Aboard the ship known as Zerthimon's Arrow, a young gith struggled to turn a stubborn valve. Flames raged around her from hull breaches, and the only things louder than the sounds of screeching metal and snapping wood were the dying wails of her falling comrades and the orders being barked desperately from the spelljammer's helm. To her horror, the foundations of the boiler room she stood within began to crack, and the very frame crumbled away from the rest of the ship. Gravity overtook her as she left the protective field of the helm, and she watched her home in the stars blink away one last time before impact made all fade to black.
On the road from the west, a warrior strode on the beaten path with the skin of their arms exposed to the biting winds, as if to taunt the Frostmaiden herself. The warrior, her back laden with a keg full of mead, found her gaze snap from the endless road to the sky as the stars began to fall. He watched the stars snap in and out of sight, popping against the green streaks in the sky like flashes of fire in a dying campfire. It was quite easy to trace the path of the closest star, and so did the young warrior chase this mystery with axe in hand.
The stars caught the eyes of one quite unaccustomed to such bright displays. A mysterious scholar, seeking the answers to questions unknown even to herself, asked for her wilderness guide to halt the dogsled that trudged down the eastern road from Lystheim. Their eyes snapped up to watch the falling flames crash down to the firmament. At last, something beyond the dismal, quiet surrender that the people have been offering to the endless winter. Perhaps answers would be had at last; the scholar bounded over the snowy dunes to seek the truth of the matter.
Three stars of destiny crossed at this miserable patch of ice, its dull blue tones harshly reflecting the firelight glimmering from ship rubble. As the young gith came to and the two strangers set eyes upon her, a ghastly sound was heard over the howling winds and the crackling of fires; howls of the angry dead, the vestiges of the host that brought down Zerthimon's Arrow. The gith watched as the undead minions of her hated enemies, their skulls hollowed and their eyes empty, approached her, but for a moment her eyes darted to the ice below. Before her was the shadow of a ship beneath the frozen pond; the last destination of her solace in the stars, its last jump bringing it and those aboard into an icy grave.
The dead marched forward, intent on making this child of the rift join her fellows. Before these three strangers shambled the specter of death, and only in each other would they find solace. Be it the undead or the raging snow, would they defy death, or succumb like so many others?
Battle ensued; the young gith named Alithkav scrambled on top of a large piece of wooden wreckage to distance herself from the oncoming zombies. As she launched magic bolts of fire and prodded at her pursuers with makeshift gear taken from the wreckage, the other two strangers closed in on her position.
Wielding a deadly greataxe, the barbarian Ragna Íssbur cut through several of the roving dead with an eager battlecry on their lips, proclaiming themselves as "The Burning Blood" as the mindless dead fell in pieces to the axe. From the other end of the field, the mysterious Melfina Eres drew magic from the very air and launched bolts of force to carve a path through the undead hordes. The three combatants met up around Alith's makeshift wooden fort, but time was not on their side; more moaning horrors continued to approach the crash site even as their fellows were cut down.
Soon the three found themselves beginning to be overwhelmed. Melfina's arcane exertions began to exhaust her, Ragna's ferocity began to wane, and the unfamiliar and biting cold began to take its toll on Alith's unprotected body. Luckily for the trio, a new voice called out from over the hills; a hooded figure slid down the snow banks and joined the fight, carving a path through the zombies with a magical rapier and two hand crossbows.
Captain Ardyn Cinderswift urged the three survivors to rally to his position so that they could escape and get to the safety of civilization. Together, the four outran the zombie horde and left Zerthimon's Arrow behind.
Alith was bundled up in some spare cold weather gear that the seemingly cold-resistant Ragna had on hand, preventing the worst of the climate from getting to her. The four individuals then loaded onto Captain Cinderswift's dogsled and began making their way down the eastern road to the town of Lystheim, largest of the Ten Towns of the Snowdrift Flatlands.
Along the long journey, the party introduced themselves to each other. The boisterous and blunt-tongued Ragna seemed dismissive of Alithkav and her difficulty in adjusting to the hostile environment, but Melfina and Captain Cinderswift helped to mediate between the two.
Alith went over the details of what she could remember about herself as the proceeded down the road; she was a Githyanki who had served aboard the Githzerai vessel Zerthimon's Arrow, having apparently left her warlike people to join their more reserved and introspective cousins. She and her crewmates had been fleeing pursuit from a Mind Flayer vessel throughout realmspace before being trapped in the skies over the Taiga, where they finally crashed.
Melfina stated that she had been staying in Lystheim for the better part of two years, waiting to be contacted by her mentor. However, after years of silence among rather dull villagers, she had become restless. Cinderswift, who had also spent much of the last two years in Lystheim as well, was surprised that they had never run into each other until now.
When Alith asked about why the land around them was so cold, the captain pointed overhead to the auroras swirling in the skies above. Soon after, a massive bird began to fly over the land, with icy sprites trailing behind it. As it flew, the auroras grew brighter and more 'solid'. As the bird disappeared over the mountaintops to the west, the captain explained that this was the nightly ritual of La Saia the Frostmaiden, who strode across the sky aboard her winged steed to cast a spell preventing the sun's rise.
At long last, the group arrived in Lystheim, the largest of the bastions of civilization standing against the brutal Eternal Winter. Captain Cinderswift left his dogsled at the stables and advised the party to get their bearings at The Northlook, the largest inn & tavern in the town, and then departed to take care of his own business.
After discussing their situation, the three survivors made their way to the Northlook, where they finally found warmth and comfort after their ordeal. They met Scramzax, a black dragonborn and proprietor of the establishment, who sold them rooms and their meals consisting of the steady diet of the Eternal Winter; reindeer meat, knucklehead trout, and Honeybrook Mead. Despite her protests, Alith was made to pay for the accomodations, with Ragna saying that it was her burden as the 'fresh meat' of the group.
As the trio chatted and beheld Ragna's strength and sizable musculature, they noticed that they were being watched; not just by the townsfolk who seemed to be wary of Ragna, but by a half-elven woman reading at a nearby table. Ragna approached without ceremony and took a seat, followed by the rest of the group, and then inquired as to the woman's staring.
The half-elf introduced herself as Dannika Greysteel, a scholar stuck in the area by the Everlasting Rime. She merely found the strangers curious, but was waiting for someone else and was trying to amuse herself in the meantime. As she said this, the doors of the Northlook opened once again, this time for Captain Cinderswift to enter the premises and join them at the table.
Captain Cinderswift greeted Dannika, for he was the one she was waiting for, and then decided to get right to the point with the party. He declared that the Eternal Winter was a curse on the land that needed to end, but it was also an opportunity; with the people of the Taiga so desperate due to their piling problems and the harsh climate, they would be sure to pay high rates to people willing to get their hands dirty and frostbitten. Given the party's survival against the zombie horde, the captain found that they would be ideal to follow up on some potential leads that he had come across in his travels between the Ten Towns.
Dannika's request was at the top of the list. She was searching for elusive
chwingas; small and harmless elemental nature spirits that she believed would be of help in combating the winter. She gifted Melfina a lantern of tracking attuned to elementals, and asked that the trio keep an eye out for chwingas on their travels to pursue other leads.
From the list of leads, the newly formed party decided to check on the massacres occurring in Hartwick. Cinderswift wished them good luck and promised to remain in touch. To prepare for their journey, the party stocked up on provisions and cold-weather survival gear, and then made their way to Blackiron Blades.
The proprietor, Garn Blackiron, was a gruff dwarf who spoke little, allowing his sister Elza to do most of the talking. The party noticed that the products of the Blackiron smithy were harshly utilitarian; low quality works made to be produced en masse, with little attention to detail or quality, and the lack of a 'fire' in Garn's eyes seemed to confirm his passion for his work had come and gone. Alith was able to exchange her ramshackle gith equipment for a suit of ring mail and a greatsword, all the better to protect herself with in the trials ahead.
The party then set off on the northern path to Hartwick, the forested town of loggers and scrimshanders. Trudging through the roads with their snowshoes, the party traveled for hours, crossing miles of snowy road until their lantern of tracking glowed a bright green. It seemed that elementals were near; Melfina used her unique powers over the weave to peer through the magical veil covering the world, indeed sighting a trio of chwingas nearby.
Approaching calmly and kindly, the party noticed that the chwingas were imitating mortals having dinner, using forks and knives to mimic cutting and skewering pinecones in the snow. Melfina joined them and pretended to participate in the mock dinner, earning the favor of one of the chwingas. This little elemental quickly leapt up to join her, snuggling up in her heavy coat with a steak knife in hand.
With the snow piling up and their legs weary, the party struck camp for the night, taking refuge in the trees surrounding Hartwick. In the morn, their trek to the town to meet with Hartwick's Speaker, Bombini Buzzbubble, would reach its conclusion.
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