Returning to the dwarven city, Oradrad is suitably impressed that they made it back alive and more or less intact.

While he cannot spare much materially, Oradrad supplies the party with a guide and two skins of mushroom liqueur. He also tells them that the pass will fork in two days’ time and the left fork leads to an alpine lake and forest which was once rich with game and fish.

The guide leads the party along secret passages in the dark, eventually emerging at a hidden doorway. Beyond the door, a narrow stair far above a protected portion of the mountain pass.

The party works their way carefully downward and makes good time along the protected portion of the pass. The protected portion ends with a stunning vista of the pass winding upwards, and above the highest part of the pass Jorgrim spots a massive object buried under the snow in the shape of a stag’s head, enormous antlers protruding from under the blanket of snow. It appears to be about 200 feet above the pass.

The party continues forward, buffeted by cold winds and blinded by piercing sun with no cover. They eventually come upon jagged walls protruding from the mountainside, carven windows clearly visible.

The structure appears to have been an inn of some kind, not of dwarf-make, long since reduced to ruin by massive impacts through the ceiling.

Page climbs in through one of the windows, lantern lit, to examine the ruins. Through one of the impact holes in the stone roof, Page spies large grooves carved into side of the mountain. The grooves lead to the enormous stag head some 200 feet above.

The party rests within the small ruin, Eammon awakening the following morning with a severe cold and low-grade fever. Page can see that the massive grooves have enough hand holds for a climb to be possible. She begins her ascent towards the stag head above.

When Page is 70 feet above the ruin, Zarka calls up to her, checking to see if she is alright. Page signals that she is fine. At 100 feet, Page encounters black ice, slips, and falls screaming to her death.

The impact of Page hitting the roof and impaling herself on the jagged wall terrifies and surprises the party. There is little time for reaction, however, and a low rumble is heard, signaling the arrival of an avalanche caused by Page’s plummet.

With very little time to prepare, the party huddles into the most protected spot they can find, bracing for the moment of impact and certain death.

Trake pulls out the token of Katapodis he received from the high priestess of the northern temple and holds it up high. It begins to emit a glow and get hot to the touch. Miraculously, the avalanche is parted by an overhang of rock above, the ruin being buried but not crushed by the avalanche.

The party hears a voice calling out to them from outside: their guide from the dwarven city heard the avalanche and ventured to the pass to check on them. After digging his way to the roof, he lowers a rope to the party and they are freed from their snowy tomb. The dwarf says that Oradrad had a change of heart and has sent the dwarf to travel as far as his cousin’s lands to the east.

Cresting the highest point of the pass, the party proceeds forward through the thick snow until they reach a low, flat shelf. On this shelf are several long houses, now burnt-out husks. In the center of these ruins is a well filled with debris. Horus detects evil emanating from the well.

Deciding that some cover and wood for a fire is better than taking their chances traveling until dark, the party sets camp close to the well, Horus and Eammon standing watch.

In the deepest part of the night, the wind reaches a fever pitch. Horus and Eammon hear the sound of a powerful wind coming from the well. They back up a pace and brace for what’s ahead.

Debris bursts from the well and something unseen is set loose. It immediately skirts along the outside of Horus’ aura of protection and launches two savage attacks at Zarka, nearly twisting his head off and snapping the vertebrae in his spine. Zarka falls to the ground, dead.

The party rallies around Horus and drives the creature back, both Jorgrim and Horus striking it with their crystalline blades. Talia and Piety casts spells of protection upon the party.

Eammon tries to Turn the creature and then Commands it to surrender. The creature, compelled by his Command, retreats back outside the protective aura, threatening Eammon the entire time.

The crystalline shards from Jorgrim’s blade reach the heart of the creature and it dies suddenly. Within the well, the enchanted scimitar that summoned the creature long ago ceases its glow, the gemstone in its pommel shattering.

Horus, Eammon, Piety, and Talia all try beseeching their various deities to bring back Zarka from the dead, but they are unsuccessful.