of the back up the mountain. Falcon, no matter his own state, was determined to see the task to kill the dragon through.
Searching for shelter
With Zenari dangerously exhausted after the flight, and both Siax and Falcon a great deal worse for wear, the group decided to start seeking shelter early that day. The weather was only getting worse the longer they were out, and Pine had started struggling to hold back the ferocity of it, and only Idris's relentless positivity helping him sustain concentration upon it.
But the day progressed without any sign of shelter, none of them seeing anything even remotely usable, and for each hour they searched, the colder and more dire their circumstances became. It was close to dark when Pine reached out to the only creature he could think of that might be able to aid them: the winter wolf. Although it was displeased at the method of communication, it did help him by telling them of a cave at the base of the top of the spire, but warned him that safety there would only come with silence.
Even with the instructions, it was only through luck that they found the entrance, one that looked just like any other bit of stone, but with knocking against it, it was found to be hollow, much as the winter wolf had said. They broke it and peered in, but with the weather worsening and darkness now surrounding them, they had no other option but to cautiously continue inside.
Basilisk cave
Edging carefully into the cave and across an icy bridge over a chasm inside, Siax and Falcon found not some huge beast, but a baby basilisk munching on some bones. While it would have been a fairly easy task to defeat the creature, Siax was adamant about wishing to calm and placate the creature. With piercing shrieks of fear, the little basilisk scampered away to the corner of the cage, but the sound brought no repercussions from its parent, for thankfully Pine had placed a silencing spell over the chasm. It took time, but with patience Siax managed to calm and placate the small creature enough that the group as a whole were able to cohabit the cave that evening without hostilities or fear. Bribery with food appeared to be a good strategy.
It was in the early light of the morning once everyone had slept, that Siax took a closer look at what the young basilisk had been eating. It was a dead humanoid body, but one whose torn clothes bore the insignia of the Blinding Sun. It was odd to find such a reference there, for the Blinding Sun was a faction of the original organisation that the Guided Path had sprung from, one of the four it had split into, and had thought to have died out. There was no other hint as to who the person had been, for what appeared to have been a letter had crumpled to dust, and only two diamonds remained. Interestingly, one of the diamonds was found to house a soul, much as they had heard being possible back at the dwarven expedition near the start of their journey.
Still, the group had bigger matters to contend with, and and the group moved on. Their determination to reach the dragon once more firm and steady.
Finding Icespire Hold
Although the weather had only become worse, they reached the Icespire Hold without issue. No foes appeared, nor any sign of the dragon. What they did find were frozen corpses, one of which turned out to be Tokk's brother. Although saddened by the sight of the brother, and admitting that finding him had been one of the reasons Tokk had wanted to make his way to fight the dragon, the half-ogre appeared pragmatic about his demise.
In front of them the Hold was silent, but they knew that the dragon was close by. The ruby that had drawn Pine to the dragon seemed to become overwhelmed by the closeness, and he could no longer tell where it was, only that it was close. Warily, they made their way up the path to the Hold itself.
It was as they made their way around the huge elven structure that they made out the entrance in the side of the cliff that the winter wolf had once told them about, the one that might lead into the base of the keep. Deciding that checking it out, rather than going in the front door which was likely to be far more heavily fortified, seemed like a good option.
Idris had Effie take a rope over and secure it, giving the group better stability, and Pine, more used to traversing mountainsides, added pitons to the cliff face too. But no matter the planning, much as Siax had fallen to ill luck, so Idris fell when making his way across, and only the rope kept him from tumbling down the mountain as the ranger had the previous day. Siax, hoping to help, attempted to fire an arrow of vines to help stop such a fall, but, fingers stiff with the cold, the arrow flew foul, and instead it was the rope holding Idris aloft that was pierced, and the group watched on in horror as the paladin swung down, held aloft only by the part tied to a sarcophagi inside the tunnel.
Pine, already inside, helped the paladin to climb upwards to safety, and Effie once more aided the group by taking another rope back to the somewhat more hesitant group members that remained on the path. Thankfully no further heart-stopping moments occurred, with Siax got across safely, as did Tokk who carried Falcon, while Zenari, not trusting the bent and broken pitons after Tokk had traversed the distance, changed herself into a snowy owl, and swooped up and around the keep to get a better view of the area, before diving back down to join the rest of the party.
They had made it into the depths of Icespire Hold, safely and in one piece despite the odds. After a moment, Pine's face lit up with what might be considered adoration, his body seemingly in a trance as he stood there as three sarcophagi lids opened, and a drawing of the keep was etched into the floor, before he came back to himself. He had, it seemed, gained some divine guidance for the battle ahead.