Chronicles
| Session | Chronicle |
|---|---|
| 39 Feast of the Moon | In the aftermath of the Chardalyn Dragon's destruction, the party heads to Bryn Shander as Ten Towns gathers for mourning during the Feast of the Moon. Speakers recount the weal and woe of the duergar offensive, lauding heroes and lamenting the dead. A chilling poem is sung by Frostmaiden worshippers, who later gather around a familiar face. Vurnis, once dead sister of frost druid Ravisin, is alive. It grows clear that she is a Chosen of Auril, though her intentions remain shrouded. As the heroes gather in their new base, the Hooked Knucklehead, they reunite with T-Rex and are approached by refugees who wish to journey to Kuldahar for salvation. Before departing, they speak with a perturbed Vellynne Harpell. The wizard feels a disturbance in the Weave. The cold of winter is too cold and creatures from the Plane of Frost seem to have found their way to Icewind Dale. Dawn itself seems to falter. Vellynne wishes to head to Solstice Isle with the party after they return from Kuldahar with, hopefully, answers. After preparations, our heroes and a hundred desperate Dalefolk journey to the druidic haven. |
| 38 Showdown | DISENGAGE FROM HOSTILITIES. Grappled and sustaining attack after attack, the Chardalyn Dragon countered with its seering radiant breath. Breaking free and taking flight, the behemoth considered its next target. RESUME PROTOCOL. Oona vaulted onto the beast and repeatedly hacked at the wing joint, causing the two to plummet into the ruins of Easthaven. ENGAGEMENT CONTINUED. Releasing its stored spell energy, the effects of shatter took out both the barbian and the druid Tetro who rushed to her aid. MALEVOLENCE CONSIDERED. Its wing and tail tore into Crank, tossing him aside. Once again taking flight, Fern dexterously maneuvered a ballista, firing with her mage hand, and tore into the beast's wing. MALEVOLENCE AURA ACTIVATED. Damaged beyong repair, the chardalyn dragon perverted the minds of our heroes into fighting themselves as it loomed overhead. Throwing what little energies they had at the terror, doom seemed imminent. Azgul broke free of the malevolent hold. He fired two blasts through the dragon's chest. The dragon's core ripped from its torso, body slamming into the ground, inert. The standing heroes rushed to their downed comrades, as they entrusted their preparations to secure the safety of Ten Towns from the duergar offensive. |
| 37 The Battle for Easthaven | With the chardalyn dragon en-route to Ten Towns, our heroes scrambled together a counteroffensive. They rode the griffons of Wyrmdoom Crag across the tundra without rest. Gadget and Tetro used tinkered stones and sky-written alarms to alert Ten Towns to the imminent threat. In Easthaven, the heroes rushed to prepare the townsfolk and hasten the militia, aiding Speaker Waylen and recruiting Vellynne Harpell, while the dragon was preoccupied in Bremen's destruction. Before they could meet Captain Imdra Arlaggath, the vanguard of the duergar offensive struck. Imdra died. As the fighting drew on, the dragon attacked. Ballista rounds met with dragon fire. Azgul goaded the dragon to land after flying after it, only to be slammed mid-air into a rooftop. But the bait was effective, leading the dragon to the heroes' bolt shooters, causing it to land. There, Vellynne's cast of Bigby's Hand grappled the roaring dragon by the throat. |
| 36 End of Sunblight | Xardorok Sunblight gloated in religious fervor, basking in the completion of his Chardalyn Dragon in honor of a false god. Our party cleared his hallways, thick with blood of both Muzgardt and Sunblight duergar before facing the warlock king in his forge. MALEVOLENCE PROTOCOL ENGAGED. With the dragon reprogrammed to take flight, Tetro, Oona, Fern, Crank, Gadget, and Azgul routed the vanguard of duergar hammerers and quaggoth soldiers. Sussur branch jutting from an impaled eye, Xardorok transmogrified, body turning to chardalyn as dark magicks tore apart the foundry. Whatever remaining lifeblood spilling, Xardorok died in agony. Quickly tending to the wounded and freeing prisoners, the Heroes of the Cairn consider the calamity now flying towards Ten Towns. |
| 35 Devils in the Forge | The duergar warlock Xardorok Sunblight has slipped into a hopeless fervor, according to Olpha Muzgardt. He has gone to obsess over his chardalyn creation. With the Muzgardt crew hiding bloodied bodies to buy the party time, the heroes tread towards the forge level. As they await the east elevator, the upper floor's ice gate clamors open and the chardalyn dragon enters, roaring down the fortress's central shaft. Descending below, they encounter a red-eyed duergar in a temple of Deep Duerra. The priest reveals himself to be a devil servant of the Lord of the Nine Hells. Circling through hidden passages to scout the best approach to the forge itself, our heroes rely on brawn and shadow to work their way through the stone halls. We leave off with their looting of Sunblight's treasure room. |
| 34 Command Level | Our heroes enter Sunblight Fortress's smoke laden halls, stealthily moving from the throne room to the command level with the aid of Muzgardt-aligned duergar. Azgul and Tetro suffer independent psychic episodes in their exploring: Azgul listening to the calculated, simmering rage of Levistus and Tetro feeling the brain-splitting agony of a nearby lifeform. They learn that Sunblight's army is positioned to strike Ten Towns in two days, prompting them to send a message of warning to Captain Imdra Arlaggath in Easthaven. Finding Xardorok's War Room, the party uncovers the flight path of the chardalyn dragon. Gadget manages to scramble the chardalyn dragon's route, securing Ten Towns several more hours in case it falls under siege. Fern loots Xardorok's bedside chest, gleeful but cautious. Their stealth turns into bloodshed as they stumble into a patrol and skirmish in the dining halls, reuniting with Olpha Muzgardt. |
| 33 Sneaking into Sunblight | Shadowing Olpha Muzgardt as she headed to dine with the Sunblight warlord, our party tip-toed through the mines outside Thizrun, working their way towards a water-logged escape path that led towards Xardorok's stronghold. The presence of chardalyn began to grow oppressive with its dust permeating the air and several duergar exhibiting extreme, physical crystal anomalies. While fording an underground river, Azgul nearly died. His patron Levistus spared him: monologuing that he was the one responsible for guiding him to Icewind Dale, chiding him for trying to create clones to subvert their contract, and compelling him to kill the duergar warlock. Soon after the party fended off a chardalyn bulette while cracking the riddle behind a dwarven door, gaining access to Xardorok's escape tunnel. |
| 32 The Town of Thizrun | Entering a Sunblight controlled mining colony, the party took to disguising themselves as well as cloaking Sensei, who was unfortunately considered a delicacy among some gray dwarves. They soon found themselves amidst a center of trade, where commonfolk duergar kept to themselves under the oppressive presence of the Sunblight Clan. An unexpected alliance with the duergar princess Olpha Muzgardt was forged, as well as a plan to infiltrate Sunblight via a hidden escape tunnel while Olpha dined with the warlord. Before setting off towards the mines, the party purchased T-Rex the kobold from slavers. He's now part of the gang, for better or worse. |
| 31 The Bridge | The Underdark expedition was leading our heroes towards a Sunblight mining colony. There, a purported Duergar princess of the Muzgardt clan had been summoned to court the warlock king himself, Xardorok. Accompanying a goliath named Aruk and a myconid named Sensei, who each wished to rescue their friends, the party fought their way forward. After a harrowing encounter on an ancient dwarven bridge, the party crept close to the colony. Aruk Thundercaller, however, did not make it. |
| 30 Phaerimm in the Deep | The band delves deeper into the Underdark. Disturbing an ossified phaerimm, they collect foliage from a Sussur Tree. Soon after they run into escapees from Sunblight Fortress: a scholarly fishman mage named Sloopi D Oop, a goliath named Aruk, and a myconid named Sensi. Recruiting the latter two, whose companions were still captive in the fortress, the party treks towards a duergar mining colony. Here, they are told, a duergar princess from a clan other than the Sunblights, has taken residence, awaiting Xardarok's summons of courtship. |
| 29 Spelunking to Sunblight | Our heroes prepared to enter the Underdark, spending several days in Ten Towns stocking up and receiving intel on Xardorok's duergar at Sunblight Fortress. While several of their illusory items had melted into black ooze, a lone diamond remained, which they entrusted to Copper in order to recharge the Summer Star. Entering the Termalaine mines, the party set out on foot in the dank, dark, but warmer chill of the Underdark's labyrinthine caverns, which occasionally glowed with bioluminescent fungi. Stepping through an old drow ruin, the party fought off a nothic and several skeletons before arriving at a Sussur Tree, growing out of the petrified corpse of an eon old phaerimm. |
| 28 Vault of Ice. Council of Speakers. | Our heroes opened the Axebreaker Vault, fulfilling Fern's personal mission to Icewind Dale. Therein they found treasure and danger, as they were teleported one foot into the Plane of ice, requiring them to fend off rime hulks and extreme conditions before scrambling to the safety of the Dwarven Valley. The next day's journey returned the group to Bryn Shander, where they attended the Council of Speakers. Political turmoil erupted and the shenanigans of Kadroth of the Black Swords was squelched, though Naerth Maxildannar's plots wormed themselves into fruition. Pointedly, though, a duergar offensive was identified as Sunblight Fortress had been located. Worries of a dragon under duergar control surfaced, and the party consented to infiltrate the fort, opting to head into the Underdark through the Termalaine mines. |
| 27 Dreams are my Reality | Our heroes activated the rune chamber of the Lost Spire, producing armaments and jewels while the ancient mechanism sparked and whirred. Gadget warily took note. Dzaan's simulacrum met his end at Azgul's hand, and as the party prepared to leave the spire, Crank was perplexed by seemingly running into more than one Azgul. Later, the party tracked down the Tribe of the Bear's shaman in order to ink Fern with the lock-breaker tattoo. Oona received the Bear's Eldritch Claw tattoo as well, slowly realizing that the shaman she was dealing with was the one from her dreams, the same who poisoned the Bear King's wives and children. As outsiders, they lacked influence, but this vision was expressed to the Bear King Gunvald, and now on a solemn arctic morning our heroes prepare to depart, first to the Axebreaker Vault and then back to Ten Towns. |
| 26 The Dark Tower | The party ascended a lost spire of Netheril, by descending into the inverted tower, which had fallen into the ice and was forgotten until uncovered by Dzaan's expedition. Within the tower they found Dzaan's simulacrum, and as words fired between mentor and his once apprentice, Azgul, the party took down a rogue ice salamander. Soon after, the sorrowsworns attacked. Now our heroes face a dilemma. How will they use the rune chamber which can turn illusion into reality? Do they aid Dzaan? |
| 25 THE THING | Chaos overtook the prison as a free for all ensued in blackened hallways with flickering lights and an unknown number of slaadi invaders. The party ascended the central tower of Revel's End, finding a wounded Lieutenant Stone and a sullen Warden Marthannis. The green slaad spotted earlier had made short work of the guard barracks and was now on the rooftop. All was lost, said the deranged warden. As the party confronted a grey slaad, Gadget and Crank were alarmed when their attacks only rippled through the aberration. What they didn't know was the rogue green slaad had killed the warden, eaten her heart, and evolved. The threat in front of them was an illusion. As the warden's jaw unhinged and a cone of fear magic enveloped the party, the true fight was on. It ended with the slaad's fall from the tower. An uneasy peace was restored over Revel's End. Authority in the prison was in shambles. Both Stone and Marthannis were dead. Tetro informed Speaker Waylen about the incident and played the speaker's earlier message: new tidings about the duergar were unearthed and the speakers were meeting in Bryn Shander for the next week. |
| 24 ALIENS | A slaad infestation took over Revel's End, stemming from a rogue blue slaad. The prison was sent into lockdown. Beforehand, the party met Warden Marta Marthannis and Fern managed to discover Prisoner 13's arcane lock-breaker. Azgul talked to Vaelish Gant during the slaad attacks, and Tetro healed Gadget's wounds, which festered with the slaadi chaos phage. Oona and Crank slept through it all. In the center of the panopticon, a green slaad ran away into the vents while the party dispatched two reds. A minute later, the Warden's lockdown broadcasts ceased. As static and sirens filled the air, the lights blacked out and all doors opened. |
| 23 Go go Gadget. From Angajuk to Revel's End. | The party bid a heartfelt farewell to Hazel, whose memories of her past life as Anga flooded forward stirring a renewed kinship with the whale Angajuk and her post at the Sea of Moving Ice. Fortuitously, the gnomish artificer Gadget leaped eagerly into their company. Angajuk relayed the plights of winter in and along the Sea of Moving Ice: a deadly kraken, a mysterious underwater temple, and the island Solstice, a frigid frontier of the Frostmaiden's own. Mulling over their options, the party decided to first head towards Revel's End to pursue Fern's personal mission as well as to interrogate Vaelish Gant. Journeying along the coast, a cadre of frost druids met their match against our heroes in a chilling clash. Eventually, the group arrived at the prison, slipping into disguises and announcing their presence as associates of the Arcane Brotherhood. They were granted entrance and shelter but found themselves marooned in the prison's mess hall, weapons checked and anticipation stewing, as they prepared to parley with Warden Marthannis. |
| 22 The White Wyrm and the Whalesong | The heroes braved the wreckage of the Dark Duchess, contending with a lurking ice troll and uncovering the grim fate of Captain Bluebeard and his first mate Sephek Kaltro, who were betrayed by a thieving mage amidst the threat of the white dragon Arveiturace. Swiftly claiming treasures but leaving the dragon's rimed hoard, they made a harrowing escape as the dragon itself descended upon the ship. Their adventure led to the remote Angajuk's Bell, where against the backdrop of a forbidding blizzard, they challenged and thwarted a band of ruthless whalers set on desecrating the sacred bond between the famed druid Anga and the great sperm whale Angajuk. The tale took a mystical turn when Hazel rang Anga's bell only to be swept into a deeply personal vision, casting her through a century of whispering memories. |
| 21 Out of the Freezer and into the Cryo Pan. | The party unearthed treacherous plots within Nildar Sunblight's Duergar Outpost, revealing his ambition to build an army of myconid-infected Dalefolk in contrast to his father's chardalyn driven siege weaponry. Triumphantly, the party secured stolen valuables from Caer Konig and returned these to their owners. Backtracking through Ten Towns, the party stopped at Bryn Shander's Temple of the Morninglord, extracting reluctant information from the gnome Copper about the Summer Star — a device capable of altering weather patterns by mimicking a Netherese Mythallar. In Bremen, the party made plans to set out across the tundra towards the Dark Duchess, and they delivered Huarwar Mulphoon's necklace to his mother as proof of his livelihood. Venturing into the icy tundra, they faced the ground-quaking wrath of a remorhaz, a monstrosity that swallowed Oona whole only for her to cleave herself free in the final moments. Bruised but driven, they arrived at their destination—the enigmatic wreck of the Dark Duchess—ready to uncover its secrets and claim its long-lost rewards. |
| 20 Frigid Fugitives. The Duergar Outpost. | - |
| 19 Black Swords and Smörgåsbords | - |
| 18 Black Ice, the Duergar Plot. | - |
| 17 Easthaven, soon to be Feasthaven. | - |
| 16 The Coven and the Cauldron | - |
| 15 Dzaan's Fiery Entrance. White Lady of the Lake. | - |
| 14 Date Night with Duhg, a Tomb Raiding Affair. | - |
| 13 Making Friend in Good Mead. | - |
| 12 Your friend, Naerth. The killer, Sephek. | - |
| 11 Auril and her Roc. The Monster of Maer Dualdon. | - |
| 10 The Black Cabin. | - |
| 09 Of Ravisin and Vurnis. | - |
| 08 The Moon Dial and Mirror. | - |
| 07 The Lonelywood | - |
| 06 Mine Snowball Kobolds, Enthralled and Brawled. | - |
| 05 The Yeti Den and the Golden Dawn. | - |
| 04 Targos. Termalaine. And Kelvin's Tortuous Terrain. | - |
| 03 Of Iron and Snow | - |
| 02 Wellmet! The Dalefolk of Bryn Shander | - |
| 01 Ten Road to Icewind Dale | - |
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