Fire and Ice

The group has taken refuge in Leomund's Tiny Hut. There they are protected, warm and safe within the ice tunnels of the icy mountain in the central portion of Skycastle, which is currently flying southwards hundreds of feet in the sky. The group enjoys a much needed sleep until about 7 hours into their 8 hours of necessary sleep. T'an and Lithareal, who both only need 4 hours of sleep, are awake and waiting for their last 4 hours of rest when 2 large trolls wander into the ice tunnels. They move as though they are searching for something, or perhaps several someones.

They move closer to the group T'an and Lithareal watch closely as the trolls run into the walls of the magical hut. As they puzzle over what they have encountered, one of the trolls retreats away back they way they had come. With only one remaining troll T'an and Lithareal wonder if they should just kill the troll as magic spells can exit the hut while they remain protected inside. But will more return?

As Arno and Smallfang remain asleep, T'an and Litharael are treated to the sight of the troll curiously experimenting with the hut's surface. All the troll sees is a white/blusish surface, much like the rest of the ice tunnel but this surface is soft but impermeable. He pushes his face against it, as well as other body parts. He sees the smears of his body's grime covering the surface now and continues to paint it with various fluids and semi-solids from his body. It is not long before more trolls arrive and the group now must contend with 5 trolls. As T'an and Lithareal decide to wait out the last few minutes of their 8 hour long rest, all they can do is watch all the trolls engaged in their new found pastime of painting the hut with body fluids.

The trolls, who have been apparently versed in what the hut is, speak to the adventurers inside. They tell them that their leader, Blagothkus, wishes to speak with them. They are to follow the trolls, who will lead them to Blagothkus and no harm will come to them. It is obvious that they have been told a script to speak, but each of the trolls, who can only remember a small portion, each take their turn in saying their part of the speech.

As everybody awakes within the hut, the group prepares themselves as the hut's magic will soon dissipate. T'an takes up position in the center of the hut, where he looks up and finds no body slime from the trolls. With a slight ear popping 'whump', the hut vanishes and the trolls slime covering the hut falls down on the group. Lithareal is just able to jump and grab onto T'an to avoid the falling vileness but Smallfang who is just awaking looks straight up into the muck and manages to get it in his mouth.

The Cloud Giant's Quarters
3,000 XP (for negotiating)

They emerge from one of the ice tunnels into the large upper courtyard where a half dozen ogres are practicing throwing javelins at wooden targets. They briefly notice the group exiting from the ice mountain but return to their practice. It would seem they have been told to ignore the small group.

The group is directed to a large ice structure at the base of the small mountain and enter. There inside are 2 stone giants around a large iron cauldron performing some sort of ritual. In the center of the room at a table is a vastly larger cloud giant. He beckons the group to join him and offers them food. They have caught and cooked a wyvern.

The group learns that:

• Blagothkus, the owner and leader of the Skycastle, does not disapprove of the groups activities thus far. They have killed a kitchen full of kobolds (no great loss), killed the black half-dragon, Rezmir and perhaps have had a hand in the disappearance of the two Red Wizards of Thay.
• The giant holds a tenuous agreement with the Cult Of The Dragon. He will aid them in transporting their treasure. He hopes to aid them in resurrecting Tiamat and summoning all the dragons to the resurrection ceremony, where he will bring all the united giants to do great battle with the dragons.
• He believes that the giants have forgotten their greatness and glory and hopes that a battle with the dragons will return the giants to their former glory.
• He barely suffers the arrogance of the cultists and will not shed any tears if the group kills a few in their course. But he cannot overtly offer any assistance as this may hamper their agreement and his plans.
• He does warn the group that they can try leave using a few of the wyverns in the stables but the dragon within the ice mountain would certainly hunt them down and kill them before they could even land.

The group agrees to the situation and Smallfang asks for some assistance in the form of potions or items which may help. Blagothkus agrees and tosses the dragonborn two vials: one is a glass globe which contains a mist or fog that continually roils, the other is a gray oil which is slick and vile looking in a glass globe which beads condensation. Smallfang puzzles over the potions/oils but is at a loss as to what they are. He asks Blagothkus but the cloud giant answers enigmatically that it will help them when they are desperate. Smallfang shrugs and tosses one to Arno.

The Main Ice Vault

11,000 XP

The group returns to the icy tunnels within the ice mountain and quietly move through until they approach the large treasure hoard which is being transported. The hoard is a small golden mountain in it's own right. They can hear movement and rumbling breath but can see no dragon. Each of the group prepares themselves and Smallfang moves out towards the golden treasure hoard. 

Movement near the ceiling catches Smallfangs eyes and he sees a large white dragon moving along the ceiling gripping on to the large stalactites hanging down from the caverns roof. The dragon speaks to him condescendingly asking him where is the offering he should be bringing. Smallfang produces a small sack of coins he is carrying and tosses on to the treasure pile. T'an moving behind Smallfang notches his arrows and refuses to offer anything other than two notched arrows.

That's all it takes, the dragon insulted attacks. The first to die is T'an. The dragon inhales a deep breath and releases a icy plume which freezes T'an, his bow still raised after he loosed his arrows. The group stares in horror as they realize the difficulty they face. The remaining adventurers keep to the tunnels lobbing javelins and spells from the mouth of the tunnel and then retreating back inside.

Litharael seeing T'an's death uses his healing spell to revive the young monk. T'an then continues to loose arrow after arrow at the dragon whittling down the dragon's health. 

Arno after using his new found staff, figures out it's usage and is pleased to find that it contains spells for fireball, burning hands and wall of fire. Arno uses this to great effect. But not for long. The dragon descends down and moves to the tunnel in which Litharael and Arno are hiding and lowers his head to peer inside. The sight of the large dragonhead at the mouth of the tunnel frightens Litharael so much that he turns and runs, leaving Arno behind. The dragon breaths out his icy cold breath and freezes Arno where he stands a look of fear frozen on his face at the moment of his death.

Litharael is able to regain his senses enough to return back towards the battle and finds Arno dead and frozen to the ground, his death still imprinted on his face. Litharael heals the gnome returns to life. Not wanting to die like that again, Arno pulls out the oily globe and is about to drink the vile looking liquid but pauses just long enough to take another look at the globe. This doesn't look good to drink. Instead Arno pours the smooth flowing oil over himself. As the oil spreads over his body, Arno disappears from this plane. He is between planes. No one can see him and he moves freely through the ice tunnel walls with just mere thought. But he quickly realizes that he offer no assistance to the group in their battle. He cannot find a way to dispel the magic. No spells which require bodily gestures work as Arno has no body on this plane.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: I was going to be at a total loss if Arno actually drank the stuff. Your not supposed to drink it but it never says what to do if someone actually does!

Smallfang, incensed at the death of his gnome friend Arno and unaware of his revival, rushes to the dragon pulling out his great sword as he runs. The dragon is strong but Smallfangs new great sword, Hazirawn, inflicts much damage. The dragon now very much injured turns to face Smallfang and utters the threat, "We shall meet again!" and flies up and towards the exit at the far end of the cavern. 

The retreating dragon is fast but so is T'an. T'an runs to the edge of the ice shelf on which the treasure hoard resides, and looses two arrows. That is just enough. The dragon dies midflight and crashes into the cavern floor below. Dead.

The group is joyous but they cannot find Arno. Litharael uses a Sending spell to communicate with Arno and Arno replies that he is right inf ront of the elf. Litharael uses Dispel Magic and the gnome reappears in front of them.

T'an rushes to the fallen dragon pulling teeth, claws and horns. Finally he cuts out the dragon's heart and hopes to present it to the cloud giant Blagothkus. The others revel in the joy of sifting through the massive treasure hoard. Ignoring such simple coins such as copper and silver they focus on gold and platinum as well as other perhaps more magical treasures. The hoard is vast and it takes them over and hour to satisfy themselves.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: Has the group become so powerful that they are ignoring some of the magical weapons? Perhaps I'm so used to 4th edition's plentiful magic items that I sometimes ignore the DM Manual when rolling for treasure. "Hey they'll really get a kick out of this magical item". Ah well, I think it's way more fun to discover a 'Deck Of Illusions' than a plain longbow +1. Sometimes.

Finally, they seek to present the dragon's heart to Blagothkus. T'an pushing and pulling the massive heart through the tunnels until they arrive back at the opening to the upper courtyard. Litharael stops the group as they can see at least a dozen elite cultits in full garb moving around the courtyard waiting for the group. The ogres on the far side of the courtyard have stopped their javelin practice and are now waiting for the show to start. This will be a fun battle to watch. All these cultists against the small group. They have been told not to harm the adventurers but have been also told not to interfere with the cultists.

The group retreats and moves to another exit and there they find fewer cultists but they have to still be dealt with, one way or another. T'an pulls out his newly found deck of cards. He closes his eyes and wills the card to be "anything except a puny kobold". He pulls a card and deftly throws the card out towards the cultists. When the card falls and hits the icy ground it turns into an ogre! He uses the ogre to direct the cultists away from the group and they move out and around the ice mountain to safety.

They head directly to the ogre tower they had encountered before and tell the ogres that one of them has to escort them to Blagothkus while another must retrieve the dragon's heart left in the ice tunnels. The ogre sent to retrieve the dragon's heart does not return. After deciding something went wrong the group moves out escorted by one of the ogres and they return to Blagothkus' chambers. As they round the corner near the chambers they see twenty or so cultists surrounding the poor ogre who has the dragon's heart held by his chest. It is not going well for him.

A Battle For A Dragon Heart
6,700 XP

Once inside the chambers, they inform Blagothkus of the death of the dragon and tell him that the cultists are now trying to kill the ogre who is trying to retrieve for the cloud giant. Enraged the cloud giant summons his two stone giants and they storm out of the room towards the fray.

A great battle ensues, with the cultists along with a few of their drakes fighting the giants and the group of adventurers. It is not long before the poor ogre holding the dragon's heart is dead and the giants and the adventurers are killing cultists in huge swathes. But the cultists have numbers on their side and they seem to focus much of their effort on Blagothkus himself.

Eventually, the great cloud giant is killed. But as he falls, the entire Skycastle shudders. There is a loud sound of wailing as if the wind were crying out. The towers begin to crumble and large cracks run through the courtyard as the castle as the entire castle begins to tilt down towards the ground. There is massive confusion as some of the ogres, who seem to have some inkling as to what is going on, run away towards the wyvern stables. Litharael uses some of his healing powers to stop Blagothkus from dying but that does nothing to stop the destruction of the castle so far.

Litharael summons two giant eagles and they descend upon Smallfang each grabbing a shoulder. Smallfang though is struggling to hold on to his hoard of gold wrapped up in a blanket. The giant eagles flap as strong as they can but Smallfang is only able to run his legs inches above the ground. As they approach the ice castle's wall Smallfang tries desperately to fling his bundle of gold up and over the wall. But the bundle rises only a few inches before is smashes into the wall and comes undone as gold scatters down.

Litharael at the same time has transformed into a giant eagle and T'an and Arno jump atop him with no hesitation. Rising into the air  they circle round and T'an decides that perhaps Blagothkus would be better off dead and looses two arrows killing the cloud giant again. Seeing this the two stone giants beside their master pick up boulders of ice created by a spell thrown by Litharael and hurl it towards the escaping adventurers. The boulder finds its mark and Litharael, T'an and Arno plummet back towards the courtyard. T'an is able to bound free to his feet but Arno is hurt badly.

Smallfang who is well clear of the castle and is being held aloft hundreds of feet above the ground by two giant eagles summoned and held by the concentration of Litharael. When Litharael was hit and crashed back down he quickly remembered to concentrate on the two giant eagles holding Smallfang. Smallfangs fate rests on whether or not Litharael can continue to concentrate on the Conjure Animals spell. He does and Smallfang breaths a sigh of relief as the others take to the sky again as they watch from a distance as the castle picks up speed and descends towards the earth.

With a great and terrible crash the castle is destroyed upon the ground as the group lands nearby.

Are there any survivors? Are they able to get through dozens of feet of ice in order to retrieve some of the treasure? Where exactly are they? Where to now?