Road to Hyperborea, Chapter Five

Resting
Wednesday, May 23rd, 988 AD

Edward, Moishe, and Shara use the powers that their respective gods gave them to heal us all up. Esward also Summons a few wolves to help sound the alarm in case we're attacked while we rest again.

Dragons and Deaths
Thursday, May 24th, 988 AD

Edward Divinates once again and God warns us about shiny dragons and the Cold Man, whom God calls Jack Frost. Whether He means the real Jack Frost of old, or is merely enjoying in some poetical whimsy is known only to God. He does, however, tell us we don't have to worry about Giants so much anymore. This punctuates the fact that we really have to Raise Anna as soon as possible so that she can cast her Consequence spell and we can know what the destruction of Kebnekaise did to the other side.

We march almost all day west and see only a reindeer with a sled but no driver until Qadir rushes up behind us. Reynaldo immediately draws arms, but Qadir seems... different.

Qadir: My friends, greetings! How fare you today?
Reynaldo: Uh... what?
Edward: Are you feeling alright, Qadir?
Qadir: Of course! Never better!
Thalia: What brings you out here?
Qadir: Thorgrim told me you had come this way to slay dragons and I thought you might need some help. Dragons are, after all, really tough.
Thalia: Where is Raheesh?
Qadir: I don't know; they left without me this morning... I think. I don't really want to talk about that.
Shara (casting Charm Person): Qadir, we're friends, right?
Qadir: Of course! You might even be my best friend in the whole world!
Shara: Why don't you tell me about what happened to you before you got here. It'll be between just us.
Qadir: But they're all listening.
Shara: Let's go over there and talk privately.

Shara and Qadir went off a little distance and talked. The rest of us were sure Qadir's mind and/or emotions had certainly been magicked somehow, even before Shara Charmed him. Moishe posited that this looked like a more powerful Domination spell than he had seen before. Edward posited that he might be a mirror double, not unlike the ones that killed the Lady Anna.

Shara comes back and tells us that Qadir is having memory issues. He says the last thing he clearly remembers is all of us standing outside the Everbloom, before we'd gone in for the first time. He also met some Kobolds earlier in the day. Could the Kobolds be responsible for Qadir's severe personality change? Perhaps.

Edward then cast Dispel Magic on Qadir, in an effort to remove whatever enchantment had been cast on him, or indeed, Qadir himself if he be made of magic, but suceeded only in removing Shara's Charm.

Qadir: I... I thought we were friends.
Shara: We are. Of course we are.
Qadir: I just wanted to help you.

Qadir turned around and ran back the way he came.

Edward: Should we go after him?
Reynaldo: Fuck him.
Thalia: He's obviously not in his right mind.
Edward: That's what I mean. He's friendlier now.
Reynaldo: Yeah until whatever programming he's got tells him to kills us. What happens if we do keep him around, some dragons attack, and then he turns on us? Whoever did this to him certainly doesn't care if he dies while trying to kill us. No, fuck him. Let's go.

We continue west for another four hours, when we spot two glittering masses in the sky, growing bigger and bigger. As soon as we realize that they are Emerald Dragons, Edward casts Prayer. The bigger, older one of the two swoops down and opens its mouth to unleash a Sonic Blast that hurts us all regardless of our position relative to its mouth. This blast immediately kills poor Vera and Moishe, and takes out Dorn, Malina, and Shara.

Ivan, Edward, Thalia, Jean-Claude, Reynaldo, Stepanova, and Conrad somehow manage to kill the younger adult in two minutes, before it can unleash its first Sonic Blast. It still mangles us good before it dies, though. The older dragon takes down Stepanova but the remaining Intrepid Heroes kill it before it can unleash its second Sonic Blast.

Edward immediately skins the two dragons while Reynaldo eats the enormous heart of one of them. Apparently, he once read a legend which says that eating the heart of a dragon brings one prophetic visions. All it brought Reynaldo was a massive stomachache. Edward meanwhile begins "working the bone," making sleds out of the dragons' bones. We plan to use the skin to make armor out of at a later date, once we find an armorer of sufficient skill.

We gather up all the pieces of Moishe and Vera, and prepare them for Iteming in the morning to put them along with Anna. Edward Summons some more wolves to watch us while we rest.

An Elemental, A New Friend, and Some Kobolds
Friday, May 25th, 988 AD

Halfway through our rest period, the wolves begin howling. We get up and see another pack of wolves running towards us. We get ready, but they just rush right past. We relax for a second, before we see what the wolves are running from. A large Ice Elemental with a beard and large fists.

Reynaldo kind of recognizes him, but can't place him. He nonetheless unleashes a Lightning Bolt on him, but nothing good happens. The Elemental crackles with energy, which he immediately unleashes on Conrad along with a swipe from his massive fist, instantly killing him. Ivan and Thalia go toe-to-toe with the crature, and then Jean-Claude shoots a Flame Arrow at him. It hurts him, but it also releases hot steam which burns both Ivan and Thalia. Edward joins the fray and Reynaldo finally remembers where he knows this guy from. The little statue that they found in the Bone Dragon's cave the other day. The two are spitting images of each other.

Thalia backs down, as she is almost dead and being an elf, Edward will not be able to Raise her from the dead. Jean-Claude throws up a Wall of Fire to buy Reynaldo some time to try and control the Elemental using the statue. Reynaldo furrows his brow, grips the statue tightly, and concentrates as hard as he can to bring the Elemental under his control. Unfortunately, the Elemental proves resilient and lumbers his way around the Wall of Fire. Reynaldo chucks the small statue at Edward and joins Ivan in hand to hand. They both go down and Jean-Claude holds the creature off until Edward remembers a scroll he has. He reads the incantation and casts Transmute Water to Dust. The creature instantly becomes a mound of dust and dies.

A stranger steps out of the woods and says, "I guess you had that under control after all."

Edward: Who are you and what are you doing here?
Stranger: My name is Gordon and I was drawn here by the sounds of your battle.
Reynaldo: Is that a fact? How do we know this wasn't all your fault?
Gordon: Until very recently, I was a slave to some Lapps. My captors were driving across the ice on sleds pulled by reindeer until two Emerald Dragons flew overhead. My captors spooked and I was able to escape on a sled. I abandoned it awhile ago.
Thalia: Where are you from, originally?
Gordon: Southern England.
Edward (in English): Are you from Londinium?
Gordon (in English): No, south of that, near the coast.
Edward (back in Norse): Have you accepted Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior?
Gordon: Uhh... Sure.

We allow the man to stay, as his story eerily checks out just fine. We also figure out that the two potions we found in the Bone Dragon's cave are Potions of Heroism, making fighters more powerful for a short period of time.

Shara casts Speak with Dead on one of the Emerald Dragon heads, but finds it quite recalcitrant, even though she speaks Draconic. It refuses to answer any questions, including the very important question of where its hoard is located, but he does tell Shara that the two of them haven't been around all that long.

We move away from the area where we fought the Elemental, lugging our dragon skins behind us, and try to bed down again, but we hear skulking about. Gordon drinks a Potion of Heroism, but it turns out it's just a troop of Kobolds, one of which is riding on a bear. Shara Charms the bear, and Jean-Claude Lightning Bolts four of them, killing them instantly. Dorn, Thalia, Gordon, and Edward kill one each as well. Jean-Claude shoots another Lightning Bolt, killing another four, and the fighters kill another six. Edward and Jean-Claude switch out and the fighters kill another three. They kill another three, and the remaining four surrender. Reynaldo says that we should tie them up at the four cardinal points. If they wish to remain alive, they will warn us if anything comes.

We finally get a good rest.

Marching Westward
Saturday, May 26th, and Sunday, May 27th, 988 AD

The Kobolds tell us that there is a castle full of giants farther to the west, as well as some Kamaliset to the south, in the forests. The Kamaliset are apparently a race of spider-people. We march west for two days.

On Saturday morning, Shara Friends the bear and names it Barney. She also Speaks with the other dragon head, and finds this one more accomodating. It says that it wasn't sent by anybody, it just wanted to eat us. It also tells us that its hoard is quit far from here, in the land of the Gardur to the east. We look at the rubbing of the map on Orm's shield and see that it is indeed, far to the east.

On both days, Jean-Claude and Reynaldo took to the skies in bird form and attempted to seek out monsters to kill, but found nothing.

On Sunday evening, we finally spotted the giants' castle carved into the side of a mountain. We plan to storm it on the following day.

Cyclopes and New Found Power
Monday, May 28th, 988 AD

We heal up and Edward attempts to Divinate, but God is busy elsewhere it seems. We continue towards the castle, but run into a troop of ten Cyclopes. They tell us to state our business and we answer with cold steel and hot magic.

Gordon and Malina go down pretty quickly, and Barney the Bear is killed outright, and Ivan is forced to fight four Cyclopes all by himself, so he downs the other Potion of Heroism. Thalia manages to kill four Cyclopes almost on her own. The Cyclopes in the back hurl large boulders at the magic users, but Jean-Claude puts a stop to that with a Ring of Fire, which encompasses the three of them. Shara throws up an Obscurement so that she, and any others too hurt to continue fighting can hide. Reynaldo Magic Jars a giant and kills one with a backstab. Another Cyclops kills the body he inhabited. He Magic Jars another one and Ivan kills the eighth. The last two attempt to flee, but Jean-Claude and Cyclops-Rey chase them down and kill them with Magic Missiles so that they cannot warn anybody or call for reinforcements.

They come back and we all get ready to rest, but Edward tells us that he thinks that God has smiled upon him. He can now Raise the Dead. We make plans to head back to the Everbloom, but Anna will have to be Raised as soon as Edward can memorize the spell.

End of Chapter Five