SESSION TWENTY

So now, the party had the axe Gore in their possession, but could not stay in the stronghold, and would be forced to cover a distance of a mile before getting to the safety of the mountain caves.  Even running full speed, the chances they could make shelter before being attacked by dragons or worse was nil.  After discussing the issue, the party decided the main goal should be to keep the deadly axe out of the hands of the frost giants. To this end, Arcus was told to use his teleport scroll given to him by Basia and bring the axe to the safety of the Citadel, where the dwarves would be able to guard the artifact deep in the earth.  The rest of the group would trick whoever followed them into attacking, but the axe would not be found even if they were killed in the battle that would follow!

            After much deliberations, it was decided that the priest Phyloe would accompany Arcus and the Axe, and the rest of the party would appear to be fleeing across the frozen wastes.  There were no illusions this might be their last battle, especially once the forms of two white dragons were seen flying far up in the sky!

            Goodbyes were said, and luck was wished upon the party and the reluctantly fleeing Arcus and Phyloe.  The spell was cast and both (plus the axe Gore) disappeared, leaving the rest of the grim party to their fate.  Healign up and loading the wagon, they got ready to make the dash from the stronghold to the caves. To maximize their chances of survival, the party split into several groups, with the druid turning into an animal, the bard turning invisible along with Ephros, and the two rangers, half orc and priest riding the wagon with a large wrapped bundle (hopefully confusing whoever would attack them).

As they rushed across the tundra, two white dragons dove to the attack…one was ridden by a frost giant, while the other by the half giant priestess Enoki!  As they swooped to the attack, everyone dove off the wagon except for the Waqsted who dowsed himself with oil and lit himself on fire to attract the attention of at least one of the dragons!  The rangers Argois and Vaerlon rolled past the wagon (as did Chitlin and Chester) and the dragon carrying Enoki swooped low enough to breathe on the half orc, instantly freezing him in a giant pile of ice, destroying the wagon and draft animals as well as sending the half orc unconious. As the other white dragon ridden by the frost giant swooped low, Galgadayle cast a spell that caused a forest of trees to instantly spring up in front of him! Hitting the trees at an insane speed, the dragon dug up nearly 100 yards of soil as it crashed and tumbeld, tearing a wing and grounding it with injuries…the giant who rode the dragon was not as lucky, he bounced across the tundra at a frightful speed, snapping his neck and killing him instantly!

Magical arrows from the rangers feathered the other dragon, as Enoki jumped off to rush to the destroyed wagon to try to retrieve the false axe.  Suddenly, the Korgaard appeared before her and began attacking with his sword, protected by both Stoneskin and Mirror Image, as the ranger Argois and Galadayle joined in on the attack.  However, the giantess had also apparently cast Stoneskin and other spells as the attacks bounced off her, and she was able to hit Argois with a Frost Strike and then cast a spell that caused a long, magical frozen whip to appear in her hand, which whipped out at the party.  Meanwhile, the dragon injured by the trees was cut down by Ephros and Angles, while the other dragon was battled one on one by Vaerlon, who endured a frozen blast before hacking the dragon to pieces with his sword.

Suddenly, what looked like a certain death had turned around!  Enoki was hurting them but now they outnumbered her and her allies were dead.  Korgaard, Argois and Galgadayle circled her looking for an opening and trying to avoid her huge ice axe.  Then, Korgaard’s magical sword of sharpness found an opening,and chopped off Enoki’s right arm at the elbow, causing her to scream in pain and drop her axe (as the hand that had been cut off held the weapon). Bleeding from the wound, she began to weaken and looked desperate. Grasping the medallion around her neck and speaking a word, the circular gate the party had seen before formed behind the giantess and she stepped or fell back through, and then the circle closed.  The party had triumphed and forced Enoki to retreat!  Gathering themselves, along with Enoki’s arm and the axe (and the frozen body of Waqsted), they trudged to the dwarven cave and were greeted by what seemed to be a division of heavily armored dwarves with orders to bring them to their captain.  The dwarves could scarely believe the carnage the party had left behind, and looked at them either fearfully or worshipfully, as they stared at the still warm bodies of the dead white dragons and frost giant on the plains outside the cave. Ephros insulted the dwarves while referring to the sacrifice Gan had made battling the Rhemoraz, implying they had been cowards not only for not entering the stronghold but for allowing them to battle the white dragons and their riders alone. Predictably, the dwarven warriors were not amused. 

The dwarves, however, were civilized enough to bind the wounds of the party before taking them before their leader.   While interested in their story, he wanted no part of them, refused to heal the half orc warrior Waqsted who barely clung to life and was suspicious of the flaming skull Chester….he wanted them on their way, despite their claims to have seized the axe Gore, destroyed the frostmourn of Jarl Turakhan, and whatever other insanity they spewed. Giving them food and drink in the form of rations and wine, the party was dismissed and pointed on their way….a long tunnel through the mountains that, after many miles, would end up at The Citadel and their friend Arcus.  Grumbling at the frankly crappy treatment they had received, the now depleted but proud party began the long journey down the tunnels to The Citadel.

SESSION NINETEEN

SESSION NINETEEN

Kythorn and Flamerule

Chapter One: To the mountains

            Setting off the next day with their small band (swelled by the presence of Phyloe, Gan and Chitlin), the party headed off for the distant Thunderspire Mountains. With the map given them by the priest of Vistna, they figured two weeks would take them to the Frost Giant Fortress, a week to explore, and another two weeks back….just in time to rejoin the merchant train heading back to Norvik.  With Argois, Galgadayle and his animal companions traveling a quarter mile or so in front of the wagon as scouts, the rest of the party rode around the wagon and mules, with Chitlin driving the wagon and Phyloe and the mage Arcus riding aboard.  The first few days the group enjoyed the ride, with no encounters, as the summer weather was particularly comfortable.  Game and water were plentiful, and the trip was most unlike their hazardous journey to Karlsfjord, or to the Vistnan tomb.  On the 5^th day, with the mountain range looming only a day away, the druid and ranger scouts noticed many winter wolf tracks criss-crossing the ground coming from the mountain range….interposed with the tracks of a frost giant!  Sending Argois back to warn the party, he reached them just in time to see a large striding figure surrounded with over a dozen giant wolfish forms heading towards the party from the south.  It soon became apparent that a frost giant surrounded by a dozen winter wolves was on some sort of patrol of the area, and he had seen them!  Several fireballs were sent at the giant and his pack, but they were spread out so the damage wasn’t as much as it could have been.  A pitched battle followed, with the scouts finally destroying the giant and his wolves.  

SESSION EIGHTEEN

Kythorn 1474

Chapter One: Temple of Vistna

The next day, a bit of scouting and consulting Phyloe’s notes told the party that the abandoned Vistnan temple was only a mile away. Making their way out of the cave, the party trudged the final distance and located a set of rain-slicked steps that went up a mountain side to a dark opening. Hiding the wagon with Chitlin and the two mercenaries and the druid’s animals within a copse of trees, the rest of the party cautiously made their way up the stone steps, about 200 feet or so to what looked like an opening carved out of a cave mouth.
At the ledge in front of the opening, it was decided that Ephros alone would scout ahead and see what lay beyond. Just then, Argois took a look at the ground and saw several jumbled footprints…trolls! “Many trolls” he said, “And not your usual trolls, this far north they may be snow trolls”. Smiling he withdraw his sword, hoping to bury it in the skull of his chosen enemies. Soon, he and Ephros were sneaking inside, with Korgaard (invisible by the power of his bracers) tagging along. They found three passageways leading off the main passage, two to either side looking as if they had been carved out of the rock at a later date than the passageway to the temple itself. To either side, noises and stench heralded the lairs of trolls….snow trolls, covered in dirty white tufts of fur unlike regular trolls. Venturing ahead, Ephros found a large cavern that led to another far passageway…..the ice and snow in this cavern must have blown in from past storms, and the cavern was filled with bones, weapons and armor. Ephros felt something wrong and quickly backed out of the cavern.
At this point, the rest of the party had quietly snuck in and stood at the intersection of the three passages. Plans were made, and soon the druid Galgadayle set a snare spell at the entrance to one passageway, while they party made plans to send a fireball down the other passageway and engulf the trolls in that room. The signal was given, and Arcus fired his Wand of Steam down the corridor, sizzling the trolls in the chamber round after round as the burning hot air did its damage. Trolls began rushing down the other corridor, but the first was entangled by the snare spell and blocked the passageway sufficiently so that Argois could fill it, sword flashing. As the smoke and steam cleared down the other corridor, Galgadayle and Vaerlon ran into the room to attack the steam-singed and stunned trolls, numbering a half dozen or so.
Meanwhile, the bard Korgaard and the flaming skull Chester scouted ahead into the large chamber, not wanting to be taken by surprise by any opponents coming from this direction. Suddenly, a white pseudopod engulfed the flaming skull, and Chester disappeared! A second later he was expelled, and flew at a wall in the cavern, crashing into it. A large white mass rose out of the snow and began rolling towards the bard. Korgaard backed out of the chamber and threw a fireball at the far wall, knowing it would not hurt Chester, but wanting to put the spell far enough away that he was not caught in its effects! It seemed to hurt the large, pudding-like mass, and Chester began buzzing the creature breathing gouts of fire upon it. From the entrance, Ephros began firing arrows into the creature with no effect. Korgaard remembered legends in his tribe about the monsters called “puddings”, who ate the flesh off men, and began to believe this was a arctic variety. He hit the pudding again with another fire spell, a flaming sphere, as he didn’t know any other method of combating the creature. Soon, his fire spells and Chester’s fiery breath caused the white pudding to sizzle with a “blorp!” as it disintegrated into the mush of the cavern floor.
The battle in the troll lairs proceeded, with Argois downing three of the creatures before wounds caused him to back up, with the half-orc Waqsted taking his place. From the entrance of the cavern, where Angles was keeping watch, a shout….more trolls arriving! A hunting party carrying the carcasses of two mountain stags was coming up to the entrance. Acting quickly, Arcus stood at the entrance and cast fireball into the monster’s midst, causing much damage. The survivors began to scale up towards the entrance, to be met by Ephros, Angles and Vaerlon (who along with Galgadayle had finished off the fireball survivors in the cavern aboveMeanwhile, inside, the bard used his flaming sphere spell, rolling the burning globe down the other corridor leading to the last snow troll lair, burning several of the monsters. He, Waqsted, and a healed up Argois followed the sphere controlled by Korgaard into the cavern, where after a tough battle they finished off the trolls. Back at the entrance, several wounded trolls fled as Ephros and Vaerlon tore into them. ). Ephros earned Vaerlon’s ire at this battle, as his insistence with firing arrows into melee eventually caught Vaerlon with a arrow in his ass as he routed the trolls. Soon, only the bleeding and wounded party members were left alive at the crossroads of the passageways!

Chapter Two: The Tomb
There were heavy injuries all around, and it took the spells of Angles, Phyloe and the druid to bring the party back around to where they felt “normal”. After convincing themselves the troll survivors had fled for good, they investigated the passage beyond the chamber of the white pudding. Finding three doors, the thief checked them all and found one was a false door with a trap. Another locked door led to a temple to Vistna, with a large representation of the god in front. Phyloe knelt at it’s feet, praying for guidance, and visions filled his mind of a large tomb guarded by a giant clay-like monster, with the object of their quest beyond. While Phyloe prayed, the rest of the party searched the area and found a secret door leading to what looked like a head priest’s room. The shelves and room were empty, as when the priest’s left it looked like they removed anything of value. Argois found a steel warhammer in a corner, but it was trapped to release a series of darts from the wall that struck him solid. Under the mattress, a scroll tube was found, but Ephros got a bad feeling from several of the runes on the scroll tube and decided to put that away until they got back to town and could ask Hamlen the priest of Vistna.
Telling the party of his visions, Phyloe led them to the other locked door, behind which was a long hallway filled with empty rooms (priest’s chambers) and empty library. Past this, another locked door led down a stair way, and this led to the burial place of the priest’s of Vistna. Here was their goal! Preparing themselves for some sort of undead or guardian construct, Ephros picked the lock on the tomb and the stone doors were opened with a screech of stone on stone. By the light of Ephros’ continual light wand, the chamber was seen to contain several niches on the wall where past priest’s bones resided, and a large sarcophagus in the center of the room held the body of the high priest…with, as Phyloe had seen, a 7 foot tall guardian holding a large axe. The guardian looked like some sort of construct or golem, with strange dull skin. Ephros, Phyloe and Argois carefully entered the room, but the creature seemed not to notice them as they carefully moved around looking in the niches.
Knowing there was only one end to this dance, Argois wasted no time in suddenly running to the high priest’s resting spot and pushing the lid off the coffin! At that, the monster came to life, backhanding the ranger and throwing him across the room to slam against the wall! At that, the monster was struck by Ephros and Vaerlon…to no effect, as their swords bounced off him to no effect. Arrows fired also did nothing, as did a magic missile spell that Korgaard fired. The creature once again slammed Argois, and then began looking like it would attack, it began speeding up, blurring it’s features! Thinking quickly, Arcus hit the creature with a slow spell, and the thing began moving normally. Galgadayle fired a metal bullet from his sling, which finally seemed to injure the giant creature!
At that, Phyloe shouted the creature was undoubtedly a clay golem left to guard the high priest’s tomb, and was immune to anything but magical blunt weapons!!! Waqsted pulled out his magical mace and began striking the creature, as Galgadayle then fired sling bullet after sling bullet from his magical sling. Arcus’ magical staff also injured the creature, but one blow from the golem put him out of the battle as he then tossed the staff to Korgaard to carry on the battle; the bard jumped into the fray wielding the magical staff and scored a hit. Angles began knocking off chunks of the creature with his own magical mace, and soon after slowly hacking off piece after piece, the heavily wounded party looked at a pile of clay pieces scattered across the room! Again heavily injured, the party used the rest of the cure spells, and then Phyloe brought forth the treasure from the high priest’s coffin: a strange beaker! Reading the writing on the side, Phyloe told the party it appeared the “healing magic” left in the tomb was a beaker of potions, and the one potion it poured was extra healing! However, the magic only worked once a day, so after pouring a potion to help the still injured Argois, the party left the tomb. Sealing it up behind them, the party choose to spend the night outside rather than in the cold, abandoned temple, and found their fellows and wagon at the bottom of the trail.

Chapter Three: Back again
The next day, the party began their trip back to Karlsfjord, the magical beaker in hand, carried in the backpack of Phyloe for safekeeping. Everyday, the party poured itself a potion of extra healing for their own stock, slightly irritating Phyloe who felt the miraculous liquid should be used for the church. However, they managed to convince the priest of Vistna that trouble might lie ahead, so the potions would probably be used in the days on the trail leading back to Karlsfjord.
Sure enough, a few days later once again flying figures were found circling and following the party from high above the earth….more gargoyles! This time, there looked to be a dozen and a half of the deadly creatures. Now convinced some force was sending these creatures to harass or attack them, the party made camp and start preparations for an inevitable attack from the winged monstrosities. Using plant growth, the druid caused the scrub trees, bushes and thorns to grow large and surround the camp, meaning the gargoyles could only attack from one direction….the air. Posting guards all night, the party rested fitfully awaiting the inevitable attack.
They were not disappointed. After midnight, shrieks filled the sky, and the flock of evil swarmed down on the camp. A mass of the creatures headed for the wagon guarded by the mercenaries, Galgadayle and his animals, as the largest gargoyle screamed orders at the rest and told them in a human voice “Find the beaker and bring it to me!” Obviously thinking it must be in the poor half destroyed wagon, fully half a dozen tore into it as the whimpering Chitlin crouched underneath. The mercenary fighters Mithrim and Herot fought back savagely, as did the druid who called upon a thorn spray spell to pepper several of the gargoyles with magical spikes from the ground. The spikes hit the main gargoyle, causing his form to waver….sensing something amiss, Angles hit the gargoyle with a hold person….and it’s form changed to that of a burly human fighter! Now held, it was an ugly scene as the druid’s wolverine rushed him and began gnawing his leg, as Ephros swung from behind and hacked off the arm of the unfortunate human, killing him quickly as the wolverine continued to feed.
Around the camp, chaos broke out as everyone was attacked from above. Argois faced off three of the monsters, the bard and mage Arcus cast mirror image and waded into combat themselves. Waqsted and Vaerlon each had more than one opponent, and Chester faced off against one himself, breathing fire as the gargoyle tore at his bony head. Both continued battling as they rose into the night, Chester screaming “Not so tough when it’s one on one, eh?”
The battle was long, ugly, and tough. Gargoyles are hardy monsters, and their numbers helped them more, but the party was able to strike blow after blow that brought down the creatures, with Angles and Phyloe rushing from spot to spot to heal those who brought down a gargoyle before they themselves succumbed to their wounds. One gargoyle who was heavily wounded by Korgaard’s spells flew off, and Mithmire and Herot fought well bringing down three themselves. At one point a gargoyle tearing through the wagon found a sobbing Chitlin, and as he rose in the air, Argois leapt up and grabbed the stony creature by the legs, bringing him down with Chitlin. The druid’s snow cat pounced, tearing the gargoyle’s head from it’s shoulders.
Soon, only a half dozen strong, the wounded gargoyles began to lift off. As they flew through the sky, fully four of them were brought down by fireballs, magic arrows, and magic sling bullets fired by the party. The party had acquitted themselves well, with heaps of broken stone laying all across the destroyed wagon and bloody campground.

Chapter Four: Return to Karlsfjord
The next morning, the body of the human fighter (what was left of it) was searched and a large magical ring was found. Angles speculated that perhaps the ring was what enabled the fighter to switch to gargoyle form and lead the flock, but to get answers they resorted to Speak with Dead spells the next few days as their broken up wagon was dragged back to town.
The fighter, Fram by name, was evasive and not cooperative while being asked question after question, but soon small bits of information began to filter out from his angry responses. He had been hired by someone representing the priestesses of Rualt, who were watching the party, and they wished to destroy all the priesthoods in Karlsfjord except for their own to cause the villagers to fall more completely under their sway. He refused to say who had set the temple of Nythiir afire, but he admitted it had been no accident. He was supposed to steal the beaker and meet with a woman, Zenobia, at the White Fang Tavern when he returned to hand over the magic item for gold. He admitted when asked that he was a wanted man and there was a reward on his head in Norvik; other than these tidbits, the party was unable to find out anything more after several days of questioning.
Upon their return to Karlsfjord, the party went straight to the Vistnan temple and presented the beaker to a grateful Hamlen. He said the extra healing potion dispensed each day would greatly help the priests deal with the shortage of healing in the village, and would relay the party’s information about the Rualtian intrigues. Of Zenobia no sign could be found, as she had apparently quickly left the White Fang when word of the party’s arrival came to her. For his part, Hamlen said he had finished the translation of the dwarven tablets and was able to construct a crude map to the fortress of Jarl Turkhan based on what he had learned from the tablets and his own references. He also said he would reward them with another extra healing potion from the beaker for every day they stayed in town before their next departure. After the party left, Argois drew his brother Vaerlon aside and explained he had also had the priest consulting on a matter of his own…the disappearance of their mother 20 years ago! Hamlen said he sadly had little information….his divinations had only told him that a certain mountain was the last place she was known to have gone, and he gave them a map with the location marked. After entering that place, her trail came to an end. “It’s almost as if something or someone is blocking me…but I suspect it has to do with the mountain itself. I wish you two luck with this quest” Hamlen told them. He then surprised Argois by telling him “You know your father still lives, correct? He is named Darfen and dwells in the city of Norvik…you should consult with him when you return, to learn more of your mother.” Truthfully, Argois had completely forgotten his father lived in Norvik, but he had never been close to him and had regarded Vaerlon’s ranger father Vortigern as almost an adopted father, seeing as his own father had left their village in the forest about the time his mother had disappeared. He vowed to track down Darfen upon the return of the party to Norvik.
The party made a short stop at the house where Lennox the merchant and his men resided, cutting off Fram’s head and pickling it to take back with them to Norvik for the purported reward. Then they continued on to the merchant Thorinn, was entirely unpleased with the condition of his wagon. A screaming fit between Thorinn and Ephros resulted, for although Ephros had managed to gather a pile of armor and weapons from the white pudding’s cave (since the pudding did not consume metal, many items had been left behind for him to bring back), the merchant insisted he owned them nothing and he couldn’t even break even because of the sorry state of the wagon. When Chitlin took the adventurer’s side, Thorinn disowned his “worst nephew” and told him to get his things and leave. Finally, through threats and worse, Ephros managed to get his down payment on the wagon back, and kept the wagon in the bargain as he dumped the weapons and armor on the floor of the trader’s store. Vowing vengeance on the crooked dealer, Ephros left taking Chitlin with him, saying he was better off facing certain death with the party than living under the roof of such a piece of filth as his uncle!
Meanwhile, Korgaard, Argois and Arcus returned to Basia’s place with the mercenaries Mithrim and Herot, who were loathe to leave their service (Herot because he had a magical longsword as a loaner from Argois, which he had to reluctantly return). After their fee was paid, Arcus and Korgaard lingered, both obviously hoping to appeal to the sensual mercenary leader. However, it was Arcus who intrigued her most, and Korgaard was soon sent on his way as his charms had failed him…..to slake his disappointment in the arms of the brainless bar wench Haren, he vowed. Arcus reminded Basia that she said she would assist him if he managed to return from the temple, and she agreed. She asked him if he would like to learn any spells of hers, or anything else…one thing led to another, and after taking advantage of the poor youngster (who after growing up in the dwarven inhabited Citadel was completely inexperienced in the ways of human women), the next morning Basia allowed Arcus to copy several spells from her spellbook, and gifted him a scroll with the spell “Teleport”. “If you run into trouble in the mountains, and the party is dead around you, use the scroll to come back here” she told him. She also refilled Fram’s magical ring with Polymorph Self (as the ring had turned out to be a ring of spell storing) and said even though Arcus was inexperienced in many things she would be happy to have him come back again when he was finished with his latest expedition….very few intelligent individual came through Karlsfjord that she could talk with as an equal, she told him.
Back at the White Fang, Ephros presented Chitlin to Argois (as Argois had saved his life back against the gargoyles, Chitlin had a case of strong hero worship for the ranger) and a magical set of dwarven chainmail to the dwarven barkeep Harter (the armor had been found in the cave of the white pudding). Haggling over price, Harter had another idea: he had dwarven cousin, a fighter, who would serve the party if they gave him the armor…trading services for the magical metal. Ephros wanted a better deal, but since no one could use the armor and no one else in town would buy it, he reluctantly agreed. Harter said his cousin Gan Ironside was in town and when he presented himself, he looked like and adequate warrior for the trek ahead, so Ephros agreed to trade the armor for Gan’s services.
Argois felt sorry for the abandoned Chitlin, and used his money to equip the sad excuse for a fighter as he decided to take him under his wing. “When we go into the mountains, we can use Chitlin to take care of the wagon and horses so he won’t be entirely worthless” he told the rest of the group as they met in the White Fang tavern the next day, planning the long trip to Jarl Turkhan’s fortress. The trip would take two weeks, and could only be made now in the summer as when it got colder it would be a death march…time was of the essence, not just because of the weather, but because they were obviously being scryed upon by Enoki and her minions, and it would not take long for them to also find the location of Jarl Turkhan’s resting place and the mighty axe Gore. They introduced themselves to Gan, who seemed the very picture of the traditional close mouthed, surly dwarven fighter, and who seemed torn between wanting the magical dwarven chainmail and spitting at the mixed party which contained a half orc, halfling and two elves! As they discussed their trip, a familiar face appeared: the priest Phyloe presented himself, and said that both is dreams, and his superior Hamlen, had urged him to accompany the party both for the knowledge that could be gained, and for the help his divination spells could do for the quest.
Vowing to have nothing more to do with the merchant Thorinn, the party agreed to purchase their supplies through contacts made by Lennox with other merchants in town, and equip themselves for the long journey into the mountains. They opted to repair their poor dilapidated wagon and bring it along as it was a “good luck charm” having survived the attacks of the gargoyles. After repairs and purchasing of rations, arrows, and more, the party vowed to set forth for the Thunderspire mountains a day from then…

SESSION SEVENTEEN

Kythorn 1474

Chapter One: Karlsfjord

Entering civilization, even in as primitive a form as the village of Karlsfjord, was quite the treat for a party sick of life after several weeks on the road. With the druid and his animals staying outside of town (along with Chester, as the party reasoned the folks in the village might not take well to the sight of a talking, flying, flaming skull), the rest of the party traveled the stone covered streets to find the inn recommended by Lennox, The White Fang Inn. While traveling through the town, they saw most of the “town” was merely several dozen stone buildings and wooden huts behind the tall stone wall that surrounded the town. Most of the villagers were fishermen, whalers and seal hunters, and since the weather had once again turned warmed the town was probably quieter than normal due to every able bodied man about being out on his boat.
The town was situated about half a mile from the coast itself, in a natural inlet, and the sharp tang of sea water, fish stink, mud (the alleys off the main paved thoroughfares were wet and muddy) and blood (for there was a slaughterhouse right on the edge of town) filled their nostrils. They passed by a recently burned down area that several city guardsmen were poking through. Their curiosity getting the best of them, they began talking with a city militia man who proved quite talkative and gave them a lot of info about recent happenings in the town. It seemed a temple of Nythiir had been destroyed a fortnight earlier (Angles looked upset as the story unwinded), taking with it the trio of priests who tended the structure. There had been a frost giant attack, and apparently one of the thrown boulders had went through the ceiling, striking a lantern or torch, and setting the place aflame. No one had been able to help until the giants were repulsed, and unfortunately the temple burned to the ground in that time. The guardsman told the party that the town only had a small militia, plus a group of 15-20 mercenaries from the Flaming Fist Company based in Norvik, led by a female mage named Basia. The more the story unfolded, the more suspicious it sounded to the party, for almost all the largest buildings in town were made of stone (lumber being hard to find on the flat plain that Karlsfjord sat on), and the fact that the giants would even attack a small village like Karlsfjord to begin with seeing as it was 100 miles from the mountains, and probably had very little the giants would covet.
Deciding to follow up on the temple’s destruction later, the party entered the nearby White Fang Inn and sat themselves in the spacious common room. The inn was two stories, and during the mid day the place was somewhat empty and quiet. There was a sullen dwarf behind the bar, and another dwarf (the innkeeper) who gave the party a baleful eye as they stomped off their muddy boots and headed for a large table. A beautiful, not very intelligent human barmaid named Haren served them, and afforded them much amusement at her wide eyed innocence and unintentionally hilarious tales of life in the village. Soon the adventurers were drinking mugs of “White Fang Ale”, eating strips of salted herring, and trying to impress the barmaid with tales of their derring-do. When the halfling thief Ephros began showing the barmaid his scars, the quite incredulous Haren was in disbelief he had actually died and been raised from the dead! At that, the bard Korgaard leapt to his feet and stood in front of the large fireplace, giving a poetic recitation of the party’s defense of the dwarven abbey to Moradin from the gnoll army (perhaps fudging the amount of gnolls from 200 to 500 to more impress the lass and the dwarven bartender), and at the end holding up Ephros and stripping his shirt off to show the many scars on his body from where he had been beaten to death by the gnolls!
After the spoken word performance, the party could see the dwarven barkeep (and the other dwarf who apparently worked at the White Fang) looking at them very intently for a long while. Finally, the curiosity burning him from within, the dwarven bartender stomped across the room to stand in front of the party’s table.
“Ok, I can’t stand it!” he roared. “I want to know why you humans are wearing dwarf forged armbands (pointing to their golden armbands given them by Dulannin after the gnoll siege) traveling with a half orc and elf (pointing to Waqsted and Argois), not to mention a halfling, and you tell a tale that only a half-wit halfling child would believe!!! If I find out you have robbed some dwarves to get those armbands, I’ll…” After some sincere swearing from the adventurers that the events of the tale were true, as was the gift of the armbands, Arcus also managed to mollify the dwarf by speaking to him in his own tongue and telling him of being raised in the Citadel among the rock folk. Soon the dwarven barkeep (Harter Stonefoot by name) began to slowly warm up to the adventurers; although sneering at their rescuing of the abbey of Moradin (as he worshiped Duathal) he decided that even with a half orc present the party were probably dwarf-friends. He and his brother Darer both ran the White Fang Inn, and after he collected the party’s gold for a week stay (bunking up two to a room) he sent them over a “special” bottled ale that he swore only dwarves could drink and stay upright afterwards.
The private brew was indeed potent, Arcus recognized the brand (triple xxx across the front!) and discretely poured his through the boards of the floor rather than drink. The rest of the party downed their bottle, after which Vaerlon promptly passed out with his head on the table, and Angles became a rip roaring cursing drunk making several leering passes at the barmaid Haren.
The party soon had one visitor, a priest of Vistna who introduced himself as Phyloe. He said he had been sent by the senior priest of his temple, Hamlen, because “Hamlen has been dreaming of you all week”. Intrigued that a priest of the God of Knowledge would be seeking them out, the party told Phyloe that ironically they had been seeking out knowledge themselves. Phyloe told the party that Hamlen had an offer for them if they would visit their small temple on the morrow (both of them were the only two priests there) and talk to the senior priest. They agreed, and Phyloe left soon after.
Later, a fight was narrowly avoided with Haren’s six older brothers, brawny sealers who came in later to eat and drink, as they were about to pound the drunken priest but noticed he was clergy of Nythiir. “We heard about his temple burning down, we’ll give him a break” the oldest brother said, and soon the party headed off to their rooms. The drunken pair of Vaerlon and Angles were stripped of clothing and tossed into a single bed, which caused much amusement among the less-drunken members of the party as they headed off to their first night in a proper bed in many weeks.

Chapter Two: Business about town

The next day, the party went down to a hearty breakfast of porridge and pie, and much laughter at the expense of the heavily hung over pair of Vaerlon and Angles. The party had much to do, and decided they would split up. The Vistnan priest Hamlen had to be visited, as he had requested them and perhaps he had more knowledge about the axe Gore and the location of Jarl Turkhan’s tomb. Waqsted wished to visit a smithy or weaponsmith to have a new double-bladed axe forged, Angles wanted to investigate the burning down of the Nythiirian temple, and Arcus was intrigued that the leader of the village’s mercenaries was a female mage, possibly of great power (from the stories around town, her presence and casting spells such as fireball had been what had driven off the frost giants). Thus, the party split up and went about their business.
First, the bard Korgaard, Arcus, Argois and Ephros went to visit the Vistnan temple. “Temple” was bit of a misnomer, the single story stone building consisted of a small three room place of worship with a small entry/worship room, a shared bedroom, and a larger room crammed full of books, scrolls, paintings, and other writings and works of art. Hamlen, a older man, greeted them happily and with Phyloe at his side he sat down to tell them why he had asked for them.
Hamlen startled the party when he told them that during divinations the earlier week, he had seen the names “Gore”, “Enoki”, and “Jarl Turkhan” appear, and then had seen the faces of the very party members before him now. “Your presence here, and the appearance of these divinations, makes me think both are related. You perhaps have a tale to tell me, but I must first check on something”. After leaving the room, he soon re-entered, saying he was “satisfied” of the trustworthiness and good motives of the party (Arcus speculated he must have used spells or a device to scan them and verify their alignments or intentions). Hamlen asked the party to tell their tale; they told him of their experiences with the Cult of the White Wyrm, Enoki, and the search for the axe Gore and if he could help them on their next step, finding out where the lost tomb of Jarl Turkhan was from the dwarven tablets they had recovered from the Halls of Frost.
After listening to them, Hamlen then told them that after the dreams, he had begun research “but as you can see, my references are very limited in this distant outpost from civilization”. However, he was able to tell them the following tale, and read them a bit of frost giant poetry (doggerel, he said, as the frost giants were notoriously awful poets):

THE AXE OF JARL TURKHAN (TRANSLATION)

When falls the axe of Jarl Turkhan;
Blood will flow and limbs will break.
When falls the axe of Jarl Turkahn;
Many small ones die and their widows weep.

The axe named Gore will cool
In pools of small one’s blood.
The axe will drink itself full
Then bleed with tears of blood.

When falls the axe of Jarl Turkhan;
The screams of small one’s sing to mine ears.
When falls the axe of Jarl Turkhan;
Nations will fall and death will reign clear.

Now Jarl Turkhan rests on his throne, Gore by his side
He sleeps forever in the white cold,
Until the day the gods decide
The axe will fall again!

Hamlen then told the party the tale of Jarl Turkhan, the greatest Jarl in the history of frost giants in the Thunderspire mountains. Over 500 years ago, he was able to unite all the tribes under one leader due to his personal charisma and power, and his possession of the giant axe Gore. Hamlen said that from what he had found in his research, the axe Gore was probably of relic level power. Legends said it “dripped blood”, and anyone it struck would continue to bleed. It protected the bearer from all heat and fire, and also healed whoever held it. In the hands of a powerful Jarl, this axe would be an awful weapon, and the wielder might once again be able to unite all the disparate frost giant tribes of the north.
Hamlen told them that 500 years ago, the giants united under the banner of Jarl Turkhan had subjugated or destroyed all human settlements in the mountains, and were nearby finished doing the same to the dwarven fortresses. Who they had not destroyed, they had subjugated, and many of the barbarian tribes decided to submit and serve rather than be killed. A human barbarian named Magnur was able to call a band of heroes together, and unite several barbarian tribes, along with dwarven allies, to assault the Jarl’s fortress. The battle raged for days at the very gates of Jarl Turkhan’s fortress, until finally Magnur called Turkhan out for solo combat. The gambit was well played, because though his barbarian and dwarven army numbered thousands, the war against the frost giants was a war of attrition, and the humans and their dwarvish allies would eventually fall. Through a long battle raging all day, Jarl Turkhan and Magnur fought each other as the barbarians and dwarves watched on the ice fields, and the frost giants watched from behind the gates of their fortress. Finally, Magnur struck a death blow on Turkhan, and to the astonishment and horror of the giant, he great one fell dead at the barbarian’s feet. At that Magnur attempted to lift the giant’s axe, but it burned his hands so that had to immediately drop it. Magnur eventually died from his many wounds, bleeding that the shamans could not stop, but he had broken the power of the frost giants. The death of their leader demoralized the giant horde, and they soon split into competing groups and ceased to be a concentrated menace on Norvik. The barbarians were able to retreat with their dead leader, never again to be slaves of the frost giants.
While Magnur’s body was taken far away and buried with honor, Jarl Turkhan’s body along with his axe was laid to rest in the frost giant fortress, which was soon abandoned as the place was reputed to be cursed after the death of the Jarl. Apparently, said Hamlen as he concluded his tale, this was the information contained in the old dwarf tablets….the location of the tomb/fortress, and the axe Gore. Hamlen said he would look over the dwarven tablets and do what he could to translate the location enough that the party might find it before Enoki and the Cult. However, he did have a request in return for the party.
Since the destruction of the temple of Nythiir, the abilities of the two priests of Vistna had been overloaded. The only other two priesthoods with temples in Karlsfjord were Valkur (Northern God of Sailors) and a small temple to Rualt, which was only staffed in the winter months. Hamlen told them that Valkur’s priests often accompanied the sealers and whalers on their hunts, and were rarely in town to minister to the villagers. Thus, he and Phyloe had become taxed in their ability to care for the townsfolk…the priests of Vistna are mostly concerned with gathering knowledge, not ministering to the sick, and the sudden increase of villagers needing their aid had put a stop to their studies. Hamlen remembered an old legend about a temple to Vistna that once sat at the foot of the western mountains, but was abandoned many years ago because of constant attacks. Supposedly a “great magic item” had been interred with the high priest when he died, and it might still be there. This magic item, from what Hamlen gathered, was some sort of healing item and might be exactly what the priests needed. Unfortunately, the book with the location of the temple had been misplaced (“Or stolen” Phyloe added), and all Hamlen could do was draw a map to where it might be. If they consented to locate this temple and bring back the high priest’s magic items, Hamlen said he would attempt to locate Jarl Turkhan’s tomb for them
In addition, Hamlen said he would have Phyloe accompany them, as he could help with healing and perhaps any divinations they might have to make along the way. The party members agreed, and a bargain was struck. The party had a few more questions; they asked about the Cult of the White Wyrm, it’s origins and connection to the goddess of cold, Rualt. Hamlen said this ancient cult was built around worship of a white dragon of the oldest age and largest size which as legend had it dwelled beneath the mountains; most worshippers were members of the priesthood of Rualt, but not all Rualt worshippers also joined the cult. Hamlen said the power of the cult waxed and waned during the centuries, and Arcus speculated it might be tied to times when the dragon was more awake/alert, a fact Hamlen said sounded perfectly logical. The party then asked if he thought the destruction of the Nythiirian temple was sabotage, and he said he suspected as much. “Don’t immediately suspect the priestesses of Rualt” he told them, “The priesthood of Valkur does not see eye to eye with the more healing oriented priests of Nythiir, and there was animosity there also. And don’t rule out the possibility it may have been a third party that we don’t know.” As a show of good faith Hamlen gave each adventurer a vial of holy water and said he would supply Phyloe with some spare potions and scrolls of healing to help them on their quest.
As the party finished their morning with Hamlen, Waqsted wandered over to the local smithy, and talked with a strapping man named Sigmund about getting a new axe, and somehow fashioning his flaming ruby dagger to make it part of the new axe. Sigmund said he would see what he could do, and he took a 500gp down payment on trying to construct the unique item. Included in the deal was a new double bladed battle axe, which Waqsted was able to leave with while Sigmund worked on his new battle axe (which Sigmund said would take a couple of weeks to finish).
The party then met up (Angles said that he got no good information from the site of the destroyed temple to Nythiir) at the local outfitter, a cheerful man named Thorin, who seemed prepared to steal them blind with his outrageous prices on goods. Everything was four to eight times the price of similar goods in Norvik, and Thorin had no compunction charging that because he claimed it was expensive to import items here. A mention that he had outfitted many adventurers that had never returned spiked Ephros’ interest; he managed to cut a side deal with the outfitter that he would buy any armor, weapon or equipment for half value if brought back from the mountains intact. Despite the high prices, the party managed to purchase a wagon and small team of horses to haul their supplies (and Thorin threw in his “least loved” nephew Chitlin as the driver, as he could both drive the wagon and take care of the horses on the journey. Chitlin proved to be cowardly, whining, and completely stupid, but appeared hearty enough for life on the road with a group of adventurers.
Meanwhile the rest of the party headed to the mercenary warrior’s headquarters, to question/meet their leader, the magess Basia, and perhaps hire a couple of bodyguards for their wagon. They were allowed to enter by two guards, and were surprised to find a rather opulent, beautifully and expensively decorated chamber with incense, imported rugs, furniture and artwork. Basia then entered, and she appeared to be a quite beautiful and exotic looking woman with dark olive skin, black hair and black eyes, wearing much jewelry and gold. She introduced herself and was soon talking to the party about the events of the village. When the party mentioned they had traveled here from Norvik, she smiled and said “Do you know the Lord Llewyelln of Norvik? I believe you and I both serve the same master!” She also asked them if they knew the mage Delfen, and when Arcus told he had been apprenticed to the mage but decided not to take the position, Basia again smiled and said “We have something in common again, for I to was an apprentice to the Yellowknife in my younger days, and still communicate with my mentor.” Basia continued to talk cryptically about connections to the party, and they began to assume she had close ties to the upper levels of power in Norvik, so that the town’s eyes could look upon what was happening in the far east side of the continent.
Basia talked to the party of the giant’s attack, and how odd it was that the group of a dozen giants and their allies (yetis and winter wolves) was quickly routed after she had thrown a few spells. “Nothing could have kept them from doing greater damage, although eventually they would have been killed or fought off.” She agreed the destruction of the Nythiirian temple of suspicious, but that it did not concern her, she and her men were only here to defend the village from threats without, not any “inner conflicts” among the townspeople themselves. When asked she told the party that she had several mercenaries for hire, the party deciding that two fighter types would be perfect for staying with and guarding the wagon. She summoned three men…Herot, Danbury, and Mithrim, and the party questioned (and surreptitiously, cast ESP on them to read their thoughts) the men to find out if they would be appropriate. The blond, good looking Danbury seemed to be hiding too much (his thoughts spoke of needing money for gambling debts) so they went with the sadistic Herot (his thoughts filled with glee at the prospect of butchering and torturing humanoids and other evil creatures) and the affable, nature loving Mithrim. Each would require 120 gp a week, with part of that fee kicked back to the Flaming Fist mercenary company (although the party did wonder how much would end up in the pocket of the beautiful Basia, and then be used to buy expensive items for her apartment!).
With the mercenaries sorted out, the party except for Arcus left to get the wagon, and get prepared for the morrow. Arcus stayed behind and fenced words a bit with Basia, roundabout asking her if she had any spells she wished to trade. Basia hinted at a possible liaison but seemed to be just toying with the young Arcus, and finally told him that if he returned from his expedition alive she would take under consideration his offer!

Chapter Three: Journey to the Temple

After another night at the inn (minus the deadly dwarven ale), the party loaded up the wagon with supplies (crates of arrows from the outfitter, extra gear, barrels of water, salted herring, salted pork, and cheese), met Phyloe, Chitlin, Herot and Mithrim at the gate, and headed back west towards the edge of the mountain range. Picking up the druid and Chester outside the city and briefing them on what had transpired (and also introducing the hired help to the idea that an undead skull was actually a friend and that the giant snow cat wouldn’t eat them), the expedition was on. The journey was roughly 100 miles and would take a week over the flat tundra, but the weather was to be stormy all week (per the druid’s divinations) so 20 miles a day might be optimistic. The time was whiled away making sport of the annoyingly wimpy drover Chitlin, and everyone got in on the fun until Chester got mad and decided to take Chitlin under his wing (an idea Chitlin was completely not in favor of!). The first night on the road, they had an encounter with a group of five supposed pilgrims that walked into the camp asking for shelter. Immediately suspicious, the five tried to play musical instruments but were attacked, after which they shifted form to human looking wolves (the druid correctly named them as wolfweres, wolf abominations that would take human form!). They were quickly dealt with causing little damage, although Waqsted was bitten and left worrying if he had contracted some sort of disease from they lycanthropes. Several bits of treasure were found on the wolfweres including a few scrolls (including a very useful Scroll Vs Dragon Breath).
Another day passed uneventfully, but on the dawn of the next day, the party noticed far in the sky a dozen flying figures that seemed to be pacing and following the party. Using a telescope, the bard identified the shapes as gargoyles! The party remained alert as the day wore on, and the flying evil creatures began to get closer and closer, swooping to within 200 yds or so. Finally, one of the creatures dropped a rock that struck Chitlin directly on the head, which caused Chester to fly and attack the flock with fury. Bad move, as soon after pieces of Chester’s crushed skull rained down on the party, and then the flying creatures began an attack! Several swooped to attack the wagon and they ripped away it’s covering, trying to get to it’s contents. Angles and the mercenaries defended the wagon with the help of the druid and his animals, and the rest of the party battled the others as they flew down and tried to snatch them up (to perhaps drop them from a large height). Arcus managed to strike one with a lightning bolt, as did Korgaard with a barrage of magic missiles, and both injured creatures left combat….letting the party know that these gargoyles would not fight to the death, so merely injuring them greatly would hopefully drive them off.
At the wagon, the mercenaries had a good showing. Mithrim showed himself to be quite a master of his halberd (which was magical and able to injure the creatures), and Herot (using a borrowed magical longsword from Argois) also did well, despite the both of them suffering many injuries. The snow cat managed to bring one of the flying creatures down with a leap off the top of the wagon, and a bloody battle followed as both rolled along the ground, ending with the snow cat ripping the gargoyle’s neck wide open. Argois and Angles fought side by side, with the druid assisting, and soon 8 of the beasts lay dead (crumbling to dust afterwards). The other two gargoyles matched up with Vaerlon and Waqsted. As Waqsted heavily injured the gargoyle with his magical mace, the gargoyle attempted to fly away but an alert Ephros jumped and grabbed his foot, then stabbed the flying menace to death and calmly floated to the ground with his ring of feather falling! The final gargoyle was dispatched by the ranger Vaerlon, and the two injured beasts flew away. A sack filled with bloody gold and silver (and a few body parts) was discovered, but the purpose of the gargoyles (rather it be random or a planned attack) had not be ascertained. After curing and allowing Chester to regenerate (and telling the mercenaries they had acquitted themselves well), the party headed on.
A couple of days later, the party’s scouts (Ephros, Argois, Galgadayle and his animals) found some odd tracks that led off into the wilderness. Not alerting the wagon, they headed off on their own as soon as the druid mentioned “Owlbears!”. The druid wanted to destroy this unnatural abominations, while Argois and Ephros just wanted to have a good fight!
The owlbears were tracked to a cave by a stream; the party saw several very large owlbears with white fur (arctic varieties) come in and out of the cave. A quick plan was hatched; Ephros climbed the rocks above the cave entrance; the druid summoned insects (bees and ants) and turned them into giant bees and giant ants, and sent them into the cave to flush out the owlbears. Then, Spike Stone was cast on the area outside the cave entrance. The druid and ranger sat back to watch what developed, while Ephros readied himself…
The giant-sized insects attacked and the party could hear battle within the cave, as the owlbears hooted and squawked. As a couple of owlbears made their way out of the cave, Ephros leapt upon one and made a deadly and direct hit, nearly severing it’s head! As it slumped forward dead, Ephros managed to stay atop of it and avoid falling on the sharp spikes that had now sprung up around the cave entrance. One owlbear rushed the druid and ranger, who fired sling bullets and arrows respectively, and it was brought down before it reached them. Meanwhile, Ephros was dealing with a seeming stream of owlbears that kept emerging from the cavern, jumping from owlbear corpse to owlbear corpse to attack and keep off the ground! Unfortunately, finally an owlbear got a hold of the thief and hugged him, but the wily halfling managed to slide out and landed on the ground. Feeling spikes stabbing his hairy feet, Ephros managed to backstab a surprised owlbear, and along with expertly placed missile weapons from Galgadayle and Argois, eventually a half dozen of the beasts lay dead around the cave entrance! Several corpses were stripped of their fur, and the triumphant trio returned to the surprised party (who never even knew they were off on their own) with the skins and a small amount of treasure found in the cave.

Chapter Four: Ogre Cave

Finally, the party reached the foothills of the mountains, but the weather had turned bad. Heavy rains and winds pelted the party, and it was hard to see ahead through the mess. The patched up wagon had little protection vs. the storm, and soon everyone in the party was soaked and looking for shelter. Ahead, the scouts located a cave about 100 feet up a mountain at the top of a switchback trail, and saw light and smoke coming from the entrance. The party decided to send several of them to check out who or what was in the cave and if they could avail of the shelter. Argois, Ephros, Korgaard, Galgadayle, Vaerlon and Waqsted went up the mountain, while Arcus, Angles, and the hired help stayed below with the wagon.
As they climbed the muddy and dangerous slope (several times someone slipped and hurt themselves), they finally reached the entrance. Invisibly, Korgaard and Ephros snuck inside the entrance, and soon saw two guards…ogres! Instantly they decided there would be no parley, only combat. Seeing his chosen enemy, Argois rushed to attack as Ephros also backstabbed the creatures. Quickly killing them, the party rushed up the cave entrance only to see a small group of the creatures rushing to battle. Korgaard threw a fireball as far back down the passage as possible, a huge boom and gout of fire went off, and fully half the ogres dropped dead. The rest attacked, some wounded by the flames, and the battle was joined!
Down at the wagon, the party saw the explosion, and wondered what was going on. Suddenly they saw three large figures about 100 yds away approaching…more ogres! And one was fully almost twice as tall as the other three, apparently some sort of chieftain! Missile weapons were fired, and Arcus threw a fireball at the group, then hit the leader with a lightning bolt…after which Galgadayle, watching atop the cliff, also hit him with a called bolt from the sky! Still alive, the giant ogre threw a huge spear as big as a tree that slammed into Angles and knocked him back out of the wagon. The mercenaries acquitted themselves well in the battle that followed, and even Phyloe helped out. After a hard fought scrum in the mud and rain the adventurers were triumphant.
Back in the cavern, the ogres turned out to be quite a large group, and very tough foes. Two leader types attacked Ephros and Korgaard, who cast mirror image and other spells to help the two. Ephros nearly decapitated one with a leaping backstab, but the creature turned and hammered the halfling into the cave wall, knocking him unconscious in a puddle of blood. Korgaard had a desperate battle against the two, but luck was with him as first one, then the other ogre lost arms as his sword of sharpness struck home! Down another tunnel, Argois, Vaerlon and Waqsted rushed into a large cavern holding another half dozen ogres, and a desperate battle followed….made more desperate by the retreat of Vaerlon, who ran out of the cave in fear! Left alone, Argois and Waqsted managed to hold off the creatures until fortified by the druid and his animals. After a tough battle, the characters were triumphant, surrounded by almost 20 dead ogres! Vaerlon sheepishly entered after the battle was finished, and admitted to his friends that he had known for a long time he (for some reason) was deathly frightened of ogres!!! It was hard to reconcile that with the ranger that attacked giants without fear, but perhaps some old memory was behind his irrational fear. The party of ogres appeared to be a wandering band as there were no females or young, nor any permanent markers that showed they had been in the cave very long. After clearing the cavern of the dead monsters, the wagon was carefully led up the switchback, and the entire party was able to dry out and rest in relative comfort as the storm raged outside.

NORVIK: SESSION SIXTEEN

Chapter One: Back on the Road
After the two days of rest, the still wounded party of adventurers gathered their treasures up and headed back to the location where they had hidden the caravan under the cover of the Hallucinatory Terrain. They found the remainder of the expedition nearly half mad with fear and worry, as they described the several day wait with no contact. However, now that the party was back, they would try to hurry as much as possible to make Karlsfjord in a week or so. The merchant caravan leader Lennox was not told of the reason, only that the party had battled frost giants and must let a civilized area know of the danger. Thus, that same day they gathered the wagons and horses and headed out immediately.
Almost immediately after starting out, the scouts saw a small group of human barbarians, almost 50 strong, working their way through a forested area dragging a pair of wild stag carcasses. The ranger and druid circled around behind as the group stopped about 100 yards from the caravan. The group wasn’t too worried about handling the barbarians, except they didn’t want any of the horses, wagons or caravan master’s men to get harmed. The barbarians, led by a grizzled old shaman, called out for parely, so the group sent out Waqsted, Angles, the caravan master Lennox and a invisible Ephros (wearing his cloak of Elvenkind) to parley. The leader of the barbarians and few others began pulling a song and dance where they would ask for a certain amount of gold (it started at 500 gp, then went to 1000 gp), then pretend to “discuss” it, and then come back and raise the amount. Finally after a particularly insulting offer, Ephros backstabbed the shaman and killed him, while Angles held the rest of the negotiators and the rest of the group attacked. Fireballs by Arcus and Korgaard, along with a spike stone spell cast by Galgadayle, decimated many of the barbarians. Galgadayle’s summoned giant engaged the group of barbarians as Ephros and Argois, along with Galgadayle’s snow cat and wolverine, finished off the rest. Soon only a handful ran off into the woods, dreading the day when they ran across the caravan.
With the the ranger Argois and druid Galgadayle and his animals scouting about a mile ahead, the caravan made good time after the encounter. Halfway through the day, still in a very rocky, mountainous region, the duo spotted a hidden formorian giant in the hills. Whispering to each other, they debated how best to handle him. At the same time, another Formorian giant attacked the caravan, which at that point was only a mile or so back! Obviously some sort of ambush had been set up, where the second giant would engage the caravan, leaving no attention for another attack. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for the giants. Galgadayle, with his giant slaying spear, and Argois engaged the 1st giant directly, cutting him down after a grueling battle. The 2nd giant met even less success as a lightning bolt from Arcus, combined with magic missiles from Korgaard and a devastating backstab from Ephros that completely severed the giant’s ankle, took the creature down to his death. The party decided to make camp at the spot, as they were eager to follow the giant’s tracks back to a lair and some possible treasure (the giants had only been holding a handful of gems on their person).
Leaving Chester, Angles, Vaerlon and Arcus to guard the camp, Ephros, Galgadayle, Korgaard, Argois and Waqsted tracked the giant’s tracks for a few miles until it led into a heavily forested area, and a large cave opening on the other side of a small stream. Heavy smoke emerged from the cavern opening, indicating some sort of inhabitants besides that of the slain giants. It was getting dark at this time, so the party waited for darkness before sending in Korgaard (invisible from his bracers) and Ephros to scout out the interior.
At the entrance stood four barbaric humans, looking very primitive and inbred, clad only in loincloths and using stone spears. Ephros snuck past them, and found a fork in the caverns. Going one way, he found a large cavern that had obviously housed the now dead giants, and another large passage leading to a room of disgusting filth where a two headed troll laired. Going the other direction, he found a several smaller caves leading off a large meeting type room, holding a group of very primitive and disgustingly inbred human “cavemen” types, the lowest form of civilization. From what he saw, it looked as though the giants, troll and humans lived in some sick sort of a symbiotic relationship. The entire cave system was disgusting with filth, dirt, mud, stench and smoke. Sneaking back out, he told the party of what he found, and they made a plan of attack: Korgaard, Argois and Waqsted would take the troll, while Galgadayle, his animals and Ephros waited in the corridor for the cavemen to rush to the trolls aid, and then they would take them. On the way in, Ephros and the druid’s wolverine killed the guards, but an alarm was given. Galgadayle set himself up in the corridor and summoned insects, turning a handful into giant flies that attacked the first wave of barbaric humans that rushed down the corridor from their lair.
Taking the other direction, the trio of Korgaard, Waqsted and Argois made quick work of the two headed troll, which had no time to even strike at them before expiring. Lighting him on fire, they paused to search through the filth of the cavern, but were soon summoned by the screams of Ephros…another giant two headed troll had entered the cavern!
Meanwhile, at first Galgadayle and his animals cut through the primitive humans. However, a second way threw flaming, oil filled pots at them and struck Galgadayle’s wolverine directly, causing it to flee in pain. Soon a large wall of fire was behind Galgadayle, Ephros and the snow cat, cutting off any possible escape, and Galgadayle managed to be struck my a number of axes. He shape changed into a mountain lion to better battle the cavemen, but even more reinforcements threatened to overwhelm them.
Just at that time, a roaring Waqsted (protected by his ring of fire resistance), walked through the fire with his axe held high, covered with flames! The superstitious cavemen screamed and backed up in fear at the sight of the flaming, ugly half orc fighter, who began hacking through the crowd with his axe. Buoyed by his arrival, Ephros and Galgadayle also continued killing the primitive humans and forced the survivors back into the main cavern.
All this time, Argois and Korgaard were engagedin combat with the second, smaller two headed troll, and took quite awhile to eventually destroy him. After the battled ended, they hurried down the corridor strewn with cavemen corpses to see the rest of the party engaged in combat with savage women and children of the tribe, who were attempted to overbear and drag down the party members to rend them with knives, daggers, nails and teeth. Disgusted at the inbred and savage creatures, the party butchered the cavern inhabitants down to the last feral woman and child. Soon, only a handful of warriors was left battling the rest of the party around the firepit in the main cave. As only one still stood, Korgaard went in to finish him off, only to be transfixed with fear….suddenly, the one last cavemen grew and changed in front his eyes, taking the shape of a large demonic figure. Looking like a ogre with loose hanging skin and giant fangs, the creature radiated a fear aura that caused Korgaard and the druid’s giant cat to flee to safety outside the cave. To the rest of the party, the creature addressed them:
“I am Manguss, and you have cost me much! It took me years of using my powers to assemble this motley group of primitives, giants and trolls. The tribute and treasure brought me by these scum greatly satisfied me, as did the life of leisure I was able to lead with these servants. You have ruined it all, and you will pay with your lives!!!” With that, the demonic being attacked the party using a huge battle axe and his slavering jaws.
Soon, seeing Ephros’ fired arrows bouncing off his hide, the party realized magical weapons were necessary to harm the creature. A desperate battle was joined, and everytime the Manguss struck an adventurer with his bite, the wound immediately boiled up with pus and venom, infected by some sort of disease. Soon Argois, Galgadayle, Ephros and Waqsted were all wounded and infected, and having difficulty bringing down the beast. Finally, a flurry of blows from Argois chopped the creature down, and it toppled into the fire pit, dead. Quickly searching the area, the party members also rejoined Korgaard and gathered the wounded snow cat and wolverine, to head back to camp and healing from Angles.

Chapter Two: On the road, continuted

The next morning, those bitten by the demonic Manggus were in sorrty shape, with some sort of disease that wracked them with pain. However, Angles was able to cast Cure Disease on the unfortunates and bring them back to health. They spent the next few days recovering, as the caravan quickly moved from the mountainous regions to the flat tundra of the eastern continent. The only encounter the next few days was with a group of giant boring beetles, who burrowed up right underneath the scouts (killing Galgadayle’s horse) and were quickly dealt with.
A few days out from Karlsfjord, storm weather threatened the caravan. As the winds got worse and rain began to pelt down, the scouts began searching for shelter. Inside some rolling hills they located a somewhat sheltered vale with enough trees and rocks to shield the party from the worst of the storm. Getting the caravan off the track and into the vale, the party set up watch and prepared to wait out the worst of the rain and lightning.
After settling down, one of the men at arms guarding the merchant train came back to the party with a strange tale. Going into the woods for some privacy while relieving himself, he found himself in front of what looked like an ancient stone door in the side of the hill. Leaving Vaerlon and Chester with the group, the rest went to investigate.
Finding the stone door practically impenetrable, Galgadayle called down a bolt of lightning from the storm directly on the lock. It blew it to pieces and the heavy stone door creaked open, releasing a foul cloud of air. The markings on the door looked like some sort of tomb, and there was a long stairway leading down. Taking the lead, the thief Ephros found several traps along the 50 foot passaged, all designed to trip the unwary explorer and send him falling down the flight of stone steps.
At the foot of the stairs stood a room. In peering inside with torches and Ephros’ continual light wand, the party saw a large throne in the center of the room, with an exit hallway behind it. Along the walls in intervals, hangind from poles, were what looked to be skeletal corpses of ancient origin. Carefully entering the room, Ephros and Waqsted searched the area, and the thief notice scrape marks on the floor by the throne, indicated it could be moved. Waqsted un-cautiously wasted no time pushing the throne aside, locating a hidden niche underneath it containing potion bottles. Also incautiously, he then reached in to grab the bottles….causing all ten of the skeletal monsters to drop to the floor, ready to attack! Fear gripped both Ephros and Waqsted, and they not only fled from the room but shoved anyone in their way aside to get all the way up the stairway and out of the tomb!
Angles managed to present his holy symbol and turn several of the skeletal creatures, with the bard Korgaard and Argois taking care of the rest with their weapons. After the undead’s destruction, the party searched the room (Ephros and Waqsted rejoined them as the magical fear wore off) and pocketed the potions found within the niche after battling a trio of unusal “flying daggers” that they destroyed as they flew around the room, stabbing and attacking. Also found was a group of several words written on a sheet of paper that resembled “command” words, so these were kept to possibly be used later. Continuing down the hallway, they destroyed the undead that Angles had turned, and located an unusual room at the end of the hallway: it was a small study, with bed, desk, easy chair and other acoutrements that led them to believe it was a mage’s study. They guessed this room (and the tomb) had been a bolt hole or hideaway for some long-lost wizard, and he had left the undead to guard it. Inside the room were several scholarly books as well as a small steel chest. Unfortunately, as Ephros opened the chest, a gas shot out that rendered almost everyone in the room unconscious…as four undead zombies emerged from a secret room, evil intelligence gleaming in their eye sockets!

Chapter Three: The Tomb
Only Argois and Galgadayle were still standing, and they attacked the ju-ju zombies to protect their comrades. Argois quickly downed two, and Galgadayle closed the lid on the chest, which stopped the stream of sleep gas. As Argois finished off the last zombie, Galgadayle and Ephros destroyed the last one. After healing, the party entered the secret door and found a room with a large tomb. The party debated the best action, but the man of action Waqsted pushed the lid off, and it hit the floor with a boom. Inside was a skeletal figure and several items such as a staff and wands that looked magical. Reaching inside, Waqsted set off some kind of trap, and a dozen of the flying daggers emerged from beneath the tomb to fly about the room, striking at the adventurers. At first they were not unduly troubled, while annoying the daggers were easy foes to defeat….until after striking one with his battleaxe, Waqsted saw his weapon rust and turn to dust! Unfortunately, it appeared these flying daggers had some sort of magic that allowed them to rust metal…the party reacted with fear and began pulling out there more non-essential weapons (or ones not made of metal) to battle the foes. When it was over, Ephros had lost a dagger of venom, and Argois had lost a spare warhammer, but the flying daggers had been destroyed.
Searching the tomb led to the discovery of several interesting items…what appeared to be items that the long-lost mage either was working on and left unfinished, or (as was discovered later) had not had time to recharge, seeing as each had only a few charges. Included were several wands (of Negation, Illumination, and Fear) with minimal charges, and a magical staff with only the power to create light at the tip and let anyone grasping it benefit from a feather fall spell. No spellbooks or greater treasures awaited, and after a thorough search, the party abandoned the lost wizard’s retreat.
The next couple of days passed without incident, until finally the small town of Karlsfjord was reached. Sighing with relief, the caravan master Lennox told the party after checking in with the local merchant’s guild, he would begin the long process of selling the items (steel weapons, pots, pans, lanterns, and other metal goods) and then buying items for the return trip (seal skin, furs, carved bone items) to resell in Norvik and beyond. The process would take a couple of months; the party would be free to do whatever they wanted during that period, as long as they were back in Karlsfjord at the appointed time to accompany the merchant caravan back across the continent. Giving them the name of a good inn and tavern, Lennox thanked them for the protection, and the party parted ways inside the large wooden gates of the city. With several weeks to themselves, the first order of business for the party members after such a long period in the wilderness was to spend their gold on booze and then resupply. Also, perhaps a sage or other knowledgable sort could be found in town to point them the way to the resting place of Jarl Turkhan and his magical axe Gore…before Enoki or her father located it.

NORVIK SESSION FIFTEEN

Chapter One: Below the Halls of Frost

Stealthily making his way ahead, the halfling thief Ephros came upon a small antechamber that was lit by oil lamps. The coldness down below the Halls of Frost was perceptible only to Argois and Waqsted, who had no items to combat the chill, so Angles cast Endure Cold on the both of them for the exploration ahead. Down a short hallway, the party came upon a locked door, behind which they could hear very faint whisperings. Ephros picked the lock and peeked in enough to discern a large chamber with a dwarven throne at one end, and hastily erected blockades (large wooden tables tipped on their sides) at different points of the room, behind which were shadowy figures. From the belongings scattered across the room, the party decided there were more barbarian warriors here.
Whispering a quick plan, the door was thrown open wide and a fireball from the necklace of missile was tossed to the far end of the room, engulfing several barbarians. The bard Korgaard used his newly found Bracers of Invisibility to sneak in one side as Ephros snuck in the other, Waqsted, Galgadayle’s wolverine, and Argois meeting the charge of several barbarians who rushed forward when the door was opened. Vaerlon also ran inside and leapt the nearest barrier to engage the six barbarians behind it…the battle was joined!
As the fighters battled the barbarians, the spellcasters turned the tide with judiciously cast spells. Galgadayle cast a Warp Wood spell that took out the weapons (spears and hand axes) from a small group, forcing the evil cultists to battle hth; Korgaard scouted out a side room that contained several barbarians including their leader, and Arcus used a Web spell to trap them all. Arcus also Charmed one fighter and he tried to hold back his brothers from the attack. Meanwhile, Galgadayle’s wolverine wreaked havoc as it tore three of the barbarians to pieces. Even Chester participated, setting several of the barbarian cultists aflame with his fiery breath. After only ten minutes, all the barbarian warriors lay dead except for the ones trapped in the web (who were quickly dispatched) and Arcus’ charmed companion. Questioning the barbarian led to several very interesting bits of information, including the fact that not only the half-giantess Enoki but another ice priestess and Enoki’s paramour Malachi (who it seemed was some sort of fighter/assassin) were in the caverns below. The charmed barbarian also helpfully led the party around the lower level, and they found a giant snow cat in the barbarian chief’s room (which they left for now, as Galgadayle wished to become friends with the beast after the explorations and battles were finished). However most enlightening of all the party found Malachi’s room, which yielded several magic items and a logbook detailing much useful information.
From skimming the last few pages of the logbook, the party found that a “General Ajani” had sent Malachi (a loyal member of the Cult of the White Wyrm) northwards to help Inoke and her father locate an artifact of past frost giant Jarls, the great battle Axe “Gore”, with which they would be able to unite all the frost giant tribes of the Thunderspire Mountains for the first time in five centuries. Knowledge of the location rested in the forgotten dwarven library here in the catacombs of the Halls of Frost, which Malachi, Inoke and Renata (the priestess of Rualt) searched diligently until the correct stone tablet was located. Malachi also indicated he had fallen in love with Inoke, and she was also indulging her passion with him, which threatened to disrupt the mission since they had overstayed in the Halls of Frost to dally with each other. Clearly Malachi had become smitten with the seven foot tall, white skinned half-giantess who he indicated was both a priestess and mage, a formidable foe when they would finally face her!
Further information gained told of sleeper agents of the Cult within all four main cities on Norvik and in several villages, all passing information and items to the cult itself. However, no names were given, only coded words that it would take a talented cryptologist to crack. Pocketing the logbook, Arcus and the rest decided this information must get into he hands of important people in Norvik when the party returned.
Also discovered was a dwarven short sword, covered with dwarven runes, that Malachi had apparently located in the catacombs, but had decided not to use. Arcus deciphered the runes on the hilt as reading “Giant Killer”, which indicated the sword was undoubtedly a giant slaying variety. Ephros claimed it as his own to use in the Halls. After this break, the party healed themselves and then got ready for whatever dangers awaited them below in the catacombs.

Chapter Two: Battle in the Catacombs

With even more care than before, the party started down into the lowest levels of the Halls of Frost. Not wanting to take the chance of waiting until the next day, they were very low on magical resources, but the fighters were for the most part healed of their wounds and ready to go. Coming to a large cavern, Ephros and Korgaard used their Cloak of Elvenkind and Bracers respectively to silently search all egresses from the chamber, finding a room with a pair of yetis and another with a pair of winter wolves. Not wishing to battle them and give away their position, the group quietly made their way through the passage to another twisting hallway. Galgadayle guarded their way with a Snare spell (that would activate when the first creature attempted to follow them) and set his wolverine on guard to come warn him when any creature emerged from it’s cave.
Going still farther into the heart of the catacombs, the party heard loud chanting ahead, and soon came to a gigantic chamber polished smooth with ice on the floor and walls. At the far end a large hole, which showed a swirling scene of ice, snow and cold, was faced by a beautiful 7 foot tall giantess (five of them actually, since she had Mirror Image on) with blue skin and long, white hair; and a horribly fire scarred priestess with twisted features in a leather thong. Both were obviously involved in some kind of ceremony, which stopped as soon as the party entered. No sign of Malachi was seen, and the party instinctively knew that whatever was going on in this chamber, it was responsible for the winter weather in the world above that had halted spring.
Turning around suddenly, Inoke began greeting the party members by name, saying she had followed their progress with great interest. Disconcerted by her smug knowledge of their names and specialties, the party still put their earlier discussed plan into action. Argois shouted “Enoki! Whatever evil you and the Cult have planned, it ends NOW!” and began sprinting across the ice (along with Vaerlon, Waqsted, the charmed barbarian warrior and Chester), ready for battle. Ephros and Korgaard began invisibly sneaking around the edges of the room from either side; Angles hit the pair of priestesses with Dispel Magic and then readied his sling, Galgadayle threw a fireball from the necklace of missiles (which sizzled harmlessly as it came within 10 feet of the pair), and Arcus cast Mirror Image and readied what few spells he still possessed.
Things of course didn’t go quite as planned, but that is the nature of such conflicts. Hurrying invisibly along the side of the cavern, Korgaard slammed into another invisible figure; Malachi! Turning visible briefly, Malachi struck the bard with a poisoned longsword. Feeling the poison burn like fire, the bard immediately turned back invisible realizing the longsword-armed warrior overmatched him. Now visible, Malachi began sprinting for the trio of Arcus, Angles and Galgadayle, presumably hoping to take out the spellcasters!
As the warriors approached the giantess and the frost priestess, Renata let loose Cone of Cold which turned the barbarian warrior into ice, causing him to shatter to pieces as he hit the floor! Chester was also caught in the blast but being immune to cold, he simply flew through it at the priestess. He flew at the priestesses face and breathed fire, which caused the scarred woman to visibly flinch and drop to the ground…..obviously traumatized! Vaerlon took the opportunity to strike her. On Enoki, Waqsted and Argois struck at her, and Ephros attempted to backstab from behind, but to no avail as her mirror images caught the blows. Enoki spoke a word of power and a long whip of frost appeared in her hand. She swung the magic construct and it went through all three of her attackers, damaging them and chilling them to the bone! Fortunately for the party, Renata (who was panicked by the flaming breath of Chester) cast her Ice Storm, which struck everyone in the vicinity. Although it injured not herself or Enoki, it did take away all her Mirror Images, leaving her slightly vulnerable! Renata then cast a Wall of Ice between herself and Vaerlon and Chester, giving her breathing room to escape the flames and heal herself.
On the other side of the chamber, Malachi sprinted straight for Arcus, obviously attempting to take out the party mage. Arcus used his Wand of Paralyzation, and the ray appeared to bounce off the fighter; Galgadayle cast Chill Metal and Hold Person to no effect; Angles stepped in front and engaged him, taking several savage blows from both longsword and dagger. Arcus threw a Color Spray which briefly stunned the fighter…Angles took advantage and slammed Malachi with his mace twice, and Galgadayle threw two handfuls of poisoned darts at the fighter. Shaking his head, Malachi screamed in pain and clutched the wounds the darts made, attesting to the strength of the poison on the weapons. However, enough fight remained in him to battle the trio efficiently for several more rounds as the poison took it’s toll, causing him to perspire, vomit and turn red during battle. Arcus cast a Burning Hands that did some damage as Galgadayle had to retreat in owl form when he was wounded several times, and down to his final spell, Arcus took over efficiently as he struck the staggering fighter with his staff. Finally, after several more mace blows from Angles, Malachi managed to run the cleric through with the longsword, dropping him to the ground near death. This was his last action, however, as he then dropped to the ground vomiting blood as the poison worked it’s way with him. Arcus then bandaged up the bleeding Angles before he died as Galgadayle cured himself in anticipation of joining the battle still going on with the priestesses. Malachi expired in a puddle of his own vomit and blood whispering the name of his lover Enoki…
That battle however had taken a bad turn….from the gaping hole in the wall (which the party realized was some sort of gate to another dimension or plane) came a 8 foot tall crackling figure made of blue ice…..Enoki laughed and said the gate was to the elemental plane of ice, and the creature was a Chraal, a monster of pure cold! Chester yelled “Let’s see what fire does vs ice!” and attacked the creature, buzzing around it’s head and breathing fire on it but taking several blows and another Cone of Cold which emerged from the monster’s mouth (but once again did not harm the magical Chester). Unfortunately, Chester finally got too close, and the Chraal batted the flying flaming skull away to smash against the far wall, and fall into pieces….he would be out of the battle until he regenerated!
However, the actions of the skull had given Vaerlon an opening. The priestess Renata had thrown up a Wall of Ice between her and the ranger, so he began attacking the creature of cold with his flaming sword, which seemed to hurt the creature immensely. Finally, a blow cut the creature from head to toe and it fell to the ground and melted as Vaerlon applied the heat of the blade. At the moment a self-cured Renata stabbed him from behind with an ice knife, and he turned his attention back to her.
Against Inoke, the others seemed to be having no luck at all. Using a hand axe seemingly made of ice and glowing, Inoke struck Argois again and again, almost killing him until he had to finally retreat from battle to heal himself. Ephros and Waqsted did little damage, although the halfling thief did land a few blows with his newly acquired giant slaying sword. A Magic Missile spell from Arcus seemed to damage her, and Argois rejoined the battle. Ephros tried every trick in the book including throwing a magic powder in Enoki's face (to no effect) and levitating up and using arrows on the priestess, which seemed to be a better strategy for him (as he was not struck, and he hit her a few times). Now that Malachi was dead and the Chraal destroyed, the party could concentrate on the two priestesses, with their backs literally against the wall (or the gate). It would only be a matter of time, they hoped.
At this point Enoki stood back with her frost whip and hand axe in hands and called for a parley. Breathing heavily, wounded, and looking for a way out, she told the party that she was the cause of the unnatural weather in Norvik, which she had caused through use of a special magic item she had and the existence of an older gate at the site of the catacombs. Inoke revealed that her research in the dwarven library told her the dwarves had used ancient magic to activate a gate to the lower underdark, which they left through when attacked by frost giants and others. However, the still functioning gate had been corrupted by the magic of the priestesses of Rualt and been used to open a rift to the Elemental plane of ice. The opening was wreaking havoc with the regular weather….and Enoki said only she could close the gate, and only if the party allowed her to leave! She said she had the information she needed about the location of the frost giant Jarl who had wielded the mighty axe Gore, so there was no point in her remaining here. If the party let her leave, she promised to close the gate, and perhaps their paths would not cross again….
The tale sounded fishy, and Enoki kept edging closer to the open gate. Korgaard began singing a lusty battle song, and the party attacked. Renata threw her ice blade at Argois and it dropped him, almost severing his head, as the rest of the adventurers cast spells or struck at Inoke. Unfortunately, despite taking several blows, she leapt through the opening to the plane of ice, and the gate closed behind her, ending the threat of the icy spring with a loud boom as the gate collapsed upon itself . As the roaring and whistling stopped and the room grew quiet with the closing of the gate, the priestess of Rualt who had been left behind called on her goddess to grant her a swift death at the adventurer’s hands. This came to pass as very quickly as the ones still standing made quick work of her, and soon she lay dead on the ice.

Chapter Three:
Soon after Galgadayle’s wolverine entered the cave, warning of the arrival of the yetis and winter wolves in the outer caverns. Arcus fired his Wand of Steam down the tunnel, which killed the yetis, and the injured winter wolves were finished off by the party fighters. Plans were made to gather fire-making materials from the upper caverns, find a spot to hole up and heal up, especially the heavily injured Angles and Argois (who had nearly died from the last attack). The party found both the dwarven library and Enoki’s chamber, from which they gathered minor treasure and the dwarven stone tablets detailing the information about the frost giant Jarl Turkhan and his mighty axe Gore. Translating the tablets from dwarvish, Arcus said that with some work he would be able to possibly pinpoint the location of the Jarl’s final resting place, which would contain the axe, and with a little luck they might beat the half-giantess to the spot. Although they would have to see the caravan they were guarding through to Karlsfjord, the fact Enoki did not have the tablets themselves might slow her down or derail her quest entirely.
Also, they party was troubled by the discovery of Enoki’s traveling spellbook as the spell Magic Mirror was within, a scrying spell that told the party Enoki had been able to spy on them awhile to learn their names and abilities, and would be able to watch them in the future if she had another spellbook with the spell.
The dwarven library, when located, showed the depth of the giantesses’ depravity as any of the stone tablets left behind and not needed had been ruthlessly destroyed by Enoki and her helpers. Piles of broken stone lay scattered across the shelves and floor of the small room; not a lot of items had been left by the retreating dwarves, but what had remained was gone. Only a few of the stone books were left and these were salvaged by Arcus to hopefully bring to The Citadel (his birthplace) someday for preservation.
For two days, the party stayed below in the catacombs, healing up and taking time to thoroughly search the area for any other clues to what Enoki had been planning. Galgadayle used the time to approach and befriend the giant snow cat pet of the barbarian leader, who would make a valuable ally and pet against the Cult of the White Wyrm. The cat quickly befriended the druid but was very skittish around the wolverine and the flying flaming skull Chester (who it hissed at whenever he floated nearby).
Meanwhile Arcus was able to spend the two days further translating the dwarven runes on the stones, and was dismayed by what he found. Although an expedition to the north would have to wait until the party finished escorting the caravan to Karlsfjord, the entire fate of Norvik and everyone on the great glacier might rest on their shoulders. In the hands of a powerful, charismatic frost giant Jarl (presumably like Enoki’s father) the weilder of the battle axe Gore might unite the various tribes of giants into an unstoppable force sweeping down from the Thunderspire mountains…..