Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 61 - Swords of Morandril Hath

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 13 (mid morning) to Coldeven 23 (morning) 

The party returns to the fallen remains of the frost giant squire Hrorkir. There Goro casts speak with dead to ask the location of the Swords of Mornadril Hath. From beyond death the giant tells them the swords lay due east from where they stand. Skeef notes that this coincides with the wall carvings in the quaggoth lair, and suggests they return there to search for secret hiding places. He and Solcha did not find anything when they searched a few days before, but perhaps they missed it. Making their way past the frozen and now half eaten remains of their first battle in these ice caverns, Goro immediately finds that the frost giant's axe in the carving is moveable. He pulls it forward and a section of the ice wall moves, opening into another cavern. 

The chamber beyond is small, crowded with staglititles hanging down. And at the end is a human warrior, two swords raised ready to strike, But they see at once he is both terribly battered with wounds, and is frozen in a solid block of ulta-clear ice. They had finally found the resting place of Morandril Hath and his magical swords, Tangarar “Flamebrand” and Amroteth “The Shard of Frost”. Solcha immediately gets to work, melting ice with the Jewel of Nessus and then, once freed, the 'Flamebrand'. It takes some time, but eventually she melts enough to retrieve both swords, as well as the jeweled winged helm and gold arm rings that adorn the body. But at this point there is a rumbling sound and the chamber starts to shake. Everyone makes a run for the door, but Usborn and Skeef don't quite make it and are buried under the collapsing ceiling. The party is able to recover Skeef before he suffocates, but poor Usborn is crushed beyond recovery. Knowing they could never get her to civilization fast enough to be raised, Solcha and Baqua gently wrap the gnome's remains in a wolf fur and burry her back in the ice. 

Although their quest was now complete, the party was in no shape to risk the dangers of the trek home through the mountains just yet, So they settle in to rest once more to allow the spellcasters to recharge. They are interrupted twice, first by a a pair of frost giant wraiths who bring to paladin down to unconsciousness before being slain by the combined force of the party. The second interruption was more benign an ice toad that was just curious and let the party be.  

Next morning, the party finally emerges from the caves, relying on Solcha's magic in place of the rope bridges the giant Hrorkir had destroyed days before, They discover their mules dead, mostly eaten  and everything half buried in snow. They recover one sledge to haul the paladin, taking turns to pull it in place of the mules, But they leave the food relying on Goro to create food and water so they can move as quickly as possible. Their journey back to Nevond Nevnend is less stormy and less eventful than the journey in, although they barely avoid a huge warband of orcs returns from raiding the plains of Tenh, captives and loot in tow. 

Back in Nevond Nevnend, they settle in for rest, recovery and training and to think of where they will head next on their adventures ... 

GAINS

Sword+1, Flame Tongue (Tangarar “Flamebrand”)

Sword +3, Frost Brand (Amroteth “The Shard of Frost”)

Golden bracers/arm bands (10x 150gp)

Golden winged helmet with green gems (5000gp)

KILLS/VICTORIES

2 frost giant wraiths  

LOSSES

Usborn 

Chanee (temporarily) 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 60 - But Wait, Another Epic Battle ...

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 13 (early morning) to Readying 13 (mid morning) 

Recovering from their fight with the frost giant, first thoughts turn to rest and new spells. So the party retraces steps to their hidey-hole. Only to find it has been taken over by quaggoth and the door is barred against them. But instead of unleashing unholy fury upon the furries, they instead head towards Hrorkir's room which they deem to be a safe and defensible place to rest. The rest passes without a major interruption, apart from Baqua vanquishing another ooze (and not losing her axe to it!). 

Now rested, the party heads down the sloping twisting passage beyond Hrorkir's bedchamber.  It eventually leads to a large cavern, surprisingly filled with steam and mist. As they cross it they move across a boundary from ice to stone. And then the mist parts, revealing a huge slug awaiting them. They mash the mollusk and search the chamber behind it, finding a hot spring and trails of crystalized slime. In another side chamber they find a large bronze cauldron simmering over another  hot spring. It is filled with water, bones and skin of some furred creature. There is also a pile of the same offal off to one side, obviously previously boiled and stripped of anything useful. A shelf holds a selection of salves, unguents and oils, inclining two Skeef notes are labeled as "smash" and "slippery". 

With still no clue as to the location of Morandril Hath and his swords, the party retraces their steps to where lay the fallen Hrorkir. In a chamber beyond they find another wall carving, similar in style to one one observed at the isolated end of the quaggoth lair. These particular carvings depict two human figures talking to a big front giant; all three labeled with the names Mokron, Polistera and Ragvaldr the Frost King. The picture is then obscured by melt,  then shows battle between Flann tribes and the giants (with Mokron now as the only human on the giant side). The battle scene ends with the single combat between the Frost King and Morandril Hath in which both or slain. The final panel depicts the fallen combatants being carried into the caves under the glacier. Ragvaldr is carried to the left and placed upon his throne, and Mornadril to the right and is last seen standing in a heroic fighting pose. 

Chanee now starts to remind everyone about the clear ice sheet and the emergency hammer. The paladin really wants to break  the 'glass' and see what lies  lurking in the raging snow storm beyond. The party consents, thinking Mornadril Hath's resting place may lie beyond. The ice sheet cracks below the hammer, and then suddenly bursts out in a spray of shards. And into the tunnel steps a tall humanoid of frost and ice. It turns on the party who are shocked to find it punches with  a devastating blow. And regenerates. And is immune to normal attacks. After trying a few tricks, the party decides running is their only option. They make it to the waterfall, hoping to trick and push the creature into the raging foam. But although it pursues them, it does not pass beyond it's side of the bridge. The party fires arrows and magic at it, which forces the creature to retreat. Skeef uses heat metal to torment and degrade the creature, and eventually the party sallies forth to find it destroyed. The remnants are scraped and melted off the icy floor and flung into the river.

The party returns to the dead end corridor where the creature emerged. And now find nothing but a blank icy wall; there is no entrance to wherever it had come from. Goro uses his locate object to try pinpointing the swords Tangarar “Flamebrand” and Amroteth “The Shard of Frost”. But he has no luck; they are nowhere within range of his spell ...

GAINS

oil of impact

oil of slipperiness 

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 Ice Ooze

Giant Slug

Ice Para-elemental 

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 59 - Frost Giant Fun

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 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 58 - Paladin Possessed!

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 (morning) to Readying 12 (night) 

Fully healed, the party moves out and continues exploration on the far sid eof the waterfall. The first chamber they come to is hidden in inky blackness. Chanee concentrates on the room and determines evil lurks therein; and immediately offers to enter the black to investigate.  With a safety rope around his waist, the paladian enters and the party shortly hears him bump into something. Chanee returns in a few moments holding a massive star sapphire, and immediately urges the party onward.  Said party, however, is suspicious. The paladin is being very vocal and pushy and somewhat abrasive; all much at odds with his usual character. He also offers no details of where he is leading them and why. A series of more probing questions and spells (both protective and inquisitive) convinces the party their champion of law and good has been possessed by some evil spirit. 

The party convinces/coerces Chanee into returning to their rest area so the spellcasters can rest and learn new spells. The "paladin" reluctantly agrees. But in the middle of his watch, he used a vial of Nolzur's Wonderous Pigment to make a death pit. And pushes his watch-partner Usborn  into  said pit. Erijay, half-awake, is able to save the gnome with featherfall, but Chanee throws open the door and runs. He is out of sight before the rest of the party can be awakened. But upon pursuit they run into him coming back to them.The apologetic adventurer blurts out a story of being possessed by a malign spirit when he picked up the great gem. It took over his body and compelled him to seek a nearby room, and there enter a secret below-floor chamber where the body of a man lay floating in mid-air over top of a hoard of treasure. And the spirit them left his body and brought this floating man back to life! And, now back in control of his own body, Chanee ran. At this point, they hear from just down the corridor a crashing sound as if a cavern was collapsing. 

Expecting trouble from whoever or whatever this man is, the party retreats to a defensive choke point. After a few minutes they hear the faint fall of footsteps coming towards them; and they see a middle aged man, dressed in loose clothes of yellow and black, standing at the turn in the corridor. And they immediately open hostilities. Spells are slung, and all of the party except Chanee find themselves trapped behind a web spell. The paladin tries to hack down the figure, but magical defensives protect him. And before the rest of the party can burn through the web, the man casts a spell and flees in haste. Once freed, the party tries to pursue, but with a head start the man is nowhere to be found. They do find, however, another  way across the raging underground stream; a natural stone arch bridge, guarded by more quaggoth. And they also find someone or something has removed their pinions and rope at the entrance, leaving them effectively trapped in the ice caves. 

Undeterred, Chanee leads them back to the room where the body was found. What was once a hidden  staircase leading down to the chamber with the body and treasure, is now a pile of ice collapsed from the ceiling above. Using another vial of Nolzur's Wonderous Pigment, Usborn designs an angled mine shaft to penetrate though the rubble and into the secret room. It was as  Chanee described, minus the body. The room was empty but for the end of the now blocked stairs hanging in mid-air, and a scattering of treasure at the  room some 20-30' away. However, when the party starts to emerge from the tunnel, they find there is actually a block of perfectly clear ice floating in the mid-air, and there is another layer of perfectly clear ice between them and the treasure ... 

GAINS

Star Sapphire [5000gp]

KILLS/VICTORIES

None

LOSSES

All trust in Channe 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 57 - Battle Royale

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 11 (morning) to Readying 12 (morning) 

... The party initially holds back and lets the barrage of ice fall around them. They also try various feints to draw their white furry attackers out into the open, but to no avail. Eventually the two holy warriors, Chanee and Goro, have had enough and charge up the icy skope and into melee with the front rank,  quickly seeing there are many more behind the front line. The rest of the party supports with magic at first, but they themselves are surprised with a pair of much larger yeti charge out of any unguarded tunnel and into their flank. These are shortly followed by more of the smaller creatures. This eventually pushes the party back to back on the icy slope fighting front and back, with the most battered and bleeding party members protected in he center.  In the end the party prevails, slaying all their opponents. But their own blood flows freely as well. 

Stepping over bodies, they enter the lair of the slain quaggoth. The large cavern is a mess of fur, feces, bone and flees. However the walls are of interest; frozen in the ice are gems and coins,  the treasure of the tribe. Sorcha begins to melt the ice with her Nessus flame, assisted by Goro and the gnome/halfling duo.  At the far western end of the cavern the party finds a crude images of giants fighting humans. At the center  is a larger and somewhat better image of the Frost King swinging his huge axe at a human holding a twin pair of swords. On the king's helmet shines a huge gem. Secret doors are searched for, and Skeef pokes at the gem, but nothing is found.  

The party moves on into another chamber where a trickle of water emerges from a crack in the ice floor. They follow it into another chamber, this one half rock and half ice. The water gathers in a very small pool, overlooked by the statute of frost giant. The pool actually contains what looks like clay or pigment.  Experimenting, the party finds that the pigment can be used to paint the image of an object, which them becomes real. Greedily, they start to scoop out the contents of the pool, which  causes the statue to animate. They smash it to rubble after a short combat. 

Moving on, they follow a winding passage to a smaller chamber, lit by diffuse sunlight from above. A circle of large icicles hang below the rim of the shaft leading up. Finding nothing else of interest, the party continues on down the passage. They hear the sounds of rushing water ahead and see that the tunnel passes under a raging waterfall.  A pair of giant ice toads block their way, but Skeef is able to befriend them and redirect the amphibians to the feast of quaggoth in the battle cavern. The toads also warn there are more quaggoth waiting in ambush ahead. Pushing on, the party encounters the ambush and makes short work of slaying them, opening the way forward. But, now much injured and low on spells,  they decide to retreat to the magic pigment cavern to rest. Using some of the pigment, they build a solid door across the single opening and settle in to sleep and rest. Thanks to the new door, their rest is not unduly disturbed, and in the morning everyone accepts the bounty of healing spells from the cleric and druid. 

GAINS

7 vials of Nolzur's Wonderous Pigment 

396 pp, 

1058 sp, 

17 Gems [2 x Aquamarine (500 gp) Blue Star Sapphire (1000 gp) 2x Carnelian (50 gp) Deep Blue Spinel (500 gp) Deep Green Spinel (100 gp) 2 x Jade (100 gp) Onyx (50 gp)  2x Rhodochrosite (10 gp)  2x Rose Quartz (50 gp) Sardonyx (50 gp) Star Rose Quartz (50 gp) Tourmaline (100 gp) [Total value = 3270 gp]

KILLS/VICTORIES

19 Quaggoth 

2 Yeti

1 Stone Guardian  

LOSSES

None

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 56 - Across Vale and Under Glacier

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 9 (mid-day) to Readying 11 (morning) 

... In the distance ahead of the party lay the frozen expanse of the lake, flanked to the east by forest and then snow drifts, and to the west by the steep avalanche slope. After Skeef spends some time speaking with a tree to learn a little more about the valley, they head into the pine wood. The plan is to keep close to the lakeshore and then, when they emerge from the other side, decide  which route to take towards the glacier. Passing through the trees, they encounter ghostly forms of frost giants which puts fear into Chanee and Baqua. But the figures disappear as soon as they reach the party, causing no irreparable harm. 

Leaving the wood, they choose to make the slow trudge across the snow drifts, angling toward the smoke/steam they observe rising from the wooded slopes to the east. Along the way they pass one of the tall rock spires on this side of the valley, and are startled to hear a woman's blood-curdling scream coming from that direction. Suspecting a trap, but unable to ignore a possible damsel in distress, Chanee leads them around the rock outcropping. Skeef and Baqua take the lead, trying the approach stealthily. But down from the slope above charge a pair of grotesque creatures the size of a stag but with a strange mix of animal features. Including mouths of jagged bone ridges, one of which bites Skeef. The rest of the party now engages with a range of magic and muscle, and the two creatures are slain. Chanee makes some monster jerky, while the rest of the party searches. They find scattered about the valley floor a range of bones - goat, dwarf and some type of robust humanoid.   They also find a scattering of gems amid the dwarf bones, plus the shattered remains of a wagon containing copper ingots as well as a hidden bag of coin. 

It being late in the day, and since jerky making is still in progress, the party camps here for the night before headed on towards the rising steam the next day, They they find a hot mineral spring, a pool of milky white about 5' across. The search the area and find nothing of note except a parboiled dwarf head in the pool.

Moving on towards the glacier, the party approaches the stream and waterfall that plunges out from under the ice sheet. Reaching a point where they can look down into the stream bed, they see a pair of winter wolves feasting on some prey. With Skeef speaking to them and Chanee reluctantly feeding them jerky, the canines do not attempt to add party member to their meal. The druid pumps them for information, and also convinces them to not eat their donkeys; it is immediately obvious the pack animals cannot enter the dungeon with the party as the only obvious entrance is the ranging stream. The wolves, currently with bellies full, agree. But Goro also casts a pair of glyphs of warding on the area they stake the donkeys just to be sure.

To enter the dungeon dry-shod, Solcha flies into the ice tunnel, setting spikes and running rope until she reaches dry passages to the east and west. The party follows using the rope to work along the side of the ice tunnel, and then turn into the east passage. They descend over a sharp 15' drop to a chamber of smooth ice, which breaks under their feet with a loud echoing crack. From here they come to another drop into a room filled with beams of sunlight entering from above, reflecting colour off a haze of ice crystal dancing in the air. Making their way down the drop (Goro quite quickly and painfully), they enter the cavern and have to choose which of the myriad exits to explore. They head for the one to the immediate right, and as they approach, they see a group of white furred humanoids appear on the edge of that rise, ready to pummel the party with chucks of ice ... 

GAINS

2 x Azurite (10 gp), Chrysoprase (50 gp), 2 x Golden Yellow Topaz (500 gp), Red-brown Spinel (100 gp), Sardonyx (50 gp), Turquoise (10 gp), Zircon (50 gp) [1280gp TOTAL]

100gp

80sp

KILLS/VICTORIES

2 Leucrotta 

LOSSES

None

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 55 - Through Winter Snow, Up Mountains Steep

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 6/ Thief 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

Fireseek 5, 577 (morning) to Readying 9, 577 (mid-day)

The party re-groups in Nevond Nevnend to drown their frustration and plan for new adventures. Solcha told the party that while she was carrying out her scholarly work in their absence, she spared a few moments to study the tome "Of Fabulous Relics and Artifacts ... etc etc" and came across several tales of noteworthy magical swords that might be of interest. In particular the party was intrigued by the story of Monandril Hath, the Golden Atman and hero of the Flan from before the time of the great migrations of the Oeridians and Suloise. Morandril was noted to carry  twin swords Tangarar “Flamebrand” and Amroteth “The Shard of Frost”. The legends say that when the frost giant jarls invaded deep into the plains of Tenh during the Winter of the White Wolves, Morandril first lead the Host to defeat the invaders and then entered the mountains alone to find and fight the Frost King in the Vale of Ice. The power of the frost giants was broken for a century, but Morandril never returned and it is said he paid for the victory with his life, and remains still in that frozen vale.

The thought of recovering these two legendary swords of elemental power seemed a worthwhile endeavor, so the party starts gathering cold weather gear, and mules and sledges for the long journey into the Griff Mountains at the height of winter. They consult the sage Gylpi Evell, who as able to confirm the tale and give ancient directions to this Vale of Ice where the lair of the Frost King lay buried beneath glacial ice. They also consult a dwarf by the name of Zorak, a miner, merchant and occasional traveller in this part of the Griffs. He tells them they would find few friendly faces apart from perhaps a few of his people working the old copper mines. This part of the Griffs is filled with mostly giants and monsters and dangerous winter conditions. 

The party is somewhat surprised when Solcha's henchman Usborn reports for duty with a companion; one they recognize as the surly halfling server at the "Hellgate" tavern in Oxton. It would seem the two had hit it off during the long days Usborn spent in the seedy establishment waiting by the gate for the party to return from Hell. The party somewhat warily welcomes the halfling, figuring more help was good, especially since Goro could not join them right away due to duties at the temple. The cleric would follow them shortly.  

Beginning their journey under snowy skies, the party had first to traverse the high plains along the border between the Duchy and the Bandit Kingdoms, a place where few lived. During their several days travel, their most reliable companion was bad weather. On their first night they also inadvertently set up camp atop the winter den of some giant poisonous snakes. A short combat ensures before Skeef was able to use his druid skills to calm the snakes and end the bloodshed. But not before  Baqua has fallen to a poison bite. The halfling's body, already frozen stiff, is tossed atop one of the sledges in the hopes that Goro would arrive quick enough to cure poison.  

After a second encounter with a gorgon hiding in a small herd of escaped cattle, they enter the mountains proper. Keeping the Zumber River on their left, the party plunges into the snow drifts and ice for many days of slow and cold climbing. On one day Skeef triggers a sudden avalanche, and is saved only by Solcha's quick featherfall that keeps him from being buried alive. On a blustery blizzardy day, Usborn ends up snow blind and must ride the sledge for a few days as she recovers. Another day brings an encounter with playful giant otters, who tumble their mule (but thankfully not their sledge of supplies) into the river. The mule is saved by a combination of the party's strength and help from the now chastised otters. 

After more than two weeks of mountain travel, they reach the point where the sage had told them their  trail must leave the riverside. Climbing alongside a smaller stream and up a steep valley, another couple of days brings them to a headwall. Climbing up the mountain face deposits  them in a long and narrow hanging valley. Solcha used her fly  spell to climb above the snow covered pine forest that blocks their view to get a lay of the land. Apart from scattered patches of pine forest, a large frozen lake dominates the upper end of the valley some 5-6 miles away. Above the lake hangs a glacier where they assume the lost lair of the Frost King is located.  The valley to the west is dominated by steep slopes and overhanging snow, while to the east the valley wall is less steep but a series of rocky spurs hems in the valley floor. Solcha also notes two areas where smoke or perhaps steam (for Gylpi Evell had told them of hot spring the in Vale) rise into the air. One close but on the opposite side of the outlet stream that tumbles down the center of the valley; the other on the east side of the valley close to the glaciers edge. 

The elf lands and the party proceeds on foot. Passing through the pine woods, they encounter a trio of winter wolves. The creatures, obviously hungry and ill tempered, let them pass unmolested. Skeef's guess is the party did not look to be the easy picking the wolves desire. After several hours moving slowly through the woods, they party emerges into the open and could better see their destination ... 

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 gorgon

3 giant poisonous snakes [defeated] 

LOSSES

Baqua