ragath3

The party headed south along a cart path. After a few miles they crossed a large bridge over the Rurszak River and headed toward the mountains. As they walked along the foothills among the broken rocks, they were ambushed by someone with a crossbow behind a boulder. A voice behind the rocks said, "go back or I will not miss next time." Xendra cast a sleep spell in the area of the voice and a few seconds later they heard high-pitched snoring.

Looking behind the rock, the found a ruddy looking gnome asleep on his back with his crossbow across his chest. They quickly tied him up and disarmed him. Jacen slapped him a few times to wake him up.

"Whaaa," said the gnome looking at the party, "uh, hi. I wasn't trying to hurt you. I just need that reward money! I'm Triblet, pleased to meet you by the way."

"What are you doing here," asked Don, annoyed.

"I came from Jotsplat, just like everyone else but seeing as I owe the Thie...uh, tax authorities some money, I decided I'd sneak up and kill Tantar, bring his head back, and cash in. Unfortunately everyone else seemed to have the same idea so I had to scare a few people off. You guys looked pretty easy, but uh, I hadn't counted on Miss Wigglyfingers knocking me out." he smirked.

"We should kill him," said Jacen.

"Well, he's not evil," said Dagmar after carefully studying Triblet, "I don't think killing him would be the right thing."

"You guys are going to need someone that knows the area. You should take me in as a guide!" said Triblet, trying to save his skin.

"I think we should let him join us too," said Xendra.

"Okay, but he doesn't get his weapons back just yet. I don't trust him," said Jacen with a suspicous eye toward Triblet.

The party continued south and as night fell they saw a campfire up ahead. Xendra let Octavious, her owl familiar, fly up to spy on them. The black four sat around a campfire with Grelj tied to a wagon. Then Octavious saw a white hawk looking at her from one of their shoulders and flew back quickly. They camped a mile away and didn't light a fire that night.

The next morning they started climbing the mountains and were forced to abandon their mounts. By afternoon they started to feel the air get colder as they gained altitude. Cresting a high ridge they saw the mountains continued and were capped with snow. Triblet took his cold weather clothes from his backpack and they rest of the party realized they weren't well equipped for the cold mountains. As night fell, it started to snow and they shivered under their saddle blankets.

The party continued for two more days, occasionally sending Octavious ahead to spy on the party. Grelj seemed limp and lifeless as he was carried over the shoulder of the half-orc. But since he was being carried they hoped for the best. At night they camped on a narrow ledge as the mountains had become very difficult and there were very few flat spots on which to camp. As they laid under the starry sky, a sudden white whoosh flew over them. Everyone got up but it was gone before they could react.

"What was that?" asked Don.

"Maybe it was that white hawk?" opined Dagmar.

"No, I'm certain it was both too fast and too large for a hawk," said Jacen the Ranger.

The next morning after a night of half sleep due to the cold and anxiousness over the flying white creature, the party trudged doggedly through the snow and rocks. At times they had to climb difficult faces on the mountains and avoid falling rocks. The day did not warm as it had previous days and the sky stayed clear. Ahead they saw the target of their pursuit crest a ridge a day's travel ahead of them. As the sun went down clouds came in from the west and it began to snow. Climbing up another mountainside, Triblet found a stick pointing out from the snow.

"That's odd," said Jacen, "there isn't a tree for miles."

Dagmar started digging into the snow to uncover what was beneath and found the stick was in fact a bone sticking out of a boot that was frozen solid to the mountain.

"That's a dwarf's boot," said Dagmar grimly.

The snow started to get very heavy and they continued up the mountain and found a narrow ledge near the peak of a mountain. They managed to climb up and just as they were about to continue, Don and Triblet let out yells as they were blasted by the freezing cold breath of a small white dragon which flew off into the storm. Don was dead and Triblet shivered from the cold.

"On the left!" said Xendra, and let loose a magic missile. Jacen, who had his bow out, shot and hit the dragon. As it wheeled to retreat, Dagmar and Triblet both hit as well with their crossbows. The dragon was out of sight, but certainly wounded.

"Look up there," said Jacen pointing to a cave further up the mountain above the ledge.

The party, minus the now dead Don, hurried up the mountain and into the cave. Inside they found the remains of a one legged dwarf and his equipment, including a mountain map with Dwarven writing-- Ragath Mountain. As Jacen looked over the loot the room went suddenly dark and something landed on top of him. The rest of the party took out their weapons but could see nothing to shoot in the total darkness. By sound, Xendra shot another magic missile but was unsure of the effects. Jacen, meanwhile felt a cold tentacle wrap around his neck as the creature's body covered his head and began to squeeze. He swung his sword at the creature, being careful not to strike himself in process. Triblet fired his bow where the thought he heard a sword and Xendra again fired a magic missile into the darkness. Jacen, beginning to lose consciousness swung again and struck. The darkmantle loosened its grip and fell to the ground. Light returned to the cave.

Exploring further, they found a small chest hidden behind some rocks which contained some coins and a ring with snowflakes engraved on it. Jacen put the ring on and let the party know that he no longer felt cold, which was a relief. Unfortunately he also found he could not take the ring from his finger.

Exhausted, the party set up watches and made camp. The snow outside was now a full blizzard.