Treasures of the Savage Frontier playthrough: Interlude - Ice Peak
Together, they watched the little ones play around the statue in the main square. Rathe marvelled at how much Leni had grown now. She was still a little shy and awkward, but her aunt Sifrile and her family had done their best to teach her. At nearly two years of age, she could run or jump with both feet, ate with a spoon and drank from a cup. She could say simple things when she talked, two or three words together, point to things and name them. She understood simple directions, come or stay or return home.
Shelah and Rathe watched Leni play; building with four coloured wooden blocks, played simple make-believe games by herself. Sifrile said she was growing more independent, like her mother – preferring to play alongside other children, but alone in a group. She was bright, perceptive, noticing when things felt wrong or others were unhappy or scared. Sometimes, she had a temper, throwing tantrums because she could not communicate the big feelings inside her.
Shelah smiled that Leni was Rathe's daughter in every way, a miniature duplicate. Rathe lamented not being there for Leni, that she did not see her grow, but her lover reminded her that none of that was her choice or her fault.
They broached the subject of leaving, knowing the family wished to know. Sky said that any of her family were welcome to make the trip to the Savage Frontier if they wished, to live at North Watch. A few wished to come – mostly younger, inquisitive folk who did not yet have the mountain in their blood. The songbirds spent time with the child, showing her pictures and books of where she would be living now – how it was milder and safer than the mountain. Leni especially liked the pictures of animals Jhairli and Nef showed her, promising she could have a kitten and see the griffon chicks.
Jahe privately opined that leaving their two duskier companions might smooth relations with the norsemen too. While they were largely accepted in the Savage Frontier – the Turmish especially were well-known as merchants and mercenaries – many folk here had not encountered their kind before – at least pale-skinned folk were a familiar sight, even if they were lowlanders.
Some of the older children asked them if they were dark because they were burned by the sun. Leni stroked Jahe's face as she sat on her lap, fascinated by her ebony flesh.
“Yes, little one!” Nef laughed. “Well, our ancestors, in any case! It is warm in the Vilhon Reach, and warmer still from whence the Turmish came. My own home is mostly desert, we are all like this there,” she smiled, indicating her caramel skin.
But before long, they had to think of their next step – venturing to the Ice Peak itself, to investigate reports of these black-robed men. Nef clearly wouldn't be able to make an arduous climb in her condition, and in any case, everyone was concerned about another attack while they were gone. Jahe said she would stay, help the Shearmaster marshal the defences of the town, while she guarded Nef and Leni with her life. The others knew their magic would be needed on the Peak, but nobody wanted to contemplate returning to find Fireshear had been wiped out.
Rathe sat with them over a meal around the campfire and told them what would lie ahead. Rathe herself had been born among the northmen near Aurilssbarg, which was named after the harsh goddess of winter and cold. It was inclement and grim there, subject to freezing winters and icy storms. Her home, at Bjorn's Keep, was not far, though she had little connection with the place any longer. Beyond that was one other settlement, named 'Icewolf' – called Isulv by the norse. As the name suggested, it was a tribal settlement, belonging to the 'Ice Folk', who lived more primitively even than the northmen, cleaving to very old tribal traditions.
Beyond that was only the mountain, harsh wilds and ancient caves deep in the rock. As the name suggested, it was always a place of ill-omen to men, and nobody ventured that far up without some nefarious intent.
As Shelah understood it from Rathe's descriptions, there were several peoples who dwelled up here – similar in some ways, but different in others. Fireshear itself was a gateway town, fully integrated with the lowlands, with mining interests from Mirabar, Neverwinter and Waterdeep. Dwarves and gnomes also dwelled here – everywhere else held only humans, who grew less civilised the further one climbed. Fireshear's people were a mix of northmen and lowlanders, the latter ethnically referred to as Chondathans or Tethyrans. Those who were taller and husker, with fair or red hair, were Illuskans, mostly of pure northman stock. Most of the people at Aurilssbarg and Bjorn's Hold were such norsemen, and they tended to look down on other men as softer and weaker. Rathe told them her people were grim and stoic, but not wicked or cruel – they were not raiders or murderers, but a distant, cold kin who kept to their own business and rarely let others get closer.
When Shelah asked them if she was having seconds thoughts, Rathe steadfastly shook her head.
“No. Rathe has seen lowlands of frontier. She knows kindness and community are not weakness, not soft as her kin say they are. Life is harsh, so lowlanders help each other. You sing more, celebrate more, love life more. My people hide away in ancient traditions – feud and brood and little else. Red Lady not old goddess – Rathe will fight for new ways, not for old. Rathe look forward, not back. When we leave Ice Peak, I will not return.”
She seemed most adamant in that. She did offer her opinion that the Ice Folk, while primitive, were not barbaric or savage, and provided they were treated well, might aid them. From what Shelah understood, they were something like the Uthgardt, or the Reghed of Icewind Dale – darker than other northmen, more like the Damaran wild folk or the Rashemi, or even the Ulutuin who lived out on the ice flows.
When she learned a man named Tranjer Rolsk still led the people at Aurilssbarg, Rathe made a face, saying that the First Captain had a poor reputation, a devious opportunist who reminded her of the people at Luskan. But she said her own folk at Bjorn's hold would accept them, as Bjorn Bjornsson was still chieftain there now, and a well-respected man. She told them her people had no love of the men of Luskan, their clans had feuded in olden times. Providing their chief and his Ice Warriors were shown proper respect, they would return that favour.
That night, the songbirds gathered to dance and sing, but Shelah and Rathe went to her old room to be alone. Before she did so, the paladin spoke with her brother, looking up the forbidding mountain with quiet awe.
“This is it, aye?” she murmured. “Sky, I know you wanted to wait, but... Well, we don't know what will happen up there, and perhaps you and Siulajia should - “
He laughed at her suggestion, shaking his head.
“I appreciate the concern, but I think I can handle my own love life!” he chuckled. “I went through all that you're experiencing now, Sheela, in the festhalls of Yartar and the other towns. I got all that out of my system; now I want something more. We'll know when it's right. When she's ready and not before.”
“You've changed,” Shelah husked. “We both have!”
“It's all part of growing up, sis. Anyway, you and Raye will be couple now, won't you? Sort of.”
“I'm not the only songbird to play favourites,” she smiles. “But like you said... I can handle my own love-life!”
She inhaled the chill air and looked back at the Ice Peak.
“No matter what waits up there... I'm ready. I've lived my life true to myself, and I have no regrets...!”
Posted Sep 1, 2026, 2:09 PM UTC