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?

And I Thought Rugs Were Comfy

Looking through the Red Wizards' room the group disposes of the body of the wizard (after ensuring the prevention of resurrection by removing the wizard's head) by pushing it over the ledge of the ice shelf outside the room. Looking through the room Arno finds an ancient book. The writing is in demonic infernal but the gnome senses the book's importance as well as recognizes some of the patterns drawn in the book are for summoning. Summoning something with the infernal language can't be good. The gnome tucks the book away in his possessions for safe keeping.

Lithariel finds underneath the body of the Red Wizard, a staff. Lithariel excitedly inspects the staff only to be told by Arno that it can only be wielded by a sorcerer or wizard not a cleric. Lithariel, disappointed hands the Staff Of Fire over to the gnome wizard.

Moving their way through the ice castle's corridors the group finds a simple storeroom. The room is filled with barrels and burlap sacks of dry goods: salt, flour, spices and crates of various vegetables. It is of course made of ice, so it is also a cold room where there are huge slabs of meat hanging from hooks. Arno and Lithariel grab what they can. Smallfang glances in and whispers, "Any pickles?". Once he hears that there are no pickles he returns to the hallway, disappointed.

Once the plundering of food is finished the group moves across the large hall to yet another room. They arrange themselves in their manner which they have fallen into, opening these large doors. T'an, sitting atop Smallfangs shoulders, moves in the doorway once opened and finds himself inside an ornate room. Well furnished and warmly lit by a brazier in the far corner he also sees Rezmir, the large black half-dragon sitting on a bed at the far end of the room. On each side of him sits two guard drakes. "What business do you have entering my chambers uninvited?", the half-dragon snarls.

Rezmir's Chamber
3,800 XP

T'an wastes no time. He tells Smallfang to move towards the half-dragon. They have seen this creature back in Castle Naerytar and Smallfang has already announced, a few times, that he wishes to take this creatures great sword. Smallfang runs across the room. Unfortunately, the rug they are running across stirs to life as they step upon it. It wraps quickly up the legs of Smallfang. Smallfang teleports past the rug to safety but T'an who was on Smallfang's shoulders is dropped to the Rug Of Smothering below. It quickly wraps around him crushing his legs as it moves up his body.

The others, still outside the door throw spells across the room but to little effect. Lithariel summons two double-headed death dogs. which run around the rug and attack the two guard drakes. Soon T'an is able to break free of the rug of smothering and attacks Rezmir. Arno uses his poison spray spell to damaging effect on the guard drakes. Lithariel moves around the rug in order to aid Smallfang who is trying to attack Rezmir but is at the same time being harassed by a guard drake.

But before Lithariel can aid Smallfang the rug surprises the room by moving and grabbing the elf. Lithariel is soon wrapped up to his face with the rug. T'an hits the rug, trying to damage it enough to disgorge Lithriel but instead ends up hurting Lithariel just as much. Without aid coming to him, Smallfang is bit and slashed at by the guard drake until he falls unconscious to the ground. Fortunately, the gnome Roman Bishop, a fellow gnome they have encountered within the walls of the ice castle, is able to run to the aid of Smallfang and revive him.

Between, the now revived, Smallfang and T'an they are able to defeat Rezmir and Arno and Roman Bishop are able to dispatch the guard drakes. But while they are fighting for their own lives, Lithariel is now completely encased within the rug of smothering and is unable to breathe. Seeing the struggle from within the rug as well as the sound of breaking bones, the T'an starts to damage the rug using arrows away from the body of the entombed elf. Soon the rug begins to unravel and the body of Lithariel falls to the ground at their feet, Dead. Again, Roman Bishop is able to heal the elf and bring him back to be among the living again.

Smallfang runs to the body of the black half-dragon and pulls the great sword from the dead creature's hand. Raising it up he excitedly inspects it. The blad is black and barbed. Dragon markings cover the sword and their is a name written in Draconic on it: "Hazirawn". Looking around for a creature to hit and try out his sword he finds none and briefly contemplates hitting one of his commrades....just a little....just to see what it does. But thankfully doesn't.

Turning the room over to find any sort of treasure they find little.

• letters to and from other dragon cult members. There is a sense that an alliance between the Red Wizards of Thay as well as several Giants is tenuous at best and that none of the parties involved trust each other much. Each has their own goals but the alliance is deemed necessary at the moment.
• A large chest, which was open when the group first entered the room which looked liked it contained a black dragon mask has now been closed. Some of the party noticed that when Rezmir closed it a bright light issued from the cracks around the lid momentarily. Lithariel excitedly opens it. A needle shoots out from inside the chest, barely missing the head of the elf and embeds itself in the wall dripping what looks like poison. The chest is now empty.
• T'an moving under the bed finds a piece of ice which sits higher than the rest of the floor and finds hidden underneath gold coins.

After emptying the room the group moves on. The open the next door and find it leads to the lower courtyard of the castle. Looking carefully around they see a few creatures, perhaps ogres, moving about the courtyard. They are under the overhanging upper courtyard and are in shadow. They run for a doorway across the way which will keep them out of sight. The group moves quickly and quietly, except for Roman Bishop who has to be hauled along by Lithariel and Smallfang. Smallfang is feeling pretty proud that he is not the one creating a racket this time when the group is trying to be stealthy.

The Kitchen

950 XP

The group is able to open the door just enough for T'an's mirror to fit through. Using the mirror he can see the room is a kitchen with over 2 dozen kobolds frantically moving about in food preparation. They are loud, disorganized and quick to distract each other. But as soon as one of the kobolds begins to get out of hand there is a large noise which gets the kobolds back to work. The noise is like a cross between a caw and a roar. The group debates.

They decide why not. They burst through the room. T'an moving swiftly through several kobolds, killing as he goes. Lithariel summons four great eagles which fly through the room attacking kobolds. Smallfang, Arno and Roman soon begin dispatching kobolds as well. They find that the creature that was in charge of keeping the kobolds in line was a griffon, sitting atop a tall shelf. Before the griffon or any of the kobolds are able to do much, the adventurers are able to kill them all.

Smallfang realizes that he is running short on javelins, having a bad habit of leaving them stuck in either walls or creatures and not retrieving them. He begs the fast and stealthy T'an to go back and retrieve the last two from their previous battle. T'an moves quickly across the ice surface and back to Rezmir's chambers and retrieves the javelins. Running back across the icy courtyard T'an is moving a little too fast and finds himself not entirely able to stop in time and smashes into the wall on the opposite side. He has been noticed by one of the ogres. The ogre moves across the courtyard, calling to other ogres as he goes and they move towards the kitchen where the others are still hiding.

Lithariel uses his great eagles as a distraction. They fly over the heads of the ogres towards the towers which are now moving their ballistas into position. With two ballistas on each of the two towers they fire repeatedly until the eagles are killed and Lithariel summons worgs to attack the ogres. An alarm rises up, sounding like a howling wind which rises and lowers rhythmically. Ten cultist in dragonwing garb enter the courtyard from their barracks to aid the ogres in response to the alarm. Using the worg attack as cover the group moves into the shadowy overhang and up a small hidden flight of stairs.

Ogre Guard Tower

3,600 XP

Moving up the stairs the see a couple of caves which lead off from the stairs but they decide to continue moving up the stairs. They soon come to the upper courtyard. In its center is a large mountain of ice from which three tower rise. There is noise coming from the front part of the courtyard so the group moves in the opposite direction.

The move to a large tower and decide to just walk in. There they meet four large ogres.Three are playing at a game of dice, the dice carved from some sort of skull. The third, who is actually trying to do his job stops the group and questions them. After a bit of misdirection the group convinces the ogres that they are there to find out why the alarm has been sounded and move up the ice stairs to the top of the tower. There they meet 3 more ogres who they now must convince again that they are not the cause of the alarm. Surprisingly enough they are able to enter and leave the tower without a scrape.

Esclarott's Tomb

Leaving the tower they move across towards the mountain of ice. In a small alcove they discover a shrine. Entombed in ice is a sarcophagus sits upon a raised dais. The group is able to discern writing on the base in giant. It reads: :Here Lies Esclarotta, Beloved Of Blagothkus"

But the tomb seems to have no entrance that they can find. They try a few spoken words in hopes of opening a door or being teleported. "Open", in several different languages, doesn't work. They decide to move on. Moving around the mountainous ice structure they find another cave opening. Above the cave entrance is carved the word/name "Glazhael"

Ice Cavern

Moving through the caves they eventually come to a large cavern inside the ice mountain. From the mouth of their tunnel they see numerous giant ice stalagmites and stalagtites as well as a large shelf on the far side which glitters with a mountain of gold treasure. T'an notices though, there is the sound of deep breathing. Perhaps they should scout out the tunnel system first, Smallfang suggests. They move through the tunnel system and find narrow tunnels criss-crossing through the ice mountain. They decided to wait until rested to move towards the treasure hoard.

Arno conjures Leomund'sTiny Hut in a section of the tunnels which can accommodate the spell. There the group takes it's refuge until they are ready to face the owner of the the treasure hoard.

 

Fire Can Be Useful

It's funny 'cause it's true.

Tavern Of Fire
2,000 XP

The town of Parnast has awakened and is on the lookout for the group. Guards have entered the small farmhouse in which the adventurers have killed Captain Othelstan and two other guards. The group has slipped out the backdoor and is hiding in the darkened backyard figuring out their next move.

They see guards moving from house to house in search of them and know that it is just a matter of time until they are discovered. Lithariel has retrieved his wagon and collected up his entourage of elves. He negotiates the wagon back to where the others are hiding and leaves the wagon so that it blocks the way into yard behind the tavern where they have temporarily taken refuge.

Soon enough guards spot the adventurers and call out to the others. Most of the guards move in towards the groups location, while a three are sent to the Skyreach Castle to warn it's  inhabitants. T'an sees them running towards the castle and is able to take down two of them with his longbow but the third makes it past the gates into the safety of the castle.

The backyard refuge the group has retreated to is soon to be overrun with guards. The guards numbering near 40 are parting around the local tavern, as a river bends around a rock in a stream. The guards flow around and until the attack the group from either side. Arno sets up a Cloud Of Daggers on one side of the tavern hoping this will prevent the guards from attacking directly. T'an move agilely around the yard taking out guards as they approach, having been effectively bottle-necked on either side.

Smallfang is able to loose his spears through the cloud of daggers but with little results. Lithariel tells his retinue of elve underlings to run for safety, giving them the mission of reaching Waterdeep and telling the Council of their discoveries. Once he feels they are safe he focuses on the battle at hand. It is not long though before Arno can hear loud footsteps approaching from within the tavern itself. Guards have decided, instead of flowing around the tavern, to go straight through.

Arno has a quick internal debate. Should he set the tavern's door on fire? He's used fire before but with results that are not always predictable. He does it anyway. He sends a Fire Bolt through the door blasting both the door and the guard standing directly behind it. It works, but now the tavern is on fire. Arno releases his Cloud Of Daggers while Lithariel releases 16 panthers from a Conjure Animals spell.

Now the battle slogs on while the guards have to deal with being mauled by several panthers as the group moves among the stragglers dispatching them as they can. T'an moves to high ground and uses his bow with deadly precision removing guard after guard. The entire scene lit by the growing fire of the tavern.

After what seems to be an eternity, the stream of guards turns to a trickle and then is gone. All the while Skyreach Castle has withdrew into the air and has begun to sail away until it is lost from site in the darkness.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: It seems a little disappointing to end such a large battle with such a small XP reward, so I'm using a ruling in the DM's manual to bump the XP by the number of enemies multiplier. It is supposed to be for calculating difficulty only but I'll compromise by cutting the number in half.
Oh and the new projection map method was fun to use!

The Wyvern Stable
4,600 XP

With Skyreach Castle quickly flying away, the group remembers the mention of wyverns being kept in the stables. They move quickly to the stables carefully opening the large stable doors looking for potential traps. Once inside they find themselves face to face with two large wyverns. Hoping to harness and ride them, they take to using their animal handling skills and using meat taken from the numerous dead bodies outside to convince the wyverns of their good intent.

Unfortunately it doesn't go as smoothly as they would have hoped. Smallfang cuts an imposing figure, especially in his loud clanking armor. But after a few false starts and a ducking a lethal tail thrash or two, the group gets mounted. T'an and Lithariel on one wyvern, T'an facing backwards with his bow ready, and Smallfang and Arno on the other.

T'an and Lithariel quickly and gracefully take to the skies while the wyvern which must bear the weight of the dragonborn in full scale armor takes to the sky clumsily and with much effort. Once in the air the group finds that the wyverns have a mind of their own and they must use their skills in forcing the wyverns to go where they wish. Lithariel soon learns the way of directing the wyvern while Smallfang tries his best with no result. Finally in anger and desperation, Smallfang hits his wyvern in the back of the head and yells at it. The wyvern decides to listen. Smallfang has learned the way of directing his wyvern.

Skyreach Castle

Yes. It's from 'Frozen'.I loved that movie, ok.

Soon the group is heading in the right direction, as far as they can tell. After about a half and hour they can see in the distance the impressive sight of the giant's ice castle. They debate as to their course of action. They are lacking in spells after their big fight and they could use some healing sleep. If they land though for an extended rest, the castle would be long gone and hard to track. If they land in the castle they may encounter enemies that they would not be able to fight off.

Climbing higher into the sky to get a bird's eye view of the castle they note movement of several creatures around the courtyard of the castle as well as manned ballistas atop at least three towers that they can see. While flying above and around the castle they note at least three landings. One is at the gate's entrance while two are near the back of the castle. Deciding to land on one of the back landings while it is still dark they descend.

There are two landings and the group picks a landing which looks slightly less used than the other. They land their wyverns with little difficulty and find themselves on a large ice ledge beside the towers wall standing at least 40 feet above them. Acting on instinct, Smallfang reaches out and touches the towering wall of ice directly in front of him and a large section vanishes in a blink.

Inside they find a little used room. Judging by it's contents and the evidence of lack of use for sometime they decide it is a rarely used guest room. As soon as they enter Arno begins the ritual for conjuring Leomund's Tiny Hut for protection during their rest. While Arno is doing that the others look through the room but find little of value.

They take refuge in Arno's hut and rest uneventfullly finally awakening to sunlight filtering in slightly through the thick ice walls. Now they look to try and carefully move through the castle. T'an tries to use his thieve's mirror to look under the door but the doors are made to slide on top of the ice floor with little or no gap between. Looking at the rest of the door they find that just opening the door may present a challenge. It is 20 feet high with a door knob 10 feet of the ground.

After some experimentation they settle on a method of Smallfang lifting Arno up to the door knob. Arno raps a rope around the door knob and while T'an and Lithariel pull on the rope, Arno turns the knob. The well coordinated effort works just fine as they open the door into a large empty corridor.

The Red Wizard's Room
3,850 XP

Settling on door to try, they open it the same way and find two Red Wizards of Thay in an academic discussion about summoning magic. Not wasting any time the group attacks. The surprise attack give the group the upper hand in attacking the two wizards but T'an finds himself having to deal with a statue that has come to life in order to defend the wizards. T'an is felled by the gargoyle but is revived by one of his companions in order for him to avenge himself at the gargoyle, smashing it into pieces.

The group is able to defeat one of the wizards but the older wizard, sensing the danger he is in. Teleports away. The large ice wall on one side of the room disappears and the adventurers look to see that the wizard has teleported just to the other side of the ice wall which has vanished just like the one they first encountered. The wizard pauses just long enough to give them a withering look and jumps off the ledge into the clouds below.

T'an and Lithariel run to the ledge to try and attack the fleeing wizard but it is no use. He is gone.

The group moves through the room looking for treasure and other clues. They find:

• Scrolls of: Dimension, Feather Fall, Fireball
• The fallen wizards Staff
• several papers on the writing desk revealing connections between the cult and the Red Wizards
• Some of the letters reveal that some of the Red Wizards do not agree with the alliance.
• A large book sitting on a lectern, written in a language they do not understand, perhaps in Infernal. Describes some type of summoning spells. 

Not bad for a morning's work.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: The choice of the two ice landings was about 50/50. If the group had picked the other ice landing they would have encountered the wizards instead of an empty room. It wouldn't have gone nearly as well.

Fire Is Sometimes Hard To Control

The Hunting Lodge

The group finds themselves transported to a forested mountainside. The air is cool and crisp, a distinct difference from the damp and foul smelling caves they were just in. They stand between a pair of tall stone pillars, aged and weathered. The pair of stones lies on the edge of a large circle with other such pairs of stone pillars, each at the cardinal points of the circle.

Up a gravely path, they see a large structure. A hunting lodge with a foundation of stone and the rest of strong wood. It looks warm and inviting, but the group is hesitant. They are battered and exhausted. They need rest. The move deeper into the forest finding shelter as best they can. Arno sets up a tent and does his best to camouflage it. T'an later comes by and fixes the camouflage job. No fire is set that night and the group has a cold sleep.

Outdoor Patrol
350 XP

Sometime during the night, T'an being the only one awake, two large trolls on patrol with three guard drakes on leashes move through the forest. Fortunately, the group is tired enough to be sleeping soundly with little sound so the trolls and drakes move past with no incident.

In the morning they approach the hunting lodge and cautiously move inside. They pose themselves as cultists and are questioned little while they quietly inspect several rooms. It is not long before they come to the kitchen. There they meet a large woman in the midst of cooking for the lodge. Several humans are helping while numerous kobolds move about fetching and cleaning.

The group nods as they nonchalantly move through the kitchen and find themselves descending into the basement below.

Cultists to be and not to be
500 XP

In the basement the Arno decides to stock up on some basic ingredients: flour, corn meal, spices, salt, etc. The basement is dark but dry so Smallfang, who cannot see in darkness like the others, waits near the bottom of the stairs, opens a barrel and discovers a hoard of pickles. He begins eating.

Old man Bohr/Darvin/ Medivh moves through the basement and in one darkened corner discovers 3 individuals. A dwarven male, beaten severely, with his beard shorn off roughly and chained to the wall. Also chained to the wall is a human woman. She is also badly beaten and cowers as the group approaches. There trying to comfort her is a slim human man who, except for the fact he is a basement looks fairly well kept.

The group discovers that they are prisoners of Talis, a half-elf who has taken over control of the hunting lodge. She has taken the dwarf, Craggnor, prisoner as he was the previous cult leader here. Apparently there is dissension within the ranks of the dragon cult. Talis is of the old beliefs of resurrecting dead dragons to produce dragoliches while the new direction of the cult is to bring about the ressurection of Tiamat herself and in that goal has started to raid up and down the SwordCoast.

The woman, Miresella, was captured during a caravan too close to the cult's activities and is being questioned as to what she knows of the cult. She is the last surviving member of the caravan. Her husband and children killed.

The young man is a priest of Amaunator. He believes that Talis is trying to groom him and convince him to join the cult under her direction. Perhaps she needs more bodies on her side of the cult's divided populace.

The old man attempts to knock out the dwarf, Craggnor, but not realizing how close to death the dwarf really was knocks him dead instead of unconscious. Quickly realizing his mistake he magically revives him using Spare The Dying and brings him back from the brink of death. He lies unconscious but alive on the basement floor. They promise to return to help the others escape.

The continue to move through the lodge. There is much activity by the lodges housekeeping staff and the adventurers casually ask where they might find Talis. They are directed to the upper floor and to the half-elf's meeting hall.

Talis's Hall
3,400 XP

At the door of Talis's Hall, they politely knock. The door is opened by a large burly man. He is strapped with both muscle and swords. They are invited into the room. Talis has been waiting for them.

On the floor, on the far side of the table is the body of Dralmorrer Borngray, the elf that was in charge of Castle Naerytar and who was going to question the group until their escape. Apparently he has not done a good enough job of it. He had come to the hunting lodge with the goal of warning Talis and the rest of the cult that a group had infiltrated the castle and had escaped. He correctly surmised that the group had used the portal to travel to the lodge.

Once warned, Talis used the opportunity to perhaps move further up in rank within the cult. She killed Borngray and is now asking the group to further aid her. She can either blame the group for the death of Borngray and they will be hunted down or perhaps they can do what they do best, infiltrate the cult further and kill another cultists who is in her way. the dwarf Varram.

The group considers their options, sizing up the three large humans, who look like they've seen and survived more than their share of battles, while listening to Talis.

Talis tells them:

• The password to enter SkyReach castle is "Tiamat, our Mother and Strength"
• A multicolor banner, black, blue, green, red and white, is flown to signify that the bearer is friendly to the cult.
• The cult has been aligning themselves with the Red Wizards of Thay.
• The treasure hoard is being transported using a flying castle which currently resides near the town Parnast but it should be leaving soon.
• The leader of the cult currently is Severin the Red.

The group agrees to her terms but demands that she allow her three personal guards to accompany them to the castle. She agrees.

The group splits to quickly accomplish different goals within the lodge.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note:Dum Dum Dummmmmmm!

Smallfang returns to the prisoners in the basement, keeping his word to free them before they leave. He returns to the main entrance to await the others.

T'an follows one of the guards to retrieve the dragon banner from one of the rooms. They enter a linen room. Tucked away in a corner beneath regular bed sheets is the multicolor banner. Curious T'an sticks his thieves mirror under the door to an adjacent room. From what he can see the room is luxuriously furnished with many books and hunting trophies.

Three Hounds Parlor

1,100 XP

Arno and the old man, always in search of knowledge move into the room. Orvusita follows out of curiosity. The old man and gnome rummage through the many volumes of books. Arno finds a beautiful volume on mushrooms. The old man, on the other hand is not selective. He grabs volume after volume, filling a sack until its weight halts him.

Pilfering done, they move to leave.

A large suit of armor standing near the door comes to life and shuts the door in front of them, barring their exit. T'an on the other side is separated from them. A large section of the floor beneath their feet turns black as tendrils of the blackness rise up and grasp at each of them. Orvusita is the only one able to escape its grasping tentacles as she jumps to a nearby chair. The others are not so lucky. Once grabbed the tentacles begin to crush the life out of them. Arno is eventually able to escape and retreats to a safe distance.

T'an at this point is able to open the door and come to their aid. He slashes at the Helmed Horror but is unable to make much of a dent in its armor. Arno in a panic decides to light the door on fire in hopes of creating an escape route. Indeed the door does blaze to life but then shortly thereafter so does the floor and fire-ready books nearby as well. The room soon fills with smoke and fire.

Orvusita is grabbed by the black tentacles and is pulled to the ground. Old man is unable to escape the grasp of the Evard's Black Tentacles. Soon both of them are pulled apart, their body pieces pulled into the blackness never to be seen again.

Arno, seeing the blaze is not  and escape route but a death trap moves to the nearest window and smashes at it with his staff. T'an moves quickly past the suit of armor and smashes at a different window. The helmed horror behind them in fast pursuit. The suit of armor, in fact, rises into the air above the flames and moves right behind Arno. T'an dives through the window to safety. Arno dives through the window but not before the helmed horror is able to take one last swing at the gnome. The gnome continues to sail through the air but it is a lifeless body which hits the ground outside the lodge.

T'an rushes to the side of Arno, looking up into the window which the gnome had just jumped through. He sees the suit of armor standing still at the window sill, flames rising behind it. He has ceased his pursuit. Rummaging through Arno's pockets he finds a couple of potions of healing and pours them quickly and roughly into Arno's mouth.

Smallfang, still inside waiting for the others eventually notices the smoke and soon the flames. He shrugs in bafflement and surprise when a furious Talis descends the stairs demanding to know what is going on. They both move outside to discover T'an and the now recovering Arno.

Failed Negotiations 

1,600 XP

Outside the now burning hunting lodge, Talis demands of the group what happened. T'an tries to explain but no good explanation is forthcoming. T'an slashes at Talis, knocking her to the ground but her war forged guards step in. It is a brutal bloody fight which is quickly over.

T'an is able to hit a few times but realizing they are vastly overpowered he succumbs to his fears and bolts for the safety of the forest. Smallfang hovers over the prone body of Talis inflicting damage until Talis utters a magical word into his mind, "Flee". Smallfang runs away into the forest. Arno he is just recovered from death is able to fend off the war veterans only for so long.

Soon Arno and Smallfang are taken prisoner while T'an continues to run.

Arno and Smallfang awake to find themselves in chains inside a barn, weaponless and armorless. Talis is above them readying a hot iron for use in her questioning. A guard stands just behind. While Talis is focused on questioning the dragonborn, Arno uses the opportunity to use a magical acid spray to work through the iron manacles around his hands. Soon enough he is free and sneaks up behind Talis and the guard and ensnares the elf with magical vines. Unable to move, Talis is helpless while Arno frees Smallfang the same way he loosed himself and Smallfang rushes up to Talis and punches her in the head.

Talis who had received a near fatal wound from T'ans bow shot but a few minutes ago has been able to heal only minimally. Smallfangs punch is fatal. Together Smallfang and Arno overcome a simple guard and quietly leave the barn, avoiding the guard posted outside.

Unsure of what to do and fearing T'an dead, along with old man Bohr and Orvusita, they move down the road to the only town they know of nearby, Parnast.

Parnast and the Ice Castle

T'an in his fear had run far and fast and soon found himself at the town of Parnast. The town is small and unremarkable save for the fact that just beyond, nestled in a ravine is a large castle. It's dimensions made for giants and it is made entirely of ice.

Once in the town T'an enters the local tavern and orders himself some food and drink and waits for a secluded seat to open up. The tavern's keeper, a enormous man name Raggnar, has sent a boy to "fetch the pot" when T'an says that he would like some food.

T'an waits and then waits some more. Eventually after a good long while, no food has arrived for him but he does see Smallfang and Arno enter the tavern. He sees them talk with the tavern keeper and Raggnar soon tells someone else to "fetch the pot".

A middle aged man walks by T'an on his way out. As he passes by T'an, he quietly and discreetly says, "fetching the pot is not a good thing". Before he leaves by the front door he turns to the rest of the tavern and bids the tavern a good-night, saying if anyone needs their wagons mended they can find him at his Wheelwright workshop.

T'an knows a warning when he hears it and gets up to leave. As he does so he quietly tells Smallfang and Arno to meet him outside. Witnessing this whole exchange is a table of noble elves and as the adventurers leave the tavern so do  they.

They adventurers watch as the elves enter their large and ornate wagon and as it starts to leave they hop aboard. The driver of the wagon, Lithariel drives just beyond the houses of the town and stops the wagon. The two groups find that they are on the same mission: follow the cultists to find out as much as they can as to their nefarious doings.

They do not have much time to converse though. A large retinue of guards has arrived at the tavern and not finding their quarry split up in search of the town's newcomers. The group, larger now with the addition of 3 elves, finds their way back to the Wheelwright's workshop.

The wheelwright, human named Gundalin, lets them in quickly. He explains that the cult has taken over the town several months ago and anyone here is either in the cult or aids the cult in return for good pay. He has remained because his wife and child have been due back from their travels and he fears that if he leaves he will not find them again. So here he waits. But in the mean time he will do what he can to rid the town of the cultists.

He tells the group:

• There is at least a couple of wyverns in a closed up stable that are sometimes used to travel to the Sky Castle if it has left the ground.
• The black half-dragon, Rezmir has recently been spotted entereing the castle.
• Judging by the cultist's activity in the town and near the castle, the castle is probably due to leave soon.

Questioning With Force

2,100 XP

As Gundalin tries to give them this information, the noble elves including Lithariel are keeping watch outside and warn the others that guards will soon arrive at the wheelwright's workshop. The group leaves via the backdoor just as the guards approach the front door. 

The elves though, with their large wagon are hard to miss and their little group is taken in small farm house for questioning. They are each manacled with their hands behind them sitting on chairs around a large farmhouse table. The captain of the guards, Captain Othelstan, begins to question why they are here.

Not satisfied with their answers he pulls a knife out in hopes of intimidating them. This doesn't work so he approaches one of the noble's squires from behind and thrusts the knife into the temple of the elf killing him instantly. The elf's head lays on the table, a pool of blood slowly emerging from and then surrounding the lifeless form. Captain Othelstan waits for his theatrics to take effect and begins the questioning again.

Witnessing the entire encounter is the small group of adventurers just outside of the window of the farmhouse. They agree on their next direction.

Together they burst into the farmhouse. As Smallfang opens the door Arno and T'an let loose several attacks on  the captain and guards within. It is over before it has hardly begun. The room is secured as the bodies of the captain and guards lie on the floor, dead. Lithariel rushes to the lifeless body of one of his entourage and performs the magical spell to bring him back to life.

Obviously they have outlived their welcome in town.

They didn't even get to have their meal. 

  

Beneath Castle Naerytar

After descending the castle stairs the group finds themselves going down a winding staircase. The step turn from wooden steps turn rough hewn stone. At the bottom they find a large natural cavern, wet, cold and lit only with a single torch.

They debate a course of action and end up waiting for more cultists to arrive and then follow them. Following a couple of cultitsts leads them to a smaller cavern in which a makeshift crane has been setup which is being used to hoist heavy loads of treasure up to a higher level of the cavern just above them. There are at least a half a dozen cultists are busily working here. Too many to take on directly. The adventurers retreat into the previous cavern to find other possibilities.

The Gray Ooze
300 XP

Retracing their steps Arno remarks at a shallow pool of water emanating from a narrow crevice at one spot of this cavern.  Following the water T'an crouches in order to pass into a chamber. On the other side he finds a larger pool of water with a small landing which is dry. On the landing is a collection of coins and gems. As T'an moves in to retrieve them he notices that everything is covered in an oily or wet sheen. Just as he is pondering the fact, the oily sheen collects before him and turns into a grey ooze. He is hit with an oozy tentacle which leaves traces of its ooze on T'an's body. The slick substance burns into his skin.

Urine apparently neutralizes Gray Ooze

The others, alerted by the noise, enter the chamber and help T'an fend off the creature, while Orvusita remains outside the entrance to keep watch for cultists. Magic spells of fire and ice do little damage and T'an's blade attacks leave his sword covered in the ooze which eats away at the metal. Fearing for his precious blade, which was his mentors, T'an drops the blade into the shallow water beside him. Soon enough the creature is killed, which leaves it's body to spread over the landing and into the water. More importantly the collection of gems is now covered in the acidic substance. The party's solution: pee on treasure pile. One by one, they wash the area in their body fluids, including Orvusita who insists that everyone turn around. all except Arno (who possibly has a prostate problem).

Deciding they can bluff their way past the large contingent of cultists, they return to the crane room. Fortunately for the group, the faint and distant sound of the wooden signal drum sounds and most of the cultists return to the castle above for their midday break. Leaving only a couple of cultists to deal with Smallfang offers to relieve them of their watch, saying they would probably appreciate the fresh air after hearing them complain of the bullywug stench of the caverns. Failing miserably at this task, stuttering and stammering and doing a poor job at convincing the cultists, the cultists seem to wise to the fact that they have never seen this particular group of "cultists" before.

Realizing their deception is crumbling rapidly, the group attacks and soon enough has killed the cultists. At the groups suggestion, Smallfang drags the bodies out of sight, into the crevice where they had encountered the gray ooze. After dragging the bodies through some of the remaining ooze and witnessing the flesh melting results, Smallfang decides to dump them into the center of the remains of the gray ooze. Hopefully the ooze will dissolve the evidence. If not then perhaps it will look like the cultists have succumbed to the gray ooze's attack.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: Smallfang had such a difficult time climbing this cliff I was surprised no one decided to hoist him up using the crane. That would have been fun.

Able to move on up the steep rise and further into the cavern system, the group finds themselves in a mist filled room. After trying to discern which way to go, T'an and Smallfang fan the mist using T'an's hat and Smallfang's shield. They find that footprints definitely lead to a chamber which slopes down into a smaller chamber. This chamber seems completely empty, save for the mist which is even thicker hear. The mist creates a thick 3 foot sea of slowly roiling white which hinders the groups investigation of the room. The old man, Bohr/Darvin, senses something magical below the mist but is unable to see any details through the fog. T'an crouches down and runs his hand along the floor. There is definitely something carved into the floor. He removes some parchment and charcoal from
the now deceased Danifae's belongings and does a charcoal rubbing of whatever is on the floor.

When T'an resurfaces above the mist he holds a fine impression of a portion of a large circle with runic symbols and writing in a mixture of draconic and other languages. The group believes they have discovered a teleportation cirlcle. After much investigating and deciphering, they come to the conclusion that they need the command word. Without this word the teleportaion spell will not activate.

Deciding they can do nothing more here at the moment they move further into the caverns. they find a narrow winding path which leads them down into darkness. Smallfang pulls out his bullseye lantern and holds it in his mouth, freeing his hands for sword and shield. The old man, spiderclimbs along the cavern walls and ceilings. Encountering several bats along the ceiling, the old man retreats to climbing along the wall beside the others.

Frog Lake
850 XP

The large dark cavern they have entered holds a large subterranean lake. Near the center of the lake is a small island upon which sits a giant frog. The giant frog watches the group and as the group continues to come into the cavern, it gives a loud croak and dives into the water. The group decides danger has been averted and continues along the narrow ledge which borders the lake.

They find the ledge leads to another cave opening. This portion of the cavern is mud filled. As Smallfang's lantern is moved across the room, the group sees fast moving creatures dart in and out of the mud. Too fast to see much, but enough to give them pause.

Perhaps they pause too long, because as they crowd around the mud filled room's entrance several giant frogs emerge from the dark waters behind the group and attack. Using the cavern walls to prevent the frogs from surrounding them works as it reduces the number of attacks they have to deal with but it does mean they have to fend of wave after wave of attacks from these giant frogs. The giant frogs lunge and bite at the characters and after being bit the adventurers find themselves grabbed in the frogs mouth. Several times Arno has barely escape from being swallowed entirely.

Centipede Lair
800 XP

Eventually, the group is victorious but is injured enough that they are extremely cautious about entering a room in which they now to contain some sort of creature.

The old man, still using his spiderclimb abilities, offers to carry Arno, the gnome, across the room via the ceiling. Arno climbs onto the back of the old man, as he scurries up the walls and up onto the ceiling. As they reach the midpoint of the room, Arno's strength fails him and looses his grip. Plunging down 20 feet and landing into the soft mud, Arno is not hurt but is now buried waist deep in the foul smelling muck.

Several long centipedes, as thick as an elves forearm, climb up onto the gnome and start to bite him. The old man, still on the ceiling, sees this and drops down to aid Arno. The two continue to fend off the giant centipedes while the other can just look on. The old man, Bohr/Darvin is screaming as the creatures crawl over him and he begs T'an to shoot them off. Hesitant but eventually shrugging, T'an fires off and arrow. T'an is accurate, but not that accurate. He hits the old man square in the shoulder as the centipede creature moves around the old man's body. Deciding he can not help much in attacking the creatures T'an rushes across the room, his feet barely touch the mud and makes it to the other side of the room.

Smallfang wades into the room, his heavy feet sinking into the mud, making his movement slow and ponderous. He walks up to Arno and grabs at one of the centipedes, pulling it off the small gnome and slashes at it with his blade. When all the centipedes are pulled off Arno and killed Arno climbs up the dragonborn and clings to his chest. The old man, Bohr/Darvin is finally able to exterminate his insect infestation. They all finally are able to climb out of the muck and follow T'an who has found a flight of stairs ascending into light.

Frog Shrine
1200 XP

The stairs eventually lead back to the entrace cave they first descended from the castle into. The caverns still unoccupied by cultist workers for the moment they move back to the mist filled area. There they discover another room they had initially passed. T'an moves up the stairs cautiously and while lying down, uses his mirror to peak into the room. The room is lit with a multitude of candles, placed in niches along the rough cavern walls. In numerous other niches in the walls are placed a multitude of various religious symbols and artifacts. A hogpog of religions are represented.

At the far end of the cave is a bullywug, dressed in shaman's robes and holding a staff across his lap as he sits at a shrine facing away from the group. T'an decides to take the opportunity to stealthily cross the room and try and kill the bullywug from behind. As he strikes the bullywug looks up and the fight is begun.

T'an succeeds in knocking down the bullywug, but the bullywug calls out for help. As the shaman, Pharbles Spattergoo begins to mutter his incantation and pulls out a piece of bark his skin turns to a hardend barklike hide. The others now move into the room, while Arno and Orvusita remain at the entrance to hurl spells and arrows across the room. The bullywug shaman produces a spell which turns the entire midsection of the room into a tangle of thorns which encircles T'an, Smallfang and the old man.

It is then that several bullywugs emerge into the room in defense of their leader. The group which is in the middle of the ensnaring spike growth,  are able to get out of the tangle and T'an takes on Phablex while Smallfang produces a lightning breath attack which kills and injures several others.The fight is long and hard but eventually Pharblex is felled. The few remaining bullywugs, seeing their leader felled, take large leaps in hopes of escaping. One of them jumps right over Arno and into the outer cave. Little Arno takes chase but his little legs cannot keep up. T'an rushes by in a blur. Running up to and around the fleeing bullywug, T'an runs up along the wall and comes down in front of the bullywug bringing his sword down the the creature. The bullywug collapses into a heap but T'an decides to kick and punch at it. Not even the creatures death can halt T'an's furry.

Arno who is by the entrance of this cave can hear the sounding of the signal drum again and it is not long until the sounds of returning workers fill the caverns. Arno tells the others. They need to hurry.

T'an discovers that below the trappings of the shrine is a chest. T'an is cautious and looks first for traps. Sure enough he discovers wires attached to the chest which rise up along with wall, to the ceiling and holding several clay pots directly above him. As the group decides the best course of action on how to disable the trap, the sounds of activity increase in the outer caverns. Smallfang decides that sometimes, disabling is too much hassle. It's no big deal to take a bit of fire damage. He grabs the chest and pulls.

It's not fire.

The pots crash to the floor releasing a powdery dust that covers T'an, Smallfang and the old man. Immediately they begin to hallucinate. Smallfang still holding the chest, finds he is holding the body of his dead mother. He begins to weep inconsolably. T'an discovers his long lost dog and hugs him close petting his luxurious fur, as he pulls the body of the dead bullywug close and nuzzles it. The old man sees the body of his dead child at his feet and sees the man responsible. He wields his scythe and brings it down upon T'an. The scythe sticks into the shoulder blade of the monk.

Arno hearing the commotion returns into the room to see chaos has taken of the minds of her compatriots. Seeing this horrific scene, he is at a loss. Finally, after a few minutes he decides to splash water in the face of the dragonborn. The surprise of the cold water on his face, and perhaps more importantly the washing away of the hallucinogenic powder, brings Smallfang back to this reality. Arno takes the chest from him dropping it to the floor.

As Arno investigates the chest, Smallfang resuscitates the others in a likewise fashion. Standing back up covered in muck, grime, ooze and blood the group has rarely looked worse. Arno is happy though. He has discovered two spellbooks from wizards who were obviously more adept than the bullywug shaman who they have taken them from.

The old man, Bohr/Darvin, sends his pseudodragon familiar to hide in the mists as the cultists workers use the teleportation circle. The pseudodragon is hidden by the mist in the room with they cultists speak the command word activating the portal. "Draezir"

Deciding that a rest is in dire need, they will return to the castle above.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: Sometimes its sooooo much more fun when the trap is sprung. Thanks Smallfang!

Captured
1400 XP

As the group returns to the stairs leading to the castle above, they are halted by a couple of cultists. Try to pose as fellow cultists the group does their best "Hail Tiamat" while giving the hand signal. Unfortunately for them, they are covered in gray ooze, mud (the gnome is at least half mud), and blood (T'an is profusely bleeding from a horrible looking scythe injury on his shoulder).

"Tell me again. Why are you covered in ooze?"

The questioning cultists is horrified at their appearance and calls for guards. Still trying to talk their way out of this the group digs themselves further and further into suspicion. Finally, several dragonclaw guards as well as an elf, whom they address as Dralmorrer Borngray, descend the stairs and the group soon finds themselves being manacled while the guards remove their weapons and belongings. Orvusita had taken the conflict as an opportunity to quietly retreat into the crevice where the gray ooze was found.

One of the guards removing the old man's belongings finds a rock. A simple ordinary rock and drops it to the cavern floor. The old man is incensed and frantic about the rock. The guard seeing this decides to be mean and kicks the rock. Hard. The rock bounces and rolls until it is gone out of site rolling down into the neighboring cave.

The old man flies into a rage and runs after the rock. He is stopped easily by one of the guards but using the commotion as cover, each of the other adventurers takes the opportunity to try to free themselves from their shackles. T'an easily picks one of the locks of his manacles and is actually able to manacle on the hands of the guard next to him. Arno is able to tinker with the locking mechanism enough the it releases. Smallfang uses his amazing strength to try and bend or break the manacles. He fails.

It is not long before a full out fight has broken out and the guards are on the loosing end. Orvusita has emerged from here hiding spot and just as one of the guards was running up the stairs yelling for help he is killed with her arrow in the back. Soon enough they are able to escape their bonds leaving several guards dead, two unconscious and one who has run for aid.

The group runs for the teleportation circle. Once all their they do not hesitate and speak the word, "Draezir!".

They find themselves standing between two ancient pillars of stone on the edge of a circle with three other such pairs of stones. The air is clear, dry and cold. All around them are mountain peaks and up a gravel path is a large and inviting looking hunting lodge.

A place to rest? Probably not.

Across The Mere Of Dead Men

As night falls on the Carnath Roadhouse, activity begins to quiet as members of each work crew including the cultists begin to retire to their rooms. The adventurers though have other plans besides sleep. T'an finishes sabotaging the cultists wagons while Danifae keeps watch just outside of the stables. Arno and Smallfang have each gone to begin their nights rest in their respective rooms.

Gruge Match
500 XP (half of the intended 1000 XP)

It is then that a large group of cultists emerge from their rooms. They have obviously been waiting for their chance to approach one of the adventurers alone. Fortune shines on the cultists, as it is the flippant Danifae, the drow elf who has so recently tried to rouse their anger. It is not long before Danifae is being attacked by at least a dozen of the cultist, the main one a young woman who has been driven into a rage.

T'an is drawn out of the stables by the sounds of battle and is quick to rush to the aid of Danifae but it is too late. Danifae is felled by one of the cultitst and seeing he is surrounded, T'an using all the speed he can muster runs to the stables. There he is nimbly jumps out a window in the loft and swings on top of the roof. Back in the courtyard, the cultist woman, enraged over the belief  that the adventurers are responsible for the murder of her companion. kneels over the body of the unconscious drow and stabs over and over, tears of anger and grief running down her face until her companions pull her off of the dead body.

T'an uses this moment to move across the roof of the roadhouse, hiding himself among the shadows. From there he witnesses several lizard-like humanoids loading a couple of wagons with what looks to be the crates which the cultists have been travelling with for the past several weeks. He watches them from his vantage until the finish and finally begin to leave.

After scouting the area and noticing that the cultists have since retired, leaving the body and its pool of blood staining the mud and straw in the courtyard, T'an awakens the others and tells them the news of both Danifae's attack and murder as well as the movement of the cultist's treasure. They decide to wait until morning before making any decisions.

In the morning, Beyd their employer, tells the party that he has smoothed things over with the roadhouse keepers but feels that it is safer for him if they part ways. T'an spends a good deal of the morning trying to convince Orvusita, the comely female guard that she should accompany them on their mission to avenge Danifae's death. After some awkward conversation she finally agrees.

Tracking Into The Mere Of The Dead Men

The group moves out to follow the trail left by the lizardfolk who have taken over the cultist's treasure. The morning is cold and damp with the sun a pale light behind thick grey clouds. The trail is easy enough to follow in the soft ground as it approaches and then enters dark woods. The forest floor is soft which quickly enough turns to ankle deep muck which makes the travel slow for the party, especially Smallfang who is a considerable size not even considering the massive amount of armor he wears.

Some distance into the mere, the group hears mutterings and T'an moves quickly and stealthily up until he finds an old man sitting on a rotting log talking to himself. As he watches he sees that the old man is in fact talking to a rock he holds in his hands. T'an returns to the others to tell them of the odd sight as the group notices that T'an has been followed by a pseudodragon up in the branches. As the small pseudodragon flies back to the old man the group follows it and they all meet the old man, Bohr. They ask if he has seen anything unusual, say like lizard creatures bearing crates. Bohr says that he has and proceeds to show them where as he accompanies them.

It is not long before they find an abandoned wagon and large splayed footprints which lead further in to the mire. They travel not far but it takes them considerable time to traverse the now sometimes thigh deep swampy water. They finally find stable high ground in the form of a little island which seems to mark the end of the wooded area of the mire. On the other side of the small hill is miles of swampy black water. As it is getting late and Smallfang seems intent on remaining lying down on the firm ground and rest, the group decides to make camp.

The Lizardfolk Camp
900 XP

They aren't the only ones who seem to deem this a good rest site. They find two lean-tos made from reeds and stones made to make fires on. Arno finds under some reed mats inside the shelters several oars. Oars must mean some sort of water craft so after some searching they also find several dugout canoes hidden in the bushes. After making a fire and having some rations they settle in for the night.

Unfortunately, the wet wood on the fire has produced large amounts of smoke alerting others to their presence. A large number of lizardfolk approach the area and the adventurers have to fend them off. T'an uses the smoky fire to hide within and takes advantage of the obscuring smoke to attack from. Arno, who was lying in the comfort of one of the lean-tos awakens to being attacked and is soon bludgeoned unconscious. Bohr moves around to the side of the lean-to in order to lay hands on the old gnome who has felled. Arno awakens once again and begins to melt lizardfolk with his magical acid attacks. Smallfang has also entered the smoke and is cutting down his share of lizardfolk.

One of the lizardfolk approaches the old wizard, Bohr, and in his native draconic tongue asks for forgiveness. He is not one of those lizardfolk who blindly follows what the cultists tell them to do. He gently puts down his weapon and tells the wizard of the odd alliances his folk have had to make in order to survive in the mere lately.

As the battle winds down with the adventurers none the worse for wear, after Smallfang heals those who need it, they question this lizard creature. His name is Snapjaw and he tells the group of life in the mere as of late. The cultists have the employ of both the lizardfolk and the bullywugs. The bullwugs who the lizardfolk hate have the great advantage of numbers and they use it to harass and belittle the lizardfolk. The cultists who mostly hate both creatures usually just tolerate both in order to have a labor force.

Pharblex Spattergoo

The lizardfolk's leader, a shaman named Suncaller, was recently murdered by the bullywug shaman Pharblex Spattergoo. Leaderless the lizardfolk are directionless and are easy prey for impressive figures. That is how Dralmorrer Borngray has convinced many of the lizardfolk to follow him. He is strong in the eyes of the lizardfolk as well as he has taken to trying to teach them the ways of forging metal weapons as well as giving over many of the weapons seized in the raids to them, even if they are of poor quality.

The group is convinced of his truthfulness, as the old wizard, who now seems to go by the name Darvin, uses his magic to enter the mind of this creature. They let go the two other lizardfolk prisoners and Snapjaw tells them to quietly spread the word that great adventurers have arrived to lead the lizardfolk out of servitude.

Will-O-The-Wisps
1350 XP

The group decides to attempt their nights rest again. It is not long though, that T'an and the old wizard notice moving lights in the distance. They believe it to be lantern light and carefully approach. After the lights cease their movement, T'an and Darvin try different tactics to draw out whoever is out there. They try magical distractions via prestidigitation. They try shouted threats. They try arrows. None of it to any avail. Finally, they decided to retreat. It is then that the lights move blazingly fast and attack. It turns out that the lights were really Will-o-The-Wisps. The lights attack the group with lightning attacks.

The group has trouble at first as it seems all their attacks do very little damage to these tiny lights. At least the will-o-the-wisps lightning attacks can do little to hurt Smallfang who is dragonborn and resists much of their lightning attacks. And as luck would have it Smallfangs ability to charge his weapon with divine power seems to do the trick in hurting these creatures. One by one the group whittles down these creatures and Smallfang finishes them off.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: If T'an is a kobold killing machine, then Smallfang is a will-o-the-wisps killing machine.

The group spends a couple of days, under the direction of Arno, to leash together the found canoes with reeds, wood and saplings to create a raft. After a couple of false starts (one of the canoes had a rotten bottom) they finally tinker together a respectable raft. Pushing off the move through the waterways with directions from Snapjaw.

Castle Naerytar

Soon they can see a large castle made from strong stone and sitting atop one of the taller towers, a large metallic dome of an observatory. The area just in front of the castle houses both the bullywugs and the lizardfolk. Snapjaw takes them proudly to his camp which is kept relatively neat and clean. The group passes a large pen housing several giant lizards which are used as pack animals. Inside the lizardfolk's reed huts it is warm and dry. On a stone fireplace Snapjaw shows them several metal weapons. They are obviously used and worn but the lizardfolk treat them with reverence.

As the group move back out toward the castle they pass by the living quarters of the bullywugs. In stark contrast to the lizardfolk's living area, the bullywugs live in muck, sometimes several feet deep and the entire area smells of swampy mud. Snapjaw is disgusted and doesn't hide his disdain. The bullywugs for their part sneer at the  lizardfolk.

With the aid of Snapjaw the group puts themselves forward as fellow cultists and they enter the castle. The barbican, the defensable area of entrance, is guarded by several bullywugs but the group is able to cast themselves as cultitst enough that they are ignored. They move through the barbican, keeping to the wooden planks on the floor to avoid the foul mud spread by the bullywugs.

They then pass through the causeway which is open to the towers above. The towers above have several arrow slits looking towards the causeway making for a very defensible approach. Rounding the corner and entering the castle proper, they walk into the main outer ward of the castle. There they see bustling activity of cultists of varying races as well as many bullywugs and lizardfolk.

It is the sight of a large black half-dragon at the far side of the courtyard talking to a wizard dressed in red with tattoos entirely covering his shaved head. The old wizard, Bohr/Darvin points him out to the others and calls him a 'red wizard of Thay'. Not good people. The black half-dragon is wearing an odd looking mask over his face and carrying a noticeably large sword. Smallfang announces, he wants that sword. But before long both move away out of sight into the far court of the inner ward.

It is then that they hear the sound of deep wooden drum beats. Snapjaw tells them that it was the signal for the beginning of the work day. There are several different signals throughout the day: For breaks; For the ceasing of work at the end of the day and of course in the case of alarm. The group decides that disabling the alarm should be a priority.

Snapjaw, is insistent that they follow him as he wants to show them the lizardfolk's living quarters within the castle. The group humors him and they find a small area filled with lizardfolk all trying to use a small forge to hammer out weapons and doing poorly at it. Smallfang takes pity on them and tries to school them in a demonstration but it is soon apparent that it is a losing battle. They move on.

Further inside Snapjaw shows them a not so carefully hidden stash of metal weapons that his folk have been collecting. They are dented and bent but would do if necessary.

The group moves on to try and explore the castle while they are still perceived as cultists. They climb the stairs they find in the lizardfolks living quarters only to find that one of the doors at the top of the second flight of stairs has been nailed shut with several metal spikes. The group perhaps will wait until later to explore this.

They find a great hall filled with many cultists sorting through treasure in various tables along the wall. The hall also has 4 Dragonclaw guards standing by each entrance. They also try to explore the inner ward, where both the red wizard and the black hald-dragon, persumably Rezmir, entered. Bohr/Darvin walks boldly past the entrance into the ward and is immediately greeted by a guard drake. Looking around the sees two more guard drakes approaching. The group prepares for a fight but at the last minute Bohr/Darvin attempts to placate the animals and walks carefully backwards returning to the safety of the outer ward. The drakes let him go. All the better for the group.

The group moves again to the Great Hall, the lure of all that treasure proving just too much. There they pass themselves off as just more cultists transferring treasure and follow other such cultists. After almost failing to convince a guard of their cultists status, the group follows others down the hall and into a tower that has stairs going both up and down. After waiting for another cultists to follow and show them the way, the group goes down.

The descent takes them into a large cavern system hidden below the castle.

More caverns. Probably means more death.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: Not a lot of XP this session but that's what you get for skipping most of the castle :)