Magic and evil detected as previous room.
As Hal nears the lava a massive fire elemental erupts out of it to strike at a flat footed Hal.
DC18 ref or catch fire
DC18 ref or catch fire
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Hal speeds things up. Dwol offers everyone some defense. Garric shoots Chack in the back. Chack lands 3 attacks, however only the last one crits. The giant is now bleeding from multiple wounds. The giant and dogs continue attacking Chack:
Two more giants arrive next to the one attacking Chack. Another giant and 4 more dogs arrive from the other side of the building towards the group's back near to Hal, Dwol, and Garric. The party can hear the sounds of additional mobilizing giants and dogs. Party action.
How close are you going to the settlement? Any actions to be stealthy?
The group hears something large move by the camp at a distance in the middle of the night. The next morning you are able to follow up on the trail spotted the previous day, after following for a couple hours you are sure it sees frequent use by giants. By late afternoon your trail has joined another and become even more clear. An hour before sunset you see some sort of settlement obscured by a 20’ high palisade. You can see a closed gate at the end of the trail several hundred yards ahead.
Chack? Garric?
Hal and Chack think they have spotted a trail that may lead to a giant village or stronghold but it’s late in the day and can’t be explored until tomorrow.
After a few days of dodging orcs the group makes it to the edge of the Mindspin mountains.
Chack leads down the mountain into the broken hills near Wyvernsting spotting and avoiding 2 groups of orcs. The group finds a likely spot to camp as night falls.
You figure a day to get back off the mountain, then 3 days or so south across orc lands until you get to the north edge of the Mindspin Mountains. Perception rolls as you start heading back down the mountain assuming that’s what you do.
“Finally the cat provides a useful idea. If you slay the fire giant Rauconar and turn his sword over to me then I will grant you the armor the dwarf seeks. He lives not too far south of here in the northern part of the Mindspin Mountains.”
How many feet apart is everyone standing? Chack? Garric? Actions?
You are at the edge of the ice and 200’ from the dragon, detect evil doesn’t have the range to reach the dragon. How far apart are you going to stand from one another. Please describe how you are arranged. “Why should I give you anything dwarf? My people were sent to speak with you and you murder them without reason and without warning. Now you demand treasure that I have fairly won? If I do as you suggest I would soon see a line of petitioners demanding one thing or another from me until I was left with nothing. I ask that you leave my mountain immediately.”
The party heads up to the cave, no traps are found but there are kobold tracks in abundance. At the cave entrance Hal and Garric cast spells. Chack puts on the wolf cloak, this requires removal of cloak of resistance. The cave is approximately 120’ wide, 250’ high, and you can see it is at least 300’ deep with darkness extending beyond that. The floor of the cave is a sheet of thick ice with a river of water flowing out from the bottom. A large white dragon sits watching you from about 200’ away within the cave.
Garric goes up to look and sees several kobold bodies on the ground but other than that things look clear. A few minutes later the rest of the group stands at the top of the small cliff. About a quarter mile ahead the river appears to be flowing out from a massive cave.
There is no obvious means to easily get up the cliff.
Hal drops a fireball centered on the feather wearing kobold and Garric puts a pair of arrows into it dropping it to the ground. A few others appear to have been dropped by the blast. The rest run off.
Garric?
draconic: No, we speak our language.
draconic: Throw down your weapons and you will be granted an audience.
The party comes to another waterfall and cliff about 20’ high. You see several large kobolds at the top of the cliff. One of the kobolds, who wears a headband with feathers of some sort hanging from it and holds a staff, points at you and shouts. draconic:
Go back, you are not welcome here! You are approximately 150’ from the cliff.
Halafrin disarms the trap clearing the path forward.
As you move away from your camp, Garric finds large kobold tracks a couple hundred yards further up the mountain. He can identify at least 10 different sets. Just beyond that Hal sees a tripwire for some sort of trap across the path.
And you made fort saves on Wednesday after I made that post.
Why are Hal and Dwol making fort saves? Chack and Garric perception and survival if you would like to help out.
Apparently the kobolds have other plans as the night passes without any attack.
Dwol And Hal both catch glimpses of large kobolds watching the party from higher up as the group continues to follow the river upwards until the sun sets.
The group climbs higher up into the thin mountain air. After a couple hours the party takes a short break to catch your breath, Garric spots some tracks near the river that he identifies as some sort of large kobold tracks, he can make out at least 5 separate individuals. Everyone make a DC16 fort save or become sickened.
Garric?
Everyone scrambles up the short climb without problem except for Dwol who falls on his ass a couple times until Garric pretty much hauls him up. The party is able to return to the path on the other side of the trap. Perception and survival checks for continued travel.
From the top of the falls there is a narrow path that leads upward beside the river, it occasionally disappears as you climb over rock but then reappears. It could be a game trail but it seems a bit too used for that. A couple of hours into your ascent Hal spots a pit trap where the trail passes between a narrowing in the surrounding rock. You can go around with a little climbing, 10-15’.
So tempting to attack Hal when he is waiting all alone at the bottom. The group makes it to the top of the cascade without any incidents. Near the falls is a large rock with runes on it: draconic: Go back! Death ahead.(There are also a couple draconic symbols the first is Ice, the second is something approximating breaker/destoyer)
The night passes quietly. Don’t think Hal is capable of flying the party to the top of the cascade. The subject of a fly spell can charge but not run, and it cannot carry aloft more weight than its maximum load, plus any armor it wears.
The party climbs upward into the mountains following the river for the rest of the day coming to a 100’ waterfall as the sun begins to set. Temperatures which were in the 60’s during the past several days drop as you climb, in the 40’s now. Garric figures you may find a glacier tomorrow or the next day at the latest, assuming you can find a path up to the top of the waterfall. Let me know any special things you are doing from here on out: How do you set up your camp for the night? By the river? On the trees? Somewhere else? The next day are you trying to proceed stealthily or just trusting to luck?
You spend the rest of the morning to reach the border of Irrisen. You spend another week or so to reach the area north of Wyvernsting where you are able to locate a river that flows down from the mountains. You have seen several groups of orcs the last couple of days but have been able to spot them first and avoid them.
“Return to the edge of the snow realm, my friends will let me know you are around. Dragons are deadly guard yourselves well and you will need some protection from the cold else their breath will surely kill you. The wolf pelt that Chack carries will protect one from all but the fiercest cold, it will even protect you somewhat from a white dragon’s breath.”
“Dwoldrean Brewbelly, a Paladin of Cayden, I am called Elyas the Tall. What of these others? Do you speak for them all? Even the elf? For all I know he could be my father, though he seems a bit short for that. Should you survive your encounter with this dragon, you will return here bringing me any dragon eggs it may have as recompense. If there are no eggs then you owe me no service.”
“I am no lord and I have no subjects. I care not for the giants you killed, the wolves, however, are another matter. A quest of urgency? What is this quest and why is it so urgent? Perhaps this is the most direct path but it is certainly not the quickest. You should have stayed south of the snow, it would have covered more distance but you would have been able to move much faster. Tell me of your quest while I think on what manner of service you might be able to perform for me.” A very large half elf (he must be pushing 7’ tall) dressed in a white cloak walks out of the darkness and stops about 30’ away. A pair of wolves follow him and sit when he stops. No evil detected. The half elf has several magical auras, his cloak is definitely magical.
About an hour before dawn you hear a voice call out from the darkness. “Strangers you trespass on my lands and kill its inhabitants. What do you offer in way of reparations?”
Dwol spots another of the cairns topped by a skull during the day’s march and the party passes outside its bounds well before having to stop for the night. You feel as though you should be getting close to the boundaries of this icy land sometime tomorrow.
The night passes cold and quiet. Light snow continues to fall.
The party pushes hard to put distance between themselves and the dead giants before nightfall doing what they believe to be an adequate job. You find no evidence of additional giants during this time.
No magic or evil detected. The giants have 750 gold between them.
The last giant goes down in a tangle with Chack and Dwol who end up hacking each other with their blades. -20 each
Dwol hacks into the wounded giant twice and Hal finishes it off with his scorching ray. Hal’s second scorching ray hits Chack in the back blackening her flawless fur. Chack slashes her giant twice and Garric fills it full of arrows bringing it crashing down. The last giant continues to hack at Dwol:
The group focuses on one on the giants wounding it. Dwol hits twice, Chack once before almost impaling herself, and Garric once.
“Ouch! Nasty little vermin!”
Chack
Dwol
You see a trio of frost giants crest the hill, they are about 40’ away.
Party action.
One round of action for Chack and Garric.
Dwol thinks he hears something coming this way from over some small hills ahead. You are pretty exposed where you are at the moment. There is a stand of trees a little behind you and to your left and some rocks to your right. Rocks are a bit closer but the trees probably give better concealment.
Chack? Garric?
The night is relatively quiet except for a few wolf howls that sound distant. A couple hours into the morning the group comes out of the trees into tundra, a bit later you see a low structure about half a mile to the right, definitely too small for giants.
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