Following: Summer's Ice (pursuing quest Shipwreck on Ice)
Dark Towns
With a plan to launch the expedition out of Bremen, the party left Bryn Shander, first to stop in Targos - only to be turned away by stern guards openly wearing the colors and symbols of the Zhentarim, who state that only those with approved business in the town are welcome. Reaching Bremen still within the day if made with haste, the party simply presses on rather than pressing the issue. Bremen has become a truly dark place, stark evidence the rumored vicious campaign of the Chardalyn Syndicate against the minions and Children of Auril is far from exaggerated. Yeti heads drop bloody icicles atop pikes on the entry to the now-walled Bremen. Walls looming high on three sides to shield the town from Auril's fury off the lake and from the northern tundra.
Within the town, there is an energy and focus among its people who enjoy mage-wrought conveniences. Wheel-turning zombies drive pumps bringing fresh water in through a channel from the lake, and diverting it to wells and into pipes - with a separate system likewise drawing out sewage and waste to - somewhere. The town is enjoying conveniences of clean water and waste removal known only in far-off advanced cities to the south. Street intersections are illuminated by hung-aloft Coldlight Walkers embedded within tight enchanted ice-shells, rendering their attacks harmless while casting the cool light - usefully.
The party itself seems far more appreciated here, the reputations of its members preceding the arrival, for twice now the town's (beloved) Lord Protector, Vaelish Gant has benefited from the deeds of the group: facilitating his escape during the events at Revel's End and in receiving the warning of the coming attack of the chardalyn dragon (see Horrifying Halls and Ten little Towns). The time given to prepare town defenses and then his own (probably orchestrated) successful heroic defense lead to his rise to power and grateful support of the townsfolk of Bremen.
Though welcomed, it would seem Vaelish is aware of the likely enmity and lingering distrust of himself - and is absent from the town (supposedly dealing with a battle outside its walls). This is somewhat welcome to the now-weary travelers. Likewise, the party is eager to depart from this spooky place after a comfy rest provided by Vaelish's Seneschal.
Auril Army
There are no roads or even paths outward in the direction of the ship. The newly-crafted sled used by Phantom allows for quick scouting - it has a strange appearance, but the slick properties of the carapace allow it to glide effortlessly, drawn by a pair of Axebeaks. There are signs of battles and broken encampments as the group makes its way north and west. The signs indicate these are likely forces of Auril turned on the offending towns of Bremen and Targos.
In the evert-darkness of the Frostmaiden's Rime, distant glow of Coldlight Walkers can be seen - some alone - some in concerning constellations. The army is soon made evident as the party counts over a hundred troops from a rise in the ice - Arctic Orcs and other things... only to be ambushed in a white-out squall by a scouting patrol of worg-riding orcs and a Frostwarden. Standing strong, the barbarian Phantom and the fortress-like dwarf h'Rothgar enabled the spell-slingers to drop the aggressors.
Fate of The Dark Duchess
The ship, "The Dark Duchess" is found ice-bound where it would have been off-shore, but for the freezing of the shoreline of the Sea of Moving Ice. Approaching the ice-crusted vessel, a white weasel pops up from beneath a snow bank, speaking in a voice familiar to Dex and Alyks Askaria: that of their missing friend, Nass Lantomir - another wizard-student of the Arcane Brotherhood. The creature, "Zelennor" (named after Zelenn the White) is Nass' familiar.
"Ye gods, I was so afraid nobody would come! It's so great to see you again!"
One of the objectives of the Sewer-side Squad expedition, as hired by Zelenn, was to find the fate of the missing wizardling, and this promised at least some success in that respect. The lonely-now-talkative Nass related her story with eagerness (and showed no curiosity in that of the group). Apparently Nass had sailed out of Luskan on the ship, promising her divination to aid in navigating the treacherous Sea of Moving Ice for Captain Rudolph Bluemoon, whose name Zaknalimar recognized as part of Ship Suljack within the High Captains. On the journey, Nass romanced the captain's son Billy, and the pair convinced the crew there was fortune to be made. Billy and Nass went inland to the Ten Towns, stealing the orb from Dzaan (as had been told by Vellynne Harpell) before fleeing back to the ship.
But before the ship could move far from the shoreline, an attack by the White Wyrm Arveiaturace, wrecked the vessel where it lies now trapped in the growing ice of the sea. Nass had fled the ship with Billy in the attack. Billy drowned helping Nass get to land, where Nass herself soon froze to death. Nass, now a ghost, found something allowed her familiar to persist despite her passing, and through the little beast-spirit, she has persisted and passed the time.
The weasel leads the party to Nass' long-frozen body, its hand holding aloft the dark orb containing the wraith Mormesk. Nass continues with her tale, detailing how (guided by Mormesk, following Dzaan's own plans) she intended to bring the pirates to the Isle of Solstice to claim the book said to be capable of opening a passage through the ice to the entombed Ythryn, an enclave of The Netheril. They would then track down Dzaan who was working out the place's location. Nass seems content with the party picking up where she left off with the orb, after assurances of help from her childhood friends Dex and Alyks.
Crossing from the frozen beach to approach the ship, on thick and iron-tough ice, the weasel pauses and addresses the group, explaining, "There are two spirits here that are telling me they know you and have important messages for you - I can do that, but remember you promise to help me, right?"
Speaking for the Dead
Nass's ghost, through the tiny mouth of the winter weasel does her best to channel the communications from beyond...
There is a strange creature who calls itself Vorryn who says you did a good job following its orders to bring the crystal for the engine. (I'm not sure what all this is about - just repeating what the weirdo is saying...) It says you proved disappointingly slow getting back and the (hm - a weird word - dragon I guess?) froze the whole (another weird word - and now it's getting angry - it told me to have you look down...)
Beneath twenty feet of blue ice underfoot, the shape of the Nautiloid can be seen (see Brain Freeze).
So yea, froze the whole thing and brought it here, buried under this ice. The shipwreck is now kind of one of the dragon's secret treasure hoards, and since that thing didn't fit, it put it under the ice nearby. And Vorryn says he can't do a power thing now? (she giggles - he's so mad it's funny) but there is a baby floating in a tube still? (gross!) and the - whatever thing - has lights that can lead even dummies like you to put your power crystal in the right place and show you are at least slightly less incompetent so when the baby tube opens to be your new master you will be less embarrassed. (pause) I think it's done - it ran away when the other guy pushed it away.
The weasel-voiced Nass stands on hind legs now, taking on a different posture...
OK so this guy is really weird - and I say that after the last one had face tentacles and was as bossy as the worst instructors of the Host Tower! He looks like someone kidnapped an old king and made him live in the woods eating crazy-berries and nutty-nuts and madness-mushrooms and dress in furs that don't cover all the bits they should. Kind of a barbarian savage fashion, I suppose? So this one is saying now because there are elves-with-dwarves and the moon is full - OH! let me try this again...
When taking the word of a ghost with the light of the moon at its most
And Elf joins Dwarf in a quest, tis this advice that is best
Rhyme all the things that you say, or a terrible price you will pay
(she giggles) that was fun! oh wait... uh.... I'm done? (she nods, relieved)
To grandson - he means THAT one who is tall - you have followed Destiny's Call
And will find in this lair something meant for an heir
When asked, tis worth trading all
(the weasel shrugs, then snaps into a less-human more weasel-like posture, tipping its head and using a not-Nass voice, perhaps its own?) "I know you're not really paying attention to things like you used to, Nass, but they should probably know the dragon could come check here any time - especially with those little guys cornered by that monster from this morning?"
Indeed, ascending a snow drift to board the ship's deck, there were heavy thumps and deep-voiced profanities echoing from below where a large hole had been torn into the timbers - massive claw-marks showing little care had been taken by the dragon in the process. Descending into the ship's hull the group finds an Ice Troll battering the aft doorway - the room itself glittering with treasure locked beneath thick ice - lit by the torches. The giant creature of deepest cold spins and menaced the party...
Creatures of the Cold
The very presence of the towering Ice Troll seeped through the furs and protections of any close to it, robbing warmth and health even before its slashing claws or icicle teeth could draw their own punishment. Phantom loosed his rage upon the creature - a wildcat of blurring claw-strikes himself. At his flank, Sudon called forth a long Hexblade glaive to add reach outside that frosty aura and deal his own slashing strikes. From further back, the bard Zaknalimar plucked at his lute aiming repeated magic-woven jibes at the creature until it fell to the cruel "Tasha's Hideous Laughter", just after the barbarian tore one of its legs from its body - only to find the leg hopping on its own back ...
And true to the nature of trolls, as told in countless fireside stories, while on the ground, the leg reattached itself to the body! Next, the shadow elf's polearm struck an arm from the troll, which immediately moved itself to attack the drow bard, who vanished - removing himself from the danger zone, just as Phantom tore the head from the creature's shoulders.
(At this point, your humble narrator must note - once again - we have something that laughed its head off - see Grim Trophy - but this time, the head kept laughing - and the body began to reach for the head!)
Now the heavy artillery reached the room, delivering decisive ends to the foul injury-defying creature through a blob of acid (Chromatic Orb) hurled at the head by Alyks, devastating Blight inflicted by Dex, followed by searing fire lit on the forge-god's hammer wielded by h'Rothgar. The terrifying giant and ice-minion began to melt away as the dwarf employed arts of the maker to open the barricaded aft door, revealing four Icewind Kobolds - apparently servitors of the dragon - the dragon arriving after a very brief conversation with the "rescued" minions.
Arveiaturace is gargantuan - first encountered as a snow drift by the party after escaping the prison at Revel's End, broken out by Aelar and Agaric. Interrupting an unfruitful questioning of the kobolds by h'Rothgar (using Tongues), the beat of the White Wyrm's wings sent twirling eddies of snow through the hole she clawed into the ship, followed by the sound of cracking ice and timbers, and a deep snort from above. Grasping the ship, her deep voice spoke to the long-dead rider still saddled on her back,
"I smell warm flesh and hear the panic of beating hearts. Ready your spells, Meltharond! We have uninvited guests."
The heavy-plated head and sinuous neck lowered through the decks to inspect her hoard. The pupils of her eyes clouded as white as her scales with age-worn cataracts, she considered the situation as best assessed with her remaining senses. All held their breath as silently as possible, only the kobolds act to devotedly greet and speak with her, relating their version of events sufficiently to give pause before the ancient dragon would breath-freeze or devour the party.
Spirit / Heir
Arveiaturace turns to place her nose only feet away from Phantom, who stood on the iron-hard ice above the heart of her hoard - distracted even in such a dangerous moment by a persistent whispering he hears buried underneath. The nostrils widen and deeply inhale - icy jets of frost puff from between her teeth down the length of her jaw as she exhales, speaking ominously - commanding the barbarian,
"Tell me your name."
Summoning resolve, the tribesman instinctively responds, "I am Phantom." A long pause follows, heartbeat ... heartbeat ... and she repeats her command, an unambiguous insistance in her tone - and Phantom stiffened, all remaining color draining from his face, at once both surrendering in his secret and employing a confident voice tuned for the weighty matters of high courts, while employing the rhyming advice recently given by his Grandfather's spirit,
"Fanamere Alagondar, if I must reveal,
but that truth I was sworn to conceal."
This revelation drew gasps from several of his party-members, none remotely suspecting such a lineage from so strange - so wild a soul as their guide Phantom. Perhaps when directed to hire him, the arch-seer Zelenn the White had divined such a fact - but all knew well of the implications of the Alagondar line - once rulers of Neverwinter from its seat in Castle Never. In the name of stability, the darker side of the usually-benign Lord Protector of the City of Skilled Hands, Dagult Neverember put any making claim to the line to death. Indeed, a worthy secret.
But for this dragon, that recent history must be but a moment in the past - unphased, she confers with the long-silent Meltharond,
"We have a weapon that has awaited such an arrival, haven't we? But we have rules about such things, yes, Meltharond, as you say: three must be given for one that we deign to give."
At this point, the gravity of the moment is not lost on Phantom's fellow party-members, and he is able to offer the White Wyrm three magical items deemed acceptable. These glow and vanish, as a long claw closes in the air above the hardened ice-trapped hoard, opening to reveal a six-foot long wooden staff with bronze bands at each end and a wider such band in the middle. As Phantom grasped the offered staff by its center, a golden blade appeared, hovering just beyond the tip - an impressive heirloom: the Alagondar Glaive.
Distracted throughout this exchange, Dex's attention has been drawn to the weasel Zelennor, speaking Nass' voice in hushed tones has noted another spirit wishes to speak.
He creeps me out even more than the first guy - he looks all squished up like a raisin but has a fuzzy beard. What? Yea, Meltharond - that sounds right - it's hard to understand him, his voice is like walking on leaves in an autumn forest. He says he and the dragon had a lifelong friendship - but old age caught up with him - even after powerful magics - and even when he let go, the dragon has not - and he is sad she still struggles with him leaving, seeming a fool with her delusional conversations with him. He realizes he should have found an apprentice to be with her after him, but he and she consumed the fullness of each others' attention.
She does have a 'mate' - maybe more than one - but she does not trust them when they make suggestions. If you make an oath to help her let go and find someone else - he will share with you a chant with which to soothe her, and if you have one with such talents, perhaps you can make your escape with that old husk of my body and begin the process - but you must not betray her or use this chant for greed or the consequences will be terrible. She is part of the balance of the Frozenfar, and has many years yet within her.
Dex agrees - and the weasel shared the chant with Zak, who strums his lute and sings a tune that settles the dragon into a slumber - as the party makes a hasty retreat...
A carved oak table, Tells a tale
Of times when kings and queens sipped wine from goblets gold,
And the brave would lead their ladies to arbors cool.
A time of valor, and legends born, A time when honor meant much more to a man than life
And the days knew only strife to tell right from wrong, Through lance and sword.
A dusty table, Musty smells
Tarnished silver lies discarded upon the floor,
Only feeble light descends through a film of grey that scars the panes.
Gone the carving, And those who left their mark,
Gone the kings and queens now only the rats hold sway
And the weak must die according to nature's law, As old as they.
(Dex Q: with Meltharond's corpse in the amulet?)
On leaving, an argument rises between Dex and Alyks vs. Weasel-voiced Nass - resulting in a request for h'Rothgar to assist in a brief ceremony forcibly bringing the ghost to pass into the afterlife, after Dex's necromancy holds it at bay while it employs an ever-increasing rage and screams out about promises and betrayals and (hopefully empty) curses on her once-friends. The Hexblood and Tiefling carry this weight for a while, but oddly enough it's the Mormesk Orb that soothes the guilt, noting the struggle with madness and jealousy of the living few whose spirits linger beyond death can withstand - and the merciful end given was indeed an act of their true friendship.
Next: Spare the Bear!