The Mothers decided that they should equip themselves before their journey to the glacier in search of some more clues in the lair of the Jarl. They picked up cold weather clothing in the market, garnering themselves a few odd looks in the process. Fonesca also picked up a number of herbs that she hoped would be useful later. Unfortunately the herb seller was poorly stocked, so Fonesca could only obtain a few of each of the preparations on offer. Siosiann and Tettet also prepared for the journey. Siosann found a suit of studded leather armour; some new clothes; a backpack and other sundry equipment. Guthranka also gave her the giant-slaying bastard sword and a ring of protection. Tettet did not need to find any armour, but he did get a pack together before seeing off his comrades.
At dusk they gathered in an isolated spot and Tettet removed the chain from its obsidian box and laid it carefully on the ground. They all stepped into one of the circles of the figure of eight on the ground. Gaspode entered last of all, carrying the map in his right hand. Then he spoke the command word. It was as if the whole world went dark, like the Mothers had raised a dark cloak over themselves dimming the remaining light to less than a candle flame through muslin. Then they felt a sensation of sideways movement, a shifting, not the forward progress that Sigil痴 portals implied. Just as quickly, they found themselves standing on ice, still surrounded by the chain, Gaspode痴 arm still aloft.
In the dusk light they could not make out many features of the frozen landscape. Jito decided to fly up invisibly on his broom to see if he could determine where the rift lay. The others trudged along in the still night, heading northwest. From a height of twenty feet, the gnome still had no luck, so he went up much higher, to about one hundred feet and then he could see the mountains to the east, some others in the far distance to the west and a snaking black gash in the glacier to the west and slightly south. It was extremely cold at that elevation, so Jito descended and the Mothers set off in a more westerly direction. After about three hours of trekking over a slowly undulating ice surface, the Mothers came across a great chasm in the ground before them. They could not see the far side from where they were as some fog and mist was rising from within the rift. Gaspode suggesting resting for the night, so the Mothers withdrew behind some low ice-mounds. There, Fonesca cast her Leomund痴 Secure Shelter spell and the Mothers spent a reasonably comfortable night in the resulting ice building.
In the morning the still invisible Jito went scouting again, following the rift to the north where he found the entrance, or where it was at the same level as the rest of the glacier. Two paths snaked down into the rift. He followed the route of the path to the left, which went onto a narrow ice ledge and had two entrances into the ice wall before the ledge petered out. Jito then decided to fly across to the other path, but he was buffeted too strongly by winds from the rift and he had to re-trace his path and start again from the rift opening. The right hand way was a longer one with a wider ledge, having about five entrances before this ledge also ended. Jito decided to report this back to the group. As usual, the Mothers went left, taking the narrower ledge and entering the first opening. This led to a tunnel hacked out of the ice, but smoothed over time. The floor was treacherous as they proceeded along until they came to a crossroads in the ice.
They went north, which was to the left and after a short crooked corridor they came into a huge, rough, ice chamber where four frost giants were encamped. They roared something in their own tongue as they swept their huge frost-covered axes down on the small intruders. Siosiann and Fonesca were hit in the first charge, but the melee specialists stepped in and traded blows with the giants and kept them from further attacks against the mage. After several blows were exchanged and Fonesca had loosed two volleys of magic missiles, none of giants had fallen and the Mothers could hear the sound of more giants approaching from behind them.
Tettet stepped beneath the swing of the giant closest to him and buried his axe deep in its thigh. Quickly pulling back he managed to slash it again, this time across its belly, before it fell. Fonesca was also acting, firing her missiles deliberately at separate foes, in the hope of felling two at once. One did collapse, but the other still stood against them. Jito痴, Levi痴 and Guthranka痴 blades rose and fell, engaging the two giants before them, but behind, Gaspode was the quickest to react when three frost giants arrived from the corridor. He kept them bottled in the opening so that only one could attack them at once and not only that, but his flurry of attacks when it arrived almost dropped it dead on the spot. A couple of missiles from Fonesca finished it off. With Gaspode holding off the corridor and the rest of the Mothers now comfortably out-numbering the giants in the chamber, all that the Mothers needed was the time to finish the giants off. When this was done, Gaspode searched them for any valuables that they possessed. One of the giants who had come up the corridor wore a golden necklace as a bracelet, so that was taken, but the sacks in the room contained nothing of value.
This cavern had an exit, which the Mothers followed. It went on a looping course, first east then south for over two hundred feet before turning west again, where there was a passageway off to the northwest. Following the main way, the saw that the passage emerged on another ledge over the rift. Gaspode went ahead to scout and he could just about make out the first ledge to the north and that another entrance into the ice was further south along the ledge. The wind was quite fierce here. He returned to the group and they went back to the side passage. There they found a small ice-cave which had a number of barrels and crates stored in it, along with several bolts of cloth. The Mothers retraced their steps further to the crossroads in the ice, noting happily that the dead frost giants were undisturbed. They went east this time, finding a t-junction after about fifteen feet which led to dead ends both north and south. Coming back to the crossroads the Mothers took the southerly route, finding a cave similar to the one to the north, but without the giants. Here four sleeping mats, sacks and provisions were left unguarded.
Going back to the first ledge, the Mothers went south along it, searching for the entrance that Jito had seen. This led to three interconnected chambers, the first of which was empty. Once they entered the second, five winter wolves assaulted the Mothers. The icy breath of two of the wolves, ignoring the armour and magical protections of the party, froze their arms chafed their skin and broke off some of their, now brittle, hair. Luckily the damage did not stop the Mothers stepping forward and cutting these two down before they could do worse and it was not long before all of the beasts lay dead. The Mothers now explored the third room, which was a featureless ice cave much like the others except for the eight blocks of transparent ice that were spaced almost equally around the walls. Each block encased a figure, elves, humans and dwarves. Each also contained an item, that presumably belonged to the entombed person in life: a long box at the feet of an elf; a purse, split, showing the glint of coin in the hand of a half-elf; a human with a hand extended wearing a ring; a small sack at the feet of a dwarf in leather armour; a jewelled belt around the waist of a pale human; a metal tube held aloft by a female human; a battleaxe wielded by another dwarf and finally a human warrior clad in plate-mail but with no weapon in his open hands . The Mothers took some time to ponder this mystery.