as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 9 Lamashan

Travelling in a caravan is, for the most part, a boring use of time. Oh sure, there’s the duty of it all, and I want to see the caravan succeed, and I’m even one of the active people, not just sitting in the wagon, but actually out riding on Kasimir, but nonetheless, it is a lot of “nothing happens”.

Ulf seems to enjoy this – as much as anyone could enjoy bitterly cold weather that is. Suishen grants me endure elements, so for me it never really rises above discomfort, but it’s the tedium. The cold numbs the mind as much as the body. So it was with a slight quiver of excitement when a large white dragon – no, make that silver, which is a much better tiding – flew towards us and as it passed overhead, reported, “Travellers! Be careful! Ice trolls ahead in your path!” before ascending again and flying off.

Nehali, able to scout further ahead than any of us (and less obtrusively, too), checked it out and reported back that there were a group of the creatures apparently camped just off the trail. They were not likely visible from the trail, but nevertheless within easy striking distance of it. Likely their campsite was chosen because it made it easy to ambush people on the trail.

A brief conversation with Ulf yielded the opinion that ice trolls were like normal trolls, only different. When more detail was requested, we learned they were likely blue and probably smarter. “Smarter than a troll” if said in the wrong context could lead to swords being drawn, but it sets the bar so low that we were genuinely unsure of what to expect.

We arranged ourselves in what we thought would be a battle-helpful manner, and advanced, leaving the caravan behind. the biggest surprise was that upon finding the troll camp, one of them advanced to us with his arms open, saying in broken Common, that “if you lost, we help. No big worry.” He then said something in Giant to his companions and they slowly, calmly, began to walk not toward us, but around us, as if to flank us. (I learned later that the troll had foolishly said, “We don’t have to find dinner, friends! Dinner finds US tonight!”)

Since I didn’t think even a smart troll would be all that smart, I approached the lead troll glibly. “We’re not so much lost ourselves, but this rock is. It is not of this place – you can see that, right? Look! Its edges are worn down, no doubt from the harsh cold. You seem to be comfortable in the cold, so I’ll bet you can explain, right?”

The troll stopped and if it were possible for the troll to look perplexed, he did so. “The .. rock? It is … it does not matter!” But his companions continued to gently try to flank us.

“Oh, I quite agree,” I responded, “but this rock is real.” I nodded at the rock and raised an eyebrow to the troll in a “you know what I mean” gesture. He stood their speechless, wondering what part of Common he was not understanding correctly.

About this time, one of the trolls realized my sword was on fire. “Firewielder!” he shrieked, and all pretense at conversation was off. But the task was done – the delay had allowed Kali to summon three fire elementals. While they were not huge by any stretch of the imagination, the ice troll were very much against their appearing. He attacked me, I swung back, and the battle was one.

They were armed with axes the size of battleaxes to us, but they obviously were relying more on numbers than sheer fighting skill. Suishen cut happily into their cold flesh, and a glance around me revealed that Sparna, Radella, and even Qatana were doing a number on them as well. The real fire elementals made the trolls very wary of Ivan’s false image of one. Kali levitated above the fray and cast spells while safely out of harm’s way.

In the end, the eight ice trolls would trouble this world no more. A search of they and their camp revealed only two things of any interest: 80 gp, and

[385] a ring, which later was identified as a ring of sustenance.

The danger removed, we returned to camp. At dinner, Ulf told us a tale of the “Arctic Chimera” which was part walrus, part polar bear, and part white dragon. It tried to bring an avalanche down upon his caravan, but he lured it away and saved the caravan. Or so the story goes

Oathday, 11 Lamashan

Really cold. REALLY cold. Even with Endure Elements – “enduring” is not the same as “enjoying”. The wind picked up today, and it is snowing. We only got about half as much travel in.

Fireday, 12 Lamashan

Wors ! Didn t th k it p sibl , but it is. Ink fr z ng in b ttl . Only 1/4 as m ch t day.

Starday, 13 Lamashan

C uldn t m ve t day. At al .

Sunday, 14 Lamashan

Less cold. Deep drifts. About 3/4 speed. Seems almost warm by comparison. Snow is not my thing.

Wealday, 17 Lamashan

We have made it to Igaliat. The normal caravan route normally bypasses this town, but Ulf wanted to consult with them about conditions over the Crown. Ulf has a talisman of friendship which was given to him by the hearth mistress and which should afford us entry.

— later —

Town very suspicious of us. Even Ulf feels it. The hearth-mistress welcomes him, but the town is tense. Apparently, a white dragon has been harassing their town, to the point of taking or killing townspeople. Their shaman thinks it is a holy retribution for failing to honor their religion, and insists a more rigid adherence to sacred rules is needed. In fact, we discovered upon talking to him in public that he believes we should be sacrificed.

That really is unwelcoming.

The hearth-mistress vetoed the idea, but did suggest that overnight might best be the total length of our stay. We offered to look into the white dragon issue and she was certainly accepting of that .. just don’t stay in town to do it. 3 parties of men from the town left to do the same, and never returned, she pretty much doesn’t expect to see us return again.

Oh, and she also offered the northern route is already blocked by “hungry storms” not unlike the one we encountered this last week. The old gods of winds drives the storms, it is said, and they believe they are but one more bit of evidence that the gods are angry with the town.

Meanwhile, Radella noticed the shaman drifting away, and with a deft invisibility spell from Kali, she went to follow him. She apparently found him taking a path into the mountain that was guarded by both locks and guards, and she followed as long as she dared before returning and bringing us up to date. She encountered a ghostly figure that seemed to see her even though invisible, and Ulf said it might have been a frost spirit – basically a soul that has died at the hands of cold.

The dragon, we were told, is about 60 mi north of the town. It’s about as big as a horse. That’s probably our next stop, but first we wanted to learn more about this shaman. As a group then, we returned to the area Radella had seen, but in a slightly different manner. She had seen an opening in the mountain leading to the same area, and rather than deal with the locks and the guard, we chose to use the more direct route, courtesy of Fly spells.

Owing to their dark vision, Radella and Sparna entered first. As I entered, I had Suishen turn on his flame. I sensed we were about to be in battle and wanted every advantage I could have.

Below us we could see the shaman, and an altar. As he saw us, he seemed to cast a spell, and eight frosty looking spirits appeared near us. Radella nodded; yes, these looked like the figure she had seen. And while we’ve no way of knowing whether they were created as Ulf said, we do know they were undead. One managed to hit Sparna and his shout (and behavior) seemed to leave him less nimble than normal.

I also know that flaming Suishen made the spirits most uncomfortable.

Eventually we worked our way to the shaman, and after dispatching him discovered something on the altar that was both shocking and telling. There on his altar lay shards from what appeared to be a white dragon’s egg.