Play Day 16 - 29/03/2013

Date: Wealday 8th Desnus.

In the lands of T aggriell

The party begin this session, at roughly noon on Wealday, having just left the icy gorge

mouth after negotiating with Cale the Sorcerer and his band of misfits for safe passage. The party trudge on. The air is icy cold and snow falls heavily. Each member of the party

feels the painful cold even through their heavy, cold travelling gear of fur coats and gloves. The only fortunate result of all this snow is that tracking the Red Raven is much easier now as his passage through the heavy snow is easy to spot.

A heavy white fog makes visibility limited to about 200 feet around them.
The mountainside ascends in a series of rocky plateaus. Although the slope is not steep, difficult for the party to tell how far they have travelled. the rugged terrain makes it difficult to travel in a straight line. Fog blurs with snow, making it

After an hour and a half of this, some of party see four animals off in the distance.
Ost looks carefully, "It's hard to see but they look like reindeer. We should just avoid them and keep going."

Going around the animals the party keep moving forward, until with the sound of galloping hooves, they turn around to see the four animals charging at them fast.

Now, being much closer, they see all too well that these are not reindeer. Large of a large deer or bull but with a head shaggy beasts, with the legs and body and a neck like a wolf. Its bloodstained large and powerful jaws open.

muzzle shows huge pointed fangs, as the

Before any of the party can react,

Arforth and Isabella are struck by the

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charging beasts. The creatures snarl and and growl as their powerful jaws snap.

Ost shouts, "By the gods! What are these creatures?"

One of the beasts is much larger than the rest. It stands on all four hooves and its head is higher than anyone standing in the party. It turns its head toward Arforth and opens its jaws wide. Particles of ice start to gather in its jaw and swirl around and it appears to be gathering forth some time of attack but before the creature can continue its intended action, Seng leaps towards the creature. His lean arm shoots out and the outstretched under its jaw. The beast immediately stumbles back, its jaws closing, an appears to be having trouble standing and breathing. It looks stunned.

fingers of his hand, held in a flat open palm, strike the beast on the side of its neck, just

The party take up arms against these creatures. Krondor places himself in the middle of the heroes and calls forth the arcane power of his shield, enveloping himself and those around him in a faint yellow glow of protection. Ost and Elamros quickly scramble up onto

a nearby raised ledge and shoot arrows at the beasts. Arforth's eyes ignite with flames and

his searing gaze ignites the beasts, causing a thick white fog to raise from the snow covered axe to and fro wounding the beasts. Seng uses his hands and feet to break bone and smash organs.

ground as the flames on the shaggy beasts melt the snow. Krondor swings his mighty battle

The larger beast never recovers from the stunning blow of the monk and is quickly dropped to the ground by the combined effort of the party.

The smaller creatures are ferocious and the sharp hooves and massive fangs cause much injury to the party. The heroes take wound after wound. Isabella is forced to constantly Clerics divine intervention, the heroes would soon lay dying upon the snow. pray, bringing forth her healing energy to save the party from certain death. Without the

The battle is fast, frenzied and chaotic. Ost, not used to such close and dangerous

combat, accidentally lets loose a bad shot and one of his arrows flies towards Seng, hand up and deflects the arrow with a speed and precision that only a trained monk possesses.

instead of one of the beasts. Seng, without turning to look at the incoming arrow, snaps a

Finally only one creature remains. It is badly wounded and turns to flee but Krondor kneels down and swings his battleaxe one final time; cutting the beast in half with a mighty blow.
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The party stop and catch their breath. They decide to stop and rest for an hour which gives time for Ost to carve the hides off the four creatures.

*********

Gathering themselves up once again, the party commence their slow trek forward through the harsh conditions.

They travel, ever upwards, for another few hours. The mountains rise on either side of a

large canyon carved by glaciers. The mountain valley is a maze of pillars made of stone and ice. Scrubby plants and lichen grow on the frozen soil and there are intermittent signs of fauna - the screech of a raptor or a hoof print in the snow.

Krondor stretches his arms and head up, as the weight from his armour and pack are the thick heavy snow he sees a sight that stills his heart. A dragon.

straining his muscles. As he does so he looks up into the white dense clouds and through

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A small, white dragon, with it's wings outstretched and its head pointed down, is swooping down towards the party.

Krondor brings his shield and sword to his head and yells, "Dragon!!!"
Before anyone else can react the dragon swoops over the party. Its large jaws open wide. Elamros like an avalanche. Ost and Isabella are knocked over and take the full icy force but Elamros manages to roll out the way and avoid most of the impact. A rush of icy white air comes forth from its open mouth and crashes upon Ost, Isabella and

Ost and Isabella raise themselves up, battered, bruised and bleeding from large icy cuts.
The dragon continues to glide past and lands upon a stone outcrop about 70 feet away. It turns to face the party and raises it head up roaring.

Isabella looks at the beast and says, "That looks like a very young female dragon, still a juvenile."

Krondor replies, "Juvenile or not. That thing is huge!"

Elamros aims his bow and fires an arrow towards the dragon. The arrow hits the creature in the neck but the dragon does not even notice. The small arrow shaft, protruding from the over the party. neck of the dragon, looks insignificant compared to the large creature; which easily towers

Ost runs over to a nearby pillar and uses it for cover, before lining his own bow against the creature.

Krondor speaks, "Everyone around me. My shield will protect us."

The rest of the party ready their weapons and gather in a group around the Dwarf. wounds and bruises on Ost and herself heal and close up. Isabella bows her head, in prayer, calling forth her healing energy. The jagged, bloody

The mighty white dragon, hunches down and then lifts itself into the snow filled air, launching itself towards the gathered party.

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Krondor raises his shield and calls forth its power, yellow arcane light gathers around all ground!"

the party, except Ost who is by himself behind a stone pillar. The Dwarf yells, "Hold your

As the fast moving ice cloud hits the party it flows around and moves past the party, pushing up against the yellow arcane defensive energies of Krondor's shield.

The dragon swoops past overhead. Icy wind and particles erupting from its gaping jaws.

The dragon flies past and again lands about 60 feet away, this time on the snowy ground, it. The others start to run as well, keeping up with the Dwarf.

roaring with rage. As soon as its clawed feet touch the ground Krondor is running towards

The dragon turns around quickly to face the party as Krondor is swinging his battleaxe. hits and gets lodged in.

The heavy snow and fog hides a small rocky outcrop which the Dwarves' blade accidentally

The others arrive around Krondor and strike out at the dragon. The dragon receives a few minor wounds but seems not to be bothered by them. Even the fire eyes of the Fire Wizard seem to do little damage to the beast.

The mighty claws of the beast strike out at Krondor and it seems the beast is trying to pull away the glowing shield of Krondor.

Again and again the party strike out. Most of the dragons attacks are thwarted by the

power of Krondor's shield but eventually the yellow light from the shield starts to flicker. Krondor shouts, "My shield is about to run out! We need another plan - we can't keep this up!"

Isabella shouts out in the ancient tongue of the dragons, "Hold master dragon. We simply wish to pass."

The dragon turns its large head towards Isabella and two large, brown eyes focus upon the Cleric. Opening it's large mouth, a loud crackling voice booms forth in the same tongue, "You lie human. You come for the Jarl's treasure. It shall be mine!"

Again the dragon slashes forth with a claw which bounces off the flickering yellow light surrounding the party.

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Isabella yells back, "I know nothing of this Jarl. We just want to pass. Can you not see with your mighty wisdom that we are both equally matched. You can not strike us through our magical protection and our attacks do little against you."

Isabella looks nervously over at the shield of Krondor. The yellow protective light is still shinning but is flickering more now.

The dragon has stopped attacking now, "Why little human should I trust you?"
Isabella steps forward and lowers her weapon. She looks at Krondor's shield and knows it is just about to end, the flickering coming quicker now. Looking back at the Dragon she says, "I will show you trust first. I remove the protection on us and heal your wounds."

Just as she says these words, the yellow flickering light from Krondor's shield finally gives out and fades away. The Cleric bows her head and prays out loud, a wave of golden light body heal up. coming from her figure. The golden light flows over the dragon and the small wounds on its

The Dragon lowers its head closer to Isabella, "You are a cleric. What god do you serve?"
Isabella looks into the eyes of the dragon, never flinching, "I serve Cayden Cailean. We only wish to catch a man who passed here. He has stolen something that does not belong to him and we wish to get it back."

The Dragon snorts, "Yes, yes. The one in Red. I could not catch him the sly one. He kept you shall get it for me if you want to live."

disappearing. He went north but I care nothing for that. I want the Jarl's treasure ..... and

For the next ten minutes the Dragon tells the heroes how it had come here a week ago to get the famous treasure of the Jarl that he has within his prison but the dragon can not place. seem to find or enter anything near here. It can sense something here but can not enter the

Isabella explains that the one they chase has entered this prison and they can follow him. The Dragon insists that she will only allow them to pass if they enter the prison and bring back all the gold coins and gems they can carry.

Krondor whispers to the group, "Can we trust this Dragon?"

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Isabella whispers back, "Probably not but what choice do we have. We can only stand long enough for us to do any real damage to it."

against it for a short time whilst your shield's magical defence is up but that doesn't last

Isabella agrees to the deal and negotiates the conditions of the contract. The party will Any other items the party can keep.

retrieve as much treasure as possible and the dragon will take 55% of all coins and gems.

The Dragon, which the party learn is called Culdranti, walks ahead of the party and they make their way forward, continuing north.

*********

Walking for another hour the party's way is now blocked by a large blue, green glacier, that raises up like an icy sentinel.

Ost stops and kneels down praying. Finally he gets up, "Never did I think to see this. This must be Nordein Glacier. I will go no further friends for I do not wish to offend the spirits days. If you do not return within that time I will return to Winewold." that deal within and was told to respect by my grandfather. I will wait here for you for two

Ost remains in a small cave like outcrop of a large stone pillar near the glacier, shielded from the snow and wind.

In front of the party, their only way forward appears to be an icy opening, about 5 feet across, in the glacier.

Culdranti speaks in a loud, booming voice, "I can not enter this place. I can feel a strong presence here. You shall enter and come back here with my treasure."

Gathering themselves they enter the dark entry. Arforth uses his arcane power to light his staff for the party. A sudden gust of wind comes down the tunnel. Up ahead, about 40 feet away, strange blue glyphs are visible on a wall.

The party slowly approach the glyphs but no one can understand them. The tunnel, which has widened to about 40 feet bends around about 45 degrees to the left here.

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Continuing past the glyph, when they are about 40 feet away, Elamros stops and looks back, "Hey, weren't those glyphs blue before? Cause they seem to be green now and appear to be on the opposite wall now?"

The party go back and realise that the glyphs have indeed changed and the bend in the passage is now gone.

Unsure of what has happened the party continue onwards and approach a small opening from the side passage.

on the left hand side of the passage they are walking along. The sound of movement comes

Arforth casts lights upon a small rock, which Krondor then throws towards the side onwards towards the lit up side passage.

passage, lighting up the area. With their weapons ready, the party carefully proceed

When they have covered half the remaining distance to the side passage, a small flying a hideous, mischievous smile. Thin,

creature bursts out. It looks like a small man, but with ugly features and a mouth drawn into leathery wings flap quickly. T wo horns sit atop the head and two pointed ears catches the light from the passage. protrude from the sides. Its blue skin

The flying creature moves quickly and is can react. It opens its small mouth and smelly, cold gas shoots forth, washing

hovering in front of Seng before anyone

to avoid most of the icy gas. Krondor however gets hit and bends down coughing sickly; vomiting up small bits.

to quickly step back and hug the cold wall,

towards Seng and Krondor. Seng manages

Elamros lets forth an arrow and Seng snaps a kick at the creature. It drops quickly and lays dead upon the ground. Before the party can investigate further, another flying creature appears from the passage. This creature is hard to see as it appears to be shifting back and forth in the air so fast it is just a blur.

Isabella shouts, "The creature has a Blur enchantment upon it!"

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Ost and Elamros shoot many arrows at the creature, most miss. The other members of the party all try to hit it and find it hard to know exactly where it is. The creature flies around the party, weaving in and out, and breathing out more icy breath.

With one last arrow, Elamors manages to down the creature and it hits the ground with a thud. *********

Now that the party are not being attacked, they proceed to the side passage and discover that it is a small dead end area. Most of the party are feeling fatigued, having been walking through heavy snow for most of the day and having fought numerous foes.

They decide to make camp in this small dead end chamber. They break out camp and eat also decided to have no light during the watch and to remain in darkness.

some provisions. Laying out bedrolls, they go to sleep and set up watches for the time. It is

The watch goes uneventful for Isabella, then Krondor, Elamros and then Seng. Arforth and sees a light coming from that direction.

takes his turn and half way through hears footsteps coming from down the passageway

The Fire Wizard gets up, and having trouble moving in the almost pitch black chamber, stumbles into Krondor and kicks him. The Dwarf sits up with a shout.

Immediately, the light goes out in the passageway and the footsteps, fainter now, sound like they are moving away and finally can not be heard at all.

Krondor and Arforth wake up the rest of party.

Isabella does not seem concerned, "I am not chasing someone around an unknown cavern. Let them come back if they want. Set up watch again and let me get some sleep, else you can cast your own healing spells." With that Cleric rolls over and continues to sleep.

Krondor replies, "You heard her. If she's staying put then so am I. Get some rest the lot of you. Arforth continue your watch and this time bloody try to not kick me!" *********

And as the party continue their rest, at roughly 3am on Oathday the 9th of Desnus, that is where the play session ended.
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