nowbound

Part Nine - The Finding of the Phoenix - The Fist Is Sighted

After a days rest, Trimus and the others left the relative warmth of the caves to emerge once more into the icy wilderness. Trimus pulled his wolf pelt cloak about him and shivered and cursed as icy blades of snow whipped around him. "When are we ever going to get out of this wasteland? I dream of hot baths, plates of steaming food and good wines."
They plodded on, each wrapped in a cocoon of their worries as the skies darkened and the weather grew steadily worse until what had been merely a storm was now a blizzard. Trimus grasped Rintrah's amulet and tried to summon his mentor but got no response, either the storm was drowning out his voice or the minotaur's attention was elsewhere. The young mage then cast a fly spell to try and gain a better view from above the storm but a strong gust of wind buffeted him as he took off and he was hurled into a snow drift.
"Where's Trimus?" shouted Jodotha over the howl of the wind, he was next to me a moment ago but he's vanished."
The others stopped and looked about but could see nothing.
"In these conditions we could walk over a cliff before we see it. We should dig ourselves a shelter." Cain's voice could barely be heard but the others managed to get the gist of his suggestion and using shields as shovels dug themselves a shelter in the lee of a small rocky outcrop.

For the remainder of the day they stayed in the rude shelter until as night started to fall, the storm blew itself out. When the snow ceased falling Darkhawk crawled out of the shelter and looked around. Not more than one hundred paces away he could see a glowing staff being waved in the air, it was Trimus.

"Once I landed in the drift I knew I had to find some form of shelter until the storm blew over." The mage recounted as they ate a sparse meal. "So I polymorphed myself into a snow bear and dug myself a pit. The form kept me warm for a while and then I just hoped that I hadn't been blown too far away."

The following day dawned bright and clear but still very cold. More depressing was the short distance they had managed to travel the previous day. The rocky mountain that housed the strange dwarven settlement was no more than a mile behind them at this rate their food would run out long before they managed to leave the mountains. They pushed on regardless, Ako and Darkhawk taking turns to forge a path through the waist high drifts. Suddenly the ground opened up beneath them, a crevasse snaking its way across the icy plain swallowing Ako, Darkhawk and Trimus into its inky black depths. Only Jodotha's lightning reflexes saved him from joining his companions in their plunge.

At first there was silence then groans started to emerge from the chasm. "Don't worry about us." Darkhawk called up, "Trimus and I can lift Ako out." He was true to his work, as the two cast fly spells and between them flew out of the crevasse with the cleric of Normanus carried between them. They landed well away from the hole, on the opposite side to Cain and Jodotha.
"We'll come and pick you up now." Trimus called as he left Ako dusting snow out of every crevice. Just then however three large ice worms burst from the snow in front of Cain and Jodotha. Darkhawk flew back to lend his strength to his companions while Trimus launched a fireball at the creatures. The explosion blasted one of the creatures back into the pit. Jodotha doges out of the way of one of the creatures and then strikes with his sword, the creature giving a hissing howl of pain. Trimus casts a trio of magic missiles and finishes off a second of the ice worms while Jodotha and Darkhawk kill the other which meanwhile had knocked Cain senseless to the snow.

"We should make use of what time we have left with these spells to scout the area." Trimus suggested. "There may be more of these creatures ahead."
Darkhawk agreed and together they flew off towards a rocky ridge. When they arrived they saw a strange sight. Seemingly moored on the ice was a flat bottomed ship with a single tall mast. Around it figures, made antlike by distance appear to be working on something jutting from the snow. On the pinnacle of a rocky cliff that loomed above the ship was a large fortress that seemed to have been grown out of the rock rather than having been built upon it.
"I'll use my invisibility spell to get closer; you go back to the others and bring them here. I have my suspicions as to who these people are." Trimus whispered to Darkhawk who nodded.
By the time Darkhawk had brought the others to the rocky ridge Trimus had returned.
"It is as I thought; they are soldiers of the Iron Fist. They have some mages with them and what looks like bone golems." Jodotha shivered, he had already had enough of those hideous undead constructs. "I don't know what they are doing but whatever it is it seems important. The only question is what are we going to do?"

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