You find yourselves inside the trench that has been exposed to/opened by the blizzard, with the crater’s explosion at its end. You draw weapons, cast spells, and close with the two fiery giant-men and the salamander. It starts throwing bolts of flame at you soon, but Fraud has a clever solution to that: he casts Attract Missiles on the second giant. It throws its flaming rock your way but that arcs backwards and smacks him in the wing, causing injury and much angry distress. Soon they stop trying their ranged weapons. [and good that they did- the giants could breathe fire or poison gas!] Bog unleashes a constant flurry of Frost-Flails and decimates the salamander- soon it disintegrates and he alone is victorious over this great foe! Fraud has blinded the second giant-man with a Darkstrike, leaving him stumbling along near the other one as it closes in with Boamund.

There is a frigid blast of wind; the coldest you’ve ever felt. But it bothers none of you too much. And then something very unexpected happens. A huge figure comes marching down the hillside opposite the ash crater and you, snow whipping around his form. He is a giant, over three times a human’s height, with a prodigious frozen beard dripping in icicles, and he is half-naked but unperturbed. His eyes are the coldest grey possible, twinkling like ice. He looks ready for violence but he stops nearby. Shrett figures that his attitude means he is on your side, not against you at least, opposing those fire-men. You keep fighting as he watches. The blinded fire-giant recovers and both fight as best they can, but by now each faces two foes, with Shrett having summoned a Shade to help you, and Fraud aiding Boamund.

Bog and Boamund recognise him as Valind, or a representation of him in the Middle World (i.e., avatar/heroquester?). Bog recalls him as a great warrior vs. Chaos throughout the Darkness (much of the Chaos incursions began up north), who fought alongside Uz, and remains friendly to the Uzhim or snow trolls that inhabit Valind’s Glacier; among whom Zorak Zoran is popular. Valind greets you in Ralian: “The venebainings do not belong here; they have been drawn by some kind of upheaval in Sky magics nearby, which disrupt the balance of elements in my winter. I am the Winter King. I cannot act directly here but these fire-demons must be stopped. I can help you, if you wish.” Bog, in particular, speaks up welcoming aid. And then, inspired by this divine presence, he goes berserk. The fire-person wounds him in the leg with its firespear but his magical fury keeps him in the fight.

Valind, who now speaks in a variety of tongues you can understand, addresses you as gods/godlings, and you soon realise you’ve changed to look more like them unless carefully examined up close. Fraud = Humath (his mask is gone and his face looks like a grim barbarian warrior’s); Boamund = Urox (with wild hair and beard, and a horned helm); Shrett = Odayla (complete with bearskin cloak); Bog = Zorak Zoran (looking now like a dark troll!). Valind blesses Bog’s Frost-Flail with his icy breath and it now penetrates 1d3 armour (this will last throughout the heroquest). You trade blows with the fire-giants and quickly the Shade crushes the second wounded one, whereas Fraud deals a final death-blow to the first one after Boamund wounds it.

The Venebainings, as Valind called them, lie dead, melting the snows with gouts of fiery blood. The Winter King bellows and the ground around the bodies freezes, then cracks, and the demons’ remains are swallowed up into a dark, hissing crevasse. You address him and he welcomes you heartily but with a harsh edge of judgement. He is no being to care for pleasantries or small talk. Valind appreciates action. And he appreciates how well you’ve fought- you barely needed his aid. In honour of this deed, he gives boons to you from his magical aura. First, he breathes a gentle gust of soothing cold on all of you and you’re healed. That’s actually nice of him. Then he explains individual gifts of (one-use) magic: Bog is given Inora’s Frost spell, Shrett given Snow, Boamund given Face Chaos, and Fraud given Flight. You’re liking his style!

He rumbles, “But another ancient foe wanders my snows! Imperialists come to challenge my storm and aid their dead Sun god, driving back my blizzard and my realm! Come, let us battle together!” You say yes, of course.

“We must travel deeper into my realm, cresting this ridge. We must cross the Ice Wastes, the Frozen Lake, the Fuming Crater and the Crevasse Between Worlds, and then reach the White Pillar God that our enemies quest for, at the edge of the world and corner of the Sky Dome. Then we will defeat our foes, so that winter’s reign continues over the southern lands as it should.” Ahh. OK. A heroquest it is! And a big one! Bog knows that the White Pillar God is a giant who holds up the Sky Dome on the northern fringe of Valind’s Glacier. This is at a boundary of the Middle World, and close to the Sky Realm. To go there is a truly epic journey. It is impossibly far to reach from where you are/were in Ralios, but to journey via the Hero Plane will change things. In ways that might be quite surprising…

You are guided further up the hill by the Winter King. When you reach the crest of a ridge you’d not seen before, he is no longer beside you but he now appears quite some distance away down the opposite slope. You can see much further than you had been able to before, despite the blizzard. The landscape that you expect to see, the gentle hills and sweeping plains, is simply not there. Instead the slope extends downwards for key miles, and no end can be seen to it.

You start to walk along but the Winter King encourages haste, and soon he vanishes quickly into the blizzard, calling out “Continue, my friends, you will find the way or it will find you; either way we will unite again!” You realise you need to do more than just saunter. You need to hustle, and act mythically or runically. You’re on the Hero Plane or very close to it. You’re now in a very magical place where you can use your Hero Runes to their full extent, especially if aligned with the god you represent. Shrett heeds the call for action, drawing on his Movement Rune. He beckons Valind’s wind to push you along in your voyage, and it whips up a strong gust that safely speeds all of you down the steep slope. But it is a magically expensive blessing, as he soon sees…

You confront the Ice Wastes. At the base of the hill, a vast icy plain stretches out ahead, as far as one can see. It is mostly bare of snow. At some points the ice is perfect and unblemished, like clear glass, although down through it there is nothing but blackness. Bog evokes his Darkness Rune’s Cold aspect, creating a path of ice that arcs over the ground, giving you a smooth, fast personal path across the Ice Wastes.

You reach the Frozen Lake. The ice here forms ripples like immobile waves, complete with froth-like frost edges. A viciously biting wind lashes across its vast extent. The wind tinkles with sounds like chimes, and the wind carries giant snowflakes with it, each at least the size of a man’s hand. The Cold Rune energy here tugs at your spirits with great energy, and Shrett almost has his spirit depleted but emerges with a devastating drain on his soul. This is no place for those weak of spirit; it can be beautiful and cruel at once. Soon, twelve Ice pixies manifest amidst the snow, flitting easily in the wicked winds and laughing in high, sharp tones that are both playful and menacing. They call out in several languages, including Darktongue: “Come, travellers, come! Dance with us, dance in the air or on the ice, or whatever you can do! Rejoice in the wonder of winter! Show us what you’re made of—are you cool enough for the cold?” Shrett begins dancing his best. The pixies aren’t so sure at first but then he gets in a rhythm and they cheer him on, picking him up in gentle winds so he can dance in the air with them. Bog does a stomping Dance of Death with his Death Rune, calling forth spectres of foes he has slain as he roars his tale of glory in battles past. The pixies withdraw at first, with comments that this is more intense than they expected, but they get the vibe and respect his heroic stature. He belongs here. Boamund and Fraud sing along with the dancing. The pixies initially scowl at them and make lewd gestures or jeers, but they change their tune as the two singers find a harmony that is pleasing to all and suits the dancing that is happening. So by the end of the celebration, everyone is having a good time. Then the pixies begin flitting off, with some final verbal barbs of their characteristic naughty attitude.

You come to what must be the Fuming Crater. A yawning, steaming pit yawns wide ahead, its edges wildly uneven and wavering in heat. The environment is volcanic. Noxious fumes and smoke blight the air. Half-melted grey granite and black obsidian form the pit's walls, their smooth, reflective surfaces melted together. Ehilm's faint, distant light is blotted out under this place's heavy smoke. A misshapen obsidian tower rises from the center of the pit. Light flickers from within, casting an amber glow onto a thin, gravelly path of volcanic scree that winds down from the crater rim to the tower.

The distant voice of the Winter King sounds out, “What ho! A Sky God fell during our battles and crushed a weakling clan’s land, and a settlement of Sky People that also fell still squats here astride the planes! Do with this place as you wish. I have no interest in it and will see you at the Crevasse Between Worlds.”

The path into the pit is about two metres wide and, while steep, not precarious when walking down it. Some of the fires at the bottom of the crater are walking about on two legs, some of you see—fire spirits or people? They are made of flame, in any case. You circumnavigate the spiralling path and no one seems to notice or care until you’re most of the way down.

Early on along the path, you cross a bridge over a tunnel below, that crosses from the pit into an underground space. Then you come to a branch from the path where a flat stone fills the entry of a square lintel. Ash gathers at the bottom, high as your knees. Sharp lines incise austere Theyalan letters in Ralian dialect on the smooth surface. Inspecting closely, you can just barely make out that this is the burial place of an Enerali (horse rider ancestor/Godtime person) hero. You’ve learned a recent lesson that tombs should be left alone and you do.

Several Obsidian Tunnels wind through this site; you pass two. Each is about 2-3 meters wide. The tunnels lack illumination, but some reflected light is common due to the natural glow of distant fire-people. Several crude balconies look down upon pits that you pass during your explorations. And you come to another branch that stops at a slab (this one being unmarked), but here there is a gap at the top of the slab, of just a few centimetres, that might allow air in/out but nothing more. Again, you figure this is a tomb and leave it be.

Soon two fire-people, near the doorway of the melted tower, take interest and approach you when you’ve reached the bottom of the path, at the floor of the pit. They are speaking to each other excitedly in Firespeech. You approach, with Shrett and Fraud hailing them in what snippets of that language they can manage.

Some jilted conversation ensues. The fire-people wonder who you are; they are surprised to see visitors. You express interest over visiting the melted tower and they say no, it is their “holiest of holies” and visitors are not allowed. Awkward conversation continues haltedly. Then Fraud procures a magical image of the Sky Realm from your heroquest, and they marvel at it: “Ooooooh. Ahhhhh. Pretty!” you can understand in Firespeech. You use this as leverage: see, you’re not so bad, you come to pay homage to the holy thing here. It’s a tough sell but amazingly, you win them over to it. They agree to escort you into the tower for a visit.

The pit's gravel bottom crunches underfoot. A slouching tower looms in the center. Its tremendous boulders seem to have melted together whilst collapsing. You stand beside the foundation stones. The entrance lies several paces up the western wall, you find. It is an open portal, but you have to climb there. The fire-people simply glide-walk up the vertical surface. They wait for you up there, and you have no trouble ascending although to be safe, Bog and then Boamund call on their Fire Runes to protect them from burns, as you can feel the intense heat emanating from the tower. Inside, it is like a furnace, but none of you feel discomfort that is too much to bear for a short while (Fraud and Shrett do feel some urgency not to linger).

Inside, the wall drops to the original structure's basement, level with the pit's bottom. There is a fire that dominates the tower's interior. This blaze fills a hemisphere with a diameter of 3.4 meters, and there are golden bones of a giant person’s left hand and forearm within. [Fraud later notices that some bones are missing—pilfered?]. You look up the tower and see a clear nighttime sky. No smoke, no clouds, no Red Moon. Later when things are calmer, Bog and Shrett cast their gaze upwards and hold it, and are filled with wonder at the perfect view of the night sky (even if just a tiny fraction of it), and they feel more bonded to the Fire Rune. On another side of the chamber, liquid bronze burbles on the floor. Maybe the heat here keeps it liquid.

The fire-people watch anxiously as you take in the sights. But then Bog takes action. He says that the Sky God does not belong here in this place of Valind, and the sky people’s settlement here does not belong in a place of obsidian and such. They belong in the sky, and maybe by releasing the god from bondage here they can return. The fire-people are horrified by this suggestion, to the degree they can understand it, but your actions leave little doubt as to your intent. You are not here to pay homage to their god as they had thought. Bog is here to destroy it.

Bog calls on his Darkness, Death and Fire runes together. His Frostflail grows even colder and he croaks for its power to sever life from this place, with the goal of gaining Fire magic from it like Zorak Zoran did from Yelmalio at the Hill of Gold. The fire-people get an idea of what he’s doing and protest, trying to push him toward the bubbling bronze instead. Boamund and Fraud interpose themselves after Bog manages to get past them, and Bog begins to bash at the fire. It shrieks horribly as if suffering, and it writhes, grabbing him in flames that sorely burn him all over, but its flames now are visibly weaker, with ash piling on the floor around the bones. The fire-people cry out in outrage, but they are too weak to escape from your grip. Shrett, who is rightly concerned about getting burned by the fire-people if he touches them, stands by as Boamund watches and prepares to help Bog if needed. Yet Bog deals a second blow and the fire shrieks and writhes one last time, then goes out with a chorus of horrified cries from the fire-people. Some of the flame and ash condenses into Bog’s shield-hand, becoming a Nugget of the Skyfire (when held it makes him immune to fire damage—but he cannot parry if doing so; just passive-block). You look at the bones and release the fire-people who collapse onto the floor nearby, overcome with grief. You leave them to their misery. They said something about Lord Verinus, so that must have been their god’s name, although they also used the name Skyfire.

You return to the floor of the pit and cross under the bridge, where the tunnel slopes upward, opening to a chamber which appears to have once been a courtyard, now buried underground. Stone pillars support the roof. The stone surfaces here are remarkably smooth, as if carefully melted. The muraled walls have faded, and new images have been added atop the old. The most well-painted, on the south wall, depicts Lodril, the God of Earthfire, as you see later on closer examination. The walls once depicted Solar and Lightbringer gods and heroes, but the old images have almost entirely faded. His throne sits against the south wall. There are no other furnishings. Shrett finds himself utterly blind in the dark here, and with no mana left he can do nothing, but Boamund later takes pity and casts a Glow spell on Shrett. An odd person enters the hall as you look around. They seem human, but to your eyes ugly, with cruel inhuman facial features and a greenish tinged skin. Oddly, they wear ramshackle old tin armour; to use such metal in that way is very unusual. They also carry a shortspear, but they don’t look aggressive. Instead, they are inquisitive. You find that they do speak some Tradetalk and they ask why you’re here, who you are, and why there was such ghastly shrieking they heard. Boamund introduces you as your god-names and says you’re trying to get to the Crevasse, and they press for information on the shrieking, maybe not satisfied. Then quickly without further conversation they just turn around and head back up the obsidian tunnel that they entered through.

You check out the throne, which is a solid piece of carved grey granite bearing a Fire rune atop it. Bog proudly sits on it, then urinates on it when you leave, as you see nothing further here. You go back to the spiralling path around the main pit and explore the two obsidian tunnels you’d bypassed. One passes another stone slab/doorway with a gap at the top, then circles back to join the other passage in a loop. Midway along, you look across the bottom of a smaller pit, which doesn't have an obvious path to the surface. Its floor is covered in ancient rubble, outlining square foundations. Two ragged buildings stand atop the ruins. You make your way there, finding that the tunnel that the strange inhabitant retreated back into is the only way into that pit.

The buildings are simple and old. However you arrive at a doorway that is made of relatively new and intact wood; an odd thing indeed here in this place of fire. So maybe someone lives here? Boamund knocks and enters, hearing no answer, finding himself in a short foyer with another door. Shrett comes in, Bog watches the entry door, and Fraud stays outside with his back to the pit’s wall, watching your backs.

Boamund calls out to anyone therein. He gets a reply in Tradetalk, inquiring who you are and why you’ve upset the people here. Boamund again gives your god-names and tells that Lord Verinus is dead; his soul freed to return to the Sky Realm. The reply is very surprised and inquisitive, asking why you’d done so, and then the door opens revealing the speaker, as conversation continues. He introduces himself as Philoren the Tall. This red-hued man is tall and thin. An unkempt black beard dangles past his waist. At his side is a shining shield wider than your shoulders, which depicts a snarling god with flaming hair—all too recognisable from your big trip to the Sky Realm as Shargash, the demon planet. He wears mismatched old tin armour and holds a sturdy longspear. You ask what he is, since he’s odd for a human, and he says he is a Shadzoring (and from the look of him, so was that other person you met in the pillared hall). He calls the fire-people you met Urvani.

Bog, in particular, remembers those Shadzoring people. Their elite berserks came with Shargash (https://glorantha.fandom.com/wiki/Shargash) trying to stop the Boat Planet, and Bog was lucky just to survive a brief duel with one of them. Those berserks were like demigods. This man is different; more like a normal person, but of otherworldly origin; and still having the bearing of a warrior. But not a demigod. The other beings you’d met here so far certainly did not seem like warriors. They looked just to be inhabitants; even citizens. Shargash is not a god you hear about much in the West, but you can see his planet in the Sky and there are tales of his fierce people; enemies to almost everyone, even fellow Solar beings, often. They have an aspect of Hell to them; like those venebainings, they combine aspects of Fire/Sky and Earth/Hell. You ask Philoren more about this but he directs conversation to the here and now.

Philoren probes with more questions. You eventually explain that you entered the Melted Tower and “freed” the fiery presence there. Philoren’s exclamations of how you have brought a big change to Lord Verinus’s Pit change. His understanding shifts and he says, his expression changing from shock to negotiation, that you’ve made a grave misunderstanding. The being you destroyed in the Melted Tower is not Lord Verinus. It was the Skyfire; a fragment of the Sky God that had fallen here, indeed, but a remnant that the beings here worship. Now that it is dead, he says, Lord Verinus will have your heads. He is/was the Skyfire’s priest! And he is very much alive. But, Philoren says, with no concealed scheming to his voice, this is an opportunity to enact change. Yes. You have much to discuss…