B1E20- Ice Dungeon Crawl

Jarl (human Wizard, Bill), Mareshi (human Cleric, Tony), Draggo (Dragonborn Barbarian, Brian), Thokk (half-Orc Warlock, Duane), Knott (Firbolg Druid, Matt), Fabian (1/2 elf Bard, Goeff)

Onward to Reghed Glacier: several days journey till we came to an ice wall (frozen waterfall). A puzzled human wizard (Jarl) stood before the wall, “Oh good, someone else to help solve the entry problem. I’m from the Arcane Brotherhood and had the premonition you would show.” The wall kept refreezing with every weapon-strike and cast spell. But once someone recited the Rime of the Frost Maiden: the wall melted, revealing caverns. And from somewhere inside, we heard the repeating sound of "Tekeli-li".

We entered the frozen cavern maze of mostly stone construction with 20-30ft ceilings. The first room included a ship hull encased in ice. A frozen iron safe (with a combo lock) blocked the way. Mareshi accidently knocked something over: the sound echoed throughout the cavern system. 

And as expected, someone came to answer the call: 4 floating skulls that shots rays of fire from their sockets. A fireball exploded amongst us too, along with a flaming sphere to threaten Jarl. But his Ray of Frost broke the skull’s concentration, dispelling the sphere. It was a concerted effort of magic weapons and spells to vanquish the skulls, that allowed Draggo time to break the frozen safe: 4 amethyst gems and a magic ring (detailed with two rams horns). Mareshi claimed the ring to get herself an offensive spell [a spectral ram that deals 2d10 Force damage].

Down another passage or two, we came upon a kobold barking "Tekeli-li". Remembering Vellynne’s kobolds, Mareshi approached to help it. It hissed and bared its canine teeth! Thankfully the cleric blocked the vampiric bite at her neck. Knott turned into a starry form and dealt radiant damage, Mareshi dealt radiant damage, and Jarl cast Mind Sliver to finally kill it.

The caverns felt millennia old. How long ago did the city of Ythryn fall? A stone tower from the city blocked another cavern. Professor Skant was excited to see the tower but was more impressed at the magical ice. And that’s when smoke leaked from the tower wall, then coalesced into a hyena Vampire that snarled "Tekeli-li". [WIS save to avoid being frightened] Maybe Jarl had seen this encounter in his visions: Portent to use a pre-rolled success. But Knott had no such premonitions and thus failed its sickening gaze. At least Mareshi was able to Turn it [along with Jarl’s portent failure for the vampiric creature]. Back into its misty form, it withdrew inside the tower.

Whether it was Draggo beating on the tower wall or Mareshi using the Ram-ring to batter it: we stepped thru the hole to witness shifting geometric patterns within the tower. A skeleton lay on the floor. Skant knew Netherese wizards used the tower to regenerate spells. Was this wizard caught off-guard when the city fell? Still cautious of the vampiric kobold, we returned to the ice cave to explore other passages. Another large cavern included a giant spire fallen on its side while a giant hole penetrating to lower levels. We found a Golem-head in a side-chamber. Skant became our translator as we asked it questions about the city: yes, he saw the kobold recently; yes it needs help; fell from the city as it crashed; hasn’t seen a mortal within the last thousand years.

As we continued, we came upon another room with a frosted slab. Skant read its inscription “Take a self-guided tour of the city. Press the eye for information.” After touring a few sectors, we zoomed out to realize the city looked like some kind of flying saucer. But one most interesting thing was the displayed LARGE weather control device. Not hand-held like Thokk’s; this one took up an entire room! Skant said it was meant to control weather on other planes of existence.

Another long tunnel looked foreboding with its shadows, so Knott sent his squirrel forward to inspect. A shadow suddenly reached out and grabbed it! When Knott cast Fairy Fire, 3 Shadow-creatures became visible and attacked. As we battled those, 9 more appeared! At least Mareshi was able to Turn them all, but not before Knott had been touched and drained of some strength. And once again we heard the warning call "Tekeli-li" just before a vampiric wolf appeared. Mareshi was bitten and thankfully we all withstood its fearful cackle. Light, Fireball, and magical weapons finally overwhelmed it as it turned into a mist. “Quick, follow it! We must find its lair and drive a stake thru its heart to really kill it.”

We ignored the hateful cursing (in an unfamiliar language) from a side-room as we chased the mist. We passed another cavern with a 15ft diameter hole and soon entered a room with an ice-wall. Behind it was a HUGE bulbous thing with multiple tentacles. Was this the Eldrich Horror that Auriel warned us about?! Was this what she tried to keep frozen as her excuse for the eternal darkness of the north? All we knew was we wanted to get as far away as possible!

Within another room we found 2 fallen spires from the city. But more importantly, laying on a slab, we found the kobold in a relaxed pose with its arms crossed across its chest. Draggo quickly sharpened one of his torches and drove it into the vampire’s chest. And that’s when we realized the mirrored ceiling of the room caused distortions of items within the room. Severe penalties had we had to fight the vampire!

Another cave include a large 8ft cube of greyish-green stone not covered in frost. Strange and sticky such that it almost trapped Draggo’s axe as he tried to chip it. Mareshi got the insane idea to retrieve the vampire body (with stake) and stick it to the cube. It wasn’t till we left the room that it attacked Jarl with an acidic glob of spit. We hustled away.

Which brought us to the Wight stuck in the block of ice. When Mareshi’s Speak with the Dead spell failed, she decided to chisel free its mouth to speak. And that’s how it was able to attempt to control whoever asked questions. While we learned it was created by the Netherian priests as a permanent librarian, we also learned maybe Draggo wasn’t the most intelligent to be asking questions as he was quickly paralyzed!

Once we refroze the Wight’s mouth, and Mareshi removed Draggo’s condition, we continued into a chamber where we found another 15ft diameter hole and a grove of frost-covered trees that bore purple pears. Anyone care for some fruit?

Next Episode: https://wjrrofm.blogspot.com/2024/12/b1e21-ythryn-at-last.html