The Frozen City

In their travels, they had come across unique and marvelous architecture. From cavern cities, to palace tree houses they had seen a lot of wonderful places but Dubahar was by far the most awe-striking. It might have been a dangerous and long journey that made reaching the city all the better. For almost a month the Silver Sect had traversed the Ice Desert and they had finally reached their destination. Their bodies were frozen but upon seeing Dubahar their hearts warmed.

Near the middle of the desert sits Dubahar, the only city in Xecatan, a Kingdom comprised of wandering tribes and warring clans. Dubahar sits at the center of it all atop a wall of ice thousands of feet up. The mountain-sized frozen tepui juts out of the surrounding glacier. It is visible, on clear days, miles from the city. Although there aren't many clear days in the desert. Every angle and side of the mountain plateau is a sheer cliff, impossible to climb. There are two ways to gain access to the city; the elevator or the stairs Creatures with wings or powerful magics can fly up.

These stairs are carved out of the ice and in order to climb them the city provides special metal spikes. These spikes clamp onto the boots and shoes of those that wish to brave the stairs. Not the safest route but the cheapest. A wooden pulley elevator slowly rides up and down the side of the tepui, controlled by a large ice counterweight. The sect made for the bottom of the glacier tepui where the elevator and staircase begin. While they walked closer they heard cracking and watched large chunks of ice break off the side of the wall, tumble a thousand feet and shatter below. Not far from where they stood. The figure working the elevator called out to them.

"Don't worry, the shards won't get you here, just don't leave the road and you'll be safe." As he said that another shard released and crashed onto the glacier below releasing a cloud of frost dust into the air.

"Is that normal?" Harim asked.

The bundled-up dwarf looked at them all from head to toe before seeing the giant standing behind them. "First time I reckon…It is quite normal. You'll see when you get up there, no sense in spoiling your first time." He smiled then turned his attention to the giant and began speaking a different language. Molkner responded.

"What's going on?" Erigos asked.

"Letting your friend here know that he'll have to wait, the elevator has a weight limit, can only take him up alone."

Alissa hugged the leg of the giant, "It was nice to meet you." She titled her head back to look at him.

He smiled at her and lightly patted her back. "Friend."

Alissa let go of his leg. The three men gave him a nod the international sign of appreciation.

The dwarf opened the wooden latch on the elevator, "Here you are." He stepped aside waiting for them.

The giant slammed his sword into the ground and leaned against it. He would have to wait a while it was a long slow way up.

"No payment?" Harim asked.

"You pay my wife at the top. No sense and collecting now. If you fall I get your coin anyways," the dwarf laughed.

Alissa hesitated.

"He's kidding Lis," Erigos hoped he was, as they got on the lift. The dwarf closed the latch on the gate.

"I'm not." He winked, hit the lever and the elevator jolted as the series of ropes began to pull the platform up the long ascent. A dozen feet up they could see frozen wooden structures, previous lifts. The dwarf called up before they were out of range, "Don't worry it's been a long time since we lost someone."

"Well that's comforting," Erigos moved to be closer to the wall side. The lift was slow-moving but it looked and felt safer than the staircase. It made the canyon stairs at Merigrand seem easy. At the halfway point they could see the shards breaking off and falling. They could also hear rushing water. Higher up the wall, water was flowing out of holes in the ice. When they reached the height of the water the air suddenly got warmer, slightly above freezing. The water was flowing through the warmer air and when it reached the freezing air it would turn to ice. Sometimes it would cling to the wall building up the layers of ice but the majority of the time the chunks just fall, creating these falling ice shards.

The lift took thirty minutes and when it stopped at the top they were extremely high up, having passed through a thin layer of clouds. They had a similar feeling to when at the Cloud Monastery, however, there was something different about still being attached to the earth and beginning this high up. Erigos left immediately, not a fan of heights.

"Welcome to Dubahar," A female dwarven voice welcomed them to the city which they still hadn't seen yet as the lift entered into a small building.

Harim paid the dwarven lady and stepped off the elevator which immediately began to descend.

"Your husband's jokes aren't funny," Erigos said to the dwarf, still shaking slightly, happy to be on firm ground even it was thousands of feet in the air.

She laughed, "He does tend to tease first-timers. Is there somewhere I can direct you?" She pocketed the coin. They were inside a small stone building. The dwarven lady wasn't wearing any cold-weather clothes. They started to realize they were starting to sweat in their thick clothes.

"The nearest inn or tavern will suffice," Harim said.

"Of course," She gave them directions and they were on their way, leaving the elevator building, setting their eyes on the city for the first time. The first thing they noticed was the lack of ice. There was snow on the ground, as well as dirt but there was no ice, at least right away. The city covers nearly the entire tepui, with a giant dome building at the center. There was a lack of tall towers but the largest building besides the dome was the palace, directly adjacent to the domed building. The houses are mostly constructed of stone and wood, the wood coming from the trees that grow on the plateau. At various locations, tunnels carve down into the small layer of earth and snow and into the ice below. There were lower sections of the city, built into the ice. Similar to the many inns they had stayed at to get here.

Near the dome, they found the inn the dwarven lady told them about. They were all very grateful to not be staying on the ice again. After arranging their lodgings the exploration of the city began. They learned the dome was a large coliseum. Every few months they have tournaments and one large one every five years. The victor of the big tournament becomes the next Champion for Xecatan. The other Kingdoms elect their Champions, Xecatan is the only one that has a tournament.

Based on the image drawn by Orudon he had lived in an actual house that was surrounded by ice. None of the homes they passed had ice around. Harim asked a passerby where homes like the one Orudon had drawn might exist. The lady told him that there was a small section of the tepui that was on a lower plateau but it had fallen off years ago that may have had a home like that. She pointed to where the area had been.

They came to a small graveyard just on the edge of a neighborhood. Beyond it was the edge of the tepui and an area that had clearly broken off. A staircase went out into nothing, there was a home half-standing that had been on the line that broke away. The graveyard surrounded this home, a symbolic point for the collapse.

"I wonder how this happened?" Rothox thought out loud.

Harim ventured to the edge and peered over. This upper section of ice, rock, and dirt wasn't as sheer as the rest of the wall. There were still a few chunks connecting to the mountainous structure. As he peered over he saw a figure sitting precariously on the edge of one of these still attached chunks. He spun back to the group.

"He's down here." Rushing over, all but Erigos took a look, seeing the old gnome's beard blowing in the breeze and the blue glow from his staff laying across his lap.

"This must be how he lost his family," Rothox said, stepping away from the edge examining the fault line.

"I think so." Harim began to look for a way down. He could climb down but the others might not want to attempt that. "I'm going to climb down to him."

"Are you crazy," Erigos said.

"You know the answer to that already," Harim jumped off the edge.