Land ho

The ice heads straight for it, ahead you can see a beach of gold sands with rock and the carcases of old ships dashed by the churning sea. The Ice sheet, undetured by these dead ships and rock is heading full speed to the beach as the waves crash violently on the shore. The freed slaves are partially relieved and partially concerned by the fast appoaching land as the ice doesnt seem to be slowing down.

The ice scrapes against some underwater rock or debris rocking the whole platform. A large crack appears in the ice near the center but then it stops, quite suddenly, causing everyone aboard to lurch. It has run aground on soft sand and stopped moving as the waves crash over the sea side edge of the ice. A few moments pass and the whole platform starts to crumble inward from the edges heading inward, breaking off into a fine dust and disolving into the sea below.

The beach spreads on for as long as you can see, there are no signs of any people, as you head inland, the sand and rock turns into fields of wildgrass and rolling hills, a few hundred feet ahead you see a dirt road and a small cottage that seems to have seen better days and smoke coming from a weather battered chimney.

Approching the cottage you can see that some of the windows are broken and have been badly boarded up from the outside to keep the wind out. In the path leading up to the front door, there are countess rocks, each with a face or simply some eyes and a mouth badly painted on them. You knock on the door, you hear a yell followed by clanging and rattling heading for the door, a elderly looking wizened gnome, bright ginger unkept hair with a white pointed beard, his right eye brown, the other looks misted over with what looks like a burn on the surounding skin, appears at the barely open frame holding a rock about the size of his fist with a painted face.