Stepping out of Icespider Hollow into the biting cold of the far north, Otto, Caoimhe, Finlay, and Callum found themselves surrounded by endless snow and howling wind. Their respite was short-lived when a massive polar bear emerged from the tree line. Finlay attempted to calm the creature with his sea-glass marble, but the bear was too agitated. It lunged at him, and the group was forced to defend themselves. Otto and Callum launched attacks while Caoimhe ended the threat with a well-placed Petrificus Totalus, freezing the bear mid-charge.
As the group caught their breath, they heard whistling from the forest. Caoimhe used her newly acquired Nimbus Striders to fly above the trees, where she spotted an old man with a staff gathering herbs—clearly a wizard. He was moving in their direction.
The party scattered to hide, though Finlay and Callum’s attempt to share a tree was less than subtle. When the man—Oleg Mirnov—arrived, he was shocked to find children in this remote wilderness. Caoimhe tried to lie about being separated from a field trip, but Oleg saw through the deception immediately. Despite his suspicion, he insisted they come back to his village to get warm, and the exhausted group reluctantly agreed.
At Frostwell Village, a settlement of perfectly crafted ice igloos glowing with warm magical light, Oleg pressed them for the truth. The party hesitated, and when Katya Mirnova—Oleg’s seventeen-year-old daughter—brought them tea and whale blubber, they made Callum drink first to test for poison. He was less than pleased.
When the conversation turned to Theo and Seylon, something shifted in Oleg. He spoke of an ancient prophecy, of eight obelisks his family had guarded for four hundred years, and suggested that these children might be the ones foretold. Katya was visibly upset, demanding to know why her father was revealing sacred secrets to complete strangers. Her protests went unheeded, and though she was outraged, she insisted on accompanying them.
The walk to the Circle of Eight took them through harsh terrain. When they arrived, eight towering black obelisks veined with silver stood in a perfect circle, humming with patient magic. Each was carved with runes representing elements in a cycle: Dawn, Growth, Sun, Harvest, Dusk, Decay, Moon, and Rebirth.
The party worked together to solve the puzzle, activating each obelisk. When the eighth obelisk flared with brilliant blue-white light, beams of silver magic connected all eight, and with a sound like ice cracking under immense pressure, the entire platform began to descend. The ancient ice had been carved in a perfect cylinder, and they descended like a magical elevator, spiraling deeper and deeper until they reached the entrance to a dungeon that hadn’t been opened in four hundred years.
The moment the platform stopped, Oleg’s demeanor changed entirely. “PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!” he shouted, his wand aimed at Caoimhe and Finlay. Both froze solid, and Oleg sprinted into the darkness with unnatural speed.
Katya screamed, “Papa?! NO!” torn between chasing after him and helping the petrified students. Otto bolted after Oleg without hesitation, watching as the man disappeared into a chamber to the side. Callum quickly revived Finlay, who then freed Caoimhe, and together they rushed forward.
In a room with two glowing pillars flanking a perfectly circular pool, they found Oleg reaching for a ring that floated above the water. He grabbed it and put it on, and immediately began writhing in pain. His form shifted uncontrollably, shapeshifting through different faces and bodies as shadowy tendrils lashed out from the ring. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the ring slipped off a finger—the form he’d taken was missing one—and Oleg collapsed unconscious in an unfamiliar shape. Otto quickly cast Incarcerous, binding the imposter with magical ropes.
Before they could process what had happened, a terrible noise echoed from the throne room. A wight—an ancient undead guardian with necrotic energy crackling around a massive sword—emerged from the shadows. It struck Caoimhe first, and the blow was devastating. She crumpled to the ground, barely clinging to life as her friends frantically fought to bring the creature down.
The battle was brutal. The wight’s sword carried death with every swing, and only with Katya’s help—casting spells with tears streaming down her face—did they finally destroy the guardian. During the fight, Oleg (or whoever it was impersonating him) dis-apparated away. Caoimhe was stabilized, but the entire party was exhausted, wounded, and shaken.
As they caught their breath in the ancient throne room, surrounded by purple flames and stone older than memory, Katya conjured food for them with trembling hands. The truth was beginning to sink in: the man they had followed was not her father. And if he wasn’t Oleg, then what had happened to him?
The party rested uneasily, knowing that somewhere deeper in this frozen dungeon, more secrets—and more dangers—awaited them.