(Following: Shipwreck, Spirits & Scion / Transitioning narrative to: Ruin in Rime)
Misadventure of Kobolds' Keeper
Just before returning to Bryn Shander from the Dark Duchess, planning to join with Vellynne Harpell and launch an expedition searching for the ruin found by Dzaan (while waiting on the mission to the Isle of Solstice undertaken by Agaric, Aelar and Zaknalimar), the party receives a Sending from Vellynne:
Zhentarim-backed Targos group heading east following lead on Netheril clue to lost city. Following them. Will meet when we can. Keep the compass safe.
Arriving in the town and taking a few days to warm up, recuperate and prepare rations and gear for the trip, another Sending is received:
Tribesmen intercepted Targos group east of Kelvin’s Cairn major battle underway. We are keeping distance. Follow compass. We will find you.
So Alyks, Dex, h’Rothgar, Phantom and Sudon set off from Bryn Shander, stopping briefly in Termalaine before going out onto the ice tundra. The townsfolk are welcoming and offer hospitality to heroes remembered, even as they themselves struggle with the ongoing winter in what should be summer. Heading eastward in the dim twilight of mid-day, a ghostly spirit sent by Vellynne speaks to the party, carrying her message before vanishing:
Things have gone terribly wrong. The battles fell to a stalemate - the Zhentarim building a magical defensive fortification, awaiting reinforcements, while the tribesmen continue to surround them, despite being weakened in the fights. I watched from the base of Kelvin’s Cairn through the eyes of my owl familiar as suddenly figures began to disappear.
Looking more closely, tunnels beneath the ice were opening and goblins pulling them into ambush pits. While the ice goblins are skilled with such tunneling, I believe they are aided by other creatures far better - likely one of the enormous and heat-intense remorhaz insectoids.
As they reacted, counter-attacking, I saw something moving so fast it was only a blur - and unstoppable, leaving kill after kill as it passed. The blur passed right through the defenses of the Zhentarim as well, followed by brief struggles and screams. In the end there were none spared. So much death now freezing on the ice. At this point, I became aware of goblin scouts noting our presence, and the kobolds and I turned our sled to chasms to evade pursuit.
But I have gone and gotten myself lost down an ice tunnel now - and I am going to put myself into a tenday of sleep to preserve rations. I hope your mission fares better and these warnings help you avoid these terrible fates. Good luck, my friends, be careful - follow the compass. Will send when awake.
The next day, the party can see the remnants of this battle on the ice, including a scouting group wearing the markings of the Chardalyn Syndicate cautiously investigating the carnage (of both Reghed Tribesmen/Barbarians and the Zhentarim). Just as described by Vellynne, the party sees the ground suddenly open, pulling the scouts below one by one, despite struggle and counterattack. After the last vanishes, one goblin waved torches in a pattern, signalling toward the great mountain, where a ways up the rise, similar torch signals respond - no doubt a commander of some sort from the Goblin Fortress from which Sudon, Zak, and Alyks had freed the gnome-acting-as-goblin Spellix Romwod of the Gnoobz, the maker of the chardalyn compass the party was now following. (See: Hostage King).
Commanding High Ground
Forming a strategy to cross the ambush-fields, the party heads toward the command position, considering a hostage or false signals as a possible way to avoid the tunneling threats - and whatever that blurring wind of death might have been! As the group begins its careful ascent of the mountain pass, taking out goblin patrols here and there when spotted by Phantom's keen eyes and instincts - Alyks Askaria stops suddenly, stretching out her hands, fingers wide, something her attunement to the "Seeing Arts" of Divination triggers at times... all pause to listen as she describes the situation unfolding with the goblin commanders.
A great beast of Icewind Dale has been captured by the goblins and a ritual has begun which intends to turn this creature into a loyal servant of the Frost Druids - like the talking beasts previously encountered. This will bring great danger to the group and its quest, unless it can be stopped - but we must be swift and decisive!
Abandoning the care for stealth and even safety on the icy climb, the party charges forward, taking the initial goblin defenders by surprise, easily defeating them - but the next group is prepared, and has broken off the bridge to the main force - now separated by a chasm 500 feet deep and 50 feet across. A dozen goblin footsolders are shot, bludgeoned and burned as the Sewer-side Squad pushes to the cliffside. Sudon calls upon that dread blackness of the Far Realm to engulf the archer-tower in the Hunger of Hadar - its forbidden whispering gibbering consuming even their screams.
Crossing the Chasm
First across (technically) is Phantom, swinging on a grappling line he has tossed across the expanse and displaying the signature daring of a barbarian hero - swing-falls 30 feet down and 50 feet across to SLAM into the granite wall of the other side. The tiny motes of chaos that shape reality bubble through the subconscious of the Divination wizards - and Alyks instinctively plucks at a thread of the world-weave - preventing the disastrous fall of the "lost heir" and shifting to the timeline where he holds tight and climbs up the rockface with beast-claws. The barbarian clears the edge to stand, just behind h'Rothgar, who has since arrived on the spot via Dex's Vortex Warp - and is interposed between him and the charred remains of the goblin forces who had taken cover within a massive mammoth skull. Only the goblin leader had survived Alyks' Fireball, and two arrows from the Hexblade's longbow finished him off seconds later.
With focused dedication to the rescue, Phantom pushes on, calling upon rage and bestial speed to make the final ascent for the rescue of what now can be seen of the beast: a Giant Polar Bear tied down upon a mystical site at the peak of this ridge. A Frost Druid is chanting at the runic stone circle, the path to her guarded by three Frostwardens. Phantom bolts up the rise, flanked by Sudon (who has now crossed by Dex's Vortex Warp) and h'Rothgar. Clawing at the first pair to intercept him, Phantom puts aside his own safety to spare the bear from its fate, using the Alagondar Glaive's movement-enchantments, he passes by the defenders - suffering grave wounds as they take opportunity to exploit him being exposed as he passes. Ending his heroic charge to the top, the large man cross-checks the Frost Druid with the haft of the glaive - sending her falling (to her presumed death) hundreds of feet below - but succumbs to the wounds he has been dealt, collapsing - frozen blood staining the ground from the slashings of wicked scimitars.
The Forge Priest and Hexblade easily dispatch the Frostwardens and h'Rothgar's healing powers are brought to bring Phantom back from the very brink of death. Meanwhile, the familiars - Loki the Spotted Raven and Thor the Crow have brought the grappling rope back across the chasm to their wizards, who tie the rope to a sturdy branch and begin to cross (zipline style) - first Alyks with fair ease, but as Dex crosses, he loses grip on one side of his scythe - fortunately catching the rope with the hook - preventing his falling into the chasm. However, as the blade continues to slide down the rope's length, it shaves fiber by fiber to little more than a thread just as he reaches the far side - which splits - and he begins to fall... once more fortune has favored Alyks' timing and preparedness, and she swiftly casts Feather Fall upon her friend, who drifts downward, finding he can land merely 40 feet below.
The bear is freed of its manacles by a casting of Knock, and shows immediate gratitude. While the Awaken spell had not been completed, it would seem to have had some effect on the beast, for its eyes twinkled with a keen awareness, and it bowed its head in thanks, then offered sturdy footing down the mountain. In fact, reaching the bottom, the bear continues its interest in the party and even seems tolerant of being ridden by one or two people at a time. With such a formidable escort, the party is unchallenged as it follows the chardalyn compass eastwards on the icy tundra...
(Next/quest: Ruin in Rime )