Kira and Ciylia bought the bear fur coats and snowshoes. They had to rent a pull cart to carry it all back to Rolivish's shop. Everyone else was already then when they arrived.

"Thank you," Gene nodded at the two women when they arrived. "Everyone grab a fur jacket and some snowshoes. It's going to be cold but if we leave within the hour, we could be almost at the Ardent River by nightfall. Then we cross the river and we should be inside the cave that Rolivish mark on the map for us by the afternoon tomorrow."

The Jellybeans listened as they grabbed their gear and started walking to the east exit because the foothills from the north exit would make the trip take longer. Kira left the pull cart with Rolivish, "I would be happy if you could return this for us."

"I'll do my best," smiled the elderly gnome.

Most people tied their furs and shoes to their bags. The extra weight on her back made Kira feel heavy and lopsided not that she was going to complain. She had a reputation for being the strongest female member of the Jellybeans and she wasn't going to let anyone see her as weak.

They went to the gate and rented some horses to make the trip easier which Kira was thankful for. She was unsure of how long she could have walked like that. She knew the horses could only go as far as the river, any further north and they'd freeze to death. Fern pitched in with paying for the horses and their rations. Finally, they were heading towards the Frosted Mountains.

The first few hours were extremely boring just Kira riding on a horse with Aliya. Because they were a more compact size, they could fit on the horse together without overburdening it. When the sun got low in the sky, Kira spotted something unusual in the distance. A mass of grass, leaves, and other vegetation was moving around the near barren plains. The only other thing she could see was a herd of deer grazing.

"Hey Gene," yelled Kira. "There is something weird about that pile of plants."

She watched the monk stop his horse so he could look where she was pointing. The mound of vegetation moved slowly crawled towards the deer. Once it got close it stopped moving and waited for a deer to move closer to it. As a deer approached to nibble to the suspicious plant pile, the mound lifted itself off the ground and devoured the deer. The rest of the herd sprinted away as fast as it could.

"You guys, keep going straight," ordered Gene. "I'm going to lure that thing away from you. After about 3 or 4 hours make camp and I'll meet you there. Meowlynn, keep the fire bright so I can find you."

With that, he dashed off with his horse. The rest of the group continued moving forward but most people were staring at Gene's heroics. After a minute or so the mound began following the monk. He slowed his horse down to lure it before he dug his heels into the beast's flanks and bolt off.

Hours after that event the Jellybeans decided to make camp for the night. An hour later, Gene found the camp and was welcomed with a hot bowl of stew. "Is everyone alright," their leader asked.

"No problem," said Kira. "Glad to see you are okay."

"Thanks for the meal," grinned Gene to Fern. "And thank you for the fire," he said to Meowlynn.

Ciylia left the camp just after night infected the sky to look for some food or more wood. The night was very cold and everyone huddled next to the warm fire. Blaine was shoving his hands and feet directly into it since he claimed that fire didn't really hurt him. The halfling was jealous of the curse-blooded man and even wished her skin was like his. The cold air was not treating her well, in Silverwind it was always summer so she never had to deal with it.

She laid closer to the fire and pull her sleeping back tightly over herself. The ranger was even wearing her fur coat to help her cope better. Soon sleep took her but she knew that the next day was going to be rough.

When the morning came, Ciylia was leaning against a thin tree coughing and sneezing. The icy temperatures must have taken a toll on her body. "I'm sorry Gene," she muttered. "I'm going to rest here a while longer and probably head back. My body can't handle this."

"I understand," comforted Gene. "We'll meet you back at the Leaky Tap when we return. Be careful of that plant monster."

"I will," sniffled the thief.

Gene gave her some rations and a few pieces of firewood. Then everyone hopped on their horse and headed towards the mountains.

"Was it wise to leave her there," questioned Fern.

"Sadly, we don't have much of a choice," stressed Gene. "We need that gem to give us the time to remove that thing from you. We don't know what will happen if it consumes you."

The Jellybeans raced along for hours and eventually got to the Ardent River. At the bank of the river was a beautiful human woman. She had red pigtails and big round spectacles on the flawless face. She wore a long white trench coat that stopped at her knees, slim black pants, beautiful tight brown boots, a belt that had a pouch with various papers sticking out of it, and was holding some sort of small board.

"Hello," yelled Gene.

The woman turned and waved as if she was greeting an old friend, a bit too trusting for Kira's tastes. In her experience, the only people that trusting are those trying to con you or fools, no offense to her current leader. She did consider him the most intelligent fool she ever met if that meant anything.

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"Excuse me, miss," said Gene as he rode up to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello," a radiant smile crossed her face. "My name is Elizabeth Tally. I'm a cartographer following in the footsteps of my father Edward Tally. Most maps that are used today were made by him."

"Impossible," gasped the monk. "You are from the famous E. Tally family line of cartographers? I've studied your family's work with my mentor Worldwalker."

"Worldwalker?" The woman paused in thought, "Ah, yes. The only minotaur I've ever met. He came to learn from my grandfather many years ago."

"He did? That's amazing." The two of them laughed like a young couple leaving everyone else to feel a bit awkward.

"So are you a budding cartographer yourself," Tally asked.

"I dabble," he admitted. "Nothing as serious as you." The monk took off his bag and pulled out some maps Kira saw him make while the others were away for the week.

The red-headed woman scanned the maps. "You have a knack for it," she smiled. "A bit rough around the edges but I could help you polish your work."

"Thanks, but another time maybe." Finally, it seemed the smartest fool was finally getting back to the mission at hand instead of flirting with some floozy he just met. "We need to get across the river. Do you know where a bridge is?"

"A bridge? I'm afraid it was destroyed years ago," Elizabeth paused. "But I can give you this."

The woman searched in her bag and pulled out two small square pieces of wood. "I have an extra anyways."

"What is it," asked Meowlynn from the distance. "Why would we need that piece of firewood."

"Oh," laughed the floozy. "I guess I should have explained. This is a magical item."

"And what does it do?" Blaine joined in patronizing the cartographer.

"It becomes a raft, allow me to demonstrate." Elizabeth took a few paces back and threw the small piece of wood into the air. "Float!"

Once she said that word, the wood expanded quickly and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Fully expanded, the piece of wood could comfortably carry the whole group. "Sink," yelled the woman, and the magical wood shrunk back down to its normal handheld size.

"I'll also give you this," she extended a piece of paper to Gene. "It's the most up-to-date map of the world. After I'm done doing some exploring here, I'm going south to the Spine of Asmir. That area is largely undocumented."

"Thanks," replied Gene. "What can I give you for these things?"

"Nothing, but it would be nice if you could document the Frosted Mountains since you are going that way." Tally walked closer to Gene, "to be honest, I'm afraid of the monsters and cold there."

"I mean it's the least I could do," blushed Gene. "Do you happen to know somewhere we could put our horses for a night or two?"

"I'd be happy to look after them for you," stated the woman. "It's no problem. I plan to be here for a few more days gathering information."

"Perfect," groaned Fern. "Here is their food and water rations. Take care of them."

"Sure, just so you know, to move the raft all you have to do is think about the direction you want to go. There is nothing to it."

"Thank you," mentioned Kira out of courtesy.

The druid began pushing the monk towards the river and everyone else followed, waving back at Elizabeth.

The river was rushing fiercely and everyone was a bit timid about going over it. "I'll go first," volunteered Gene. "Don't worry."

He took the piece of wood and yelled the magical word, "Float!" It expanded as he dropped it into the river, then it started to float downstream. The monk ran after it and jumped onto it but not gracefully. His landing was rough and he almost slipped into the icy water below.

Magically, he started coming back upstream but the current was trying to buck him off. Once he returned to the starting position he turned to Fern, "Can you transform into anything that can swim?"

"Yeah, I can do that!" When he spoke it was as if it was the thing he was proudest of. "I studied a lot of the sharks in the habour where I grew up. What do you need?"

"I need you to become something big enough to keep this thing stable as we go across but first I need your help to set up a safety net for us in case the current becomes too strong."

"Okay, I can become a shark that is fine with the cold."

"Perfect," beamed Gene. "I want you to get on the other side of this raft and reset your dorsal fin against it. When someone taps it, I want you to swim to the other side beside the raft. This also lets you hold the raft still when we are done going across or no one is on it."

The druid nodded and jumped into the water, transforming into a reef shark just before breaking the surface. "Kira," yelled Gene. "I need you to tie two lengths of rope together and hand me one side, and you stick the other side in with this," the monk pulled out a piton from his bag.

He threw it onto the ground in front of her. She went to work and did as Gene instructed but held the rope while she waited to see how much slack the monk needed to secure the rope on the other end.

Kira watched as her leader traveled back across the river on the magical raft, Fern fin poking out of the water as it moved next to the raft. Gene jumped off of the large square piece of wood causing it to move and shake but the shark lifted its body a bit to catch the raft and made sure that it didn't go anywhere.

Four strikes with the pommel of his dagger later, Gene had secured the rope to a piton on his side of the river. The ranger followed his lead and did the same on the side everyone else was on. A taut rope that spanned across the river was now ready to catch someone if they should fall.

Gene then hopped back onto the raft and collected everyone, one by one. Luckily, nothing bad happened and everyone made it across without an incident. They continued to travel a little while longer on foot, but the night seemed to be coming quickly, the wind howled relentlessly in their face, and the hard ground was becoming compact snow.

The halfling thought snow was like a rose, beautiful to look at but can be very dangerous. Even though it was her first experience with anything to do with winter, she was not enjoying it. She had no idea how anyone could live in such cold and terrible conditions. She loved how the snow looked as the light hit it, like several diamonds reflecting like. It was very similar to how it looked when the sun's rays bounced off the ocean during her patrol days.

The closer they got to their destination, the more hazardous the environment became. Blaine had spotted a group of rocks that formed a little barrier against the sub-zero weather. The Jellybeans quickly hurried over to it and set up camp. Meowlynn was working overtime to keep the campfire alive. It seemed especially difficult when Fern was trying to cook as she also had to warm the meat and vegetables so he was able to cut them, as well as make sure the broth in the pot was boiling.

Kira sat down to rest and notice a purple mark on her skin near her wrist. "Aliya," she called out. "What is this?"

"It's called frostbite," said the gnome as she arrived at her friend's side. "Here, put this on."

The cleric handed Kira some sort of orange ointment. When she put it on a small warmth flowed through the odd purple spot on her skin and returned the skin back to its normal colour.

"Be careful," warned Aliya. "If you aren't careful, we'll have to remove the infected skin."

With that warning in mind, Aliya waited for her bowl of stew and placed her sleeping bag as close to the fire as possible. "Aliya? Can you share my sleeping bag with me so we can stay warm?"

"I'd love that," smiled the cleric.