(Following: In-Spired)
Trumpet an End and Beginnings
Out on the ice tundra, east of Kelvin's Cairn, within the Lost Spire of The Netheril ruins, the Divination wizard Alyks Askaria has been forewarned of the Sounding of the Draakhorn coming and prepared her companions. An ancient scrying chamber seals its cracks in time and space with a light tinkling noise, alerting the Tiefling and her fellows to retreat to the surface. In the day prior important happenings unfolded at this place - the making of a mirage into man: the simulacrum of Dzaan masterfully took on the guise of a long-dead wizard Meltharond, seeking a new life and destiny. The lost-and-surviving-somewhere Vellynne Harpell had a new Sending message:
Awake again, saw phantom in Auril druid dying memories, hear digging, hopefully shield dwarves not duergar, not goblins, heehee, will know soon, how you?
As the waves reached that region, this group of heroes felt a sudden shift in the wind, bringing with it a strange sense of unease. The feeling akin to the drop in air pressure before the approach of a deadly storm, or faint tremors felt from a landslide or earthquake far away. The persistent howl across the ice silenced, as if the sky was holding is breath. High above, the last of the clouds roll away - snuffed by a wide-arcing ripple, as innumerable stars twinkled in the clearest darkest sky the group had looked upon. (Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.) Several then felt a tingle but a moment before the ice below heaved, knocking all to hands and knees. A roaring tone passed through felt in bodies moreso than heard, followed by groans and cracking as a monstrous ice crack devoured the lost spire of the Netheril, leaving a narrow crevasse, jagged on the smooth landscape.
A few hours later, led by bear and barbarian westward toward Kelvin's Cairn, h'Rothgar receives another Vellynne sending:
Found shield dwarves, friendly folks, not lost now, not alone now, but avalanche trapped us, dwarves digging, but say gnoll army above, blocking escape, help?
Employing the Scrying scroll, the diviner Alyks locates Vellynne and the group spies the encampment of a Neznámy army, numbering nearly 100. Made Invisible and escorted by Phantom and the bear Umka, the necromancer Dex unleashes the Greater Circle of Death from the scroll upon the troops, tearing through their ranks with necrotic violence. The bear and barbarian easily clean up any survivors and the group immediately begins on digging through the ice and snow, immensely aided by the bear.
Freeing the Shield Dwarves and Vellynne, the two necromancers take the gift of all the fresh bodies to Animate Dead gnoll zombies to join the dwarven troops and march southward toward the siege at Caer Konig. Vellynne, using her Eye of the Grey Realm powers, brings 12 + her usual 3 kobold zombies. Dex, using the remnant powers of the scroll spell, akin to a mass Finger of Death, has 20 gnoll zombies in tow.
Fortress Karkolohk
Alyks, h'Rothgar, Sudon, Phantom and Umka turn to the slopes of Kelvin's Cairn, seeking out the Goblin fortress, where Alyks' Clairvoyance had seen the Shield Guardian not yet moved, hoping to recover it before it might be taken into the Underdark, as foreseen in the scrying chamber. Mormesk believed the Shield Guardian still the best (if not only) means of finding Ythryn.
(The last visit to the fortress here: Hostage King) Previously, the gnome-pretending-to-be King Yarb-Gnock had been the disguised artificer, Spellix Romwod, of the Gnoobz. Who might have been their leader afterward? The goblin witch Manafek had been the one seeing through the disguises used by Alyks, Sudon, Aelar, and Zaknalimar. The scrying chamber had not revealed the dark force backing the gnolls' takeover of the fortress.
Approaching the fortress, a blizzard swooped in with the typical fury of the Frostmaiden, driving the group to seek shelter before approaching the goblins' towers. h'Rothgar was able to find a small cave through a tight squeeze in the mountainside. Within the cave, waiting out the storm, Sudon noticed the sounds of voices coming from deeper within. The group came upon an an unexpected scene - goblin children playing in the dim torchlight of a small cave. Only able to see through a crack, they could not join them - but one of the goblin-lings noticed them and innocently introduced himself as "Doop" (for Duplicitous Jape). Speaking through Phantom, the only one who could speak Goblinoid, they met Bella (Bellacosity Pretense), her wolf cub "Imp", an aptly-named tornado of terror named "Mahem", a gangly and pale nimwit goblin-child (Paltry Snollygoster) who only ever said "I iz a bwave baw-bay-wee-an", and a strange stocky insectoid creature they had adopted and called "N'kitkit'zyxl".
Doop and Bella seemed rivals for leadership of the motley crew, but after Phantom assured them of being chibhkesh (big blades) - not gaa'ru (skill babies/rookies), they hatched a plan of attack on Karkolohk. The kid-goblins shared that all the warriors had been taken away by the gath'atchas (presumedly the gnolls) who came and took over - led by the Khar'Gan (blood eater). The plan was Mahem would do what he was named for as a diversion, as the warlock, wizard, barbarian and cleric. (The bear would roar a distraction from across the chasm as well).
As it turns out, the approach chosen placed the party right in the middle of the gnoll forces. With the party made Invisible by Alyks, Phantom scaled a steep wall, affixing a rope so the whole group could enter from behind the defensive lines. A gnoll guard tower was easily taken, revealing Sudon and Phantom, who then proceeded to assault the other towers, while Alyks and h'Rothgar entered the chief's quarters. Mahem and Bella did their best to distract from within the Shield Guardian and Umke the bear's bellow was truly ferocious, even triggering an avalanche on a nearby slope.
This positioning of attack so deeply behind enemy lines (thanks to the Beast Barbarian's symbiote's incredible climbing skills) bypasses layers of the fortress' defenses and forms of alarm to prepare.
The Ravenous
The people of Icewind Dale use "The Ravenous" to refer to the "race" of Neznámys (if indeed they are a race - nobody has ever seen a baby gnoll, they are said to be created through dark means of their demon lord patron, Yeenoghu). This label of The Ravenous is adopted directly from the word used by the Reghed tribesmen, and it reaches back centuries in origin, tied to a chilling legend repeated even today in a sing-song rhyme heard in the play time of children in the alleys of the Ten Towns. (See: From Luskan to Bryn Shander).
"When there's laughter in the night
Out of sight, out of sight.
Run inside, run and hide.
When caught out in the snow
Where to go? Where to go?
Find the Elk, friends will help.
Tekeli-li, woe to face
Move like ghosts from place to place.
Bones to dust, swords to rust
Ravenous, ravenous."
As Alyks and h'Rothgar entered the dark silence of the chieftain's rooms, the invisible wizard and priest found blood and bone and carnage and the air thick with pungent death. Doors quietly opening and closing in their stealthy investigation. But then, behind them - cutting them off from the exit, a thump-thump is barely heard. A hushed footfall landing from above in the rafters - yet nothing to be seen, even with the darkvision of tiefling and dwarf. A long awkward stillness lingered - invisible foe vs. invisible foes - until broken by the magical lighting of a wall-torch by Alyks led to her being set upon by a most foul creature - a gnoll vampire-spawn. Employing their skills to wield magics of fire and divine radiance, and finally h'Rothgar cornering the beast in the upper rafters, repelled by the power of Moradin (Turn Undead), the Khar'Gan blood eater was incinerated, only to reveal within itself an even more gruesome and terrifying foe.
Emerging from the disintegrating unliving corpse of the massive gnoll host, a Blood Hag was revealed to have been bound within, riding with and no doubt directing this Ravenous undead and its pack. The hag immediately drew upon dark magics, placing a Blood Hex upon h'Rothgar, giving her the benefit of his healing while also channeling damage to herself to the dwarf's body instead. Perplexed, the heroic pair saw few options as the dwarf's health dwindled closer and closer to his demise. Only upon the tiefling wizard's Dispel Magic removing the hex did the tide of battle shift, tipped off in a whisper from the feather earring.
Reinvigorated, the tiefling's fire and the might of the Forge God struck at the witchy hag until a (critical hit with Guiding Bolt) shattered the ancient and wicked creature in a blinding flash of brilliant energy within the darkened hall. A scream more of fury and indignation than pain shook the timbers of the rooms, echoing outward through the fortress and across the canyons. In the blinking afterimage of that cleansing radiance, three shapes could be seen in the darkness - hags, the traditional three of a coven. One of the shapes fading away as the remaining two looked deep and directly into h'Rothgar's very soul, eyes bearing a promise of vengeance upon he who destroyed their sister.
Quickly exiting the horrific rooms, Alyks and h'Rothgar found the battle outside had been halted momentarily by the dying hag's eerie wail. But a convenient grouping of the Ravenous cued the launching of a Fireball into the fray, and the battle was brought to a conclusion as Phantom's final blows took down the Gnoll Pack Leader.
Freeing Manafek, the new leader of the goblins, a Curse-Spitter witch in her own right, the party was granted aid in setting the parts of what they called the Shaarat'Dar ("sword person" - referring to the Shield Guardian) upon Alyks' Tenser's Floating Disk, its removal something the witch-leaders had long sought, considering the warrior-goblins adoration for it somewhat foolish and tacky as a decoration. Manafek also shared what she knew of the hag's coven - the Blood Hag within the vampire-spawn gnoll was called "Vickie Mousecracker" - her sisters were far from here, having sent her to force goblins into an army being assembled for some dark deed. She also believed the Blood Hag had likely bound the vampire-gnoll, creator of this vampire-spawn somewhere - and now that dread creature was likely free of that bond - a chilling thought! Manafek gives Phantom, the only speaker of goblinoid in the party, a message to deliver to one of the goblin leaders if they can be reached: "Khaar'Gan yark, chibhkesh ny-ying, tohil-shi-ta'a" (roughly: the blood eater gave up, the big blade is a gift, the game is up, fight your way home).
Last, one of the elderly goblins used by the Ravenous as a translator noted the Shaarat'Dar was to be picked up any day now by Duergar loyal to someone called "Xardorok Sunblight", who wished it for his own purposes. The goblins would now plan a rather nasty surprise upon the arrival of those grey dwarves. Aboard the snow-sailing ship, h'Rothgar believed he would be able to repair the construct to some degree, hopefully enough so that what remained could be completed by the binding magics from the amulet worn by Alyks.
Reaching the foot of the mountain pass, the group focused on their ongoing missions of great importance, while far above a soaring snow owl observed the curious scene: a dwarf priest pulling a ship from a bottle at the base of the mountain, which was then loaded with a large construct, an even larger bear, a tiefling wizard, a Shadar-kai hexblade, and a barbarian wearing little more than furs and a monocle - and set sail across a snowy landscape... for the next adventure.
(Next: Siege of Caer Konig setting stage for Stones of Blood)