Plague of Ice

12

For perhaps thirty seconds they stood and stared at the frozen body and the artifact clutched in its dead hands.

"He's a rogue," Lidda pointed out, noting the singed lockpick set at his waist. "He must have picked his way through that room the same as we did."

"The scout always survives the longest," Regdar said, tousling Lidda's hair.

Lidda smiled back at him. "He may have lived the longest, but that still wasn't long enough. Traps got his friends and they got him, too, in the end." The halfling pointed out a small dart protruding from the man's neck. "He must have pulled the Frozen Pendant off that pedestal there," she pointed out an empty one, "and triggered a poison dart trap. So much for him. I wouldn't touch anything in here for the moment. There are almost certainly more traps."

"So the pendant didn't kill him," Hennet noted, wedging the magic torch into a tight space between two crates. "It just iced him over after his death?"

"Apparently," said Lidda. She prodded the corpse with the edge of her short sword. The weapon broke a layer of ice around the dead man's leg. "Sonja, in that story of yours, all the bad things happened after the Sultan touched the item, right?"

"That's how I remember it," Sonja said. "If the story is to be believed then it would seem it is activated by touch."

"So if it's already been activated, the pendant must be safe to touch now," said Hennet, and he reached for it.

"I wouldn't do that," said Sonja, grasping the sorcerer's arm. "I suspect very strongly that when this rogue picked up the pendant, he activated the rift above us. I don't know what would happen if you touched it now."

"Are you certain anything will happen?" Regdar asked. "The mephits seemed to think it would be safe enough for us to handle it."

"The mephits lied," she stated. "They said that Glaze activated the Ilskynarawin. That clearly didn't happen."

"Dragons aren't known for their lockpicking skills," said Lidda. "Either our dead rogue and his companions led Glaze through, or-"

"Or Glaze was never down here," said Regdar. "Look around you. Does it look like a dragon was in here? Glaze would have torn everything to pieces."

"But why the deception?" asked Hennet. "You're our expert on mephits, Sonja-why did they lie to us?"

"Easy," replied the druid. "They want the Frozen Pendant. I think they can pass back through the rift anytime they choose to do so. They aren't trapped here at all, they've just decided to stay in the hope of finding some way to recover this device. If we handle it and inadvertently make the rift larger, that won't bother them at all. They don't plan to stay here, anyway. Once they have the pendant, they'll disappear back through the rift to the Plane of Ice and leave us behind with our problems. That's how I see it.

"And," she added, "I don't appreciate being used this way."

"I think I understand," said Regdar. "They want the Frozen Pendant. They can't come down here themselves because it's too warm and also because they could never get through all the traps and locked doors. Now that we've cleared the way for them…"

"Have we cleared the way?" asked Hennet. "Aren't the locks still intact? That door closed on us all by itself, and so did this one." He pointed to his short spear, still keeping the door open a crack.

"The doors probably lock themselves," Lidda agreed. "It's a magical thing. I've seen it in mages' dungeons before. But who knows how long that takes to work. As it is, the doors, or rather the door, may still be more sensitive to being opened by force."

"I tried to force the far door," said Regdar. "It didn't work."

"But you were forcing it from the inside," Lidda reminded him, "and it opened into the room. It may be easier to force from the other side."

"So what do we do?" asked Hennet, growing increasingly frustrated. "Those little winged bastards lied to us, tricked us into doing their dirty work for them, and we're still thinking of making the delivery for them. I should have killed more than just three of them."

"Hennet," said Sonja, "we don't know what their intentions are. Maybe-"

"Maybe they want to turn our world into an outpost for this Plane of Ice. Sure, they didn't open the rift, but I bet you anything they shed no tears over it. They probably want this amulet to widen the rift, to let more of their friends through. And I'm damned if I'll deliver it to them on a platter!"

"What do you recommend instead?" Regdar demanded of the sorcerer.

"I recommend we take the artifact, we figure out how to use it, and we seal that rift ourselves." Hennet leaned over the corpse, grasped the golden necklace, and pulled it back, shattering the ice lining the man's body. A few fingers snapped as Hennet wrenched the artifact from the dead fist. Sonja muttered a half-hearted protest, but it was no good. Hennet moved toward the light and closely inspected the hunk of black ice that was the Ilskynarawin. To stop its swinging, he cupped it in his hand.

The ice shone brighter for just a moment before erupting with a brilliant flash of light. When this faded away, the piece of ice was the same, every contour identical, but for the color-it was transformed into a brilliant white. Hennet looked on it in awe. He dropped the cold lump of ice from his palm, leaving the necklace dangling around his fingers.

"You fool!" Regdar shouted. "You moronic bumbler! Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Hennet stuttered out a "no." Regdar grabbed his arm, squeezing so hard that Hennet almost cried out. Regdar looked at Lidda, and the halfling pulled out her dagger and used it to catch the chain. With his free hand, Regdar pulled open a pocket in his tunic, and Lidda dropped the artifact into it.

"Neither do I," said the fighter, releasing Hennet and taking a few cagey steps back, "but I doubt it's good. For all we know, you just made the rift twice as wide and twice as stable, letting Pelor-knows-what through. For all we know, you just doomed us all!"

"Maybe I shut the rift," Hennet shot back, jabbing a finger against the larger man's solid breast. "Did you think of that? At least I did something instead of falling onto my face in a pit trap a toddler could have avoided!"

"Stop it," Sonja and Lidda protested, unheard and unacknowledged.

"What about that boy, Teron?" asked Regdar. "You let him come along with you even though he couldn't fight well enough to defend himself against a single orc. Why? Did he remind you of yourself? You let him get killed."

Stung by the accusation, Hennet cried out, "That's good, coming from the lunatic who rushes into a half a dozen gnolls, hacking every which way without any regard for what his mates might be up to with spells or bows. Acts like an idiot, prevents from anyone helping him, and gets himself knocked out for his trouble. Who wants to literally burn bridges that are our only route of escape. The addle-pated warrior with more weapons than brains, who loses his own lady then lusts after another man's so openly that I feel frankly embarrassed for him."

A roar grew in Regdar's deepest seat of anger, spreading throughout his body, turning his face to a bright scarlet. Veins bulged in his neck and forehead and a string of babble flowed from his mouth, completely beyond his control.

"If I had Sonja then I'd take some effort to be more attentive to her! Neglected in this dungeon the last place she'd want to be in the world as you make jokes! You don't deserve Sonja you scrawny little glory-thirsty mageling! If it wasn't for Sonja standing here I'd crush you where you stand."

"Is that all that's stopping you?" Hennet challenged him.

Regdar slammed his right fist across the smaller man's cheek. The unprepared sorcerer flew backward and slammed into the wall, where he knocked over a suit of armor before slumping to the ground. As the armor fell, it triggered a trap in another corner of the room, loosing a barbed arrow that zipped across the room and struck the wall just above Hennet's head then bounced away.

The emotional satisfaction Regdar felt from the punch faded away fast, to be replaced by a deep sense of shame. The world above was freezing, the Plane of Ice threatened to consume everything, and he couldn't think of anything but his own pain. What would Sonja think of him now? Could Hennet forgive him? And what of Lidda, his longest and most faithful companion in travel and adventure? All these faces looked at him with mixtures of shock, anger, and disappointment. All was silent as each waited for the others to speak first.

The stillness was shattered by a huge hang from the next room. The sound echoed repeatedly across the cubic room. Regdar pushed the heavy, black door wider open to peer into the adjoining room, only to have it yanked away from his hand. He found himself looking into the fat, armored torso of a giant. It was hunched over because it was too tall to stand upright in the room. Even stooped, its bald head scraped the black ceiling of the oven. In one arm it clutched a huge, thick club, and in the other it had a triangular shield. The far door was open but intact despite having been forced by this behemoth.

Regdar, Hennet, and Lidda all screamed "frost giant!" Only Sonja knew better. The creature was a verbeeg-smaller than a frost giant but closely related to them, just as evil and almost as dangerous.

The verbeeg swung its club at Regdar. The fighter hopped deftly back and used his foot to pull Hennet's short spear back into the treasure chamber at the same time that grasped the edge of the door with both hands and pulled with all his might. The door slipped from the giant's grasp and noiselessly closed the portal a moment after Regdar whipped his hands back into the treasure room. No sooner had the door closed than they heard an ear-splitting boom from the massive club striking the door. It shook the entire room, setting the treasures vibrating and jangling.

"Will the oven room heat up again?" Hennet wondered, pulling himself up and rubbing the welt on his cheek. "That would be an overdue twist of fate in our favor."

"It won't unless the other door closes," said Lidda.

"I don't think it's going to be in there long enough for that to matter," said Regdar as the door shuddered under another crash. A few suits of armor vibrated free of their mounts and clattered to the stone floor. The next impact sounded as if the verbeeg had abandoned its club and was instead slamming itself full-force against the door. The panel wouldn't hold much longer. Regdar tried to reinforce it with his body, and Lidda and Hennet came up to do the same.

"That's a verbeeg," said Sonja from behind. "They're fairly intelligent. Maybe we can reason with it."

The club struck against the door again, knocking Lidda backward with the door's recoil.

"This one doesn't sound especially reasonable," the halfling said, springing back to her feet.

"Get away from the door," Sonja advised, and the others took her advice. They backed away to the corners of the room, weapons drawn and ready to fight. Regdar made sure the Frozen Pendant was secure within his coat and readied his greatsword as the verbeeg struck the door again, and again. The final blow smashed the door inward to hang limply on its bent and torn hinges. The giant bent low and squeezed its head and shoulders through the doorway, preceeded by the menacing club.

"Where is the Pendant!" it bellowed, sweeping the club to and fro, smashing crates and upsetting pedestals. Its Common was oddly accented and deafeningly loud.

Hennet fired a burst of magic at its massive chest. The spell briefly draped the room in sepulchral green. His magic missile slipped around the verbeeg's shield to strike squarely on its chainmail-covered breast. The monster reared back in pain but only slammed against the doorframe. Enraged, it surged forward, tearing out most of the doorjamb and plunging headlong into the treasure chamber.

Regdar and Lidda dired to the floor as the massive club swept just above their heads. Boxes, vases, picture frames, and rolled tapestries crashed and tumbled across the room. The tumult triggered several traps-arrows and darts launched from hidden points along the walls brought a sharp cry from the verbeeg, which stared dumbly at three metal shafts now buried in its arms and shoulder.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Regdar dashed forward and drove his sword against the wide shield that the verbeeg held before its pendulous belly. The giant responded instinctively by thrusting the shield forward, and almost slammed it against Regdar, but the fighter pulled back in time. Even before it had turned to face the warrior, the verbeeg's club was sweeping around in a powerful swing. Regdar readied himself to parry the blow, but it did no good. The blow was driven by such force that the human and his greatsword were both batted aside. Regdar bounced against the wall, and his sword stayed embedded in the verbeeg's weapon.

The monster would have finished Regdar there and then if not for the crossbow bolt fired by Lidda that sliced into a nerve in its lower leg. The well-placed shot was far more painful than injurious. When it whirled back to find the attacker, Hennet rushed out and pulled Regdar to relative safety behind a mahogany cabinet. From there, Regdar caught a flash of Sonja's blonde hair in one of the room's corners, but Lidda was nowhere to be seen.

"Which of you worms," shouted the verbeeg, "is going to give me this damned pendant?"

"Why do you want it?" came Sonja's voice. Whether because of the strange acoustic properties of the room or druidic magic, the verbeeg could not pin down the source of the sound.

"It will earn me a place in the cold ones' new order-and the chance to crack a few human skulls."

The verbeeg pried Regdar's greatsword from its club and threw it through the open door into the oven room behind it, where it skidded across the floor with a metallic clash.

"If we could get on the other side of it," Hennet whispered to Regdar, "I could catch it in a web and trap it."

"Why not do it from here?" asked Regdar.

Hennet shook his head. "We'd be trapped along with it."

The verbeeg scanned the damage it had caused, looking for whoever might be hiding in the ruins of the treasure room. Cautious and clever, it had no intention of plunging headlong into a room full of hidden enemies.

In the corner of his eye, Regdar saw Lidda peek out from beneath a collapsed suit of armor and slither across the floor. He gaped as she slipped unnoticed between the verbeeg's legs. The halfling crouched behind the giant, then with a spring, she gripped its chain armor and climbed its back like a monkey ascending a thick tree.

The verbeeg snarled in surprise and dropped its shield to the floor with a clank. Its arms flailed right and left, high and low, as it groped for whatever was crawling on its back. Before it could get hold of the halfling perched precariously on its verbeeg's shoulders, Lidda drew her short sword and spiked it against the side of the giant's head. The blade gashed the monster's ear and scalp, drawing a torrent of blood, but the blade bounced off the thick bone. The verbeeg slapped its free hand against the gushing wound and let out a mighty roar that shook the whole room, then slammed its shoulders backward against the wall.

Lidda had already shifted position, and when the verbeeg hit the wall, she sprang forward off its shoulders into a graceful, two-point landing on a nearby treasure chest. The verbeeg slashed its club aimlessly in her direction, but she had already vanished amid the broken cabinets and fallen treasures.

"We need to draw it farther into the room," Hennet yelled as he rose above the cabinet where he was sheltering. Another magic missile slammed into the verbeeg's upper body but did little to injure or even distract the giant from its slashed scalp.

Regdar emerged as well. Without his greatsword, he grabbed the giant's fallen shield and shrank behind it against the remains of a shattered cabinet. The verbeeg strode uneasily toward the center of the room then threw caution away. Its club swung indiscriminately, tearing apart whatever it struck.

"Now! Move!" shouted Hennet.

At last Sonja emerged from her corner, leaped up into the verbeeg's face, and launched a brilliant flash before its eyes. The giant instinctively brought both its hands up to its face to shield itself from the dazzling light, dropping its club as it did so.

Seizing the opportunity, three humans and a halfling dashed past the dazed giant. Lidda snatched the torch on her way out. Ducking under a flailing elbow, Regdar saw that the far doorway leading out of the oven room was still open. Recalling the tendency of these doors to close on their own, he shouted a warning to Hennet, who again slid his short spear into the doorway just in case. Regdar scooped up his greatsword from the center of the room as he passed. Panting and battered, they turned back to look at the verbeeg, still smashing its way through the treasure room.

"Back here, ugly!" Hennet yelled at the verbeeg, readying his spell.

The verbeeg started, finally realizing that it was alone in the room. With awkward steps it made its way forward, through the shattered doorway and into the oven room. Lidda's gash still ran with blood. As Hennet let his spell fly, a large, intricate, gossamer web unfolded in the air and attached its corners to each wall and the ceiling with the verbeeg at its center. The giant struggled against the constraining silk, but as it did it only become more entangled. It screamed until the web tightened around its face and silenced it completely.

For a minute they watched the verbeeg laboring vainly against Hennet's spell. There was something pathetic about it, and Regdar stepped forward with his greatsword to end the monster's misery.

"I wouldn't do that," cautioned Hennet. "You might not be able to get the sword back."

"Then how do we kill it?" asked Sonja. "Your spell won't last forever."

"I don't know. Right now, though, I don't want to risk cutting the web or accidentally dispelling it with another effect."

Without warning, the door to the treasure room stirred, rose up from the floor, and wedged itself back into the ruined jamb. Four pairs of eyes turned and looked back at the other door, but it still stood wide open, with Hennet's spear lying in the opening. All of them thought the same thing. If the room would heat up again, that would surely kill the verbeeg.

"Will the heat melt the web and free the verbeeg?" asked Regdar.

"It probably will," Hennet said. "But I don't think it has enough strength left to force the door."

"We could probably kill it with arrows," Regdar said, "but we probably would empty our quivers in the process. Lidda, you're our leader down here. What do you think?"

The halfling walked closer to the enwebbed monster and gave it a hard look. "It's not moving. It could be dead already." She turned back to the others. "We roast it."

"What about the Pendant?" asked Regdar. "If we leave it in here, even if it survives the heat the mephits will have a really hard time retrieving it."

"Will they?" asked Sonja. "They sent the verbeeg. They sent us. I think it's safest in our possession."

The other three nodded in reluctant agreement. When they left the room, the door swung shut behind them. Within minutes, they could feel the heat through the wall.

"How long do you suppose it's been since the Frozen Pendant has been taken out of that room?" asked Lidda.

"Not nearly long enough," said Sonja.