The Ascent

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Episode no.	Episode 99
Date	2010
Game Master	Abbe
Characters	Honeypot Nathaniel Nell Velicia
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File:Svevenka.png

The Queen Svevenka.

The next day the snowfall had stopped altogether. The sun shone and the warmth made water drops fall from icicles hanging from the roof. We packed all our things and set out up the mountain. I couldn't help but thought it was beautiful. The snow was glistering like diamonds and the water melting further up the mountain made high waterfalls where the water dispersed before hitting the bottom, creating rainbows of color in the sunshine. The mist slowly drifted down the slopes looking like ghosts calmly leaving the mountain. Velicia told us that her magical powers didn't work properly. She experimented with her magic and concluded that magic would be unreliable. It would make flying up the mountain side dangerous as it could suddenly just stop working you would fall to your death without any help from feather-fall rings. Instead I looked for an easier way to get up the mountainside than the ice covered cliffs that blocked our path. We found our way up making good use of Honeypot's agility as she was transformed into a snow leopard.

Nathaniel made sure we didn't freeze.

We stopped for lunch. Kaven made a fire and cooked lunch. I was so happy I brought him along. His food was fantastic and the warmth spread through all my body. Feeling much better we set out again. The few bushes we had seen so far sticking up through the snow disappeared altogether. There were no vegetation at all. The snow and sky seemed to turn into a shade of violet. There were no clouds above us at all. I could even see stars in the sky in the middle of the day.

To quicken our progress Nathaniel took out some big wooden beams and started making skis. I had no idea of what it was until he tried to show me. They didn't work but Velicia changed them and then they worked. It was even fun to use then. At least when we went downhill, which wasn't that often. At one time the was a gorge we had to cross. I saw that it was lower on the other side so I set out on the skis and gathered as much speed as I could. Then I jumped the gorge. It was a little too close to flying for my taste but it made crossing the gorge easy and quick. Then we continued upwards on foot. As we climbed over an edge we saw a frozen swamp in front of us. It looked very misplaced in the middle of all snow. Honeypot said that there was some hot springs below the snow that probably made this a quite comfortable place in the summer. It was very still, as if frozen in time. Mall drops of water dripped from twigs as the sun brought a little bit of spring even there. But there were some sort of movement. Small sparkling points of movement appeared and came closer. It turned out to be some sort of snow fairies. Honeypot told us that place was very close to Feywild. I wasn't sure what that meant. The fairies tried to trick us into following them and Honeypot did, so we all followed deeper into the frozen swamp.

They led us to where a geyser had spewed up hot water and made a frozen fountain that looked like an ice cathedral. It turned out to be a palace made of ice. We were invited and taken to meet the Queen. There was a whole fey court where we were presented to Queen Svevenka, of the ice fairies. She was very friendly. It turned out that Myriana in Shimmerglens that we helped, was her sister. She asked us if we too were going to Xin-Shalast and we answered her we were. She was troubled by that and told us that many had been coming and going; giants, dragons, men and even an undead eladrin. I was very troubled to hear of that. Shooting looks at the others I saw they suspected the same thing. I told her of Ironbriar and she recognized him. He had passed toward Xin-Shalast carrying a mighty sword. Queen Svevenka asked us of our story and I interrupted Honeypot just as she was about to tell her, telling of my play. We quickly discussed setting it up and with the help of Velicia's magic, Honeypot's hat of disguise and a few fairies we did it. There had appeared many more fey creatures and we had quite an audience. The play told our story and was well received.

Afterwards there was a party where we all were guests. There was food and I especially liked their sorbet. After eating there was dancing. I didn't understand it fully as they walked around in circles and bowed to each other. Not at all as the jumping around I was used to from taverns. But the sorbet was very refreshing after some dancing. Finally all my thoughts of the hauntings from my childhood left me. I felt like I was a child for the first time in my life. I started playing with the small fairies and making pranks. When Nathaniel danced with the queen I couldn't help but taunt him.

Sir Dancealot Hi, hi

Honeypot flirted with queen.

I ate more sorbet

We got presents

Woke up everything disappeared but presents