The Twenty-Fifth Session

May 30, 2020, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

Last session

We escaped the fire dancers, and the remaining 44 members of the expedition have arrived at the underground cavern containing the Lost City of Storm's Eye. We stand in a tunnel above a beach, and a wide lake spans the cavern, separating us from the city.

We don't have a good way to cross the lake, we think.

• Bugfood proposes sending the scouts (Jerry, Imbros, Renir, another Scout) on a magically-powered Water Walk trip across the lake to see what dangers there might be.
• Jerry tries to remember who had the token of instant disposable boat.

The sandy beach we stand upon has rock faces sticking out from it.

We spend the evening talking about ways to cross the lake, and spend the night on the shore. The night passes without incident. There are squeaks and flutterings of bats.

Crossing the lake

The lake is about 800 feet across. Bugfood casts Water Walk as a ritual on himself, Jerry, Imbros, Renir, and the other scouts. They set out across the lake in this order: Imbros, two scouts flanking her, Jerry, then the other scouts and Renier. Bugfood in panther form starts at the back, but then with 120 move runs ahead.

As Bugfood runs, he notices a fin in the water, pacing him.

1. Round 1: Jerry gets chomped.
   1. Jerry advances to the gargantuan red-finned shark. She casts Hunter's Mark upon it, and learns that it's a Monstrosity. She attacks with the Slayer of the Unnatural, hits once, misses once, and deals 22 slashing before backing away a bit.
   2. Ranger Imbros turns tail and runs back towards the expedition.
   3. The Devil Shark bites Jerry for 22 piercing, holding her within its jaws. She's Grappled.
   4. Ryltar, who is on the shore, casts Slow on the Shark with his Distant Magic perk. The shark is wise and shrugs off the spell.
   5. All the scouts flee.
   6. Bugfood runs back to shore to cast Water Walk on all the party members, if Jerry can't escape.
2. Round 2: Everyone attacks the shark.
   1. Jerry tries to break the beast's hold, but is not successful.
   2. The Devil Shark chomps on Jerry again, dealing 21 damage, and swims towards the expedition on shore.
   3. Ryltar casts Ice Storm on the shark in a way that doesn't hit Jerry. He succeeds.
   4. Salris, now walking on water, Eldritch Blasts the thingy.
   5. Vurguron equips his bow and arrow, and with disadvantage and a natural 20, misses the shark.
   6. Captain Zarada T'Haat orders the expedition to shoot at the shark; with their hand crossbows at disadvantage they miss a lot.
   7. Renir, with his hand crossbow and no disadvantage, hits.
   8. Zeggil and Vicar ready Healing Word.
   9. Another barrage of Drow arrows hit the shark.
   10. Bugfood disengages his Wildshape, then casts Water Walk on Salris, Vurguron, Zarada, Zelrathi, and six other expedition members of exceptional stabbiness: Breza, Dirius, two Goliaths, the bone whip guy.
   11. Dirius' two attendants cast second-level Magic Missile at the shark, for a chunk of damage
   12. Zelrathi casts Eldritch Blast, hitting the shark for 9 Fire damage. The shark is immune to cold and resistant to fire.
3. Round 3: The shark dies.
   1. Jerry doesn't bother to try to break out of its mouth. She pops Hunter's Mark once more and stabs the shark for 45 damage.
   2. Breza, Imbros, the bone-whip guy, and others use heavy crossbows to attack the shark.
   3. The shark chomps on Jerry again, trying to swallow her. It fails, doing no damage to her. And then it moves forwards.
   4. Ryltar tries to Slow the shark again, and the wise old shark's wisdom lets it continue to shrug it off.
   5. Salris pops off Eldritch Blast again, dealing 9. Then he uses the Ring of the Arcamag, taking 6 damage to cast Eldritch Blast once again for 6 damage.
   6. Vurguron casts Firebolt on the shark dealing critical damage for 4d10 = 16 damage. He puts away his crossbow. He walks 30 feet towards the shark, across the water.
   7. Zarada T'Haat shoots the shark again.
   8. Zeggil and Vicar continue to hold their Healing Word.
   9. Bugfood casts Water Walk again on an additional 10 expedition members, and then pops Balm of the Summer Court on Jerry for 10 health and 3 temporary HP.
   10. Zelrathi casts more Eldritch Blasts at the shark, curving the shots around Jerry to shoot down the shark's gullet. It releases Jerry and sinks a little, bleeding out.

Ryltar leans over to Ockoh and whispers, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Fresh," replies Ockoh.

Jerry climbs out of the water, onto the shark, and proclaims, "Well, I vote we use the shark as a boat to cross the lake, and then we eat it."

Those with Water Walk start pushing it across the lake towards the oosah cart. Bugfood casts Water Walk on the rest of the expedition.

We cross the lake, floating the oosah cart on the back of the wise, dead, red-finned shark. Tonight, we will feast on shark.

Storm's Eye

The Lost City of Storm's Eye is conical, reaching up to the grey-lit beacon its top and down below the shoreline, the slope falling in rank upon rank of buildings, many tiers underwater.

Dirius perks up, and suggests that Ryltar and Osril explore the city layer-by-later to excavate what they can from it. Dirius nods to some other Drow, who head up the switchbacking city roads.

Ryltar knows:

• the expedition was looking for translation of passages from this book
• the expedition has a book that's missing the first page
• Ryltar has the first page of the book
• the book is written as a tale of departure from the city
• Ryltar's page describes what lies beyond the city

Ryltar's passage reads:

Through stone and ice,
I shall find myself
My heart shall lie upon my breast
My walls and halls shall protect my tomb
Have this to protect,
My people in my absence
(a recess in the rubbing)
And pray this conflagration ceases with my parting

We know what they're looking for: the Ice Heart of Winter.

Where would the tomb be? Probably the top of the city.

Should we read this passage backwards?

And pray this conflagration ceases with my parting
(a recess in the rubbing)
my people in my absence
Have this to protect,
My walls and halls shall protect my tomb
My heart shall lie upon my breast
I shall find myself
Through stone and ice,

We set out to look for stone buildings carved into the living rock of the cave. There's no wood around here. If you choose to imagine the city's tiers as a set of stairs, the houses are carved into the back of each step.

At the very top of the city there appears to be a building directly under the grey beacon.

We see the expeditions' head Drow flying up the city, so the whole party sets out after them.

As we climb the city, the city's decorations and carvings grow more opulent, though they are warm. There's a feel of coldness rolling off the side of the city, a cold draft to give us a chill.

The twins

We come to a square stone patio near the top of the city, and here the cold seems coldest.

We get a glimpse, off to the right, of the most-opulent building we've ever seen in the city. There are two beautiful, pristine elven maidens, walking out of the building, living flesh and blood, of porcelain skin and silver hair, wearing plain white dresses, twins.

Together, they speak in Common: "Oh. We have guests. We haven't had guests in so long."

Zelrathi asks Ryltar: "Is this a normal Drow thing?"

"They're not Drow."

The twins speak again: "This was to be our home."

"The city? The building?"

"The city. We have no idea of the building."

Ryltar asks them where there might be a temple in the city; they reply: "There is the temple of our Ice Lord."

"We're on a very tight timetable right now; we'll come back and talk with you in a little while."

They are saddened by this, they wished to talk with us.

Jerry suggests that they walk and talk with us as we go visit the temple. They say that the ice lord is no longer with them, so they don't visit it.

We move on; they follow us at a distance, curious.

The temple

We come to a square-roofed building supported by pillars. The twins stop following us, staying at a distance.

The temple is simple, 40 feet wide and deep, dug into the rock beneath the beacon. The doors open and we go in. There are rows of pews and a small altar, and doors leading off to the left and right.

There is no sign of Dirius or her two attendants. Here, more so than other places in town, there isn't much in the way of dirt or silt to be disturbed. But we do feel a chill coming from the left door.

Ryltar heads down the left door, and finds the entrance to the catacombs. The room we find has an iced-over door that was forced open, and a shut door.

We advance through the forced iced door, and come across a hallway, which continues down to a room, which has one path leading west and one leading north, to a room with a pillar in it. As Ryltar advances into the room of the pillar, a stout man in frost-covered armor approaches him.

1. Round 1
   1. Zelrathi attacks immediately, using Eldritch Blast to shoot the ice dwarf twice for a little damage.
   2. Vurguron, who doesn't have Darkvision, walks forward until he bumps into the backside of a bear. (Bugfood.) He casts Firebolt at the last sound he heard. He deals 7 damage to the ice-dwarf, who poofs.
   3. A new attacker appears within range. Zelrathi says, "That might be a problem." A giantesque lumbering beast, carrying ice boulders, approaches.
   4. Ryltar casts Mind Spike on the creature, for 5 psychic damage.
   5. Two more tiny dudes appear, and shoot darts at Zelrathi. They miss.
   6. Ryltar shoots an eldritch blast at those two, killing one.
   7. Bugfood un-bears, lights a torch, and shoots the giant.
   8. Jerry approaches to within range of the giant-like creature, casts Hunter's Mark on it, and slashes it twice, for 22 damage.
2. Round 2.
   1. Zelrathi pops Eldritch Blast on that same creature twice for some damage.
   2. Vurguron, who can now see thanks to the torch, advances with his sword to slash the big guy twice, hitting once for 11 damage, killing the giant.
   3. Two little dudes approach Vurguron and stab him with ice knives, for 3 damage.
   4. Ryltar tries a Ray of Frost on the little doobers, dealing 1 damage. They are, of course, resistant to frost damage.
   5. Salris advances, kills the one little dude, then kills the other.
   6. Jerry advances into the room, lights a torch off of Bugfood's, and deposits it on the far side of the column. The column is carved in the Egyptian style, with figures of multiple people moving down the column.
3. Round 3.
   1. Zelrathi prepares a healing spell and informs Jerry of that fact.
   2. Vurguron picks up a torch and heads down a newly-revealed left-hand hallway, revealing two more of the tiny guys, with their frosty armour. He Firebolts them, and misses. At the edge of his vision, he sees another big guy.
   3. Ryltar catches up with Vurguron, and sees what he sees.
   4. The two little dudes advance on Ryltar, missing once and stabbing again. They also throw two ice darts at Vurguron, but miss.
   5. Salris kills once ice dwarf with Eldritch Blast, then hits the giant with three more.
   6. Jerry advances to the remaining little guy, kills him with her glaive, then casts Ensnaring Strike and yeets a dart at the giant further down the alleyway. She misses.
4. Round 4.
   1. Zelrathi moves to where he can see the giant, and hits it with spells to do damage.
   2. Vurguron advances as far as he can, almost to the giant, and casts Firebolt at it for a little damage.
   3. Ryltar poofs the giant and advances to the intersection where he had been, seeing more hallways.
   4. Two more little guys appear at the end of the hall and throw ice knives at Vurguron.
   5. Salris kills one little dude, popping him with a spell, then attacks the next one, but doesn't succeed in killing him.
   6. Jerry scouts ahead, looking for a bigger enemy, but sees none, and expends her prepared Ensnaring Strike on a little guy.

For those not keeping count: 2 giants, 8 ice dwarfs.

We explore the catacombs for a bit. The pillars run in a line diagonal to the grid of hallways.

Ryltar opens a hole through an ice wall, and exposes a new room with a lot of little guys in it.

1. Round 1
   1. Jerry runs into the room, stabulates one little guy to poofing, then yeets a dart at another to bring it to half health.
   2. Ryltar enters the room and Ray of Frosts the one that Jerry damaged.
   3. Salris advances into the room and poofs the two remaining little guys.

Four more ice dwarfs down.

The stone room we find ourselves in is carved in a long oval, with ice walls at the northern and southern points, and two entrances on the east side blocked by ice walls, one of which we came in.

The walls of the oval room are covered in carvings describing the founding of the city.

The northern ice wall is translucent enough to show iron bars embedded in it. Ryltar looks between those iron bars, and sees a wavy view of a giant tower, with hordes of people walking around it.

Ryltar talks to Zelrathi, bringin up the fortune-teller's message of the "mountain covered in shadow, where he hides his shame." Perhaps this city is where that mysterious "he" is hiding that truth.

We take a short rest, heal up, and examine the room, but don't find anything that can give us control over the bars.

So we continue exploring the catacombs.

Jerry, Zelrathi and Ryltar come across a room with a massive opening into a massive room, a floor covered head to toe in lines of the ice dwarves that we'd been fighting. They're not moving, staying still. We're on a balcony looking down into that area.

Jerry and Ryltar stealthily walk around the balcony. Next to the stairs there's a pair of doors which lead to a small passageway behind the wall at the top of the stairs. They discover an air vent, which is emitting a little warm air.

They leave the passage and continue their circumnavigation of the balcony, and come across another stone door, not covered in frost.

Meanwhile, Zelrathi sends a Message to Ryltar, asking what he's discovered. Ryltar replies with a Message describing the stone door and the hordes of still dwarvish people..

Vurguron and Zelrathi do some exploring, and come across a frozen stone door. They discuss ways of opening it, and use a torch.

Ryltar and Jerry walk through their door. To the left the corridor slopes down, becoming filled with ice. They proceed to the right, and come across another stone door. They open the door carefully, and find a small room with four stone stone sarcophagi lining the west, southwest, south, and east walls. There's a placard, but it's written in runic.

Jerry copies down the inscription in her book.

There's a door to the west, which they investigate.

Bugfood, Zelrathi, Salris, and Vurguron melt open their door, to expose a room with two more ice-covered stone doors.

Ryltar and Jerry find a door leading back to the balcony above the room full of frozen bodies. Ryltar catches up with the rest of the group.

Jerry explores one more door, and finds a hallway leading behind the sarcophagus room with another door and an opening.

Zelrathi and Ryltar go to check the sarcophagus room, and Zelrathi's Comprehend Languages show him a name written in Giant, and their position within a church, their date of birth, and their date of death: 7551 to 7789. It's 997 After Divergence in the current calendar. Those dates are in the Since Creation calendar, where the last recorded year was 7789.

We go down the hallway that Jerry discovered, and find another giant pillar: the entrance to the hall of giant pillars. There are four giant pillars here.

Next session

• More dungeon crawling! We decided to check out the northeast corner's ice floor.
• What the hell is up with all the sleeping dwarves? Why is this big chamber full of suspended dwarves who predate the current calendar by almost a thousand years? What relation have they to the Divergence of the Gods?
• Where are the expedition's casters?
• What was that distant glowing tower with the people walking around it? How do we get there?
• Who are the twins?
• What does Red-Finned Shark taste like?
• Why is Moon part of the expedition, disguised as an Orc?