Fire and Ice 9

General Summary

11 Arodus 4713

That evening, back at Nadja's, Cassy tried to explain my new powers to me. When I say "tried", I don't mean she was bad at it or anything, just that I'm not the best student. At any rate, apparently when I reach into myself to pull out that little extra bit of strength--the thing that always made me feel a little odd and now makes me catch fire--it's called "burn". A pretty apt name, considering I literally burn now. I had to tell her I don't know how often I can do that. I really don't know. I just know it weakens me a little each time I do it, and I don't recover until I get a full night's rest. Even Valeria's or Bronwen's magical healing doesn't remove it.

12 Arodus 4713

Grinner introduced Hatch to Fuck You this morning. It turned out, they'd already met. Hatch had discovered and talked to Fuck You on his own. At first, Hatch seemed to be on Fuck You's side, but then he revealed that Fuck You's real name is Vrixx and his being friendly to the sprite had just been a trick. I don't really get fey sometimes. Shortly after this, we set out for the Pale Tower. Nadja guided us most of the way, close enough that we could see it in the distance. She then returned to Waldsby. Hatch went with us. The tower is made completely out of ice, with a thick wall of ice around it. It's actually kind of beautiful, just a shame who lives in it. The "gate" (if it can even be called that) is just a section of the wall that can be magically removed by the guards, so our first task was to figure out how to get in. Hatch knew how to operate the gate, but he still needed to get inside to do that. We devised a plan where Cassy and I caused a distraction on the north side of the tower while Ten-Penny and Hatch approached the south side under the cover of invisibility. The idea was we would draw all the guards to our side to allow Ten-Penny to climb the wall. It didn't work out the way we wanted. Turned out there was no connection between the south side of the wall and the north, so the gaurds on the south couldn't leave to help the north. It wasn't a big problem. It just meant Ten-Penny and Hatch fell when the guards removed her grapple. Then we had to fight the guards. Oh, and a troll. The same kind as the one that killed Ignar. Thankfully, it didn't have a magical spear of death like the last one, so it didn't kill anyone. It actually went down pretty fast, all things considered. The guards were tougher--mainly because they were on the top of the wall with cover, and we were at the bottom. Once the guards and troll were dealt with, Hatch was able to open the gate. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention, during the battle Ten-Penny was able to climb up (carrying Hatch), which is how he was able to open the gate. Then we got into the tower itself and had to fight a whole lot more guards. And a water elemental too. I was knocked unconscious and didn't see the end of the battle, but we did prevail. I mean, obviously. I couldn't be hear writing to you now if I didn't survive. Anyway, I have to pause here. I'll describe the rest of our foray through the Pale Tower next time.

All my love,
Izzy (and Frono)