IDROTF C2E1: The tale that followed Report

General Summary

The party awoke after a full rest in the abandoned campsite they had found. Deciding to continue to explore this upper level of the caves they crossed back over the icy bridge and quickly made their way through the sections of the caves that they could reach. They discovered ancient drawings of stick figure giants coming up the river, into the cave, and drowning themselves in the hot spring that was now frozen over thanks to the Everlasting Rime.   Remembering that there had been a third entrance to the caves that they saw when they first arrived the party decided to descend the 30 foot cliff at the end of the current tunnel they were in and go scale the cliff again to enter this last portion of the caves. Poor Kadgrith lost his grip near the beginning of the descent and plummeted nearly 30 feet to land flat on his back. When the party helped him up and moved to the cliff below the other cave opening, Kadgrith decided to "stay below and guard their backs". Zinlis Arosath went up first, but as he neared the top he recalled the image of Kadgrith laying on the ground like a turtle on its shell and could not stifle the laughter that this image evoked. He lost his grip as a result and fell 20 feet, still giggling as he hit the ground. He quickly offered to stay and help (not heal!) Kadgrith while Saryeras and Andove Littlefoot explored above. The two made the climb without incident and discovered the den of the dire wolf that had attacked them the previous day. Finding nothing of use or value, they returned and climbed down - or Saryeras did. Andove Littlefoot, however, lost his grip and plummeted to the ground as well. Popping back up to his feet he shouted, "For GLORY!" and hid his injured pride.   The heroes returned to Easthaven without incident after that and met with Speaker Danneth Waylen upon their arrival to inform him of the fate of the poor fishermen. Captain Imdra Arlaggath thanked them for their assistance and offered a spell scroll that had been confiscated from the wizard of the Arcane Brotherhood that had been burned earlier. She advised that Saryeras could return in the morning and collect it from the librarian.   The party retired to the White Lady Inn for the night to discuss their next plans and enjoy warm food and cold ale. In the morning, they awoke to a sudden commotion in the streets and Captain Imdra Arlaggath racing into the common room to find them. She implored them for their aid once more, as the guards at the Town Hall had just been discovered dead, the chardalyn figurehead smashed and much of it carried off without a trace. The companions returned to the Town Hall with Imdra Arlaggath and spoke with her and Speaker Danneth Waylen about the incident. They investigated the bodies of the guards and determined that they had been killed with war picks - a weapon favoured by the normally subterranean duergar. With no clues readily available to them at the Town Hall, the group decided to canvas the area nearby and see if anyone saw anything that might prove helpful to the investigation. Sadly, very few people venture forth in the dead of night during the Everlasting Rime and so no witnesses were to be found. However, multiple people that the party members spoke with suggested checking with Scython, the ferryman, as he was known to keep informed of all the comings and goings in Easthaven.   In speaking with Scython at the Wet Trout, the party didn't manage to learn a whole lot. However, in buying a few rounds of drinks they did manage to convince him to do some canvassing of his own and after a couple of hours he had learned that there had been a prevalence of mysterious thefts of chardalyn items over the past little while. His canvassing was far from exhaustive, but it did seem to be pointing towards a concentration of the mysterious thefts occurring in and around the White Lady Inn and his own Easthaven Ferry. The party decided to begin with the ferry itself, since it had been icebound and vacant for over a year - it might make a good base of operations for casing the town.   Upon arriving at the ferry all seemed quiet. The winds off the Lac swept loose snow away continuously, but there was a thick coating of ice on the docks and ferry. Except, as they approached the aft cabin they became aware that the heavy ice had been chipped away from around the door. They were able to open it easily, after listening for sounds of life within the cabin, and entered to further their investigation. The cabin was mostly strewn with litter - the types of wrappers and casings that trail rations often came in, broken and discarded items, and four serviceable sleeping bags! As Zinlis Arosath continued with a more thorough exploration of the cabin, his foot accidentally kicked the corner of one of the sleeping bag. In doing so, he revealed the corner of a piece of paper that had been underneath. Picking it up he found a map of Icewind Dale, complete with markers for each of the Ten-Towns which were labeled in dwarven runes. In addition, two other locations were marked. Just north-west of Kelvin’s Cairn was a marker labeled "Outpost", and far to the south in the Spine of the World mountains was a marker in the shape of a fortress with a label of "Sunblight". The party quickly discussed what they should do next. While Sunblight is closer as the crow flies, they would need to trek around an arm of the Spine of the World mountains to find a pass through to valley where the fortress seems to be located. On the other hand, the Outpost is reachable within a day or two and they would have the opportunity to stop in at Caer-Dineval along the way before turning north; taking advantage of the beaten path to hasten the journey.   Their journey to Caer-Dineval was uneventful but they arrived to find a mostly abandoned town - the one inn having been boarded up some time ago. They wound their way up the hill towards the Caer and stopped in at the Uphill Climb (the local tavern). There they spoke with the proprietor, who informed them that the Speaker had fallen ill, and that he had no accommodations to offer at his tavern. Instead, he suggested they seek lodging at the Caer itself.   The party found the Caer's gate closed and barred when they arrived. After knocking for several minutes a guard finally appeared out of the gate house. He firmly told them that the Speaker was too ill to receive visitors, but Andove Littlefoot eventually persuaded him to let them in. They were led to the Speaker's office, where an underling made them wait for several minutes before finally admitting them to see the interim Speaker, Kadroth. After exchanging pleasantries and introductions it became clear that a partnership may be possible. Caer-Dineval was hurting greatly from the loss of the Easthaven ferry, most notably in the form of having run dry. The party offered to reestablish trade with Good Mead, as well as to investigate rumours of duergar activity in and around the abandoned inn, Dinev's Rest, in Caer-Dineval. In exchange, Kadroth agreed to allow the party to make use of the north-east tower of the Caer for the duration of their mutual arrangement.

Missions/Quests Completed

Toil and Trouble.

Created Content

Leatherworker in Easthaven is in the building southwest of the stables.