Short story: Mountaineering amidst Monsters

Just when Aveline was starting to find Lord Laurien less annoying and to get interested in him, he got himself cursed. This is outrageous and she cannot accept this. The only solution to save him is to retrieve a legendary artefact from a newly-rediscovered sanctuary under an anti-magic ward at the top of one of the world tallest mountains. Aveline has a healthy sence of self-preservation, but she is also stubborn and determined not to let fate (and Laurien's enemies) get in her way.

The world

society

The story is set in a European-style country, in a world that has a similar technological level to ours but with magic used to recreate our technologies.
Their society has a great respect for top duellists, and they have a tendency to resolve all conflicts by a duel (though rarely to death). They still practice politics and diplomacy, but magical might and skills are paramount to establishing right.

The treasure legend

The legend tells of a treasure on top of the tallest mountain in the world, left there by an ancient non-human civilization before they destroyed themselves in their hubris. The exact emplacement was lost in the thousands of years since then because the size of the mountains has changed. However, the location was recently rediscovered and confirmed by the presence of the anti magic ward around it. This has led a lot of people to attempt to reach the sanctuary thinking it would be easy. Nobody has survived so far.
The legend talks about a few of the artefacts kept there amidst other incredible treasures and of how they are protected.

Mountaineering

There are a lot of dangers in climbing the tallest mountains in the world. Magical technologies have been developed to protect climbers against them, but the anti-magic wards around the sanctuary will disable most of them.
In the past few years since the sanctuary was rediscovered, Aveline has been idly thinking about ways to go around those limitations by creating magicless alternatives as part of an intellectual competition with Laurie. However most of them rely on her self-healing abilities and would be incredibly dangerous and painful to use.

Dangers	With magic	Without magic	Material
Cold	Clothes made of material embroidered with magic to make them warm.	Insulated suit, gloves and hat to keep body heat inside.
Sliding on snow and ice	Shoes with magic that make them stuck on and off on surfaces. A harness that make you float if you fall.	Shoes with crampons. An ice axe to stuck into the ice and help you climb or slow down your fall (the "self arrest" method). Ropes, bolts and a harness to create a fixed safety line attached to the mountain to which climbers can clip yourself to avoid falling.
Rock and ice fall	A lighter helmet reinforced with magic.	A helmet.
Sun	Sunglasses and a sun protection potion.	Sunglasses and a sun protection potion (potions works internally and so are not affected by anti-magic wards).
Food and hydration	Food and water in a special bottle that keeps it thawed.	Food and water as well as a stove to thaw the water.
Night	Weather-wards to protect against the element. Floating lights.	A tent and insulated sleeping bag for the night. A light attached to the helmet to climb in the dark.
Communication	Mental projection and holograms.	Radio and camera.
Lack of Oxygen in the death zone (above altitudes of 8,000 m)	Oxygen bubbles.	Only people with self healing magic can hope to survive by enduring the damage and healing it as quickly as they can while also staying in the death zone as little as possible.
Carry all this material	Floating packs.	Body strength reinforced with magical self-healing.

Characters

Aveline

Aveline is a scientist studying magical electricity and the magical circuit cards that control magic (with runes and geometrical diagrams).
She has self-healing powers which allow her to enhance her senses, reaction time and strength. This has helped her become more than competent in duelling, which has allowed her to win some academic debates. However, she has clashed with Laurien in the past when advising the government, including about the sanctuary, and she had to admit defeat in the debates rather than pursue them and be defeated by him in a duel.
Each time this happens, she ends up becoming more infuriated with Laurien. It's when they finally team up against a foreign country and Laurien was becoming more tolerable that he got hit by the curse. He certainly cannot be allowed to die like this, without having recognised that Aveline was right all along about the sanctuary!

Lord Laurien

A scientist turned politician. He has made top contributions to science (that Aveline admires) but has decided to become the political leader of their country so that he can decide its future by himself and be the most powerful person around.
Despite having official left science, he still follows development closely, participate to conferences, and fund research. During these activities, he always has a lot of fun infuriating Aveline as a diversion from the boring politicians surrounding him.
He has powerful magic and is known for his duelling abilities, having been a world duelling champion in his youth so as to gain the money to do his studies and to set up his own lab.

Mécléas

Laurien's right hand man, a pure politician who is extremely ambitious. People who dislike him describe him as sleezy while his friends find him polished and sophisticated. He only values clever people with good breeding and good manners.
He respects Laurie's cleverness and strength and decided to ally with him early on to benefit from them. While he would have previously left Laurien if he had shown any weaknesses, the time spent together have led him to become closer to him and to genuinely appreciate him and become loyal to him.

Brunéain

Laurien's handyman who has the most fanatical devotion for him ever. Laurien is his role model and mentor and can do no wrong in his eyes. He has no limits to what he is ready to do in Laurien's interests.

Vendelin

Laurien's guard leader and his oldest friend and closest confident. He is fully loyal to Laurien and do not hesitate to bring contradictory viewpoints, but in the end he will always defer to him and his judgement.