Session 73 - Defrosting the Snowmen

6 Eirmont 1010 - 7 Eirmont 1010

General Summary

The party does some basic patching up and catches their breath after the epic battle with Grugnar and Estia, as well as checking the bodies for interesting goodies. They want to take a long rest, but still feel a bit exposed, so they explore the kitchen area where Estia came from in the big combat.
To their surprise, there are two Hill Giants in the kitchen, apparently oblivious to the raging battle that just took place. They attempt to avoid combat, but the cooks reach for a butcher knife and an improvised club after a few seconds. One shouts for help, and several Ogres emerge from side rooms to help out. The party does a good job of managing this combat, and soon kills one of the giants few of the ogres, inducing a surrender. Tork knocks out the giant, who they tie up as they discuss the situation with the Ogres. After a bit of discussion, and sharing a meal of horse meat that had been cooking, they get the impression that the remaining giant should be killed. They let the Ogres do this, then escort them out of the area, letting them pick stuff up off the various corpses on the way. They get the Ogres to agree to go north, and not south, and perhaps they can catch up with the Oni that they sent out before.
Even though the party was able to pretty easily handle the two giants and the Ogres, they feel that they are in relatively desperate need of a long rest before they encounter more dangerous enemies. Returning to the guest quarters, they set the boulder in place, which should give them warning if any larger creatures should try to enter, and set a watch. During Elincia's shift, there is a long, low rumble, but nothing else significant happens, and the party feels not only refreshed, but more powerful (level 12 even!) when they finish their break. They also identify the valuable items they've acquired, which include a Frostbrand Greatsword and The Wheel of Stars - the goal of their quest here.
Curious about the sounds Elincia heard, they finish exploring the area, first checking the boulder they put back in place after escorting the Ogres out. They don't see any signs of disturbance here, and the corpses are still strewn about where they were before. They move on to the unexplored sections of the cave system near the throne room. The Frost Giants they battled here (including Grugnar) appear undisturbed. Around the corner from the kitchen area they find a room with a musty/animal scent in the air, along with other signs of animal presence. It seems like bears were kept here, and upon closer inspection, most likely Polar Bears. There is a section of wall/tunnel that seems to have collapsed recently in this area - they speculate that perhaps that was the crashing sound they heard. Elincia and Leo begin melting the snow, hoping to reveal some sort of treasure or tunnel on the other side.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party continues exploring the areas further south of the throne. They find further rooms and sleeping quarters, with hides and plenty of signs that things were packed up. There are some pieces of armor and weapons on the walls, none of which seem particularly valuable, but also a lot of missing pieces. Continuing their exploration, they eventually work their way back up north, to what seems likely to be just the other side of where Leo and Elincia are melting through. They walk back around and share this information with Leo and Elincia, who by then have almost broken through, so they finish the task. Unfortunately, they do not find the path out that whoever packed up the belongings may have gone.
Heading back to the room with the hides on the walls, they pull back the hides to find an escape tunnel. They pursue this path, digging and melting their way through two more recent cave-ins, and eventually find themselves on the side of the mountain. Searching for signs of flight, they see giant and smaller footprints headed away. Wanting to ensure the surviving giants do not pursue the mad "war on mankind" of Grugnar, the party gets their mounts together and begins chasing the fleeing giants. After several hours of tracking, they can see the giants on the slopes ahead.
It seems like a pretty sad party - a few adult giants and what seems like teenagers and younger. When one of the giants spots the party in pursuit, a few stop to delay the party's progress, while the others flee on, with some small ones occasionally falling and being dragged along by the slightly larger ones. When they get into voice range, Leo casts Tongues, enabling him to communicate with the giants. He asks about Grugnar's war on mankind, and the lead giant says that Grugnar had become obsessed with this idea after finding some strange device (most likely the Wheel of Stars) and these survivors have no interest in this war on mankind. Leo suggests that the party does not want war with the giants, and also that mankind generally doesn't want war with them either, but the giants must not go south - the giant replies they are going to join their cousins in the Altan Tepes, a mountain range further east. Leo asks if perhaps trade could be established between mankind and the giants. After some thought, the giant slings a large bag toward the party, which contains a great deal of money. Leo decides to throw his bag of truffles from Gorg to the Giant in exchange; explaining that these tasty fungi are good to add in small amounts to food. With that, he wishes peace and happiness to the giants, and they do not have to slaughter the young giants.
They return to the caves, burning much of the daytime in the process. In the discussion on the way back, they determine that the White Dragons need to be dealt with still, as they pose a potential long term risk (and treasure!). Once they gather themselves, they head back to the cave with the dragons. Moving aside the boulder, they come into the room, and spot the two young dragons. One is sitting on the hoard of loot, and the other is up above on the ledge to the east. After a bit of banter, where the party asks about the giants, which apparently fed the dragons and gave them gold in exchange for their "help", whatever that means, the party announces they are here for the loot! The Dragons respond as expected; violently.
What seemed at first like maybe a good idea, got a bit scary, as the dragons somehow create a cloud of icy fog on top of most of the party, causing some damage, but more importantly creating obscured visibility over a large portion of the room. Tork moves quickly to the dragon on the loot pile driving himself into a rage in the process. Stavos also moves toward that dragon. Meanwhile the dragon on the ledge swoops into the fog and blasts Seraphina and Elincia with its breath weapon, chilling them to the bone. Apparently it can see them through the fog, though they are not able to see it, a dangerous combination. Leo, Elincia, and Seraphina work to get themselves better positioned to deal with the flying dragon. The dragon on the loot pile scrambles up the wall, which Elincia sees, and is able to cast Earthbind. Unfortunately, the Dragon is on the wall, not flying so it is able to keep its position for now. Stavos, seeing that his reach will not be sufficient for this kind of combat, drops his shield and sword to equip his bow as he scrambles to the side to avoid the dragons' breath weapons. Tork, on the other hand, sprints up the wall to strike blows at the dragon, and is amazingly able to stun the dragon and know him down back to the floor. Meanwhile, Seraphina is struggling with the combination of the poor visibility and the flight of the dragon that is assaulting her. She moves out of the cloud and spots the fallen dragon, which she drops a Moonbeam onto. Leo casts Synaptic Static into the mist hoping to damage and hinder the flying dragon within.
Between being Stunned, dislodged from the wall, in a Moonbeam, assaulted by Tork, and shot by Stavos, the dragon on the loot pile is finally killed, allowing the party to refocus on the still flying dragon, that has relentlessly attacked Seraphina. Seraphina has absorbed many hits and received many heals so, when Elincia is able to Earthbind this dragon, she is ready to get even. The party blasts away at the now accessible dragon. With their ability to dish out massive damage, the dragon really has no hope without being able to escape to the air and is quickly finished off by the party.  Catching their breath and stowing their weapons, they set their eyes on the pile of treasure.

Report Date

12 Mar 2023