Session 106: The Great White Death

General Summary

15th Brussendar 836PD   Exiting the safety of the abandoned camp, Raven tracks the way north as the slow glimmer of dawn breaks over the horizon. It takes the party 4 hours to travel through the heavy snow, and the dense chilly fog that obscures their far vision, but these conditions don’t hamper the Winter Knight, Raphael, as he and Frostweaver are fully in their element.   Having traversed alongside the frozen lake, Raven spots an opening in a ridge just across the lake, which would accommodate the size of a dragon. The Unbroken stealth up to the entrance of the lair, they creep through the frozen tunnels.   Arthur sends his clockwork owl familiar, Fugit, to scope ahead and they spot a white Dragonborn coming out of a collective of tents. Orlando silences the tunnel with the Dragonborn and Raven quickly dispatches them, the group move in quickly to check the tents but don’t find anyone else present. They continue on and find a ladder that takes them up to a higher level, they follow the new tunnel to a dead end, but there they find the captured Syngorn Soldiers, imprisoned in a wall of ice.   Raphael places the Thermal Cubes to start thawing the soldiers, as the ice melts Orlando can see through the wall another large chamber the other side, which they could access through the floor below if they could climb or fly up.   They travel back down, and make their preparations in expectations that the chamber is where the dragon slumbers, downing their potions and Arthur casting fly amongst them. They creep up to the ledge of the upper chamber, baited cold breath in case they come eye to eye, and…   … its empty!   The party fly and land in the Dragon-less chamber, Raven spots the tracks and claw marks of the dragon, but with the fresh prints he deduces that it’s gone out for his morning hunt. Incensed that they’ve wasted precious resources, they take a moment and start to make the most of the opportunity.   Arthur sends Fugit to watch at the lair entrance and notify if the dragon returns, the party plan their ambush and start to dig out the soldiers. Several hours pass until noon, when Fugit telepathically sends to Arthur that ‘something big is coming’.   The Unbroken split up and take their positions, moments later the lair shakes and the settled snow blows like a blizzard with the beating wings of an Ancient White Dragon coming into landing. Aylsenore, the Great White Death, has returned from his hunt and is accompanied by 2 White Wyverns being ridden by White Dragonborn.   Orlando wards himself with Moradin’s magic to protect himself from the worst of the cold, Simeon blesses the party with the Moonweaver’s favour. Arthur winds his pocket watch to haste Raven, and the ranger takes the shot with the Arrow of White Dragon Slaying. The near silent thack of the arrow’s impact through the hard hoarfrost scales of Aylsenore’s chest, is soon obliterated by the howling roar of the dragon’s pain!   Arthur presses on Raven’s deep first cut, detonating a psychic explosion across the Dragon, one wyvern and its rider, their synapses are overwhelmed with static, but Aylsenore shakes off the mild mind tingle due his legendary nature.   The other Dragonborn dismounts as they spot Orlando hiding behind a frozen mound of hoard, but Ayslenore hacks in draconic for them to hold. The Great White Death swings its near endless neck exhaling an icy blast of cold breath towards Raphael, Arthur and Orlando. The freezingly numb air cuts right through them all, but Arthur and Orlando manage to keep their respective concentrations.   Raphael rises to the challenge of contesting champions of the cold, engaging the dragon directly with Frostweaver, marking it with the curse of his blade. The Vestige of the Raven Queen, the Goddess of Winter, strikes true into the belly of the great lizard, critically smiting it with his patron’s eldritch magic.   With the dragon reeling from the forceful gut punch of Raphael’s smite, Orlando adds further insult to injury by unleashing a holy barrage of rune infused bullets. The Great White’s neck is blackened with the burns of the Gnome’s powder and radiance salvo.   However, the mentally muddled Dragonborn pays Orlando back in kind to his master’s burns, and breathes dark necrotic flames over the gnome. The roiling dark flame edges Orlando closer to his mortal coil, being near death in a Dragon’s lair is very ‘uncomfortable’ feeling for the gunslinger.   An angered Aylsenore attacks Raphael in retaliation, biting deep into the half-elf to shed blood for blood. Simeon draws on the radiance with his soul, lifting him to the air away from the dragon’s claws, but he is soon pursued and stung by one of the Wyvern. His divine blood resists the cold poison of the stinger, fortunately maintaining his Lady’s bless upon the Unbroken.   Arthur tops up his robust health with a potion, and lashes a psychic whip at Aylsenore and a wyvern but it is still barely a tickle to the Dragon’s ancient mind. Raphael distances himself for the increasingly agitated Aylsenore, giving Raven the clear shot to conjure a crescent volley of celestial arrows on top of the dragon and wyvern. Aylsenore draws on his legendary nature a second time to resist the worst of the attack.   The Dragon weaves the cold magic of his lair and creates an opaque wall of ice to block Arthur, Orlando and Raven at the back of the chamber. The Great White Death bellows a bloodied almighty roar, which combined with being trapped by the frightful presence of an angry ancient dragon, strikes a sub-zero shiver of cold fear down Orlando’s and Raven’s backs.   Fortunately, despite their nerves, the ranged professionals managed to gun/bow a flying wyvern down.   Simeon seeks to shuffle Aylsenore closer to the grave, but the dragon’s legendary existence resists the tolls for a third time. The remaining wyvern continues to harass the Aasimar cleric. Arthur calls the dragon’s name and unleashes a shimmering lance of psychic power from his forehead towards them, causing Aylsenore to spend the last of its legendary resolve.   At the end of it’s legendary tether, Aylsenore breathes what could be his last cold breath, blasting Raphael and Simeon in ice. The Trickery Cleric avoids the worst of the ice, but the Winter Knight meets his match and knocked out cold by the vengeful blast. The dragon’s cold breath creates a freezing fog covering around those trapped behind the ice wall.   Raven escapes the fog by stepping into his own fey mist, and strikes down the last Dragonborns. Simeon offers warm healing words of the Weaver to raise Raphael back from unconsciousness, and the winter warlock wakes to immediately blast the last wyvern down.   With his legendries expended, and his hunting party destroyed, Aylsenore turns to make his escape.   Orlando is forced to hop with his magic boots to escape the fog’s blinding and biting thickness, and gets to the other side of the ice wall to see the retreating reptile. Despite the panic of an escaping dragon, and the fear of a still living one, Orlando manages to knock the misfiring Prayers into line enough to wing the creature. Raven’s Moon Bow clips the Dragon’s other wing.   Arthur determined to break the Ancient Dragon’s mind, unleashes another final psychic lance, and with no resolve left in its legendary nature, the spell ruptures through Aylsenore’s mind, incapacitating the dragon down on the ground.   The thud of the dragon’s fall breaks several jagged ice shards down from the ceiling, narrowly landing around Raphael.   The Winter Knight, cooly regards this creature of the cold, “You’re not going anywhere”, and he blasts the dragon right through the wound where Frostweaver cut deepest in its gut.   The incapacitation drops just in time for the Unbroken to experience the death throes of an Ancient White Dragon. the lair rumbles with its convulsions, blue anti-freeze blood blasts from its belly coating the ice.   Aylsenore is gone, and the lair falls silent with the Great White’s Death.