Jaye Williams and the dangerous road

Jaye Williams stood surrounded by a gang of bandits, each one with a weapon branished. The hood of Jaye's dark blue cloak covered his eyes as he looked down at the floor to concentrate. "You sure you wont reconsider?" Jaye said in a low voice. "You aren't getting out of this alive. anyone who stands in our way ends up dead in the dust" Said the leader of the gang. A merchant with a sweet top hat stood terrified behind Jaye. "T-thank you for stepping in to help me, but now we are both dead" The Merchant said.

"Enough!" Jaye shouted, his voice echoed through the air like a clap of thunder. "Stand back, I got Wizard shit to do" Jaye said to Merchant.

Electricity began to sizzled in the air around Jaye as he slowly walked closer to the leader of the bandits. "You'd think more people would run from the guy surrounded by lighting" Jaye said to the bandit leader. The leader gestured to his men, who then switched their melee weapons out for crossbows. Each bandit shot their crossbow bolt at Jaye. the shots were fired from different directions and were impossible to block and were moving too fast to dodge. Jaye sighed when he heard the crossbows fire. Electricty jumped from the air and struck each crossbow bolt, striking them each mid air. The Crossbow bolts were reduced to harmless dust. Jaye looked up with electricity radiating out of his eyes. "this is the part where you run" He said with a cocky smile.

two bandits ran away leaving the bulk to stupidly charge the wizard. "Come on lads he can't hit all of us" Shouted the leader. Jaye sighed and held up his hands, pointing them at the on coming bandits. Lighting magic gathered in his palms as the electricity in the air leapt out and shocked the bandits as they drew closer to to the wizard. The lighting shield that filled the air wasn't enough to stop the bandits so Jaye had to use a little more energy than he cared to use. "Thunderbolt!" Jaye shouted, releasing energing up into the sky. Clouds formed around the bandits and lighting struck down on all of the bandits, each bandit had a bolt just for them. Lighting struck the bandits, then Jaye snapped his fingers and the clouds flashed and sent down smaller bolts that followed the path of the first bolts. "I think I've finally mastered the timing on that spell" Jaye said with a big smile.
The bandits were all rendered unconcious or paralyzed from the lighting. "You are lucky you caught me in a good mood" Jaye said as he began to walk away. The Merchant was trembling but seemed relieved. "The gods look kindly down on me to have sent a wizard to my aid" Said the merchant. "I don't know about all of that, but I am glad you are safe. Also I like your hat. Give it to me" Jaye said. "W-what?" Said the Merchant. "Listen I am not robbing you or anything, but I did just save your life and your gold from bandits, I will take that sweet hat as payment" Jaye replied. "Anything you wish, sir" Said the merchant as he removed his hat and gave it to Jaye Williams.
Jaye Williams let out an excited laugh as he put on the hat. it was a black top hat with an orange feather stuck in the brim. "Joseph would love this" Jaye said fondly. "Look out!" cried the merchant. Jaye turned around just in time to see an arrow flying toward his head. He ducked and the arrow shot through his new hat and pulled it off of his head. The bandit leader was not only still alive but tenacious enough to fire a shot at Jaye when his back was turned.

"Bad decision" Jaye said with clenched teeth "SHOCKER!" Jaye shouted. a giant bolt of lighting split open the skies, ripped through the clouds and hit the bandit leader. The blast shook the ground, brightened up the air and made a loud boom that could be heard for miles. When the dust settled the bandit leader was a skeleton stuck in the position of a man holding a bow and arrow.
Jaye turned around to get his hat and noticed the Merchant had run off. Jaye pulled the arrow out of his hat, dusted it off and placed it back on his head. He was tired from traveling, his mana was drained and he was getting tired of traveling alone.

Jaye continued down the road, his journey dragged on. Jaye's feet grew tired of walking and his eyes were tired of staying open. "Its been a long day" Jaye said with a sigh. Night crept in and Jaye was still miles from a town. "I should have asked for more than a hat" Grumbled Jaye, who was hungry, tired and needed a serious sugar fix to restore his mana.

Jaye Williams was dead on his feet when he heard rustling of bushes and a swordman emerge from the shadows. Jaye didnt have the energy to fight another enemy. Thinking back he realized he shouldn't have used such a powerful spell to take out one enemy bandit. Jaye's vision focused on the swordsman and realized it was his friend Joseph Stephens. Jaye stumbled forward with his eyes half closed. "Great, its you. And I was having such a good day, then you decide to show up" Jaye said with a big smile on his face. The last thing Jaye saw before passing out was his friend Joseph with a matching smile.

White Mountain Pass

            The icy wind blew through the White Mountain pass. The rushing air was so cold that it cut through layers of clothing, skin, and muscle tissue and chilled every living thing to the bone. The wind might as well have been a grim specter of death the way it froze a man to his core and howled as it blew by. Unseen, bitter, sharp, cold and howling as it passes, the wind of the White Mountains was no mere wind. A windy day in the lowlands would cause villagers to put on a hat and maybe tie up their coats, but a windy day in the White Mountains could be fatal.

            Due to the White Mountains reputation of being dangerous, steep and a tad windy many assumed that no one lived in the mountains, but in fact a whole village was safely tucked away in the mountains. Since the freezing cold air of the night and the harsh winds of winter were enough to knock down most houses only the strongest castles or fortresses would be able to withstand the weather of the White Mountains. The town was not sheltered within a Fortress, it was literally in the White Mountains.

            Ages ago tunnels were dug deep in the mountains as a temporary shelter for those who crossed through the White Mountain Pass. The tunnels were dug deeper and deeper and eventually many of tunnels and passageways met. Merchants and travelers would occasionally be stranded in the tunnels by a long lasting blizzard. The travelers would have to learn to survive for days, weeks or even months in the tunnels by rationing what they had and sharing among others. When the storms died down most travelers would leave but many did not. A few crafty merchants realized that travel was not slowing down through the mountains and every year someone would get trapped in the tunnels because of a sudden storm or poor planning. So the merchants set up shop in the tunnels and continued to expand the tunnels even further.

            The White Mountains were safe to travel during specific windows of time. As long as it was daytime, there wasn’t a storm on the horizon and it wasn’t winter, the path through the mountains was relatively safe. Merchants would use these windows of safety to gather supplies and hire workers. Only the bravest, greediest and toughest people would venture into the mountains to build a outpost in the tunnels. It took a fair amount of traveling experience and bravery just to cross through the pass, but these merchants wanted to live there permanently.

            Time passed and the tunnels used by travelers for safety became an outpost of merchants and basic lodging. The outpost grew as traveling merchants saw a market for the aiding their fellow man while making money at the same time and this point had laid out all the groundwork. The tunnels soon became known as Respite tunnels and the outpost went from being Respite Outpost to Wolf Peak village. The tunnels bore deep into the part of the mountain known as Wolf Peak and it made the locals feel more rugged living in a village with a cool name.

            Time passed on, winter came and went, the town slowly grew and as the town grew so did its popularity. The town was unique for being both the only town in the White Mountains but also was the only town build underground and within tunnels. Having Respite tunnels and Wolf Peak Village located on the path through the mountains made the mountains a safer place to travel. Travelers didn’t have to worry about getting snowed in and stuck in the mountains without food because Wolf peak always had enough food to last through the winter. Making the trail safer increased traffic, increased traffic made an increase in trouble.

            The White Mountain pass has seen its fair share of stories both before and after the village of Wolf Peak was built and during these cold winter months we will look at some of the stories that transpired on these icy peaks.