Rested, resupplied and refreshed, the group sets out on the next leg of their journey. Goldpiece wonders why they are doing what they are doing. That prompts a bit of discussion, but the Tormites can’t let discovered evil unmolested and that seems good enough to end the discussion.

Searching the northern end of the Blacktooth Ridge for a floating rock proves to be more difficult than the winter lord made out. Days pass with no success in locating the elusive aerial stone. There is much success in locating wyverns, or in being located by wyverns depending on how you see things. The first two are beaten down with only the loss of the paladin’s horse. The second attack in the evening is even more swiftly concluded. A few more days pass and finally the floating stone is located.

Investigatio...

Wandering the halls and slaying most of the hapless frost ogres theyhappento mert, the party feels lost. When the disguised elf enters the dishwashing room, he otices a hidden door. Once opened, it leads to a spiral staircase leading both up and down. Deciding to go upwards into the blinding swirling freezing snows allows them to make contact with the winter king. He greets them warmly (no pun intended) and has a chat with them. Long story short, he needs the group’s help to free yet another elemental lord. To that end he imparts information about the spell of soul restoration and additional information about the horn pieces that they carry. The finished horn will allow entrance to the capital of the Horned One’s empire...

Soon enough the group encounters a large tower – one of seven that the villagers described as housing the armes and beasties of the elemental lord’s hosts. The first tower is 100 feet tall and has a large bridge sticking out of one side that leads into the mountain. The tower is bypassed. The second tower looks just like the first and is also given a wide berth – well, as wide as possible on a snowy cliff. The third tower looks like the other two – except for the flock of skeletal mini-pterodactyls that start swooping around the tower top. Ok – on to tower number four – or maybe further – once the party sees that the bridge has a large section missing out of the middle. Or maybe not as the tower doors burst open and an enraged frost giant pummels Bababobo into the snow...

The party investigates the final locked door – and finds itself quickly embroiled in a battle with a form of beguiling and insanity-provoking undead monster. It ensnares two attackers in rapid succession, which provokes a bit of consternation among the remaining members of the party. Magic arrow and magic missiles fly and the beast is defeated quickly enough.What loot it has is taken, and the well in the room is investigated. A hidden ladder leads the group downward into an escape tunnel that deposits them in a hollow boulder near the edge of the treeline, outside the moat. Neato-keen…but the cart and horse is still inside the moat. Crap.

A new ice bridge and a rapid jog reunites the group and its gear...

Sleep is not yet forthcoming, so further investigations are undertaken, but the castle seems largely uninhabited at this point. Some resting happens and then more investigating occurs. A body is found – a woman long dead and in her hand, the imprint of a coin. They climb a set of stairs – curiously carved to look like gargoyles says Gala – and then are attacked by gargoyles that crawl out from under the stair treads. Gargoyles are battled and slain and investigation reveals a wall of new construction. It is battered down and a room lies beyond – a well is capped by a carved lid and the pattern in the center is the same as a strange coin taken from the rope-monster’s lair.
More investigating and further discoveries and a bit of magical investigation of items found so far and the group is ...