A plan of attack is formed.

Jarin will go on ahead of the party and attempt to cross the rope bridge, to see if he can infiltrate the fortress and get in a good position to take someone by surprise when the main attack ‘kicks off’.

Sorrel and Mia will fly in on Chillwind aiming to take out the flying undead things and then attack suitable targets on the ground. Attempts will be made where possible to dispel enchantments that may be holding the Yetis in thrall.

Valaina will teleport to the top of the watchtower where the shamaness is being held, taking Albrigon and Ugrat along with her. They will liberate the shamaness and then take whatever further action seems appropriate.

The party erects tents and beds down for the night. Valaina slips away at some point, choosing not to sleep with the party. Nobody is sure where she spends the night.

Sorrel sleeps fitfully. He has not been feeling well. In the morning he is worse; dizziness, sweating, cramps. Albrigon and Mia are both accustomed to life in the mountains and tell him that he has altitude sickness. This is potentially a life-threatening condition and the only way to cure it is to spend some time at lower altitude, at least a day or two. Sorrel spends some time alone in prayer to Aegir in his tent and calls upon the divine power of his god to protect him. This is successful in giving him a temporary respite from the illness which should enable him to participate in the forthcoming action.

The party hike and fly their way to a position that is about two hours walking and climbing from the plateau, but not visible to anyone watching from the towers. They set up a temporary camp whilst Jarin embarks on his advance on foot, having first been granted the benefit of invisibility by the power of Valaina’s sorcerous arts.

Jarin makes his way slowly up a glaciated incline that winds upwards through a broad gulley. Eventually he reaches a flight of crudely carved, weathered steps that lead up to the top of the ridge by which the fortress may be approached. The steps have been cleared of ice deposits and have obviously seen recent usage. He spots a pile of something unpleasant that looks suspiciously like Yeti droppings.

He makes his way up the stairs and sneaks past a Yeti-manned gatehouse that once guarded the now-collapsed bridge. The newly-installed rope bridge however is strung further along the gorge at its narrowest point.

Things come a little unstuck as Jarin tries to sneak across the rope bridge. The other end is guarded by a wooden sentry-hut where one of Keraptis’ gnome followers is stationed. Jarin unfortunately misses his footing on the bridge causing it to suddenly rock and sway in a suspicious manner. The gnome is alerted, and barks something in gnomish at first; then tries some broken Oeridian. The small but unpleasant-looking fur-clad ruffian advances along the bridge with his halberd tucked under his arm pointing forwards. Jarin concentrates, calling upon the powers he inherited from his father (about which the party knows little, at present). He succeeds in levitating skywards and hovers over the gnome’s head. The gnome mutters something to itself and returns along the bridge to its guard hut.

Jarin descends and tries to advance once more but he is too shaken by what has happened and success eludes him again as he tries to sneak up on the gnome. The gnome sees the bridge shaking once more and readies his weapon. Jarin knows he has failed in his attempt to enter the fortress by stealth now and simply rushes the gnome gaining the initial benefit of invisibility that evaporates as he attacks.

The gnome fights back, swelling to giant size as is the way of Keraptis’ strange servants. Jarin responds by using another of his inherited powers, growing in height and breadth and changing his appearance to match that of the gnome, to heighten the confusion of any enemy response. The gnome is shouting, fighting a retreating battle as Jarin’s bastard sword whirls and slashes at it, seeking to get past the blocking haft of its halberd and penetrate or otherwise bypass the creature’s ‘K’-emblazoned breastplate. The gnome guard ends up fleeing along the path towards the rubble-strewn vestibule of the fortress as it realises that Jarin outmatches it, furs slashed to ribbons, dented greaves and vambraces and bleeding gashes on its cheek and thigh testifying to the skill of his opponent. Jarin gives chase following the gnome deeper into the fastness of the enemy. There is another gnome nearby with its Yeti flunky who is handling the chain-gang of ice-elf labourers. It is confused at first as it sees what appears to be two of its own kind fighting one another. Some hastily shouted words escape the other gnome’s throat before Jarin’s sword slips past its guard and stabs through its brigandine and into its armpit, eliciting a bellow of pain as it staggers backwards. The second gnome swells to giant size and joins the fray. One of the flying undead dragon-men swoops down to the attack as well, and a general hue and cry ensues. Horns are blown and alarm bells are clanging. Jarin quickly finds himself beset on all sides by giant-sized gnomes, a yeti and a skeletal dragon-man. He starts to get the feeling he may have over-extended himself, as he whirls and dodges to avoid weapons claws and bites coming at him from every angle….he magically exudes an aura of darkness to confound his enemies, which affords him some protection, but things are still looking bad for him. He mutters a prayer to some nameless deity that the party will come to his rescue soon…

Meanwhile, the party have departed from their temporary camp and moved into sight of the fortress. Mia has given Chillwind his daily psionic hypnosis session to encourage his compliance, and she and Sorrel have roped themselves onto the creature’s neck and have just taken to the air. Valaina has started casting her magic to transport her, Albrigon and Ugrat to the summit of the distantly visible watchtower.

Sorrel and Mia are flying low towards the fortress when they hear distant clanging, horns blowing and bellows from giant-sized throats. “Wind and thunder, has that fool stirred up the hornet’s nest already? Go, Chillwind, Go! Gee Up!” Sorrel digs his spurs into the creature’s shoulders and whips the reins as Mia urges the beast onwards telepathically, promising a feast after the battle that is to come.

Chillwind flaps his wings urgently and rises skywards heading directly for the fortress, abandoning stealth for speed.

Meanwhile the embattled Jarin is fighting for his life. The ice elves nearby are shackled together but no longer held in check by the Yeti. Despite Jarin’s urgings for them to flee while they can, they seek suitable rocks and implements to serve as improvised weapons and head towards the fight to try to help him, ineffectual combatants though they will be with their ankles chained together. But there is another gang of Yetis heading over to join the fray also from the southern reaches of the plateau, and more gnomes are emerging from the keep and the watchtower. Jarin realises that if the party do not arrive soon he will be dead…

There is a flurry of mighty wings as Chillwind rises over the southern wall of the castle and flies full tilt towards the combat! Sorrel prays to Aegir and thrusts his holy symbol towards the skeletal dragon-man that is still in flight. “By the power of sea and storm I command thee! Aid my comrade who is beset by foes!” The creature complies, swooping down to relieve Jarin in his fight for survival. Meanwhile a second, even larger dragon, rises up over the castle battlements to strike terror into the hearts of the enemy, an illusion conjured by Mia.

A bloom of raging fire suddenly erupts in mid-air, momentarily engulfing the dragon and its riders in searing heat. Chillwind screams in pain, suddenly exposed to far greater temperatures than he has ever experienced before in these snowy climes. Instinctively he folds his blistered wings inwards to protect his seared body from further damage and drops like a stone thirty feet to the ground, landing awkwardly and hurting himself further in the process. Mia and Sorrel are jolted free of the charred ropes that tenuously hold them to the beast’s neck and tumble to the ground, flinging off their burning furs and rolling on the snowy ground. Fortunately they both had the presence of mind not to breathe in when the fire was playing around them; otherwise their lungs would have been badly damaged. Mia’s concentration is broken, however, and her illusionary dragon wavers and then winks out of existence.

Chillwind staggers to one side blowing icy breath onto his own body to cool his blistering skin as Sorrel charges into the fray swinging his morning star, his plate armour smoking and sooty. A new opponent has appeared, diving from the skies…a huge skeletal dragon that dwarfs Chillwind!

Mia telepaths to Chillwind…

I need to make you safe. I need to transform you into a smaller form so I can get you away. Do you understand?

I’m angry, but I fear the bright fire.  It hurts!

I need to do this, to save you…don’t resist…

Mia uses her power of transformation…calling deep within herself and drawing forth the mystical energies of the serpent-mother…imagining Chillwind dwindling, shedding his limbs, crawling on his belly in the sacred form of the snake…the divine woman-serpent answers Mia’s call, transforming the wounded creature into a small snake with white scales, hard to spot against the snowy ground and a much less attractive target for any more fireballs that might be coming their way!

Mia scoops up the now-diminished Chillwind as Sorrel presents his holy symbol to the skeletal dragon, calling upon Aegir’s power to take command of the beast. It recoils momentarily as the cleric battles for mastery of the forces that animate it…then it snaps at him with its great jaws. Sorrel has failed to take control of the beast. It advances upon him, gigantic claws raking at his shield.

By now Jarin is worse for wear though he has felled some of his opponents. He is covered in bruises and small cuts and his purple-hued cuir boilli sports several gashes. He looks up at the watchtower and sees that Valaina is standing there looking over the battlements; he catches a brief glimpse of Ugrat’s furry head as he descends the stair into the tower, presumably following Albrigon who has gone before. At least I managed to distract attention away from the tower, he thinks.

Valaina makes some mystic passes and gestures towards the gang of Yetis that are heading north to join the fight, dispelling the charming magic on several of them and causing them to descend into chaos, some of them choosing to flee and others engaging in tribal feuds or rivalries that had been held suppressed by the charm.

As Sorrel battles the skeletal dragon Mia hides in a shallow crevice formed by the collapse of the eastern rim of the plateau in ages past, employing a magical ring she possesses to blend into the scenery like a chameleon, hoping to avoid detection. Her lizard familiar, ‘Cuetz’, scans the skies with its magical detection capabilities, seeking the source of the fireball that engulfed Chillwind earlier on. Cuetz spots something, a powerful magical locus centred on a group of small flying creatures that are moving through the air towards the tower…where Valaina now stands surveying the scene below. Mia gestures and invokes her magical powers once more, and succeeds in targeting a dweomer of darkness upon the creatures, drawing attention to them whilst remaining hidden herself. Valaina spots this and leaps down into the tower to take cover, perceiving the approaching threat.

Albrigon and Ugrat are fighting gnomes in the tower, and making short work of them by all accounts. Somewhere to their rear, Valaina is engaged in some sorcerous duel with a group of small flying magical creatures who have followed her into the tower, having dispelled the darkness that was created by Mia. The coldly beautiful ice-elf witch has surrounded herself with illusionary duplicates to confound the enemy. A fireball launched into the stairwell down which the two warriors are descending is somehow quenched by her arts before it causes any real harm. Magical missiles fly at her, eliminating her duplicates and causing her some small injury. Then she unleashes a bolt of lightning at these bird-like creatures that seem to somehow be channelling spells at her. They are frazzled, dropping to the floor. They seem to be white-furred homonculi of some sort; three of them.

Sorrel is coming off worst in the fight against the undead dragon despite his heavy armour; he calls upon the power of Aegir to safeguard him, and changes to mist as he flees from the brute’s grasping claws and sharp teeth.

It turns its dreadful attention upon the already weakened, bruised and exhausted Jarin….

Jarin tries to use another of his ancestral powers, to change to mist like Sorrel did and escape, but his powers are unreliable and he fails. The dragon’s claws rend him and he falls, savagely injured.

The ice elves race forwards to stand over his body, seeking to defend their would-be rescuer.

However, fortunately for them, the skeletal dragon seems uninterested in finishing the job, and instead responds to some silent summons, flourishing its wings and springing into the air after a short canter.

A skirmish line of gnomes has been advancing swiftly forwards from the keep, all now giant sized and brandishing their halberds menacingly. The skeletal dragon-man commanded by Sorrel turns and charges the northern flank of this line. Several of the gnomes move to engage it. The still-shackled ice-elves try to drag Jarin’s unconscious form into the rubble-strewn area in the hope of hiding from their enemies and somehow saving their liberator. They notice with surprise that his horrible wounds seem to have stopped bleeding already, yet he still has a pulse and breath. Incredibly, his body seems to be slowly healing itself somehow.

The southern half of the skirmish line is moving towards the watchtower now at a swift jog. They have been alerted to the incursion in the tower by a gnome who has burst out of the lower door waving his arms and shouting alarum.

Albrigon kicks open the door of the prison basement of the tower with a grunt of satisfaction. He bursts into the dimly lit room, and sees the manacled and gagged ice-elf shamaness regarding him with a mixture of fear and temerity in her eyes.

“I’m Albrigon” he grins. “I’m here to rescue you!”

Previous Installments:

Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Part 1
Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Character Sketch: Snake
Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Part 2
Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Character Sketch: Albrigon
Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Part 3
Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Part 4
Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Character Sketch: Ugra’at
Quest For The Hanging Glacier - Part 5