IDROTF C1E9: There and Back Again, a Halfling's Tale Report

General Summary

The party slowly made their way up what remained of the mountain. Luckily, the worst of the climb was already behind them, and they made the summit without much trouble. Atop the peak, Saryeras searched for any signs of its storied past. The surface of the snow-capped mountaintop was continuously scoured clean by the winds and it was barren of both life and feature. He chose to begin digging, thinking that perhaps the snows of the intervening century had buried the past.   Andove Littlefoot was freezing as he watched the tall barbarian/wizard dig. He, of all of them, had had his fill of this mountain; for glory or not! Then he saw Saryeras stop digging, suddenly. The wizard reached down into the hole and used his hands to free something, before standing to observe it. Andove Littlefoot moved to stand with him and looked down; inside the hole was a small chunk of black, translucent ice. Saryeras thought for some time and then muttered an incantation before a spectral hand of arcane energy scooped down and lifted the shard of ice out of the hole.   Their trip back to Targos was long, as Saryeras continued to mutter his incantation every minute like clockwork in order to continue to bring the black ice with them without touching it. Eventually they arrived at their destination and they visited Garret Velryn where they received their promised reward.   After concluding their business in Targos, the party spent some time discussing their next plans over some ale. Eventually, it was decided that they would travel to Easthaven to investigate rumours of Arcane Brotherhood activity in Icewind Dale; though, Kadgrith maintained that he would eventually need to return to Good Mead and settle the score for the stolen election!   Upon arriving in Easthaven the party immediately sought out the town hall and spoke with the leader of the militia, Captain Imdra Arlaggath. In speaking with her they learned that, indeed, a member of the Arcane Brotherhood had recently been operating in Icewind Dale; however, he had recently been put to death at the stake for murdering members of the Ten-Towns. It had been discovered that he was actually one of the Red Wizards of Thay.   Imdra then changed topics and requested aid from the adventurers in finding four missing fishermen who had gone out on the Lac a tenday ago, but never returned. While the party agreed that they would help, they were not yet satisfied regarding the wizard that had been burned alive. Their experience with Sephek Kaltro led them to be mistrustful of the thoroughness with which murders are investigated in Ten-Towns. Imdra Arlaggath, therefore, directed them to seek out Rinaldo the Bard at the White Lady Inn as he was witness the murder.