Chapter Eight: The Virid Coronation

You only know of the main entrance, but you haven't fully explored the structure -- it's dark and full of mud and silt, so difficult to see without investigating closely.

You hear strange cries and rumble of distant thunder from beyond the portal.

In the interest of encouraging things to proceed smoothly to the conclusion, yes you should all go through the portal no it's not a trap. Would it work better for whoever's still around to plan on taking things slow through December and reconvening for the final events of the campaign after the holidays?

A strange sensation comes over each of you as you step through the portal, as though you were passing through a thick film. Your sense feel sharper, your body more distant, as if the metaphor of the body as a puppet animated by the spirit suddenly became more palpably literal. In is mind Felor sees a flashing image of Fjorgyn's face, stricken; and then she is gone.

Warmth radiates upward through Felor's body through his boots. Zangua feels the cold intensely, yet it does not bother him; there is a part of him that feels at home in this world of ice.

Leth immediately sinks to his knees, paralyzed by the cold.

You are in a glacial valley with sheer walls of multihued ice rising up to your left and right. A narrow canyon backed hard with snow slopes downward before you; there are human footprints leading away. Above you, a thick steely gray haze hangs low in the sky.

For a long moment, nothing seems to happen. Leth feels himself in the grip of icy talons as all the warmth leaves his body, then the pain seems to take on a fiery character as it consumes him from the outside in. He cannot hear his companions, nor see the otherwordly glacial valley that threatens to stamp out his very spark of life. His vision contacts to a black and empty tunnel.

With a sudden loud clap! snow and ice shards burst outward from Leth in a violent cloud. Sweat runs down his forehead; he feels feverish but alive. He can feel a deathly chill surrounding him, but an inner fire burning within him keeps it at bay -- for now.

Zangua begins to lead the way down and through the crevasse, following the trail of footsteps. After about half a mile, the ice walls narrow to a gap of about thirty feet wide. Beyond this gap there appears to be a wider, bowl-shaped valley surrounded by tall crags of ice. Mist and snow obscure your view into this frozen cirque.

Zangua stops in his tracks as he draws within fifty feet of the opening. Six shadowed, mist-shrouded figures stand some distance behind the entrance, each easily ten feet tall, bipedal but unnaturally bent and proportioned. Each holds a long pole weapon. Behind them is an enormous altar of some sort, upon which rests a massive, unidentifiable dark object. Faint glowing sparks flicker in and out of life, circling around it.

Before them, just beyond the opening, is a human figure, dressed in a tight-fitting black garment but caked in ice and snow. Beside him, the Iron Sphere of Sthombo floats a few feet above the ground.

The man takes a few steps forward. The crust of ice upon him obscures his face, but you can see wild blue eyes and a delirious grin. It is Gavrel Gorham.

"Here you are!" he cries. "You can see that I have won the race and its prize, but I am glad to have you here with us, here at the end of all things." Gorham starts to walk forward, giving the Iron Sphere a playful pat as he goes. It floats backward toward the altar. "You are worthy rivals and it has brought me joy to overcome you. Sadly, you can go no further. The gateway is soon to open, and only the elect may witness what is to come. My lord Mecafrelon! I beseech you, slay these men, for I cannot tarry!"

Gorham kicks his legs back and floats backward, following the Sphere. At the same time, one of the tall creatures behind him springs forward with unsettlingly quick strides, emerging into full view at the mouth of the opening. Standing on thin, birdlike legs, its chitinous body is a silvery blue color with thick clawed arms that hold a stone voulge easily 14' long. It has a long, barbed tail and an inscrutable, insectoid head, like that of a hornet, with multifaceted eyes that seem to stare at everything and nothing at once.

Roll for initiative!

Your opponent: