Magical gifts! Frozen monks! A heroic battle!
So, I don't update the story for over a week, but do any of my six loyal readers bump it? No-oooo! 
= = =
The Crocaryx were favorably impressed with how quickly Brogun, Tomás, and Guillermo had dispatched the Ice Barbarians. The Crocaryx chief promised that he would send an ambassador to Lof within the week. The ambassador would explain why the tribe had been acquiring weapons – to arm for war with the Ciquali – and would explore the possibility of an alliance with the humans for that purpose.
As Brogun bowed and prepared to depart, a aged Crocaryx stepped forward. The sheen of his scales had grown dull over many years, and he walked with a shuffling gait.
"I am called Ssslath," spoke the Crocaryx. "I minister to this tribe, and ensure that the teachings of Nyxator are not forgotten."
Brogun racked his brain, trying to remember the name Nyxator. A vague memory rose to the surface of his consciousness: Nyxator, the great Sea Dragon, a creature of Kai, the God of Light. Apparently the Crocaryx worshipped Nyxator, believing that his essense guided the tribe's fortune.
Sslath spoke again. "Take this amulet," he said, fumbling with something around his neck. With difficulty, the wizened Crocaryx unclasped a gaudy gold chain with large links. In a crude setting sat a misshapen, yellowish pearl. Brogun couldn't hide a look of disappointment at the shoddy workmanship evident in the amulet. But Sslath pressed it upon him.
"It will guide you in the wisdom of Nyxator and ensure that Kai's light shines upon you," he pronounced. The other Crocaryx nodded their heads in agreement.
Brogun shrugged; there was no point looking a gift horse in the mouth. He placed the amulet around his neck to the "oohs" and "ahhs" of the assembled reptilians. "I shall wear this necklace proudly, and always remember your generosity," Brogun said somberly. Sslath inclined his head in acknowledgement.
= = =
A gaudy necklace was all well and good, thought Brogun, but what function did it serve? He had already detected magical energies surrounding it, radiating a faint aura of transmutation. Brogun decided to return to Nosop, where he hoped the mage Sionas would
identify the amulet.
After making the hard climb up the Zanzur peaks, Brogun surveyed the town. Two fresh graves paid silent testimony to the loss of the two men who had perished in the cave-in during excavations for Sionas' house. As for the house itself, Brogun saw a hastily constructed cottage with stone walls that bore the obvious marks of magical construction. "Humph," snorted Brogun, "I thought he said not to use magic around here."
Shrugging, the dwarf pounded on the door with the butt of his battleaxe.
= = =
Beorn Lammond thought of himself as a dedicated public servant. He'd accepted appointment as mayor of Nosop, even though the settlement was so tiny that its mayorship brought little compensation and less recognition. Still, someone had to be mayor, and it might as well be Lammond.
So when Mayor Lammond heard that the dwarven adventurer was in town again, consulting with the wizard, it was like the answer to his prayers. Here was someone who could be induced to go up the path to the Shining Light monastery, and find out why the monks hadn't made their last two trips down for supplies.
Adventurers were always doing that sort of stuff. All you had to do was say the right words. Haven't heard from the monastery in six months. It's been a pretty harsh winter. Hope the monks are all right. Would be a shame if anything happened to them.
Lammond chuckled to himself. This would be easy.
= = =
Brogun woke with a start. For a moment, in his panicked half-awake state, he couldn't get his limbs to move. By Kirabá's beard! Was he dead?
With a groan, Brogun forced himself upright. It was pitch black, and he was enormously cold – the furnace was out. Holding his breath in fear at what he might find, Brogun switched to darkvision. Guillermo lay curled up next to the wall, while Tomás was slumped over by the door. Brogun cursed, staggered to his feet, and kicked Tomás awake.
"Get up!" Brogun growled. "You're supposed to be on watch.
And you let the furnace go out."
Tomás sheepishly got to his feet and began prodding at the coals in the furnace, coaxing them to life. If the creature had come while they slept – but it was not yet time.
= = =
It had been a difficult hike up the narrow path from Nosop to the monastery. Especially after the storm had started, its winds, snow, and freezing temperatures weakening the climbers. With relief, they had pried open the monastery doors, squeezing into the entry chamber, where the howl of the wind was somewhat lessened.
Tomás was halfway across the room when darkness engulfed him. He gave a muffled cry, while Brogun and Guillermo shouted instructions to each other. In the chaotic melee that followed, they managed to kill the creature while only horribly wounding Tomás. But the healing power of Brogun's spells soon had the sergeant on his feet, and they explored the monastery.
Nothing living remained. In several rooms, the bodies of the dead monks rose in unlife to attack. Each time, Brogun channeled the divine energy of his god, blasting the weak undead into a fine dust.
They found the furnace in the basement late in the evening. Once it was lit, Brogun led the way to the second floor of the monastery, where more scenes of carnage and undeath awaited them.
"What happened here?" the dwarf wondered aloud. He opened the door to yet another room, his holy symbol held before him. The long, narrow room held only a bed, a chair, and small writing table. Everything was covered in a layer of frost – a layer that was melting in the increased warmth of the funace-heated monastery.
While Tomás and Guillermo poked through the debris on the floor, Brogun scrutinized a hastily written note he had found on the table. A prayer to Kai, the Sun God. Something about a "nameless evil against which there seems no defense" that "comes at midnight."
Idly, Brogun wondered what time it was. When they heard a bang from downstairs and felt the temperature drop twenty degrees, he knew.
"Ready your weapons," Brogun snapped. "Bar the door."
But the creature smashed through the door in two blows, shrugged off sword, axe, and crossbow bolt, and sent Tomás spinning to the ground with a single backhanded smack of its withered, clawed hand. Then, as unexpectedly as it had come, the creature stepped over the ruined timbers of the door and stomped off down the stairs.
That had been one night ago. Now, Brogun, Tomás, and Guillermo huddled next to the re-lit furnace, knowing that when the creature came tonight, they must finish it, or die.
A commotion in the supply room outside the door let them know the thing had returned. It beat upon the door. Once. Twice.
On the third blow, the door crashed inwards, somehow remaining intact and smashing to the ground with a loud bang. As the creature stepped through, it took a bolt in one side and a two-handed sword strike in the other. Brogun was already holding up the crossed battle-axes, symbol of Kirabá, commanding the thing to be gone.
Its claws took Brogun in the chest, ripping through his chainmail, and sending a wave of intense chill into the cleric. For a moment, his heart stopped beating; the blood flow in his veins slowed to nothing – and the next Brogun knew, he was lying on the floor, wondering if he had dreamed it all and was just waking up again – for he could not feel his limbs.
Guillermo's strangled cry brought Brogun back to the present. Raising his head, he saw the creature grab the young soldier around the neck with one icy claw and lift him two feet in the air before throwing Guillermo to the ground. Tomás screamed and laid into the thing, slashing again and again at its back.
With a great effort of will, Brogun rolled onto his stomach, then pushed himself to his knees using arms and hands he could not feel. He tottered towards the ice haunt, eyes half-shut, forcing his lips to form the words of the spell, forcing his fingers to make the gestures. Then lurched forward, hands outstretched, grabbing the creature round the waist, hugging it to him, unleashing the positive energy – and hearing the ice haunt shriek as the healing spell dissolved the bonds of undeath and sent its soul screaming to Naar.
Note: Brogun need to make two Reflex saves (to stand and to move) and a Concentration check (to cast); he made them all. If he hadn't… *gulp* It also helped that Tomás was beating the crap out of the ice haunt – he would've been crit'ing it if it hadn't been undead.
