The Slightly Colder Day

On the heels of their success saving Rose City in the events of The Midnight Doom, the Mates gain a reputation as local heroes, which spreads to nearby villages. Content on staying nearby for the time being, they settle at a local inn. At this point, Ching Ping is no longer with them, presumably having left the group after thinking he'd been abandoned at the inn by the rest of the Mates.
One morning, as they go about their morning routine, a villager comes knocking on the door to the inn. He is exhausted and nearly immediately collapses. After being woken by Dundee, he tells the mates that there is a nearby town which is completely frozen over and that most of the villagers are dead. He begs for them to come with him to help, although he doesn't specify why.
On the way to the town, the crew meets Snuffles, a friendly yourdle warlock who makes delicious cookies.
Upon arriving, the Mates see that the town is indeed completely frozen over. It was colder than the dead of winter, even though they were in the middle of summer. At the gate, they meet a noble-looking man named Peter Blackburn. He explains that he advised his friend, the villager who went to get them, to lie and say the villagers had been killed. In reality, most had escaped, but he needed to make sure the Mates felt the urgency of the situation. He then leads the Mates into the frozen town and into a small chapel. The further into the town they walk, the colder they feel.
In the chapel they meet a young boy named William Blackburn, Peter's brother, who looks very sick. Peter explains that Will's mind was taken over by some sort of ice wraith, which was slowly leaking into the world outside and killing Will in the process. The only way to stop it would be to enter Will's mind and destroy the curse from the inside. Using a purple crystal of some sort, Peter sends the spirits of the Mates into Will's mind.
Once inside, the Mates find themselves in a field of ice, strewn with mangled and frozen corpses with no facial features. After investigating for a while, a female-looking spirit appears in front of them. She explains that she is Will's mental representation of his mother, and that she acts as the guardian of his mind. She then tells them that there had been a huge battle on this field, in which a black knight had appeared and massacred the soldiers standing there, and then retreated into an opening in the icy walls surrounding the field. 
The Mates go into the opening and find the black knight there. After a short fight, they kill the knight, and his helmet falls to the ground, revealing that his face is identical to Will's. After the fight, the spirit again appears in front of them, grinning. She reveals herself to be the cause of the curse afflicting Will, and thanks them for destroying his last line of defense against her. She then transforms, growing massive, and engages the Mates in combat. 
Eventually, the Mates manage to defeat the curse, and Peter uses the crystal to bring them back out. Upon returning, the Mates are rewarded with the brothers' gratitudes and 5000 gold pieces. All this gold would later be stolen by Ching Ping. 
Category:Event
Category:One Shot