Demon's Winter: Part 5 - SSI/US Gold

.......We started our search for the Ice Cathedral, travelling by
boat from island to island, looking and searching, avoiding ghost
ships, fighting pirates and sea monsters until we began to doubt
that we would ever find it.  On our way north, we found the
College of Fire Runes on one southerly island. But we pressed on,
going ever north.

Landing on one northern island, we spotted a dungeon entrance.
Lone led the way as we entered a twisting passage. In a large
room, we came upon the biggest ice dragon we had ever seen -
alright, I'll be honest, none of us had seen one before .... but
he WAS big! Izzy prepared to cast a column of fire at the
creature but before he could do anything, the dragon moved
forward, his blue scales glinting in the dim light, and breathed
a spell at the wizard who was immediately frozen in ice.

Lone and I rushed at the dragon, weapons at the ready, trapped
the beast in a corner and slew him before he could do more damage
to our party. Clarence and Fidget didn't get a chance to strike a
blow. We collected our poor, frozen wizard and explored the lair
and surrounding tunnels. Despite the attentions of mountain
giants and an ogre, we completed our explorations quickly,
finding the College of Ice Runes in a northern passage and, in a
small room to the south, an icicle which Lone took.

A quick trip to the healers restored our friend to full health,
though it cost us quite a bit of gold, and we continued our
search for the Ice Cathedral.

"Land ho!" shouted Fidget, rousing us all from our slumbers and
we leant over the rail to see an island to the west. Was this the
one we had searched for all these weeks? Yes! On the island, we
found a temple made from blocks of ice. "This must be the Temple
of the Ancients" said Izzy. We could tell that once it had been
beautiful but the blocks of ice were tumbled and cracked so
that the once-proud edifice now lay in ruins. Inside, we found
the entrance to the Ice Cathedral but the scattered blocks that
had formed the entrance many centuries ago had fallen to block
the way in. We knew from our discoveries in the Amber Vault that
there was a secret way in - but where? Lone led the way again as
we started to search for it.

We found it at last, a secret passage through a wall. The Ice
Cathedral was still beautiful, despite the great damage that had
occurred. At one end was an octagonal pedestal of blue ice on 
which was a dark violet crystal. "The Demon Crystal" whispered
Clarence. Dark mist swirled between us and the crystal and I
could see strange shapes forming in it and then dissolving again.
For a moment, I felt it seemed to examine us, then it cleared to
reveal the crystal in all its horrifying glory. Clarence stepped
slowly forward and took it. Then we left the Cathedral as quickly
as we could.

Back outside, in the main body of the Temple, a library in the
north-west corner had been ransacked, just a few scrolls
littering the floor. Clarence pushed the scraps of parchment
aside to uncover a prayer scroll which he took. A passage east
looked a likely route to take but a noise alerted us. Rounding a
corner, who should we come across but Jesric of the High Temple
of Malifon!

He turned to us and said "Until I find the Demon Crystal, I claim
these ancient ruins to be mine!" His tone told us he would take
no argument on the subject but, unfortunately for Jesric, we had
other ideas.

Despite his sword and armour, we defeated him fairly easily.
Fidget noticed a medallion around the dead priest's neck. "It
shows he's Malifon's High Priest" said the dwarf, taking the
heavy amulet and passing it to Lone. "It might come in useful
then" said the lanky ranger, tucking it into his pocket.

A doorway nearby led into a corridor. The air was chilly and
instinctively, I drew my cloak tighter round me but it made
little difference. A squeak from behind me made me turn, to see
Fidget, mouth open, pointing a little distance down the corridor.
What the small man had noticed but the rest of us had missed was
- a pair of ghosts! One was an evil-looking man, the other a
kind-looking priest. They seemed to be arguing and, to our
amazement, we could hear what they were saying.

One voice said "You are a fool! Your god is dying and still you
pray." The other responded "He is still strong. Find me a god who
can break these walls and I shall worship him instead." As we
walked into the next corridor, the voices followed us. "Long have
I quested, and at a volcano a spirit conquered my mind. It is a
spirit as old as time. It once was strong, but was defeated and
rests now, regaining power ....... behold its power ....." We all
gasped as images of fire and pain engulfed our senses.

Faint heartbeats echoed in our minds as the ghost said "Oh Dark
One, whose power is so great - I cannot worship thee. Instead I
offer to you as sacrifice an old fool who cannot see a candle in
the shadows." We all got the impression of a blade and pain, then 
the heartbeats ceased. I realised we had witnessed a murder from
long ago.


Returning to the main body of the Temple, we found a door made
of ice, and, noticing a hole in the door, Lone inserted the
icicle. Suddenly we found ourselves transported to the other side
of the door in an Altar Room with an altar of blue ice against
the south wall. Clarence put the prayer scroll on the altar and
as the last of the foreign words from it left his lips, the
Temple was flooded with light. A powerful voice spoke to us....

@~To be continued in the next issue of SynTax.