The queen denied alastairs claims vehemently which immediately made him suspicious since he knew for a fact that even with a good amount of self control any normal woman's body would be showing signs of his presence. the main reason he was aware of this was because when he first started having this problem with women the twins themselves were bothered considerably by his presence. they simply adapted to the new factor over a prolonged exposure to his pheromones but this queen had done no such thing and yet she didn't have so much as a blush.
"Enough about such unimportant things." the queen changed the subject. "the terrible witch lives deep in the snaerfell were she is protected by a great and horrible beast that keeps her safe." the queen said seriously. she then went on to mention how a squadron of heliodoran soldiers had set out to deal with the witch and her guardian several days ago but had not returned. alastair frowned at this news but maintained a straight face as rab managed to convince the queen to let the party borrow the blue orb in the royal families vault to which she agreed after saying that it seemed reasonable.
After leaving the city alastair brought up his suspicions about the queen. "that she was unaffected by your presence without having been exposed to it before is quite suspicious indeed." veronica said after listening to alastairs observations. the rest of the party nodded in agreement since they have all seen the effect alastairs pheromones has on women. "i can't say as i can tell you whats off about her since i only knew her father." rab said apologetically. "its fine for now but we should focus on this witch that froze the city first." alastair said seriously which the rest agreed on.
The snaerfell could be described as a white wonderland as literally everything was covered in unpolluted snow. whats worse is that the snow was nothing like what people describe but rather cold hard and uncomfortable as it melted into ones clothes because of the body heat. the monsters in this area were winterized versions of other monsters , which was odd considering they were far stronger than their other kin. this didn't stop the party from slaughtering them all though as an added bonus alastair found that these stronger foes gave much more exp.
The trip through the snaerfell took a week with the party camping out each day before they reached a forest that blocked their way. it was at this time that a blizzard also went through the area which caused the party to get separated from each other in the blinding white winds. after the storm had passed alastair started to follow the path which had a few soldier who had also gotten separated from their comrades. thankfully none of the soldiers he came across seemed to recognize him so he just played off being a traveler who also got lost which was technically true.
The path led to a frozen over river that alastair crossed cautiously since even if he wont die from the cold it would be highly unpleasant for him. the other side of the river was where alastair came across a large clearing that had hendrick facing a huge monster that was likely the witches guardian. it only took hendrick a moment to recognized alastair at which point he accused him of being in league with the witch. alastair ignored this as he mocked hendrick by mentioning the evils that jasper had done. this worked to shut hendrick up as he had a hard time believing it which was why he had accused alastair of slander.
"Everything i have said can easily be verified by simply asking those involved and to make it even better there are plenty of witnesses that have nothing to do with me." alastair said with a smug look. "face it hendrick the longer this ridiculousness goes on the more it looks like i am not the evil one in this situation." alastair said before turning his attention to the eight foot tall monster with red eyes and gorilla like features and a huge mouth full of blunt teeth with four larger than the rest tusk.
"JOOOOOOOOOOR!" the beast roared before attacking fiercely. the beast raised its right claw and swiped fiercely at alastair to which he blocked by crossing his arms. the force of the blow flowed through alastair and into the ground below him causing it to crater slightly before he forced the beast back with his own strength surprising it. "my turn." alastair said before leaping high above the beast and using magic to temporarily make himself heavier and drop kicked the poor creature on the top of it head at full force.