Session 82 - White Plume Mountain

27 Kaldmont 1010 - 5 Numont 1011

General Summary

The party rises on the first day of the new year, and continues westward through the wastes. After an hour or so, Tork notices the sound of a cheap bell on the air, and motions the party to stop as he goes on to find the source. As he approaches the area he heard the bell, he notices a Kobold goatherd, and a handful of goats (with bells). He breaks a stick in his approach, and the goatherd sees him.
Tork waves and has a discussion, asking about the area, giving a false story that he is in Thar's army and returning with information for Thar. He then offers to buy a goat from the herder for a good price, and the herder agrees. As they part ways, the goatherd warns of Trolls seen in the area. Tork thanks him.
Over the following hours, the party continues on their westward march, now with their goat. They notice a strange glow in the air, some kind of aurora, which thickens and spreads throughout the day until it completely fills the sky. As they try to figure out what it means, the casters note that all of their magic abilities seem to be impaired. After some deeper thought on this, they recall that last year, around this time of year, there was a "week without magic" and perhaps this is the same phenomenon, or some echo of that. Both Seraphina and Elincia don't feel particularly well, and Leo feels suddenly very exposed without any magic. As they discuss what to do during this strange phenomena, they hear boisterous voices approaching behind their trail, speaking loudly. Soon, three Trolls crest the ridge. With no common language between them, they signal their intent to take the goat as well as Seraphina's mount. They also point rudely at Leo, suggesting he looks tasty as well. The party does not agree to have the goat and their mounts taken from them, and combat breaks out.
Stavos moves forward, to create a protective area for Leo. Leo asks Tork for some Flint, and Tork leaves his pack behind, but with a glass flask in hand. Stavos tosses Leo a torch as well. Leo spends his turn successfully lighting the torch. The Trolls close in on Stavos and Tork, getting some hits in. Seraphina and Luminescence charge in, knock the Troll prone, and absolutely curb stomp it. Elincia, lacking magic, fires her bow, still able to contribute to the fight. Seeing that Leo is getting fire ready, she moves up and prepares an arrow with a rag to be lit. Leo then lights this arrow, and moves as quickly as he can in the direction of Seraphina, but makes comically poor progress in the difficult terrain with his stubby legs. Tork throws the flask of Alchemist's Fire at the southern most troll and flames engulf it - becomes quite pre-occupied with trying to put out (unsuccessfully) the flames. This takes him out of several rounds of combat.
Seraphina and Luminescence once again completely take down the north Troll. The Troll of course, regenerates and gets back up, striking at Seraphina. The next time around though, she grabs the torch from Leo, and smashes the Troll with it; his skin sizzles and he does not rise again. Eventually, with the coordinated assault on the remaining Trolls, the party emerges victorious, with their goat happily chewing on the undergrowth and unmolested by the Trolls.
After some debate, the party decides that the period of no magic could potentially be a week, and in this hostile environment, they could be in real danger. They decide to work their way back to the cave to weather the no-magic time.
Backtracking takes a couple more hours and, as they approach the cave, they find a relatively large band of Ogres investigating the area. They have not noticed the party, but their access to the cave is now blocked. Tork suggests they attempt to lose the Ogres by making it look like the party was captured by the Trolls and taken away (implying that there were even more Trolls). They doubleback to their original path, and begin to make the Troll combat scene look like perhaps the Trolls actually got the better of them, scattering weapons about, when a small subgroup of the Ogres arrives on the scene. The leader of the group is none other than the Oni the party met in the Frost Giant's Hall, Domaru. He announces, "it seems that someone took care of the Trolls for us". With a bit of unease, the party chooses to engage on friendly terms with the Oni. They give him the mostly true story of the rumor of Thar having gained a dangerous artifact, and the party's goal of separating it from him. However since the party knows little of the region, or its politics, they really have no idea where to begin. After some discussion, the Oni suggests they go back to his camp to discuss it further.
The camp is a series of extremely large Ogrish tents, fashioned in a style similar to those of Ylarum, their bright colors standing out in the snowy landscape. The party is provided quarters in a tent before being called to a warm dining tent for dinner. The serving staff is a mixture of kobolds and ogres, with a representative from Kol's Republic also attending the feast.
It turns out the Oni is currently employed by King Alebane of Ogremoor, but is a bit familiar with tales of Thar sending Orcs to an old Wizard's lair south of the crater. To the best of his knowledge, few of these Orcs have returned alive. Those that did claimed there was no entrance to be found within - these were executed for failing to get to the secret stash. After some discussion, the party explains that their main goal is the one artifact, and they could split the remaining magical loot from the 50/50 with the Oni if he can lead them to the Wizard lair, and get them passage back out of the Broken Lands. Domaru seems quite satisfied with the suggestion, as the magic items they are likely to find should give him significant influence in the region.
They head out the next day and, with the large group, their travel is not hindered by other creatures. After a few uneventful days of travel, they wind their way up a treacherous mountain path to a cave. Here the Oni will wait for their successful emergence.
The cave is both hot and cold, damp and miserable. There is a crack in the back of the cave which channels a very hot blast of air through the cave, followed by outside cold air being sucked back through the cave's entrance and into the still-steaming fissure, almost as if the very moutain is breathing. It is clear that spending much time here would be quite hazardous to your health. The floor of the cave is several inches deep of damp, mucky dirt. The crack in the back of the cave is too small to be an entrace to further depths, so Leo begins searching the ground looking for anything that would indicate a way in. Probing his hands in the silt he feels a metal ring anchored below.  With the party's effort, they are able to clear away the rocky silty muck from the slab, and Seraphina is able to lift the slab away, revealing a spiral staircase down. Thankfully the air below is warmer, though possibly edging on unpleasantly so.
The party heads down the passage, and comes to a three pronged fork in the path. At the intersection is a Sphinx, and as they approach, it speaks a riddle; the party quickly agrees upon the answer, "The Moon." The Sphinx fades away, and the passage is clear. The party decides to stay right, and takes the eastern branch. 
Electing to follow the right wall, branching again and headed back to the south, they find themselves in a small room with nine silver globes overhead. When they step inside, the door closes behind them. These globes feel like they are made of glass, or something like that, with a mirrored surface. After a while, Leo decides to break one with his 10 foot collapsible pole, and gems spill out along with a key. After gathering these up, they break another, and different "loot" and a different key falls out. The keys look like they could fit the door, but also are not copies of each other. The third globe has a ring which falls out, and they hear a voice that calls out, listing several fantastic properties of the ring, including a Wish, but at the cost of a tiny piece of the wearer's life each year. The party decides this seems dangerous, though the ring does appear to be powerful based on its attributes.
The party debates who, if any, should take the ring.

Report Date

25 Jan 2024