Crows and Walls

As the group journeyed towards the Pale Tower, they were accosted by a curious witchcrow, an obnoxious creature with a habit of questioning to the point of frustration any travelers she met. She also could see magic and the lure of the newly-reactivated keys were irresistible. In mid-conversation, she vanished and circled around to Zacarius. Being quick, she managed to steel the giant's beard before anyone could react, tearing off to the southeast.

Though Doyle guessed correctly how fast an average crow could travel, his hypnotic spell fell short of the witchcrow's position. Zacarius tried to cover closer to the group, thinking that the witchcrow had just not flown at full speed, to no effect. Doyle did get lucky and manage to spot some tree branches moving as if by a creature passing and they managed to track the witchcrow back to her nest.

In the ensuing assault, the witchcrow's tree was felled and the witchcrow herself slain. The group recovered the beard and a few useful trinkets she had secured in her nest's construction. The group returned to the dogsleds and returned to their trek.

Arriving at the head of the valley containing the Pale Tower, the group peered with trepidation at the expanse of open snow fields between the forest's edge and the tower wall. After some discussion, they decided to move off the trail and wait for nightfall to attempt an assault. At dusk, soldiers who had been searching for the Black Rider returned to the tower; guards stationed inside the wall opened the gate by causing the wall to dissolve at a marked arch, resealing it after the patrol had entered.

The party waited for full night, then snuck forward. With a bit of luck on their side, they arrived at the wall and tried to figure out how to get the door to open, working on ideas such as speaking to the wall, pressing on it, and throwing a rope to the top, until Zacarius offered to teleport people to the top of the wall, one at a time. Ash went up first and set a rope; once Doyle had arrived, Ash leapt from the wall directly on to one of the two guards on watch inside the wall, felling him with a mighty blow. Doyle quickly finished the other guard and Zacarius continued teleporting people to the top of the wall.

With no alarm raised, the group starting fanning out to search the courtyard's many small huts. As they did so, a large ice troll charged Zacarius. After a nasty little fight, the group put her down and doused her remains in fire.