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+<- giraine:summary-368|Changed ^ giraine:summaries-2025|Summaries 2025 ^ giraine:summary-370|Pehraln's warehouse of terror ->
-====== Summary 368: The White Pillar God(2025-01-18) ======
+====== Summary 369: The White Pillar God (2025-01-24) ======
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+You’re progressing through the ice tunnel. Parts of the ice continue to move, then sudden fractures open up within the tunnel, with sections moving upwards or downwards relative to each other. You adeptly avoid getting snagged in a crack and needing saving from being splattered.
+Before too long, you emerge from the top of the tunnel, and beyond that… You see the northern edge of the lozenge of Glorantha, where the Sky Dome almost meets the glacier! The Winter King must be somewhere out there.
+You can see a huge, figure far ahead – the White Pillar God. The muscle-bound God of the White Pillar has long white hair and beard, and is frozen half-kneeling as he holds up the edge of the Sky Dome. Stars and constellations can be seen within the black Dome, some of them moving. On all sides, all that can be seen is a vast icy waste, stretching out in all directions. Behind the God and above the distant ice there is no sky, only impenetrable blackness. Within the blackness, bands of pale multi-coloured celestial lights can be seen: white, blue, purple, pink, yellow, fading in and out of vision, swaying softly. Snow falls constantly, and frigid winds swirl. This is, without any doubt, the coldest place you have ever been. And yet somehow you feel fine.
+At a distance to one side of the White Pillar God, Valind the Winter King awaits. He loudly hails you: “Prepare for battle, my friends! Our foes draw near!”
+In most directions, the ground before him is undulating, with occasional pronounced ridges and dips. Directly away from the White Pillar God, this rough ground drops away and beyond this there is a large expanse of snow-covered level ground – an expanse of ice, interrupted by occasional jagged features where panels of ice have tilted upwards. Beyond this, there is another rise in the ground.
+You prepare for battle, drawing weapons and casting spells and invoking your runes. Bog incarnates Zorak Zoran even further, cloaking himself in shadow from which his blazing eyes and wild visage peer out. His mace constantly forms and sheds icicles. Fraud calls on his Metal rune and his armour sparkles with new sheen. Boamund invokes his Fire rune, expecting trouble from the Sky cultists and so rendering himself more protected from fiery magics.
+A very dim golden light can be seen beyond the distant rise, which steadily grows brighter as it comes nearer. Figures can be glimpsed amidst the continuing flurries of snow, but they are still far away.
+Valind looks down at Shrett and sighs. “You are too weak and pathetic, having wasted yourself too soon. My realm is unforgiving of squandering of resources. But this fight will need you to be stronger. Breathe in deep now, and so be stronger.” Icy wind swirls around Shrett…
+Shrett regains ½ POW in MP but… Loses ALL Passions below 70% and replace them with Cold-Hearted at 70%! Filled with icy faith, he becomes an Initiate of Valind!  [Base Devotion POW+CHA%, Exhort INT+CHA%, Snow spell becomes reusable and 1pt Devotional pool now; max ¼ POW].
+The group coming over the rise becomes visible clearly enough: seven shining figures, all on foot, with a big fiery golden beast towing some kind of chariot. Something is heaped upon the chariot and the golden glow seems to emanate from that area. The figures now halt and hastily get to work doing something at the chariot.
+The Winter King spits, a great gob of saliva that freezes into the shape of an icicle that embeds itself into the ground a great distance ahead. “There! The gold horse people! They are against nature, they seek to bring warmth to my sacred home! We must fight! Hah! Here, I will bring you aid!”
+The Winter King throws his arms wide, and shouts a foul-mouthed, thundering curse against the Sky. The ground around the icicle shakes, and then bulges in several places. From the blanket of snow, seven ice demons emerge; each one of a different design. He gestures towards them and says, “My hollri are ready to assist. They will serve you now. Defeat the gold horse people any way you can!”
+Most hollri move only slowly, but these ones can move as fast as a human; considerably faster over the ice here. As you soon see, they can leap a considerable distance (easily 30m), and they pack a whallop with their long clawed arms and icicle-teeth.
+The ghostly, shimmering multi-coloured lights visible in the sky shine more brightly and then move towards Valind and you. He says, “The haunting things, the Kalikan Lights, are here! This bodes well for us! They will aid you, if you wish.”
+Shrett knows something of these legendary light-spirits. They are mysterious entities, vast spirits that serve the Altinae demigods who live beyond the edge of the world. The Altinae are the northern, white equivalents of the purple Luathans of the west; i.e., not to be fucked with. But they are far less often interacted with by mortals. They remain aloof in their icy fastness.
+[Later you piece together from various sources: For the Altinae, these Kalikan Light spirits act as watchers, alert to encroachments of enemies. They do not normally look towards the South, but the approach of the Ehilm questers draws their attention. It reeks of some offence against the nature of the world itself.]
+Fraud and Shrett welcome in the spirits to them; Bog and Boamund are too magically depleted. The lights descend from the dark sky, and envelop them in a shimmering cloud of coloured light. [Each blessed PC has a benefit of taking ½ damage from fire, and 1 level easier to resist mind-altering magics.]
+You now see your foes more clearly. The expedition comprises seven Galanini. Six of them are broadly similar in appearance. They wear golden furs over their normal clothing and armour. Each wears a golden helmet ornately crafted as the face of Ehilm.
+The chariot was being towed by a golden, flaming dog the size of a horse, but that beast has now been unharnessed. (Hound of Ehilm)
+The seventh Galanini has the same general appearance, but a much more ornate mask and headdress. Her beautiful fur cloak billows around her, and she carries a tall golden staff, topped with Fire and Beast rune symbols. She is recognisable as a Galana priestess.
+You close in. Missiles are useless to everyone due to the strong Valind winds. But magics, especially cold (or fire…) work just fine. Shrett calls on his Movement rune with his Snow spell to increase the snowfall, and makes it seem that the snow is only blasting in the faces of the oncoming Galanini. Bog enhances this with his Frost spell and Darkness rune, dimming the lights of the approaching warriors and coating them in rime. This slows them and distracts them, leaving them open.
+The Hollri close, although they hesitate sometimes, awaiting command; soon enough Boamund orders them to attack, and so they lope in and fall upon the soldiers before you arrive.
+An ice pixie appears in a tinkling of laughing snowflakes, calling out “I’ve been looking for you, for another dance-off!”.  It sticks around for a while, gradually adapting its dance. Fraud dances along with it and it cheerily appreciates him.
+It giggles, as it starts to dance through the air. “Up the airy mountain,” it sings, as eerie music comes from somewhere within the winds and snow.
+Then it descends, spinning, producing a whirlwind around it. “Down the frozen fen,” The music intensifies, with an ominous rhythm.
+Then it inverts itself, spinning on its head, and music’s rhythm speeds up dramatically. The spinning area emits shards of ice that fly across the battlefield. “We daren’t go a-hunting,”  Boamund notes one whistle past his ear.
+Then the pixie rotates 90 degrees, spinning on the icy ground, moving its limbs in impossible ways in tandem with the wild rhythm of the weather-music. “For fear of little men.” The music inspires you, and your remaining foes falter more
+The music calms and the pixie slows its spinning, soon lying on its side with a satisfied grin as it looks around for reactions to its performance. [Improvise some benefit etc. if PCs act well]
+The Galanini priestess takes seven 3m long golden rods from the sled and drive these into the snow, forming the vertices of a heptagon, each roughly 20m distant from the chariot. Trails of golden magic form between the rods on the surface of the snow, forming the pattern of a heptagram inscribed within a heptagon, a seven-pointed star. For much of the ensuing combat, she is busy with this.
+The ground between the Winter King and the Galanini Expedition consists of huge, jagged plates, arranged at many shallow angles. Within it there are flatter areas, also covered with snow. The “ground” here consists of huge triangular slabs of thick sea ice, which have been fractured in the past, and then refrozen. There are some patches that are less well frozen, with less snow, which seem at first to be level ground, dark in colour. While passing across these areas, Fraud(?) notes a huge dark shadow wandering in the depths beneath the ice… Boamund later sees it once warned of it – is it following you?
+The ceremonial rite continues with the Galanini rapidly unfurling a covering from the chariot to reveal a glowing chunk of gold that is almost two metres in diameter.
+Battle is joined soon enough! Two of the Galanini have been pounced on and knocked down by Hollri who are battering them, although magics and armour still are protecting them. The other four have formed a shield-wall against the Hollri. Bog rushes one side and knocks his foe down, hurting their leg. He then bashes him to death. Fraud takes the other side and dispatches his foe. In turn, Shrett and Boamund engage the centre. Their foes are outnumbered with them and the Hollri, and confused by the weather, and so they falter, and quickly the shield-wall breaks, with the soldiers falling one by one. They manage to cripple two Hollri with their powerful Truespear magics.
+But then all Hollri, upright or fractured, leap up or are carried up by the winds to form a frankly rather abominable giant Hollri! It smashes a prone soldier under one foot. You turn to confront the remaining ones, and soon all lie dead or dying, with the Hollri stomping on the two that had crippled the Hollri before.
+But the Galana priestess has been busy!! She has opened a hole in the dark clouds above, and the sun has shined through brightly onto her and less brightly onto the melee. She calls and gestures grandly, and a huge pillar of flame comes down, engulfing the giant Hollri! It melts, cracks, roars and crumbles into a heap. You rush the rise where she and the fiery Hound of Ehilm are. She manages one more, smaller Sunspear spell that reaches Boamund, and while he is singed, his Fire rune saves him from grave wounds.  (7d6 fire damage is not to be trifled with!)
+Bog uses Darkwalk to skirt the rise and come from behind her. The rest of you fan out and approach the front. The Hound remains at guard in front of her; it lets out a horrible threatening howl but none of you are cowed. She is chanting another Sunspear when Bog makes it to the glowing golden circle surrounding her, and he penetrates that magical warding, sparking it to bathe part of him in powerful flames, but his Shield spell saves him. Others see this; he reappears from his Darkwalk once he is in the Sunbright area; and figure it’s best to not enter. Bog, however, rushes the priestess with surprise, and clonks her on the head with his much-blessed mace, knocking her out and ending her Sunspear preparation!
+Shrett is faced by the Hound but he takes time to crush one of the 3m long golden rods, and the magic around the circle shrinks. Boamund aids soon. Fraud, though, rushes to aid Shrett as the Hound leaps at him, biting fiercely. Shrett keeps up his defence and buys time, wounding the beast, while Fraud arrives and they badly wound it.
+And then Bog strikes a furious blow, invoking all the power of Zorak Zoran! He crushes the head of the Galana priestess, knocking it off and ripping her spine out with, and he hurls the gory trophy into the swirling winds, which carry it to Valind. The god takes the trophy and laughs, praising Zorak Zoran’s prowess. Valind holds the little prize up in two fingers as it freezes and tinkles like a bell in his hand.
+Yet the Galana priestess dies in another column of flame, that takes her body down through the ice, steaming and hissing as it goes into the Glacier! There is a shudder. The ice is moving. And thoughts enter all of your minds. A story that this place knows, and it is telling you now.
+This vast glacier was not always here. Before the Lesser Darkness, this was the vast White Sea, cold, but hospitable to the many beings of the ocean. As the mythic Darkness expanded across the world, so did Valind’s Winter Empire, until all the seas froze over entirely in a terrible Ice Age. Even after the mythic forces of Chaos had been defeated, Valind’s Glacier withdrew only a little, with the White Sea vastly diminished. The gods of the oceans have never forgiven this. They still travel deep below the Glacier, and they greatly resent the gods of Storm and Darkness who caused this part of the ocean to be covered in ice. The ocean gods yearn for revenge…
+Varchulanga, the ocean’s mother-monster and destroyer of foes of the sea, bursts forth with a deafening shriek and the squeals of quickly breaking ice! It was her dark form lurking under the ice, somehow managing to get this close through the vastness of the glacier. She looms dozens of metres above you, many-ringed jaws snapping and many tentacles writhing hungrily!
+Valind calls, “You must not remain here, you have done what you can, my godling friends! Go now, with my thanks!” And he rushes the sea-god. The two gods wrestle, vast slabs of ice crack around them, threatening to tip anyone else into the freezing cold waters. The storm wind howls furiously, and the ocean below throbs with an ominous vibration. The chariot, the gold, the hound, all bodies, they all fall off slabs of ice into the freezing sea below. But you slide down your ice-floes safely, escaping certain death one by one.
+The Winter King turns to you from his combat, and blows mightily, a gust of chill breath that sends you all tumbling into the air, carried into a blizzard that soon obscures everything. You feel the intense cold now for the first time since you began your quest. It is like nothing else you’ve felt. But Shrett, feeling his new affinity for cold and Valind, rejoices in the feeling, and winds are called up around him that smoothe his path, carrying him safely downwards as he revels in the plummet.
+Hurtling through the snowstorm, there is a sensation of sudden acceleration, and a peculiar jerk, as if the world is turned at a right angles to itself. Then you land in deep, soft snow, plummeting out of the Other Side and back into the Middle World. Shrett lands feet-first like a gymnast. The rest of you fall unceremoniously into snowbanks, but you are unharmed.
+And you are gifted by your epic quest!
++1 party luck pt  = back to 3!
+Shrett chooses to swap his Illusion affinity for the “Cold Rune” (~Darkness Rune). Bog improves his connection.
+Fraud chooses the ability to Extinguish fires (modest-sized ones; not bonfires) at will; as per the Folk magic spell. This functions in all respects as per the Folk magic spell of the same name (i.e. it costs 1 magic point), but as it is an ability, it does not count towards the number of Folk spells known and is always successful. It’s an innate power; he has become one with the cold.
+Boamund chooses the ability to radiate cold. This functions as per Valind’s Cool spirit magic spell (basically it just cools the area around you, but that might have extra benefits in certain contexts).  It costs 1 magic point to activate, but does not count towards the number of Folk spells known and is always successful. It’s an innate power; he has become one with the cold.
+I forgot another thing: you should each note what your PC feels was your greatest action on this quest. It is worth noting that on your PC’s sheet.
+Boamund gets his bearings, and manages, against all odds, to find that snow-draped tree where the bodyguard of the Wizard-Sages was perched dead in. The body is still there, much more ice- and snow-covered. Shrett climbs up and excavates the corpse; with some of the branch, too. It takes some work chiseling through the snow and ice, but you find his backpack and belt-pouch and yet no traces of the plates that the Sages should have had. And, having no leads on where that last Sage might have gone, your search is at a dead-end.
+You return to Estali city in a day, and learn at the gates that it is Freezeday of Death Week. Bog heads off to a snow-covered lonely ruin once he buys a slave, and he sacrifices the slave to his grim god in Holy Day celebration. The rest of you enter the city and ensconce yourselves back at the inn.
+Shrett goes to the Slurping Serpent for drinks and soon meets the mysterious stranger who calls himself Estrent. They have another cryptic conversation. But this time Estrent suggests that Shrett might be counted as a friend, and that they might have a mutual interest in a problem that Estali faces, one that originates from terrible Tinaros County. Estrent says he is not from around here, like Shrett, but he is concerned about the fate of this city, and seeks information; he will share it in trade, or even in joint efforts? He says he has resources he can call upon. But again this is all vague, although a certain amount of trust is building between the two. Estrent departs. Shrett drinks a bit more, with plenty on his mind.
+You finally get some warmth and rest. The next day, Shrett relates the news about his “friend”. You go to the Temple of the Great Green Lady and have audience with Alangellia again. It’s delightfully enticing for Fraud, and Boamund is deep in his own thoughts, but Shrett now looks at her differently, with no emotion at all. The world has changed for him. But Alangellia says she has heard you’ve returned and was awaiting council with you, as she’d heard of bad outcomes at Ridalstead, and knew that the surviving family had to move in with neighbours for the winter.
+But she wanted your story. You told her what happened at the stead with the horse-monsters, then at the tomb with the Sages and thieving son of the Thane, and the deaths of all 20 horses of the stead as they became possessed by the vengeful spirits of the tomb, and that you had returned the holy chamfron of Ornovar One-Foot atop his horse’s head again and sealed the tomb, and bore the warning for no one to return. She asked for the artifacts you’d recovered, so that allies could investigate them and see if the real tablets could be tracked down. Fraud eagerly asked if you could do more for her but she said that you’d done plenty. One of her crocodile-headed Nakasa beasts, named Grinner, growled Earthspeech to her and snickered at this.
+And she thanked you graciously, saying that the Archon, too, would want to speak with you. She told you to expect rewards from leaders of the city amongst the Galanini…
+A refresher—you know some things in Estali that are leads yet to be pursued:
+  * The Krarsht-like murders remain unsolved.
+  * You know of location of Pehraln’s warehouse, dock and ship The Effervescent near the river’s mouth.   [Madam Magthyra told you this, and of its link to Tinaros and Partan island; the Admiral also had a storied history with Estali’s confrontations with Partan]
+  * I may be forgetting something else?
+----
+==== Tying up some loose ends ====
+From the Monastery down south:
+In Makris’s notes: Letter, unsigned: “You know that Pehraln is expecting a detailed progress report. The Wanderer and he don’t always see eye to eye so you should be careful. I’d stay out of Estali if I were you. Well done finding a copy of the Tome of the Third Eye That Opened in your old library.”
+Pehraln (you’ve heard that name before, and Kenwill sees it in the documents from Makris and soon says that, ahh, that is the name of the nice visitor from some weeks ago, who was like Fraud in that he was covered up a lot, swaddled in bandages and such. He did not have a lisp, no. Kenwill didn’t talk to him very much; those that did are dead)
+From Unn’s notes:
+“I’ve heard of this new threat, a Telmori Tergavi who goes by the name of Black Eyes. I hope that Pehraln has found a way to be rid of him. If our ally gets the Tome of the First Eye That Opened, that concern may vanish.”
+Pehraln is mentioned in some vague connections along with other mysterious people (maybe some of them the same person, or not?) such as The Wanderer and Quintus.
+Black Eyes commented: “No one should be surprised at this history if they know it. Partan had a history of very destructive wars with Tinaros many years before. It is surely is no coincidence that another County ruined Partan. Coincidences like this do not happen in Safelster. Now that the Estali have destroyed Partan City, and other important changes have happened in the world, many believe the beast people will revert to their primitive spirit cults. The Serpent Beast Alliance is succeeding in making this happen now. Many do not like that idea. Many do. But—enemies of both sides conspire to use this conflict against them all, and I am sure that some of those enemies are on Partan. But to go there without knowing where to go would be a fool’s errand. The place is cursed and haunted by angry spirits, and worse. There must be some specific location—a temple, a fortress, a gateway to a hidden world, or whatever—from which the enemy’s power flows toward Estali. You can see where I’m leading- the enemy of Partan and Estali is Tinaros and that is Argin Terror. But who is the connection? Argin Terror is acting in Estali through agents; who and how? That would tell where the connection is on Partan.”
+And
+Tells of spirit of slain person from Erenplose (friend of Boamund): Pehraln  joined the hero band masquerading as a scholar; betrayed them in Erenplose, ensuring all but him died at the hands of him and his agents, and he hurried back to Ralios, returning to Estali. He got something he wanted in Erenplose.  His “friends” became mournful, cursed spirits, one of whom Black Eyes interrogated.
+The two astrologer/scholars (Arkati of some flavour) you helped in their villa along the river, gave you a starseeing message: “The stars have seen that The Wanderer and Pehraln seek it, but Black Eyes knows where it is.” i.e. the Tome(s)
+Madam Magthyra:
+You drop the name Pehraln and she gets interested. Bog and Shrett notice that she recognises the name and is trying to act casual about it, so Bog blurts out asking what she really knows. She gives him a stony look but offers in reply that she is deeply suspicious of this person, and has had her people investigate him, learning a few things. He is not from Estali and probably not from Ralios. Her people haven’t seen much of him, but he has been spotted in a heavy dark robe trimmed with dull yellow, and he appears to be heavily bandaged. She motions to Fraud, noting that Pehraln does not wear a mask like him, but still seems to hide something of his nature. She soon divulges some more information, that she knows he has some allegiance to Argin Terror of Tinaros, allied with or part of his cult, and acting from the island of Partan (which Black Eyes also told you).
+She also gives the new information that she knows Pehraln has a ship, called The Effervescent, which he uses to do whatever his business is on Lake Felster, probably between Tinaros, Partan and (lately) Estali. He keeps it moored at/near the harbour when it is here (it is here now, she notes) and has a warehouse there. You explain you’re looking for allies on your quest and seek to defeat the growing Chaos threat, and she responds that Pehraln wouldn’t be missed, in her opinion. As for allegiance and such, well, she’ll see how things develop, but she values the trust you’ve earned with her, and she praises your resourcefulness and strength. Clearly you’ve made an impression. Some of you might wonder how much she is calculating about how you fit into her obscure schemes…?
+----

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