We returned to the main floor. Signs of the aftermath of battle were evident all around: cultist bodies lay slain inside, while smoke rose in scattered columns outside. We headed to the nearest tower, now being used as a midden pit. Tolarin leapt first, over the garbage to the stairs, but was immediately ensnared and pulled into the muck by an otyugh tentacle. Gunx jumped in to assist his brother, while Tegan mocked the filthy aberration. I slipped into the muck on a failed jump, but avoided being attacked. Brick mounted the stairs, ascended, and hurled his javelin into the fray. Jorad added his Eldritch Blasts to the fight, while Tolarin and Gunx battled on. I clambered out and onto the stairs, just in time to see Brick dive heroically from the top of the flight, down onto the grotesque gulguthra. As Jorad cast Shatter, and Tolarin beat it with mace and fist and foot, the beast surrendered, and retreated back into the filth whence it came.
Continuing up the stairs, we came to a closed hatch, marked with Dwarvish runes. With magic, I translated the markings, which warned of fearsome undead inside, who surely would not have the knowledge we sought, so we retreated, and moved instead to the central keep. On the second floor, we found a well appointed sleeping chamber, with a squawking bird, which I quickly, and permanently, silenced. We raided the room of its valuables, finding two hundred gold, two hundred silver, and ten stones worth one hundred gold each, under a loose floorboard, while a few of the other cunts outfitted themselves in some of the fine haberdashery found here.
We ascended another flight of stairs to the third floor, discovering the ancient observatory, which contained a complicated telescopic apparatus, and four gargoyles that stood watch on the chamber. They came to life as we entered, and immediately, the nastiest of these stone sentinels spewed a blast of acid in our direction. After a brief melee, the guardian gargoyles all lay in smashed and Shattered ruins at our feet. Learned Jorad and Sagacious Tegan then investigated the telescopic device, identifying the contraption as the famed “Farseer of Illusk”. Through its intricate lenses, they could discern a deathly dark dragon’s den in the distance.
We returned to the main floor, then entered a tower with lizardfolk chambers, and ascended stairs to find vacant rooms, a ladder, and a trapdoor in the ceiling. Iron spikes sealed the door shut, but Gunx quickly removed those, and Tolarin, Brick, and I crept into the upper chamber: a musty, rotten-floored room, furnished with cobwebs. Suddenly, two giant spiders dropped down from the darkness above, and immediately one ensnared Tolarin in a sticky silken skein.
Quickly, Gunx, Jorad, and Tegan joined in the melee, along with a Shadow Demon summoned by our warlock. Just as quickly, more giant spiders engaged us from above. Gunx finished off one of the arachnids, while Tegan attempted to help Tolarin wriggle free of the wet, white webbing pinning him to the sagging floor. Alas, an even more mammoth spider dropped down among us, and the rotten wood gave way beneath all, as we crashed down to the level below.
The chaos of battle raged on, as Jorad and I slew two giant spiders, Tolarin became free, Tegan became ensnared, Gunx was poisoned, Mighty Brick was struck down, and the Shadow Demon vanished. Gunx and Tolarin attacked the mammoth spider together while I attended to the fallen Brick. Tegan burst the biggest one with a Shatter spell, and Tolarin killed the last of the giant creatures with a dart as it tried to retreat. We were all in need of a short rest.
After a brief repose, we carried on to the next tower, which housed simple quarters for the lower level cultists, and a study. The rooms contained personal effects, but nothing of note regarding the teleportation circle, and no remaining cultists to question. We then headed to the last remaining tower, in hopes of finally finding the answer to our riddle.
We climbed the stairs and came up to a library, still staffed by a handful of cultists. While the other cunts hid, I entered the room, magically disguised as Azbara Jos, hoping to gain the information we sought through deception. They claimed that only Rezmir, a dragonborn of their order, had the trigger word for the teleportation circle. They indicated that Rezmir’s rooms were on the next level, so we continued to the third floor.
The rooms of Rezmir were lavishly appointed with fine furnishings and a pair of magnificently carved onyx dragons. The doors of the wardrobe were decorated in a depiction of Tiamat, and a suit of dragon-scale armour was on display. Suddenly, Gunx inadvertently sprung a trap, dousing the room and all its finery in acid, ruining the lot. But, by the will of Beshaba, Tegan found a paper with the trigger-word, DRAEZIR, at long last.
We raced back down to the teleportation chamber, stood together within the circle, and spoke the incantation; instantly, we were whisked away, out of the humid, salty-swamp air we had become accustomed to, and into the crisp, bracing freshness of a boreal valley. A large timber and stone structure stood in the near distance, so we headed there to continue our investigations.
Closer inspection revealed the place to be a hunting lodge. Reluctantly, we donned our stolen cultist uniforms as a disguise. We entered the lodge, passing through a cloakroom, into a grand foyer decorated with demonic statues and painted suits of armour. We all milled about, distracted by our new surroundings, when I realized Jorad the Wanderer was missing. Gunx and I found him in a trophy room, entranced by a shimmering tapestry. As he pressed his nose to the fabric, Jorad vanished from the room, magically transported into the embroidered scene.
Brick and Tolarin came in and, as we recounted Jorad’s predicament, the floor sprang to life, writhing with malicious black tentacles, entangling Brick, Gunx and Tolarin. Then Tegan entered, wary of the magic hazard, as I too stepped aside from the tentacular reach. alas, I stepped right into the path of an animated suit of armour, balefully brandishing a brutal blade. I traded vicious blows with the soulless suit, and I was badly hurt, but it proved impervious to my Vampiric Touch. Gunx, now free of the tentacles, leapt with gusto to my aid. The animated armour, though lacking life, still had feelings, and it was these that Tegan targeted with his barbed banter. While Tolarin flung his darts, Gunx flailed his fists, and Brick hurled his javelin, ultimately destroying the ensorceled steel sentinel. We took a short rest while Jorad returned to the lodge from the nearby hunting grounds he had evidently been transported to.
We continued to explore the lodge in a helter skelter manner, finding a room full of unthreatening kobold servants, a linen closet, and a laundry room. Jorad and Tolarin reportedly encountered a pair of skittish maids in some bedchambers. Eventually, we all made our way into a kitchen, staffed by a team of sculleries who at first seemed annoyed by our presence, but were ultimately overwhelmed by our collective charisma.
We then followed Tegan and Gunx down a set of stairs that led to a cellar, where we discovered three captives. Brother Caemon, a priest of Amaunator on pilgrimage from Hillsfar, was bound but otherwise unharmed. Miresella, a comely Baldurian wench, had obviously been roughly abused by her captors. But Cragnor, an unbearded dwarf, seemed to have been singled out for the worst abuse. Most shockingly, all three prisoners identified, by both name and description, our Neverwintian associate Dannak the White, of all people, as their cultist tormentor! Can this be true? Perhaps. With faith in Beshaba, I know all things are possible…
Brother Caemon, worried that some nefarious plans were intended for him, was relieved when we gave him his freedom. After Tegan attended to Miresella’s various injuries, paying close attention to a particularly nasty gash and a couple of large swellings, Jorad swathed the helpless woman in his lucky leather armour, and she fled the scene. Cragnor, a dragon cultist himself, explained that he was a supporter of Wyrmspeaker Varram the White, and that Dannak and Varram were at odds. Beshaba willing, we might turn this discord within the cult’s ranks to our own favour. Cragnor said we might find Dannak upstairs, so we left him in his shackles, departed the cellar, and continued to secure the main floor. The place was full of valuable items free for the taking: silverware, tapestries, exotic hunting trophies… in one luxurious lounge, Jorad even discovered a pair of bottled healing potions, tucked behind a mounted griffon’s head.
We headed to the foyer, and started upstairs, but suddenly the demonic statues flanking the staircase sprang to life! Tegan Shattered, and his sounds inspired Jorad to do the same in harmony. Brick followed with a clang of Talon, and Tolarin added a percussive beat of mace blows and punches . I joined in with a staccato blast of magic missiles, and Gunx finished the first foe with a flash of his fearsome fists. What a sweet symphony of violence. The second gargoyle ruined the vibe as it bit Tolarin, but after another Shatter spell from Jorad and a few swings of Talon from Brick, it too fell to pieces at our feet.
We continued upstairs, and after nosing through a rusty armoury with a ruined roof, yet another fancy chamber with valuable tapestries, and a laundry room, we eventually located Dannak. He invited us all into a meeting room, where he was attended by three guards in scale-mail, and one with full cultist warrior regalia. Dannak himself was suited in white scale mail, and he gripped a bejewelled wand in his meaty fist.
Dannak hosted us cordially, and apologized for all the trouble caused to us personally by the Dragon Cult. He explained that he wanted to sow chaos within the ranks of the cult, for his own personal gain, and invited us to align our own goals with his. To that end, he told us our lost riches could be recovered if we could make it to Skyreach, a flying castle, before it took off from the ground near the town of Parnast. He also named the five Wyrmspeakers who lead the cult: Severin the Red, Galvan the Blue, Neronvain the Green, Rezmir the Black, and lastly, Varram the White, whom Dannak especially hoped we might kill. He told us of a five colour banner, and various cult signs, that we would need to gain entry to the castle. He implored us to hurry, before Skyreach took to the clouds, and bade us not to tarry outside the lodge, lest “Trepsin the Five-Armed Troll” catch up with us. Armed with all this vital intelligence, we left for Parnast, only five miles to the north.
Immediately, we were beset on the trail by a half dozen ambush drakes and Trepsin, the fearsome five-armed troll. Brick stood toe-to-toe with Trepsin while the drakes were swiftly cut down with our weapons and spellcraft. The famed regenerative powers of the troll allowed Trepsin to withstand our onslaught, but it was ultimately forced to flee from our party in defeat. We healed our wounds from this bloody fight as best we could, and continued on our way to Parnast.
As we entered the rustic mountain town, we could see the enormous ice castle, Skyreach, shrouded in fog on the southern end of town. The road into town led to a well in the town square. The square was surrounded by a handful of simple buildings, and the well was surrounded by a handful of simple goons. One of these men broke off from the others, and headed towards a nearby tavern, so I Misty Stepped ahead of him and made my way in first.
Inside, I was brusquely greeted by the barkeep of the Golden Tankard, a gruff man named Raggnar, who offered a disappointing menu of food and drink. The atmosphere inside was cheerless. The other cunts eventually made their way in to join my table, and I went to talk with a liveried officer who seemed to be the most important man in the room. The man, a Captain Othelstan, had nothing to say to me, but after our meeting I saw him whispering into a small stone… very curious behaviour indeed.
Tegan began to play his lyre, which lifted the mood noticeably, and drew all eyes to him, so I slipped out and headed towards a nearby multifaith shrine. Suddenly, a low blast of a horn sounded from within the fog to the south, and the ice castle began to ascend into the air! The other cunts came outside, and Jorad said a helpful local man inside the tavern, a wheelwright named Gundalin, told him that if we want to reach the airborne castle, we needed to quickly get to the stables.
We followed Gundalin’s advice. Inside the bone-littered stables, we found three domesticated wyverns, winged and waiting to take flight. Jorad, Gunx, and Tolarin skillfully saddled the creatures. We mounted them in pairs, and by Beshaba’s will we swiftly took off, just before the local guards burst in, hurling their spears in our wake. In little time, we flew to the front face of the frozen flying fortress, its gargantuan gateway guarded by a couple of carved colossi. In the shelter of the entranceway, we rested, By Beshaba’s will, when we awake, we will find a way in, klaatu barada nikto amen.
Too many white wyrmspeakers… oops.
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