As soon as the party wakes up the next morning, they tell Archmage Elara about the happenings with doctor Krantz and the wight that is left in the basement. Elara promises to head there personally to investigate the basement and make sure nothing dangerous is left behind, intrigued by the wight that seems to be housetrained.
Walking down to the tavern, the party finds Hedra mindlessly cleaning a glass while staring at a guest, an elderly halfling sitting there, eating breakfast, next to two guards. A cough gets her attention, with her giving them breakfast, telling them that the mayor has been expecting them. He notices the party, and waves them over.
The party sits down with him with their food, where the mayor, Ozyman Tellpenny asks what the party would ask for in return for stopping doctor Krantz’s nefarious doings. He has a very hostile demeanor, clearly not a big fan of adventurers, and although the party has several things they could wish for, they all agree that a chest of gold would be the easiest for everyone. He agrees, and tells them that he will have one of his guards deliver it shortly, before leaving.
Hedra lingers at the table, asking the party where they are headed next, as they seem to be ready to move on, having packed their stuff and is dressed for travel. They tell her about their journey towards Starfall Basin, and that they have to head south to deliver a letter to someone. Hedra suggests hiring a courier, and take a faster route through the mountain pass that will cut down the journey by well over a week if they’re lucky. The party takes Hedra’s advice, hiring a courier, Cedric, to deliver the letter to Finneas’ wife. They then say their goodbyes to Hedra, buy some warm clothes, as well as a bigger tent, after seeing the cold mountaintops of the pass, and then head out on horseback.
𐡸
On their way out of the city, after passing by the wizard’s tower, they come across a couple of hunters who say that there haven’t been travelers heading through the pass for a couple of weeks, indicating that the weather might be bad. The party soon after reaches the edge of the forest, where the barren mountainous region has an active snowstorm roaring. They decide to make camp for the night, as it is getting dark, finding a spot between two large cliffs that gives shelter from the winds.
During the night, they keep the fire burning, keeping away any dangerous animals that might come close. During Miryks’ watch, she notices that a large sheet of snow suddenly falls off one of the nearby cliffs. She tries to look for whatever caused the disturbance, but the wind and the snowfall hides whatever it might be. She thinks nothing more of it, and eventually changes watch with someone else.
The next morning they continue through the blizzard that has grown even stronger. They try their best to follow a path westward, but it is difficult. Gaia tries to take to the skies to see if she can find any landmark, but the snowstorm is too thick. She returns down to the others, using a rope to not lose her way, as they continue onwards.
Eventually, they spot something shimmering in a nearby crack in the mountain, discovering what appears to be a sigil engraved in the mountainside. Raenerys and Quill recognize it as something to do with weather, amplifying the weather in the area, causing mild to become bad, and bad to become worse. There must be several of these sigils placed, most likely by some indigenous tribe, as one would not do much by itself.
Meanwhile, Gaia has been keeping watch while holding the horses, and suddenly sees a large shape moving across the path in front of them. She can’t make out what it is, but it is big, and fast. The horses are spooked, so she calls out for the others to hurry. Realizing that there is little they can do about the sigil other than to pass through the area as fast as they can, they return, and are spooked by Gaia’s mention of the figure walking across the path. When they move forward to continue on the path, they see massive footprints of something walking across the way, indicating something big. Raenerys theorizes that it might be a yeti, worrying that they might be in their territory.
One wrong turn later down the road, they get their suspicions confirmed, as they suddenly find themselves surrounded by a group of yeti who are acting hostile, clearly trying to protect their lands. They engage the party by attempting to impale them with ice spikes that shoot up from below ground. The party sends their horses back towards whence they came, while trying to hold the yeti back, as they try to escape. The yeti soon realizes that the party is not to be trifled with, as they kill several of their members, forcing them to retreat after Quill spooks them with the illusion of a fire. The party does the same, moving back down the path and taking the other way to find safety.
After a few hours of walking with their horses, with the light of the sun fading away, they come across a small mountain cabin, with a makeshift stable. They decide to take refuge within after stabling the horses, hoping to get a good night's sleep. Above the door they see the symbol of a boat, the holy symbol of Nuesis. There is a large supply of firewood, so they light up the hearth and put down their new premium bedrolls to get some sleep. Before they do, Raenerys finishes decoding Thoralf’s journal, discovering several points of interest they might want to check out at some point, in addition to a more precise guide to the door Legion was after:
“My Khetam guides were unwilling to tread into the sacred chasms of Muladar, will have to return with some sellswords later to find the temple,” referencing something of interest in the Emirate of Khetam.
“I swear something moved in the reflection… I wasn’t alone,” speaking of a crypt between some place called Ilene’s Peak and Suncrest in the Thalassian Empire.
“The inscription requires a procession. I am only one,” speaking of a crypt deep below Morrowhall.
A reference to a shrine in the Heron Jungle, with a map leading to it.
There is also a couple of pages torn out, with a reference on the next page.
“I destroyed the last page. No one should know what’s beneath that monastery.”
There seems to have been the imprint of a flower once, and upon looking at it, Gaia gets a flashback to a massive mountain with a forest at its feet. Based on the description of the mountain, it could be Ghal’Dum mountain, several hundreds of miles south of where they are.
Before going to bed, Quill secures the door with a spell, making sure they aren’t disturbed or assaulted in the night. She then makes an offering to Udall, hoping to guide them on their path, or at least make the journey easier by stopping the storm. She also makes an offering to Nuesis, to bless their journey. Gaia decides to make a small effigy of a yeti, putting it on one of the shelves.
𐡸
The next morning, as they pack their stuff and exit the cabin, they see a set of footprints coming from the direction they are traveling, that have walked up to the cabin in the night, but moved on after realizing the door was locked. It seems to have passed by a few hours ago, alone, judging by the snow covering the trail, but it seems to have been humanoid sized, so clearly not a yeti. They really want to know who it is, but decide against it, finding it more important to get out of the pass as soon as possible.
Following the footprints for a while, which eventually disappears beneath the snow, they come to the foot of a mountain, with what appears to be a very unstable looking sheet of snow beneath it. The road divides itself, one way leading through the field of snow, and the other around the mountain, across what appears to be a ledge. Fearing an avalanche, the party decides to take the long way around, so as to not risk the horses.
The path is narrow, and far below them is an icy river that threatens to consume and pull away anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in it. They lead the horses by the reins to have more control, but the horses are suddenly spooked by a screech coming from the skies above. Through the blizzard, two large shapes can be spotted coming straight towards the party. Wyverns.
Gaia takes to the skies, taking position between the wyverns and the horses, hoping to protect them. The wyverns see a potential meal, and move in to attack, but the party holds them back as well as they can. Gaia’s horse is suddenly grabbed by one of the winged beasts, but Raenerys forces it to drop it by using her warlock powers, whispering into the mind of the wyvern. The other wyvern has already knocked over Quill’s and Miryks’ horses, and despite Quill’s best effort to obfuscate them with a field of fog, the wyvern grabs hold of the horse, lifting it up, and pulling it over the ledge, towards their lair.
Gaia however is not allowing this to happen, flying into its path, while Miryks desperately summons a massive stalk that grabs hold of the horse. Quill makes a portal below it to catch it, should it fall. Gaia slays one of the wyverns with her falchion, as the other one retreats. The dead drake falls into the icy river below, and is pulled away, while Miryks and Quill get the horse safely back onto the ledge. After some healing, the horses are good as new, so they hurry onwards on the path, hoping to escape before the wyvern returns with more of its kin.
Eventually, the party makes their way to the other side of the mountain, and find they made the right choice, as a massive avalanche has happened, which would have definitely caused them to be lost into the valley below. They can see the edge of the blizzard, and the end of the pass, so they decide to push themselves to finish the journey before resting, eventually finding themselves at the edge of a large valley, with the mountains and snowstorm behind them, just a few days away from their destination, Starfall Basin.