Our ever-growing group continued forward, now in the company of a rather strange monk. The monk surrendered the four charcoal drawings, each bearing an uncanny likeness to one of the four original members of the group. About midday of the seventh day of travel from the dwarven city, a freak blizzard struck (one of the nasty and unpredictable hazards of winter travel). The group quickly found shelter in a cave that was little more than a hole in the ground. Within a couple of hours, the snowdrifts outside had blocked the group in, and so they took this time to get to know the monk and identify various items that the party carried.

The mysterious amulets that the party believed to be among the seven that the kobold had told them about only turned up as masking their properties. They also found, among other things, that the two snowy cloaks would provide more than the usual protection from the cold. The monk related a blunt story of a dead elf with a seed insignia to the slightly bewildered group, who wondered why the he didn?t bring it to them. He was shortly accepted as one of the rag tag group of adventures.

On the third evening after the blizzard had started, Xon found that he could easily tunnel out near the roof of the cave mouth and looked out upon a beautiful star lit evening. The clouds blocking the moon parted for just an instant, allowing a brief glimpse of a huge bat like creature blocking the moon. A moment later, the leathery-winged avian had dipped back down into the cloud cover, but not before the moonlight glinted off of silvery-white wings.

As the party moved northward, food became high demand as everyone dug at every snow mound to find even the thinnest of rations to stave off hunger. Progress towards the path of the dead slowed to a veritable crawl. By the time they reached the Valley of Choices, fifteen days had passed since leaving the dwarven city.

The aptly named Valley of Choices caused a significant discussion among the party as to which road to take when they reach the crossroads. Bellum clearly wanted to go and face the dragon right away (having been with a group of adventurers who had previously defeated one). Xon, for obvious reasons of his own, wanted to make best time to the temple along the path of the dead.

In the middle of this discussion, both Auhron and Ravensong stopped dead in their tracks, hearing a garbled and deep, "Aw, I don't hear anything! The rod will warn us when they get here. . . Well, it worked with the dwarves, didn't it?" and a second, more sibilant voice responding "Yess, but they escaped Malak in Tilverton and twice killed his assassins." Further snippets of conversation were overheard before Xon, Bellum, and Ravensong began to advance quietly. "That white wyrm and her minions are out looking for them as well." " She bears us no good will, and the gods alone know who she works for." "They'll be coming this way. Malak say's their headed to Nar something or other in the north, and even a rock knows they wouldn't travel by way of the Zentirum's land." "Malak with give uss a world of reward for the key." "Pass me some more dwarf." "We're out. All we have left isss cold mutton."

Trying to get a better look at the source of the voices, Xon cautiously approached beyond the front of the group, but accidentally spooked a rabbit. As it ran ahead of him, a loud gong sounded, and a ten foot, black skinned, red eyed monstrosity charged out from around a bend in the valley and crushed the rabbit with a small tree, stating "Aw, it won't even make a mouthfull!". The sight of this fearsome creature, looking like an evil cross between ogre and bat, caused a number of our heroes to fire weapons wildly. Bellum managed to hit the creature before it bellowed out a warning.

"Thalk found company," the creature called as it charged after the noise the monk was making. Thalk was quickly followed by a second black-skinned ogre. As they moved into combat, the second ogre spotted a dwarf that looked rather tasty. Xon strategically remained hidden in the confines of a tree, and perhaps this explains his poor shooting. Falahara spent a few seconds trading blows with the winged ogre as she stepped between the ogre and the cleric.

?Durgmar smash dwarf!? was heard across the valley as the second ogre decided to use Bellum as a piton, driving him into the snow and ground. Temporarily staggered, Bellum watched as the group peppered the second ogre with arrows as the first began to retreat. Regaining his wits, Bellum stepped forward to deliver a mighty blow of his own, felling the fell creature with his blessed mace. Auhron finished off the retreating ogre with a pair of guinea pig shaped missiles, and the group, as a whole, insured that the creatures would remained dead.

The ogres themselves had little of value on them. In the camp, however, there was a large rod stuck in the ground and the remains of a group of dwarves the ogres had apparently been feasting on (perhaps eight or ten all together). Proper, if hasty, burial rights were performed for the dwarves, lead by Bellum with Annu?s assistance. Three items of interest were found among the scattered and broken dwarven equipment. These were two heavily worn but stout backpacks and a large sack, all of which contained iron rations. All told, the three bags contained enough food to hold seven for more than a month, clearly exceeding the visual capacity of the bags.

As Xon was crawling into the sack, Auhron identified it, and the other two bags, as magical items allowing access to extra-dimensional spaces. This was a great find; albeit the food was probably more valuable at the time, as the party sat down to experience the chewing exercise that is dwarven iron rations.

Ravensong then led the group to the entrance of the path's of the dead, demonstrating an unseen barrier reminiscent of static electricity. Even though half a day remained, Ravensong suggested making camp outside the paths, and settled down to prepare for the harrowing journey she knew was before them.