Finally, you emerge from the tent, to find it half buried under 5' of snow. It is still coming down, though the sky is lightening and the wind has dropped. Jo-owrn presents each of you with the results of his labours of the past few days: snowshoes. They are crudely made of interlaced branches, but after he demonstrates them, you realise that it will be much easier to walk atop this snow than to struggle through it. The horses are another matter, though. There is no way that you can continue on with them, in these conditions. So, they are again hustled into one of Leslie's portable holes, and Tabrina teleports them off somewhere. A short time later he returns, minus the horses, and you are set to continue on your way.
You make at least as good a time without the horses with the snowshoes, as you did with them. The snow stops, though the sky remains overcast, and the temperature struggles up to 8F. By the end of the day's trek you realise that you are slowly climbing out of Long Valley and into another, smaller valley that runs northwest back into the mountains.
Kelar pitches his tent. You find that the food has been replenished
Raz looks about him.
"This sucks," he comments from under the fur hood covering most of his face, "Thank the gods we at least have Kelar's magic tent. Without it we would have starved by now."
Raz starts to enter the tent himself and then pauses.."You know...it might be a good idea to set up wards about the tent. We wouldn't want to lose it or be surprised by more undead or yet. What do you think? Unfortunately I do not know any ward spells...perhaps though a protection from evil spell would be of some use here...hmmm."
Turning to Raz, Kelar says, "Nothing can get in the tent once it is locked. But you never can be to careful. I don't know any ward spells either so this could be a moot point any way."
Shivering, her lips blue, Beth says, "Th-th-this is rid-id-idiculous. It's c-c-c-cold. I liked the d-d-d-desert bett-ett-etter."
Jo-owrn looks rather strangely at Beth.
"This isn't cold," is all he says.
Farad smiles at Beth. "A bit chilly on this plane eh?"
As is normal, he's scouting on the ethereal and shows no signs of the cold weather. Indeed, he seems to have loosened his clothing and only wrapped himself back up just after he reappeared this evening.
Farad then looks at the others.
"Since we left the horses, perhaps we should all travel ethereally. We'd move much must faster as we could fly above the terrain, and not have to worry about the cold. Take a good deal of my energy to get us there, as I can only do so two at a time, but we could take a day to rest and then set off. Raz or someone could keep a dispel magic spell handy and that could quickly bring all of us back to this world if trouble shows."
The elf looks at your ranger guide.
"Unless of course we are relatively close by our destination."
Jo-owrn ponders a moment.
"If the weather holds, we should be there in two or three days."
He points to the glacier-clad mountains to the northwest of you.
"That's where we're headin'. The Land of the Giants."
Humprhey asks, "What type of Giants do you expect us to run into? Obviously Ice Giants. I doubt that there would be any fire giants unless there was a volcano about."
Jo-owrn smiles grimly.
"They don't call them the Mountains of Fire for nothing," he says. "King Snurre's old lair is on the border of the Land. The Land itself is ruled by a big old evil cloud giant, from a cloud castle to the northwest. As for what kinds of giants we'll meet in Snurre's hold, I'd be prepared for just about any."
"Good," says Leslie. "I haven't had a good old fashioned giant-slaying session in a long time."
Britan then asks, " What does he command or control? Various types of giants other than Cloud giants?"
"He rules the whole land," Jo-owrn replies. "There are many different kinds of giants there."
Then the cavalier looks over to Beth and says, " I am with you. It is this really cold up here.."
Ayazin snorts. "Come on, it's eight entire degrees above zero! It's been colder than this already on this trip. Sure, you can get frostbite if you're not careful, but you won't have to worry about your eyes or lungs freezing until it's at least 30 below. Just think how wonderful it will be when we finally get to someplace warm! Other than Kelar's wondrous tent, I mean. Say, Jo-owrn, this Snurre fellow -- is he someone we can ask to speak with, or would we have to fight our way in the door?"
"MMMMmm," Beth says, when Ayazin mentions getting back to somewhere warm. "But, come now Ayazin, this may not seem so bad to you. But day after day after day... I mean, I'm from Sandas. It doesn't stay this cold this long back there."
Sharone walks over towards Beth, dressed as she has been for the past few hours, in a light pair of riding trousers and green cotton blouse.
"Perhaps I can convince Idun to help you with the cold. I will pray for you tonight. "
She moves into the tent and prepares herself a pot of jasmine tea.
"Snurre's been dead for over 25 years," says Leslie in reply to Ayazin. "But his old stronghold has been reoccupied by more giants."
"Aha! I see," says Ayazin. "but could the new giants have brought forth a new leader? Or perhaps brought back Snurre in some way? If they are making forays and raids into the surrounding areas, that would indicate some sort of organization -- either that, or some manner of food shortage up here. And that second possibility seems unlikely to me."
"Oh, there's probably a new leader," says Jo-owrn.
"Aha," says Ayazin, "so do you think we'll have a chance to speak with this leader and ask him what his problem is, or should we kill giants first and ask questions afterward?"
"I like the the second alternative myself, but then I'm a ranger," says Leslie.
"It's sometimes easier to get answers out of them after they're dead," adds Laurie.
Ayazin shudders at this notion. "Laurie, is it possible that this Snurre could have become undead? Risen from the grave?"
Laurie looks to Leslie.
"How was he killed? I wasn't there," she says.
"I wasn't there, either," the ranger replies.
"I was," says Jo-owrn. "It took everything we had...swords and magic. One of our party was slain forever...that was a paladin named the White Knight. But you know, I don't recall what we did with Snurre's body..."
"OOOoooops," Beth says, softly, to herself.