| 39 |
#FeastOfTheMoon #TheChosen Singers, clad in snow-white fur gowns, took to the stage. Their harmonies were difficult to discern, but several verses were picked up. Ice kissed flowers caught mid-bloom/Beauty kept in all its grace/Summer's gone to its silent tomb/Stilling in her cold embrace. These were worshipers of Auril. While many Dalefolk looked on in common interest, several were seen reaching into snow banks and anointing their faces. Sovereign of summers lost/General of winter's war/Long live the queen of cold and frost/May she reign forevermore. Praising the Frostmaiden, especially on a winter holiday, very well falls in line with the traditions and religiosity of the region. But the party was unnerved. After the carols ended, the singers were seen speaking excitedly to a hooded woman. Turning to the side, they saw the fair skinned face of Vurnis, once thought dead. |
| 29 |
#TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden On the third day, Crank was taking inventory and noted that of their two diamonds they created in the Lost Spire, only one remained. The other had moldered into a black ooze. Piecing together that their illusory items may be fraying, the party looked things over. Fern's studded leather seemed intact. Sparks was okay, tail wagging happily. Oona's great axe couldn't be found, though. Worried that their diamond may disintegrate, the party paid Copper a visit. The gnome, assessing the gem, believes he could repair the Summer Star, consecrating the chardalyn core and providing at least another charge. He would need a tenday. Thus, it should be ready when the party returned from Sunblight Fortress. |
| 21 |
#TheGoldenDawn #TheForgottenRealm Stopping in Bryn Shander, the party made their way to the Temple of the Morninglord. Here they ran into Perilou, the acolyte of Yolanda they rescued from Kelvin's Cairn. She had been studying in service of the priestess Mishann, who was in prayer and who the party did not speak with. After a bit of persuasion about the gnomish artisan Copper, Perilou relented and brought them to the grouch's lodgings in the attic. Copper was dressed in a furry bear suit, had the deepest possible voice, and was oscillating varyingly between grousing and sobbing when pressed about Macreadus. He explained that the Summer Star was a tiny model of a Netherese Mythallar, a weave conduit and engine that powered their magic cities. Macreadus had become obsessed with the idea of controlling the weather to hush the Endless Winter, despite Copper's protest. The Summer Star's core was consecrated chardalyn but had lost its charge with use. Copper admitted he may be able to fix and recharge it with a shiny diamond, but he feared how you dare challenge the gods with such a device. |
| 11 |
#TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden Opting to shelter for the night in the Black Cabin, the party feasted on moose meat and drank Macreadus's wine. The surrounding mile had turned green and warm form the Summer Star, though a chill still blew in on the wind and snowflakes intermittently fell. Nearing midnight, Azgul perceived voices on the wind, like the sound of frost. Tetro saw no aurora in the sky and took note of a bird of prey passing the moon. |
| 11 |
#TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden Auril demanded to see the Summer Star, whose magic she detected when its radiant burst fired. When the party resisted, she froze Crank and Oona and used the time to hone her detection of the magical item. She found it, teleporting besides Tetro and clutching the "useless trinket." Her frost began taking it over, the magical creaking and craftsmanship coming undone. With quick thinking the party set up a diversion, Fern using Jarnathan as bait, Azgul creating mirror images of himself about the Frostmaiden, and Tetro casting heat metal on the Summer Star before wild-shaping into a velociraptor and dashing into the woods. The party fled Auril, who looked through the remaining Azgul before teleporting onto the back of her Roc and flying away. |
| 11 |
#TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden #LakeMonster Re-cooperating in Lonelywood from the events at the Black Cabin, the party took stock that they lost their sled dogs and that the Summer Star was damaged, though perhaps not irredeemably. They decided to quest to Bremen to take care of the supposed lake monster in Maer Dualdon for now. |
| 10 |
#TheGoldenDawn The party, stunned by Tetro's demise, resolved to uncover the mysteries of the Black Cabin. Oona swept some turtle ash into a leather pouch as a remembrance. The party discovered blueprints of what is called a Summer Star, a reproduction of an ancient Netherese device to control the weather. The blueprints and runic scrawlings seemed to be the work of a madman obsessed with the Summer Star. They found a scroll sent to the sage by Copper. The scroll confirmed the man to be Macreadus, detailing his maddening obsession as well as Copper's opinion that the device required three of something for stability, not two. |
| 10 |
#TheGoldenDawn As the party pieced together clues in the Black Cabin, strange occurrences occurred. Loud knocks, three in a row, would bang as characters interacted with the items of the house. Rugs and curtains would shift, tools would fall off tables, and Copper's letter, in the hands of Crank began to tug him in different directions, like a dowsing rod. A bottle of wine Fern found was nearly tugged from her grasp. Oona was fed up with this nonsense and smashed her axe into the cabin in a rage. Eventually, the party uncovered that they needed to forge a third ring, etch it with the appropriate runes, and reconstruct the Summer Star. With Crank smelting a new ring and Fern forging the runes under Azgul's guidance, they pieced it together. |
| 10 |
#TheGoldenDawn Hazel picked up the Summer Star and attuned to the orb, as the same radiance began to fill the room. Some party members ran for cover. But the light's warmth healed their wounds, a vision of gold filled their hearts, and they felt an extra-planar voice admit, "Well Done." Tetro stood blinking and alive in the middle of the Black Cabin, and for a brief moment, the spirit of Macreadus could be seen laughing in celebration of the Summer Star's successful construction. The party received a Blessing of the Morninglord, 10 temporary hit points at dawn from Lathander. Outside, for a clear mile by sight, the winter had vanished and the hills had a verdant green, yet a chill wind seemed to follow the warm breezes. On the wind, sibilant whispers were heard, like the crackle of frost. |
