This time we followed what seemed to be an ancient path that led further into the icy hills. The day passed chilly and miserable as the previous one, and when we were already thinking about giving up the search, we found a big cavern in the face of a cliff. The cave showed signs of having been inhabited by a big group of Goblins, but at the moment it was deserted.
It seemed that fate was against us, but we did not want to give up so easily. We climbed the cliff where the cavern was located and, in the distance, detected the outline of what seemed to be a tower. It seemed to be far away, so we made camp in the cave. It was a damp, chilly, dreary night with the blizzard blowing outside and the sound of Adolfiel's chattering teeth constantly interrupting my meditation.
Another freezing day, another exhausting hike, but this time it seemed we had a clear goal! As we got closer to the building, it became clear that it was indeed a tower, and that it was completely encased in ice! It dominated its surroundings, built atop a low hillock, surrounded by suspicious-looking statues of wolves and mages. The ice encasing the tower was erupting from its roof, and our suspicions that the terrible weather conditions had a magical cause grew stronger.
I was so worried beholding the statues for any hint of them being magical guardians -during my studies in Fallcrest I had read many stories of wizards protecting their towers with that sort of creatures- that I was completely surprised when chunks of snow and ice took the shape of gigantic scorpions that charged us. Other pieces of snow coalesced into icy snowmen that threw balls of hard compact ice at us. It was clear that something was amiss in the tower, and that these creatures of ice had been somehow attracted by the cold emanating from it.
The battle was violent and dangerous; Streisan charged the monsters as if she had lost her mind after all the frustrations of the previous days and it was difficult for the rest to keep her pace. Only with the help of Vistra was she able to survive, but her courage and recklessness motivated the rest of us to go on and with courage, determination and lots of luck we were able to defeat the ice elementals.
After the battle, I explained to the rest my fears about the statues and we decided to topple them. Some animated and attacked us, but most of them had been shattered by the cold and gave us no trouble.
With the blizzard growing stronger, we digged the ice out of the entrance doors and entered the tower...
Scientific Notes
Well, even though the creatures we found around the tower are clearly not natural, I could not resist making a drawing of the scorpion-like ice elemental. I think I will add an extra chapter to my Ecology book, one about the different Planes of Existence and some examples of its creatures, which in some books of old are called Elementals.
