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.

The Dark Duchess

#DarkDuchess Arriving at the Dark Duchess, the party couldn't help but feel like they were being followed in the last hour of their journey. Nevertheless, the presence had not appeared and the icy, rimed shipwreck loomed before them. Exploration of the main deck revealed a collapsed hole in the center and freshly battered railings along the forecastle. A large creature was heard stumbling about the hold. It was identified to be an ice troll by Oona and Fern. Meanwhile, Tetro was spending time thawing the frozen door to the captain's quarters, and Azgul used his unseen servant to pry through the rear captain's windows, reaching his logbook.
#DarkDuchess The captain's log hinted that the ship had sighted Iceclaws, the famed white wyrm of the north. “That damned white dragon is back, circling above me like a vulture. Reckon she could carry this ship back to Luskan were she of a mind to. To die from starvation, bitter cold, or a dragon? Choices, choices.” The dragon apparently attacked a few days later, mooring the ship in an ice floe. Facing doom, the first mate, Sephek Kaltro, and the ship surgeon planned to head out with dogs to find help while Captain Bluebeard remained on board to guard their cargo and rum. Unfortunately, a passenger referred to as the mage Nass, stole off with the dogs before dawn broke, leaving Sephek and the unnamed surgeon on foot. In the captain's quarters they found a chest within which was some loot as well as an Eyes of the Eagle, which the captain had used to spot threats on the horizon. The captain himself lie dead in his chair, frozen stiff. The rum, the party later found, was largely missing from the holds.
#DarkDuchess In the first mate Sephek Kaltro's cabin, they found a journal chronicling the Luskanite's travels. He wrote about his child, back in Luskan. He wrote, in worry, about the increasingly icy seas and Captain Bluebeard's dragon sighting, thinking to increase his prayers to whichever gods may help his passage through the Sea of Moving Ice. His final journal entry, dated at the beginning of the Fading, the 9th month, a month or two before the party arrived into Icewind Dale, was grim. He remarked that he and the ship surgeon would be setting out into the tundra, hoping to reach Ten Towns, forced to walk into the wilds after the majority of their dogs were stolen by Nass Lantomir. He wished for the endurance to bear this trial.
#battle #DarkDuchess The ice troll was a fierce opponent but no match for the party, who jumped into the hold in a blitz attack. It's cold aura left a few heroes licking their wounds, but its vulnerability to fire was quickly exploited to bring it down.
#battle #DarkDuchess The hold contained several longboats and a massive treasure hoard, frozen in laminated sheets of ice. While some picked away at this icy treasure, Crank busted down the door to the galley. A gang of kobolds had barricaded themselves inside, attempting to ward off the ice troll. Alarmed, they attacked Crank on instinct. This resulted in their deaths. The party managed to glean that the kobolds were present in service, or perhaps reverence, of the "big one." That big one was the ancient dragon Arveiturace.
#DarkDuchess The Dark Duchess had been wrecked by Arveiturace, a thousand year old white dragon. The treasure inside was a part of her hoard. Upon this realization, the heroes made a concerted effort to leave as quickly as possible, taking with them furs and the items found in the captain's and crew's quarters. With the clock working against them, the party was fastening their cargo onto sleds during their final preparations for departure on the edge of the frozen sea when Arveiturace landed on the splintered prow of the ship. The heroes fled into the snow.

Angajuk's Bell

#AngajuksBell Hours later, the party arrived at Angajuk's Bell, a druidic hermit's enclave turned fishing outpost in the middle of nowhere along the Sea of Moving Ice. Here they beseeched a local, Tinjong, to grant them shelter. This being the night of the full moon, Tinjong let the party know he would be putting the fire out soon, a sacrifice honoring the Frostmaiden. Azgul intimidated the fisher, who did not budge on this practice but relented that they could stay in Anga's cabin and use whatever wood they find if they wished to defy the gods. The party decided to stay the night at Tinjong's in the end.
#AngajuksBell #WhaleHunters Tinjong told the party that a brusque group had arrived, determined to kill the sperm whale Angajuk. Angajuk was a local legend, known in Ten Towns for having bonded with the druid Anga. The whale, along with other regional animals, would come to Anga when she rang the copper bell in the frozen harbor. This was decades ago, though, when Anga was still alive. Now her stone hut lay dormant and the bell rimed over. The fishers of Angajuk's Bell, once a village reared on the philosophy of balance, were challenged by these newcomers. On one hand, slaughtering the whale would be sacrilege, but on the other, the whale oil and ambergris could sustain them, especially as the cold grew ever-challenged, almost hellbent on ending life on the coast.
#AngajuksBell Anga's hut lay quiet. The locals had left it alone in honor of the druid. Or was it a monk? The party heard mixed stories. The hut itself was coated in frost from seawater spray. An old wool blanket lay iced and rigid on a bed, and firewood still remain in the hearth, usable but wormed over. Above the hearth, Oona noted exactly three runes: glyphs marking the tenets of Isolation, Preservation, and Endurance.
#battle #AngajuksBell #WhaleHunters The day's blizzard kept most locals inside, but a cadre of Dalefolk were outside by a large barrel, pointing at the break in the ice near Anga's copper bell. They were the ruffian whalers that Tinjong warned the party about. The thugs told the locals they would hunt the whale. What the locals didn't know was that this band intended on poisoning the waters to do so, using the famed bell to lure their prize in. Hazel had no patience for these fools and their disrespect of the wilds. The party struck the barrel with a flame, intending to stop them. The barrel exploded and a skirmish ensued. The incensed thugs put up fight but met their end on the water's edge. The locals seemed to care more about the dead bodies than the scuffle, worried that the "tundra would take them." Concerned about undead rising, Oona, Crank, and Tetro not only buried the corpses, but dismembered them.
#AngajuksBell Stepping out on the ice, Angajuk's Bell stood glimmering in the soft snow. Hazel felt compelled by it. The bell, when struck, rang solemnly. Keeling over but standing, Hazel's vision tunneled. She did not feel her companion Fern's hand brace her. She instead saw herself, not as herself but as another. A hundred years of history. A trek to the north but not her journey. Or was it her journey? Her hands but not her hands, young but weathered from the wilds. A blizzard. Exhaustion. A meeting. Frost laden druids. An island. Solace. Contemplation. Sitting in the snow, smiling at the beauty in each unique crystal. A great whale. A better friend. An unexpected community. Her hands, aged and aching. Her woolen blanket, a gift.

XP

Total XP: 7250

300 ~ #DarkDuchess COMPLETE
150 ~ #WhaleHunters COMPLETE
50 ~ Angajuk's Bell EXPLORED

Loot

Vial of Holy Water ~ Surgeon's chest ~ Not sure who took it
2 Vials of Antitoxin ~ Surgeon's chest ~ Not sure who took it
Healer's Kit ~ Surgeon's chest ~ Not sure who took it
4 Furs ~ Ship's hold ~ Not sure who took them
Eyes of the Eagle ~ Captain Bluebeard's chest ~ Azgul
150 gp, 540 sp ~ Captain Bluebeard's chest ~ Azgul? split among the party?

❮ 21 · Chronicles · 23 ❯

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