As the party approached with Fanara assisting Ringeirr in pushing the cart of fish they saw a gatehouse. Standing beside the gatehouse was a tall woman, with shoulder length silver hair, fair skin, and bright blue
eyes-and by human standards she is very attractive. She was eyeing the party warily and as Ringeirr and Fanara approached she threw up her hands and ordered them to stop.
"What are you transporting in that cart?" she inquired without real conviction.
"It is a load of fish for the hungry population of the Howlings," Ringeirr answered.
"You will allow a search, though," she insisted.
"Yes certainly," Fanara interjected, earning a strategically placed elbow from Ringeirr.
Amadeo, who had used the rimepelt to transform into a Winter Wolf, in human form, strutted up to the gatehouse. The woman moved over and treated him with respect after a quick sniff.
"Sir, you are welcome in the city. May I have a word with you privately?"
"Certainly," answered Amadeo as them moved a few steps away from the others.
"I am Greta. Who would you be." asked the woman batting her eyes at Amadeo.
"I a known as Wolfgang," Amadeo answered.
"I was just wondering if you would be interested in getting a cup of tea or spiced wine with me later?"
"I have few tasks to take care of but I find you on my way back out of the city that may be possible," Amadeo responded.
Amadeo then followed Ringeirr and Fanara through the wall but did not acknowledge them.
Greta moved on to Milos who described himself as a scholar who wanted to tour the sights of Whitethrone before he died. After a quick search he was allowed in also. Casia's interaction took a little longer as her bag of holding was a slight holdup during the pat down but in the end she was also allowed through. Santrel was barely a thought in Greta's head as his lack of any armor and naivete produced a quick pass by the woman. Finally Jorgen was checked and allowed to follow the rest of the party into the Howlings.
The streets of the Howlings wound back and forth crookedly, and were lined with wooden houses covered in intricate and detailed woodwork. Unlike in the Fishcamps, even the poorest homes were in good repair, pleasantly decorated, and painted a clean white or light pastel color. The rooftops were steeply pitched to allow heavy snow to slide off. Covered alleyways ran between some closely adjacent buildings, sheltering ground floor entrances from the elements. In other places, open-air bridges or crosswalks join buildings together at their upper levels. Snowdrifts lay heaped between houses, but the streets were shoveled and brushed clean. There was little sign of domestic animals, but hand carts were parked outside some residences.
"Let's head for the alleyway," Ringeirr said pointing ahead.
"Leave the fish cart, longshanks! Run! Get out of here!"
The party joined the battle with arrows flying and missing most of the time. Santrel set off burning arc to attack the enemy on the alleytop. The creatures arrows didn't find flesh very often either but another bomb was thrown and splashed a few party members. The battle was not difficult but lasted a unreasonable amount of time as both sides were missing often. Finally Amadeo and Fanara took care of the enemy on the ground while up above the leader fell to another spell.
The party hurriedly moved under the cover and grabbed most of their weapons from the bag of holding or from under the fish. A quick search of the enemy found a few alchemical items and small weapons. Once again the party headed out as Ringeirr led them around and toward another alley. As the heroes approached this covered alley, Jorgen noticed a robed and hooded humanoid figure-perhaps an elf or slim human-about 50 feet ahead. The figure was looking around but not directly at the party-yet.
This information was passed back to the rest of the party. When Ringeirr was made aware of the figure, he turned pale and motioned for the group to step out of the creature's line of sight.
"That's one of the mirror men," Ringeirr whispered. "They're spies of the Queen. They have some magic way of speaking to the White Witches, who can see whatever the mirror men see. We have to hide, get it to ignore us somehow, or kill it. But if it becomes suspicious, don't let it escape alive-or we're done for, all of us!"
When the Mirror Man was right under Jorgen he attacked surprising the Mirror Man. The enemy said in cold telepathy "Alert, Alert! Enemy in the Howlings. Under attack." Then Jorgen was the recipient of an attack. The large Fanara moved up and blocked the alleyway while Amadeo tried to sidle around the building to come up behind the enemy. Milos and Casia were blocked from helping as was Santrel after he exited the house. Fanara took a big hit and was given healing by Milos, Jorgen continued to attack and Amadeo came around from behind to finish off the enemy. Under the hood was a mirror, no face, no mouth or eyes were seen. Fanara smashed the mirror as the party hid the body.
"We really need to hurry now," Ringeirr said impelling the party to move.
Ringeirr indicated a house at the end of this winding street as the destination for the fish in his handcart. He knocked on the door, which a brief moment later cracks open just enough for a figure to peer out. After Ringeirr exchanged a few words with the person inside, the door bursts open and a man, a woman, and several children streamed out and started carrying the fish inside. Ringeirr explained that a network of neighbors will see that the food is distributed fairly. The adults pause momentarily to thank the heroes, and their gratitude for the party's courage and generosity was evident. Ringeirr left the cart with the family so the group will no longer be burdened by it as they go visit Mortin the forger to get their false papers.
"Let's head across the deep snow to the south to get to Mortin's house quicker," Ringeirr said and followed Amadeo's lead in that direction.
As Amadeo moved further south two humans, were standing loudly arguing. The pair appeared drunk, were bruised, battered, and thoroughly confused as to which way is their home. As more of the party passed to the west of the two men, their attention was attracted and Milos beheld them turn into Winter Wolves and begin a pursuit of the party.
The party continued south and then east as Fanara was still drinking potions and healing herself. Amadeo was in the lead as a human when a man moved pell-mell from the north and barreled directly into the group. He dropped to his knees, panting with exhaustion. Out of breath, he gasped, "My master's . . . in a rage." Seconds later, a winter wolf rounded the corner in front of the heroes and skidded to a stop, eyeing them and the kneeling man.
Seeing Amadeo, the wolf approached, "I am Korgin. This man, Jorhan, is part of my household, or was, until he decided to question how I manage my affairs. I'm sure you understand. Sometimes you just can't break that defiant streak, and they're good for nothing but a bit of sport."
"What did this miscreant do actually?" Amadeo inquired.
"He questioned my handling of one of his fellow humans. Even tried to save the bastard as I was trying to finish him off. I will soon have this one off my hands. You can have the creature for 75 gold."
"How is he even worth that much, given what you say?"
"How about 70 then?"
"I'll give you 40."
"Sold!"
Amadeo pulled out 40 gold gave it to Korgin who then traipsed off the the north away from the party. The group then continued to the east where Casia saw notice a disturbance taking place to the north where two blue green skinned large creatures in the livery of Queen Elvanna's Winter Guard had stopped two white-haired humans.
The creatures noticed the heroes at this point, though thy were still questioning the humans. Ringeirr informs the party that the ice trolls and winter wolves frequently contest each other's authority, particularly in the Howlings, but such disagreements seldom last long. If they wanted to avoid a confrontation with the ice trolls, they were going to have to act fast.
Now it was a race to the house of Mortin. The party was split in to two sectors as Fanara jumped over the deep snow while Jorgen followed pushing through. Amadeo pushed through also while the rest of the group, including Jorhan moved north down the street to the facing house. Houses flanked each side of this formerly quiet side street. The street hit a deadend at a house lacking any but the most basic "gingerbread" wooden trim. All of the building's
windows are shuttered and closed.
Fanara was first to the door, she knocked but there was no answer. Ringeirr was next and pounded on the door yelling for Mortin to open up. The door was locked and Fanara screamed for Jorgen to come and open it as the party saw the trolls enter into the street.
Jorgen moved up and finding no traps he quickly picked the lock and flung open the door. The party surged into the small house where they found Mortin hiding under his desk. Ringeirr was furious with his old friend. The two proceed to have an argument, but it ended with Mortin apologizing and promising to provide the adventurers with forged documents "for no charge." The trolls were heard approaching the house, then they gave up the chase and continued out on their route.
With the business of the trolls concluded, Mortin began work on forging credentials for the heroes, which required a few hours. Ringeirr recommended the heroes get documents identifying them as stilyagi with Jorhan as Amadeo's slave. Mortin was anxious to get the party out of his house and the group was ready to leave the Howlings. Ringeirr was now ready to lead them to the Shrine of the Everbloom where he would introduce them to Solveig Ayrdahl, the Whitethrone leader of the Heralds of Summer's Return.
One last impediment was in the party's way as they approached the exit from the Howlings. The wining streets of the Howlings gave way to an intersection of broad thoroughfares that led to other districts of
Whitethrone, where the buildings continued to improve in the quality of their construction and the exquisite detailing of their woodwork. In the distance, the sounds of more active neighborhoods can be heard, but Whitethrone was generally somber and muted. A white sign post, painted with neat black writing, stood at the crossroads. The signpost, written in Skald and Giant, points the way toward "Two Hills" to the northeast, "Merchants' Quarter and the Floes" to the southeast, and "Porcelain Street and Frosthall" to the south.
The Mirror Men stepped out from the shadows beneath the eaves of a small residence. "Papers please," one says.
The party approached one by one and gave their papers. The Mirror Men asked pointed questions about the Queen or history of Irrisen. Amadeo feigned ignorance of the language used and eventually asked Jorhan to answer for him. Only Fanara was delayed further as if the Mirror Men were waiting for her to react negatively. Finally they return the papers and allow the whole party to move out of the Howlings. "Public dancing remains strictly prohibited" was heard as a cold telepathic voice as they left.
DM's Notes: The party earned 6500 XP for the past several sessions and are headed to the Shrine of the Everbloom. The characters now have 13,428 XP.
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