Hildes 23, 5677

How cold will it get before we reach Nazada? Tonight we camped just north of the Antarctic Circle. Tomorrow we begin traveling across the ice. The frigid wind is quite strong, but I believe someone solved this problem long ago. We found the ruins of an ancient structure large enough for us to seek shelter from the wind. We’ve passed several similar structures in the past few days, although not all of them still had standing walls.

From this point, our food consists of whatever we brought with us. Water is in abundance, although we’ll need to melt it to drink. I get the feeling that a well-prepared army with busy supply lines would be better equipped for this land than we are. We were told there would be plenty for horses to eat in the cold icy south, but I’m not sure if I believe those tales. Could there really be plants growing in such icy conditions? What creatures would visit the flowers so the plants can bear fruit?

Tonight the wind is howling. It’s difficult to keep warm, although easier in our current shelter in the ruined structure than if we needed to make our own shelter from nothing. Niahla’Sen used her arcane powers to start a fire for us. The hard part is keeping it fueled so it doesn’t fizzle out. There aren’t many trees this far south, so firewood and other burnable material is hard to find. I think we were fortunate to find as much as we did.

The horses are also having difficulty. Few plants grow in this area, and of those few, most are small and difficult for the horses to graze on. It’s rather amusing to watch a horse attempt to eat moss because it’s the greenest thing in the land. I’m not sure how much longer the horses will last if we cannot find adequate food for them soon.