Beneath thick ice

A crevice in the ice, about a kilometer to the north, was determined to be the access point of the nutbars that attacked with outriggers. (from Merri's log: Bundles of tools and trappings for the excursion were prepared: Loops of line, pegs and picks, and colour sticks for marking paths, and interesting axes with claws welded on the head) At the fracture in the ice, there's shelves of ice layered like overlarge brickwork. Between these slats there's just enough room to manuever oneself and pieces of equipment. The outriggers where heaved up from somewhere beneath. Some of those negative spaces have spare fabric sails and collapsible masts and detritus. Handholds in the ice that look the exact shape of fingers and palms are slippery clues to how the realm's reavers clambered up. These are so smooth as to appear melted and then refrozen into only treacherous hints of handholds now. With the sun having set, the ice becomes translucent and the passages below are now more like primitive 3D wireframe blueprints. But there's a very long drop at the initial outset that goes down quite a ways with sheer icey surfaces and not enough easy handholds.
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