Upon reaching the city above and stepping out into the sunlight, Kobort’s sword – Brialyn – began to vibrate and hum. Kobort then removed the sword from the sheath, and a second dawn came to the lost ward – as the sword began to glow with the light of the sun, before shooting a beam of sunlight into the heavens to signal the re-birth of the Order of Brialyn in Kobort. After a few minutes, when the two women returned from the undercity (where they fled from the light), there was an answering rumble from the ground as the distant great mountain, The Wraith, shed part of its icy surface in defiance of the fae order. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Toll cast a magical spell of traveling on the group – as well as their new found friend – that would allow them to turn to clouds and blow quickly across the valley. He then cast a sending to tell the others where they were going and to suggest that they see the Cleric of Moradin for a similar casting if they wished to follow. The group then turned to vaporous form and took flight. After four hours of very rapid travel, the group arrived in the land of the giants, where they had been warned that Clan Nigelun ruled. Avoiding the lesser giants at work in the valley, the group followed their trails up into the foothills where they ended at a huge cavern opening. Returning to physical form, the group approached the entrance, with Jakkara and Gwen scouting the way. Jakkara spoke to Gwen in sign language that a doggie was ahead of the group and for Gwen to wait a moment. True to her word, she returned a moment later. Moving forward, the group discovered that the ‘doggie’ was a large winter wolf – dead from a single sword thrust.
Within the vaulting cavern, they discovered that a huge rift separated the cavern into two areas. Choosing to go right, the group ventured onward into darkness – trusting the eyes of the dwarf and drow to lead them. After some time of movement in the dark, a faint vibration washed over the group, leaving Jakkara paralyzed. The others froze with her, waiting to see what had happened. A few moments later, a great worm came into the Dwarves visual range. After being alerted, Lusipher drew forth his ever-lit sword to light the area and combat began. The frost worm proved to be a very challenging foe, ignoring Kobort’s initial attack to breathe its icy breath on the others. Gwen had grabbed Jakkara and avoided the breath, hiding the dark elf from the assault of the worm. Combat began in earnest, with blows exchanging on both sides. Lusipher’s massive strength proved too much for the great worm, as he cleaved through its body and severed it in twain. They then discovered its final attack, as it turned to ice and exploded, grievously wounding the party. After a round of healing from Toll, during which time Jakkara returned to the group, they moved into the darkness once more.
After being woken up from the nights drink by a new message from Toll, Ralph set about waking Gallandro and Misha and getting everyone on the way to the Temple. Misha wanted to stop by the house first to see if anything had happened. When they arrived in their neighborhood, they saw smoke rising from their property, and a crowd of people. After being turned invisible by Gallandro, Misha scouted the property to discover that their house had been burned down. Sifting through her room, she discovered that the only thing that survived was her ice bear pelt. She also saw a large sign posted in the front saying, “We have your friends.” Uprooting the sign (causing people to scatter), she returned to the group and showed it to them. They then hurried to the temple of Moradin in the Stone Ward, where Ralph convinced the high priest to magic the trio to be able to walk as the wind. After having the spell cast, the three set out an hour behind the rest of the group – hurrying to catch up.
Meanwhile, the group continued onward after their battle with the ice worm, and soon came to a passage leaving the cavern, with a cold wind blowing in. Jakkara informed the group that she did not smell dogs or giants in the wind, so the others reasoned that the passage probably left the caverns entirely. Ignoring it, the group continued onward in the massive cavern, skirting the wall in utter darkness. After moving along for a short while, they began to make out a blue light ahead. Misha and Jakkara scouted ahead and discovered that there was a pair of winter wolves sitting by two frost giants who were intently examining the wall – trying to open something or pry something from the wall. The giants then began to hammer at it, attempting to open it forcibly. Seeing the sound as an opportunity, the pair returned to the group quickly.
The pair returned to the group about the same time as the others caught up, materializing a short distance away to avoid overly surprising them. Once again reunited, the group gathered to form their plan, then launched into action, heralding their presence with a well-placed fireball. Less than a minute later, the wolves and giants lay on the floor dead – the group now examining the wall to see what the giants were investigating. Seemingly melded into the wall was a large carving of elemental patterns. Oddly, though, five elements were depicted instead of the four elements commonly acknowledged amongst the intellectual community. After a short period of trial and error, Jakkara finally grew tired of waiting for the group to figure the door out – so she reached out and placed her hand on the door, closed her eyes, and the door opened like an iris!
She explained to the others that she had tricked the door into opening – an ability that Gwendon admitted that she also had. The passage beyond was worked, with the floor tiled in marble with what appeared to be a rose quartz grout. It appeared to Gwendon’s eye at least, that the quartz had been melted without erasing the patterns in the stone. Moving down the passage, they came into a large domed chamber with five additional passages out (see map below). In the center of the main chamber, a giant translucent globe floated about two feet above the ground. Deciding to be cautious, Toll activated a magical artifact that he has in his possession before entering the chamber. While he and a few others investigated the globe, Gallandro and Lusipher went down several of the side passages to the smaller rooms, each of which had a crystal pedestal and a glyph-like construct floating above it – each construct representing one of the five elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, & Energy). As Gallandro merely examined the pedestal in his chamber, Lusipher was a bit more daring and touched the glyph in his. The resulting shock caused him to step away from the pedestal. The glyph was not satisfied and continued to shock him. He then fled the room, returning to the others. The glyph followed, shocking him all the way. After a round or two of combat without damaging the glyph severely, Toll activated the artifact, returning time back to when the group entered the chamber – this time with Toll the wiser.
Informing the group that they should not touch any glyphs, the party worked out that someone could enter the globe, or place an item in it. They then put Misha’s bow in the globe and attempted to activate the pillars in each chamber by casting an elemental spell of the appropriate type – as well as getting Jakkara to fool the pillar of earth. What resulted was a beam of energy from each glyph firing into the globe, charging the bow with properties of each. Gwen then hopped in the chamber to have her done. What resulted was her gaining a translucent quality to her body, and resistance to the energies that had struck her. Everyone else decided to forgo having it done to their person, but they did magically treat their weapons. The group then decided that they had sidetracked enough and that it was time to find the pot of gold. Heading back down the passage, they opened the door once more – this time to the scene of 14 Frost Giants, 8 Winter Wolves, and 6 Stone Giants. The resulting brawl was fast, furious, and violent – with several members of the group near death by the battles end. Nevertheless, end it did, with the group victorious and in much need of healing and rest.
While the group set up their Daern’s Instant fortress so Gallandro could begin the process of identifying their spoils, three of the stealthier members moved out to scout the area. Jakkara, Kobort, and Misha discovered a heated area of three connecting caverns that appeared to be for visiting creatures. They saw signs of the stone giants having occupied the area, which included a small house and a large mead hall. The mead hall was significant in that the giants slept on furs on the floor, while they built an actual building to drink in.
They then scouted back into the main cave, where they discovered three ballista units with two frost giants per unit – apparently guarding the rift through the massive cavern. After sitting and watching for three hours, they discovered that three artillery posts on this side of the rift signaled to another two on the other side of the rift every hour. The trio then returned to the rest of the group to inform them of what they had seen. The group decided to wait until Gallandro finished his magic, and then set to go and take out the ballista crews.
Unfortunately, upon looking out the window, it seemed that the giants had brought all the ballista with them, along with 21 more giants and their pets, for a total of 27 Frost Giants and 20 Winter Wolves. The party decided to go on the offensive, and took the battle to the giants first, dealing out a decisive blow to the ballistae, taking them down in a flurry of Fireball and Flame Strike, while archers pelted the wolf ranks with arrows and the stealthy group using magic to transport themselves behind the giants to attack them from the flank. The giants retaliated by bombarding the tower with stones, while their wolves assaulted it with frigid breath. After two rounds of siege warfare, the tower began to show signs of damage, so the group exited it to bring the battle out to the enemy. The dimly lit area was swarming with spells, arrows, and boulders, but the giants began to take heavy casualties. A blow from a Winter Wolf to Ralph caused a magical transformation to take place, as he grew to giant size wielding a 15 foot long sword proclaiming he to be the god of slaughter. Wading into battle, the “god” proved to be a worthy adversary, but fell to the combined assault of three giants. Shortly after his death, the group managed to bring down the last of the giants and wolves and began the process of healing their remaining numbers.
As the group finished gathering all of their newly earned booty from the fallen giants, a clapping sound and a female sarcastically congratulating them on a job well done interrupted them. She introduced herself to the group as Sirrathi, informing them that they had stirred the giant’s nest quite well, spoiling her attempt to help a bronze dragon that the giant’s were torturing. Now it seemed that the entire clan of giants were aware of the group and readying for battle. Additionally, she overheard them saying that the Ice King had sent word that the Golden Sun Warrior was present in the caverns and must be destroyed. Toll then cast a speak with dead on the giants and learned that they were up against 290 or so Frost Giants, A white dragon named Chillwitch, and someone or something named Oorrl.
Still having a quest to finish, the group decided to rest until morning, and then quickly sneak down and seize the pot of gold, try to help the tortured dragon, and the escape. Jakkara cheerfully agreed to kill the white dragon to provide a distraction – apparently not understanding the full danger involved in such a task. They then used the tower to create a narrow walkway to the entrance of the secret chamber they had discovered, and settled down there for the night – ready for another attack. Fortunately, it did not occur. During the night, Sirrathi sent her small air elemental familiar to do recon on the giants, discovering that they had amassed 70-80 giants at the bottom of the ravine and were ready for an attack. Additionally, there was no sign of any giants in the entire upper cave – all had apparently fled to the lower to defend their home.
After prayers, it was decided that Toll would transform them into clouds so that they could magically travel through the lower caverns, over the giant’s unsuspecting heads, and on into to giant leader’s chamber to get the pot of gold while Jakkara, Gallandro, and Gwen provided a distraction. Everything went without a hitch getting down into the caverns, but the distraction proved more difficult.
As the misty trio charged the dragon, they discovered that it had a friend – the cloud giant sorcerer Oorrl, who dispelled the magics of Jakkara at the direction of the dragon. Jakkara then nimbly avoided the icy breath of the ancient dragon and proceeded to attack it. The dragon retaliated with prejudice, attacking the poor girl with bite, claws, and wings – tearing through her meager defenses as though they were paper, much to her surprise. The giant proved ineffective against the nimble drow, however, its magics rebounding off of her back to it. Gwendon materialized and began to attack the giant in earnest, as Jakkara’s fight quickly became a race of who died first – with the dragon ultimately paying the price. Gwendon followed suite as the giant turned and began to smite her heavily with his huge mace. Jakkara was able to vanquish the huge monstrosity, but not before having her own life pass before her eyes for her foolish act. Gallandro joined the pair and passed out healing potions, and the trio set out to free the orcs to provide a distraction for the rest of the giants who were no doubt on the way.
The rest of the group came into the massive chamber of the frost giant Jarl. The entry to the cavern was dotted with frozen adventurer ice pillars, denoting the large number of victims who had come here before. The giants were all amassed in the rear of the cave, waiting for the attack to come to them. Misha and Sirrathi moved over to the giant mead hall built in the chamber – while Toll, Kobort, and Lusipher moved up the wall and back towards the throne. Misha began to pepper the giants with arrows, while Sirrathi created several explosive cascades, killing winter wolves left and right. The giants stormed the mead hall, but fell short – reluctant to destroy their precious nectar. That is until Misha sent several arrows thudding into the Jarl himself. Meanwhile, Kobort and Lusipher began to loot the giant’s treasure, while Toll created a blade barrier around the Jarl, his wife, and his guards. Fleeing the area of the spinning death, the Jarl quickly fell to the deadly arrows of the archer Misha. His wife followed quickly, burnt to a crisp in the holy fire of Toll’s Flame strike. Chaos ensued, allowing the group the time to change back to wind and regroup back in the outer cavern where the ancient white dragon lay dead.
After meeting back up in the cavern of the dead Coldwitch, the group separated to perform a few tasks before the giants could reform to attack. Gwen, Jakkara, and Lusipher began to strip the dragon and the giant for parts and treasure. As they did so, over a hundred giants stormed from the southern passage, ignoring the dead dragon to check on their Jarl. Toll and the rest hurried to the wounded bronze, where Toll gave up a portion of his essence to regenerate the dragon and then heal it. After regrouping once more, Kobort began to glow with a fiery aura and spoke to the group in a feminine voice not his own, telling them she had a message to send to the Ice King. He/She then flew up to the top of the waterfall, and proceeded to melt the entire river from frozen to liquid state in less than a minute. The transition was so quick, that it was as if the water was never frozen. He/She then returned to the party, where he returned to normal – minus the knowledge of what had just happened. The groups then left the caverns for the four hour ride home.
