As the dawn gloom creeps into the Opal valley, a crowd of doughty men-at-arms gathers before the Salt House Gates. These are volunteers willing to accompany Mar’Khabazza on his quest to liberate Beryl and seek their fame and fortune.
Among the crowd are the members of previous expeditions:
Senior Sergeant Joktuk
Corporal Furlbrow
Explorer Abby
Explorer Jaren
Hunter Kima
Hunter Lokni
Hunter Markhor
They seem like the sort of redshirts I need, and so I Invite them in to drink my wine and eat my food. Wonderful. Magnus quizzes the rangers about dangers on the route and best timing to make the journey. Furlbrow was with us in Beryl last time and he proves useful in that he regales the crowd with stories that make it sound like there’s free loot everywhere for them to grab.
March 5, 7762
The day is spent mustering dogs and supply sleds, provisions, shelter and other gear to help with the perilous journey through the spring seracs and ice falls along the road between Opal and Beryl. Savenia Loresong shows up with the muster and volunteers to come along.
As part of the preparations I give instructions to Masha and Lotwell that Arlaina is to be evicted with severance pay 12 hours after my departure. We talk logistics and make plans.
That evening Ilyana Valric pays a visit to the Salt House. She has heard about the expedition to Beryl and has information about the Winter Elves:
“The Winter Elves are the physical manifestation of a creature you call the voidwalker. For some inexplicable reason, when a voidwalker takes physical form they must cluster into groups of 13. A group of thirteen winter elves is called a squad and once a squad is formed one of the thirteen is promoted by some mechanism to what is called a White Razzik. A group of thirteen thirteens of winter elves is a platoon and promotes one of the White Razzik to Bone Lord. Thirteen Bone Lords is called a legion and produces a Fiend. Thirteen Fiends is called a corps and produces an Arcangul. Thirteen Argangul creates an army and produces a Night Lord. Doing the math means that each Night Lord leads over three hundred thousand voidwalkers / winter elves. And we aren’t sure what happens when thirteen Night Lords exist.”
She continues, “If you truly wish to rid Beryl of the winter elf menace, focus on the White Razziks and the Bone Lord. Just as them coming together elevates a voidwalker, slaying a leader will have the effect of throwing the subordinate voidwalkers into a momentary stupor rendering them helpless.”
Mar’Khabazza asks for advice on how to identify and destroy a Bone Lord.
Ilyana replies, “Voidwalkers abhor the touch of cold iron as it burns them like acid. Strangely the more powerful a voidwalker the more susceptible they are to the touch of iron. Steel harms them but enchanted cold iron works best. They also can be easy to spot: Bone Lords and above are shape shifters and frequently alter their shape to the humorous, beautiful, or grotesque to suit their fancy.”
The wine witch promises to tell us a bunch of things about her and about the deep past but only after we’ve been and killed us a bone lord. Ok then, something to look forward to!
March 6, 7762
The assembly gathers in the dawn and departs for the 5-6 day march to Beryl. Over the next few days the Rangers scout ahead to assess the condition of the route, the snow pack, and the potential for avalanches. Every day the valley booms with the sound of avalances cascading down from the flanks of the Upheaval, but only once does an avalanche crash down close enough to spray snow across the frozen surface of the glacial lake to spray them with flying snow.
The conditions are unpleasant and stressful, but the Rangers do an admirable job of steering the troops though the worst of the terrain.
March 8, 7762
While the troops proceed, Hunters Kina and Lokni circle back to Mar’Khabazza and Magnus to inform them that they have spotted winter elf tracks in the snow. Magnus proposes hunting them down and destroying them less word of their march get back to Beryl to warn the Bone Lord.
The rangers, with Ravenna and Magnus, follow the winter elf tracks into the rocky crags and find a suitable place for a potential ambush and a few hours later a trio of winter elves appear in the blowing snow and are quickly cut down in a hail of arrows. Joktuk mentions that there were five sets of tracks so two winter elves are unaccounted for but the weather has turned hostile and the prospect of hunting down two winter elves in a snowstorm among the rock crags proves too much for the band.
Instead, the group presses on through the storm as the rumbling of avalanches reverberates though the mountain pass.