It was our second meeting, but one thing had changed since the first.

The Frost had set in.

Winter was upon us.

Fewer arrived, this time, but among them were the most respected and stalwart of men. Grandfather Arashikage, Orion Red, Basho Genji, Shinjin Myoken, Bhishma and others -- all had gathered. It was Camber, though, who contributed most. What had begun as a confused conversation, with questions on what to do and how to proceed, turned quickly into a chilling relation of a horrible journey, but also the uncovering of an important clue.

Camber arrived late. He brushed the snow from his shoulders and sat at the table. Genji had received word of his discovery, and so was happy to see that the warrior had arrived in safety. Genji offered Camber some tea, then sat back as the warrior related the tale. Grandfather Arashikage also listened intently, for he had accompanied Camber on the journey. But it was so perilous that even the famed leader of the Kage had not made it out alive.

"We searched up at bandit castle," Camber began. "There, a man named Dugal said that he had heard the lost party had headed east from there. We headed that way and found a curious note and a standing stone on the top of a nearby mountain. The copy of that note has been lost, I am sorry to say, but I remember it spoke of the party not finding what they were looking for, but that they would be heading to a lady in a castle far to the west. I fear they did not make it to her. We visited her and she seemed more interested in Dugal's goings on than the party's. She asked for some proof of Dugal's intent to mount a raiding party to attack her castle. We went back to Dugal's castle and found that he was not forthright with information, but we did discover that one of his minions likes a certain type of ale ...

"We had to travel far to the wset to get the ale. When we did though, he gave us a note of introduction to Dugal as one of their people. I hated to accept it, but -- ahh -- anything to save lives. After presenting the note to Dugal, he asked us for a favor as well! We were quite frustrated by that point. He asked us to find some sack of an alchamist of his, or some such, in the prison beneath the castle.

"It was terrible down there. There were many lichs, and even golden wasps."

"Blimey!" shouted Orion Red.

Shinjin Myoken nodded as Camber continued.

"Many lost their lives, but ... we found the sack, and some notes. We took the sack to this alchemist of Dugal's. He was quite grateful and gave us several frost arrows, but no clue to the adveturers' whereabouts. But he said we could keep the notes, and one said that Dugal was stockpiling frost arrows to attack the Lady!"

Basho Genji exclaimed, "Ah! It comes together!"

"We made the long journey back to her castle," Camber said. "We gave her the notes. She was gratetful but did not know of the adventurers. This is when we decided they never made it there. Luckily, as we traveled back to bandit castle, we found a note up in the mountains, purely by chance.

"It appers the lost part was on the way to see the lady and changed course to the stone ... thing. We continued back to bandit castle. There was a lunatic in the square, there, who shouted for some carrot soup and mumbled that he would let us in on what was going on if we scrounged up a bowl for him.

"I gave the poor derranged man some simple soup and he gave me a key to the Ice Caves! he warned me that they were dangerous, and then seemed to dissolve back into incoherence."

Camber's voice trembled and he stared into space.

"... very bad in there ... rooms full of ivory gromnies and ice golems ...many of us died.

"Up a flight of stairs we found a bridge. A lich guarded it. We killed the foul thing and there was a large set of double wooden doors. The key the lunatic gave me unlocked them. I was the first in and took quite a pounding from two iron golems! Luckily, I distracted the beasts enough for the others in the partry to finish them. One of us, Murphee, returned with the book. We had it translated in Cragstone, for it was in the ancient language of the Empyreans."

Camber drank heartly from a mug of ale after the tale.