Adventure Summaries Sessions 114 to 122

Zeno and Meiling accompany Bishop Eleanor to Broughton Hall as soon as they become aware of last night's attack. While the Bishop replaces the missing iron horseshoe over the door that the elf used to enter Broughton Hall with the hand of glory, the other adventurers tell Zeno and Meiling what happened, and that Theresa's half-brother Alexios was the assassin's target. Zeno expresses regret that he was not there to help against the assassin, and Theresa defends her past decisions to have Zeno stay elsewhere. Theresa: "I'm just saying he's not a professional assassin affiliated with a guild." Zero: "My disdain does not require accreditation." Zeno gives Alexios the Reliquary of Saint Merel to protect him from future attacks by assassins.

As she departs, Bishop Eleanor asks Zeno to see her when he returns to the Cathedral. The adventurers progress their preparations for the journey to Ambardyr: Sijam uses his herbal expertise to prepare a healing potion, while Theresa uses her connections with the Tirynian Circle to arrange for the delivery to Asti of a scroll of wind walk and a scroll of fabricate. Zeno visits Bishop Eleanor, who asks if he's going on a long journey. Zeno confirms that he is, but keeps the details secret as Theresa has requested. Bishop Eleanor anoints Zeno with holy oil so he can better protect those he guards on his travels.

That evening, the adventurers discuss how best to travel to Ambardyr after Master Eddas transports them through the world of spirits to the western khanates. They consider the possibility of taking Lady Newbury's flying carpet, and Theresa uses her crystal ball to search for her. Theresa finds Lady Newbury at a feast, sitting between Phocas of Elea and her mother Philomena.

The adventurers arrive at Teano and collect their rings of warmth from Fralar Witchbreaker at the gate to Dorrain.

Fully equipped for their journey, Hermione uses her telepathy on Meiling while she remembers a distinctive landmark in the lands of the Fan Kiang Khanate, then uses her sorcery to create a still image of the location for Master Eddas to view. Master Eddas uses his own sorcery to transport them westwards to that location, but some force drives them away from their destination to a sandy beach with tropical plants. After briefly exploring their surroundings (which includes Theresa collecting tropical fruit from a tree), Master Eddas again transports them through the world of spirits, this time successfully arriving near the distinctive hill from Meiling's memories.

The adventurers start travelling south towards the lands of the Aigur. That night, they stay in an elf hill created by Theresa's sorcery. For dinner, Zeno distributes bread and dried meat to everyone, and the food miraculously doesn't run out. Feodora is impressed and shaken that Zeno can perform one of the Saviour's miracles, while Meiling holds up the bread when Zeno passes it to her and declares, "The follower will never be hungry. The believer will never be thirsty." Zeno recognises the phrase as a variant of the Saviour's saying, "Those who come to me do not hunger, those who believe in me do not thirst."

While they eat, Wesley asks if everyone else prepared their will while they were in Asti. After dinnner, Wesley goes outside with Master Eddas for his private lesson.

The adventurers meet a group of nomads with their herds, and are invited to their encampment of yurts to talk. When the nomads learn that their group includes sorcerers, they are asked to help defeat the barudoi that haunts their group. The barudoi is the vengeful spirit of a woman from their group who constantly tries to trick them into letting her into their yurts after dark so she can kill them all. The adventurers agree to help, and are given the use of a yurt for the evening.

That night, the adventurers hear the barudoi as it goes from yurt to yurt, using different voices to pretend to be an important traveller, a wounded herder, and a distressed woman. The adventurers leave their yurt, confront the barudoi and destroy its ghostly form. Zeno sprinkles holy water around every yurt and prays that the women's spirit stays away and doesn't return.

The adventurers enter icy waters, where they draw close to a Mercanian longboat at the edge of the winter ice. Sijam talks to the captain of the ship, who has been given the gift of speaking all languages by sorcery. The captain of the ship invites them to parlay on the ice, and takes his axe and some of his crew to meet with the adventurers. Sijam introduces everyone to Ketil, the captain of the Oswen, and gives Ketil the descriptions of the four adventurers who stole the page from the first edition copy of My Journey to the West at the Pontifical Library in Selentium. Ketil confirms that the descriptions match the university researchers who booked passage with him to Ambardyr and who have paid him to wait for them at the edge of the winter ice for a season. Ketil warns the adventurers that nobody every returns from Ambardyr and it's folly to pursue their academic rivals just to try and publish first - though he acknowledges they don't resemble the people he was warned about, as none of them are beautiful elves.

Sijam tells Ketil that they are not from another university, and is infuriated when Theresa doesn't want to tell Ketil why they're travelling to Ambardyr. Sijam loses his temper about the continual insistence on secrecy, and storms off across the ice towards Ambardyr. The other adventurers leave their longship with Ketil, who promises to keep it safe while he waits and fishes for his passengers and to take it with him as spare lumber if, as he expects, they don't return before he leaves. Theresa also leaves the large tooth with Ketil, who promises to claim it's a dragon's tooth if he gets to take it back to Mercania. The adventurers follow Sijam across the ice towards Ambardyr.

After he calms down, Sijam eventually slows down so the others can catch up to him. The constant, howling winds sound like agonised wailing moans, making it difficult to hear what they say to each other. Hermione guides the others so they avoid dangerous crevasses. The adventurers continue to travel in the late afternoon after the sun sets, using the unfamiliar pink and green sheets of light in the night sky to guide their way.

The adventurers stop for the night on the ice sheet that stretches from Ambardyr to western Mercania, and Theresa's sorcery fashions a castle of ice rather than an elf hill. While Wesley goes outside with Master Eddas for his evening lesson, Theresa uses her sorcery to search for Sir Francis of Auvillar, the leader of the four adventurers, and finds him sitting with the other adventurers in a warm, pleasant underground room being served muffins and tea by their host, a towering creature covered in golden and grown striped fur with a leonine head an elephantine trunk and tusks. Theresa relays their conversation, in which the four adventurers discuss their plan to travel to Beara's citadel.

The adventurers resume their journey over the ice sheet to Ambardyr, trying to catch up with the four adventurers. Wesley shares that Master Eddas told him the constant, howling winds are caused by the Sufiriad, roving demons who are trapped in the World of Spirits.

While they travel, the adventurers are pummelled by razor-sharp sleet that slashes and cuts through their clothes. After the flurry has passed, Hermione guides the group around the razor-sharp ice fields formed by the sleet.

The adventurers stop for the night and stay again in a castle of ice.

The adventurers resume their journey over the ice sheet, making their way onto land in the frozen wastes of Ambardyr. Late in the afternoon after the sun has set, they are attacked by a frozen, dessicated corpse at the centre of a hulking body of ice. After destroying the frozen entombed corpse, they hear the calls of someone approaching and asking if everyone is well. The towering creature Theresa observed two nights ago in her crystal ball arrives and, after asking everyone to take off their headwear and inspecting their ears, invites the adventurers to his home, promising that he will not harm them while they are his guest.

The creature leads the adventurers to a frozen cave, where he opens an ornate door and lets them into his warm underground home. Theresa is disappointed that they are served buns instead of muffins, while Meiling is delighted to eat pork buns for the first time since leaving Khitai. The creature is Yumeotaberu, the Shirokinu-Katsukami (Eater of Dreams) of the South, one of four pagan gods of Khitai who help mortals who are troubled by frightening dreams by soothing their minds while they sleep. Yumeotaberu asks the adventurers who they are, as they don't match the description of the rival university expedition his previous guests told him about, and warns them that they should turn back rather than seek almost certain death approaching the Fodmor who now rule in Ambardyr. Yumeotaberu explains that he is one of the gods who was living in what is now Ambardyr before the Fodmor arrived from the east with the frozen heart of their Queen, Beara. Beara's still-beating frozen heart transformed the lands into the frozen wastes of Ambardyr, driving the mortals north to warmer lands where Yumeotaberu couldn't follow without imposing on one of his fellow Shirokinu-Katsukami by becoming a permanent guest.

Theresa checks the size of Beara's heart, and Yumeotaberu explains that it's around his size. When the Fodmor were driven from the east by the elves long ago, they had to leave Beara's body behind as a captive, just as their imprisoned King Balor was also left behind. Yumeotaberu is concerned for the mortals of the east at what would happen if Beara's heart was restored to her body, and when the adventurers assure him they would stop that happening, offers to help them travel across Ambardyr to Beara's citadel if they keep his involvement a secret.

Yumeotaberu is interested in learning more about what has happened in the east since the Fodmor were driven east by the elves. The adventurers tell him about the True God, and Sijam outlines the history of the mortal kingdoms of the east, starting with the Kaikuhuran Empire and their pagan gods.

Yumeotaberu provides the adventurers with a hearty breakfast. Before they all go outside, Hermione asks to speak with Yumeotaberu, and tells him that he has inspired her to show more consideration for others. Yumeotaberu is touched, and encourages Hermione to always be kind.

Outside his cave, Yumeotaberu summons a large cloud for the adventurers to stand on while they fly towards Beara's citadel.

The adventurers spends a long day of restless, enforced companionship on the cloud while it flies towards the centre of Ambardyr. They pass over towering columns of brilliant blue-green ice and swirling viscous rivers of blue-white ice. While they travel, the adventurers bicker about the cold, about having to eat the same bland bread and dried meat every day, and about anything else that comes to mind. Zeno stops himself berating Feodora with some effort, and Theresa asks what he was going to say next. Theresa: "Stop your whining or I'll beat you?" Zeno: "Stop your whining or I'll send you to the mines."

Martina shifts the conversation to planning about what they will do when they arrive at Beara's citadel. Theresa is anxious that some of the others don't want to kill the four adventurers unless it's necessary, and briefly frets about their commitment to the mission. Zeno: "Theresa, would I be flying to the ass-end of the world on a cloud if I wasn't prepared to do anything for my friend?"

After agreeing on their plan to infiltrate and take Beara's heart, the adventurers discuss what they each plan to do when they return to Selentia. Wesley startles Hermione by blithely talking about how they will start their family; Martina has a legal matter to take up with her uncle Phocas; Feodora thinks maybe she'll visit her aunt and uncle in Vestad sometime.

Zeno suggests giving his will to Theresa for safekeeping as he believes she's more likely to escape the citadel using her sorcery if things go badly. Wesley blithely interjects that he could leave the will with him, as Master Eddas has told him that they are not going into the citadel with the others but will remain outside waiting for their safe return. Theresa is alarmed at this development, as she had planned for Master Eddas to transport them all through the World of Spirits as soon as they had taken Beara's heart. Theresa wants to speak with Master Eddas straightaway, but Wesley doesn't want to disturb him during their flight.

The cloud continues to fly for some time after the sun sets before starting to descend. The cloud passes through the pink and green sheets of light, which make Zeno and Martina's metal armour glow with a halo of light before a bolt of electricity leaps from Martina through Zeno, catching Hermione, Meiling and Sijam along the way. Martina approaches Zeno while the others step back and away, which results in the second discharge of electricity only harming the two of them. The cloud finishes passing through the sheets of light, and the final discharge pass through Zeno and upwards into the night sky while the halo of light around their armour fades.

Zeno is still shaken and dazed when the cloud settles onto the snow and dissipates. Unfortunately, the snow under their feet is very soft, and everyone starts sinking into the quickslush. Sijam carries Feodora to the safety of the solid ice, while Theresa uses sorcery to quickly move through the World of Spirits to Martina and Zeno, who are sinking fastest. Meiling and Hermione both make their way to the solid ice, and Hermione throws Wesley a rope, which he ties around his waist. Theresa's sorcery lets her fly above the quickslush, and she shares the power of flight with Martina and Zeno. Hermione pulls Wesley to safety on the solid ice while he "swims" to stay afloat, holding Master Eddas' box above his head.

Theresa uses sorcery to create a castle of ice they can stay in for the night while a giant elk briefly watches from two ridges away. Inside the castle, Theresa has Wesley open Master Eddas' box so they can talk, and tries her best to change Master Eddas' mind about staying behind with Wesley, to no avail. Theresa makes a fresh dinner for the group using their supplies and her spices.

The adventurers sleep in Theresa's ice castle while the Sufiriad moan and wail outside all night. After Wesley falls asleep, Theresa and Hermione have a quiet conversation about Wesley's plans to start a family. Hermione's preference is to resume travelling rather than stay near Wesley's mother: "He'd just go to his next rock and do his examination or whatever, and I'd drag him away from the guards and it was fun." Hermione asks Theresa about her plans for her relationship with King Roland. Hermione: "How do you feel about having children straightaway?" Theresa: "I don't mind, I'd better start soon before we're old and die."

The adventurers have breakfast before Theresa's ice castle fades at dawn. When it does, they discover half a dozen dessicated animated corpses are drifting overhead, slowly circling around where the upper reaches of the ice castle would have been.

The adventurers quickly and easily defeat the flying undead, after which the snow and wind pick up remarkably quickly. Hermione leads the adventurers around the quickslush to the first ridge, at which point visibility is so poor they pause and rope up before starting up the ridge in single file to avoid losing someone in the whiteout conditions.

The adventurers spend the morning trudging up and over the first ridge. They pause for lunch partway down the far side of the first ridge, resting in a new castle of ice created by Theresa's sorcery. After lunch, they rope up again before leaving the ice castle, which fades after Theresa steps outside. They see a stange bluish light nearby through the whiteout conditions, and huddle together to discuss whether to investigate or ignore the light.

Unwilling to continue on with something behind them, Hermione starts to head towards the bluish light, passing by the others and slowly turning around the single file. Hermione isn't able to see what's causing the glow until she's right upon the large glowing rock that's held aloft by a tangle of tentacles at its base. One of the tentacles reaches out and touches Hermione, swapping her spirit with that of the ancient elf trapped in the glowing rock. "Hermione" starts talking in archaic Cabbandari while trying to remember how to use hands. Hermione telepathically summons Fierce, who is not pleased that his beloved human is possessed.

The adventurers drive the possessing spirit out of Hermione's body into the World of Spirits, where it flees from the ever-present Sufiriad. Hermione touches her body with a tentacle, returning her spirit to her body and extinguishing the bluish glow from the rock. The tentacles collapse to the ground beneath the rock and quickly rot. Wesley is very excited at the opportunity to acquire an arcane rock for study, and Zeno carries the magic rock as the adventurers resume their trek down the first ridge and up the second ridge for the rest of the afternoon.

While they rest in Theresa's newest ice castle for the evening, the adventurers debate the risks in keeping a large arcane rock that was used long ago by the Fodmor to trap the spirit of one of their ancient elven enemies - especially when Zeno will need all his strength to carry Beara's frozen heart. Wesley is unable to convince the majority that keeping the large rock is the best thing to do, and the adventurers plan to find a suitable place to dispose of the rock during their travel tomorrow.

The whiteout conditions have passed by dawn, leaving over a foot of fresh snow on the ground. The adventurers quickly crest the second ridge and begin to make their way down towards an immensely wide plain, marked with a web of swirling viscous rivers of blue-white ice flowing uphill towards the towering ice castle rising above the ridge at the far end of the plain.

Partway down the long slope, the adventurers find a deep rift in the ice that the large rock would easily fit inside. With great effort, Zeno breaks the large rock into two pieces, breaking the arcane sorcery bound into the rock with a loud crack, before hurling both pieces into the rift. The sound triggers an avalance high above the adventurers, forcing them to scatter to try and avoid being caught in the flow of snow down the slope. Theresa calls Martina and Zeno over to her while Sijam tries to outrun the avalance and the others try to run across the face of the avalance. Theresa uses sorcery to give Zeno, Martina and herself the power of flight so they can avoid the avalance, then pull out those who are trapped in the flow. Meiling and Feodora succeed in crossing the face of the avalance before it arrives, while Hermione and Wesley are briefly caught in the flow. Sijam follows the others' example and changes direction to cross the flow before it catches up with him, several hundred feet further down the slope.

The adventurers regroup, then change direction so they avoid the hazardous field of broken snow chunks left behind by the avalanche while continuing down towards the large plain. After hours of travel, they reach the start of the plain by mid-afternoon. Keen to make good use of the remaining light, the adventurers press on.

They pass near a patch of ice with a rosy hue, and both Feodora and Zeno are bewitched by a vision of a field of red flowers. They sit in the patch of ice until the others free them with some effort from their euphoric delusions of warm temperatures and inviting flowery meadows. Careful inspection determines that the ice's colour is caused by the presence of red seeds in the ice sheet. Hermione, Sijam and Theresa all take seeds for further study until Wesley pointedly comments about how some of them get to keep the interesting arcane items they find on their journey. Chastened, Hermione and Sijam discard the seeds they collected.

The adventurers once again spend the night in Theresa's ice castle.

Theresa wakes to discover that her dress has been transformed into a dress of transparent ice. Presuming that the red seeds she kept overnight are the cause of the transformation, Theresa swaps her ice dress for another dress from her backpack.

After the ice castle fades at dawn, Theresa takes a minute to dispose of the red seeds, planting them each with half a fish as compost, and wishes them well as "repayment for the beautiful dress".

The adventurers spend the day trekking into the plain. They rely on Theresa's sorcery to use flight to ferry everyone across viscous rivers of blue-white ice rather than risk trying to swim across them. As the day passes, they see signs of movement towards them from the immense ice castle at the other end of the plain.

When they stop for the night, Wesley is keen to continue his nightly studies outside the ice castle with Master Eddas. Concerned about the possibility of an attack from the Fodmor, Hermione, Sijam and Meiling agree to patrol outside, far enough away that they can't overhear Master Eddas' lesson. While patrolling, they meet a furred white ox with six horns and nine eyes, who has come searching for them at the behest of his friend Yumeotaberu. The being is less trusting than Yumeotaberu, refusing to give the adventurers any name in case they are captured and questioned by the Fodmor, but still wishes to help them in their mission to remove Beara's heart. He tells the adventurers of the location of a lightly guarded postern gate at the back of the Fodmor's ice castle, and encourages them to go there as quickly as they can in the morning while their change in direction is concealed by a snowstorm.

After Yumeotaberu's friend leaves, the adventurers discuss their options and decide to use the scroll of wind walk to cross the plain during the storm. Theresa is reluctant to do so, preferring to keep the scroll as insurance in case they have to flee the Fodmor, but is persuaded that they won't otherwise reach the castle of the Fodmor before her 25th birthday in three days' time.

The snowstorm promised by Yumeotaberu's friend has already started when Theresa's ice castle fades at dawn. Theresa uses the scroll, transforming everyone into insubstantial and translucent bodies of mist like ghosts. Now part of the World of Spirits, the adventurers can see the Sufiriad all around them: the Sufiriad have bluish ophidian bodies and horned human skulls wreathed in white flames.

The adventurers hurtle through the sky, faster than the Sufiriad can pursue them, for hours. They travel across the plain towards the ridge, angling away from the Fodmor's ice castle to avoid whoever has come out to search for them. Once they reach the ridge, they follow it around behind the ice castle, eventually landing near but not at the location of the postern gate. When they land, the adventurers transform back into their usual forms, leaving the World of Spirits behind.

As Master Eddas has consistently insisted throughout their journey, the adventurers find a cave where Wesley can wait with Master Eddas for them to return from the ice castle. The adventurers leave their instructions with Wesley in case they don't return: Martina hands over her will, Zeno hands over his will and letters for his family and Lady Ostara, Sijam hands over a letter for his foster family, and Hermione hands over a letter for her father. Feodora leaves all her belongings with Wesley: "Give it to my aunt, I suppose?" Theresa decides to leave her jewelley and gowns to her sister: "My brother can have my bow."

Before they leave, Theresa uses sorcery to send a brief message to King Roland. Theresa: "Off to the castle with the heart today, wish us luck, if all goes well we'll return to Kevland within two days, love you." Roland's response: "Take all possible care in pursuit of your goal, I fondly hope to hear news of your success from you in person soon, my beloved."

The adventurers set out from the cave and follow the instructions given by Yumeotaberu's friend to locate the hidden postern gate. The gate is made of ice, and over 100 feet tall. The gap at the bottom of the door is large enough for Feodora and Theresa to squeeze under with ease. The other side is guarded by a huge guardian statue of carved ice, decorated with strange markings in an unfamiliar language.

Outside, Martina and Zeno remove their armour while Meiling slides throug the gap under the door. Martina finds it a tighter fit, and Theresa uses sorcery to push the door slightly open so Zeno and Hermione can quickly enter before the door closes again. Theresa is concerned that her use of elvish sorcery made the markings on the guardian statue briefly glow.

Zeno and Martina quickly don their armour, and the adventurers make their way into the Fodmor's immense ice castle. Zeno prays to the True God for insight into how to find a frozen heart, and learns that Theresa has one in her possession, keeping her warm despite not wearing a dwarven ring like everyone else. With time, they reach occupied parts of the castle, where they creep like mice around the gigantic Fodmor, with half the group hidden by Theresa's elvish sorcery.

The Fodmor they spy on are easily more than ten times their size: they find smiths crafting weapons from the viscous blue-white ice drawn to the castle by Fodmor sorcery, and Theresa, Sijam and Meiling translate for the others their gossip about the reports of a new Elvish raiding party on the plain. A horrid insectoid creature around twice their size starts to stalk them, but Zeno's prayers allow him to talk with and befriend the creature, which guides them through small crevices and tunnels to a room with "important people", where they spy on a well-dressed Fodmor woman, guarded by two Fodmor warriors, while she talks about recent political developments with an equally-large visiting dignitary, a blue-white man surrounded by swirling breezes who she calls the Prince of Jhothûn. The adventurers are forced to hide and leave the room when the insectoid creatures grows restless because of its hunger and makes a noise, drawing the attention of one of the guards.

The adventurers discuss what to do next, and decide to follow Fodmor servants as they travel around the castle. This leads them in time to the kitchens, where they overhear servants preparing a basket for Cehlen of the Crooked Teeth to take with her on her daily visit to Beara. The adventurers follow the servant with the basket as they join Cehlen's entourage for the visit. Fortunately for the adventurers, Cehlen is stooped with age and uses a staff when she walks, and her guards, handmaidens and servants walk at her significantly slower pace. Cehlen's route also avoids steps, which the adventurers have found very challenging to climb or descend elsewhere in the castle. This combination allows the much smaller adventurers to keep up with Cehlen and her entourage.

While she walks, Cehlen gossips with her handmaidens about the imminent arrival of "worshippers from the east", and the need for vigilance against "elvish raiders". As time passes, the adventurers realise the Fodmor are gradually shrinking as the castle rooms and corridors grow smaller. Cehlen and her entourage are half their original size when they cross a wide bridge across a great chasm. On the far side they pass through double doors guarded by guardian statues of carved ice, like the one guarding the postern gate.

Unwilling to try and pass the guardians before they close the doors, the adventurers follow the gap between the chasm and the wall of ice around to one side, where they spotted another narrow bridge in the distance. The bridge is thin and unworked, without parapets or railings: looking back across the bridge is the start of tunnel of stairs, while on the closer side a frozen door of ice is guarded by a well-carved ice guardian with the features of a Fodmor and a large mace. Theresa distracts the guardian with an illusory image of red-haired elf crossing the bridge while Zeno prays to the True God for aid. The guardian is driven away through the World of Spirits by Zeno's prayer.

Feodora examines the frozen door, which she opens safely, quietly and quickly. The adventurers enter a large cavern which stretches to both sides like the chasm outside, like the next concentric circle closer to the central chamber holding Beara's heart. They make their way across the cavern, continuing to travel away from where Cehlen's entourage would have travelled while they search for another way through.

A large six-legged guard lizard bounds towards the adventurers, drawn by their body warmth. The adventurers are slightly chilled when the lizard deeply inhales, drawing away some of their body warmth. They quickly and quietly kill the guard lizard, then explore its lair. Inside they find an entrance into the central chamber, where Beara's beating heart sits at the centre of a web of strands of ice.

The adventurers wait and listen to Cehlen while she finishing talking at Beara's heart about her imminent return to the east and reunification with her body, which will surely be followed by the rescue of the body of her husband Balor from his captivity, and then the return of the Fodmor to their homelands. While they are preparing to leave, Cehlen tells her handmaidens about how she's looking forward to feeding "the pet" on the way out.

Aware they have only a little time before the dead guard lizard is discovered, the adventurers move into the central chamber shortly after Cehlen and her entourage leave. Inside they battle and quickly shatter three ice elementals, then wraps Beara's heart in a blanket so Zeno can try and carry it with relatively safety, as it is so cold and ice constantly forms near it. Zeno struggles to free Beara's heart from the web of ice as the sounds of Cehlen's entourage returning grows louder and louder, but Zero succeeds in wrenching it free with Martina's help while the guards are still outside the chamber. As soon as Beara's heart is removed from the centre of the web, the entire ice castle shakes, and ice starts to fall from the ceiling while the floor splits in places.

Theresa uses her sorcery to give Hermione, Zeno and herself the power for flight and the adventurers flee with Beara's heart, harried by the Fodmor gods while dodging more and more falling ice and widening crevices as the castle continues to shake. Sijam and Meiling lead the way, and Feodora climbs on Theresa's back while Zeno carries Beara's heart on his back. Hermione carries Martina until one of Cehlen's handmaidens dispels Theresa's sorcery on her, forcing them to follow the others on foot. They find a strange beast blocking their way when Feodora unlocks the frozen door, and Theresa releases Hunguk the Pirate King from the bronze flask to battle the beast.

The adventurers start to cross the narrow ice bridge across the chasm to the tunnel of stairs while more and more ice falls down from above into the chasm, damaging and weakening the ice bridge. Theresa flies across with Feodora, and Zeno flies across with Beara's heart. Sijam and Meiling run across the ice bridge, and Meiling catches Sijam when he is stunned by falling ice and is almost knocked off the bridge. Hermione has mostly crossed the bridge when the falling ice breaks it behind her, leaving Martina trapped on the far side of the falling ice. Martina salutes the others through the falling ice and turns back to hold back the Fodmor gods alongside Hunguk before she disappears from view behind an avalance of ice. Theresa calls out to Hunguk to protect Martina and take her to safety before fleeing with the others up the stairs.

In the smaller tunnels, the cold radiating from Beara's heart protects the adventurers from more ice falls by freezing the ceiling above them as they travel. The adventurers avoid the larger tunnels used by the Fodmor, and make their way through the ice castle to the postern gate. Theresa traps the guardian statue in the bronze flask before it can block their path or raise an alarm, and the others adventurers force the enormous door just enough for Zeno to squeeze through carrying Beara's heart. Theresa uses sorcery to send a message to Martina, but receives no reply. Theresa: "We're at postern gate. Can Hunguk escort to rendevous? If not, hide and I'll scry for you soon and send help."

A powerful snowstorm is raging outside, and Hermione slowly leads the others back along the path to the cave where Wesley and Master Eddas are waiting. The journey is made easier by a pale goddess in a Khitaian robe, who quells the storm around the adventurers and flies overhead while they hurry back to the cave through the snow. When they arrive, Zeno seethes with barely restrained anger when Master Eddas is pleased that Martina was left behind, as it means the adventurers won't have to squabble over who stays behind so that Beara's heart can travel with them through the World of Spirits.

As usual, Master Eddas has the adventurers touch him with their bloodied hands so he can take them with him through the World of Spirits: he also has them make a small nick in Beara's heart so he can touch the oozing wound with his skulls. Master Eddas' skull starts freezing and cracking when he does, and Master Eddas returns the adventurers and Beara's hearts to the woods outside Castelrosso in Northern Kevland before his skull shatters into many fragments.

Wesley tries to gather up the fragments of Master Eddas' skull, but they are so brittle that they snap when touched. The adventurers can still see and hear Master Eddas' ghost, still tattered but more fleshlike than ever before, because of their blood connection to him.

Theresa plans to contact her master and search for Martina with her crystal ball while they wait for him to arrive and take Beara's heart, but Zeno is unwilling to meet Theresa's master and wants to find a church and pray for Martina's safety. Zeno leaves for Castelrosso, accompanied by Hermione, Sijam and Meiling, while Feodora, Wesley and Master Eddas stay in the woods with Theresa to guard her and Beara's heart.