The Place where Water Freezes

The party splits. Eira boards a ship headed for Thiam with Miriam and Captain Noamhaîn, ostensibly for Miriam to to clear the Eira of the false murder charges  against her and your party. Adele, the assistant to Brannick the archeologist (now missing) accompanies them. Jean, Tronc and Generic Barbarian equip themselves for winter and take the last ship north to Outpost on the western end of the Kiuvaruk Islands. They find themselves the only travelers here for the long winter. The townsfolk are confused but grateful for new faces. When asking around about the "frozen forge" the villagers in outpost claim to know nothing. They are foreigners here after all. The Razorclaw shifters live on this side of the island chain and while they tolerate strangers better than the Longtooth shifters, neither group is particularly welcoming. Especially not with winter coming..... The villagers tell the groups that winters are harsh and long and dark, and grow more of each every year. "it's not natural".... At a community dinner the Warden states that he has not heard from Jerrick, a local hunter in more time than he would have expected. He is worried but doesn't have the time to follow up on him. Wishing to curry local favor the party offers to find him, and they do. In his hunting cabin dead and maimed. They hear a loud metallic " thunk"  and look up just in time to see two small vicious fey moving at them quickly, much to quickly for wearing heavy Iron boots. A brief but nasty fight ensues and the party survives. Reporting the loss to the Warden and the townsfolk they don't seem surprised... "The winters here grow worse every year." Tronc, Jean and RGB stay in town some days more and even try to lift the spirits of the townsfolk but hunting and supplying food for a feast. To no avail. Deciding that the locals will likely be better able to aid them in their quest (and perhaps tell them what exactly is going on around here) they set out for the Razorclaw winter encampment. Opting not to cross the tundra directly, the party hugs the tree line and takes a circuitious route. This may have saved their lives. Jean and Tronc see the warning signs and they are caught in a huge blizzard that pummels them with wind and snow and ice. They hastily erect a makeshift shelter within the trees. There they waited and waited as the snows and the cold and the dark deepened around them.

After what seemed like (and probably was) days, the storms fury calmed and the party was able to begin traveling again. Cold and exhausted by existing on Goodberries they made their way slowly east, following the treeline, knowing it would eventually turn north and lead them toward their destination. Pushing through drift, the overcast sky still silently dropping snow on them, Tronc, Jean and RGB make the turn northwards. One night, in their makeshift, shelter, they here a scratching sound near the entrance, investigating, Trons is attacked in a dark flash of fur! As he tumbles back inside he sees many sets of lean, hungry eyes reflecting the light in his hand.....wolves! Multiple digging noises are heard at various spots along their shelter walls. The Party opts to face or drive away the hungry beasts, rushing out into the night. Tronc summons two Dire wolves only to find there are dire wolves in the pack as well! RGB runs straight at a dire wolf, axe swinging, Jean and Ouzel slip to the side utilizing a team approach quite effectively. Unofrtunately for the party this pack was being led not by the dire wolves, but by w Winter Wolf who reaveals itself standing on the top of their now crumbling shelter. It blasts the party repeatedly with its breath attack, numbing their fingers and chilling their flesh. Ouzel falls to the ground, RGB barely standing charges the beast and kills it "with and axe". The rest of the pack is either defeated or dispersed. Continuing slowly northward over the next weeks, finally cresting a small rise, revealing a wide valley below with a bay to the east, leading back out to sea. Near the bay, surrounded by fir trees to the north and south was a sprawling conglomeration of snow-built huts and mounds. AS the party looked on, the wind shifted and Tronc and Ouzel caught a sudden scent..before they could react several figures rose out of the snow and surrounding scrub, weapons drawn. A Razorclaw huntress approaches them, her twin handaxes idly threatening. She speaks a language only Tronc can understand, though the accent is... new. Tronc responds and reveals himself, causing the huntress and her companions to stare in open-eyed shock....Displaying the Winter Wolf pelt, and rations gained from slaughtering the wolves, Tronc explains they are here to seek guidance for which they will trade/work. Siqiniq, as she introduces herself, agrees to take them into the camp to speak with the Wise-Woman. Once in town, word has gotten out of their arrival and a small crowd gathers near their assigned dwelling. While they are interested in the outsiders, they are staring and pointing at Tronc.When Siqiniq comes to take Tronc to speak with the Wise-Woman the crowd parts and quiets. In a long, tall snow built lodge, with pine-pole supports that give it a semi-permanent feel, a elderly Razorclaw woman sits by a large fire. She looks at Tronc without surprise but remarks "Where did you come from...." Tronc briefly explains what little of his history he knows, waking on human shores many years ago with little to no memory of how he got there. This is his first time back on his native land. He also explains the circumstances of his return, searching for something called "the Frozen Forge" trying to prevent an an unknown entity that has displayed callous cruelty from acquiring power. Alas! the Wise-Woman does not know of this artifact. The Long-cold winter is here now and her people and the Longtooth to the east are now focused on surviving the gathering dark. The land holds many mysteries and tragedies (she says eying Tronc). "Do our people no harm and you may stay. They are free to tell you what they know, if anything."

Tronc, Jean and RGB decide to try to learn what the Razorclaw may know by assisting them and gaining their trust. They ask around the village but none are willing to immediately trust or work with them. Finally consulting a community board they see that workers at a newly constructed dam are being attacked and asking for aid. Going to assist, the task is boring with nothing happening over a few days. The sudden shout of a worker Brings the company running to the water where several Razorclaw are under attack by, other Razorclaw and other Shifters that have been mutated, merged or changed into fish monsters. The first wave is fought off handily though one creature escapes down the river towards the sea. Several days later another attack occurs, this time an ambush on land by more mutations and a couple multi-armed giant Crawfish? (Chuul). The party has some trouble with this encounter but survives. No more events occur at the damn, the party is rewarded for their efforts with some small compensation and respect from the workers. After some days back in the village Tronc tells the others of rumors he heard of a missing wife, a missing goat (every three days) and whispering trees. The Razorclaw, though polite, keep to themselves and pull their cloaks tighter about their shoulders. What happens here in winter? Seeking Grovespeaker Teslin and his comments about the trees, they find his home empty and garbled writing about voices in the southeastern woods. Investigating, the trees seem to shake and shiver as the party enters the darkened forest. Whispers seem to come from all around, many voices and tongues are heard and there is a horrible, rotten funk in the air. Walking deeper into the stench the forest explodes into action as several blight burst from hiding and attack the party. Tronc and RGB are wounded but the monsters are dispatched. The trees halt their writhing but the voices continue... Finding what looks like a den, Tronc and RGb enter to find a nearly dead male Razorclaw, obviously tortured. There is a rear exit and they follow it into the trees. There they are attacked by more blights after RGB stumbles into a net trap! Finally their harasser is revealed a large ugly mashup of several ugly creatures, it speaks with any voice it wants (leucrotta). It makes hit and run attacks preferring to let the blights harry Tronc and RGB as they chase it. Jean and Ouzel are fending off their own blight attacks. Dodging a spiked pit trap, Tronc and RGB are able to wound the leucrotta enough that it flees, running at full speed into the forest cackling that "Auntie will be pleased to have such visitors". Tronc transforms into a horse and RGB jumps on and a hard chase ensues. Several stumbles and missteps by both parties leads to the heroes catching and ultimately killing the beast. The razorclaw male is alive, but barely and the party is exhausted and confused. Auntie?

Returning to the winter camp, the Razorclaw male is indeed Grovespeaker Teslin. He is near death and unable to wake but rambles about "The trees speaking..." in his delirium. The Wise Woman thanks the party for their assistance and their heroics. When asked about "Auntie" she reveals a local "legend" of a mystical figure int the wintry woods. "Auntie". The tales regarding her are always those of woe and misery, neighbor turning against neighbor, husband against wife. "She is the tale we tell our children to scare them at the fire, or to chastise them when they are disobedient." The party decides to meet with Otin Karst who had requested help in finding his missing wife. They find he is nursing a sick child to health, and failing. His son has always been weak of health and it is now failing him. Thistle his wife seemed to keep him alive through force of will, though even her iron love was not up to the task. He woke one morning a month back to find her gone. No word, nothing. He believes she traveled east, across the waters to find Auntie in hopes of saving their son. His canoe has been missing since then, furthering this belief. Otin cannot go. He must care for his son Inaruq. The party is directed to speak to Silla, a companion of Otin and he agrees to take them across the recently frozen ice in search of Thistle.

Silla takes RGB, Tronc, and Jean (with Ouzel running alongside the sled) east heading for "The Den" the largest island in this frozen archipelago. This is a dangerous time to be traveling as the sea is newly frozen and is rough and unstable. If Thistle stole her husbands canoe and sailed  into this weather it was very dangerous. Proving this point a blizzard whips up around the travelers and forces them to huddle against a growing drift and hope they do not freeze. While the snow and wind rage around them, RGB hears voices in the storm. He and the others venture tentatively from the safety of the sled and spot a huge solitary figure walking through the storm is if it did not exist. Hiding within the swirling snow and ice RGB watches the figure wander away and does believe he heard two voices .....maybe? After the storm abates the party continues. After days of travel they hear a loud crack and the sled crashes into the freezing water. No one falls out of the converted boat but the dogs pulling struggling to stay above the surface. The party struggles to solid ice and rests, losing more time but continues with all dogs alive. Another week of travel and the party has paused for lunch and Tronc and Ouzel detect a new odor in the air... Investigating, a hunting party of Longtooth Shifters reveal themselves. The two groups parlay and our heroes discover the Longtooth are hunting a group of iñukpasguruk (giants) that came through the northern part of their homeland and caused some damage/death. It appeared the giants were moving quickly..looking for something... The party reveals their intent to go to The Den and the Longtooth warn them off stating it is a place of atuutluk (evil medicine songs). They also redirect the party to head north as they have traveled too far south and are passing beneath the large island. Rerouting the party travels a few more days north and just as they believe they see the haze surrounding the island there are several loud "thumps" in the ice beneath them. There is a loud crack as a killer whale breaches the ice and shatters the surface below the sled. The party is split between the icy water, the boat and floating ice fragments. A hard fought battle with three of angry cetaceans leaves the party with two less sled dogs, a very injured Tronc and Jean and a nearly dead Silla. Night is falling and the island is on the horizon....

Tronc, Jean and RGB manage to guide the sled and dogs to shore with coaching from Jean. There as the shortened day is fading they make note of two distinguishable features on the shore: a shipwreck and a razorclaw outrigger, battered by ice. Out of the shipwreck comes a once finely dressed dwarf who seems a touch.....mad. Baern introduces himself and reports that he was shipwrecked here perhaps a month ago? He has seen no other survivors and no one on the island. The outrigger was a surprise upon awakening one morning perhaps a week ago? He never saw a passenger and was to afraid to follow the tracks leading from it into the trees. He "hears things" at night and during the day. Moaning...voices. There are shadows at the edges of vision, disappearing when you look for them...and there is always a storm over the center of the island. The party shelters with Baern in his portion of the shipwreck and head into the trees in the coming light. Silla and the remaining dogs stay behind. Baern comes along in hopes of earning passage off the icy prison. Moving slowly through the snowdrifts, Jean is able to follow an old set of tracks that originated from the outrigger. At first they are clearly wandering the forest, taking the simplest or least obstructed path but eventually they find purpose traveling in a north-easterly direction, going through snow and underbrush instead of turning or avoiding difficult terrain. Then the trail is lost. There is signs of a scuffle, the trail is marred by many tracks and footfalls. Spreading out to search, the party notices a heat suddenly spring up beneath their feet and as RGB calls out he has found more tracks a huge white centipede(?) bursts out of the ground and attacks. Jean and Ouzel land the first blows but are burned by the act of striking the creature, the heat it emanates is so intense. The party quickly resorts to ranged attacks (except the barbarian who charged in with his greataxe). The creature performed some hit-and-run attacks, burrowing into the ground and bursting out again. It bit Tronc so forcefully he was forced out of his bear form! They party successfulyl drives of the creature, nearly succumbing to the deadly heat it exuded. Taking time to bind their wounds and rest, the party followed the tracks discovered by RGB, though as they continued Tronc became more and more sure he knew where they led. He remembered. Tronc announced he knew where to go and Jean, RGB and Baern followed him to the remains of a large village. It was night when they arrived but there were no lights and no sound coming from the village. The group realized then they had not heard "normal" forest sounds for some time. They quickly surveyed they settlement noting no tracks in the snow and that the houses were abandoned. Snow drifts and Ice covered many doors or blew through open or broken windows. They found a large building intact, dug out the door and barricaded themselves inside and set a fire in the cold hearth. During the watches overnight they all heard "things". Moaning, footsteps crunching through brittle snow. They saw shadows against the windowpanes... Finally as a pale pink dawn broke the dark, Jean, Tronc and Baern woke to find RGB staring out the window. Outside sitting in the snow was a small white fox. It was directly across from their camp and stared at them, yawning in profound boredom and irritation. It had been sitting there all night. Waiting....