Title:           TFN: Act 1, part 2
Author:          Bikes_
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/BexztHTX
First Edit:      Thursday 24th of March 2016 12:08:43 AM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Thursday 24th of March 2016 12:28:58 AM CDT

So, our adventurers, Timber, Aisha, Freyja, Volgarr, Wrought Iron, Northern Spring, and Victoria were all sent to Eldigfjall with the express purpose of meeting the Council of Three, the figureheads of the pterippi and the second largest governing council in the North, consisting of First Councilman Ysrald Thrice-Crowned, an old jaded wise man with decades of experience, Councilmare Atiesh the Archmagus, a hotheaded unicorn with a mind to rival the gods, and Councilmare Moln of Goldflight, a soft-hearted sweetheart who, according to Victoria, has a really nice mane.  Their mission was to convince them to pull their heads out of their asses and try a diplomatic approach to their long-time rivals, the dirt horses of the Heaven's Peaks.
 
Long story short, they took out the Harmony bat and beat them with it.  By the end of the day, the Council was writing up a plea for a military alliance.  The council bickered, but there was a consensus.  They needed this.
 
Here in Eldigfjall, everyone got equipped and got ready.  But, Northern Spring had plans.  She met with an appraiser and showed him the big book they had gotten in Eldigfjall.  With his reluctant help, she learned how to roughly read Old Equestrian.
 
Victoria ran into the blacksmith's apprentice.  She learned his name was Styrk.  They had a nice date and shagged.
 
So, next day, they went on their way via air-chariot to Hjemby, the capital of the Heaven's Peaks.  On their way, they were assaulted by caribou hiding in the mountains, and they crash landed somewhere in No-mare's-land, a bitter cold place with temperatures around -40 to -50C on average.  After some caribou fighting, they found shelter in a small shack.  It was here they argued and almost chased Kolibri off, since she was so angry at Northern and her pessimism.  But, thankfully, it was resolved, and they got the help of a local penguin to use a bagpipe call and call some Scoffish goats into battle to wipe out the caribou.  Yeah, they were that good.  And Wrought got along with all of them so well they gave him a week's worth of drinks and carried him down the mountain in a little parade.
 
On the way out of the mountains, Kolibri didn't get proper clothing -- she got frostbite, and had to amputate a leg.  This is especially horrible, since her lute was her life, and she would have to give it up to survive.  So, they stopped by a seemingly ransacked ghost town to do the amputation business.  As Freyja heated up her axe, things started to happen -- everyone heard voices in their head, and nobody could explain what was going on.  The voices weren't talking to them.  It just sounded like townsfolk rabble in the background.  After a while, a witch started whispering things to one or two members of the group.  She revealed that this town had caused trouble for the unicorns, that they had to be summarily wiped out, and that their souls were stuck here in some sort of limbo.  Here, the witch noticed the golem Aisha, and after some fervent talking, broke one of the curses -- Aisha regained sentience and free will.
 
After the amputation, the witch's visit, the whispers, and the realization that Aisha is the soul of a fifteen-year-old little princess stuck in a one-hundred-year-old war machine's body as the result of necromancy, everyone left the town n sullen spirits, and made their way to Hjemby on hoof.
 
****************************************************
 
Back at Camp Marrowshire, just after the Equestrians' departure to Eldigfjall...
 
Garrag packed his bags.  He knew what he had to do.  He sent couriers to go far and wade, at home and abroad, to spread a message -- The Call of the North, a call to arms to bring together any and all that wished to face the Caribou threat united.  The message can still be read in the History and Demographics doc.
 
A week later, they were all at the Crossroads.  Antonashka Saushkin, an ursus from the Tzar Gurd, Starry Skies, a mysterious little pegasus, Arbiteh Noot, a young penguin spellcaster, and Calder Gunderson, an earth pony (?) marksman.
 
Here, Garrag told them about the Southerners (Equestrians) and how this whole harmony gig was a good idea.  So, this group would go to the front to do auxiliary jobs while the soldiers fought.  They all agreed this was a good idea.
 
Their first objective was to go into the outskirts of the Taiga and evacuate civilians stuck in the crossfire.  In these woods, they met Frozen Horizon, a hardy lumbermare who was willing to help.  They got together, found the civilians, and found themselves in a scuffle with a number of caribou.  The High Chief was injured, suffering a devastating blow to the face that cost him both of his eyes.  The rest of the group, while injured, recovered, and went on their way to Hjalamar, a small town with a working hospital.
 
They brought him to the hospital.  Here, Head Nurse Hjalpa took care of him.  In the penguin's attempts to communicate, he accidentally discovered that this nurse was part of some sort of cult.
 
Long story short, they did some research and found out that SHE was the reason so many native unicorns were disappearing from all over the North.  The Disciples of Scyther, a radical cultist group, actively hunted down unicorns and kept their horns for trinkets.  It was kinda horrifying.
 
They used the maps they found in her abode to try and find out what the hell these arrows were pointing to.  They came across a small village in the mountains, surrounded by hostile undead.  In this little bundle of houses, they met unicorns, who said they were merely here to hide, and that those undead were for protection.  It's here that Frozen saw a small, undead filly, by the name of Hearthwarmer, who had been slain by unicorn hunters.  The necromancer couldn't deal with the loss of his child so young, and admitted he did what he did for himself more than her.  They spoke for a bit, and after some sort of scheme was thought to be underway by the head Necromancer, he attacked, and all hell broke loose.
 
They all died except for the Necromancer.  They tied him up, put him next to Hjalpa, and went on their way back to Hjalamar.
 
Remember how Wrought went to the smith in Eldigfjall?  That's because he was bringing the High Chief's shield to Sir Hammercrack for repairs.  From there, Hammercrack had sent it to Sisastrid, a nearby port.  The adventurers went there to pick it up and brought it back to the chief.
 
On the way back to Hjalamar, Antonashka and Calder went into the woods after hearing signs of distress.  They found a couple of caribou hiding in a ransacked house and killed them.  After wiping them off of the face of the earth, they found a little fawn, who was apparently their daughter.  It was a heartbreaking affair in which many tears were shed and Calder got his eye gouged out.  But, afterwards, they took the fawn, named Vinterblomma, and went on their way.
 
After this, they ventured back to the Crossroads, with goals to head to the Grizzly Fjord.  They would have to pass through the pterippi lands and the Heaven's Peaks first, but it was no big deal.  Here, Garrag said his goodbyes, told them to stay strong, and went back to Hjalamar, while they got ready to move.
 
Here, Calder ran into Cobbs.  Cobbs had some dirt on her she didn't really want being dug up, so she hired Calder to kill some people and retrieve some documents.  In return, she'd give him a diamond-emerald-onyx eye that would look a lot like the one he still had.  He agreed.  Through some craftiness and luck, he convinced them all to relinquish their stolen goods and documents, and went out to the woods to fake both of their deaths before hiding them in the back of the chariot and bringing them with to Eldigfjall.  It was interesting and a defining moment in Calder's development.  He also looked like a badass.
 
From here, they went to Eldigfjall.  They went to go visit the council, though not formally asked to, and Frozen gave Atiesh heart palpitations with how rude and angry she was.  They stayed there for a while, and Calder spoke to Styrk.  Styrk revealed that the Southerners had been lost after they left and not heard from again.  He revealed feelings for Victoria, and asked Calder to seek them out on their way.  He gave him a platinum sapphire necklace to give to her if they ever did find her.
 
Two days later, the group headed out, and found themselves at the gates of Hjemby.