After the first night in this frigid place, the five of us walk downstairs into the tavern of the Inn. It’s loud in here…dwarves, elves and a family here and there. We sat down and they serve us plates of meat for breakfast. They also bring us these cups of some sort of dark stout. Just the look of it made me feel heavy, so I slide my mug down to Gauthak, who I know is always ready for any type of ale. Thankfully, no words were required as Gauthak threw my mug back and saved me the trouble.
While I am eating, I hear Sage and Erky talking about one of the books they found. I glanced and noticed it looked like it was made of some sort of dragon skin. Erky seems really interested in this book, so much that he begins to mumble to himself. Dwarves are always up to something strange.
As we finish breakfast, I hear Erky telling Sage that he wants to check him over and make sure he is okay. Yesterday, Sage put his hands directly on the dagger that Tulgi gave us. I don’t know why in the material plane he would have thought that was a good idea, but he did. I guess it stuck out enough to Erky, that he became worried about him. I have been avoiding close contact with the others for now. Turning to ice doesn’t sound like something I want to experience. I chuckle to myself and click my beak as I know that none of the others would allow me to “check over them”. I don’t believe I have given them much reason to trust me that much yet.
As the others stay inside, I decide I need to get some air. For the first time since we arrived in the town of Aurilssbarg, I walk outside and decide to take flight. As I spread my wings out, there is a calm feeling in the snow. There isn’t much sound. It’s bright. I flap my wings towards the ground and leap into the air. As I look down, I see what looks like a crater in the snow from where I took off, surrounded by a cloud. I look up towards the sky and begin to feel rejuvenated. The wind is crisp and fresh and I realize that I am enjoying the feeling of it so much that my mind begins to forget where I am. I spend a little while up in the air and begin to understand that although it feels great now, if I were too high, or if the weather turned for the worse, It would be too dangerous for me.
After those few peaceful moments in the sky, I look down and see my crew walking towards, what the locals call, “Pelcs Curiosities”. I take my time, but eventually meet them at the entrance of the building. This building looks like it’s frequently used, but at the same time, it is looking slightly abandoned. There is a really intricate illustration of a dragon forming the “P” in “Pelcs” on the sign above the door. A little cliche in my opinion. The shutters on the building are all closed, and there are no lights on inside. The five of us notice the door slightly ajar at the same time and we all are suddenly on guard. While Grey draws his bow, the others crouch and begin to be more intentional about their movements. Except Gauthak, he stands there like a wall, like he always does.
I decide I would rather have a wider view, so I take flight and circle the building. I want to see if there are more windows, or possibly an exit. I do notice some footprints in the snow that come from the north and wrap around the south side of the building to the ajar front door. There is also a rear door, locked of course.
I am not quite sure what the others are doing, but I take a look at the back door to see if I can get through. I very quickly and skillfully unlock the door and walk in. While my eyes adjust, It takes a moment for me to understand what I am looking at. The room is completely dark, I can see the faint outline of what looks like an elf, bundled beneath blankets. He is sitting next to a long extinguished fire, and I see several cups and mugs right next to him on the floor. As I get closer, I come to the sudden realization that this is Pelc, frozen like a statue, and dead from the same sickness that the others have. Without thinking, I walk backwards out the door and quickly circle the building to be with the others.
As I turn the corner of the building and the others come into view, I hear mumbling form inside and the quick sound of an arrow slicing through the air and hitting the wall next to Grey. Knowing that no one from inside has seen me, I throw my wings at the ground, take a quick flight, and land on the roof. From above, I hear a lot more commotion and know that there are now two exits from this building. One towards the others, and one out the back. I quickly toss 20 or so caltrops at the base of the back door to slow anyone down who tries to exit.
Grey looks like he is ready to fight, Gauthak is always ready to fight. I realize that I can see down the chimney and pull out a flask of alchemist fire. I decide that I can distract the intruders while the others follow in and attack. But, for some reason, Erky decides he wants to try to talk to these creatures. He uses one of his magic spells to increase the sound of his voice and those inside surrender without a second thought. After a few minutes of muffled talking, the elves from inside decide that they will work with us and take us back to Hullil, Tulgi’s sister.
As the elves slowly march out of the building, the five of us walk up to follow them. They turn and give us an odd look as they have never seen a group like us. We let them judge and have their thoughts as they don’t mean much to us.
As we walk towards the north, the bandits start telling us about themselves, and that they work for Hullil. They tell us their groups name, it’s slightly forgettable. They tell us that Hullil is very sick with the blue icy vein ailment that took some of the others. They also continue to talk a lot about where they live. They call it “Croaker Cave”. I guess it’s a fitting name, because as soon as we walked in the entrance of the cave, there were three giant ice frogs sitting in the pool of water in front of us.
As we slowly walk past these giant frogs (all of us still remembering the incident in the sunless citadel with Grey) we begin to see more and more elves, and more and more frogs. The elves are throwing dead bats in the air for the frogs, and as they snatch them, we realize that the elves are training the frogs. What an odd thing to see.
“Hold a moment, I’ll call our ferry” says one of the elves. He throws a dead bat into the air and the largest frog we have ever seen jumps up out of the water and eats it. It lands, very heavily right next to us. As we look up at this massive creature, we see the tall cold spikes on its back and its humongous pads. It slowly makes his way over to us and sits down. All the bandits, without hesitation, climb on the frogs back, and the rest of us follow. This frog slowly ferries all of us across this pond to a cavern within a cavern. As we turn the corner, we begin to see the flicker of a glowing fire. Two silhouettes form and within seconds, we recognize one elf with a tattoo of a dragon on his face, and one dwarf. Probably Hullil.
The elf and the dwarf turn towards us and the bandits that we traveled with walk to the walls and stand still, as if statues. Posting guard maybe? I stay by the pond while the others walk in the cavern. I am still a little concerned about this unknown sickness.
Over the next (what seems like several) hours, Hullil converses with Erky and Sage. She talks about her sister and Pelc. They talk about the items she took from Tulgi, and finally the “Purple Rocks”. It seems like we are getting somewhere. Although I am concerned about getting this mysterious ailment, I am finding myself urging to get to these “Purple Rocks”. I truly believe that if I am patient, I might be able to put myself in a place to bring home many items of value.
We eventually leave the cavern with the intent of going to the “Purple Rocks”. One of my crew mentions that this place is close to 1000 miles across the ocean. Now…I have spent time with all of them in the depths of a dungeon, but being on a ship with them for an extended amount of time seems almost unbearable.
When we get back to the town, the warden finds us and asks us if we have discovered anything. We tell him all that we know, without revealing too much. We mention the sickness coming from the blue powder on the items, and the warden seems to be relieved, but also discouraged. He tells us that he suspected as much and then informs us that the Ascarlians, from the legendary floating city, kept a cure for the disease in golden vials. He tells us that he will charter a ship for us, if we are willing, and that if we are able to search the ruins of this supposed city, and find the cure, there would be a great reward.
Before we rest that night, the warden gives us each 100gp as he promised he would, if we found out anything about the sickness. He thanks us for our hard work and sends us on our way.
As we walk to the Inn, I realize that I am getting used to this cold. In fact, I could see myself preferring it. I expect I will regret this thought later.
Ak's Adventures 