| 46 |
#Solstice The voyage to Solstice Isle aboard Angajuk would take a couple days, admitted the whale. The island seemed to wander with its own will. The journey was dark, long, and claustrophobic. Besides some bad vibes, the party made through it with decent spirits. The one notable event involved cruising through dead and forgotten ruins of Ostoria, titanic beyond measure. There was a brief discussion of Ostorian lore as well as the murky ends of its civilization. In myth it was said the end coincided with the endless sleep of the demigod Ulutiu, whose slumber led to the creation of the frozen north. |
| 46 |
#Solstice Arriving at Solstice Isle after two nights, the party attempted to scale the posts of a dilapidated frost giant ship dock. While managing their ascent, the waves churned and a voice ebbed across the waters. They deduced it was the presence of Umberlee. She asked whether they opposed the Frostmaiden, and when they correctly answered yes, they were told stepping foot on the island would enter them into the cold one's domain. Auril would immediately sense their presence. Umberlee's waves carried them higher to ease their access, before cruelly dousing them with frigid waters, prompting the first of many environmental hazards. |
| 43 |
#TheDevilYouKnow #KrakenClimateArena A noise at the doorway turned everyone's heads. It was Mere. She had come to wish the party well, for being so kind to her. She told them how Caer Dineval's town had been razed, and how Kadroth had died, falling from the caer's ramparts during the dragon attack. The keep was now led by Lady Avarice. Mere admitted the lady had been good to her, even teaching her some cantrips, but went on to note that Avarice was most keenly focused on mounting an expedition across the tundra in search of the Netherese ruins of Ythryn. She had sent Huarwar to lead a company to the Solstice Isle to investigate a means to gain audience with or perhaps deter the Frostmaiden. At this point, Mere paused, and then curiously asked the party whether they had seen any griffons in flight. She had been told to keep her eyes out for one, but she confessed she didn't know why. In any case, she did know that Avarice was displeased with this endless winter and wished it over. Unfortunately, the kraken had left Huarwar's group with no way forward. "It's true," admitted an eavesdropping Huarwar. "That kraken... is a colossus." The beast lurked a mile north, they said, roosting in a natural harbor under thundercloud covered skies. |
| 42 |
#Solstice #TheForgottenRealm Vellynne continued to explain her proposal. Together, they could venture to Solstice Isle, the moving isle of Auril and her cult, and take from within it an incantation from the Codicil of White, teachings passed from generation to generation of Frostmaiden worshippers. This incantation was the key, she admitted, to undoing the barrier at Reghed Glacier. Past the frozen waterfall was where Ythryn slept, and together they could uncover its secrets. It was win-win, she said. |
| 42 |
#TrialsOfTheFrostmaiden #ReghedTribes Within Solstice Isle were a series of trials, the nature of which Vellynne had yet to divine. Seeking out Reghed Nomads, those close to the essence of the tundra, the party found some Tribe of the Bear traders who mused on their folklore about the cold reality of their ancestry: What may be seen as cruelty to outsiders holds reason in old tribal teachings. What ends you must pursue in order to endure, a city dweller may consider torture. This is the truth of the ice. |
| 42 |
#battle #ReghedTribes #Oyaminartok Onwards to Solstice Isle. Three sled teams head out towards Angajuk's Bell, the party's two sleds and that of Vellynne Harpell. Six hours into their journey, they were ambushed by grimacing husks of Tribe of the Elk warriors, all perverted by the influence of black ice. One carried a censer with a blue flame, and each laughed as their destroyed bodies endured seemingly forever. Worse, though, was the presence of Oyaminartok, a folklore beast of the tundra. Skewers of chardalyn jut out from her chest as she lunged at Oona. Fending off the goliath werebear, Oona saw not a beast, but someone she knew too well. Oya was her adoptive mother, who found and reared her when she was discarded as a child. Unable to reach the Oya she knew, our hero knew it was best to put her mother down. Soon after, the heroes snuffed out the chardalyn berserkers, quite literally, as when Gadget catapulted the blue flame censer into a tree, the battered bodies fell lifelessly. |
| 39 |
#TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden #Kulduhar Azgul, accompanied by Oona and Fern, sought out Vellynne Harpell. The necromancer was seen packing her sled with the help of a zombie Bartaban. She was heading to the tundra to investigate a nagging thought. Something felt wrong with the Weave, she admitted. The cold was colder and the Dawn did not stir in her magical equipment as it should. The party recognized a similar passing, as their Boon of Lathander had diminished with time. In a previous travel, she and Azgul II, who had since turned into black ooze, encountered a frost salamander. Such a creature was native to the Plane of Ice, not of the Prime Material Plane. The party too had fought one of these, back in the Lost Spire. They had also been thrown briefly into the Plane of Ice itself, when Varrin Axebreaker attempted to use a Cubic Gate. When asked about Kuldahar, Vellynne encouraged them to go. The Great Oak was known to be a wellspring of divination magic. Perhaps its druids could see what was wrong with the Weave in Icewind Dale. Sharing now between them that the Reghed Glacier held the entrance to Ythryn, she revealed that the key to crack the rimed waterfall, whatever that key exactly was, was likely held on Solstice Isle. Vellynne would like to band together to head to retrieve this key. |
| 23 |
#AngajuksBell Angajuk knew much of the stirrings in the Sea of Moving Ice. Notably, she mentioned three things. One, Angajuk was afraid of a kraken - most probably a juvenile but still a gargantuan sea beast - that was encroaching on her territories, posing a large threat to the underwater mammalian life and their travel. If left to fully grow, the results could be calamitous. Two, she reminisced how Anga had traveled to the Frostmaiden's island, Solstice Isle, many moons ago. Approaching that island was a fell task now, given attacks by Iskra the Roc and an increasing aura of cold. Third, Angajuk mentioned that a long lost underwater temple had been recently inhabited by sahuagin. She only knew of the ruin as the Temple of the Four Gods. |