The Snows of Summer

From Lexicanum

An Early Frost

Crossing the village square in the unaccustomed coolness of the summer morning, Sylziria and Kelsidor were asked by Ionnia Teooen, the headwoman of their village Heldren, to help locate a missing noblewoman, Lady Argentea,  who had been kidnapped by bandits. Accepting this challenge, the two immediately headed to the the local pub, stopping only to pick up their friend Katya on the way. At the Silver Stoat they hoped firstly, to round up some likely lads as additional help, and also to speak to Yuln Oerstag, the surviving member of the lady's guards. At the pub they quickly recruited a few people to help from the patrons -  Gulbrand on the promise of some  glory; Gunnar on the promise of a likely reward from the noblewoman's family; and Caedwallis as it was the right thing to do!

Wrapped in bandages , the Ulfen mercenary's nose, fingers , and toes had taken on a black hue from serious frostbite, and he was still heavily wounded. Despite the best efforts of Elder Safander, Heldren's village priest, it will take some time before Yuln is hale and hearty enough to travel again, much less wield a weapon. As he told his tale, they discovered that  the bandits had had supernatural help in their attack - winter-touched sprites! The fey, normally servants of the White Witches of far-off Irrisien, had caused havoc in the guards with their magics. At the mention of Irissien, both Gulbrand and Sylziria stiffened, but made no comment as Yuln continued his tale telling them that the unseasonable wintry conditions were much worse in the woods to the south. Taking  his warning to heart, they bundled-up in winter gear and set off! As they headed southwards the temperature began dropping noticibly, till, as they entered the woods, it was snowing heavily!

Despite the conditions, with Kelsodor's tracking abilities  they quickly found the ambush site. The area was littered with corpses. One carriage had been completely wrecked in the attack but another seemed relatively unscathed. Standing near one of the carriages was what appeared to be an ice statue, but closer investigation by Gulbrand revealed it to be the frozen body of what, judging by his uniform, had been the guard captain. Gunnar searched the wrecked caravan, while Sylziria and Katya checked out the other one. The two were somewhat surprised to find two zombies within! The zombies were quickly despatched, but not before Katya was badly wounded. While Caedwallis was healing Katya and the other, less badly, injured, Gunnar searched the carriage,  finding a jewellery box, presumably belonging to the missing noblewoman.

Despite the driving snow, Kelsidor managed to track the bandits. Shortly after, the ranger found an abandoned chest, a half- buried in  the snow, apparently dropped or discarded by those who hastily passed this way before them. Katya searched for traps, unfortunately missing the fact that although the lock wasn't trapped, the lid was! A fact she instantly regretted as a spiked log swung down from the tree above and slammed into them. Gunnar, standing next to her, somehow managed to sidestep getting hit and, to add insult to injury, the chest was empty! There troubles increased as they continued following the bandits when Sylziria was ambushed by an arctic tatzlwyrm, which exploded out of a snowdrift and dragged her in, and then up into a nearby tree. Gunnar and Kelsidor managed to scramble up the bank and rescue her while the others peppered the serpentine creature with spells and arrows.. 

After a brief pause, and more healing, they continued to push on more warily this time. They came to an area where feathered bundles and strange fetishes hung from the lowest branches of the trees, swaying and shifting in the wind. All were stuck through with small pins holding pieces of leather bound around what looked like frozen raven corpses. Suddenly they were attacked by tint arrows. Their attackers, judging by the look of them, were the  winter-touched sprites the guard had spoken of.

The Frozen River

Most of the Party dived for what cover there was in the bushes as the diminutive fey continued their attacks and began using whatever ranged weapons came to hand, up to and including searching in the snow for rocks to throw . Gulbrand however refused cover despite scorning the use of any weapon other than his greatsword, while Sylziria began slinging spells. Gunnar, with typical panache, began scurrying up the tree where one of the sprites fluttered in the branches and engaged her in combat. Eventually two of the sprites were slain and the third took to his heels.

After resting briefly and Caedwallis giving healing to those who needed it they pressed on till Kelsidor spotted hoof prints  and they were confronted by a talking moose who chatted amiably for a while before wandering off. Moving on they reached a frozen river where Gulbrand fell afoul of a snowman-trap which warned them off via a magic mouth before a sound burst went off when Gulbrand ignored it!

Trying to cross the frozen river they were attacked by a couple of ice elementals. The elementals were quickly slain but Caedwallis managed to end up under the ice floundering in the freezing cold water and had to be hauled out by Gulbrand.

On the far bank while Caedwallis desperately tried to warm up, they discussed whether to press on or seek shelter and rest, when Kelsidor suddenly spotted a pair of boots poking out from a snowdrift. Gulbrand carefully excavated the body who Katya recognised as “Old Man” Danby, a local farmer. They relieved Danby of his equipment and decided to press on. The path was starting to rise into the hills when Katya suddenly called a halt, hearing voices arguing up ahead. They stealthed their way forward and managed to ambush three bandits who were doing a not-very-good job of watching the trail. Two of the bandits were slain while the third was captured and interrogated by Gulbrand and Gunnar, revealing that his Chief,  Rhokar, had done a deal with the “winter creatures” and they had seized the lady Argentea for them and Rhokar had her stashed at “the Lodge” and was waiting to hand her over. Further interrogation revealed there had been about 15 bandits originally, though some were apparently laid-up  from some kind of illness and there were also some “winter creatures” at the lodge as well.

Somewhat reluctantly they let their captive go and headed along the trail to “the Lodge”, which proved to be a large hunting lodge on the edge of a gorge through which a stream could be heard running. Gulbrand led the way forward through the snow, but unfortunately as they approached the porch, tripped a wire buried in the snow and was hit by the bolt from a crossbow set up as a trap. As the crossbow fell off the porch with the recoil  a bunch of pots and pans attached to it clattered loudly in the silence.

The Lodge

Gulbrand, clutching at the crossbow bolt in his shoulder began backing away from the lodge now the alarm had been given, but Gunnar had other ideas  and charged forward – straight into the path of an oncoming moose! As his friends moved forward to support him. Caedwallis came under attack from a winter-touched atomie, and  another  winter-touched sprite attacked from the porch. Gunnar charged forward and virtually clove the moose in two with a swipe of his greatsword, freeing Gunnar to charge forward and kick open the doors of the lodge.

There were five bandits inside the main room of the lodge and Gunnar immediately charged into action blades flashing, Katya came up behind firing her crossbow, while Caedwallis and Kelsidor dealt with he atomie and Gulbrand the sprite. As Gunnar cut a bloody swathe through the bandits one of them moved to bar the doors, but Kelsidor and Caedwallis forced it open to reveal a bloody scene of carnage as Gunnar stood over the slain.

Searching the lower levels of the Lodge they found a couple of some chests in the bedroom, and Gulbrand spent some time talking to the lodge’s half-orc ook who didn’t seem to know much about anything. Kelsidor meanwhile headed up stairs to the balcony overlooking the main room and had the misfortune to run into the bandit leader  Rokhar -  who unleased two frost skeletons upon him. Fortunately as the ranger fell before their icy cold, Caedwallis heard and moved to help, calling on the rest to aid them. A frenetic battle ensued, complicated when Rokhar raised the slain bandits as zombies, but eventually he too fell before Gunnar’s flashing blade and the undead were all slain. As the Party gathered its collective breath, Caedwallis used the last of his channeling, healing the wounded.

The High Ridge

Continuing the search of the High Sentinel Lodge, Katya eventually located the Lady Argentea, frozen  and unconscious in the cellar. Bringing the lady up to the warmth of the fire Caedwallis had built up in the main room where he tended Kelsidor, soon helped the noblewoman to recover. Next morning they set out to return to Heldren, Sylziria casting endure elements on the lady to help her deal with intense cold. As they left the environs of the Border Wood, Kelsidor and Gulbrand noted that the unnaturally cold weather had gone beyond the woods and was now spreading across the surrounding farmlands destroying the crops in the fields.

They returned safely to Heldren turning the Lady Argentea over to the care of the town council. Ionnia was disturbed by the reports of the unnatural winter spreading and requested that, in the absence of the High Sentinels, presumed dead, that the Party continue their investigations. Somewhat reluctantly on some of their parts they agreed. The spent the next couple of days resting, healing a re-equipping during which they each received a reward of 100gp for the grateful Lady Agrentea’s family. Gunnar also secured a divination for the local cleric that told them “the winter started with a single snowflake in the heart of the woods”. Kelsidor advised that the heart of the woods was probably the Somir Valley  the other side of Lake Taerman a few miles  beyond the High Lodge over the High Ridge.

Eventually they felt well enough to return to the Border Wood seeing  that the cold had spread a couple of miles closer to the village. They made their way back to the High Lodge, spending the night there, noting that someone had been there – presumably the half-orc cook who had fled. Katya also managed to find a cache of flasks alchemist’s fire and some scrolls of lesser animate dead. With Gunnar’s nimble help they crossed the icy, snow-covered, bridge on the far side of the Lodge despite the high winds and blizzard-like conditions.

Making their way along what Kelsidor assured them was a trail leading up the High Ridge, they were suddenly attacked by more frost skeletons erupting out of the snow. The skeletons were quickly disposed of, Sylziria’s disrupt undead spell proving a potent weapon against them. About half an hour later along the trail they found the remains of Dryden Kepp, a local hunter. In his possessions,among other things, they found his  journal detailing Dryden's efforts in tracking a giant weasel. The journal mentioned the bear traps he had set at the head of Somir Valley, as well as his discovery of a strange hut nearby and the even stranger doll inside it (though the journal seemed very disjointed at this point).

They pressed on heading up the ridge where heavy snow burdened the boughs of the evergreen trees, but someone had apparently cleared the snow from a large patch of ground to dig in the pine-needle-carpeted soil. Moving closer to investigate they were attacked by two frost firs, but with the aid of some fire magic from Sylziria they were soon despatched. They investigated the cleared area but couldn’t find anything that looked awry.

After a brief dalliance with some hungry wolves, and Gulbrand finding one of Kepp’s bear traps the hard way, they eventually arrived at the head of the Somir Valley where more than a dozen boulder-sized chunks of ice littered the clearing ahead where a strange hut sat perched on tree trunks atop a raised mound of snow-covered earth. As they began travesising the ice-boulder field, they were suddenly assaulted by sorrowful images of the frozen dead which only Kelsidor was able to resist, and make his way through to the hut which was empty save for a wooden chair on which an ugly looking doll sat. As he returned back to report to his friends something attacked him with multiple ray of frost spells.

Once they had recovered their nerve, the rest of the Party, began navigating the ice-boulders, conspicuously avoiding the area they had seen the apparitions. As they neared the hut, Gunnar tossed one of the flasks of alchemist’s fire inside. As the hut went up in flames, the doll Kelsidor had seen came running out, also on fire, and began trying to roll in the sown to extinguish the flames – another couple of flasks of alchemist’s fire from the Party soon put made that attempt moot.

Examining the charred remains of the doll, Sylziria spotted a blue crystal, which she identified a some kind of soul gem. A few blows from Gulbarnd’s morning-star soon reduced the crystal to shards, and with the sighing of a breeze they heard a child’s voice say “Thank you!”

The Somir Valley

Heading deeper into the valley they Party had a run-in with the wounded giant weasel that they had read about in the journal they‘d recovered from Dryden Kepp’s body. Kelsidor was badly bitten, the wound bleeding profusely until Sylziria handed him a potion of cure light wounds.  The lying snow here was much deeper, as if it had been accumulating longer, and the was not so much falling as coming horizontally down the valley towards them. As they went deeper in they were ambushed by an ice mephit and air elemental, but multiple magic missile spells from Sylziria and arrows from the rest soon took care of them, allowing them to enter a wide clearing where four igloos could be seen through the driving snow.

One of the igloos had been built around a pit trap, which Gulbrand found out the hard way! While Kelsidor and Katya helped the fighter climb out, Sylziria was attacked by two winter-touched sprites. Fortunately they proved little match for the sorcerer’s fire-based magics. The other igloos were empty, and beyond them they found a cleared path leading to a cave. Sylziria cast light on a stone and tossed it into the darkness, only to find the Party confronted by an irate moss troll carrying a boar spear!

Kelsidor tried greeting the troll in Giant, but the troll attacked anyway. Though a fearsome looking foe, the troll proved little match for a flask of alchemist’s fire from Gulbrand and a couple of fire spells from Sylziria, leaving Kelsidor to administer the killing blow as the troll rolled around in the snow desperately trying to put the flames out! They spent the night in the cave, finding among enough supplies for a small army, a chest containing a large amount of treasure.

Next morning, somewhat recovered they set out down the valley into he teeth of a blizzard quickly finding the source - a bank of quill-like icicles  which speared outward in a ring, seemingly grown from a heavy  sheet of ice covering the ground . A second ring of giant icicle-shaped monoliths stood inside the outer ring, surrounding a swirling cylindrical vortex easily ten feet in diameter. Icy winds and driving snow blasted  from the vortex, creating the wintry weather in the clearing. Suddenly, a gaunt horseman with curling ram's horns and wearing coal-black armour lurched through the portal astride a black warhorse, surrounded by tendrils of cold, dark mist. The rider slumped in the saddle, a shard of blue ice jutting from his back. As rider and mount came to a halt in the snow, the horse suddenly dissipated into black smoke, and the horseman fells to the ground with a groan.

Dashing forward, the party found the dying fey looking up at them. He told them that he was Black Midnight, one of Bab Yaga’s Black Riders. He went onto tell them that Queen Elvanna , ruler of Irissen ,had betrayed Baba Yaga and plotted to take her place, and claim all of Golarion as her personal kingdom, she had deployed winter portals across the word which would eventually plunge Golarion into an endless Ice Age. He told them they could shut down this particular portal in the Pale Tower on the other side, but in order to stop Elvanna’s plans they needed to find Baba Yaga and get her to deal with he daughter. When asked how they could find Baba Yaga he told them they must use her Dancing Hut to follow her. The hut is a powerful artefact that can cross great distances , even travel between worlds . If you can control the hut, it can take you to Baba Yaga." He then gave them two keys to help control the hut -  a lock of white hair from a frost giant's beard and a plague doctor's mask, which they must place in the cauldron. He then shockingly slit his own throat – splashing the Party drenching the keys in his life’s blood

After recovering form the shock, and feeling strangely compelled to proceed on they passed through the portal, finding themselves on a wooded hillside where it was even colder than it had been before. Down in the valley Gulbrand spotted the lights of a village and they began stumbling through the snowdrifts towards it when they happened upon a band of merchants being attacked by a giant mantis!

Waldsby

Gulbrand led the charge down the hillside, helped by his snowshoes he charged the praying mantis as it held one of the merchants in it’s mandibles. The others moved forward and unleashed a flood of arrows and spells and the giant insets was soon slain. Caedwallis then came to help heal the wounded. The leader of the men introduced herself as a merchant, Nadya Petska, and thanked them for their help though she seem surprised at the presence of foreigners in the forest. After brief introduction she pointed to the threatening skies, which promptly began disgorging more snow, and suggested the Party join them in their camp, pointing to where several dogsled lay nearby. As they sat round the fire they quickly realised that Nadya held no love for the White Witches and would be a good ally for them in the locality, especially when she informed them her young daughter had been taken by the witches! When they explained they were heading for the Pale Tower to deal with the portal that was threatening their homeland she seemed impressed by their resolve – or foolhardiness - and offered to help!

Suddenly Gulbrand, who was keeping watch, spotted a figure coming through the snow and a female voice called out and asked if she could join the camp. Stepping forward and throwing off the hood from her cloak the visitor introduced herself as Kyrisjana, a bard who from her look was obviously some kind of half-fey. Gunnar stepped up to introduce himslef, but before he could speak, Nadya introduced them as her “cousins from a far village”  Somewhat surprisingly the half-fey seemed to accept this at face value, and they settled down for a pleasant enough meal. After the snow had abated somewhat, Kyrisjana announced that she had to be on her way and departed. After she had been gone a while  Nadya informed them that she believed the bard was a spy for the white witches.

Next morning they had just set out heading for Waldsby – the nearby village when  suddenly Nadya called a halt calling out a warning shout of  “Ravens!” The drivers immediate halted their sleds and began hauling white tarpaulins over them to camouflage them. The Party helped, and got in the sleds under cover. Unfortunately Sylziria and Gulbrand’s camouflage skills were obviously lacking as they were spotted and the ravens attacked.

Seeing what had happened the others came out to help. The raven swarms were eventually driven off but not before Caedwallis was badly injured by ravens pecking at his eyes - his sight badly affected by the scratches.  While the cleric cleaned and bandaged his wounds Katya urged them to hurry, and they quickly set off.

A couple of hours later they arrived in Waldsby, their arrival was greeted with much interest and, as Gunnar noted,  not a little fear from the local villagers, apparently  unused to visitors! They quickly made their way to Katya’s house, meeting her two young sons and her housekeeper who provided with a welcome hot meal, and after which, their host set out to complete her delivery and get them some less conspicuous clothing.

Next morning, at their request,  Katya took them shopping. As they walked the streets, they noticed that Waldsby was a weird mirror-immage of their home village, Heldren. The street layout was the same and th epub, church and shops were allin exactly the smale locations as home. Some of the goods they ordered from the shopkeeper - primarily the achemist's fire - had to be retrieved from her off-site stores, and  wouldn’t be available till the morning, so they agreed  to stay another day with Nadya.

Next morning they were preparing to depart when there was a loud knocking at the door. A loud voice announced they had an arrest warrant for Nadya Petska! Gunnar opened the door – and immediately stabbed the soldier standing there in the stomach!   Gulbrand and Kelsidor went  out the back door to deal with the guards there, while Sylziria and  Katya dealt with two outhers by launching arrows and spells at them from a window. Caedwallis meanwhile climbed out onto the roof from the loft and proceeded to drop alchemist’s fire down on the troops outside the front door, before the others arrived to despatch them.

The combat was over soon and they quickly loaded the bodies on the dog sled to dispose of in the forsest and quickly departed the village – stopping only to pick up their supplies from the shop.

The Pale Tower

Nadya stopped the sled on the edge of the forest  where sharp winds whistle across the stark white plain , stinging the eyes a long with the near- blinding rays of the reflected sun . A great eruption of frozen ice rose in the distance  - an imposing pale tower crowned with icicles spearing into the sky. Seemingly born of the land itself, an unbroken circular wall o f ice guarded the tower's base, with no means of entrance visible. High above, a large gash opened in the tower's bowl-like crown , ringed in icy spikes and split by a massive plane of ice resembling an inverted crescent moon. Using her spyglass, Katya spotted what looked like a well-trodden path, but it ended abruptly at the wall of ice. As darkness fell, the Party dressed themselves in the slain guard’s uniforms, and electing Sylziria as their spokesman marched down the pathway openly.

Somehow Sylziria managed to con their way past  the guards, who opened a section of the ice-wall and allowed them through. As they crossed the interior courtyard, which was dominated by an ice sculpture of a dragon,  to the door of the tower, Gunnar could sense eyes watching him from the kennels that lined the interior walls, but there was no sound of dogs. Passing through the huge doors, steamy air filled the inner gallery, emanating in lazy wisps from a bubbling pool recessed into the floor of a raised dais surrounded by six pillars of ice. Four foggy mirrors hung from the walls near ice sculptures of helmeted pike-wielding warriors. Several exits led off form this room going out the battlements atop the ice-wall, and in large alcoves to the north and south, a glassy pattern of striated, crystalline ice covered the tile d floor, illuminated by a soft, blue  light. Sylziria informed them that these areas radiated conjuration magic. Meanwhile Gunnar had managed to wander into  the barracks, but the remaining  guards there were swiftly dealt with, with some help from Kelsidor and Gulbrand. From the body of the one of the guards, whose uniform marked her as a sergeant,  they retrieved a blue ice-crystal that Sylziria advised also radiated faint conjuration magic and guessed it was a teleport key.

Using the crystal key, they teleported up to the second floor, where after a brief battle with a couple of winter-touched atomies, Gulbrand and Sylziria found what they presumed was Nadya’s daughter Thora in a room with one of the evil-looking dolls. Gulbrand swiftly destroyed the doll and Sylziria the soul-gem within, but the child appeared to be in some kind of coma. Gunnar meanwhile had managed to find another guard sergeant in a nearby library but she soon fell before his and Kelsidor’s attack. She too had a teleport key, but this one had a more greenish hue.

Across for the library was some kind of arboretum, where Kelsidor was attacked and badly injured by a mandragora before his friends managed to kill it.

The Ritual Chamber

Once Caedwallis had administered what healing he could to a somewhat shaky Kelsidor they continued exploring this level of the Pale Tower finding two teleport pads, one with a greenish hue and one with a reddish one. Somewhat surprisingly in  one of the guest rooms , they also found the Lady Argentea, whom they had though they had left safely behind in Heldren! However they sensed something was “off” about the Lady and they suspicions were aroused further when she didn’t seem to recall having been rescued by them previously.  Their suspicions were confirmed, when sensing they weren’t convinced, she attacked, revealing herself to be a doppelganger. Once the imposter was slain they discovered several books about the history of Taldor and it’s nobility in the bedroom as well as maps which the creature had been studying. Caedwallis surmised that they had planned to replace the real Lady Argentea with the duplicate to give them a spy in Taldor’s  ruling elite. Katya made sure to relive the deceased doppelganger of some very nice dresses in the wardrobe.

After a brief visit to the kitchens, and disposing of the spriggan cook - who nearly managed to kill Kelsidor, they headed through the green teleport to a crescent-shaped room where a triangle of crossed steel wires ran between three wooden posts on which numerous ravens perched. The rom smelled strongly from the bird droppings scattered across the floor. Along the south wall, open windows looked down from a dizzying height, admitting a brisk, cold wind . The occupant of the room, a blue-skinned white haired woman bearing the holy symbol of Gozreh, immediately rose into the air and began casting spells and  ordered the ravens to attack. While they Party dealt with the attacks they managed to get pot-shots off at the flying sylph, while she retaliated with spells. Eventually, while Katya took pot-shots at the sylph, Caedwallis and Gulbrand moved to attack while Kelsidor’s flail made short work of the raven swarm. Once they were free to turn their attention to the sylph it wasn’t long before she too went down. Searching the area they recovered a fair amount of  treasure as well as a reddish teleport key.

Heading back down to the lower level they used the key to the reddish teleport, they found themselves in a large ritual chamber. A translucent image of a globe hanged suspended in mid-air,
slowly rotating in place, above a summoning circle in the blue-tiled floor. Lines of arcane energy glowed across the globe's surface, faintly humming with power as they connect multiple end points in a radiant glow bright enough to illuminate the domed ceiling overhead . Many tables and shelves covered in books, maps, and large scrolls line the room's circular walls, and a large ornate mirror hung  between two open windows to the west. Twin ice sculptures of demonic fiends flank a bubbling cauldron in an archway leading into a deep alcove in the southern wall . A tall bearded man wearing a rich blue cloak and, somewhat surprisingly, a goat, were the only occupants. The bearded man immediately  summoned some ice elementals to attack them and rising into the air fired some blasts of ice from his wand while the elementals and the goat attacked. His final act was to cast a flurry of snowballs before flying out through the window to the courtyard below.

The Winter Portal

Sylziria and Caedwallis studied the magical construct in the room (while Gunnar began piling furniture round it) eventually decided it was too complex to analyse quickly and would require serious study. While they did so Katya and Gulbrand searched the area and all kept a weather-eye out on the activity in the courtyard below - especially when Sylziria spotted what looked like  a dragon down there! They were finally spurred into action when they heard the bearded witch order one of the guard to head out immediately and fetch back the troops searching the forest for the Black Rider. Sylziria contemplated using a scroll of fly to go after the messenger but the thought of being dragon-bait dissuaded her. As they left, they collected the young girl from her room, deciding to try and fight their way out Gunnar ignited the furniture, in an attempt to destroy the portal-construct, while Caedwallis tried to salvage at least some of the books and scrolls lying around  that might give them a clue to its functioning.

Reaching the lowest level without challenge, Sylziria, Kelsidor and Caedwallis headed for the battlements while Gunnar and Gulbrand went out the front door. In the courtyard they could see the witch and four guards  the other side of Sylziria's dragon - which appeared to be an ice sculpture - when suddenly an ice troll attacked them for the direction of the kennels!

As they deployed onto the walls the others came under crossbow fire from the guards there and charged forward.  The witch rose into the air and brandishing his wand, uttered a command word upon which the ice-dragon animated! A brutal split-level combat ensured in which Caedwallis had to save Sylziria from dying before the Party ultimately proved triumphant, alchemists fire proving very effective aginst the ice troll. From the single surviving guard who had surrendered Kelsidor, obtained the secret to opening the ice-gate and took off after the messenger the witch had sent to the troops. His trip was short lived as Nadya came towards him from the forest, with the messenger's head!

Returning to the slightly charred tower, Sylziria and Caedwallis spent some time reading through various books and scrolls ( one called On Sympathetic Magic being particularly useful)  before feeling confident enough to attempt
disabling the portal-construct . While the mages pondered, their friends looted the castle and Nadya enjoyed her reunion with her young daughter. Eventually the mages felt sufficiently able to attempt to  disable the portal and Sylziria taking the lead they began to weave their way into the spell matrix to disable it.

The Portal dealt with Nadya led them back to the village, where over dinner she offered to lead them to the capital so they could continue the quest set upon them by the Black Rider.