The Silverpeak Guild Hall, despite its grandeur, felt intensely pragmatic. The sheer difficulty of the mission postings confirmed Kai’s analysis: the Northern Empire was the perfect forge for their accelerated training. The Wandering Blades selected their mission from the Copper board: clear ice wraiths from a merchant route near the border of the Frozen Wastes north of Silverpeak. It was a standard Copper rank request, offering a minimal reward, but the location itself was demanding.
They rode out immediately. The terrain was brutal—a world of endless, wind-whipped snow and jagged ice formations. The cold was absolute, challenging even Kai's enhanced magical resistance.
The encounter came late on the first day. They found the merchant convoy huddled behind a hastily erected ice barricad
