The Defenders Of Frosthaven: Book 1: The War Of The North

Prologue

the Algox had been running nonstop for two days now, on towards the Human settlement known as Frosthaven. the Algox Commander, a great warrior able to summon ice around his fists to pummel his enemies, estimated it would be another day before they reached Frosthaven. he saw a blur in the sky out of the corner of his eye, but when he whipped his head around, there was nothing. still, if the humans were laying an ambush, the Algox Commander thought it would be best to get his men up to their best fighting shape. "we make camp here!" he yelled, in the language of the Inox, the Algox species' cousin.

meanwhile, just a mile away, the blur dropped out of the sky in the shape of a falcon, and landed on a human's arm. the human leaned close as the falcon whispered words too softly to hear. "less than an hour away!" she yelled to her companions, an Orchid, a Lurker, a Vermling, a Quatryl, and a Harrower. in an hour's time, they would meet the Algox in a ruthless battle.

Chapter 1: The Battle Of Chaos Fire

the adventuring party stood in the center of a large plain of ice and snow. they could see the Algox Commander's Scouts and Raiders approaching on large bears made of ice. the human, a Banner Spear named Nylia, threw a javelin at the mounted warriors. the spear struck an Algox off his bear, and the Lurker, a Deepwraith named Deepnight, skittered towards the Algox, smashing his head into the snow. the Orchid, a Doomstalker named Mistbow, fired a volley of three arrows. each arrow found its mark in its Algox target, hurling them off their bears and pinning them to the snowy ground. the Harrower, a Bladeswarm named Hive, hovered between two of the mounted warriors, who were circling him mercilessly. Hive threw four daggers; two at the Algox's bears, then two at the Algox themselves. Hive scored direct hits to the hearts, killing them instantly. the Vermling, a Trapper named Jaws, set many traps and summoned a turret that surrounded itself with traps and fired lasers at the enemy. the Quatryl, a Blinkblade named Acronix, slowed time down and then sped it up, killing 10 Algox at once. suddenly, Nylia saw a warrior. he was an Algox with his fists encased in ice. "I challenge one of you to single combat! if you win, I join your cause. if I win, I kill you all!" he bellowed. the fighting stopped. everyone looked at the Algox. finally, Nylia stepped forward. "I accept your offer," she said. "but I fight better when I have an ally with me. I do not have a chance of defeating you alone, but with an ally, you could have a challenge. I humbly ask of you for the privilege of an ally fighting with me." "very well," said the Algox. "choose your servant!" Nylia looked back to her friends. Mistbow nodded. he stepped forward. without warning, the Algox reached behind him, grabbed a chunk of ice, and slammed it off the ground. the chunk bounced once, heading their way. "RUN!" screamed Nylia. she and Mistbow dove opposite ways, and the mini-glacier sailed over their heads, grazed the heads of her companions (except Acronix), and tumbled into the forest. Mistbow fired three arrows, but the arrows were deflected by the tough hide of the Algox. the Algox roared, brought his hands to the snow, the swiftly brought them up. at the same time, a huge ice spike pierced the ground below Nylia, throwing her into the forest. when she got back up, she saw Mistbow, bloodied and unconscious, at the feet of the Algox. the Algox had brought his fists up, with them encased in sharp ice. he was about to strike. Nylia threw a spear, and that spear pushed the Algox away and slammed him into a cliff. she finished with a well placed thrown torch that burned the Algox. he yelled and rolled around in the snow. "I have defeated your champion! now let us go!" yelled Nylia. the Algox horde laughed loudly. "we still destroy you anyway! that was just a duel to give you a fighting chance!" said an Algox. the adventurers leapt into action. Acronix got knocked down by an Algox, but he reversed time, dodged the Algox, and aged him severely. the Algox shaman said, "retreat!" soon, the battle was over. Nylia went over to her fellow mercenaries and checked that everyone was there. "where's Hive?" she said. "has anyone seen Hive?" they checked the entire area. "he was taken," said the Algox, "by one of my warriors."

Chapter 2: The Infiltration Of Shattered Glacier

"you scoundrel!" said Nylia. she drove him into the rock cliff and pressed her arm across his neck. "we should have destroyed you when we had the chance!" "I agree with Nylia," said Acronix. "statistically, the possibility of you betraying us was 90%. the other 10% was you hindering us with your complaining." "I swear, I didn't order Knife to do it. he betrayed me as well. but I can lead you to Shattered Glacier." "why should we trust you?" said Deepnight. "you're an Algox." "true, but your kind isn't exactly honest either, Lurker," said the Algox. "and, my name is Rimespeaker. I'm the most ruthless of my kind, but I'm also the most honorable. surely you've heard of me." "that's exactly why I don't trust you. you take things extremely literally. once, you provided sanctity to travelers inside a tent ridden with venomous insects!" "that was a mistake," said Rimespeaker. "and besides, they deserved it." "and another time," said Acronix, "you told a king that you would spare his kingdom. instead, you destroyed all of his allies so that a different tribe of Algox could ruin him." "okay, but you need this Harrower, right? and none of you know where he is?" "you just told us: the shattered glacier," said Nylia. "but it so happens that the Shattered Glacier does not appear on any map. thankfully, I have memorized the area of Frosthaven, and I know how to find it," said Rimespeaker. "fine," said Nylia. "Acronix, adjust his time to .60 of his usual speed. Mistbow, keep your bow trained on him at all times." when they were finished, they set off towards the glacier. soon, they crested a ridge and saw the Shattered Glacier. it was about 800 ft. tall and had a width of 1,000 ft. a large door was carved into the front. "all right, team, we've done this a hundred times. our goal is the rescue of Hive. Acronix, slow everything in this area but ourselves, and set Rimespeaker's time to normal. Mistbow, fire at the warriors guarding the doors when I give the signal, then come down to join the fight. Deepnight, start fighting when we get inside. Jaws, I want traps placed around the area in case reinforcements arrive." "of course, boss," said Jaws. "I've got a new prototype trap to test out. it ought to give our enemies quite a surprise." Mistbow took careful aim, then loosed two shots, right after another, which killed the Algox outside the glacier. the rest of the team slid down the ridge. Jaws placed his traps, while Rimespeaker shattered the door with a single blow from his ice-coated fist. the Algox came running from inside, and Acronix slowed down everything except the adventurers, then drew his time-augmented knives and stabbed six Algox warriors. Mistbow shot two Algox that were running slowly at them. they ran down the hall, dodging the falling ice chunks and scything blades. then they burst into a vast ice cavern where soldiers patrolled and a large box at the end of the cavern emitted a loud buzzing sound. worst of all, Hive's many weapons were lying broken in front of the box. "they will pay for this," said Nylia. she drew a spear and shouted, "Algox! hear me!" the warriors patrolling the area whirled around to look at her. "I am Nylia Thrice-Frost, and you are holding one of our own. do you know what it is to shatter a Bladeswarm's weapons? it means to take away his honor, his defense, his deadliness, his spirit, and his passion. then, you contained him in a box, where he waits, formless and angry, to exact vengeance with the blades that you destroyed. except you shattered them! he will hunt you, and he will kill you! but he is not able to do this, so I will take vengeance on his behalf! fear me! Defenders Of Frosthaven, Attack!" Deepnight leaped to the ground and started ravaging the enemy warriors. Mistbow rained down arrows, while Jaws summoned his Defense Grid. Acronix slowed time, and he sped up his time to point of invisibility, and he stabbed all of the warriors in the cavern at least thrice. Nylia threw javelins, then she, Acronix, and Deepnight simultaneously stabbed a warrior, who fell, spear protruding from his chest. the Algox fired arrows from ledges. Mistbow took them out with well-placed arrows. they mercilessly fought their way to the box. Mistbow picked up two pieces of a broken blade, then turned to Rimespeaker and said, "do you know how to repair these?" Rimespeaker shook his head. "nay, I do not know how to reforge enchanted blades. however, I know of a master blacksmith. he should be able to fix these." "Mistbow, do you know how to unlock this box?" said Nylia. Mistbow examined it, then said, "it can only be be unlocked with six Bladeswarm swords... which are now destroyed." "so we take the box with us, get the blacksmith to reforge the blades, and use them to unlock the box." when they emerged from the glacier, they saw a force of Algox riding towards them. when they crested the ridge, the traps that Jaws set exploded over and over, decimating wave after wave of Algox. "it's beautiful," said Rimespeaker to Acronix, who were both gazing awestruck at the explosions atop the cliff. they travelled back to Frosthaven. while they were walking through the streets, they came across a small cloth-wrapped figure with pistols at his sides. "been a long time since I took down mercenaries," he said. "they're all the same." "you're in for a surprise," said Nylia, hand creeping towards her javelin. the figure looked up. "not today. you gave me quite the hassle, Banner Spear. first I was hired by the Algox, then by The Stranger. the Algox wanted revenge for destroying a fellow tribe. The Stranger wanted revenge for an old sin against his kind. both are paying me fortunes. so, know I'm sold." "well, you're not ready for taking us on." "I am." Nylia tightened her grip on her javelin. the cloaked figure suddenly drew his pistols and fired. Nylia fell to the ground, her javelin falling from her hand. Acronix teleported to the cloaked figure and tried to stab him, in the process knocking off his cloak. suddenly, Acronix froze. "brother. I should have known." the figure turned towards the adventurers, and they saw that he was a Quatryl. the Quatryl quickly drew his pistols and said, "not another step, Acronix." Acronix said, "brother, you knew that I was here, yet you still accepted the bounty. the possibility–" "I don't care about possibility!" said the Quatryl. "these adventurers have corrupted you! I was trying to save you!" "you're not trying to save me," said Acronix. "and I finally found a 100% possibility." "and what is that?" said the Quatryl. "a 100% possibility of revenge. that was a mistake." "why?" "because now I have nothing left to fear." Acronix thrust his hands out, and the Quatryl started aging. "stop!" he croaked. "you do not deserve my mercy," said Acronix. there was a red gleam in his eyes. "do it, Acronix," said Rimespeaker. "take your revenge." "I will not kill you," said Acronix. "instead, I will age you into a decrepit husk. then, I will make you immune to age." suddenly, he felt an immense pain behind him. he dreaded to look. when he did, he saw the most unexpected thing. Jaws was slowly pressing his spear in between Acronix's shoulder blades. "stop aging him," he said. "or you'll face the wrath of a Trapper." he said these words softly. they carried a menace behind them known only to vermlings. Acronix did not take this lightly. he knew that a Trapper was a dangerous foe in battle. many times, after insulting a Trapper, he had ended up with a bear trap in his bed or an electrified net in his hallway. he stopped aging his brother. still, Jaws did not relent. "restore his youth," he said. Acronix waved his hand over him, and he unshriveled back to his prime. finally, Jaws put away his spear. "you're becoming vengeful. you were a nice, intelligent assassin-strategist. until we found your brother." Acronix shrugged. "he killed Nylia–" he suddenly stopped. with a cry of horror, he ran towards Nylia and knelt beside her. "Nylia!"

Chapter 3: The Blacksmith

Acronix stared in horror at the two small flint bullets embedded in Nylia's gut. he turned towards his brother. "you did this!" Acronix stood and was suddenly enveloped in a net and hoisted upwards. he glared furiously at Jaws. Jaws shrugged. "I did say you'll face the wrath of a Trapper." "yes, I suppose the probability of you double-crossing me was 80%." "still," said Jaws. "that's better than Rimespeaker." Mistbow drew an arrow and sliced through the rope. Acronix walked towards his brother. he drew him up and said, "you have misplaced loyalty. you will join our team." Rimespeaker led them towards the blacksmith. when they got there, the blacksmith, a Lurker, let them in. "hmm...," he said when he examined the blades. "I can reforge these. however, I will need an outstanding payment, on top of the enchantment fee." "how much in total?" said Jaws. "500 gold. that's with the enchantment fee." "500!" "these blades are rare. also, I could give them healing properties for your friend; for a fee, of course." "how much?" said Acronix. "in total, with the reforging, enchantment, and healing properties... 750 gold. no bargaining." "fine!" said Acronix. they exited the blacksmith shop. "where are we supposed to find 750 gold?" said Rimespeaker. "we could do some quests," said Jaws. "here's one where we could fight a dragon." "yeah," said Deepnight, "but it's only 100 gold. we need something with a hefty bounty." "you know," said Jaws, "I did hear of a way to get lots of money for small mercenary work. we have to become city guards. they pay a lot, and once we demonstrate our skills, they'll elevate us to commanders." "how do we become city guards?" said Rimespeaker. "we have to prove our worth in trial by combat." they agreed, and they went to the city guard headquarters. "you want to become guards?" said the recruiter. "well, you'll have to prove yourselves through trial by combat." "okay. we're ready," said Jaws. a few minutes later, they stood, weapons drawn, in a large training area. "the task is simple," said the Captain of the Guard. "you must survive 5 waves of increasingly difficult battles. let the trial by combat begin!" eight guards entered the room. a large training course with archer towers and cover from arrows appeared. the guards immediately positioned themselves behind the cover, and the archers started shooting arrows. "Mistbow, take out those towers. Deepnight, Rimespeaker, destroy the guards. Acronix, infiltrate," said Jaws. Mistbow shot the archers in a tower, then climbed up and started shooting other towers. Deepnight and Rimespeaker destroyed the guards in equally effective ways. Deepnight skittered over, ignoring the archers, and smacked a guard across the room with his claw. the guard smashed into a wall, then slumped against the floor. Acronix teleported over to the guards and stabbed one with his knives. Jaws summoned his Defense Grid, and then set traps along the space between the adventurers and the guards. the guards decided to charge the adventurers. the traps were activated, and the guards were blasted back to whence they came. soon, the battle was over. Mistbow leapt from the tower where he was stationed, and rejoined the rest of the adventurers. the Captain of the Guard's voice rang overhead. "you have passed the test. you are now in command of five squadrons each. be warned that Algox raids are increasing in brutality and frequency. you will work 7 days, with two days as a rest day. because of your excellency in battlefield strategy, you will be invited to weekly meetings between the leaders of the military force." the adventurers walked back to the barracks.

Chapter 4: Siege

Acronix was running calculations. he had taken full advantage of his high rank. he had asked the Captain of the Guard for a tent, claiming that the cold messed up his technology that predicted the next Algox attack. he was currently sitting inside his tent, surrounded by instruments, when his raid predictor started beeping wildly. he snatched it up and checked it. an Algox force was moving swiftly across the tundra. the raid predictor said it would be an hour, 36 minutes and 17 seconds before they attacked. another Quatryl, a tinkerer named Tech, poked his head in. "running calculations?" he said. "I predict a 75% chance that the Algox will attack." "I also predict a chance," said Acronix. "and it is 100%."

Mistbow walked up the ranks of his archers. he had suggested to the captain of the guard to recruit more Orchids. Mistbow had personally trained each and every single one of them, one at a time. they were Mistwalkers, the Orchid archers one rank below Doomstalkers. "all right, soldiers, listen up," Mistbow said. "I'm only going to say this once. you are the elite-est of the elite. you're the Mistwalkers. you're the most feared archers in the world, save for me, of course. anyway, your job is to guard this magnificent town. you shall not fail, for each of you has been blessed with the sight of a hawk and the ability to doom anything that threatens Frosthaven!" a cheer went up from the warriors. "now, we shall party until the break of dawn! to the Hall of Revelry!" they abandoned their duties entirely and stormed over to the Hall.

Rimespeaker surveyed his warriors silently from behind their ranks. when the nervous guard showed him his area of the wall, Rimespeaker made him cry. he would have buried him under 1,000 tons of ice and snow if the guard hadn't paid him handsomely. still, he turned his arms and armor to dust and sent him home with a gash on his arm. all because the battlements were extremely uncomfortable. he also noticed that is was raining. in all, he was miserable. he asked the warrior to his right for a mug of cocoa. "this is better," he said.

Jaws was laying his traps when he heard a strange shouting noise, followed by a loud bang. he quickly finished setting his traps and got back to the battlements.

Chapter 5: Thrice-Frost

Acronix had already gathered his troops and started running towards the fight when the battle gong sounded. he spoke into the device on his vambrace. "Mistbow, Rimespeaker, Jaws, the Algox are attacking Deepnight's section of the wall. from the explosions coming from that part of the wall, I would say that the Algox have invented rocket carts. and from the hysterical screaming coming from that direction, our friend is not getting a reward for bravery anytime soon." Mistbow: I'm heading there with my mistwalkers now. hopefully we'll be able to rain destruction from afar. Jaws: I'll send a squad behind enemy lines to cause havoc with my traps. I've also created an electrified net shooting turret that we can set up there. I also perfected the ultimate trap. we'll be there soon. "good. I've mysteriously lost the ability to slow down time, though. that would have increased our chances of survival by 30%." soon, Acronix, Rimespeaker, and Mistbow arrived at the wall. or, rather, the former wall. there was a large, gaping hole in this section of the wall. "fire!" said Mistbow. a volley of enchanted arrows slammed into the advancing enemies. the archers fired volley after volley, yet the Algox were not backing down. the rocket carts fired a volley of rockets at the wall. the rockets did not hit any archers, but cracks started appearing in the wall. "they're not aiming at us, they're aiming at the wall!" shouted Rimespeaker. he grabbed one of his sergeants. "you. I want a search team out now. your targets are Deepnight." "sir, yes, sir!" said the soldier. he turned away and started giving orders to his squad. the soldiers locked their shields together into an impenetrable wall, with no gaps whatsoever. suddenly, a Lurker skittered up to the battlements and summoned a wave of water that completely decimated the enemy. he turned, then said, "Coralblast, Lurker Crashing Tide. you?" "Rimespeaker, Algox Frozen Fist," answered Rimespeaker, startled. "why are you helping us?" "because I've been waiting a long time to fight against these brutes," said Coralblast. "I've been waiting eons." "that's... a long time," said Rimespeaker as he summoned an ice spike directly below the enemy. "well, thank you." then he spotted the siege towers. "look out!" he said, slamming a miniature glacier into one of them. it didn't even dent. the Algox archers picked off the defenders from inside the siege tower. then, suddenly, a javelin smashed into the siege tower, pushing it away and knocking it over. Acronix, Rimespeaker, and Mistbow whirled around simultaneously. and standing on the other side of the destroyed wall, was Nylia. she was completely healed, with no wounds whatsoever. "well?" she said. "don't just stand there, defend Frosthaven!" she threw another javelin at a different siege tower. it toppled as well. "who are you?" asked Coralblast. "I'm Nylia," said Nylia. "I'm the leader of this mercenary team. who are you?" "I'm Coralblast, a Crashing Tide," said Coralblast. "and I'm joining your mercenary team." "great, we could use some extra help," said Nylia. "alright, team– wait, where is Deepnight?" "he was caught in an explosion," said Rimespeaker. "we have search teams looking for him." "okay. Coralblast, I want you and, once we find him, Deepnight here to fight the siege towers. Acronix, I want an infiltration to destroy the rocket barrels. Mistbow, I want a volley of arrows." "what about you?" said Rimespeaker. "I'm going to find Deepnight," said Nylia. "these barbarians shall now know the name Thrice-Frost as a dreaded word only ushered in the darkest depths of dungeons."

Chapter 6: The First Shard Of The Coral Crown

"so, how do you want to handle this?" Mistbow, Coralblast, and a wounded but still destructive Deepnight stared at the siege tower approaching their location. Mistbow drew an enchanted arrow out of his quiver, knocked it to his bowstring, drew his arm back, and fired. the arrow multiplied twice per second, so that when it was near the siege towers the sky was swarming with a storm of enchanted, pointed death. the arrows shattered against the tower like twigs. suddenly, a small shard of something shot out of the tower and almost hit Mistbow in the eye. he caught it out of the air. it was a small shard of coral. he didn't have time to understand this, so he put it in his pocket and drew another arrow. Coralblast fired a blast of water at the tower, which started eating away at the metal. unfortunately, the siege tower had already docked at the wall, and a battalion of Algox ran out, while archers fired arrows in support. Mistbow dodged backward, shooting arrows almost continuously. Coralblast and Deepnight smashed through the Algox, shattering their puny hide armor under their claws. Coralblast summoned another wave of seawater, this time smaller than before. suddenly, a figure sprang out of the siege tower, over the heads of Coralblast and Deepnight, and tackled Mistbow to the floor. it was a Quatryl. a Quatryl that was currently choking Mistbow with a mad gleam in his eyes. Mistbow cast a glance around him and saw his bow. it was lying a few feet away, out of reach. he quickly calculated his predicament. his bow was out of reach, and the Quatryl had his arms pinned, so he couldn't grab one of his daggers. Coralblast and Deepnight were busy fighting Algox, Acronix was destroying rocket barrels, and Nylia was defending the gatehouse. Mistbow felt through his pouches with his left hand and drew a dagger. with the utmost care, he positioned the dagger underneath the Quatryl's stomach. then, with a burst of strength, he drove the dagger upwards. the Quatryl's eyes widened. he let go and stood staring at the wickedly curved, serrated dagger embedded in his chain mail. at this point, Mistbow had retrieved his bow and fired three arrows at the Quatryl, who was now looking more like a voodoo manikin and less like a Quatryl. the Quatryl staggered around, accidentally setting himself on fire and perishing. Mistbow gathered his arrows, and by the time he was ready, the fire was spreading, burning nothing of importance yet but rapidly covering ground. Mistbow said, "well, I better take care of this," and went to the well. there, he grabbed a bucket and started filling it with water. when he turned around, he instantly knew his attempts would be pointless. the fire was spreading with almost unnatural speed. he then smacked his hand across his brow and said, "I have a giant crab with the power to drown anything with overkill amounts of water right upstairs." he turned towards the battlements, where Coralblast was smacking algox out of his way like they were made of nothing. nearby, the corpses of his enemies littered the ground, in various states of wholeness. "Coralblast!" shouted Mistbow. the Lurker looked down, simultaneously crushing an Algox skull between his claws and smashing another Algox into the stone floor. "yes, Mistbow?" he said. "I need help with the fire!" said Mistbow. "fine," said Coralblast. he jumped off the battlements and unleashed a large wave of briny water at the fire, which were drowned under several hundred thousand liters of water. Coralblast then immediately jumped back onto the battlements. Mistbow fired continuous volleys of arrows. the siege lasted until dawn, when the Algox general retreated his forces. Acronix returned during dawn, reporting that the siege engines had been destroyed. they spent the entire day cleaning up the siege engines and replenishing ammunition. that night, Jaws lay in his bed, unable to sleep. he sighed and went down to the kitchen. as he was fixing himself a bowl of potato soup, he heard the clashing of blades. he followed the sound to the training area. Nylia and Acronix were dueling each other. their blades whirled around in a deadly dance and a low hum was building in the air. Acronix teleported out of time and back again, stabbing at Nylia while warding himself against physical harm. Nylia parried all of his blows and threw in a few jabs of her own, which Acronix neatly blocked and riposted. Jaws watched, confounded, at the duel, which ended when Nylia swept Acronix's legs out from under him, and Acronix teleported and knocked Nylia to the floor. Acronix helped her up, and then said, "Jaws, I knew that the possibility of you not sleeping was 97%, but I would never have guessed that you catch us sparring." Jaws said, "yes, you guessed right. I couldn't sleep." suddenly, they heard a crashing sound. they raced towards the source, and they found Hive, with his blades. "the Algox will pay for what they did to me," he said. then, a shadowy figure leapt across the room, kicked Nylia to the floor, dodged Hive's blades, and disappeared into the night. worst of all, the figure was wearing Coralblast's spiral seashell medallion.