Fire and Ice 19

General Summary

28 Rova 4713

Across the hall from where we'd encountered the old lady and the toy was a foul kitchen. I don't even want to think about the kinds of things that were cooked in there, given what we would soon learn. However, there was also a stove that was alive. Or animated, or something like that. It moved of its own accord and swallowed Grinner! We had to work quickly to save him before it cooked him! The stove was incredibly difficult to damage, but it turned out, part of what was giving it life was an evil spirit. Valeria's and Bronwyn's holy powers worked against it, and we were able to save Grinner before he was cooked alive. We then found a pantry where Grinner wanted to hang the old woman from meat hooks there. In a search of the old woman's room, we found a pile of letters obviously written to children asking either their parents or Queen Elvanna to forgive them for being naughty and saying they're having a very good time with "Granny Nan" (the old woman, we presumed, and we would later learn we were right). In a nearby room, we found a young girl hiding. She couldn't have been more than 8 to 10 years old, was thin as anything and clearly suffering from malnutrition. Poor thing was terrified, but Bronwyn was able to coax her out and gain her trust. The girl said her name was Inga. Granny Nan was holding her in here because she didn't want to eat and Granny Nan needed to fatten her up before she could be fed to the trolls. We learned that there were more children being held in the tower and that Granny Nan got them from orphanages and fed them to her trolls. I don't know what it is with witches and child killing in this land. It's simply horrifying. Cassy has commented on a few occasions, both before this event and since then, that she wants to utterly destroy Whitethrone. I kind of agree with her. Obviously, we'd get the innocents to safety first, but if it could be done... But I digress. Sorry. Bella Belvorica agreed to stay with Inga while we continued through the rest of the tower to find the other children and kill the trolls. Kill the trolls we did. There were a bunch of them on the ground floor of the tower, including a particularly big and nasty one we assumed was their leader. We then fought a... I can't remember what Cassy said it was called, but it was a type of bugbear (something else I'd never heard of before, but it was kind of like a big, hairy goblin). It was guarding the cells holding the other children. We didn't show it or the trolls before it any mercy. I used to believe in showing mercy. How much one can change in just a couple months... We freed the children, and collected Bella and Inga, and prepared to return to the Heralds of Summer's Return. But there was one more thing we did first. We made use of grease and oil from the kitchen and set fire to the tower. Yes, the thing was made mostly of stone, but there was a lot of wood in it as well, so it burned nicely. It was unlikely to collapse, but they would have to do a lot of work to repair it afterwards. When we got back to the Heralds' hideout, Bella and Solveig reunited. It was a sweet moment, but most of us weren't really in the mood for sweetness. While Bella took the children to where they could rest, Bronwyn confronted Solveig over keeping Bella's presence a secret from most of us. Solveig was apologetic, but didn't say much at this time. After Solveig left to help coordinate with people in the ongoing revolt, Bronwyn also had it out with Valeria for keeping the secret. Then it was time to rest. We were exhausted, both physically and emotionally. We needed to recover and let tempers cool. It was soon going to be time to head to the market district to find Baba Yaga's hut and confront Nazhena. Talk again soon!

Love,
Izzy (and Frono)