March 7, 118
The party spend the rest of the day planning and preparing for the journey. They consider taking care of several other issues first - either trying to rescue Corsica, or returning to Duskveil to investigate the murders that Ellesera told them about. However, in the end they decide that they've wasted too much time already, and they need to put those concerns aside for now.
Because they only know what direction they need to go, and not how far, they have some difficulty in planning the expedition. In particular, they have no idea how many supplies they'll need to bring. Since the prelates are funding the expedition, they eventually decide to simply buy as much as they're willing to pay for. In they end, this turns out to be 90 days worth of food and supplies. They also purchase two sleds to carry all of these supplies, two teams of eight dogs each to pull them, and enough food for the dogs as well.
March 8, 118
Having spent the previous day planning their trip and purchasing supplies, the party set out this morning with their dogs and their sleds. Luckily, Kaplan has experience dealing with pack animals from his time living in Frosthaven, and he is able to show the rest of the party how to handle them. They begin their journey following the road to the town of Transmire, which lies almost directly along the direction that the Bone Compass indicates.
March 9, 118
After travelling all of the previous day and most of this day, the party arrive in Transmire in the evening. This medium-sized town, about the same size of Duskveil, is the last stop in settled territory before they continue into the arctic wilderness to the north. Because of this, they take this last opportunity to sleep in a warm, comfortable building and spend the night in the Transmire Inn.
March 10, 118
The next morning, the party assembles and starts preparing to head out, when they realize something is wrong - Dark Star is missing! They search his room, and find that all of his things are still there, and there is no sign of any struggle, but the half-orc himself is gone. It's as if he simply got up and walked off in his nightclothes in the middle of the night.
They talk to several people in and around the Inn, but no one is able to tell them anything or saw anything unusual. Kaplan tracks down the captain of the town watch to ask him instead. As a former watchman himself, he is able to get on the captain's good side and the man tells him that one of his watchmen did see someone wandering out of the town in the middle of the night.
The party question this watchman, who tells them that it was too dark to discern any details about the person. He didn't pursue him because he didn't want to leave his post and, after all, there are no rules against leaving the town whenever you like. He takes the party to the spot where he saw the person, and they search for tracks.
The spot is at the north end of the town, along the same main street where the Transmire Inn sits, and the tracks very clearly head off to the north. Furthermore, they can tell that whoever made them was stumbling or shuffling rather than walking normally - the tracks are those of someone who was barely lifting his or her feet, dragging them through the snow instead.
The party decide that this is almost certainly Dark Star, and, given his likely pace, they should be able to catch up with him if they simply follow his tracks at their regular travelling speed. They return to the inn, gather Dark Star's possessions from his room, and head out.
As they travel, following the tracks, Kaplan quickly realizes that they are actually still travelling in exactly the direction that the Bone Compass is pointing. Apparently Dark Star (if it is indeed him) is going in that direction despite not having the compass to guide him.
Finally, after 3 hours of travelling, the party catch up to the figure making the tracks, and it is indeed Dark Star. As they cautiously approach, they see that he seems to be sleepwalking through the snow, still in his nightclothes as they suspected. They shout at him to try to wake him; eventually Ellyanna is able to slap him awake.
Dark Star awakens with a start, confused as to where he is and with no memory of leaving the Inn. The party explain what happened from their perspective, and ask if he remembers having any unusual dreams. Dark Star tells them that he dreamed of darkness, and of an even greater darkness somewhere in the distance that he felt compelled to go to.
As Dark Star describes his dream, the party think of the White Elf that he met earlier, Vaelac, who described having strange dreams that stopped when he came to the south. They wonder if Dark Star is experiencing the same thing now that they are going to the north.
In any case, Dark Star seems fine now that he's awake, so they continue travelling for the rest of the day. During the three hours they were following Dark Star, they left the edge of the settled lands that are blessed with warmer temperatures by the Priests of Vorn, and entered the true arctic tundra. Their progress is much slower than when they were following the roads, but they'll have to get used to it, since it'll only get worse as they continue to the north.
That night, they make sure to keep a careful watch on Dark Star as he sleeps. Based on the testimony of the watchman and the distance he managed to travel while sleepwalking, they estimate that he left at around midnight last night, so they're extra attentive around that time.
Sure enough, around midnight, Dark Star stumbles to his feet and starts walking off to the north again. They wake him up quickly this time, before he can leave their camp, and he tells them that he had a similar dream. He goes back to sleep, but ten minutes later he starts sleepwalking away again, so they're forced to tie him up. This doesn't prevent him from trying to sleepwalk away, but in his mostly-asleep state, he is not able to escape the rope or get to his feet.
Eventually, about an hour after he first woke, Dark Star seems to calm down, stop struggling, and go back to sleeping normally. The rest of the night is uneventful.
March 11, 118
This day is spent travelling and is uneventful. During the night, the party try a new plan to deal with Dark Star's sleepwalking: they leave him awake and on watch during the one-hour period where he was trying to leave during the previous night. The plan is a success - Dark Star doesn't feel anything unusual during this time, and the rest of the night he sleeps normally.
March 16, 118
A few days later, the party are well and truly into the tundra, still following the direction indicated by Leravith's Bone Compass. Suddenly, as they are passing through a nondescript bit of land, they are ambushed by a group of White Elves. They are taken completely off guard, and before they even realize what's happening, they are completely surrounded by about a dozen of the elves, brandishing weapons at them.
The lead elf addresses the party in the Elvish language, informing them that they are trespassing on White Elf territory and must turn around immediately. Calanon and Ellyanna, the two party members who speak Elvish, attempt to reason with them. Calanon tells them that they are chasing an undead threat and wish only to pass through these lands, but the elf is unmoved and reiterates his demand.
As the party deliberate how they'll get out of this situation, another of the elves approaches the leader and they have a short, whispered conversation. In an apparent change of heart, the leader demands that they explain more about the undead.
After Ellyanna gives them more detail about the undead and what the party is doing, the White Elf leader tells them that, although he cannot let them pass, he can instead take the party to their king, who may be able to help them. The king lives near the one and only permanent White Elf settlement, which is about a four day journey away (for the White Elves, at least - it will probably take longer with the party and their dogs).
Unwilling to risk angering the White Elves, the party agree to meet with the king, and the elves begin leading them to their city, roughly to the west.
March 22, 118
After six days of travel, the party arrive at the White Elf encampment. With the guidance of the elves, they've made better time than they were making on their own, although the elves clearly would have made even better time without the party slowing them down. During this time, their escorts remain aloof and non-conversational, although not outright hostile, and they are unable to learn anything useful from them.
The White Elf settlement is a large tent city, with only a few permanent structures, built on the shores of a great lake, across from a small mountain. The elf leader explains to them that the king lives on the mountain, and that tomorrow they will cross the lake in boats to reach him. For the night, the party is housed in several large, relatively comfortable tents.
March 23, 118
The next morning, the party and their White Elf escort head down to the docks and set out for the mountain across the lake. Their dogs and sleds are left behind in the White Elf encampment, and their transportation consists of several small but sturdy rowboats.
The voyage across the lake is long and takes most of the day, before they finally arrive at the base of the mountain. They land at a set of docks watched over by the king's honour guard, who wave them through to the path up the mountain.
After about an hour's walk, they arrive at their destination: a large entryway carved into the side of the mountain. Inside is a cavernous room, housing a huge opening in the floor that descends straight down into the core of the mountain. Casting a Light spell on a rock and dropping it down, Ellyanna sees that the bottom is at least 100 yards down.
Producing six knotted ropes, the White Elves tie one end of each to rings mounted on the walls, then toss the other end of each down. The leader explains that the king makes his home at the bottom of the pit, and they must climb down to reach him. When they party ask him to guarantee that they'll leave the ropes for them to climb back up, he replies that that's up to the king.
The party begin their descent. Although the height is nerve-wracking, the knotted ropes are easy to climb and no one has any difficulty. Kaplan takes the lead, staying a little bit ahead of the rest of the party at all times.
Kaplan finally reaches the bottom of the pit, which is still lit by Ellyanna's thrown stone. He can see that it is a natural, or at least semi-natural, ice cave, large enough that the Light spell is not powerful enough to illuminate its walls. Kaplan can also tell that he isn't alone at the bottom of the pit, and as the rest of the party approach the floor, several ice blue drake-like lizards emerge from the darkness and attack!
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