-------------- Tales of the Raptors – Hell Freezes Over

Their stop at Silverhaven allowed them a full report of the latest events in Old Calladon. The identity of this Yhazzingur was still quite the mystery, and how he or she might have taken over the Isle of the Eye was even more mysterious. Though that might be their final goal, there would be many challenges along the way. The SK Drow had returned with Lolth’s rebirth, joining with the demon forces of Jesseriniae to push back The Nine. The control of Old Calladon was now up in the air. Neither side controlled it completely, and thus the assorted strange powers of the place had become even more unpredictable. To fight the Drow, The Nine had literally unleashed Hell. The first level of Old Calladon was now frozen as solid as the wastes of Caina. Miri conjured clothing more appropriate to the frigid climes and down they went to the long tunnels controlled by the Drovik. From there, they traveled the eleven miles north to the hidden doors of the Dwarven shrine and gained access to the elevator that would lower them into the Adventurer’s Graveyard.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft they suddenly emerged from the cavern roof of the southern chambers. The cold hit them like a lead fist. Everything here was covered in ice and snow, though none of them could guess where the snow might have come from. Looking closer, the word snow might have been descriptive but hardly accurate. What caked everything, walls, floor and ceiling, was more correctly referred to as rime ice. Kami pulled out her scanner and wiped the frost from the display. This was going to be a challenge. She got an initial reading, two degrees, though she suspected it might get colder as they moved past the main cavern. She also realized that her scans were being reflected back. This she’d expected from previous attempts to use tech or paratech devices down here. The best she could hope for was about ten to twenty yards for basic life signs. Anything within line of sight should work, but that kind of defeated the purpose of scanning in the first place. And she’d practically have to be touching something to get a DNA or health status reading.

They crossed the southern cavern with little enough issue. The great volcanic rift still divided the cavern floor, but its heat was lost far below. Now it provided no more than an inconvenient crack they had to jump over or go around. After a few minor encounters, they found the entrance to the southwestern halls. This would put them south of the main Temple of Lolth. If the Drow had returned despite the cold, it might have been reactivated. Those chambers were bound to be warmer than these if Erelae’s reaction to the sub-freezing temperatures was any indication of the Drow tolerance for winter.

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