DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 6/ Thief 6)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 5 / Fighter 6)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 5) with henchman Usborn (Gnome Fighter 2/Illusionist 2)
Chanee (Human Paladin 3)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 3 / Thief 3)]
Date/Time
Readying 12 (night) to Readying 13 (early morning)
Solcha, assisted by the gnome and halfling, gets to work melting an access tunnel through the ice and to the treasure below. In the room above, Skeef, Goro and Chanee stand guard, worried that the mage might return. No mage, but they are attacked by some weird ice ooze's which cost Goro his magic mace and Chanee his sword. Down below, Solcha breaks through the layer of ice and Usborn is lowered down with orders to grab the detected magic item and as much valuable loot (jewelry and gems) as quickly as she can. The gnome obeys, but is suddenly attacked in the confined space below by some unseen creature. She is hauled out on the edge of death, and the guards from above rush down and help defeat the invisible foe, which disappears once slain.
They finish scooping up the valuables, leaving the coinage behind to perhaps recover later. They move on, pushing deeper into the dungeon. They pass a pair of stub-passages, one of which ends in a clear pane of ice which shows a raging snowstorm beyond. Next to it is a red box with a red hammer labelled "In case of emergency, break glass". There was some temptation to do so; but cooler heads prevail. They next enter a chamber with staglatitles and stalagmites carved in the form of great maw through which they must pass. This leeds (uneventfully) to a large chamber with a throne at the far end. Along the walls hang sheets of thin ice as if frozen tapestries; in front of the throne is a rug of white wolf fur. And on the throne sits a frost giant. He does not challenge them, and on closer approach it is apparent he is dead. But his body is well persevered, with signs that some one or some thing has loving carried for the remains. The body clad in the armour and accoutrements shown in the ice carvings seen earlier, which suggests this is the Frost King.
The party makes a cursory search around the throne and the body, but find nothing significant. They instead at this point decide to move on through a passage concealed behind the sheets of hanging ice. This immediately leads to a smaller, plainer chamber. And here they see a real live frost giant, sitting on a block of ice and sewing a wolf pelt. The giant (Hrorkir) acknowledges them, and asks what they seek. He is pleased when they say they come to pay homage to the Frost King, and Goro also gently hints they come to recover an artifact of 'great evil' from the kings fallen foe, Morandril Hath. This further leads to questions about the magic user they encountered, Polistera. Through long conversation, the learn Hrorkir was Ragvaldr the Frost King's squire, blessed (cursed?) to live beyond his normal life to care for his fallen king. He refuses to discuss Morandril Hath, saying only that the human hero is entombed here as is only right for the slain foe of his king. They learn that Polistera (and his apprentice Mokron), had been instrumental in helping the frost giants attack the Flann. But also insists that while the apprentice remaned (and was slain) in the final battle as was the King, Polistera had disappeared long before then, after advising the King on how to fight the humans. Amidst confused ramblings, the party figures out that Polistera had taken over the Frost King (as he had done so to Chanee), and it was really the mage who lead the giant invasion of Tenh. It also seems the dim-witted Hrorkir messed up his instructions of what to do should his King fall in battle; hence Polistera being trapped in the gem all these hundreds of years, tantalizingly close to his real body but unable to get to it until Chanee came along and released him.
With all this Hrorkir is thoroughly confused, and insists they all go speak to Mokron, who should be able to straighten them out. He leads the puzzled party on with a great stride, through chambers not yet explored, until they get to a room with deep crevasses bisecting the floor. And in the centre of the room, there is a pillar made of a truncated stalagmite on which sits a blackened human skull. Hrorkir is talking to the skull, Hamlet to it's Yorick. The party hears no response, but there seems to actually be a conversation happening? But then suddenly Hrorkir jerks upright, and turns to the party with cold fury in his eyes. And with a roar raises his ice axe and charges.
The giant lays about with his axe, which when it contacts does mighty damage. And then suddenly there are signs of spell casting from the skull. Something pushes Chanee into a crevasse, the skull disappears, and a small band of goblins suddenly appear out of thin air and attack. It looks grim for the party, so Goro hauls out one of the precious bronze plates he recovered from Avernus, and casts a swirling blade barrier around the giant and across where the skull was last seen. Hrorkir, now in a berzerk bloody rage, hesitates; and then charges through the barrier to smite the defilers of his Kings' tomb; but alas the giant is cut down by the magical blades, and drops dead in front of the relived party ...
GAINS
Banded Agate (10 gp) Blue Diamond (5000 gp) Carnelian (50 gp) Coral (100 gp) 2 x Eye Agate (10 gp) Freshwater Pearl (10 gp) Golden Yellow Topaz (500 gp) Hematite (10 gp) Lapis Lazuli (10 gp) Moonstone (50 gp) Moss Agate (10 gp) Peridot (50 gp Red-brown Spinel (100 gp) Star Ruby (1000 gp) Violet Garnet (500 gp) Zircon (50 gp) TOTAL 17 gems, 7470gp.
Gold ring set with gems (3000 gp) Gold tiara set with gems (6000 gp) Ivory bracelet (500 gp) Jade bracelet (1500 gp) Jade earrings (1700 gp) Platinum brooch set with gems (4000 gp) Platinum ring set with gems (10000 gp) Silver pendant set with gems (1000 gp) Silver ring set with gems (6000 gp) gold pendant (1100 gp) gold tiara (1400 gp) silver and gold necklace (800 gp) silver and gold ring (200 gp) silver crown (500 gp) silver ring (700 gp) silver tiara (100 gp) silver tiara (600 gp) TOTAL 17 jewelry 39100gp
4 giant arm rings [4x 250gp]
Potion of Speed
KILLS/VICTORIES
2 Ice Ooze
Invisible Stalker
7 goblins
Hrorkir, the Front Kings Squire
Mokron the Apprentice (maybe?)
LOSSES
Surprisingly, none
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