August 27, 794
The group had split up to find the tunnel entrance. Ravyson and Reeven traveled together, as did Shara and Jerreck. Guntar opted to stay put where he was. The coast of the lake stretched for miles. The flying man and the archer moved swiftly, looking for anything that would lead to a tunnel.
Traveling for miles, they came to a stop as Ravyson spotted a depression on the snow. "Look at that. That doesn't look like it's supposed to be there." Landing, he and Reeven walked over to it.
Upon stepping on the dip, they realized that it was actually ice instead of snow. It began to crack under their weight, and quickly gave way. It opened up a hole that went hundreds of feet downwards. Ravyson grabbed onto Reeven and hovered above the abyss. "We may have found it."
A rumbling sounds came from the ground below them. It grew louder and ouder until the ice began to crumble and shake. "I don't think that's a good thing! Let me down." Reeven was dropped to the ground near the hole, which was currently shaking. As he landed, a huge figure burst out of the catacombs. Its blue skin and spread wings made its identity clear. An Ice Dragon stood before them, angry that its home had been violated.
Reeven looked up at the towering dragon, who was at least three times taller than him and now flew high above him. A burst of ice was spit at him from above. Dodging out of the way, he muttered to himself. "Nasty!" Pulling out his two crossbows, he smiled and said, "Nastier!" Lanching two bolts at the dragon, he yelled at Ravyson. "Get the others! I can hold it off for a little while."
Ravyson flew to get the other members of his party. Turning around while he flew, he watched as the incoming blots were turned into ice and shattered.
OOC: If someone tells me where I got the "Nasty!" "Nastier!" thing, I'll be very happy and amused. Anyway, your call guys.
Wading through snow was one of the things Jerreck wouldn't miss
if he got to return home this very day. Where he came from, snow
had rarely been heard of, much less seen. Here, he had heard of
it, seen it, waded through it and cursed it. He kept pushing
forward in the snow, stubbornly looking for a tunnel entrance. He
focused his mind on just that.
Shara kept quiet as she walked at his side. More than two years had
they travelled together, and she could easily tell when Jerreck
was in a foul mood. Interestingly enough, these foul moods usually
seemed to help him perform whatever task he had at hand, and he had
always managed to keep his tongue quiet too. Something she should
probably be glad for, she mused.
The two stopped simultaneously as a screaming roar reached their
ears. Something huge shot up into air a bit aways from them, well
beyond many snowy hills along the shoreline.
"Looks like our friends have stumbled into something", Shara
remarked.
Jerreck took another moment to study the flying shape, just as
it spew ice onto some target on the ground, hidden from their sight.
"It's a drake!" Jerreck shouted, and started to run as fast he could
in the snow. "Come on, we have to help them!"
Another mocking scream followed, and soon after they could spot
Ravyson darting towards them in the air. He landed in front of them
and joined them in the running. "You saw it! Reeven is trying to
hold it off, but his bolts just bounced! Why couldn't those blasted
Weavers tell us there'd be a DRAGON here!!??"
Jerreck didn't think it was a dragon, though. It looked about the size
of what he knew as a drake, smaller cousins of dragons, usually
servants of the latter. The one drake he had known was an elven thief
adept, also a servant of Icewing. Rewarding his servant for his long
service, Icewing had given the elf the ability to shapeshange into a
drake. He didn't think that the fashionable elf would enjoy living in
a deserted place like this though. Would any name-giver?
As they approached the lone archer, the drake made another sweep towards
him, strafing the ground with its cold breath. The nimble Reeven rolled
to the side yet again, but it was visible how tiring this deadly game was
for him. As the drake passed, Reeven let loose another bolt, which might
have nicked the drake slightly, but then bounced off of its scales.
"I'll take him up next time!!" Jerreck yelled to overcome the cackling
screams from the drake. Nobody argued, and so they positioned themselves.
The drake was gone from their view for a time. They stared up into the hazy
sky, but the fogs and low hanging clouds made it impossible to spot their
enemy.
It was quiet. They waited.
Still quiet.
Then they heard an explosion in the sky and a scream. This time not a
gleeful one. Something came crashing out of the sky, and it was on
fire! The drake was burning! With a loud crash it landed a few snowy
hills away, and they heard it making some strange noices as it seemed
to scuttle about on its feet.
"Over here...!" a faint female shout was heard, and the four
started off towards the drake and the voice.
As passed the last bit of the distance and came to the top of a hill,
they saw Beliana in a battle stance facing off with the drake. Behind
her, Liander prepared another spell. For a second the four gaped as he
conjured up a shapely fiery woman, but within the fraction of a second,
it reshaped into a deadly spear of fire, and he made ready to hurl it.
The four looked up as the bolts of slame flew towards the drake. Seeing the fire coming towards it, the drake flew upwards, now on the defensive. It flew straight up until it was out of sight above the fog and clouds.
Ravyson saw that he would have to fight it on its own domain to defeat it. He flew to the hill taht the two spellcasters stood. "I need to kill it, but it will freeze my blade. Can you enchant it with fire or something?"
Liander took the sword into his hands. "I suppose I could. Beliana?" The two joined hands and began to weave the spell. The sword began to glow as the enchantment took effect. Fire emerged from the blade, but the hilt stayed the same so it could be wielded.
As the spell ended, they slumped down. Enchanting the sword caused them to sweat even in the coldness of this place. It then froze into beads of ice. But their goal had been successful. Ravyson picked up his blade, now glowing with fire.
He leapt from the hillside towards the sky. After clearing the clouds, he saw his prey flapping its wings to stay aloft. He smiled and flew towards it. The drake spit ice spears at him, which he easily dodged.
Weaving his way towards the drake, his sword left a trail of flame behind him. Positioning himself below it, he drove himself upwards. The blade melted the frozen skin of the dragon, and Ravyson plummeted straight through.
Back on the ground, the five adventurers looked up at the sky. The couldn't see what was happening above them, but they heard the deathcry of the drake. They watched as it fell through the clouds, becoming more visible as it fell. Slamming into the ground, it looked as if a ball of flame had consumed its abdomen.
Floating slowly down, his sword afire, Ravyson landed. "Who wants to go down?"
Inspecting the gargantuan sized hole in the snowy hill, Jerreck
leaned over the edge to get a better look.
"Seems like our screaming friend liked it spacy. Makes you
wonder doesn't it..?" Jerreck grinned. "Perhaps this was just
the baby?"
Liander, still fatigued from spellcasting, sighed. "Well, it's
clear that they don't like fire, but i'm not sure i could handle
a bigger one than this. My.. spellcasting abilities aren't just
quite... there yet." He smiled sheepishly.
Beliana chuckled and patted his shoulder. "I must say you've got
an interesting technique there though. I've never thought of using
distraction myself... do you think it worked?"
"Huh..? What?" Liander's cheeks gained a deeper red color that was
just not from the biting cold. Jerreck came to his rescue.
"We've got to move on." Jerreck's harsh voice had not grown any
smoother with the chilly air. "This could very well be the tunnel
that we saw in the lake. We better have a closer look at it."
"You mean actually... go in there?" Liander looked sceptical. "What
if what you said is true..? I mean.. a bigger, meaner.. oh, and just
how are we supposed to get back up?" He peeked into the hole. "The
walls are ice, and nobody knows what waits down there once you've
stopped sliding."
Jerreck grinned as he hefted his heavy mace, "Well, that just makes
it more interesting, doesn't it?"
With a great leap, the warrior jumped into the hole, and was immediately
gone from sight as he slid down the icy walls.
OOC:
Torlax, as soon as the others have done their actions, you might want to continue the story, as we have no idea what awaits in the icy tunnels below the lake. :)
Watching each of the members of his party jump into the hole, Ravyson raised up into the air. Floating straight down, he dropped down the hundreds of feet to the bottom of the cavernous hole. Removing his sword from its scabbard,the fire-enchanted blade lit up the hole.
They were in the tunnels. From the point they were at, they could see that it branched off into four different directions. Jerreck looked around and said, "I'm taking that one. Ravyson, take that one. Reeven, take Beliana and go that way. Shara and Liander, go down the last one. If you encounter something that you can't take down, just get away and yell."
Everyone taking their courses, the light left the main cavern.
OOC: OK, let's go!
Jerreck marched steadily down the tunnel. The surroundings got colder than he could possibly imagine. He continued walking, and walking, and walking for what seemed to be forever. Ahead he could see a dim light. It became brighter and brighter until he reached the source: the end of the tunnel, as broad daylight shone in. Jerreck peeked out, cursed, and turned around to go back in. He felt a heavy paw on his back, throwing him up and out of the hole to land on his back in the deep snow. Struggling to right himself, he saw a pair of mountain yetis marching quickly through the snow, which slowed them not at all. He heard the heavy breathing of another pair behind him.
*********
Ravyson made quick progress through his tunnel, which started curving to the left immediately. He followed the gentle curve for a good distance before reaching its end, a steep shaft of ice like the one he had just entered through. Come to think of it, it was the same one. This must be the opening he saw coming down. He turned around to double back and search for any hidden openings. He walked about 100 yards before hitting a wall that completely blocked his passage. Funny, that wasn't there a minute ago. He searched for a way past it, but found none. Shrugging, he returned to the shaft and floated down, back where he started.
*********
Shara and Liander traveled down their chosen tunnel for some ways before reaching a fork. Liander started down the left half and Shara took the right, without a word.
*********
Reeven and Beliana traveled far down their tunnel before it opened into a large chamber with two entrances. Reeven shushed Beliana, and drew his crossbow. Pointing it down the tunnel, he crept closer. Soon a dark figure appeared. Reeven took careful aim and fired. A sharp yell was heard at the other end. Beliana recognized the voice. "You just shot Liander!" Turning with rage in her eyes, she drew her sword and slammed it into Reeven's crossbow, knocking it from his hands. She followed through and slammed the flat of the blade into his chest with astounding force. Reeven's eyes flew wide as he struggled to defend himself, but Beliana was too fast. She pressed in relentlessly, hitting him often but doing little damage through his armor. Liander limped out of the opposing tunnel just as Beliana kicked Reeven, hard, into a large snowbank. He was buried deep inside and flailed in his attempt to get out. Beliana calmly put her sword to his throat, but Liander grabbed her hand. "No, don't kill him!"
"I have to. He shot you, and if I let him go now, he's going to turn the rest of the group against me. I can't let that happen."
"But you can't just murder him!"
"Of course I can. Unless you would rather do it? That would look less suspicious."
"No, I... Damn it! Stand down."
"I can't let him go, or everyone else will kill me. You're the only one who cares about me, Liander. They all want me dead."
"It's not like that..."
"So what, now you don't care either!?"
"No! I mean, yes! But... look, I have a spell that can clear his memory for a short time. If I use it, will you let him live?"
"Hmmm... fine then, but only because I don't want to lose you over this. If the spell starts to fail, I'll have to kill him."
"It won't fail." With that, he closed his eyes and chanted a short phrase. Reeven's eyes glazed over, and he fell unconscious.
"We wait until he wakes. He won't remember anything since he entered this chamber."
With that, the two settled in to wait.
Re-entering the main chamber, Ravyson heard the faint noise of a struggle from Jerreck's tunnel. Flying straight forward, he sped up, taking the fastest route to get through the tunnel. As it got brighter, the temperature dropped.
He reached the end of the tunnel. Setting down, he saw that something had happened there. The snow had been swirled everywhere. Looking through the snow, he found Jerreck's lightning mace. "Damn."
Pulling out his fire sword, he followed the path the yetis had made.