Session 72: Assault on the Brewery
[Sep 28th, 2021]
The heroes regroup and rest through the remainder of the night and into the next day (14th Harvest, 692 G.R.). They discuss which sites they should focus on first. After a long discussion, they decide to strike at the giant’s food supplies, the mammoth stockade, the grain silo, and the brewery. However, they worry that removing the mammoths as source of food will cause them to focus on eating their human slaves. Agandar manages to find some hemlock in the woods below camp and Duke helps him craft it into a deadly poison. They decide to poison the giant’s beer in the brewery.
As night falls and the shadows of the mountains darken the land, the heroes pack their things and head towards Skygaard. They are able to avoid patrols and sneak back into the camp. They head directly to the brewery and Kiltro uses his magical scrying to examine the room, sending his sensor down the chimney. He finds two frost giants loading barrels of grain into one of four giant vats of bubbling beer.
The heroes move to open the southern door, but find it is locked. Kiltro reaches into his ancestral memory and is able to unlock the door. Arngeir then leads the way inside, unaware that the door was trapped with a series of bells. The bells ring off, alerting the giants to their presence. The frost giants immediately react and begin throwing massive kegs of ale at Arngeir and the others. The kegs explode, covering the floor with sticky, yeast-smelling goo. The heroes pull into the brewery and Abhlesh closes the door behind them.
Brango charges out at one of the giants as the others throw spells. The other frost giant throws a few more kegs, then charges down the ramp from the high catwalk over the vats. As he joins in the fight, Agandar sees another powerful frost giant enter in the north door. He appears to be some sort of shaman.
The shaman flies into the air and begins to distort the geometry of the room, causing many of the heroes to wander around aimlessly in the distorted illusion. The shaman then drains Abhlesh’s mind with a curse until the temporal oracle finds he cannot remember much of his magic. The shaman then dominates Kiltro’s mind and sends the half-orc running up the catwalk and reaching down to take a drink of the beer. The shaman then flies towards Kiltro, knocking him into the burning vat of bubbling beer.
Meanwhile, Brango breaks out of the illusionary geometry joins the battle with the frost giants, helping Shrugga. Arngeir summons the power of the gods and becomes an angelic paragon of Hethroth. He uses his magical axe to help cut down his enemies. Brango and Arngeir cut down one of the giants, and the other is destroyed shortly after.
Brango tries to rescue Kiltro from the vat, and helps the half-orc sprawl out and hard to the ground below. The shaman then summons black tentacles to reach out of the ground and grab them, but Kiltro teleports away. Duke summons a powerful elemental confluence to surround and strike at the shaman. Arngeir charges up the catwalk towards the flying shaman, but is repulsed by a powerful force field. Abhlesh joins Arngeir, but fails to cast his healing spells, finding his mind is near broken. However, Abhlesh tries one more spell, a powerful blast of shadowy flames. It is successful and it burns the shaman to death.
With the enemies defeated, Brango helps lift the three giants and places their corpses into three of the vats of beer. Agandar then drops the hemlock poison into the latest beer that is ready for drinking. The heroes begin to explore the brewery. They find the shaman’s bedchamber with many strange herbs and magical components. Others find a massive brass still, seemingly for making whiskey, but it is quite crude and seems ready to explode at the slightest provocation.
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Session 73: Mammoths and Mines
[Oct 5th, 2021]
The heroes stand among the brewery and the aftermath of the battle. Abhlesh seems quite confused, as he is sporadically disconnected from the temporal magic that sustains him and powers his magic. The strange traveler appears to be slowly aging, appearing much older than he did before.
The heroes decide it best to destroy the brewery rather than just poison the beer. Kiltro summons the memories of his ancestors to help him devise the best way to trigger the brass still to release its alcoholic vapors and then ignite them. He triggers a makeshift bomb that gives the others plenty of time to get out of the building. The heroes then use Duke’s magic to surround themselves in a cloak of invisibility as they sneak away from the brewery. Behind them, the southern wall of the building explodes and flames engulf the wooden structure. The smell of burning yeast emanates in the air.
The heroes manage to sneak their way down into the valley below the frost giant village and prepare a camp, using their magical spike to hide their tents. They spend the rest of the night getting a good rest. The next day (15th Harvest, 692 G.R.) they decide to wait again until dark to strike. Arngeir is able to remove the curse on Abhlesh and the traveler’s magic is restored and his more modest middle-aged appearance returns. The heroes spend the daytime looking over the crude map they have sketched out of the frost giant village and plan their next attack. They decide to head towards the mammoth stockade and release the beasts into the giant encampment to the south. The spellcasters prepare a selection of spells to assist in the assault.
The heroes head towards Skygaard as dusk falls, and then Brango and Kiltro lead them as night falls. Duke uses his magic to cloak them in invisibility again, and they sneak their way around the eastern and northern ends of the camp. They find the great longhouse on the northern side and find a stone building on the frozen pond. They then pass a large building they presume to be a mill before finding the mammoth stockade on the western side of the village.
The southern watchtower appears to be manned, but the northern one is empty. The heroes manage to squeeze or climb into the fenced yard, finding it near empty save for a massive barn. The heroes approach the barn and find over a dozen large wooly mammoths inside. There are three that seem to defend the herd. Agandar tries to calm them, but he is unable to get past their distrustful nature. The heroes then devise a scheme.
Duke sends forth a wave of unnatural fear into the mammoths as Kiltro summons a young brass dragon. The dragon charges inside the barn, breathing a fiery breath upon the wooden walls, setting them ablaze. The mammoths charge out of the barn, and Brango and Abhlesh are able to corral them towards the yard-gate at the south. Kiltro then disintegrates the gate’s holding latch and the mammoths charge out, heading southward towards the large collection of giant-sized tents. The brass dragon then flies out of the barn, flying past the watchtower and disappearing into the sky.
Chaos ensues in the giant encampment as the mammoth barn burns and the stampede of massive creatures charges through their tents. The heroes get past the wall again and Duke turns them invisible as they sneak way from the carnage. The screams of giants can be heard echoing as they leave.
The heroes then head towards the mines on their way out. They climb down the circling ramps to the deep depression in the center, where three cave entrances stand. They then discover a series of wooden effigies of the heroes. They are crude wooden approximations of each of them, seven in total, the six of them and Esderal. It seems the giants have a good idea who their enemies are.
The heroes then head towards the mine caverns, but find four stone giants exiting the mines. The heroes charge in, blasting the stone giants with powerful spells and deadly attacks. The giants are quickly felled. Kiltro determines that the mine was hastily constructed and in danger of collapsing. Brango and Arngeir find that the mines are straight into the mountain and are of little interest on their own. They drag the bodies of the stone giants inside, then Abhlesh and Agandar blast the inside of the mine with waves of energy. The caverns collapse and seal up the crude iron mine.
The heroes then quickly climb out of the depression and head out of Skygaard as quickly as possible. They heal their wounds with spells before setting out down the mountainside. After a couple hours, they near the valley where they have been camping, but feel the ground trembling. Three great ice wyrms emerge from the snow and ice and breathe out blasts of cold energy. The heroes try to defend themselves…
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Session 74: Sojourn in the Wilds
[Oct 12th, 2021]
The heroes continue to strike against the mighty elemental ice wyrms. Agandar summons a great wall of fire to hold them off, as the others concentrate on the third one. However, one of the wyrms surrounds Agandar and nearly slams him to the ground with its frozen tail, knocking the druid out. The other goes around the wall and strikes at Duke. However, Duke uses his powerful conjuration magic to switch places with the other wyrm, causing one to strike the other. After a few more well-placed blasts of fire and strikes from Agrimmosh, the wyrms are deafeated.
The heroes treat their wounds and head to a hidden crack in the stony mountains to set their magical iron spike and set up their tents with some cover from the wind. They rest deep into the night. In the middle of the night, Kiltro has a dream that begins as a memory with Brevelia, but the turns into a nightmare featuring the spellscar.
Kiltro: Dreams and Nightmares
The next morning, (16th Harvest, 692 G.R.), the heroes decide to leave Skyrgaard to deal with the aftermath of their last attack. They head down away from the mountain peaks back down into the valley. They first check the fields and find them left fallow and all the crops ripped out and removed. The heroes then cross the river and head to the hidden camp where Graymud and the other rescues hide. At first, the camp seems abandoned and there is a fear that the have been found, but after Arngeir calls out, they find that they are safe.
There is a lengthy discussion with Graymud and the others, it seems to they fear for the other slaves, but also yearn to return to civilization and Jarnby. The heroes reason with them and convince them to hold tight while they figure out what to do with Skygaard. The heroes spend the rest of the day helping them improve their camp. Brango and Kiltro fashion them a stone axe for gathering more wood. Abhlesh improves their mood with songs and stories. Agandar and Arngeir forage and hunt in the wild valley, bringing back enough food for all of them for the next several days. Duke spends the time studying his spells and working through a complicated scroll. That night, the Agandar and Duke attempt to commune with the fey realm for a magical fest, but the attempt fails as Duke mispronounces many of the fey creatures’ names.
The next day (17th Harvest, 692 G.R.), Agandar uses his magic to shape crude wooden buckets and a large water trough for the camp. Abhelesh fills their water reservoir with his magical decanter. The heroes then take their share of the food and head back towards Skyrgaard. After they reach the mountains, they set up their magical spike and tents and begin to plan. They are greeted by Nakimarra, the dragon, in hawk form again. She gives them a bit of intel about the camp’s buildings and she warns them that the slaves are being punished for the attacks in the village. After much discussion, the heroes decide to strike at the stables where strange frost-giant-like centaurs dwell. Then, perhaps they can attempt to free the slaves.
The heroes approach the camp around midnight and use Duke’s invisibility magic to sneak into the camp again. They find that more of the watchtowers seem occupied and their are more patrols about. They sneak to the cliffside and climb up to the stables. Kiltro scouts the inside with a magical sensor and finds four of the centaur-like giants, the svathurim, inside.
Abhlesh goes invisible and tries to bar one end of the barn, as the others approach the other door. Brango kicks the door down hard, breaking the wooden bar holding it shut. This awakens the sleeping svathurim. Brango, Agandar, Kiltro, Duke, and Arngeir all bombard the stables with explosive fire seeds, fireballs, elemental confluences, and flaming rain. The svathurim somehow survive the onslaught and charge out into the heroes, one of which flies into the air over the heroes. Brango slams it with his hammer and knocks the svathurim to the ground behind them. Another one tramples through the heroes, but Brango does the same, slamming it with his hammer and flipping the second svathurim over the first. The last one manages to trample past them, its thunderous hooves deafening many of the heroes.
The heroes prepare to retaliate as the barn begins to slowly burn…
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Session 75: To the Longhouse!
[Oct 19th, 2021]
The heroes regroup and throw spells and attacks at the svathurim that surround them. They fell the two that lay upon the ground. The other two svathurim see the need to call for help. One of them charges at the heroes, trying to trample them under its hooves. Brango however, flips it like the other two, sending it sprawling to the ground. The fourth svathurim takes off, trying to flee the scene. However, Kiltro and Duke step away from the battle and blast the fleeing svathurim. When the final svathurim is felled, Abhlesh looks down upon the horse-like creatures and falls into a lost memory.
Abhlesh: The Old Mare
The barn continues to burn and the fires grow. Arngeir charges into the stable to search for any easily accesible items to help their quest, he finds a strange eyepiece for crafting. Abhlesh runs to the other side of the barn and retrieves the javelin holding the doors closed. Agandar and Brango prepare to leave and Duke prepares his spell of invisibility. Brango picks up a magical helm from one of the dead svathurim. Kiltro then summons another brass dragon to fly towards the nearby watchtower and strike with a fiery breath, before flying northward. However, shortly after the dragon attacks, the heroes see a firework rocket shoot up into the sky near the watchtower, sending an alert throughout the camp.
The heroes make haste and flee, watching the stable burn down as they leave. They pass a band of ice trolls and winter wargs on their way out. Thankfully, the beasts did not smell them. The heroes were able to leave the camp and hike down to the high hills where they have been camping. They set up their tents and magical spike and sleep through the rest of the night late into the next morning.
The next day (18th Harvest, 692 G.R.), the heroes sit around their tent, keeping warm and talking about their next strike at the frost giant village. Duke uses the magic of the new eyepiece to summon a large pot of coffee to share with the group, however, Brango finds the taste and effects not as enjoyable as a hearty ale. They are briefly greeted by Nakimarra, who informs them about two prominent leaders of the frost giants, the second-in-command, the Hersir who resides in the longhouse, and a powerful priestess who dwells in the stone temple. After a long debate, the heroes decide to strike at the frost giant’s leadership, and attack the longhouse and the Hersir.
They wait until midnight again, and sneak towards camp. Duke uses his invisibility magic as they sneak their way through the village. They see many more watchtowers are active and more patrols circle the encampment. However, the heroes are able to reach the longhouse with ease. The large wooden building is like a palace with finely decorated wooden details. They circle the building, but find only the three doors on the southern front. They head to the eastern door, but Kiltro believes there is a trap, so they check the western door. Brango slides it open and they find a large museum-like hall, filled with taxidermized corpses of large animals and the heads of humans and dwarves.
The heroes head to the eastern door and Brango accidently swings it open to roughly, it slams into the wall, making a ruckus. There are four frost giants sleeping in the room, and two wake up immediately. Agandar then summons a wall of fire to scorch the giants. The others blasts them with fire magic and powerful spells, and Duke paralyzes one of them. The heroes are able to take them out quickly. However, their battle attracted the attention of others.
On the far side of the room, Shrugga, the mighty polar bear, holds the door as two giants try to push it open. Evnetually, the giants are successful and the door surges open. The heroes rush to the other side and start a new battle on the eastern front. Duke summons a powerful elemental confluence, Agandar throws burning seeds of fire, and Kiltro blasts them with fireballs. The door to the south then opens as two more frost giants enter. One is another powerful ridder, the other is a highly decorated frost giant that could only be Hersir Gregganor.
The heroes try to hold off the rest of the giants as Gregganor charges in, throwing the door at Agandar. He then spears Kiltro, nearly killing him. The battle gets fierce and the heroes worry they are over their head…
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Session 76: Death to Hersir Gregganor
[Oct 26th, 2021]
The heroes try to defend themselves as Brango continues to hold the eastern door of the large trophy hall, with the burning bodies of two frost giants helping hold that line. Agandar summons the power of the volcano, and becomes a living humanoid form of pure lava. Hersir Gregganor slices his glaive at Agandar, nearly killing him. Kiltro then throws up a defensive wall of stone to block off Gregganor and the other giants streaming into the room. Outside the longhouse, a frost giant blows his horn repeatedly, calling across the encampment for reinforcements.
There is a short pause as Gregganor begins bursting through the stone wall, but the heroes are able to revive Agandar and keep Brango in place. However, the two frost giants to the east manage to destroy the elemental confluence and are able to charge into the room to strike. The heroes begin to pull back towards the northern wall, and Shrugga begins clawing at the heavy wood to make a passage for escape. Gregganor then breaks through the stone wall and begins cutting down Brango. The other frost giants and their cyclops allies move in, atriking at Arngeir, Agandar, and Kiltro. Abhlesh remains invisible, healing his allies discretely and reversing time to prevent their dooms.
Duke finds himself blocked off from the others by the wall of stone, but manages to pull away and go invisible. It is then that the heroes see Brango go down and the encrouching giants bringing certain doom. Kiltro steps forward and throws a quick fireball, then unleashes all his frustration and emotion into an array of powerful bolts of lightning that ricochets through all the giants, felling four of them. This brings back some hope for the heroes as they focus their attention on felling Gregganor before the reinforcements arrive.
Agandar blasts the giants with a lightning bolt as Shrugga manages to rip a hole in the back wall for escape. Brango struggles to fight against Gregganor, and the mighty frost giant downs him again. However, Duke reappears and blasts him with spells, Kiltro joins his mentor, blasting Gregganor as well. The giant leader finds himself overwhelmed and attempts to flee out the eastern passage. However, Duke blasts him with a barrage of magical runes and fells the giant leader. Arngeir rushes over to Gregganor and slices off the giant’s head.
Meanwhile, Agandar flies outside the opening made by Shrugga and and flies to the roof. He sees numerous lights coming towards the longhouse. The heroes gather together quickly and Duke summons his invisibility sphere. It was just in time, as a trio of ice trolls and a pair of winter wolves enter the chamber. The heroes manage to sneak away in the snow, with Agandar expertly hiding their tracks. Thankfully, the wolves do not get enough of their scent to follow them.
The heroes heal their wounds with spells, then try to escape the very active encampment. They decide to head west and sneak past the stone temple. They then carefully follow around west of the tent encampment, where there are many giants awake and furious. The heroes then manage sneak out of the camp entirely and make their way down the mountainside to find a place to rest.
Arngeir and Kiltro find that Gregganor wore magical goggles under his helm that gives sight in the darkness. Abhlesh is happy to wear them. The heroes set up camp in another hidden spot in the mountains. During the night, Kiltro dwells on the tribes of giants and thinks about the orc tribes and his father, Drukzerd. He recalls the last time he saw his father as he slipped away in the night over fourteen years ago.
Kiltro: Drukzerd’s Departure
The heroes are able to rest through the night and awaken the next morning (19th Harvest, 692 G.R.), feeling quite accomplished in their fight against the frost giants of Skyrgaard.
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Session 77: Burning of the Mess Hall
[Nov 2nd, 2021]
That early morning, Abhlesh awakens long before the others, bothered by old memories that have begun to resurface. He recalls how he met his mentor, Pataikos Aresh, and learned the ways of temporal magic.
Abhlesh: The Mentor
Late in the morning, the others begin to arise. They eat a meal and begin discussing their next move against the frost giants of Skyrgaard. After much discussion, they decide to strike at the mess hall and how to cause a large enough distraction that they might attempt to free the slaves from the slave pen across the camp.
The heroes break their camp and set out towards Skygaard. They take the western path and come to the camp on the far western side, near the high cliffs. They manage to avoid being seen in the bright daylight and decide to climb the cliffside to near the mess hall, then strike. Agandar takes to magical flight, and attaches a long rope to aid their climbing of the 100 foot cliffside. Brango leads the way, providing expert guidance to those below him. He manages to get everyone up and he even helps Shrugga climb the bare rock face.
Agandar then flies ahead and scouts above them. He finds that the nearby watchtower is unmanned and the entrance to the mess hall is near. It seems most of the giants are out running drills and training for the war to come. Agandar sets another rope and Brango and the others are able to climb up near the empty watchtower.
The heroes then approach the back of the mess hall, finding the large wooden shack-like building containing a single door on the west wall and two small windows. Kiltro and Arngeir look through the windows and find four large hill giant women working to create meals, chopping up human body parts and throwing them into three massive cauldrons filled with the grisly stew. There is also another larger giant, a strange three-armed athach giant named Qupenarth.
The heroes open the door slightly and let Shrugga charge in like a wild bear searching for food. This gets their attention as the heroes burst through the chamber. Arngeir summons a mighty wall of blades to block the eastern exit. Kiltro then explodes a fireball upon the giants inside. The other heroes charge in and meet the giants in battle. Kiltro blasts the athach giant with force missiles. Qupenarth retaliates by running around the tables and he bursts through the window to grab Kiltro and pull him inside to eat him. He manages to rip into Kiltro a bit before the sorcerer manages to teleport away.
Brango summons the power of Agrimmosh to hold the line as the others throws spells. Arngeir summons the power of the gods and begins hacking away at the giants. Duke summons the power of the dragons, and takes the form of a large copper dragon. He breathes a great blast of acid upon the giants and goes one-on-one with Qupernath. Brango, Shrugga, and Arngeir are able to cut down the rest of the hill giants. Abhlesh and Agandar keep everyone healed and alive. Kiltro fells Qupernath with a spell, and then the final giant is cut down.
With the giants dead, Agandar quickly sets the cooking fires to spread to the floor of the chamber. Kiltro and Duke grab a few magic items from Qupernath, including a strange Dyrferd torc that seems to be diametrically opposed to giants, a strange treasure for a giant to possess. The heroes then pull out of the mess hall and hide behind the watchtower, letting the flames grow. Once the other giants begin to notice the flames, the heroes cloak themselves with Duke’s magical invisibility and begin making their way towards the slave pens.
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Session 78: In the Halls of Gluttony and Death
[Nov 9th, 2021]
The heroes watch as the frost giant camp’s mess hall begins to burn with flames. They make their way with Duke’s invisibility spell around the broken mammoth stockade and then head eastward across the camp towards the slave pens. They find that the watchtower and the slave pens themselves are heavily guarded. Thanfully, they are able to sneak in with their invisibility. Upon entering the slave pen, they find it to be far more sparse of the human slaves. They believe this is because they are out working during this midday period.
The heroes find the young elf, Danarya standing there with an older woman, stirring a watery soup over the campfire. The heroes sneak into the nearby ramshackle shack before becoming visible again. Agandar whispers out to Danarya and she comes inside to talk to them as they stand all squeezed together in the tiny shack. They learn that many of the slaves have been killed, they went from 52 last week to only 23 remaining. They also learns that the frost giants blamed Ingrahild for leading the slave camp and the priestess of the frost giants took her away that morning after Hersir Gregganor was killed.
Danarys seems to believe that is too dangerous to try and free them with so many guards nearby, and the heroes agree. They decide to try and find Ingrahild, as Brango insists on finding his cousin. The heroes decide to head towards the stone temple and see if Ingrahild is kept there. Duke casts another invisibility aura and the heroes barely manage to sneak past the guards towards the temple. On the way to the temple, Brango thinks about Ingrahild and how he promised to always protect her.
Brango: Promise to Ingrahild
The heroes reach the stone temple and find it once served as a sacred edifice dedicated to Thryissmyr, the Frozen Jarl. It seems to be carved from the mountain itself. However, the sacred scriptures and mentions of the frost giant deity have gone to disrepair as if worship in Thryissmyr has waned. The heroes enter the western stone doors and find a beautiful antechamber with murals depicting the genesis of the frost giants according to their mythology. Again, it shows signs of neglect.
The heroes then enter the next doorway and find a grisly scene. A gray-faced tomb giant partakes in a gluttonous feast of a dead human, as he shovels raw entrails and flesh into his greedy maw. The dead human seems prepared like a pig, with an apple shoved into its mouth and his eyes permanently open in fear. The tomb giant turns to towards the heroes’ interruption with blood dripping from his lips. The heroes leap into action with Brango and Arngeir hacking at the giant, knocking him down. Agandar summons an earth elemental, but the tomb giant manages to shove it aside and reach the eastern door. However, Duke puts the giant to sleep with a simple spell and the others are able to finish him off before he could seek help.
The heroes find a preparation room to the north and numerous religious symbols. Duke and Abhlesh discern that worship in this temple has shifted to Urgathanatos, the Devourer, the Jotun deity of gluttony and undeath. The heroes then open the door to the east and find a large temple chamber with the bloated fly symbol of Urgathanatos tiled into a mosaic upon the floor. The heroes then find themselves paralyzed with fear as two frost giant mummies charge in at them. They then see a powerful demon-like undead frost giant priestess come towards them with her scythe like arm stretched before her.
The heroes try to hold the entrance to the room as they overcome their fear of the mummies. Agandar summons a ring of fire to block the way as Kiltro and Duke blast fire into the temple chamber. This doesn’t seem to slow them down as a mummy pushes forward pounding Brango with its fists and sending the chill of cold death down the dwarf’s spine. Brango tries to retaliate with slow strikes. Abhlesh and Arngeir blast the undead with explosions of positive energy, healing themselves in the process. However, Dybellos, the undead priestess, does likewise with negative energy, cancelling the effects. Dybellos then drains the heroes of their lifeblood, gaining power from her enemies.
Agandar throws spells of fire as he commands Shrugga to hold the other door. This seems to work well, keeping the second mummy from entering. However, the mummy eventually throws Shrugga aside and charges into the chamber. Shrugga is nearly killed and Dybellos steps into the chamber, standing over the downed bear. She touches Brango with and his skin withers with decay. Duke then takes the form of a golden dragon with gleaming scales. He jumps into the fray with teeth and claws bared.
The heroes try to hold out against the dark servant of Urgathantos…
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Session 79: Distortions of Shadows and Space
[Nov 16th, 2021]
The heroes pull together as Dybellos, the undead frost-giant demoness, priestess of Urgathanatos, presses in. She slashes at them with her scythe-like arm as her mummy servants pound their enemies with their undying fists. Brango tries to fight against the mummy nearest him, but it manages to knock him down, pounding him with its fists. Additionally, Dybellos siphons the dwarf’s life essence and bars healing magic from restoring him as easily.
Duke, in gold dragon form, breathes a cone of flames, that burns away one of the mummies, he then flanks Dybellos. Abhlesh and Agandar retreat to the southern room, throwing what spells they can to keep people alive. Kiltro manages to destroy the mummy that was pummeling the unconscious Brango, and the others are able to bring him back to consciousness. The dwarven warrior grabs his hammer and strikes at Dybellos as his friends blast her with spells and dragon claws. Eventually the priestess can no longer take the assault and is destroyed.
With the priestess felled, the heroes treat their wounds before venturing forward. However, when they do finally enter the main chamber of the temple, the giant black fly image of Urgathanatos activates and sends a flurry of electricity at the heroes and curses Kiltro and Duke with untamed magic. The heroes press on and discover a small room with foods and drinks of the gluttonous.
They then find Dybellos’s bedchamber where Kiltro identifies a few magic items. Brango takes the magical javelin of the ancient druids of the Stone circle. Duke finds an ancient scroll depicting a spell he once knew before he encountered the daemon that took his memories. The complex spell took him years to master, but with it written before him, he know she can learn it again. The spell is a powerful conjuration that can bend space and teleport people great distances.
The heroes also find a few letters seemingly between Dybellos and her sister, Dulcilene. While at first these letters seem mundane and uninsteresting, Abhlesh realizes the letters are written in a cypher. Kiltro is able to parse it out and finds a strange message:
“The Frost Queen prepares. We permit the Storm Tyrant to perform our labors. Timetable uncertain. The pawn’s citadel requires repair. Then the Pallid Prince’s Great Work begins.”
It seems that Dybellos, and maybe Skyrkatla, are using the Storm Tyrant for their own ends.
The heroes decide to head out of Skyrgaard and find camp. Duke summons a portal to the dangerous Plane of Shadow and the heroes trek through the shadowy world to find the valley below Skyrgaard. They exit safely and set up camp. They rest for the rest of the day as Agandar treats diseases and Abhlesh deals with the curses upon them.
The next day, (20th Harvest, 692 G.R.), the heroes hike back into the mountains and enter Skyrgaard by the western cliffs again. Agandar flies up, setting a rope, and Brango helps everyone climb to the top. The heroes then sneak down towards the flat-roofed building that gave off a foul odor. They find it to be a makeshift tannery, where numerous mammoth hides are in various stages of processing. Inside the building they find four giants working over two massive cauldrons of caustic tannins and lye.
Arngeir charges in, summoning the power of the Noradrie gods, to strike at the frost giant inside. However, one of the hill giants throws a small keg of caustic lye at him and it gets into his eyes. Arngeir goes blind for the time being. Brango charges in and uses his new javelin to cause a spike of earth to knock over one of the cauldrons on the giants. This creates much chaos as the others charge in as well to fight the frost giant and the three hill giants. Abhlesh charges past the others, distorting time and space, he then unleashes a furious blast of energy that knocks over the second cauldron as well. However, the giants strike back and nearly kill Abhlesh. Arngeir stumbles away from the giants in his blindness, but is knocked out as well.
The heroes continue their fight, trying to fell the giants quickly.
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Session 80: Ice and Fire
[Dec 14th, 2021]
The heroes pull back a moment, allowing Duke to summon a mighty wave of elemental energies. This seems to hold the giants back for a moment, and allows the blind Arngeir to gather his bearings. Brango and Arngeir then leap back out to attack their foes, finally felling the remaining giants.
The heroes find a few hidden trinkets among the giants and a note that seems to indicate that some of the giants are being sent to their “fiery brethren in the the north”. The heroes treat their wounds and try to decide the best route to take next. With Arngeir still blinded from the caustic lye, they do not believe the are capable to striking at another target today. So, Duke surrounds them with a sphere of invisibility and they head off towards the path to the east.
As the heroes pass the training camps, they find that the giants are forming formations and doing practice patrols along the path, blocking their escape from the camp. The heroes decide to pull back towards the tannery rather than risk being caught. Brango then leads the group down the cliffside along their climbing ropes. The heroes then manage to sneak out into the mountains, away from the encampment.
The heroes set up a camp and rest through the night. The next morning, they have a long and heated discussions about what to do next. Brango seems eager to set the slaves free, and perhaps also to find Ingrahild. Abhlesh would rather strike at more targets in the giant encampment, ensuring it’ll be safer to get the slaves out. He is also worried about trying to protect and feed a large band of freed slaves. Eventually, Duke and Agandar are forced to provide their considerable wisdom and negotiate a compromise. The heroes decide to strike at watchtowers and the smithy, to help prepare the way for freeing the slaves.
The heroes pack up their camp near evening, and head out towards the giant’s camp that night. Duke cloaks them in invisibility and they approach one of the eastern watchtowers. They find it surprisingly empty. Duke uses his magical eyepiece to summon a large two-man saw. Arngeir and Brango then use it to cut down three of the six large poles holding up the watchtower. The tower collapses towards the east, causing some minor damage upon the two saboteurs.
The heroes cloak themselves in invisibility again and head out towards the smithy. As they approach the building, they hear faint metallic sounds inside, of metal striking metal. They find the outer doors locked and Kiltro is unable to pick the locks. Agandar then flies out on the ice, finding strange organic-like spikes sticking out of the icy pond, but he is unable to identify them. The elf then approaches the eastern door and opens it. Inside, he finds a pair of frost giants, surprised to see an elf at their flank.
Agandar summons a wall of flames between himself and the frost giants. However, the northern door then bursts open, and a massive fire giant, wielding a burning greatsword, charges out. The female frost giant, named Aerngun, then pulls back and blows a high-pitched horn. This seems to summon creatures beneath the ice. The icy spikes then break along the ice and two massive insectoid creatures called remorhazs emerge , breathing hot flames upon the heroes.
Agandar turns into a mighty white dragon, but is immediately struck down by the fire giant. Abhlesh goes invisible, and tries to revive Agandar. Shrugga tries to keep one of the remorhazs back. The frost giant Aerngun tries to flee and Kiltro blasts her with a powerful ray. Arngeir rushes across the ice to stop Aerngun from getting away, blocking her exit. Brango grows to giant size with the power of Agrimmosh and slams one of the remorhazes. Duke then also becomes a dragon, taking the form of a mighty red.
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Session 81: Tower Toppling
[Dec 28th, 2021]
The heroes continue to strike against Aerngun the frost giant, Proath the fire giant, and their frost giant assistant. Outside, the two remorhazes continue to breath fire. Agandar struggles to fight against Proath and eventually flees, leaving the giant to storm outside. Duke is nearly killed by the remorhaz, but manages to flee thanks to Abhlesh’s healing. Aerngun the giant tries to flee, but Arngeir stops her and cuts her down with Duke’s help. Brango then helps to take down the remaining giants with Kiltro’s magical assistance.
The heroes explore the smithy, finding that the giants must have used the heat of the remorhazes to work their iron. The heroes find a small jewelry box filled with gems and riches. They also find a suit of dwarven armor that once belonged to Brango’s great uncle, Akargrim Nargymkin, a giant-slayer trying to live in the path of Nargym Steelhand. Akargrim went missing chasing after the frost giant Hhurrun Springbane. Brango proudly dons his great-uncle’s armor.
The heroes then discuss heading over to the watchtower near the slave pens. Duke casts his invisibility sphere again and the heroes move towards the watchtower, seeing a few giants up in the tower. They move underneath the tower itself. Duke then causes Brango to become invisible. Brango then climbs up the ramp to prepare to leap into the tower’s top floor. Agandar then takes the form of a large bird and flies up to the tower and swoops down to steal the signal rocket from the bannister. The giants move to fight, but an invisible Brango blocks their way and keeps them occupied.
Underneath the tower, Kiltro disintegrates one of the tower’s support pillars. Duke transmutes the ground beneath another into a loose mud, rendering it useless. Arngeir then rushes at a third pillar and chops at it with his axe with fury. Brango continues the fight above them as Abhlesh tries to avoid getting pelted by arrows from one of the frost giant scouts. Arngeir finally finishes cutting at the pillar until it can no longer support the weight. A loud crack is heard as the pillar breaks and the entire watchtower crumbles to the ground. Unfortunately, Arngeir is caught in the collapse and is nearly crushed by the tower’s debris, but he manages to force his way out from under the weight. Brango and the frost giants tumble to the ground in the rubble and the heroes are able to slay them quickly.
With the giants defeated, the heroes quickly use another invisibility sphere to flee the giant’s camp. On the way out, however, they are nearly discovered by a night patrol featuring ice trolls and winter wolves, who seem to catch their scent. However, Kiltro’s quick thinking saves them, as he summons the illusion of a dragon flying off to the north. The heroes escape the frost giant camp and make their own camp lower down the mountains.
The next morning (22nd Harvest, 692 G.R.), the heroes decide to head back to the camp and strike at the wolves in their den. They climb up the western walls near the tannery, they then use Duke’s invisibility sphere again to sneak around to the entrance of the wolf caverns. They head into the dark space, with Arngeir summoning magical light to shine the way forward. They then reach a large open chamber where a growling deep voice echoes on the cavern’s walls, “Who dares enter the den of Ranfearg?”
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Session 82: Scattering of the Winter Wolves
[Jan 4th, 2022]
The heroes stand in the large cavern, the cold fog chilling their bones and hiding the source of the voice and growls. Abhlesh calls back to the voice, asking why the winter wolves swear allegiance to the giants. Ranfearg answers and the heroes quickly learn that the winter wolves are not happy with their alliance, especially after the destruction of the shrine to Thryissmyr. Ranfearg says they have inhabited this mountain long before the frost giants. They were happy to share the mountain peak with fellow worshippers of Thryissmyr, but now Skirkatla and her minions move to worshipping Urgathanatos.
Abhlesh tells Ranfearg that they were the ones to destroy the shrine of Thryissmyr. This causes Ranfearg and all the winter wolves to growl and howl in anger. The wolves charge out of the cold fog, striking at the heroes. The wolves breath a blast of freezing air that chills the heroes to their bones. The heroes move into defensive stances and strike back at the wolves. The battle is quick and decisive, with Brango felling two of the beasts and the others helping to fell two more.
Abhlesh then confronts Ranfearg, telling the magical wolf that they will spare his life if he breaks the alliance with the giants. The winter warg agrees and magically teleports elsewhere, disapeearing into the cold fog. The fog itself then dissipates and the heroes search the caverns. In Ranfearg’s cavern, they find a few trinkets and a magical shield once used by famed giant-slayers, perhaps even wielded by Akargrim Nargymkin. Arngeir takes the shield, find it offers enhanced protection.
The heroes then devise a plan to head towards the camp’s grain silo. Duke uses the invisibility sphere again and the heroes sneak their way past the training camps and through the rows of tents. They then rush inside the silo before their invisibility fades away. Inside, they find a room filled with salted meat and large stores of grain. The meat appears to hammocks of mammoths, dwarves, and men.
Upon entry, the heroes find two sleeping ice trolls, but their pet dire bear growls and awakens them. The trolls charge at the heroes, but are soon pelted by magical fires. Abhlesh chops one of the troll’s heads off with a cleaver, and Kiltro fells the other with lingering flames. The heroes then surround the dire bear and fell it as well.
In the corner of the room, the heroes find a powerful, and forgotten magical item, a magical broom of flying. They also find a long wick that leads to a firework rocket near the top of the tower. After treating their wounds, the heroes devise a plan to strike at the nearby watchtower. Duke and Abhlesh cast an invisibility enchantment upon themselves and Arngeir and Brango. The two warriors then charge out towards the tower as Abhlesh magically flies towards the tower with great haste.
Once Abhlesh grabs and destroys the rocket attached to the watchtower, Brango and Arngeir leap up the trapdoor and attack the giants in the tower. Duke follows on the ramp, turning into a great brass dragon. Agandar rides towards the tower on Shrugga’s back as Kiltro stays back to light the long fuse of the firework rocket so that it ignites the hay and grain in the silo.
At the watchtower, the warriors face off against the three frost giants, but Arngeir finds himself in a dangerous position. Brango springs around behind one of the giants and slams her down into the trapdoor hole, to be attacked by the dragon-form Duke. Agandar then flies up to the tower as Shrugga climbs along the side. Abhlesh remains invisible, healing his allies from above.
The battle continues…
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Session 83: Battle of the Mill
[Jan 11th, 2022]
The heroes continue their fight with the frost giants upon the watchtower. With the rippling wall of flames conjured by Agandar, the giants have little room to move as the flying spellcasters and Duke in dragon form strike at them. Eventually the giants are felled and the heroes quickly regroup on the far side of the watchtower. They get a glimpse of giants coming towards them, seeking why the watchtower burns. The giants only get a sight of Duke as a brass dragon, thus reinforcing the lie that a dragon is waylaying their camp.
Duke returns to his human form and summons a globe of invisibility. The heroes sneak their way away from the growing crowd of giants who watch the tower burn. The heroes manage to sneak their way completely out of camp and return to the lower mountains. They set their own camp and rest for the day, reflecting on their triumphs against the giants of Skyrgaard. They are briefly visited by Naximarra in hawk form. She congratulates the heroes for their efforts and warns the group that the frost giants are growing weary of the attacks and may disband soon. However, rumours persist that Skirkatla may release a monstrous creature to hunt them down.
During the long rest, Abhlesh finds an old memory, long forgotten, sudden bubble up to the surface of his mind. He recalls his encounter with the enigmatic being known as Ephorocronus and his original assignment of the mission he has labored on for these many years.
Abhlesh: Meeting Ephorocronus
The heroes regather as night falls upon the mountains, they then make plans for their next strike on the frost giant camp. They decide to strike at the gristmill in the center of the camp and work their way north towards the frost drake caverns.
The heroes use their invisibility to sneak their way towards the gristmill. With the winter wolves gone, they find that the patrols only consist of ice trolls, who’s sense of smell is not as keen as the wolves. The heroes easily make it to the mill. They rush inside quickly, closing the doors behind them. Inside the massive building, they find ten human slaves manacled to a massive grindstone. They are guarded by a handful of frost giants, led by a mighty giantess named Margrunda
The frost giants charge in at the heroes, while others whip at the slaves to awaken them and get the grindstone moving. Brango grows to giant size and charges at two of the giants. Abhlesh and Duke move to help the warrior, blasting the giants with spells. On the other side, Agandar turns into a walking humanoid of lava and he and Shrugga strike at the frost giants. Arngeir joins them and Kiltro assists from behind. The battle is quick and decisive, with the heroes quickly felling the giants and Brango grinding them in the large gristmill.
Duke taps an unseen pocket of wild magic and suddenly glows with faerie fire, but also is confused and believes himself to be only a foot tall. With the giants defeated, Brango breaks the chains of the slaves and they begin to discuss their next move.