Our Heroes enjoyed a breakfast of smoked knucklehead trout with eggs at the Northlook with Vellyne and discussed Grimskalle among other things. Vellyne felt it sounded like a place named by Frost Giants and was intrigued enough to leave her remaining breakfast in order to research the location.
During the conversation and for the remainder of time spent in Brynn Shander Yrso seemed distracted and irritable, her gaze often wandering out the window or southward. When confronted by Lynaea and Largo she denied anything was wrong.
Neither Markham or Duvessa knew anything about Grimskalle, and Duvessa seemed far more worried about an Arcane Brother hood conspiracy.
Our heroes then left Brynn Shander behind and embarked on a cross-tundra journey to Dougan’s hole in order to save Finn and Silga.
Midway through the journey they came across trappers from Goodmead enjoying some time around a fire. The trappers warned our heroes that Dougan’s Hole is a place best avoided. Their warning would prove to be vastly understated.
Our heroes were then waylaid by a blizzard, during which they were attacked by two crag cats, one of which was easily dispatched and the other fled after suffering severe injuries. Theblizzard delayed them enough that their arrival at Dougan’s Hole would be in the middle of the night.
They were greeted by a man fascinated by their sled dogs. He could barely form a sentance but would enthusiastically shout ‘Dougan’s Hole’ whenever the opportunity presented itself.
People could be seen out on the ice, seemingly just standing in place, one or two would occassionally thrash around for a moment before resuming their position. A resident explained that these were fishermen (though far less eloquently).
Brainy Sue, a teacher with vestigial ears and pointed teeth who lived in a long unused schoolhouse told our heroes that Silga and Finn were her children, that they should be returned. Her memory however appeared to be unreliable.
The Speaker, Edgar Durmoot also expressed some interest in returning the children, but was also highly suggestible, forgetful, and paranoid.
Other unusual behaviour from town residents included carrying and eating raw fish, standing in place, staring in windows, and sitting on the cold ground.
Our heroes reluctantly decided to spend the night in the speaker’s house, after which Largo suffered memory loss before a full night’s rest. Unable to recall how he even arrived in Dougan’s hole. Our heroes then decided to make haste out of the town and towards a location crudely marked on a map by Speaker Durmoot.
In the tundra, they were approached by two massive white wolves with blue eyes, named Koran and Kanan. They conviced out heroes to follow them to a frost giant lodge to save the children who had fled the ‘oppressive’ conditions in Dougan’s hole, from a Mammoth named Norsu. When questioned about Grimskalle the wolves feigned ignorance.
Koran and Kanan convinced our heroes to enter the lodge through a hole in the ice around the side, and to scare Norsu out of his lair with fire, while they waited outside in ambush. They counted on our heroes to pursue Norsu and assist in the ambush but were instead slain when our heroes opted instead to find the children and bring them to safety.
Yrso carried a barrel of whale oil to the hallway behind the sleepy Norsu and rolled it towards him. Lynaea ignited the barrel and caused an explosion that knocked a Frost giant corpse from a throne and drove Norsu out into the wolves ambush.
This caused a chain reaction that eventually destroyed the lodge. as a mortally wounded Norsu tried to crawl back inside to die with his frost giant master, Yrso convinced him to continue to take care of the children. It appeared that our heroes may have misjudged the situation, trusting the deceitful frost wolves. Norsu was healed by our heroes and agreed to turn his back on the long-dead Frost giant Garagai.
The children did not want to visit Grimskalle, and Norsu did not want the children to be taken there. Nor did they want to return to Dougan’s hole, and in fact the children seemed like completely normal people, far from the disfigured and unwell people of Dougan’s hole.
Norsu knew that Grimskalle was a seat of Frost giant power, visited long ago by his master Garagai, but did not know where it was, only that is was now a place of worship for Auril.
As the lodge melted Norsu took the children to parts unknown, hoping to find a new place to settle in the frozen north.