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.

Axebreaker Vault

• #Prisoner13 The party headed to the Dwarven Valley in order for Fern to complete the penetration of the Axebreaker Vault, the mission she had undertook to bring her to Icewind Dale in the first place. Here they ran into Hruna, the Foaming Mugs miner whose sled-fulls of lost ingots they had recovered many tendays ago. She guided them in through the Dwarven enclaves to meet Varrin Axebreaker, Fern's contact.
• #Prisoner13 #TheVault Varrin Axebreaker along with two dozen eager dwarves, set out with the party to the Axebreaker vault, a masterwork of craftsmanship and a lonely, forgotten site that had remained sealed for decades. Fern presented the lockbreaker tattoo to the doorway's glyphs, which ebbed with light and bore entry into a hall filled with weapons and treasure. Varrin quickly began a search for "the cube," as he called it, while instructing Fern and company to take her promised magic item rewards.
• #TheVault #FrostburnBlade Fern was rewarded her expected trophy, the Frostburn Blade. It was a gift for her son, she said. The Frostburn Blade was a very rare longsword embued with magics of both ice and fire, but the fire was missing in this. The heart of an adult Remorhaz was needed to empower it. That being said, the party was given a chance to look over some other items as well, receiving a Ring of Jumping and the Axe of Hurricanes.
• #battle #TheVault Varrin found what he was looking for - a Cubic Gate. This was an extremely rare item, gifted from the elves to his dwarvish ancestors, it held portals up and down the Sword Coast from Amn to Ironmaster. Varrin was excited to promise a better future for the Valley's clans with these gates, allowing an influx of trade and opportunities to alleviate the ever-going winter. Eager to show it off, he opened a portal to Baldur's Gate, but a fierce and piercing cold instead ripped through the vault. Glacial blue ice spliced between the columns and metalwork. The party was thrusted halfway between planes, in an interstitial space between the Material Plane and the Plane of Ice. Gadget was a translucent figure yelling at the party to get back from a vault that appeared far away, but the remaining five were delayed by two looming rime hulks, primed for battle. As huge cubes of frost crashed to the ground, Azgul was pinned while the portals began to collapse. With a quick rescue by Oona and company, they made it safely back to the vault. It appeared, though, a few dwarves were missing. Azgul promptly intimidated the shaken Varrin to grant them another item for the mess they were dragged into, obtaining the group a Circlet of Blasting.
• #TheVault Back at a dwarven tavern, tiki themed and aptly named The Hurricane, stories of Varrin's Blunder were percolating within the crowd. One old timer shared talk about Chult with Tetro and gave him a Cloak of Billowing.

Ten Towns Speaker Meeting

• #TheCouncil Returning to Bryn Shander, our heroes headed to the town hall to contribute to the discussion on the duergar menace. In the lobby, they ran into Kadroth, the defacto leader of the Black Swords, who assuaged them that the hostilities of the freed prisoners at Caer Dineval were, well, a misunderstanding, and that perhaps they could work together to act against the duergar.
• #TheCouncil The Ten Towns Council of Speakers were in debate when the party arrived to the open meeting. Naerth Maxildannar had brought forth the proposal to bring Bremen under Targos control, given the debts of the Five Tavern Center and the senescence of Bremen's doddering speaker Dorbulgruf, who was nodding off in his chair under the folds of his beard. The votes narrowly passed in his favor as he smugly grimaced at Crank and his compatriots.
• #TheCouncil The Council of Speakers, chaired by Duvessa Shane, then began discussion of Kadroth's authority. It seemed that Speaker Crannoc Siever had willingly passed his authority to his newly appointed hand, Kadroth. Here, the party balked. Fuck that guy! Oona had none of that. Even Tetro sneered a turtling sneer at the impish tiefling cult leader. The council was moved after hearing accounts from the party, which Easthaven's Danneth Waylen corroborated. Despite Crannoc selling out his men, though, Kadroth did seem to be the local authority. The matter was tabled momentarily, as talks of the duergar arose.
• #TheCouncil #ADuergarPlot Sunblight Fortress has been located, and leading an army there looked grim. Scouts have identified an imposing fortress and signs of duergar warrior deployment were seen. In related news, supposed dragon attacks destroyed a homestead, setting it ablaze in Dougan's Hole, as heard but not seen by Edgra Durmoot. This dragon cannot be Arveiturace, a white wyrm, and seems linked to the duergar activity and scorch marks witnessed across the southern tundra. Eight ballista have been commissioned by Bryn Shander. At the party's behest, four were diverted to Easthaven, and a potential evacuation plan was concocted for the greater Ten Towns.
• #TheCouncil #ADuergarPlot The party was tasked with infiltrating the fortress and offered the deed to Bryn Shander's Hooked Knuckled as adventuring compensation. When balking about the dangers, Nimsy Huddle of Lonelywood questioned that if this quest failed, to where could the party even go in such winter? With the limelight on the heroes, they acquiesced for the greater good, on the condition that Kadroth lose his seat at the table. This condition was accepted. Naerth, who now more or less held control over a quarter of the council's votes, offered a standing ovation for the heroes, commending the party's bravery against evil: "The journey is its own reward. A round of applause for our heroes, my dearest friends."
• #TheCouncil #ADuergarPlot When considering the approach to Sunblight Fortress, Oarus Masthew suggested the Underdark. It seems that mining activity has determined that the central shaft of the Termalaine mine, once thought to be a bottomless pit, opens up into the vastness of the deep. While duergar activity has not been spotted there, a pathway to their supply lines ought to be inevitable.

XP

Total XP: 10800

• 300 ~ #Prisoner13 complete!
• 200 ~ #TheVault complete!
• 500 ~ #TheCouncil complete!

Loot

• Frostburn Blade ~ Axebreaker Vault ~ Fern, lended to Azgul
• Axe of Hurricanes ~ Axebreaker Vault ~ Oona
• Circlet of Blasting ~ Axebreaker Vault ~ Gadget
• Ring of Jumping ~ Axebreaker Vault ~ Fern
• Cape of Billowing ~ The Hurricane Tavern ~ Tetro
• Deed to the Hooked Knucklehead ~ Council Meeting ~ Tetro and company

❮ 27 · Chronicles · 29 ❯

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