Session 4: The Ice Caves Report

General Summary

Traveling east the party emerged from the ice woods Kaithia spotted to the southeast a large number of tents and what looked like white smoke rising in the distance. The party believed this to be the camp that the Flame had told them to find.   As they approached closer they spotted Orcs, grey giants, and humans all mingling together in a singular tribe. An Orc stopped them and spoke in common asking them who they were. They introduced themselves and were taken by surprise that they could understand the Orc. They spoke of escaping the wrath of the Orc camp and were told they could find help here. They spoke of coming from the Ice Woods.   The Orc seemed intrigued and took them to meet with their elders who would decide if help would be given to them or not. They were led into the center of the camp where they saw the ice from the trees burning a silverly, blue fire, and the women of the camp would take snow, hold them up to the fire and then carry the flame back into their tents.   The Orc then led them to meet three old women in a large tent. One was a human Trivella, one was a goliath Belsilka, and one was an orc Nogu. They introduced themselves as the matriarchs of the Koscala. Madea and Nienna asked how they lived out here and why so many races live here. They gave a brief explanation that they gathered those who were exiled from their tribes and add them to their own number.   They also explained that the Orc camp that they had encountered was a growing horde calling itself the Icefang Orcs and were preparing to leave the Frozen Plains and raid across the Halcyon Plains. The party asked if they knew anyone who could lead them to the camp. The matriarchs agreed that they could take Tiberen could lead them. If they decided to do that one of them had to stay behind to ensure that their tribe member would come to no harm.   Tyr volunteered to stay behind and all three women were guided to meet Tiberen in his tent who was delighted to be wakened up to such a sight. They told him of the deal they had struck with the matriarchs and him being their guide. He told them as he flirted with them, that he knew of two options. The first was crossing the open plains to their camp or they could get beneath the hill via the Belsikar tunnels (Frost Wurms). Nieena, Medea, and Kaithia concluded that the best way for them to defeat this large horde of orcs was to try and bring down the hill that camp was on to bury all the orcs.   Tiberen dressed himself for exploring the tunnels and led the ladies to a nearby ice plain that had multiple openings into the tunnel of ice far below. They ran across and snow lion that Tiberen called a Feliden, and 3 of the large bear rabbit creatures he called Arnabs. Both of them were guarding one of two entrances. Using the trick she had done earlier Kaithia tricked the Arnabs with an illusion that caused them to move to attack the Feliden. The rest of them went to the hole, tied off their rope, and repelled down nearly 40 feet below into the 20-foot diameter tunnel of solid ice.   They traveled down the tunnel keeping their feet moving in an irregular pattern to avoid calling the Belsikar who could feel everything through the ice. They soon came to crossroads as they felt rumbling through the ice. Kaithia charged ahead and pushed Tiberen out of the way as she saw the shadow of the Belsikar barrel towards her. Seeing little option she tried a new technique that had picked up in her travels to Timara. She pulled out both her daggers, positioned her body to be dead center, and soon after the Belsikar mandibles burst through the ice Kaithia leaped onto them, riding them to the creature's mouth. She then lept forward landing on the creature's face where she felt the warm air exiting out of its nostrils. She took her daggers out and then dug them deep just above the nostrils. The wurm thrashed but continued to dig downwards carrying Kaithia with it.   Nienna and Medea could only watch this unfold and the silence was broken by Tiberen who was so enthralled by what Kaithia just did that he had the two of them promise to have her teach him how to ride a Belsikar. They promised as they looked at the wide hole that now separated them from Tiberen. Medea took out some rope that she still had and tied it to a crossbow bolt and fired it across the hole. They tied off their end and began to move across, with Nienna using her gauntlets of ogre strength allowed her to climb across with ease. Medea balanced her way across remembering her training on the sea and soon they both made it to the other side.   They marked the direction they went down hoping that Kaithia will rejoin them. Kaithia in the meantime rode the wurm to the surface of the glacier and was hanging on for dear life. Her hands slipped off the daggers and she flew down into the snow. She hid there silently as she could as the wurm attempted to sniff or hear her out. She created a fake noise using her magic. The wurm turned and began its descent back down into the depths of the glacier. Kaithia limped back to the tunnel entrance and retraced her steps to her companions.   Tiberen, Nienna, and Medea arrived at the tunnel system under the Orc hill and took some time to rest and scout the area. Nienna and Medea hope that in these few hours of rest that Kaithia would rejoin them. Kaithia arrived during their rest and everyone celebrated her return. The reunion celebration was short lived as they began to come up with a way to collapse the hill. They found a central chamber underneath the crest of the hill. They tried through their magic to melt and shatter the ice supporting the hill. Medea started with shattering the ice sending cracks rippling through the thick sheets. Nienna then followed up with a flaming sphere causing it to speed up and ram in all directions until she focused directly above her. She slammed the sphere repeatedly into the ice and she felt through the bond of her magic the ice melting and cracking beneath her force until she could no longer maintain it.   Seeing that the hill had not yet collapsed they debated on their next step when they felt the familiar rumbling of the Belsikar beneath their feet. It was then they saw several of the frost wurms burst through the ice and snow and they could hear the loud terrified screams of the orcs. Wasting no time Kaithia let loose a thunderwave spell which seems to give a final push to the weakened underbelly of the hill. They all ran for it but much like last time Kaithia tripped as a new frost wurm began to chase them through the tunnels towards the exit they had scouted earlier.   Tiberen ran in front of the wurm and saw the daggers of Kaithia buried in its head. Seeing his opportunity Tiberen jumped, held onto the daggers and steered the wurm away from Kaithia, and instead went deeper into the ice. Tiberen laughed and told them he would catch up before disappearing with the wurm. Kaithia, Nienna, and Medea made their way out and saw from their exit the hill collapsing as the Belsikar ravaged the hill. After seeing the last wurms disappear they approached the hill to see the dead bodies either mostly or partially buried. They collected the necklaces and found tracks of wolf paws leading north from the hill. While some orcs lived they concluded that these will not prove to be a threat anytime soon.   They returned back to the Koscala camp and told of their tale and the success of their quest in defeating the orcs. They lamented over the loss of Tiberen but the camp celebrated the end of a horde before any life could be lost to Gruumsh and his dark children. The next morning everyone felt the rumbling of a Belsikar and the party grabbed their gear to ready to help the warriors defend the camp but to their surprise saw Tiberen riding on the back of the creature. He pulled out the daggers and tumbled down into the snow before the wurm dug back into the glacier below.   Medea parted some healing words and they were able to bring Tiberen back from the brink of death. He smiled and was carried away to be tended by a healer. The matriarchs saw this as a favorable blessing and were willing to induct the party as members of the Koscala tribe through the use of magical tattoos. The party agreed and decided to stay for a few days as they got their tattoos before setting back off to Fort Verdan.