Alkayne had prepared well, not only were his troops flexible in what they could do, having been trained in combat of course, but also in other tasks, such as construction and it was showing as their building speed wasn't bad at all, well, it may paled in comparison to the architecture and building castes, but everyone agreed that these fellow were cut out of a special fabric, even in this world with magic and rules bent in every direction, their ways were seen as supernatural.
Soon enough, a mighty fortress stood amidst the howling, freezing winds, snow already piling upon the ramparts, thankfully, they had chosen an castle architecture that did not allow from much open space from above, it was a well-closed construction, the ceiling parts fashioned from a special kind of white stone, by placing strong flames directly underneath, it heated itself to the point of producing an incandescent shine, this allowed to melt any stone that landed atop the bastion, and also rendered the inside of the place darker ironically, as the incandescence pulled in light into itself.
It was a wondrous stone created thanks to the queen, bringing the undead empire to a closer step to fully adapting to light as well as dark.
In the center of the widest portion of heated stone, a small portion was over elevated to leave some space to a tower with tinted windows on all sides, giving the one inside a wide view of the surroundings, of course, this was where Alkayne had set up his office, a rather humble ones due to the fact that he did not require a bed or any other facilities that would be expected in one's private quarters.
Basically only consisting of a single desk, where he intended on writing his detailed reports for Cecili to bring back to the vanguard's quarters, for now, there was very little to report, no true expedition had been launched and the storehouse dug below the structure was yet to be filled with much at all, only sample of the various solid precipitations that constantly befell them had been taken.
Since a path to properly descend upon the frozen lake wasn't to be found within the immediate area, Alkayne gathered a portion of his troops and led them further into the blizzard, many carried torches bearing pitch black flames, a manifestation of King Nitok's dark sun, these flames casted darkness instead of light, which ended up serving the same purpose torches were used for, this allowed the soldier to have a better grasp of what was in the immediate area about them, and also had the boon of scaring off anything that might have otherwise saw it fit to attack from the cover of the snowstorm.
From the outside, any onlooker would think that their eyes was tainted by something as a patch of darkness moving about in this manner was simply too unnatural, moving ahead of this tight formation, the minor lord had not yet noticed the usual observer, but he had indeed noticed more life scouring the freezing mountains, it was very little, sparse but there was wildlife, mighty creatures who had evolved to resist and even thrive within this unforgiving environment.
However, the life that seemed to be most present was something Alkayne would neither classify as a beast or monster, he felt them similar to the distant stalker he had sensed a few times, but he had a much easier time pinning them down, clearly less experienced in concealing and masking their presences, they were smaller as well.
Most garbed in torn clothing, a few as naked as worms, their skin was a blue-whitish colour, their eyes clouded by a layer of frost, they seemed about as big as the average person and oscillated between nimbleness and high-awareness and wandering around in a daze.
Some possessed dreadful claws, the flesh of their hands torn apart as their fingers elongated and spread apart as what must have been simple fingernails once turned into predatory appendages.
Though not all possessed claws, they all had teeth-filled maws, reminding Alkayne of some types of ghouls with similarly messy dentition, although here, there was a clear merge between the teeth of a clearly omnivorous species and that of a fully carnivorous one, the former having been pushed down and around to leave space for the latter.
Quite a few of these beings also had their lower faces and mouth stained red, as though they had feasted so much and so often that blood had seeped into their very flesh.
For now, the minor lord and his troops ignored them as they all feared the crawling darkness, the congress only stopping when they stumbled upon ruins, telling what it used to be was pretty much impossible as the thing was nearly completely covered in snow, but stepping within, the place was actually well-conserved, an avalanche seemed to have caved part of the ceiling in, but it was holding up without problem still.
"Seal the entrance" spoke Alkayne, sensing only a few life forces within the abandoned building.
Stepping forward, walking through rows of wooden benches, the purpose of this place was certainly easier to glean from the inside, carved from stone that would have certainly been incredibly difficult to extract in such weather, the statue of a gentle-looking woman with her arms slightly stretched out loomed over the entire room.
'They have religion here?' he wondered if this goddess would be within this realm or within the divine realm instead, if she actually existed that was.
But for the moment, other details caught his attention, being that candles were lit up and clearly not old at all, as well as the fact that incense was still in the process of being burned, this did not really fit the abandoned ruin impression the outside had given.
"These rooms- Take care of their occupants" he ordered in death tongue, pointing to every direction where a life force was to be detected, all but one as he leaned before what seemed to be some sort of altar for someone to stand behind and apparently, ground some plants together according to what was present upon it.
The whole thing seemed like a solid block, but it was merely a table with a piece of cloth draped over it.
Without needing to look, Alkayne reached down and grabbed the living hiding underneath by the back of their collar, lifting them up with ease even as they struggled.
"As I thought, seems like you've still got your wits?" with a medallion carrying the gift of comprehension around his neck, the zombie addressed the living in the pale tongue.
"Dame-Sommer… Dame-Sommer, I implore your mercy for my transgression…" the living frantically said.
Alkayne was currently holding onto what he would deem to be a young girl considering her size, maybe a young woman if she had been especially malnourished, keeping her up in the air by the back of her collar like he was grabbing an unruly cat.
She looked like the creatures outside, with just a few differences, like them, she lacked a nose or ears at all, which was natural has such appendages were liability in such cold climate, but instead the blue-whitish skin, she was just pale and her eyes were clear of frost, no sign of claws, only delicate little hands and her teeth were fairly normal, only a singular fang seemed to have grown in place of a lost teeth.
Alkayne would have tried to show a smile if he had the flesh necessary, finding someone coherent so early was a great boon, he could ask her plenty of questions and have her go through tests to determine what specificity her kind possessed.
His soldiers were already done with killing the other livings inside, which were all like the ones outside.
"Breath in and out, girl, I need to ask you a few questions"