This place continues to feel like a graveyard without comfortable rest granted by death. And the snow itself can rise and freeze our bodies. But as we fetched the 'rifle' Vax'ildan wanted, things started to heat up in strange ways. Dworik wanted to take some of the other artefacts with the nephew of the owners of the castle there. Without us having any idea what any of them do. The rest of us were opposed to this, with the possible exception of Phennyr who never has a strong opinion. In particular and, in my mind most importantly, Vax himself, didn't think it was a good idea, and we need to trust him is we're to succeed.
I'm less and less sure if this group has warm, friendly banter, heated arguments, or hot flirting. I'm not even sure if anyone knows which it is, or cares. Dworik seems to either tease whoever spoke last or defend his dear friends if someone else teases any us. Ellywick is her usual, unevenly pleasant self. And Lavia knows how to bite back but is otherwise lovely. Lavia is the one who confuses me the most. She's very kind attempting to teach me how to play the lyre when we have the chance, and hopefully, I'm making some progress. But also, she cuddled with me for the whole night after we went to bed. Is she flirting with me? Or is she just being cuddly? Is she interested in something physical? I have no idea what to do about this...
On the cold and horrible side of things, no one seems to be around the ziggurat. The arcs of light stretching above it have no good explanation and shoot up from the ground, crossing above the spinning orb of death in the top room. Nothing else seems out of the ordinary according to Vax, and that's the only thing we have to go on. There is a small crack in the cavern floor next to the structure, but not wide enough to get through. There might have been some snoring below us, but after Lavia attempted to use an axe to widen the gap, it stopped. Which means whatever it was is now expecting us.
We headed for a different tunnel that Vax knew of, in the hopes that it would lead us down below the ziggurat chamber. Meanwhile, Dworik keeps acting strangely. I'm not sure what it is, but he seems suspicious of everyone. It feels like he's more of a hot-head than usual. I'm not sure if it's Ellywick getting on his nerves again. Quite likely. He even tried to act wingman for her to flirt with Vax. I'm not sure ith's the time or place to talk to our human friend about such things. The only advantage is that I realise that I feel ok with it. If Ellywick wants someone else, I wish her the best of luck and will only be happy for her.
Anyway, the cold and icy tunnel ended up on the side of the mountain but with no side tunnels for us to explore. These bad news were followed by much worse news as a huge white dragon emerged from a cave and almost saw us. We would be dead because of our carelessness. The slight upside is that the dragon's lair might be the entrance we're looking for. The downside is that the entrance we're looking for is a dragon's lair!
If we survive this, I need some hot coffee and hard liquor. The order doesn't matter.