The heroes destination was Westtor, also known as the Aeonspire Citadel home to th wizards Zalthenna and Zaltar Evergaze, the Protectors of the West and part of the secret Triarch group.
They spent their next few days getting their affairs in order and get some extra gear without drawing too much suspecion.
Fenrir had left Amelia, Alfein and Orlando promising to catch up with them before they reached Aeonspire.
The remaining three comrades, and Scatter, left at night guided by the spring starlight. The gate guards were more interested in their dice game than a small group of quite travelers leaving Daisygate.
They journeyed through the night and as day dawned they saw three mills in the far distance and decided to aim for the mills to spend the night.
The day was beautiful and the trek through the spring covered hills, uneventful apart from a small oddly smelling column of smoke that didn’t seem to be of interest.
As they closed in on the three mills, snow started falling. While Amelia was clearly aware this was out of season, nothing indicated that the weather was in any way magically conjured.
Town of Whitemill
The saw the first road sign saying “Whitemill 5 miles” indicating a settlement near the mills. And the closer they got the heavier the snow fell and soon they were walking through a winter landscape in spring!
They arrived at Whitemill where the local citizens were busing around. The vibe was good and cheerful. Whitemill was clearly a prospering and tightknit community.
The welcoming townsfolk would smile at the heroes with a warm “Winter’s blessing to ya” greeting.
The heroes noted that little figures of a white bearded man with a either tall or long hat were to be found everywhere.
They also heard beautiful music from the north part of town, which they left in favour of entering the center of town: a combined tavern and woodworking workshop run my…..
Soon the party was sitting with food and drinks and learned from the locals that the figurines and dolls of the white bearded man was “Grandfather Winter”, a reveered figure who protected travelers going through Everfrost Forest to reach the East of Lunessence.
They also learned that Grandfather Winter brought presents to the townsfolk when the sun was lowest during the year, but when questioned about details, none of the townsfolk seemed to recall seeing him.
The heroes also noticed a group of 7 feral looking goblins arriving but causing no further trouble.
Then a traveling salesman in spoons approached them to introduce himself as Benjamin Balls.
Benjamin explained that he was traveling alone to Aeonspire and was looking for traveling company on the road.
The heroes knowing they had the green girl Scatter with them politely promised to think about it after which Benjamin left them to it.
As he headed back to his table they noticed him sniffing frantically in the air a few times before changing direction and leave the establishment in a hurry.
Night came and all travelers retreated to their rooms except for the Goblins that preferred sleeping the the adjacent stables.
and the heroes woke up fresh from a good night’s rest.
They decided to allow Benjamin with them, but wanted to make sure he understood they didn’t want any troubles. The salesman didn’t understand they subtle hints from Amelia and Alfein so Orlando stepped in impatiently but overdid it in he’s eager and scared Benjamin away.
Feeling bad, Amelia followed him to his room and offered him to join them on their journey.
As they got ready to leave they noticed the goblins heading out. They also noticed they were a goblin short with only 6 remaining. But since the goblins didn’t seem bothered about this, the heroes brushed it off.
An hour later our heroes with Benjamin Balls in tow, headed out.
As soon as they stepped out they smelled the same odd smell as they had smelled on the hills coming from the stables.
Here’s they found a sensibly stamped out camp fire with a spit roast with the remains of a half eaten barbecued Goblin!
The heroes left the smell in a hurry.
Everfrost Forest
As afternoon came, the traveling companions reached Everfrost Forest, a beautiful forest where the permanent winter had shaped both flora and fauna.
The road through the forest was both well maintained and will traveled and as they moved further in they could hear light voices singing a happy tune.
Soon the first houses and huts indicated a settlement. And the further they ventured in the more they realised the first was home to a large town sprawling across the frosty forest ground and into the trees.
The town was populated with merry gnomes all wearing tall red hats. The gnomes greeted them with a quick “Winter’s Blessings” and asked if they could help the travelers.
And as evening crept in, our heroes found themselves in a long hall for dinner with both the gnomes and the goblins from Whitemill.
Alfein, now more curious about the goblins than ever, tried to strike up a conversation with the goblins but she realised these goblins were not the friendly types and the jagged menacing red tattoos going up either side of their green faces, didn’t encourage Alfein to overstay her welcome.
The cheerful buzz went quite as a large round man in a red suit with white furry rims entered the hall. He had a large white wellcombed beard and a large soft red hat.
Grandfather Winter.
“Ho ho ho. Now we feast!!”, He boomed cheerfully as all the gnomes applauded and cheered along.