Sea of Moving Ice

Happenings

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24	#Prisoner237 #RevelsEnd As the prison entered lockdown, the party took the opportunity to talk to Vaelish Gant directly. Azgul got the pompous wizard to talk about his misdeeds - how he masked himself as a merchant and served as Duvessa Shane's aide in Bryn Shander before he tried to overthrow the local government. He was not only imprisoned because of this stunt, but the Arcane Brotherhood had turned their back on him as well. Vaelish still insisted he would've been great for Ten Towns. The best, even. Regardless, Vaelish had learned a thing or two in his time in the north. First, ten years back Auril had a Chosen, a Reghed woman named Hedrun who was dubbed as the Ice Witch. Hedrun had amassed chardalyn weaponry and converted barbarians into a frenzied cult to attack Ten Towns and cow its peoples into worship of Auril. Adventurers had thwarted her at her tower of black ice near the sea Second, during this time Vaelish's study of Hedrun and Auril's cults revealed the presence of a frozen waterfall at the Reghed Glacier. The frozen fall marked the entrance into the depths and a passage to the Netherese ruins of Ythryn.
23	#AngajuksBell Hazel, coming to from the deluge of memories, was split between her own memories and that of Anga, a monk who ventured to the Sea of Moving Ice and found harmony in some, but not all, of the frost druids' teachings. Hazel awakened and reconnected with Angajuk, the great sperm whale. Ultimately, Hazel decided to stay at Angajuk's Bell to dwell on these new and old memories. Gadget Gearspark, an gnomish artificer armorer who had been following the adventures of the party, caught up with the crew moments later. She was seeking knowledge to invent armors in an effort to advance people's conditions in the cold of Icewind Dale and had heard of the party from Copper. The party gladly invited her in on their travels as they said their goodbyes to their friend Hazel for now.
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, many moons ago. Approaching that island was a fell task now, given attacks by 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.
23	#RevelsEnd The imposing prison loomed above icy cliffs that plunged into the darkness of the Sea of Moving Ice. The party saw guards posted at each tower and decided it best to announce their presence clearly. Still, they thought to don some disguises, with Fern and Azgul acting as emissaries of Vellynne Harpell and the remaining party tending to the dogs as if they were porters. The guards thought the unexpected visitors to be intriguing. After conferring with Warden Marta Marthannis, they brought them inside for shelter, stabling the dogs. The party surrendered their armaments, after which they were led down a corridor lit by many continual flame spells. The guards gave them lodging and told them to wait inside the mess hall. The warden would like a word with them.
22	#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.
22	#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.
21	#DarkDuchess The party considered their next steps, unfurling a map and eyeing possibilities near the Sea of Moving Ice. They decided to begin at the west, heading towards the Dark Duchess in search of treasure. They learned that the vessel was supposed to be carrying ale, even, with a bounty set by the Five Tavern Center in Bremen. Moreover, they recalled that Sephek Kaltro had rode that ship, as did the Arcane Brotherhood apprentice Nass Lantomir, who stole a magic bauble from Vellynne Harpell as she was setting out from Luskan many moon ago. Specifically, Avarice had told them this tidbit, and noted that the item's recovery would grant the party a great deal of favor in her eyes.
18	#AngajuksBell Hazel also took a gander at the Easthaven Library collection, looking for histories about the Sea of Moving Ice. She learned of Anga, a wisened druid, who had journeyed from the south and took hermitage by the sea decades ago. Each dawn she would ring a bell that would call-in sea life. Whalers in the nearby settlements, who otherwise led a harsh life, came to recognize Anga and enjoy her presence as she set out on her daily meditations. Though she continued her hermitage, the whaling community in the area became known as Places/Angajuk's Bell.
12	#WhaleHunters #DarkDuchess The party banters with a group of thuggish seamen at the Black-Bearded Brother, the lot of whom are already soused before midday. They're conspiring to head north to the Sea of Moving Ice to capitalize on the whaling colonies' incompetence over hunting a particularly large whale. They also talked about the wreckage of the Dark Duchess, a Luskan merchant vessel.