Up Rocks

Having left the waystation, we headed down the only path available, through a nearby willow forest. Things calmed down inside, but as we left treecover we were hit full-force (again) by the blizzard. Again, visibility fell to zero, and we clung to one another for safety.
 
Izol sensed that the snowy winds felt "illusiony".
 
To Theo and Theo alone, the wizard saw Yrna turn and berate him for being "the most despicable creature she had ever laid eyes on". When Theo spoke to the group, Izol heard him retort back: "your foolishness will get us all killed". Murg got a (fake) whisper from Steel: "the children, fighting again - pathetic".
 
But when Murg questioned aloud the illusion, slowly putting the pieces together, he heard a voice more familiar. His sister: "Are you sure this is all an illusion." For as strong as our bugbear is, the cleric was stricken with panic and fear. Without ceremony he turned and puked onto the snow, nerves shattered.
 
It hit Theo that this kind of illusion has been observed before on the plane of souls. Either that plane overlapped to the material one, or the white dragon (perhaps) was contorting the truth.
 
Francis materialized from the blizzard. Bloodied, injured, with the sabre-griffon now dead and limp in the bear's arms.
 
In an attempt to destroy the illusion Izol threw two eldritch bolts of energy at the (illusory) bear. But to Yrna and Murg, the hotheaded mage had just killed their wounded friend.
 

Flickering malice

Yrna and Murg turned towards Izol, weapons in hand. Theo ran up the mountain to escape danger. Worried but with good self-control Izol stepped back, willing the energies within Yrna to bring her to sleep. Yrna, though, is an elf; unable to sleep the magics redirected towards Murg. The bugbear slowly fell to the ground, faceplanting in the snow.
 
Izol asked Steel to tie up the bugbear (and then form a line with rope the tabaxi instead scattered a few bolts onto the ground and spoke choice words. Immediately strong winds erupted from the ground, throwing snow everywhere and creating a clear -- yet loud -- line through the area. The arbalest pulled Murg to his feet, who rubbed his head. Free of whatever condition had affected him.
 
Steel called to Yrna, who had eyes only for Izol. She walked forward only to whiff an attack with her flame blade. But between Murg's command and Steel pulling Yrna, the group corralled her into the wind wall and waited out the charm on the druid.
 
Murg and Yrna were naturally confused by the events (of the blizzard's magic), but still followed Izol's directions. All but Izol blocked their ears, the howling blizzard tuning down to little more than than a soft roar. The group then formed single-file and tied a rope to keep their line together, with Izol leading the way via produce flame Embryeon.
 
 

An old friend

"An experience on the mountain. -- Izol
Going was... slow. Though we couldn't hear anything, Izol did, after a few minutes. A cracked voice broke through the howling wind, one he recognized immediately as the Endless. The being taunted his former warlock, and to Izol's dismay he could not see the outline of illusion magic where his arcane senses told him the apparition was. In short, this was (to him) the Endless as it had always been.
 
A pallid purple eyeball formed a few dozen feet from us. Izol noticed, the black tendrils webbed across the snow. Unbeknownst to the party, it asked him about their "previous agreement". The two conversed in the primordial language; it did little more than confirm the current effects of the Living Gate. It spoke of "great beings" that would cross the gate, and its "excitement" to meet them.
 
"I'm coming for you." Izol's words would have caught the group off guard, save for their current deafness. It simply confirmed: "You very well may be."
 
It disappeared, and the group moved on as if nothing had happened.
 
It took five minutes of walking before we got lost, running into a rising rock wall. It occurred to Steel that Izol may be lost; he confirmed he could remove the earplugs and try to get the group to where they were going. Wherever that may be.
 
It cost him his sanity; though he found the path once more with Izol's handheld flame, he could hear Sapphire's voice over the howling wind. "Steel."
 
Not ten steps more and her voice came again, closer this time. Sapphire was nearly covered in swirling snow.
"Draw."
As far as Steel could tell, he was back in the plains of Bezia squaring off with his sister. Another hushed voice called out: "Fire," and each did. Both Steel and apparition-Sapphire missed by inches.
 
She disappeared once more, and Steel cautiously backed the party away from the point where she stood until the path behind them was engulfed by the blizzard. Worried, Izol sent Embryeon to keep the tabaxi company as he led on, watching out for treacherous ice as much as he was members of the Redtail Raiders, his sister included.
 
 

The Observatory of Annam

Another half hour of cautious hiking passed before the weather began to change. Higher up in elevation, the snow and winds both calmed down, and finally revealed a building in the distance. With a domed roof and covered in layers of ice, it must be the next wayshrine we were seeking. Under its giant dome entrance stood a nicely-adorned statue, its eyes and two fingers up to the stars.
 
We took cover under the observatory-temple-waystation roof. The inside was large and temple-like with a few side pavilions connected to the main chamber. Entering slowly, we moved to the statue of the astronomer Hrathamari, and Theo read out the inscription in the giant script:
 

 
We debated resting here. The dragon remained a large threat but Theo -- and the rest of us -- was confident in his magics. He cast tiny hut under Hrathamari's statue and readied for a cold sleep. Sundown was coming, and from Steel's quick walk around the perimeter this place was better than anything else they had found.
 
Izol took first watch, and as Yrna turned in for the night she caught his attention. She apologized for the blizzard's charm magic, but when Izol tousled her hair like a child Yrna followed to scold home. Our firebrand apologized, moving to a quiet spot to sit and meditate while keeping his senses open to the awake world for signs of danger.
 
 

Another day on the mountain

The night passed quietly and without incident, but the blizzard raged on outside. We left, missing the safety of the observatory waypost but also grateful for the increased visibility. With no snow whipping through the air we could see the endless blanket of snow of Hatewind Peak -- and far in the distant the Living Gate hanging in the air above the once-Chillmoon Tower. Though we could not see the next wayshrine, but the path before us led a few more miles (of hiking) before turning around the mountain.
 
Onward and upward.
 
Thankfully we didn't have to take the same precautions of yesterday, the wind quiet and the charming snow absent. But it wasn't without danger: while walking we all heard Murg take another step, a loud cracking breaking our relative quiet.
 
"What do we do? What do we do?" Theo's panicked voice followed. Everyone stood stock-still, Izol rising safely up into the air.
 
Murg took a step backwards, revealing what was beneath his boot: the point of a red crystal. And we could see beneath the ice a larger portion of it beneath us. More worrying, looking at the path ahead jagged spots here and there marked more crystals (as far as we could tell).
 
Nervous as we were, we moved on. Slowly. It took over an hour to cross only this section of the hike, and as we came to more trees we saw a faint red mist hanging in the air -- and crystals on trees.
 

Walking death

The blues and greens of the trees were now gruesome rainbows of color, reds and purples overtaking the beauty of nature. And through the mist, each of us swore the crystals looked like they moved with it.
 
We were thankful, then, when the trees broke to reveal a clearing. Our joys were snuffed immediately at what was contained within: a graveyard, surrounded on all sides by forest. We would need to go through here, then through the forest again and out the other side.
 
Hrothamari was here as a statue as well; Theo once again read the inscription underneath the stonework out loud:
 

 
And yes, the graveyard was taken by the crystal plague. They grew out of gravestones and whatever vegetation used to grow there).
 
 

White death

Theo and Murg both heard the crunching of snow to the northwest.
Many things happened at once:
 

Two white scaled creatures, guard drakes of some kind, hissed as they emerged from their hiding spots behind collections of gravestones.

Three creatures, perverse undead covered in horrid red crystals pushed up from a handful of the graves, and charged us on sight.

Just as Steel froze in fear at the attackers Murg stepped forward, brandishing the holy gavel of Abaddar and his faith. "I channel the power of a thousand abandoned homes that aren't providing rent or shelter for anyone!" Our cleric called to the Lawgiver Himself, pulling divine light to his hand, and send the holy light of economic social libertarianism to sear one of the creatures. It recoiled from the flame, but as Theo followed up it ran at the bugbear in the most horrifying way imaginable. Its grusome and slimy claws took hold of Murg. Then its tentacles followed up, threatening to channel dark forces to rip at his life force.
 
But the adherant of Divine Law would not be swayed.
 
One of the white guard drakes leapt up a foot in the air, nosediving into the snow to burrow underneath the ground. Murg noticed, worried: "Undead snow bulettes!"
 
Izol was equally unfazed, gliding through the air towards another of the undead. A sphere of white-hot fire, burning purple with the heart of a firebrand, engulfed Izol and his foe. Two flaming fists later, and the undead was reduced to nothing.
 
The final twisted creature would not be defeated so easily. Without pause it moved forward, pulling a crystal from one of the clusters it passed and jabbing itself in the heart. Instantaneously red flecks cracked through the creature's skin, ripping its flesh. Red pustules appeared all over its form that quickly swelled into sharp-looking boils. Crystals. The crystal plague overrode the undead's form, feeding off of its life force but not enough to take the thing down to the ground. Rather, arcane magic swirled around the undead as it grew, doubling in size as more red crystals grew all over its form.
 
The thing tested Steel's nerves, and he failed. Nearly stumbling the tabaxi braced himself before leaping nimbly from headstone to headstone. He turned only to place the Claw on one stone marker and point, firing a bolt of force. Steel didn't look to see if he hit his target -- the now-giant undead -- falling to the ground with his claws covering his head securely. Crouching behind the stones in fear.
 
Murg ran forward towards the monstrosity, gavel raised above his head. Chanting the prime numbers of Abaddar he channeled divine light into his weapon, ending on the holiest of all -- "One!" -- only to bring Abaddar's light crashing down on the giant undead.
 
But as soon as the holy light hit the creature, the crystals embedded within it erupted. The undead thing cried out in immense pain, but those watching saw the crystals grow and contort. Now they covered more and more of its body, forming larger portions that seemed more like armor then boils.
 
 
the creature cried out in immense pain
but now the crystal covered every part of the monster's body, like armor
it contorted itself upside-down on hands and feet, it's head falling to look directly at Murg
screamed a terrifying shriek
Murg returned a reverberating bugbear roar, a warcry in challenge.
 
Theo joined Steel's defensive position, firing off a bolt of guidance at the beast. But just like Murg's divine attack, this shot of radiance shattered more of the crystal, reforming again into plate-like pieces of clear red.
 
A white drake erupted from the ground in front of Izol, missing with its claw but whacking the fire mage across the side of his head with its tail.
 
It was Yrna's turn to change tactics: our druid ran forward to touch the creature, using dispel magic to remove some of the crystal's power from it. But the magic failed to take hold, the monster screaming horridly in her face.
 
Yrna and Murg were nearly overtaken as black energy flooded the ground around them.
 
"Theo, what'd you call them?" Steel panicked, looking Theo up and down. "Dolgaunts?" He looked the wizard up and down as his brain struggled to figure out what to do
 
Pick up crossbow, jump back over the headstones
shatter the giant beast
shoot one of the white guard drakes
 
 
We barely noticed the drakes look away from us, to the center of the graveyard. The earth began to rumble underneath us. Once, twice, three times, for the earth to rip. Snow and stone flew through the air as a giant creature burrowed onto the battlefield. "A remorhaz," Theo swore. Fire and ice appeared to course across its form.
 
"Dinner, then dessert," Murg decided. He turned to swing back at the enlarged dolgaunt and engage it.
 
The remorhaz let forth a chittering screech as it slithered through the snow. Knocking gravestones aside left and right it made for Izol, fire in its maw as it latched onto Izol with its jaws and raised him up into the air.
 
And in retaliation, Izol gripped his ring of spell-storing tightly, calling forth a holy flame strike to engulf the beast.
 
"You can do this, you can do this. You are a Redtail Raider." Steel amped himself up, calling Theo's lesson to mind. A haste on himself, the arbalest taking aim at the dolgaunt threatening to take Murg down with it -- and a clean headshot. But channeling the magic for a bolt of force at the creature,Steel lost concentration. The energy threw him backwards while misfiring, sending Steel into the gravestones behind him.
 
Murg raised his gavel one final time, crashing it down on the enlarged dolgaunt, destroying it and the life force it had stolen (from him).
 
"I'm sorry in advance." Theo spoke barely to himself as he pointed at Izol, slamming the staff on the ground to cast polymorph. Izol's form shimmered and grew, twisting into the shape of a crab. But one the same size as the remorhaz. The sudden arcane force nearly snapped the beast's jaws, forcing the remorhaz to face its new foe on the same footing.
 
In Crab, which none speak, Izol threatened the beast: "I'm gonna snap ya with my claws!"
 
Seeing a foe as big as it was, the remorhaz twisted into the earth to burrow under the ground. Scared at this move a white drake popped out from beneath the earth, terrified. It met only crab-Izol's ripping claws and its death.
 
That scene was repeated, but far worse: the remorhaz dug out of the ground behind Murg and shook him like a ragdoll, rendering our bugbear unconscious.
 
Concerned, Yrna dispelled her flame blade. Focusing, a wind whipped around the graveyard. Snow began to collect and swirl on a point, and soon sweeping through the area a righteous maelstrom threw debris everywhere. The druid directed the natural storm towards the remorhaz, keen to keep crab-Izol and Murg out of the dangerous weather.
 
Still in his giant grab-form, Izol slowly crawled over to the remorhaz to snip-snip at the fire-ice beast. With no emotion, only the eyes of a crab, its pincers held the beast tightly in its grasp. Motionless, the remorhaz could only watch as Steel filled it with bolt after bolt, arcane and mundane alike.
 
THe beast had lost the last of its strength; the remorhaz was pulled in to Yrna's conjured maelstrom like a leaf on the wind. Writhing, we all watched as it was crushed bit by bit from Yrna's natural chaos. And once in the center of the destruction its fleshy body imploded on itself, the red and white coloring the mid-air whirlpool (before the druid left the spell dissipate).


 
Out of danger, Theo ran to Murg to administer healing magic and let polymorph fizzle out. Things returned to... normal, but as much as it could be.


 
By the gods we made it out of that graveyard and through the rest of the forest safely. Never would Steel have thought to be happy to see the frozen mountainside once more. We hiked for several more hours, the current rise calm and empty. As afternoon came around Theo spotted two things: a cave nestled in the edge of the cliffside - just big enough for us to rest in - and Hrothamari's observatory below the cave's ledge.
 
Bones and frozen carcasses littered the region. Even from this far away we knew what it was: our destination. Both for Hrothamari's observatory and the artifacts within, and the threat of the dragon in its lair.
 
The end, both good and bad, was within our grasp.