(Following: Sunblight Stronghold - note some items still undefined / unclaimed in the Treasure section)
(Given the situation in the story - it would be wise to review and understand the Exhaustion rules).
Race Against Destruction
At the conclusion of the attack on the Sunblight fortress, actions are taken to equip, rest, and send warning to the towns. Vellynne Harpell has retrieved all her gear, she meets up with her kobolds and she and Deana Auldrice (the freed dwarf prisoner and one of Dineval's Knights of the Black Sword) bolt across the ice on the necromancer's zombie-dog sleds to warn Caer Dineval. The goliath barbarian Kapanuk Talltree Thuunkhalaga sets off for Wyrmdoom Crag - inviting a visit and promising a warm reception. He has no interest in aiding the Ten Towns, whose people are unkind to his own. Grandolpha Muzgardt reports her messengers have already warned defenders in Targos. Alyks Askaria has used Sending to alert Vaelish Gant, in hopes the Master Abjurer can offer some defense to the towns he seems keen to control, learning he is in Bremen. She also uses Sending to warn Agaric, who is with the Kalteswetteruntergrund (Weather Underground) researchers near Termalaine.
After the two castings, Alyks, Dex, Zaknalimar, and Sudon take short rests while h'Rothgar works with the Muzgardt loyalists and some extra muscle from Phantom to breach the Sunblight Treasure Vault to retrieve his gear (and anything else potentially useful). Zak then employs the Warden's Harper's Pin to teleport the group (Alyks, Dex, h'Rothgar, Phantom, Sudon, and Zak) to Bryn Shander. On arrival, word is sent immediately to Speaker Duvessa Shane to prepare defenses and for refugees. The group is given the finest giant-elk-drawn sleds and drivers and races, alongside two sleds of soldiers, for Easthaven.
In Icewind Dale sat Ten little Towns
Then Dougan's Hole got burned to the ground
Good Mead's Speaker began to cry
Our heroes were too far away to try
In Icewind Dale sat Nine little Towns
Chardalyn dragon burned Good Mead down
Easthaven's Speaker began to cry
Our heroes were on the way to try
Reluctantly accepting the loss of Dougan's Hole and Good Mead, the Sewer-side Squad makes record time from Bryn Shander with the special sleds, making haste to try to intercept Xardorok Sunblight and the dragon in Easthaven - arriving in the town a little over 8 hours after the launch of the creature from Sunblight Stronghold in the Spine of the World.
City in Flames: Easthaven
On the sleds to Easthaven, h'Rothgar (barely) manages a long rest, reordering his spells and regaining mana for casting them. As he is roused for the arrival, the others are discussing a most eerie development, the clear sky above has (for the first time since the everlasting winter) been absent of the aurora, that was believed to be Auril's casting of the ritual to lock away sunlight from Icewind Dale... there is debate about what this might mean, until cut short by the rising smoke from the glittering flames besetting the lakeside town, just as the group encounters refugees escaping the opposite way - escaping the destruction toward Bryn Shander.
The destruction was severe by the time the group arrived, half the city aflame and mobs skirmishing rather than coaxing evacuation or attending the buildings. Awaiting the next strafing run of the dragon, the group took tactical positions and attended to the people. h'Rothgar was instrumental in quelling by Calm Emotions the chardalyn-enraged and aligning efforts to cooperate in the town square. Aelar found a large group of children, whose schoolteacher found him inspiring and reassuring - leading them from the path of harm to a safe retreat. Meanwhile, the wizards tried to suppress the worst of the damage - Alyks pinching out fires with Control Flames, and calling out the locations of Duergar employing Invisibility (using See Invisibility).
Meanwhile, Sudon stood ready with longbow pact weapon at the ready as Zaknalimar found a second story perch from which to attempt use of his firearm. Their volley of missile attacks proved sufficient deterrent for Xardorok to steer his dragon on to Caer Dineval. Tireless help extinguishing the fire was provided by Dex employing Animate Dead on some of the lost townspeople, along with the strength of Phantom and assistance of his unseen servant in the bucket brigade.
In Icewind Dale sat Eight little Towns
But in dragonfire most of Easthaven drowned
To Dineval next the beast would fly
Would Vellynne lend the power for the Caer to defy?
In Icewind Dale sat Seven little Towns
Over Lac Dineshere the dragon made rounds
In Caers of Dineval and Konig many folks would die
Then over Kelvin's Cairn winged death would fly
In Icewind Dale shivered Five little Towns
Would Maer Dualdon's shores burn down?
Four towns warily watched the sky
Until a storm's icy winds blinded their eyes
From the Dark Below: Termalaine
After h'Rothgar used Sending to warn Vellynne Harpell the dragon is on its way to Caer Dineval, the group shot north then east to Termalaine on the giant-elk sleds. Aided by Agaric, the town was already evacuated and no sign of the dragon as yet. But a messenger came to town from the Gem Mine, where the townspeople were hiding - reporting there were disturbances and skirmishes coming from below and pleading for assistance.
Investigating the mine's lower reaches, beneath the caverns holding the hundreds of Termalaine residents, the party split into two groups. The stealthy Aelar, Zak, and Phantom descended to the "forbidden areas" to scout any further threats - while h'Rothgar, Dex, Alyks and Sudon took a defensive position with the barricades stood up in response to the newly-tunneled invasion. This attack from the Underdark came in the form of rats the size of large dogs and a massive burrowing insectoid creature called an Umber Hulk, driven by Sunblight Duergar, seeking to drive the townspeople to the surface. h'Rothgar taking point, Enlarged, to become an embodiment of Moradin's Heavy Armor - the immovable object, while his support team rallied offensive attacks. Dex's ghostly minion passed through barriers and allies alike in these tight confines, drawing life out of the attackers, as his own necromantic arts tore their flesh. Alyks's fiery arts lit the darkness, leaving sizzling enemies in their wake. Sudon pursued Duergar into the fresh-burrowed tunnel, taking on one of their "Mind Masters" - and pursuing the retreating shadows below, alongside Dex's minion.
Meanwhile, traversing over the abyss to the Underdark in a creaky-pulley pulled basket, and led by the clicking of the box from the Mind Flayers' ship, Phantom's bone club shattered the barrier labeled "Ancient Evil: Do Not Enter!" aside the cavern carved into a ship-sized geode being excavated. Within, a skull unlike anything seen to the men, jutted from the wall, somehow embedded. Further smashing it, the bones shattered and exposed a crystal in place of the brain. How this came to be here was unexplainable - but the box-clicking affirmed this was the object the Illithid had ordered Phantom to retrieve to help restart the strange ship's machinery. The crystal was given to Zak to carry back, while caution won the moment in deciding NOT to further explore the passage with (another) sign reading: "Haunted: Do Not Enter!".
Waiting out the attack, a stiff blizzard kicked up - blinding sight and slowing travel as Termalaine completely burned to the ground, the group left for Bryn Shander as the dragon (without Xardorok!) swept north for Lonelywood.
Final Confrontation: Bryn Shander
Epic confrontations befell the dragon in the towns of Bremen (whose defense was coordinated by Vaelish Gant the Brown - later made a hero from his valiant success) and Targos (defense and preparation aided by the Muzgardts and Zhentarim). Weakened in these battles, the mechanical beast followed its master's design to finally target the largest of the Ten Towns, Bryn Shander. its buildings cluttered and streets now swarming with refugees from all corners of Icewind Dale.
Standing atop stout walls that would offer no defense against this flying weapon-creature, defenders tracked its approach from the flames and smoke left behind in Targos, until Xardorok Sunblight's Chardalyn Dragon rose higher and higher to disappear into the swirl of the snowstorm called forth by the cruel Children of Auril. The scorching heat and blinding light from its maw ignited rooftops long before its dark form could be seen, diving diving diving with terrible velocity - as if cast from the sky by Talos himself, a titanic missile to deliver death and terror to the thousands huddled below.
It is said times of strife reveal heroes. Whether by fate of the divine or of some cosmic necessity, heroes indeed stood among those atop the walls, launching mighty counterattacks when no choice remained other than annihilation of the scores and scores of commonfolk whose voices howled in despair at the approaching doom. The town's powerful ballistae weapons could first reach the mark, the CLANK of their strikes like a bell tolling in the night. Then, drawing on lessons learned in the nine prior battles, insight into the creature's weaknesses dearly paid for - twin weapons of thunder erupted against the dread foe: a Bard's Shatter-ing fury from the darkly dapper Zaknalimar Farrington and the defiant eldercross-crowned Hexblood's roar from the Horn of Blasting from Jarlmoot: Circle of Thrones, loosed at peril to its player - Dex Shadow.
As reverberation echoed through the alleyways, the dragon's form was torn asunder: plates and gears and levers raining upon those below, white-hot and seething with chardalyn madness. The mass of its center finally crushing five buildings before halting in a great pit - smoke and flame and dark crystalline mindless rage fanning out into the town. Those with arts in taming the fires and the evil influences stepped in decisively - once more the fire-mastering Alyks, the devout and reassuring h'Rothgar, the agile Aelar, the forceful Phantom, and the coldly confident Sudon. The nightmare was ending - but the cost severe already. In the tenday to follow far more would perish of the harsh elements, wounds and hunger than in the attacks themselves. Doubling down on the death and loss, came the Coldlight Walkers - reanimated to further murder and destroy.
In Icewind Dale smouldered Ten little Towns
So many dead under snow-buried mounds
They sacrificed and suffered, but now asked why???
Vowing Frostmaiden's Rime to defy!
Strife in Aftermath: Ten Towns
Truly the Rime of the Frostmaiden set upon the dale's environment would once more embody the goddess' harsh cruelty and indifference. No more would the townspeople offer her anything - the reluctant reverence offered to appease and in fear, now snuffed by defiant anger at such loss. The Children of Auril, the creatures believed to be her minions, and the White Inquisitor: reaping what was sowed by Auril, and this mad Xardorok Sunblight.
The event would come to be known as "The Sunblight Desolation" - or even simply "The Desolation", and change the political landscape of Icewind Dale.
With the deaths of half the Town Speakers, the ruin of Good Mead and Dougan's Hole, the occupation of Caer Konig by the Sunblights, and isolation and militarization of Caer Dineval by the Knights of the Black Sword, the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale fractured, disbanding the Council of Speakers and forming two rival coalitions:
The Free Towns: Stand Together
Under the continued Ten Towns leadership of Bryn Shander's Speaker Duvessa Shane, with critical support from the the Clan Battlehammer dwarves of the valley beneath Kelvin's Cairn, settlements stand together to survive, sharing crucial resources and information against the struggle.
The members include:
- Bryn Shander (Duvessa Shane, Speaker for the Free Towns)
- Termalaine (Oarus Masthew, Speaker for the Maer and the Mine) - with Lonelywood (Nimsey Hussle, Speaker for the Forest) closely-tied
- Easthaven (Danneth Waylen, Speaker for the Lac) - aiding in the struggles to rebuild Good Mead, though these have failed repeatedly
- Dwarves of the (Kelvin's Cairn) Valley (Stokely Silverstream, Speaker from Under the Mountain) who have equipped and escort / patrol caravans on the trade roads of the Free Towns and the Ten Trail to Hundelstone.
And they have begun negotiations to join the Lords Alliance, now that the objectors to their joining have separated themselves.
The Chardalyn Syndicate: Survival of the Strong
The Chardalyn Syndicate was so-named in the wake of the chardalyn dragon, no love of the material itself, this ruthlessly competitive group capitalized (literally) on the losses and outrage following the Chardalyn Desolation to install an iron-fisted rule and bring in outside powers.
- The Lord Patrician (modeled after Discworld's Vetinari) Naerth Maildanarr out of Targos and has gathered the support of several powers, including:
- Lord Protector Vaelish Gant (Vaelish the Brown) of Bremen, made an almost saint-like hero for employing his arts in the town's defense.
- The Zhentarim, called "The Black Network" - mercenaries (and worse) applying muscle and magic to gain wealth and power - represented by a mysterious individual called "The Legate".
- Goodman Galadorf Muzgardt with The Darklake Merchant Guild, backed by the Muzgardt Clan of Duergar, now holding Sunblight Stronghold and bringing Darklake Ale and other goods from the Underdark.
- Treaty of noninterference with Xardorok Sunblight, so long as his activities remain confined to Caer Konig "and below".
(Next: Saint Greycastle Hospital)