Summary of Events:
When we left our adventurers last, they had just freed a group of orc children who were being held captive in the Frozen Maw. While deciding how to proceed, Chonka entertains the orc children by singing and dancing around. Rota performs a tantalizingly entrancing feat; balancing upon his glaive and performing the legendary one finger pushup. Ren casts a musical Minor Illusion. The children laugh, applaud, and cheer in approval.
The adventurers decide to double back to the unexplored area across the water in the southwestern corner of the cave. They leave the children in the main chamber of the cave with two of the three mammoths.
The party decides to leave the kids in the main chamber of the cave while they double back to the unexplored area across the water to the southwest.
Ren scouts ahead through Kelly’s eyes as she flies through the remainder of the cave. Across the body of water before them is a throne with strange letters carved into it. Behind the throne is a large, muscular, angry looking troll wearing a crown made of antlers that have been weaved together. To the west, there is a crow’s nest of a sunken ship peeking out of the water.
The adventurers decide to attack the crowned beast and formulate their plan. Rota and Ren climb atop the mammoth and usher it into the water. Halfway across the water, the mammoth is pulled out from underneath them as its yanked underwater. They catch a fleeting glimpse of a giant shadow underwater as the mammoth disappears. As Rota and Ren fall into the water, Ren casts Shape Water and just as soon they’re floating atop a five foot cube of solid ice.
As the ice cube sail boat docks they notice some goat remains amongst the piles and piles of bones that frame the throne on either side. As they approach the throne, the crowned troll springs out and lands in a perch on top of it. The beast stands up tall, stretching his arms wide and introduces himself as King Kurgar and ruler of all they see before them. Kurgar leaps down and crackling fissures spring out from where he lands. Dozens and dozens of rats pour out of the various cracks in the floor and Kurgar’s devilish laughter can be heard echoing through the dungeon.
As Rota and Ren engage, Chonka is enamored by the sight of battle and has a transcendent vision. This vision feels like a flashback, but is of the life of another person. A bard. Chonka sings an inspirational tune from across the lake. Oddly enough, it’s absolutely beautiful.
Rota and Ren fall back onto the block of ice and shove off, attempting to evade the encroaching swarms of rats. As they close in, Ren casts Shape Water again, creating a strong downcurrent. Many of the rats are pulled in and the shadow below returns, barreling for the surface. At the exact moment that the adventurers see a magnificently humongous killer whale devour the rats and slam into the cube of ice, Iolair casts Banishment and sends the killer whale to another dimension.
The party focuses its attention on Kurgar, hitting him with a barrage of Magic Missiles, glaives, and handaxes. Chonka sings another inspirational tune that somehow exceeds the beauty and impressiveness of the last. Rota casts Misty Step and teleports from the cube of ice to a spot behind Kurgar, carving pieces out of him with his glaive.
As Ren leaps off the cube and onto the shore where his other companions are, Iolair launches a Fireball and Chonka takes a running leap for the cube of ice in the middle of the lake. Chonka springs an impressive 18 feet and lands onto the cube, determined to join the battle and help Rota put Kurgar down.
Suddenly Rota casts Ethereal Step and travels through the ethereal plane to another spot out of Kurgar’s line of sight. Kurgar wheels around wildly, searching for his attacker. Before he can find him, Rota casts Spike Growth and dozens of stalagmites of ice and earth spring out of the ground underneath Kurgar and surround him on all sides.
Iolair casts a Healing Word to Rota; Lar, the elvish word for good fortune, prosperity, and bliss. Kurgar is overwhelmed by a Ray of Frost and a pike that Chonka throws, skewering his arm. Rota lands the killing blow with a planar warrior strike and Kurgar is thrown back onto the stalagmites and impaled.
Chonka inspects Kurgar’s throne and discovers that it is covered in carvings of a repeated series of letters in an old language that she cannot recognize. Upon inspecting Kurgar’s antler crown, they notice a string of the same letters carved into the inside of it:
Comparing the two, they determine that the phrase on the crown is what is repeated over and over again across every surface of Kurgar’s throne.
The adventurers regroup on the other side of the lake and Iolair sees the crown for the first time. He immediately recognizes the letters from his childhood. These letters were similar to the runes carved into the doors of his childhood home and the words have a resemblance to those in the letters his mother would pour over late at night when she thought he was asleep. He remembers these as letters from his father.
Upon returning to the main chamber of the cave, the party discovers that the orc children have left and taken the mammoths with them. Despite their attempts to communicate with the children, they must have assumed the mammoths were a gift. They follow the trail of the mammoths outside of the Frozen Maw and for a short while until the path turns towards the North, into the vast and frigid unknown of the Basilisk’s Spine Mountains. They decide to head back to Karstaag instead to collect their bounty.
The adventurers find Yuron Whitemane in the Moorside Inn, trying to find the bottom of his bottle as quickly as he can.
After a little haggling and banter, Whitemane pulls the group to a private booth and finally makes good on his promise. The adventurers had eliminated the beings responsible for stealing the town’s livestock. Yuron tells a story about the Temple at Kaldrfjell, to the East the Basilisk’s Spine mountains. Long ago, a battle carried on outside it’s walls for 100 days and 100 nights. The barbarians had almost broken through the defenses and taken Kaldrfjell when three heros emerged from the the catacombs underneath the temple. These heros fought to the death and managed to chase off the barbarians before falling to their wounds. The remaining refugees honored the heros by burying them with their weapons, deep within the Undercroft.
The party decides to travel to the Temple at Kaldrfjell, in pursuit of the power within…
Session End.
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