Previously: Chapter 45: Into the Unknown
The Abomination
As the hulking abomination comes flowing down straight towards Dandelion, Kal springs into action, casting a shatter on it, hoping to impede its way. Sadly, the abomination is much more resilient than most creatures the group has faced before, and merely shrugs it off. Dandelion summons a fire elemental to protect and to distract, before trying to escape from the being, leaving Penny in its path instead. The abomination descends onto Penny, latching on to her, trying to absorb her into its being. Fie takes off, firing from a distance, to support and to avoid being put in too much danger. Kal, seeing the abomination trying to eat Penny, runs forward and slashes its tentacles to allow Penny to escape. What she hadn’t considered however is the abomination focusing on Kal instead, and as a reaction, tries to attack her instead. As it does, Kal uses her Wrath of the Storm, forcing the creature to be shoved back by a thunderous roar. Wounded and angry, the creature ascends into the air, releasing a loud roar that momentarily takes Penny out of it. As the abomination rests in the air, the fire elemental tries to throw whatever it can at it, but its shell is too thick to penetrate. Highwing, being summoned by Kal, fires arrows from a distance. Suddenly, several of the party members make eye contact with several of the faces trapped within the being, causing various effects to happen. Dandelion gets slowed, while Kal uses one of her new spells granted by Udall to jump with thunderous effect straight through the abomination to a point in the ceiling, causing a lot of damage, but doesn’t manage to force it down. At one point, Fie gets struck by a psychic blast, causing him to go unconscious, but Dandelion uses a high level healing spell to bring him back. The abomination, seeing that it is outnumbered and outgunned, having taken a fair amount of damage, and now acting more like a cornered beast, releases a final flurry of magical effects before slinking out of the cave through a crack in the ceiling. One of these effects hits Dandelion, causing her to suddenly drop to the ground right next to Penny, no longer alive.
The Soul Taker
Penny, sends an animated boulder after the abomination to finish it off, before turning around, creating a diamond in her hands, cradling Dandelion's dead body in her arms, hoping for aid from Kal. Kal, hanging on the ceiling, sends Highwing after it, before descending to the ground again, and runs over to Dandelion, takes out the remaining diamond she needs, preparing to revivify her. Fie flies to the crack in the ceiling, peering after the abomination which is being pursued by Highwing, and fires a final volley of eldritch blasts at it, before it disappears in the storm. One of the beams makes contact, causing the being to disintegrate and various body parts fall to the mountainous cracks below. It is defeated.
Kal, telling Faunus that he can’t have this one yet, uses her divine powers to drag Dandelion’s spirit back into her body. Dandelion, now in the eternal forest between worlds, sees a woman in front of her. She puts her hand out, caressing Dandelion’s cheek, saying “Fear not, child.” Before Dandelion gets a chance to respond, she is shunted violently backwards, away from the goddess, and back into her body, looking up at Penny, teary eyes, caressing her, and Kal, looking very determined over her, telling her that they can’t lose their best healer.
The group spends a moment healing each other as best as they can, with Kal going to retrieve Draka who is waiting further down by the entrance. She asks Kal if they did it, and if they all made it, to which Kal responds that they did, and they are. She gives a brief thanks, healing Kal with her cold touch, before walking into the chamber, straight past the rest of the group, over to the shrine. She puts her hands up to the various runes that were invisible at first, but are now glowing, before looking over at the party, asking if they want to get in on this. The party makes their way over to Draka and the shrine, touching various runes, and feeling that the room gets slightly warmer. She thanks the party for purifying the shrine and confirming the abomination was vanquished.
Resting in the Shrine
As the storm is roaring outside, and nightfall is soon upon them, they think it wise to rest in the shrine for the night, and then head east to Draka’s clan in the morning. They invite Draka to rest in the ring, causing the owls to stand guard outside in the tiny hut. Draka is fascinated and not the most willing participant, but she goes along with it.
As the party is resting in the ring, Draka comes over to Dandelion, asking what she saw when she was between worlds. She describes a woman, before casting disguise self to look like her. Fie and Kal both recognize her, having seen her when they too were between worlds, with Penny also recognizing her from various depictions and descriptions from Morgan. Mova in the flesh. A beautiful, but sad looking, pale woman, draped in black clothing. Draka calls her Moreshth, the Soul Taker. Seems like Fau’Nok and Moreshth are the orcish names for the gods they know.
They ask when the abomination caused havoc, and she tells the party that it started appearing around a year ago. The same with the storm, the north has always been cold, but the roaming storm has grown even more stronger over the last year. The party fears that this might be connected to the cult following, and their influence. They will have to talk to Thervan about this. They tell Draka about their task, to find the missing people, asking about Murzol. What Draka knows is that Murzol has been chieftain for almost 10 years, but his brother Grommok, returned from exile about a year ago, and has been gathering allies. Grommok is the older brother and was set to become chieftain after their father died, but Murzol became the leader instead. Apparently, Grommok wanted to abandon the orcish ways, so the tribes went against him, causing him to be exiled. He returned from Crags of Despair, more powerful than before. The party ponders the situation, before retiring for the night, going to sleep.
Heading East
In the morning, before they emerge from the ring, Draka is gone. Dandelion is a bit sad by this, as she wanted to talk more to her about Faunus/Fau’Nok, but when they emerge, they see Draka sitting by the shrine, having a conversation with the owls. She compliments Dandelion on her beautiful companions, which the owls are happy to hear. The storm is still roaring outside, but they don’t want to waste too much time, so Draka takes charge and leads them out east towards her clan. After about six hours, the storm finally lets up, and the owls get to stretch their wings. During their walk, Dandelion walks next to Draka to hopefully learn more about her beliefs. Draka is very reserved, and not too trusting of outsiders, despite them aiding her. She does however tell her about Fau’Nok, which is more of a spirit of the lands; wilderness, peaks and the valleys. She mentions Kihra, the goddess of change, which Dandelion recognizes as Kia, the spirit of seasons. Velho has the same name, but is referred to as the granter of spirits, as opposed to the spirit of magic. Draka makes it clear however that not all orcs follow Fau’Nok. Most warrior orcs follow Gruumsh, the orcish patron of war.
As they are wandering towards dusk, Thervan suddenly appears, startling Draka. He quickly tries to calm her down, by acting like a total fool, showing how little he thinks of “lesser” cultures. The party scolds him for this, and gives him an update on what they have discovered, with the abomination and the storm. They also tell him about Grommok which seems to be the clear threat. Seems Thervan didn’t know about Grommok, but he is concerned by the report about the storms, but is unsure if it is connected to the cult or if it is just a coincidence. Thervan thanks them for the update, telling them he will not check up on them like this unless he hasn’t heard from them in a while, before turning around, his projected image disappearing.
Midnight Travel
Hoping to cut down on the travel time, they try to summon a beast from the bag of tricks, and miraculously, Master Elk reemerges once more, giving them a way to travel during the night. They debate what form to give him again, whilst explaining to Draka the situation, and that they can travel in the ring during the night while Master Elk walks. She is not too fond of the idea, finding the ring too hot to sleep in, but goes with it. They decide to keep doing what they always do, and cast seeming on Master Elk to appear as The Cold once more. Draka recoils by the look, having heard of the creature before. She calls it Nocturnus, explaining she doesn’t like daylight. Fie asks Kal to prepare a daylight spell just in case. Draka tells Master Elk the way to her tribe, to follow the path to the mountain to the east, and that the clan is at the base of it to the north. Seems she doesn’t need Dandelion to translate, being able to talk to beasts as well.
When they enter the ring, and go to rest, Penny is having a hard time. She is dreaming of Morgan and playing in a tavern, before noticing a figure standing in the crowd. The rest of the people in the tavern melts away, with only him remaining. He reaches out to Penny, telling her to “Bring it back. It does not belong to you!”. She falls, and falls, into an eternal void, not being able to escape. When she wakes, she hasn’t gotten the chance to rest properly, but manages to resist against the exhaustion. When she tells the party about it, Kal thinks that Protection from Evil and Good could help resist the effect.
The Clan
Draka quickly emerges from the ring, as she can’t stand the heat, with the rest of the party following behind. The owls, having rested on Master Elk with a thermal cube, are happy to see the party again. The mountain has gotten a lot closer, and the clan should be just under a day away, so they continue eastwards to reach it before nightfall. As they arrive, they can see that the village is a fairly large collection of tents, surrounded by perimeter markers that show their territory. It is rested by the foot of the mountain, next to a frozen lake. They ask Draka how they should behave, and she tells them to just keep low, and not talk. She will converse with Thorgal about them, hoping to get them aid. Kal and Fie cast tongues and comprehend languages in preparation for the village. When they enter, they are met with the eyes of all villagers. The children are being led into the various tents, as their parents are afraid of these “invaders”. It is clear the clan mostly lives of fishing from the nearby lake. Scattered around the village are various spirit totems, most of them representing Faunus by Dandelion's recognition, as well as some other gods from her beliefs. A lot of the villagers are accompanied by dire wolves, with one that Dandelion tries to befriend in passing, causing it to wiggle its tail, before the woman who owns it reels it in.
Draka leads them to a large tent to the outskirts of the village, and tells the two orcs guarding it that they are to take their weapons and keep them inside until the chieftain has had the chance to talk to them. They give up their weapons, but Penny gets to keep her instrument, as the orcs don’t see them as weapons. Little do they know… When they are led inside, Dandelion, studying the tent, notices that it is nomadic, like her tribe, but by the looks of it, they have stayed in the same location for at least a few years now. After about an hour, they can hear heavy footsteps approaching. Penny activates her detect thoughts, and can sense that the approaching figure is excited and interested in these new arrivals. The flaps on the tent open, revealing a large blueish orc with red tattoos, a little taller than Dandelion, with large tusks and braids hanging down the sides of his face. Thorgal, the chieftain.
Audience with the Chief
Looking over the group, Thorgal asks them what their purpose is in their lands, as they don’t see many “southerners” heading this way. They tell him that they are looking for a couple of emissaries that went missing some weeks back, and ask if they have seen them. Thorgal replies that he or his tribe hasn’t encountered any non-orcs in the last months, but as they were heading for Darmurd, then there are several ways they could have gone, and wouldn’t have come this way if they wanted to be stealthy about it. But, as they were going to speak to Murzol the Usurper, he can send a messenger to have him come to this location to speak to the group, or the group could head to Darmurd themselves, and speak to Murzol directly. As getting Murzol to come to the clan itself will take a few weeks at best, the party finds it wise to head there themselves. Thorgal accepts this, and promises that he will provide them with cloaks that marks them as not to be harmed by the clans, but cannot promise that Grommok’s orcs will honor it. As the crow flies, it will take about 7 days to reach Darmurd, shorter if they have help from Master Elk.
The party asks Thorgal what he knows about Murzol and Grommok, and he responds that he was in the same clan when their father, Kruznak the Conqueror died. Everyone expected Grommok to take over the clans, but Murzol spread word that Grommok wanted to change the orcish way of life, to abandon their time honored traditions in favor of a more peaceful existence, maybe even go so far as to make peace with the southern lands. This was not received well, and gave Murzol the opportunity to seize the clans for himself, inserting himself as warchief supreme. Grommok was forced into exile, and spent some time in the Crags of Despair. He must have found something there, because he returned more powerful and fierce than before.
The party also asks about the storms, and Thorgal theorizes that one of the shrines to the storm god must have been corrupted, as this is unusual. None of the shrines in the “lowlands” are affected, so he suspects that it is one in the Frostfang Peaks. He reveals that the orcish name for the storm god is Uduk. As the party has gotten Fau’Nok’s blessing from clearing the shrine, the storms are no longer lethal, but Thorgal warns them about Rimechain, an old white dragon that roams the lands, terrifying the orcs. The party takes note of this, hopefully they will avoid meeting her.
Meeting the Community
As the party’s intentions are revealed, Thorgal feels safe to allow them to rest in the village, and leads them outside, where a couple of orcs take them to their quarters for the night. As they wander through the village to a yurt in the outskirts, they get a lot of stares from children in particular, most that have never seen outsiders. Many are fascinated, some are scared. Dandelion tries feeding some of them goodberries, but the mothers are still a bit on edge, so they pull the children away, much to her disappointment. One child goes over to get one, and manages to grab one before it’s mother comes running after it, scolding the child, much to the enjoyment and laughs of the rest of the clan watching. Seems like tensions are cooling. She goes over to ask the chieftain if it is okay to bring her owls down. He allows her to, and greets them, complimenting their beauty. He asks Dandelion what she thinks of the north so far, and they talk a bit about her own forest and background.
During the evening, the group is invited to eat dinner with the rest of the clan. They are fed fresh fish from the nearby lake, and some wild game that has been caught. During the feast, the orc lady with the friendly direwolf from earlier comes walking over to Penny. She asks what she is, as she is much different from the others. She touches her face, thinking she is wearing makeup, but is surprised to find pink is her natural skin color. She asks what their business is in the north, and she tells the orc that they are looking for some people that went missing. The orc lady is about to ask something, but excuses herself. Penny tells her in her mind that she can talk to her. She turns back and introduces herself as Karga. Her brother, Barak, has been taken by Grommok and his men. She says he is a good warrior, and if they were to find Barak and bring him back to the clan, she would pledge her life to them if they needed. She introduces Penny to her pet wolf, Frostbite.
Meanwhile, many of the children come over to greet the owls, who are careful not to speak. They do however appreciate the attention. As the feast comes to a close, Draka is chanting to the moon god, Runak, whom Dandelion recognizes as Aruna. The party excuses themselves, and retires to their yurt, with Penny playing a soothing melody for herself from her instrument, casting Protection from Evil and Good. This grants her a good nights sleep.
Into the Storm
The next morning, as the party prepares to head out, the weather is stormy. Not as bad as the corrupted storms, but it’s thick, cold, and windy. Before setting out, Kal does a commune with Udall, asking if he knows of another corrupted shrine, which he does. There is only one however, but it is confirmed that it is in the Frostfang Mountains. She gets a feeling that he waited to tell her so as to not distract her from her mission.
As the party leaves, Kal casts light on a stick, throwing it to the children. Dandelion takes out some seeds, and druidcrafts some flowers for the children as well. One child asks for another one, and runs over to his mother with it, which she accepts, looking kindly at the group. Before they leave, they are given a cloak each, with distinctive markings, most likely signaling to let them pass.
The party holds a steady course going north, being careful not to get lost in the storm. The first day goes without issue, and as night fall, they check if they can summon a fitting beast from the bag of tricks that can carry them through the night. The first one is a giant rat, whom is very cold, sad that it cannot help, but takes solace in wrapping itself in Penny’s collar. The next one is a badger, which Penny also accepts. The final ball is thrown, and a massive elk stands before them. Master Elk has returned again. They debate whether to disguise him as a dragon, but decide the smartest would be to just keep going with the regular plan of disguising it as the cold.
A Rude Awakening
When the party enters the ring, and lays their weary heads to rest, most of the night goes uneventful, until they suddenly are awoken by growling. Master Elk, whom Dandelion can understand, tells them that he might need some help. Thinking quick, Dandelion, recognizing the growls as canine in nature, wild shapes into a direwolf, in hopes of resolving it peacefully. Fie prepares to fly, as he shunts the whole group out of the ring. Standing in the middle of a snow covered forest, they are surrounded by 8 large winter wolves, with cold magic coming out of their mouths, staring at the giant elk disguised as the Cold, and now the party.