User blog:PeteGoz/The Chronicles of Tymennoreth Ortholeu'Alinyr: Chapter 3 - Entry 2

The snow continued to fall in a blizzard of a type I have only read of in books before. Looking into it seems to addle the brain and twist the senses. It is a most disconcerting experience, I wish that it were to be the only such feeling that I were to have that day.

The snow started to lighten and after a quick examination Edius told us that we may be able to go out soon if the trend were to continue. I was keen to venture out but with a single sentence Edius stopped me. “What use would we be?” He asked and I confess that I felt my spirit fall at his pronouncement. I am not used to feeling helpless and this shook me to my core.

Some few hours later however the snows abated entirely, and the familiar glare of the unrelenting sunlight shone through the entrance to our snow hole. Edius decided to head out and we tied a rope around him. Dinobryon muttered some sort of benediction over him and gifted him the blessing of whoever his deity is. I must remember to ask him about that soon. Edius was gone for a matter of minutes before returning. For the second time that day his pronouncement darkened my thoughts. He told us that he had found one of the snow holes and that its inhabitants, a family of three poor souls, did not survive the storm. This was devastating news and I steeled myself to join him to help find the others. We ventured out with Dinobryon to search for other snow holes. Boppit took hold of the rope and remained in our snow hole so that we had a route back.

Dinobryon asked for Edius’ staff and once again connected with his God’s power, lighting the end of the staff with a glow. He started to move around prodding the ground to find our travelling companions. All of a sudden, we heard a yelp and Dinobryon had disappeared into what was shortly to become evident as one of the other snowholes.

Peering in I saw Dinobryon stood around the snow that had collapsed with him into the hole and three more frozen corpses arranged about him. I started to feel down heartened again but this emotion was rapidly replaced by terror as the corpses started to move. There was a sickening sound of ice cracking as the bodies jerked into some twisted facsimile of life. I shouted into the hole trying to ensure Dinobryon’s soul was boosted for this terrible encounter. I backed off, drawing my bow, and waiting for one of the creatures to show itself on the ice. Edius shouted for Boppit and approached the hole himself, quickly followed by the aforementioned Boppit.

I faintly heard Dinobryon chanting and the hole was filled with a grey light, quickly followed by some unnatural hisses. There were the sounds of scuffles from within, so I approached and loosed an arrow from my bow, due to the dark and cramped interior the arrow flew wide and disappeared into the snow. Edius fared no better with his crossbow and Boppit dove into the hole. The grey light shone forth from Dinobryon again and did seem to burn at least one of the creatures but they then swarmed him and with a shout of pain our companion dropped to the floor, his blood striking a crimson pattern against the snow that was strangely beautiful. Anger surged in me as I saw this happen and I once more loosed from my bow. This time my aim was true, and it flew into the chest of one of the creatures.

Edius leapt into the hole before I could warn against it and struck a solid blow onto the chin of the adult male creature. My thought that the fight was turning in our favour was quickly dispelled though as the creatures then swarmed Boppit and he too fell with a screech. My efforts to channel arcane power into my words and mock the creatures failed so I shouted down some words of encouragement to Edius puzzled as to why he wasn’t using the large maul strapped to his back. My words must have struck a chord though as he then launched into a whirlwind of blows using said maul and two of the creatures fell. Looking down at the final creature, I once again attempted to mock the creature, but it seemed to have no impact, I must remember to make a note that this particular magic seems to have no effect on the undead.

Fortunately, Edius continued his fine example of combat prowess and soon the final creature lay still at his feet. I hurried into the hole to see that, whilst unconscious, Dinobryon was not in any immediate danger of death. Boppit’s survival though was on a knife edge. I knelt by him hoping to see if any of the rudimentary healing skills I have learned over my years could be of help. Quickly realising that this was beyond my knowledge, I descended into a short panic. Thrusting my hands onto his chest I closed my eyes and started to recall the story of Revellyr and Jathl’y, two star crossed lovers whose love allowed them to transfer life force to each other when they were sick or injured. It is a story that every Fey child knows, and I know not why it leapt to the front of my mind. It was then that the strangest things happened, I felt a warmth build in my chest before it passed up into my arms and down through my hands into Boppit’s chest. With a cough and splutter, Boppit awoke! Whilst still injured, he was very much alive. I cannot account for what happened in that moment although I was reminded of a legend of some who could alter reality through the power of words and stories, surely this is no more than a legend however?

Edius tried to wake Dinobryon to no avail so I headed out to search out our companions and to see if they could help. To my joy, as I emerged from the snow hole, I saw that the rest of our travelling party had clambered from their snow holes. Searching out Tiquanna, I solicited her help to heal Dinobryon. She came with me into the snow hole and with a look of frustration she drew a herb pouch. She crumbled up some sort of mushroom and allowed its spores to float down and be breathed in by Dinobryon. He came to consciousness spluttering and coughing. The sense of relief in this dark and cold hole in the snow was palpable. Reaching to his own chest, Dinobryon called on his deity to heal himself and said “Physician, heal thyself” and I must confess I was surprised by the poetry of that statement. Dinobryon may be more than he appears, a fellow wordsmith perhaps?

After Dinobryon tended to Boppit, we discussed whether to bury the bodies. I know that were I to fall in such a place, I would appreciate being laid to rest properly and with some words to guide me on to the next life. My companions however did not feel the same. I worry that such an environment depletes our morality and brings us closer to the beasts that roam around in this icy hellscape. I relented and we set off towards the mountain range that seems to loom perpetually on the horizon, never coming closer.

The travel was hard and sapped at all our resolve. After two days of travel, I decided to try and lift the spirits of this ragged group of travellers. All at once an old story came to mind, an adventure of two young scallywags of the Fey that I always found to be inspiring as a child. The story of Bennory & Equonior and the Thorny Grove of Tharackla. I bade everyone to gather around as we walked and recounted the tale. I must say that considering the lack of proper preparation or environment, I believe that it may well be one of my finest performances. I saw rapt faces throughout and the audience gasped and cheered at the proper moments. Smiles formed on faces as I drew the story to its conclusion, and I could see that energy had been restored and spirits lifted. Once finished, I was asked to entertain them more which took me aback and I must say also boosted my confidence greatly. I drew out my flute and started to play a simple travelling tune. To my joy Edius started to bang his shield to provide a beat to the melody. I look around in joy and then more start to take up the beat. To cap off the experience one of the women in the group, Felice if my memory is correct, started to sing some words to the tune and we marched onwards.

Two more days of travel came and went without incident and as normal we dug out our snow hole and settled in for the evening. Whilst considering these very words before starting to write, I noticed something curious. Dinobryon was scratching at his neck in an almost compulsive way. He seemed the peel some kind of rash, scab or growth from his neck. Although the light was not great, it appeared to me to be some sort of fungal growth. I resolve to keep an eye on him and attempt to tap into some of the healing energies that flow from the Feywild to see if I can provide some sort of help or support. This brings the second entry of this chapter to a close and I do hope that my next entry will be when we have reached the Gardens as I worry that with too much more travelling, we may just lose more of our companions.