The Nightmare looks up at them across a plateau of congealed blood and the boys run off to meet it waiving their short swords in the air and whooping with excitement.

Time has passed and the seasons change,

The party of adventurers watched as the boys ran off into the pasture of the hell steed. On the way, one of them absently wacks at a floating black orb. It pulses with dark light and a wave of Nechrotic energy ripples outward over the ground. The party advances cautiously but is pulled closer to the orb as the wave returns. The magic of the orb began pulling in members of the party and those consumed end up in a small stone chamber; a pocket dimension adorned only by a small bonfire.

Objects and people were sucked into the vortex of the black orb and the 3 children found themselves also caught up in its magical grip. The horse, noticing the dynamics at play, began bargaining with the group. It tempted a few members of the group but it's first forays into contract were spurned when the group decided to take measures into their own hands and personally dispatch the 3 boy adventurers. After the slaying an escape attempt began.

Working together the team pulled each other out of the void. They struggled and were partially successful in shutting down it's constant pulling when Kkrack jumped on the orb and wrapped it in his cloak. However, not all had escaped its capture and the party fled through a magical portal to a seemingly safer place to attempt a rescue. On the shore of a lake at the base of a strange underworld mountain, they attempted to reopen the orb and finish the job but their rigging was consumed in the new vortex. They continued to struggle and the dimension hopping Nightmare returned with it's bargaining. This time creating a secret pact with one of the group, who was then able to direct their efforts and free all from the orb and return to the surface world. The infernal signature of their contract bound in a searing tattoo upon a secret bit of flesh.

Exiting the portal that would take them to the surface they found themselves in a chamber similar to the one that they first entered at the beginning of their underworld journey. In the corner lay 3 wolves, small saddles carefully fastened on their backs and sharp eyes watching them intensely. Behind them, 3 small backpacks stuffed with gear lean against the wall. Sim approaches and the wolves bare teeth and snarl, warning him off. Emboldened by his plunge into darkness, Sim pits the party against the wolves and a vicious battle ensues. Nearing death multiple times, they manage to slay the beasts one by one until they are left tired and breathless. This had been a much more serious fight than previously anticipated.

Galinndan opens the 25ft stone doors and our adventurers now stand in a doorway overlooking the island of dead whispers and the wide ocean beyond. Their encounter with the Stallion of machinations and fire has left them marked, but it was the faithful Balto and his wolf kin that almost doomed them. Mostly alive and in possession of a few souvenirs, they feel a crisp chill in the air. The winds of winter approach and the choice of what to do next is theirs. Do they return to Yama to inform of their success? Were they successful? Do they return to their commandeered ship and continue East? Or perhaps they travel elsewhere.

With the weight of their experiences they have been indelibly changed. Now seasoned adventurers, they are aware the road ahead is less straight forward than when they first set forth. But the Capital awaits, a God-king is to be born, and time marches on.