Thoradin returns from his encounter with an Owlbear, ring on his finger. Overhead, a long way away is a huge red dragon, which Harshnag reveals to be Snarl.
Miss Moss inquires in a cautious tone about Snarl. Who’s that?
Harshnag replies, “One of the oldest dragons in the land. It’s been up to all kinds of things. People have made bargains and made friends with dragons but this one is mighty evil. He’s named Klauth. It’s not something we should take lightly but as long as we don’t start throwing missiles at him we should be ok.”
Harshnag hefts his gear up from the snowy ground where he’s been sitting. Harshnag has an eye out for them, he’s checking they aren’t lost or in trouble.
As Thoradin approaches the gang, they greet him warmly and discuss the owl beast and the dragon, check in on each other.
The gang start moving through increasingly difficult terrain. Harshnag is always there to lift or carry as necessary through the cruel weather. Without Harshnag, they would be exhausted; it’s freezing, miserable and difficult. Their burdens weigh heavy as they move towards the Spine of the World.
The mountains of small people are replaced by huge, angular, hostile and alien ranges. They continue silently, determined but worn down. Deep into the second day of the journey, the gang reach a mountain entrance, which they walk into. Harshnag says, “This is it.”
They are in a shadowy, icy cave. The light is high and everything is ice as they make their way along the central canyon. The journey is immense.
The winds begin to quieten down. On the crags above they hear noises, ice falling to the ground as if something had knocked it off. Suddenly, out of the shadows figures of goblins appear. They are blueish, with winged creatures of stone perched above. All raise their weapons in one motion.
One of the creatures looks down and lets out a cackle. He picks up a piece of ice and launches it down at Londer and Miss Moss. They both duck out of the way and the ice shard shatters all around them.
A second does the same, hurling ice at Londer and Miss Moss, but misses again.
Gunther takes out his crossbow and targets, calling out “Why don’t you try GOBLIN on this?”
The goblins joke back and forth. Miss Moss pulls out her longbow and aims it at the stone guy. She hits.
Harshnag says “Ahhh I hate these guys.” He moves into the middle of the space with a sense of obligation, of getting up to take the garbage out when you’re relaxing.
An ice goblin shaman looks down and starts speaking words of incantations in the direction of Leshanna, Gunther and Thoradin. A sinking feeling.
Leshanna quickly fires three scorching rays at the Shaman and torches him into oblivion.
Thoradin stands, lifts his hands and a spectral ram comes out of his ring and everyone is a little shocked. Not quite familiar with the ram, Thoradin jerks back as the ram flies up into the sky. The goblins look over in shock but are under no threat. There are a few titters.
Londer lets out a blood-curdling scream, pulls out two javelins and makes them into ice climbing picks. Through sheer grit and determination, he makes his way up to the ledge where the other creatures are perched.
Inspired by Gunther, Londer calls out, “Hey Mate, gargoyle my balls!” and attacks, with a huge hit.
The fight progresses, insults flying.
Gunther takes out his crossbow and takes aim, saying “Did you hear about the goblin that got his left arm and left leg cut off? Don’t worry, he’s all right now!”
In an act of kindness, Gunther grants Londer Bardic Inspiration.
Harshnag waves his axe at some of the goblins like he’s swatting flies. He attacks and one of the goblins becomes a cloud of pink mist, it’s so dead it just evaporates. The goblin is about the size of his fingernail.
Miss Moss moves to aim at another Goblin, and as the goblin falls off its perch, she does a little bow. It survives. She fires again, but this time is not so lucky. Miss Moss grins to herself.
The goblins are starting to make noises of consternation. The gargoyle launches frost from its mouth at Londer. He stands, eyes closed as he is enveloped with shards of ice but remains unfazed as his hair waves beautifully in the frost breeze. The gargoyle begins to fly off. Londer swings and misses.
Leshanna fires again at the stone gargoyle, burning him to the ground.
Thoradin lights up one and engulfs one in flame, he’s dead. Londer moves and brushes close to the stealthy goblin, and swings but misses. The goblin smirks at him. After a little bit of embarrassment, Londer throws the goblin down onto a spike, the smirk replaced by a dead look. Miss Moss whistles, impressed with Londer’s move.
A goblin flies down to Harshnag, drops his frosty breath on him. Harshnag stands still, similar to Londer he just closes his eyes and smiles, not bothered at all.
Gunther screams, “Hey you, gargoyle my anus!” He aims and fires with his crossbow, but just a little shatter of stone breaks off.
Harshnag climbs up towards the gargoyle, angry now, but struggling to reach up. Miss Moss takes fires, feeling good about her good shooting today, but following up with a rock that completely misses.
Leshanna fires and some stone shatters off the gargoyle. Thoradin fires and illuminates the creature. He can see the cracks of light like a salt lamp or spider webs inside. The structural integrity has been compromised.
Londer fires a javelin, stone splinters off the illuminated creature, over and over. The creature flies into the air, flapping its wings and with each flap, rubble falls down. The whole thing becomes illuminated blue, its eyes glowing bright blue.
Its head starts to look at them and a voice, low and deep comes from the mount of the creature saying, “I see you, puny fools – such a long way from where you belong. We’ll see each other face-to-face soon. I cannot wait.”
It then explodes.
Harshnag jumps back to the ground and says “I don’t like the sound of that too much.”
Londer jumps down into Harshnag’s palm and is lowered to the ground.
The gang make their way through the wreckage of the battle and find nothing of any value – rags and worthless trinkets. The goblins appear to be dressed similarly as if they are part of a group or religion, very unusual for goblins.
The gang set off again, following a path that forms a natural bridge over a chasm with vast drops on either side. Up ahead they can see, carved into the rock, an enormous structure.
When they approach it, Harshnag looks over and says, “This is it.”
Hundreds if not thousands of feet above them they can see the sky. Even Harshnag looks small in this place. They see footsteps ahead in the snow – footsteps of small folk.
Harshnag says quizzically, “Well that’s very strange, I’m not aware of anyone even knowing about this place, we must be very careful.” He looks confused.
Thoradin investigates – they are fresh footsteps, humanoid – at least six creatures.
Inside past the pillars, there is an entrance leading deep into a great cave. The pillars themselves appear to have statues covered in ice. There are pathways along the side of the mountain. They’re not sure but they believe they can see the flickering of a fire.
They begin to sneak forward, then all of a sudden, like a handle was yanked on an old-fashioned arcade game, burst out of stealth and approach like a joyful, silly band of tourists.
“Hello! We’re here! We brought snacks!” The gang are laughing and singing and carrying on, working to confuse the barbarians with silliness and goof.
As they get closer they notice these are burly barbarian types, plus a small white creature who flies quickly inside. The barbarians all stand up, grab their weapons and start yammering in an incomprehensible language none of the gang understands.
TBC…