"If I'm okay in the morning, then they are safe to eat," Kurik responds.  "Now, I guess we press on for a bit as Mal suggested."  He simply raises his arm in a half attempt at urging them to follow and keeps moving the direction they had been before being stopped.  

When Kurik finishes eating the icy heart, which literally feels like munching on chunks of ice and snow, he feels the cold seep into his very veins...****y to fill his body with a numb feeling, as if pain is far away. He looks at his skin where it shows through furs and sees it looks a bit bluer than normal. The group trudges a bit further in the snowy dark, away from the scene of the battle, leading the skittish horses a few hundred feet away to a new spot. The air is absolutely frigid. Only Kurik, with his entirely numb body, and Mal who looks like she'd be comfortable in a tank top are unbothered by the frigid cold. The small gnome with a blue nose almost vanishes into the snow when he hops off of his horse. The snow, soft and powdery seems to almost hang in the air and swirl about with each breeze. With horses in hand the group looks around the camp site and..... ?  

Sod this! thinks Badger, and immediately casts the spell that conjures the warm, cosy tower (although just the two-storey version this time, with two bedrooms)

The ground shakes and mumbles as the gnome wizard casts his spell....as a tower rises from the ground, growing upwards as it spins in place, snow, dirt and rocks tumbling from its edges, tree roots snapping upwards. It's a slow, grinding affair, but ten minutes later the tower door is revealed as the tower has fully grown out of the ground. Without pause, Badger pushes the door open and leads his horse inside.  The air inside practically burns your skin, the room temperature air feels so warm after so long in the cold.  The horses prance and shake, their muscles twitching, happy to be within the warmth. 

The day passes within as the group rests. Though, during your watches you notice that the day consists of a 4 hour period where the sky lightens to the south a bit....but never breaches the horizon.  At some point in the night you hear the sounds of wolves howling nearby. Snapping teeth and yelps can be heard from the direction of the battle. Eventually though it's quiet. 

You all awake, feeling warm and dry. The tower, with its ladder between the levels, is not luxurious, but very functional, and ....did we mention, warm?  The group cooks up a bit of breakfast over a fireplace cookstove, frying some meat up and some slices of bread in the grease. Eventually though it's time to continue. 

Depressingly it's completely dark outside when you're ready to resume your trip. Though as you move out into the now crunchy snow you look up and between the trees spot a sky sparkling with star light. Wrapping yourselves up tight, you emerge back into the wintery cold. All too soon Badger and Kari realize where bare skin isn't wrapped up...and take care to fully bundle themselves. Mounting the horses, you head back to the road, and continue north east down the mountains to the northern tundra.  The mountains terrain is full of massive jagged rocks as you wind your way north. Often passing from forested sections, to partial tundra, to sheer rocky mountainsides, then diving back into forests. 

At some point you cross over a bridge across a large frozen river that runs left right. It's perhaps five hours later when you emerge from the forest, between high hills to either side to see a vast white smear of the tundra under the dark sparkling sky. To the north, hanging in the sky, are three huge curtains of light, wavering as if blowing slowly in the wind, though the the wind is absent. They shimmer in blues and greens, filling the sky with the light show. You travel towards ten towns welcomed by the auroras. 

Two hours later you come across what appears to be tracks from a large sled, and numerous large round flat footed things traveling in a large group. They seem to have come from off road to the east. Another two hours later when you're considered stopping for the night, you catch up to the sled, and its escort. What looks to be two dozen dwarves, large flat round snowshoes attacked to their boots, trudging after a sleigh laden with what appear to be trout. 

The glance back, noticing you approaching, and come to a stop to wait. It's early morning at this point, perhaps 9am. The stars still sparkle, the aurora ripples, and the masked, goggled covered faces of dwarves, their beards full of ice, silently watch as you approach them.  The first pulls down his face scarf and pulls up his goggles and raises a hand, "Ho there."

Badger is too cold to even raise an arm in greeting, worried that he will lose too much body heat in the process. These dwarves seem hardly worth the effort, but all the same Badger will scan their thoughts with his magic helm while the others do the talking.

As the sled and creatures come into view, Kurik takes a quick moment to ensure his blade could clear the scabbard and hadn't frozen shut.  Then he moved his hand way from the blade to make sure he didn't threaten them needlessly.

"Greeting, Sir Dwarf.  How goes the trail?" Kurik calls out in response.  His face mostly uncovered. His facial markings in clear view and his height would make it obvious he's a Goliath.

Kari is wary of the dwarves, but it's too late to hide now. She stays toward the back of the group and let's the others do the talking.

Mal also does not get too close to the dwarves and hangs back a bit, looking behind them to see if anyone else is trudging whatever trail they might be on. She makes sure to keep her backs to the dwarves as she continues to forget to get some kind of covering for her eyes.

The dwarf waves to the group of four on their horses. "Ahhh, the snow is deep and the air is cold. But we've a good haul of trout to take back to the clan. Yer goliath folk. Which clan you from? Where you comin from? Hundlestone?"  He glances to the gnome, and Kari, and Mal..who keeps her eyes downcast...but then returns his look back to the goliath. "Yer sure to reach Bryn Shandar by noon at yer pace. We'll be lucky to be there by dinner...but...a warm dinner and bed tonight sounds good ta me before we head home. Anyway...." he waves a hand, pulling his goggles back on then his face scarf up, then turns back, seemingly content for the exchange to be brief.  They slide the sled to the right side of the road to let you pass. 

Kurik looks up the road as the dwarf talks and points towards Bryn Shandar.  He turns back towards the dwarf as his questions flow from one to the next.  "Yes mister dwarf, I'm Goliath folk but I'm not from these parts.  We had hoped to make Bryn Shandar tonight and sounds like we will.  Before we move on... Any recommendations for an Inn?" he would respond and then ask.  After which he'd press on with the others.

After making it past earshot.  He'd tell the others where the dwarf recommended and ask, "Now, do we go there or do we pick someplace else incase they have loose lips?"

The dwarf scratches his beard thoughtfully, frost sparkling as it falls from his face. “I’d say the best taps in the town are probably in Northlook, but the place is a bit too rowdy for us. We like the “Brrr Inn Shander”, on the east side. A Tabaxi named Slapout runs the place. They do these funny acrobat shows. Anyway, if yer lookin for contacts and news thr Northlook is the place. Rest and a bit of entertaining I’d say the Brrr Inn Shander.”  He nods to Kurik as he rides past them. 

Badger shivers under his thick cloak as he calls out: Any tavern or inn or barn or outhouse will do, let us just keep moving! He continues to mutter to himself as he rubs his arms to keep warm: The oaf wants to stop for a social visit while we freeze in the snow. No consideration...

A smile graces Kurik's lips as Badger shouts his frustration.  "Mal, remind me when we get into to town to graciously toss Badger into an outhouse.  Per his words, it would do."

"I can get behind that." Mal responds back to Kurik, "Though the resulting explosion might alert the town to our presence."

Kari trudges along for a few more seconds before chuckling at that mental image, then spoke up once she was sure they were out of the dwarves' hearing. It may be too late to avoid notice, once those dwarves get in town. Is it a bad thing that that person, Balor or something, will know we are there? Maybe they would help, or maybe we would have to avoid the town altogether to avoid them. She looks around at the desolate cold, and looks weary and resigned at the thought of staying out in the cold for an extended amount of time. Then she perks up a bit as she says If we stay in town, maybe I could get us a discount at a tavern. 

When they get within 30 minutes or less of the town Kari will ask the party to wait a moment while she gets out her pouch of rune bones.

"Don't know if it's smart tossing that name out and around.  Not sure who he or she is but if they are anyone of influence, you don't just name drop.  Thinking we should just remain cautious."  Kurik responds.

The group rides on, discussing potential plans as their horses trudge through the snow. 

Before long the aurora fades away. Another hour later and the sky begins to lighten to the south. You've travelled all night and then some, pushing until you get to the town of Bryn Shander, tired of this frigid cold.

You each recall the information given to you by Laeral Silverhand regarding some artifact known as "the summer star".  It was some experimentation by a powerful wizard up here, and potentially was the anathema to the Ring of Winter. With luck it, or his research could lead to a way to destroy the artifact. The man's name was "Macreadus".

In the distance you see a rise in the terrain, nestled atop which is a walled city. Kari asks that you stop for a moment. She hops down from her horse into the undisturbed snow along the road and pushes aside enough to make a flat clear spot. She pulls her hand from her fur lined glove and reaches for her pouch of bones. The pouches leather is stiff from the cold. She shakes the bones about within, the cold biting at her hand, and sprinkles them into the patted down snow around the flat spot. The land in the patted snow without rolling, just sticking in spot. She reads the signs for a moment, closing her eyes and allowing her mind to focus and reach. She receives a warm rush and the feeling of "Weal" seeps into her. 

She picks the bones out of the snow and puts them back into the pouch, slipping her glove back over her hand which is more numb than usual. Then climbs back up onto her horse.

Rubbing her hands together and shivering, Kari rejoins the group. Let's go find a warm bed. I have a good feeling about this town. 

"Sounds good, lead the way." Mal says as he continues to look around them, expecting danger to come from anywhere at anytime.

Everyone takes a double take at Mal, ensuring she's still a woman, and then the group heads towards the town of Bryn Shander.  The walled town is perched atop a cold, lonely, wind-lashed hill. Bright lanterns suspended over narrow streets twist in the wind and add flecks of color to the town’s otherwise drab surroundings. The walls of the town stand some 30 feet high and are defined by two concentric rings of upright wooden poles, the gap between them filled with dirt and rubble. The outer ring of poles rises above the top of the wall, providing a rampart for defenders stationed on the wood-planked walkway. The wall’s hinged gates are 15 feet tall, and though they can be barred from the inside with iron-banded wood beams, they stand open as the group approaches. Two guards huddle near a coal filled brazier, just inside the gate and out of the cold wind. One of them claps his gloved hands together and he shuffles into the path.  "Ho there. Welcome to Bryn Shander. You won't be causin any trouble in town now, will ya?"  He glances at the Goliath especially long and adds, "No challenges in town, clear?"