dis way? or dat way?

Gob looked left. Through the sleet and fog he could see the winding mountain pass hugging the side of the rocky crags, sometimes no more than a ledge between the harsh rocky wall on one side and the perilous drop of the cliff on the other. White snow drifts settled where they could, precariously, falling every now and again to remind anyone who was thinking of choosing that path to reconsider. It slanted upwards steeply. The icy blasts of wind whipped the word treacherous around with every gust.

He looked right. It was wider, flatter and meandered gently downhill towards the invitingly green rolling hills, vales and lush woodlands of The Realm below. A stunning view. Inviting.

stay in da muntins his senses told him.

The others were all looking at him expectantly.

Leftwards was, as the wind suggested, a long and treacherous mountain pass, inhabited by a wild and unsavoury mountain creatures. However, as the White Orc had described to him, it lead Northwards over the mountains to a fork, which would give them the option to either head East into the Shadowlands, or West back down into the Northern reaches of the Realm. Gob wanted to go left. He wanted to go to the Shadowlands he had seen in his Spirit vision, then further East to the Lizard Empires where they could make Southwards for Cragtop without being intercepted by Gervais or the influence of the High Council. He sensed that going right was to be walking into a trap.

“If we're fast and stealthy we'll beat Gervais to the bottom of the pass and we'll be through to the cover of the woods before he even knows we're above ground again” said Leőn impatiently, "It's a much more direct route to Cragtop. You need to BEAT Gervais there don't you? Not take the longest possible route to give him time to get ahead of you!"

Gob shook his head.

“The mountain pass is dangerous Gob, and what lives in these mountains are only things that are best left alone” said the White Orc.

Gob crossed his arms.

“Gob you know I'll go anywhere you go” said Kylie “but what is it over there you're hoping to find?”

It was a good question, and Gob didn't really know the answer to it. He wasn't working on any sort of plan. He just... knew which way was the right way. And he had been thinking of something else too.

“if yoo woz jervais, wot wood yoo do ta cach us?”

Leőn didn't answer.

Kylie did. “I'd make King Jâred tell me where we went. Leőn's proposal of giving you a Quest to officially dispose of the Count was excellent, but Gervais will still insist on his cooperation... nothing about the Quest prevents the King from helping Gervais find us. In fact helping would lend more credibility to it.”

Gob nodded.

“but how yoo know jervais woz even at da dwarf kingz hall”

“King Jâred told us…” she said

“da king say ‘der iz a messenga’. i fink mibby jervais woz not der. mibby gervas iz heer, waitin.”

He pointed down the pass.

Leőn had been nodding while he spoke, “Not bad, Gob. Very persuasive! Also, plausible. Tell you what, you three start up the pass. I'll sneak down a ways and see if you're right.”

He glanced at the White Orc, who nodded. He untied his cloak from around his shoulders, and with a flick the cloak changed from its usual black to a mottled grey and white. Once he pulled it back around his shoulders, he seemed to blend into the snowy rock wall behind him. With a last mischievous smile he disappeared. Elves really did move fast when they wanted to.

Gob, Kylie and the White Orcs set off up the pass. The going was as treacherous as it looked, and it was slow progress. After some time they reached the first ridge, behind which was another ridge, and beyond that another. All in the same monotonous, glaring white. The weather had cleared as they had climbed and the sun was large and bright now that they were above the sleet and fog.

"Gob, you're changing again!" said Kylie.

He looked sown at himself. He hadn't really noticed, but now that he thought about it the initial biting cold of the snow and sleet had diminished while they were climbing. He had thought that was just because of the exercise and the sunlight, but now he could see he had physically adapted to the new biome. His stonehide had changed to be a thick, white, furry, even fluffy coat that concealed a solid, frozen stone-like skin underneath it, and his pigiron claws had changed from their heavy dark metallic forms to become a light transparent blue. They looked more fragile than the pigiron, but Gob examined one closely. The edge of it glinted in the sunlight. He touched it gently with the tip of his other finger and a bead of blood formed with the lightest pressure. They weren't as robust, but they were sharp!

trait:stonehyde>trait:shagpilehide. You're warm, but you aren't cuddly. Underneath the cute shagpile you're as hard as a glacier. trait:pigironclaws>trait:slicehooks. Warning. Slicehooks cut things real easy. Razor sharp, adds CHILL to the damage.

"Ha ha ha!" laughed Kylie, "You look like a tiny little yeti!"

The White Orc grimaced at Gob. "Good for you." he said. Although he was White like snow, he only liked the darkness. The bright exposing sun was agitating him. He pulled a dark set of glasses out of his inventory and slipped them over his eyes for protection.

"Ha ha ha!" laughed Kylie, now looking at the White Orc, "And you look like a gangsta!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." he growled, "If it's another 'earth thing' then I really don't care." He flicked his hood up over his head and then pulled it as low down over his face as he could.

"Perfect!" said Kylie happily to herself.

They reached the base of the next ridge and started to climb. They weren't very far along their ascent when there was a loud, shrill

Shreeeeeeiiiiiiiii!

from the top of the high ridge, and a flurry of snow kicked up unexpectedly at the top. Some snow drifts tumbled down the slope. The drifts gathered some speed and mass as they came, steadily growing. Before long, they started to look threatening, and moments later they were an avalanche rumbling down the pass towards the three of them, forcefully gaining momentum as it came.

“Hold still!” called White Orc, drawing a large circle in the air with his left arm. He swung his arm faster and faster, and a darkness appeared in the centre. The darkness spread wider and wider, forming a whirling vortex around a pitch black core. The Orc's arm stopped moving, but the crudeblessing:vortexshield continued to spin and grow. It increased in size until it was bigger than they were. The Orc crouched into a bracing stance and held it in front of them as a barrier against the oncoming torrent of ice and snow. “Kylie behind me! Gob behind Kylie!”

Shwump!

The main force of the avalanche hit them with full force, and the sun and sky was blocked out by a blanket of tumbling snow, but the spinning of the vortex was a barrier the snow couldn't push through, and it was flung around them in great swirling gusts until the main force of the avalanche dissipated, leaving them in the centre of what looked like a wide crater surrounded by snowy ridges and large chunks of ice.

“Everyone alright?” asked the Orc looking around warily. There was snow and ice everywhere they looked. The ridges of the crater rose above them on all sides, well above a height they could see over.

chitt! phitt!

A strange sound came from behind Gob, he spun around with his claws up, but nothing was there except snow and icicles.

chitt! phitt! phitt!

“Don't make any sudden movements.” said the White Orc, “We're surrounded.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Surrounded by snow?" asked Kylie.

“Surrounded by ice...” he corrected, "elementals." He finished with a snarl.

Some of the larger icicles started to morph into humanoid shapes as Gob stared at them. Where before they had blended into the snowdrifts, just looking like chunks of ice, now they began emerging; moving, stalking and chittering.

The creatures, when they sat still, looked like icicles. However as soon as they moved, the ice became the jagged features of sharp faces with elongated chins, beak like noses and upward curving heads that made them look like crescent moons. The strange chitting-phitting sound they made seemed to be some sort of communication, because more and more started to appear around the rim of the crater, and they looked to be organising themselves into a formation. Overall they were 'small', each about the same size as Gob himself, but with small bulbous bodies set high up on the end of long gangly legs with sharp looking talons. They had stunted, fragile looking forearms, but behind those, oversized wings sprung outwards from their backs that when extended, looked more like swirling puffs of vapour fanning out from them. They were definitely wings though, as all of a sudden many of them took flight like a flock of birds, wheeling in rings around the perimeter of the crater

chitt! phitt! chitt! phitt! phitt! chitt!

“Be ready!” called the White orc, "They will attack, and when they do they will attack as a flock. They're weak though, elementals are only partial manifestations in our plane... we can't kill them, all we can do is disperse them. Gob, strike for their body bulbs or their heads. They'll try to swoop down and claw you with their hind limbs.”

“i drink booz” said Gob, his flask materialising in his hand.

“Try not to Gob, not for these,” advised the White Orc, “we'll need to keep moving as soon as we've dispersed them, and we can't afford your recovery time. Don't worry, these creatures are pests, nothing more. They'll be good progression for you just as is. See if you can try that tuskcap out!”

Gob pulled his tuskcap out and went to slip it over his tusk. As he took it out of his inventory, his tummy lurched and he felt a debilitating cramp in his guts. He forced the cap over his tusk and the feeling passed.

Kylie, do you have any melting abilities?” asked the Orc.

“Ummm..." she hesitated. She had never told anyone about her fire skill. She decided now might matter. "I can cast fire." she answered simply.

The Orc turned and looked at her strangely. "Bright fire?" he asked, and then decisively, “Don't. Ice elementals are Bright aligned too. It won't melt them, they'll draw from it. And no electrical bolts, they'll conduct the electricity and turn it back on us. You'll fry us as likely as any of them.”

“So what am I supposed to do then?” she said in frustration.

“woch my bak!” Gob answered, "pleez!"

“I'm not going to use magic on them either.” the Orc took out his runehammer. “Elementals are too unpredictable. We'll do this the old-fashioned way.” He snarled, and his eyes darted around as the elementals started to descend towards them in wide, but closing circles. There would have been close to a hundred of them.

Gob eyed the creatures off as they flew rings around them, trying to gauge how they would attack. Gob knew he'd have initiative over these things, so he quickly thought things through. He had his skill:twoclors, so he had two hand hits, and he had his skill:miteybite which had now been upgraded thanks to his epic dwarven gear:tuskybite, so three attacks total as long as as the elementals got in close. He did have skill:bodifrow, however he wasn't sure how effective that would be against flying enemies, or multiple enemies, so he decided he wouldn't use it for this fight. Speaking of multiple enemies, he also had his skill:multifita, which meant he could distribute multiple attacks across multiple enemies rather than having to choose an individual opponent to attack each turn. He was ready.

chitt-phitt-shrreeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

As one, the ice elementals suddenly rose up higher into the air and then with perfect coordination, dropped down at them with a rending screech.

The world became a flurry of ice claws and beating vapour winds.

Stchak!

Gob took out the very first elemental to reach him with a satisfying and shattering claw swipe to it's head.

Ktissshhhhh! Thak-thak-thak!

The remaining body of the creature exploded into tiny ice shards that peppered his body painfully before melting away, causing bloody black puncture stains to seep through his thick white fur in multiple places.

“KYLZ” he yelled, glancing down at his bleeding belly, “TEL WITE ORK DEY ESPLODE WEN YOO KIL DEM!"

“OH HE KNOWS GOB!” she called back from behind him.

His second claw swiped hard, but only swished through a vaporous wing. Gob lost his balance from the momentum of his swipe and nearly slipped over. The Elemental screeched at him, and it's head spasmed, spitting an icy blast of vapour at him catching him under the arm while he tried to regain his balance on the ice. Where the vaporous spit touched his hide, he felt a cold sharp pang of freezing and numbness, and his skin seemed to become brittle like ice. Then, the elemental slashed at him across the frozen area, tearing through the brittle skin and slicing open a deep painful gash on his side.

GROOOOOARR!

he bellowed in reply.

He was hurt and frustrated already, and he had only killed one elemental. The White Orc had said these were just pests, but their icy spit and razor sharp talons were more than he had been expecting. He grabbed the leg of the creature that had just sliced him and dragging it quickly up to his mouth, bit down hard.

Gob could feel the surge through his tusk as the tusk cap activated. Black and red anti-matter tendrils shot up the Elementals leg to its body, the creature shrieking until its body melted away from the inside. There was no explosion this time.

datz betta! he thought, but not for long.

“GOB BEHIND YOU!” Kylie shouted a warning.

They weren't just behind him though, they were in front of him too. And to the side of him. Both sides. Spitting and kicking and flapping and screeching. He could feel the ice cold spit peppering him, and slicing sensations on every side as all took their turns cutting into his back and arms and head.

There was a moment when it all felt too much. And in the midst of the kicking and slashing he paused. Gob had defeated one or two cave beasts at a time, and he'd totally destroyed a giant ethereal spider, admittedly using some OP magic. But this was different. There must be six or more of these things on him now… how was he supposed to be able to fight six? It was like being back in the troll den with his siblings beating up on him. He thought maybe he should summon his flask. He knew just a little swig of that he’d be able to knock these icicles to pieces. But the White Orc had said not to, and he knew what he was talking about didn’t he? It was true every time he drank from it he won, but he couldn't control it. Was he just looking for the easy way out?

WATE! Gob suddenly realised something. With the loss of his subterranean affinity from his trait:sucker his savageferocity stat would have reverted back to just straight ferocity. He was just having a moment of weakness! All he needed to do was TOUGHEN UP!

I IZ A TROL! AN TROLS IZ FITERZ! he reminded himself.

So what if there were six icicle monsters? He was ferocious! Being them on!

Zzt!

+1introspection emergent:selfcontrol emergent:selfassurance emergent:fortitude +3toughness +3strength +3ferocity

While Gob had been introspecting internally, he had been copping a beating externally. Now, his turn, and reinvigorated by his selfassurance, he crouched low, and a deep growl built up in the bottom of his throat. Energy built up in his coiled muscles until he felt them shaking with the tension. With a great and satisfying

GROOOOOOOAOAAARARRRRRRR!

he sprang up and

Stcack!

Smacked an elemental right in the face, causing it to explode in a burst of icicles.

Shtack!

He swiped right brutally, smashing another one in half. Another explosion of shards.

He grabbed another one by the legs and dropped onto his back, deciding after all to try his skill:bodifrow, and successfully flinging it over himself to smash into the Elemental behind him, both of them crashing to the ground in a tangle of icy limbs and vapour, followed by two explosions... the throw had been ferocious enough to kill them both!

As he endured the Elemental's return assault, he caught a brief glimpse of a snarling White Orc striking out savagely to the left and right with his glowing hammer, before he flung away from himself in a wide sweeping circle that demolished eight of the creatures in a single circuit. He had thrown off his cloak, and his bright red tattoos and rippling snow white muscles flashed in the glare of the sunlight. He still had the glasses on.

dat guy iz da coolest. thought Gob as his turn came around again and he grabbed the legs of two Elementals attacking him from the side simultaneously, biting the first one, who melted with a shriek. He used the second Elemental as a club smacking downwards on another two Elementals who swooped low towards him, causing them to crash into the icy ground in front of him. Gob jumped on them, pinning them to the ground and plunging his claws first into one then the other, using the the club creature still clenched in his fist as a body shield to reduce the impacts of their exploding shards thakking into him. Then he bit it, and it shrieked as it melted away.

He staggered and fell onto his back, starting to feel weak from the bloodloss that had been dribbling out of the open slashes and punctures he had taken during the course of the three rounded battle started to take their toll. This was by far the longest battle he had ever taken part it. He'd have to work on his endurance.

+10endurance

Gob could only see one more of the icy creatures ready to swoop down at him.

i fink i can do wun mor! he said