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Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9200078" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 38: THE BIG FREEZE</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 10</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Orchid, elf druid 10</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 21 November 2023</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Two days later, the two <em>folding boats</em> came to a halt, side by side, as the mapmakers scrawled their updates onto the stacks of parchment upon which they'd been documenting their progress. The underground river had narrowed and was now in a channel surrounded entirely by ice; the scholars insisted they had already exited the mountains a day ago and were now traversing through an adjacent glacier.</p><p></p><p>There was a shelf of ice to the north, with a wide cavern opening and a passageway leading upwards at a slope. "We'll go check out that passageway, make sure it's clear, while you map the area around here," offered Harlan, stepping out of the boat and onto the icy ledge. The others followed, trusting the six seasoned boatmen could keep the mapmakers and their four dwarven luggers secure during their brief absence.</p><p></p><p>The passageway ahead led into a vast, open cavern several hundred feet in diameter - pretty much an open hemisphere, in the middle of which a constantly-rising path curved back and forth leading up to a level surface towards the top. The group could see what looked to be three overly-large planter boxes along the top, holding a cascade of bluish vines and lichen. The entire area was covered in a faint illumination, likely sunlight filtered through the ice overhead - it made for shadowy viewing for Ageratum and Alistair, but the elves and half-elf could see just fine in the dim light.</p><p></p><p>"Someone lives up there," Orchid pointed out.</p><p></p><p>"Agreed," said Harlan. "Giants, by the size of the planters, which in this environment probably means frost giants. Let's prep for combat, just in case." He cast <em>bull's strength</em> and <em>eagle's splendor</em> spells upon himself, following them with a <em>bless</em> spell on the entire group. Alistair cast his standard <em>mage armor</em> and <em>shield</em> spells, then cast a separate <em>cat's grace</em> spell on each of the five heroes and a <em>flame arrow</em> spell upon everyone's assembled ammunition, to include the bag of "pebboulders" he passed over to Ageratum. And then, not liking that he could see his own breath in the frigid air, he cast an <em>endure elements</em> spell upon himself for his own personal comfort. Orchid cast <em>barkskin</em> spells upon herself and Harlan, then further enhanced herself with a <em>longstrider</em> spell. She also took the precaution of casting a <em>speak with animals</em> spell, so she would be able to talk to Ambrose if she opted to wildshape into an animal form, allowing the little grackle to be her interpreter. "All ready, boss," she told Harlan when she was done with her spellcasting.</p><p></p><p>"How many people can you take with you when you teleport?" asked Chaevaris. Alistair bit back the urge to correct her - the spell was "<em>dimension door</em>," not "<em>teleport</em>" - but answered that he could take along three others, besides Ambrose. "But Ambrose can fly up there," he added.</p><p></p><p>"And so will I," replied Harlan, calling for his mount across the planes. In a moment, his celestial pegasus Nova appeared before him, and he leaped upon the noble beast's back. With a flap of his feathered wings, Nova and his half-elf rider were flying over the switchback passageway below them.</p><p></p><p>"Gather up," Alistair told the others, reaching out to hold the bullseye lantern that was seemingly hanging in the air, held, in fact, by the sorcerer's previously-cast <em>unseen servant</em> spell, so that Ogilvy - who weighed nothing - could come along for the <em>dimension door</em> "ride" as well. As Ambrose took off in pursuit of Nova and Harlan, Alistair cast his spell and the assembled group of heroes disappeared from the bottom of the winding, icy path and ended up to the left of the first planter box. "Be careful," suggested the sorcerer. "Those plants might be able to attack." He didn't have any personal knowledge of carnivorous plants with this blue coloration, but he wasn't willing to take the chance and didn't want to plop everyone down within reach of any moving tendrils if the plants turned out to be deadly. Fortunately, none of the plants moved so much as an inch after the heroes' arrival.</p><p></p><p>As Nova and Harlan flew up behind the rest of the instantly-appearing heroes, Orchid spotted a large opening in the opposite ice wall, along the eastern edge of the cavern - the heroes were all up along the west side. But the opening was about 10 feet in diameter and the tunnel beyond it rose higher, leading out of view as it curved up. "Probably a polar worm tunnel," the druid surmised. "I've heard of them - they're nasty, and can melt down any metal weapons that come into contact with them."</p><p></p><p>"You hear that, Harlan?" called Chaevaris as the paladin's winged mount caught them up to the others.</p><p></p><p>"I did," the half-elf replied. "But check out the doors: frost giant sized, I'd say." Sure enough, along the northern wall were a set of doors carved out of ice, each easily 15 feet tall. Chaevaris raised her bow, arrow notched into place and ready to fire, aiming it at the hole from which a remorhaz might appear, if the druid's speculations were correct. Ageratum had a pebboulder loaded into her sling, ready to fire, and Ogilvy obligingly aimed the bullseye lantern straight at the double doors of solid ice. Alistair pointed his <em>metamagic rod</em> at the doors, ready to fire off a spell if any giants opened them up; there were no hinges he could see, so he assumed they opened inward into whatever dwelling lay on the other side.</p><p></p><p>Ambrose flew up to the higher shelf and landed on the ice floor, peering into the dark hole along the eastern wall, head cocked inquisitively. He was ready to flee at a moment's notice, should the need arise. In the meantime, Orchid cast a <em>spider climb</em> spell upon her fellow elf, and Chaevaris walked about 10 feet up the side of the western ice wall, looking "above" her at the open hole on the opposite side of the ice shelf. Ageratum activated her <em>cloak of arachnida</em> and followed suit, careful to stand far enough away from the elven archer to give herself enough room to swing her sling. Orchid cast a <em>produce flame</em> spell, causing a small ball of flickering fire to appear in her hand. And Nova flapped in one place, directly in front of the double doors but over the edge of the shelf, ready to charge forward into the frost giants if and when they opened the doors, or drop down behind the shelf if he needed to shield his rider from immediate harm - like, say, by a ranged spell should the frost giants turn out to be spellcasters.</p><p></p><p>But it was the remorhaz who made the first appearance. Sitting 20 feet down the length of its tunnel, its tremorsense allowed it to detect anyone standing before the doors of the two frost giants who lived within - and while none of the heroes had gotten within the polar worm's senses, it could feel Ambrose as the grackle dropped to the ice floor. Realizing a creature of that size could hardly be a threat - and wasn't going to be much more than a single bite, hardly even a full snack - the worm meandered down its sloping tunnel to see what was out there.</p><p></p><p>It hardly anticipated what it found: the grackle flew away at top speed, while the polar worm was struck by an arrow in the head followed almost immediately by a pebble that grew instantly to the size of a boulder upon impact. Infuriated by the unsuspected attacks, the worm scrambled forward on its dozens of legs, the plates along its back heating up as its rage grew.</p><p></p><p>Activating her <em>boots of haste</em>, Chaevaris peppered the polar worm with arrow after arrow. Ageratum flung another pair of pebboulders at high speed towards the worm, both hitting as well. The remorhaz collapsed in a pile on the ice shelf, the glow already starting to fade from its dorsal plates as it fell into unconsciousness - although they were still hot enough to start to melt the ice in immediate contact.</p><p></p><p>"Someone's coming!" hissed Orchid suddenly, pointing over at the doors, where she had heard someone fumbling with whatever locking mechanism had been in place. "Evil!" called out Harlan, after scanning the aura of the creature on the other side. So when the frost giant opened the door to see what was making that racket outside her home, she was blasted in the face by a pair of <em>scorching rays</em> fired through Alistair's metamagic rod to maximum effectiveness. It was only after he'd fired off the spell that Alistair realized the giant had a rather grandmotherly appearance: white hair, wrinkled face and all.</p><p></p><p>But Harlan wasn't the least bit concerned about the frost giant's kindly appearance, for his instant aura reading told him all he needed to know. At his urging, Nova raced across the landing and kicked the old giantess in the face with a sharp hoof, while he brought his <em>holy flaming burst longsword</em> - a sword which, at his companions' urging, he'd finally granted the name "the Starblade," after his own surname - slicing into her torso. The combined attacks caused the giantess to fall over on her side, unconscious and bleeding out, her face a dark mass of charred flesh.</p><p></p><p>Nova came to a landing and the paladin leaped from his broad back, nearly slipping on the ice when he did so but regaining his balance at the last moment. He stepped into the room beyond, seeing it to be a giant-sized herbarium; apparently the female frost giant had been some kind of botanist. But the room held no other enemies, so Harlan advanced through the open doorway to the room even further north, which held a throne of carved ice, a table, an unused fire pit, and an empty armor stand in the corner. Along the western wall of this back room stood another pair of giant-sized ice doors, while the northwest and northeast corners held piles of loose snow. Nova followed his master, looking curiously around the rooms, and Orchid followed them both into the interior.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris followed suit, moving much faster than normal or what would have been advised on such a slick surface had she not had the <em>spider climb</em> spell still active and keeping her from slipping. She ducked under the table in what she thought of as the throne room and aimed her bow at the double doors, arrow nocked and ready. Ageratum eventually followed suit, but she took a moment to ensure the frost giantess was truly dead, then wiped her short sword on the grandmother's clothes and checked on what she might have been carrying inside the large sack she'd had with her. With a look of disappointment, the little halfling saw it was merely chunks of ice and rocks - throwing ammunition, in other words, and all but useless to her.</p><p></p><p>Alistair was looking around the herbarium, distrusting that none of these plants were attacking just yet. Ogilvy followed at a leisurely pace, pointing his lantern wherever Alistair asked him to. Then, convinced the herbarium held no surprises, the sorcerer followed the others into the back room. Ambrose stood outside on the ledge by the three planters, ready to alert his master if anyone or anything approached from behind. He pecked absently at the remorhaz's eyes from time to time, helping himself to a handy snack.</p><p></p><p>Harlan was back on Nova and had ridden the celestial pegasus to the western side of the room, where the added height was perfect for opening the doors, whose handles were at a height comfortable for frost giants. To his surprise, the doors opened up to the outside world - after days spent underground, the paladin was once again breathing the open air. But Harlan had no time to appreciate such a turn of events, for that wasn't all that was on the other side of the doors: a frost giant, likely the husband to the giantess they'd just slain, was returning from an unsuccessful hunt with his two winter wolves at his side. He was armed with a frost-covered axe that glowed a light blue in the sunlight of the outside air - and he was not the least bit happy to see an armored paladin astride a winged horse opening the doors to his own dwelling upon his return.</p><p></p><p><strong>Haldar Islogi</strong> gave a roar and charged at Harlan, bringing his axe over Nova's back to strike at the paladin, whose shield only managed to deflect the worst of the attack at the last moment. Orchid ignored the ball of fire literally at hand and cast another spell, <em>heat metal</em>, at the frost giant, seeing as he was decked out in some sort of banded mail. However, for some unknown reason, the spell failed to take effect. But beneath the massive table, Chaevaris was staring down her arrow at the elderly frost giant, lining up for the perfect shot. Ageratum sidled up next to the archer, careful not to bump into her or otherwise spoil her shot.</p><p></p><p>Alistair made it to the open doorway, got a look at what they were facing, and decided to go with a spell that would give them all an immediate benefit: a <em>haste</em> spell. Feeling the spell overtake her, Chaevaris mentally shut down her magical boots, as they were no longer necessary - and they could only be used for so long in any 24-hour period, in any case.</p><p></p><p>"They're all evil!" Harlan called out for the benefit of his companions, then channeled Pelor's smiting energy into the <em>Starblade</em> and swung for all he was worth, catching Haldar in the side of the head and cutting him above the ear, part of the blow deflected by the giant's metal helm. And, despite what he would have imagined for a creature adapted to life inside a glacier, Harlan noted his sword's flames didn't seem to faze the frost giant in the least, which was passing strange. Some sort of fire protection at work, perhaps?</p><p></p><p>Nova reared up and lashed out with his front hooves, one of them catching the frost giant in the face, bloodying his lip. But then the winter wolves darted in, one on either side, and snapped their wicked teeth at the celestial pegasus, one biting Nova's leg and making an unsuccessful attempt to trip the mount over on his side, where he'd be easy pickings. Harlan punished one wolf for the affront, cutting deep into the lupine beast's fur and flesh with his blade. But in focusing his attention on Nova's plight, even for the brief time it took to hit the wolf, Harlan left himself open to another attack from Haldar's axe-blade, and the blow was felt deeply even through the paladin's protective armor.</p><p></p><p>Orchid saw the blow and the look of pain that crossed Harlan's face and she stepped forward to Nova's side, so she could reach out and apply a charge from her <em>staff of healing</em> to undo some of the paladin's wounds. And then Chaevaris released her bowstring, causing the arrow to fly true to its intended target: Haldar's left eye. The frost giant roared in pain and surprise, the feathered shaft of the elf's arrow protruding from his eye socket as blood dripped down his face like crimson tears. While Haldar was so distracted, Ageratum raced out from beneath the giant-sized table and made her way around the frost giant, avoiding a snap from the nearest winter wolf as she did so. Then she struck the elderly giant from behind, slicing her blade through the back of his leg and dealing all kinds of damage to his tendons. He dropped to one knee but continued his desperate fight, calling out "<strong>Vigdis!</strong>" in the hope his wife could help him fight off these vicious intruders, unaware the heroes had already taken care of his wife before ever encountering him.</p><p></p><p>Alistair used up another daily charge of his <em>metamagic rod of maximize spell</em>, blasting another set of <em>scorching rays</em> through it and directly into Haldar's ruined face. Then Harlan followed up with another three quick thrusts of his sword, the first of them imbued with Pelor's smiting energy. Haldar dropped like a stone, already halfway to death without any urging from Ageratum's throat-thirsty blade. Nova took out the wounded winter wolf with a series of kicks to the head, eventually bludgeoning it into unconsciousness alongside his master. That left only the one remaining winter wolf, who bit at Nova's leg again and still failed to topple the proud mount. Orchid started pelting it with balls of fire from her <em>produce flame</em> spell, each hit singeing the beast's fur even further. Finally, Chaevaris took it out with a flurry of rapid-fire arrows, the final one piercing its skull and slaying it instantly.</p><p></p><p>"I say, Elfy, good shooting!" complimented Alistair, speaking specifically about the eye-shot at the giant but taken overall as a whole. They searched for treasure and found only the giant's armor and weapon; Ageratum has started to try to pry the gems out of his armor until Chaevaris called on her to stop, stating the gems were what gave it its magical properties. Alistair, using a <em>detect magic</em> spell to confirm the armor and greataxe were both magical, surmised the armor likely was a suit of <em>banded armor of luck</em>, and that the gems were indeed what gave it its magical properties. Properly chastised, Ageratum refrained from trying to pry out any of the gemstones, and diverted her attention to her normal post-combat throat-slitting, to ensure the <em>Blood Mirror</em> Harlan kept on his person didn't keep anyone alive they didn't want kept alive.</p><p></p><p>"Pity the loot's all sized for a giant," Alistair sighed. "We won't get to use a bit of it, ourselves."</p><p></p><p>"No," agreed Harlan, "but I'm sure the stone giants transporting all of the rock slabs for the additions to the Stone Keep can make use of it. I'll bet they'd pay a good sum of money for both the armor and the weapons!" That gave them all the needed incentive to strip it down off Haldar's corpse, so Chaevaris could activate her necklace and bring forth the door that led into their extradimensional living quarters. There stood Carruthers, the shield guardian linked to the amulet Alistair wore about his neck.</p><p></p><p>"There you are!" greeted Alistair. "Didn't have time to come get you, old boy - maybe next time!" Carruthers stood motionless as the heroes tossed the <em>frost blade greataxe</em> and the <em>banded armor of luck</em> into their dwelling before Chaevaris shunted it back into her necklace and the heroes made their way carefully back to the <em>folding boats</em>, where the mapmakers were just finishing up.</p><p></p><p>"Journey's just about at an end!" spoiled Orchid. And that proved to be the case, for just around the corner, the river finally exited the glacier and stood exposed to the open air. The expedition cheered, their supposition that there was an underground passageway through the Lortmil Mountains having finally proven to be true.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>This was a pretty cool adventure (no pun intended), although I got a kick out of Logan guessing perfectly what we'd be encountering once he learned we were inside a glacier. He accurately predicted the hole in the ice wall was a polar worm tunnel, figured there were frost giants living behind the double doors, and also expected them to have one or more winter wolves as pets.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 9200078, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 38: THE BIG FREEZE[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 10[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Orchid, elf druid 10[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 21 November 2023 - - - Two days later, the two [I]folding boats[/I] came to a halt, side by side, as the mapmakers scrawled their updates onto the stacks of parchment upon which they'd been documenting their progress. The underground river had narrowed and was now in a channel surrounded entirely by ice; the scholars insisted they had already exited the mountains a day ago and were now traversing through an adjacent glacier. There was a shelf of ice to the north, with a wide cavern opening and a passageway leading upwards at a slope. "We'll go check out that passageway, make sure it's clear, while you map the area around here," offered Harlan, stepping out of the boat and onto the icy ledge. The others followed, trusting the six seasoned boatmen could keep the mapmakers and their four dwarven luggers secure during their brief absence. The passageway ahead led into a vast, open cavern several hundred feet in diameter - pretty much an open hemisphere, in the middle of which a constantly-rising path curved back and forth leading up to a level surface towards the top. The group could see what looked to be three overly-large planter boxes along the top, holding a cascade of bluish vines and lichen. The entire area was covered in a faint illumination, likely sunlight filtered through the ice overhead - it made for shadowy viewing for Ageratum and Alistair, but the elves and half-elf could see just fine in the dim light. "Someone lives up there," Orchid pointed out. "Agreed," said Harlan. "Giants, by the size of the planters, which in this environment probably means frost giants. Let's prep for combat, just in case." He cast [I]bull's strength[/I] and [I]eagle's splendor[/I] spells upon himself, following them with a [I]bless[/I] spell on the entire group. Alistair cast his standard [I]mage armor[/I] and [I]shield[/I] spells, then cast a separate [I]cat's grace[/I] spell on each of the five heroes and a [I]flame arrow[/I] spell upon everyone's assembled ammunition, to include the bag of "pebboulders" he passed over to Ageratum. And then, not liking that he could see his own breath in the frigid air, he cast an [I]endure elements[/I] spell upon himself for his own personal comfort. Orchid cast [I]barkskin[/I] spells upon herself and Harlan, then further enhanced herself with a [I]longstrider[/I] spell. She also took the precaution of casting a [I]speak with animals[/I] spell, so she would be able to talk to Ambrose if she opted to wildshape into an animal form, allowing the little grackle to be her interpreter. "All ready, boss," she told Harlan when she was done with her spellcasting. "How many people can you take with you when you teleport?" asked Chaevaris. Alistair bit back the urge to correct her - the spell was "[I]dimension door[/I]," not "[I]teleport[/I]" - but answered that he could take along three others, besides Ambrose. "But Ambrose can fly up there," he added. "And so will I," replied Harlan, calling for his mount across the planes. In a moment, his celestial pegasus Nova appeared before him, and he leaped upon the noble beast's back. With a flap of his feathered wings, Nova and his half-elf rider were flying over the switchback passageway below them. "Gather up," Alistair told the others, reaching out to hold the bullseye lantern that was seemingly hanging in the air, held, in fact, by the sorcerer's previously-cast [I]unseen servant[/I] spell, so that Ogilvy - who weighed nothing - could come along for the [I]dimension door[/I] "ride" as well. As Ambrose took off in pursuit of Nova and Harlan, Alistair cast his spell and the assembled group of heroes disappeared from the bottom of the winding, icy path and ended up to the left of the first planter box. "Be careful," suggested the sorcerer. "Those plants might be able to attack." He didn't have any personal knowledge of carnivorous plants with this blue coloration, but he wasn't willing to take the chance and didn't want to plop everyone down within reach of any moving tendrils if the plants turned out to be deadly. Fortunately, none of the plants moved so much as an inch after the heroes' arrival. As Nova and Harlan flew up behind the rest of the instantly-appearing heroes, Orchid spotted a large opening in the opposite ice wall, along the eastern edge of the cavern - the heroes were all up along the west side. But the opening was about 10 feet in diameter and the tunnel beyond it rose higher, leading out of view as it curved up. "Probably a polar worm tunnel," the druid surmised. "I've heard of them - they're nasty, and can melt down any metal weapons that come into contact with them." "You hear that, Harlan?" called Chaevaris as the paladin's winged mount caught them up to the others. "I did," the half-elf replied. "But check out the doors: frost giant sized, I'd say." Sure enough, along the northern wall were a set of doors carved out of ice, each easily 15 feet tall. Chaevaris raised her bow, arrow notched into place and ready to fire, aiming it at the hole from which a remorhaz might appear, if the druid's speculations were correct. Ageratum had a pebboulder loaded into her sling, ready to fire, and Ogilvy obligingly aimed the bullseye lantern straight at the double doors of solid ice. Alistair pointed his [I]metamagic rod[/I] at the doors, ready to fire off a spell if any giants opened them up; there were no hinges he could see, so he assumed they opened inward into whatever dwelling lay on the other side. Ambrose flew up to the higher shelf and landed on the ice floor, peering into the dark hole along the eastern wall, head cocked inquisitively. He was ready to flee at a moment's notice, should the need arise. In the meantime, Orchid cast a [I]spider climb[/I] spell upon her fellow elf, and Chaevaris walked about 10 feet up the side of the western ice wall, looking "above" her at the open hole on the opposite side of the ice shelf. Ageratum activated her [I]cloak of arachnida[/I] and followed suit, careful to stand far enough away from the elven archer to give herself enough room to swing her sling. Orchid cast a [I]produce flame[/I] spell, causing a small ball of flickering fire to appear in her hand. And Nova flapped in one place, directly in front of the double doors but over the edge of the shelf, ready to charge forward into the frost giants if and when they opened the doors, or drop down behind the shelf if he needed to shield his rider from immediate harm - like, say, by a ranged spell should the frost giants turn out to be spellcasters. But it was the remorhaz who made the first appearance. Sitting 20 feet down the length of its tunnel, its tremorsense allowed it to detect anyone standing before the doors of the two frost giants who lived within - and while none of the heroes had gotten within the polar worm's senses, it could feel Ambrose as the grackle dropped to the ice floor. Realizing a creature of that size could hardly be a threat - and wasn't going to be much more than a single bite, hardly even a full snack - the worm meandered down its sloping tunnel to see what was out there. It hardly anticipated what it found: the grackle flew away at top speed, while the polar worm was struck by an arrow in the head followed almost immediately by a pebble that grew instantly to the size of a boulder upon impact. Infuriated by the unsuspected attacks, the worm scrambled forward on its dozens of legs, the plates along its back heating up as its rage grew. Activating her [I]boots of haste[/I], Chaevaris peppered the polar worm with arrow after arrow. Ageratum flung another pair of pebboulders at high speed towards the worm, both hitting as well. The remorhaz collapsed in a pile on the ice shelf, the glow already starting to fade from its dorsal plates as it fell into unconsciousness - although they were still hot enough to start to melt the ice in immediate contact. "Someone's coming!" hissed Orchid suddenly, pointing over at the doors, where she had heard someone fumbling with whatever locking mechanism had been in place. "Evil!" called out Harlan, after scanning the aura of the creature on the other side. So when the frost giant opened the door to see what was making that racket outside her home, she was blasted in the face by a pair of [I]scorching rays[/I] fired through Alistair's metamagic rod to maximum effectiveness. It was only after he'd fired off the spell that Alistair realized the giant had a rather grandmotherly appearance: white hair, wrinkled face and all. But Harlan wasn't the least bit concerned about the frost giant's kindly appearance, for his instant aura reading told him all he needed to know. At his urging, Nova raced across the landing and kicked the old giantess in the face with a sharp hoof, while he brought his [I]holy flaming burst longsword[/I] - a sword which, at his companions' urging, he'd finally granted the name "the Starblade," after his own surname - slicing into her torso. The combined attacks caused the giantess to fall over on her side, unconscious and bleeding out, her face a dark mass of charred flesh. Nova came to a landing and the paladin leaped from his broad back, nearly slipping on the ice when he did so but regaining his balance at the last moment. He stepped into the room beyond, seeing it to be a giant-sized herbarium; apparently the female frost giant had been some kind of botanist. But the room held no other enemies, so Harlan advanced through the open doorway to the room even further north, which held a throne of carved ice, a table, an unused fire pit, and an empty armor stand in the corner. Along the western wall of this back room stood another pair of giant-sized ice doors, while the northwest and northeast corners held piles of loose snow. Nova followed his master, looking curiously around the rooms, and Orchid followed them both into the interior. Chaevaris followed suit, moving much faster than normal or what would have been advised on such a slick surface had she not had the [I]spider climb[/I] spell still active and keeping her from slipping. She ducked under the table in what she thought of as the throne room and aimed her bow at the double doors, arrow nocked and ready. Ageratum eventually followed suit, but she took a moment to ensure the frost giantess was truly dead, then wiped her short sword on the grandmother's clothes and checked on what she might have been carrying inside the large sack she'd had with her. With a look of disappointment, the little halfling saw it was merely chunks of ice and rocks - throwing ammunition, in other words, and all but useless to her. Alistair was looking around the herbarium, distrusting that none of these plants were attacking just yet. Ogilvy followed at a leisurely pace, pointing his lantern wherever Alistair asked him to. Then, convinced the herbarium held no surprises, the sorcerer followed the others into the back room. Ambrose stood outside on the ledge by the three planters, ready to alert his master if anyone or anything approached from behind. He pecked absently at the remorhaz's eyes from time to time, helping himself to a handy snack. Harlan was back on Nova and had ridden the celestial pegasus to the western side of the room, where the added height was perfect for opening the doors, whose handles were at a height comfortable for frost giants. To his surprise, the doors opened up to the outside world - after days spent underground, the paladin was once again breathing the open air. But Harlan had no time to appreciate such a turn of events, for that wasn't all that was on the other side of the doors: a frost giant, likely the husband to the giantess they'd just slain, was returning from an unsuccessful hunt with his two winter wolves at his side. He was armed with a frost-covered axe that glowed a light blue in the sunlight of the outside air - and he was not the least bit happy to see an armored paladin astride a winged horse opening the doors to his own dwelling upon his return. [B]Haldar Islogi[/B] gave a roar and charged at Harlan, bringing his axe over Nova's back to strike at the paladin, whose shield only managed to deflect the worst of the attack at the last moment. Orchid ignored the ball of fire literally at hand and cast another spell, [I]heat metal[/I], at the frost giant, seeing as he was decked out in some sort of banded mail. However, for some unknown reason, the spell failed to take effect. But beneath the massive table, Chaevaris was staring down her arrow at the elderly frost giant, lining up for the perfect shot. Ageratum sidled up next to the archer, careful not to bump into her or otherwise spoil her shot. Alistair made it to the open doorway, got a look at what they were facing, and decided to go with a spell that would give them all an immediate benefit: a [I]haste[/I] spell. Feeling the spell overtake her, Chaevaris mentally shut down her magical boots, as they were no longer necessary - and they could only be used for so long in any 24-hour period, in any case. "They're all evil!" Harlan called out for the benefit of his companions, then channeled Pelor's smiting energy into the [I]Starblade[/I] and swung for all he was worth, catching Haldar in the side of the head and cutting him above the ear, part of the blow deflected by the giant's metal helm. And, despite what he would have imagined for a creature adapted to life inside a glacier, Harlan noted his sword's flames didn't seem to faze the frost giant in the least, which was passing strange. Some sort of fire protection at work, perhaps? Nova reared up and lashed out with his front hooves, one of them catching the frost giant in the face, bloodying his lip. But then the winter wolves darted in, one on either side, and snapped their wicked teeth at the celestial pegasus, one biting Nova's leg and making an unsuccessful attempt to trip the mount over on his side, where he'd be easy pickings. Harlan punished one wolf for the affront, cutting deep into the lupine beast's fur and flesh with his blade. But in focusing his attention on Nova's plight, even for the brief time it took to hit the wolf, Harlan left himself open to another attack from Haldar's axe-blade, and the blow was felt deeply even through the paladin's protective armor. Orchid saw the blow and the look of pain that crossed Harlan's face and she stepped forward to Nova's side, so she could reach out and apply a charge from her [I]staff of healing[/I] to undo some of the paladin's wounds. And then Chaevaris released her bowstring, causing the arrow to fly true to its intended target: Haldar's left eye. The frost giant roared in pain and surprise, the feathered shaft of the elf's arrow protruding from his eye socket as blood dripped down his face like crimson tears. While Haldar was so distracted, Ageratum raced out from beneath the giant-sized table and made her way around the frost giant, avoiding a snap from the nearest winter wolf as she did so. Then she struck the elderly giant from behind, slicing her blade through the back of his leg and dealing all kinds of damage to his tendons. He dropped to one knee but continued his desperate fight, calling out "[B]Vigdis![/B]" in the hope his wife could help him fight off these vicious intruders, unaware the heroes had already taken care of his wife before ever encountering him. Alistair used up another daily charge of his [I]metamagic rod of maximize spell[/I], blasting another set of [I]scorching rays[/I] through it and directly into Haldar's ruined face. Then Harlan followed up with another three quick thrusts of his sword, the first of them imbued with Pelor's smiting energy. Haldar dropped like a stone, already halfway to death without any urging from Ageratum's throat-thirsty blade. Nova took out the wounded winter wolf with a series of kicks to the head, eventually bludgeoning it into unconsciousness alongside his master. That left only the one remaining winter wolf, who bit at Nova's leg again and still failed to topple the proud mount. Orchid started pelting it with balls of fire from her [I]produce flame[/I] spell, each hit singeing the beast's fur even further. Finally, Chaevaris took it out with a flurry of rapid-fire arrows, the final one piercing its skull and slaying it instantly. "I say, Elfy, good shooting!" complimented Alistair, speaking specifically about the eye-shot at the giant but taken overall as a whole. They searched for treasure and found only the giant's armor and weapon; Ageratum has started to try to pry the gems out of his armor until Chaevaris called on her to stop, stating the gems were what gave it its magical properties. Alistair, using a [I]detect magic[/I] spell to confirm the armor and greataxe were both magical, surmised the armor likely was a suit of [I]banded armor of luck[/I], and that the gems were indeed what gave it its magical properties. Properly chastised, Ageratum refrained from trying to pry out any of the gemstones, and diverted her attention to her normal post-combat throat-slitting, to ensure the [I]Blood Mirror[/I] Harlan kept on his person didn't keep anyone alive they didn't want kept alive. "Pity the loot's all sized for a giant," Alistair sighed. "We won't get to use a bit of it, ourselves." "No," agreed Harlan, "but I'm sure the stone giants transporting all of the rock slabs for the additions to the Stone Keep can make use of it. I'll bet they'd pay a good sum of money for both the armor and the weapons!" That gave them all the needed incentive to strip it down off Haldar's corpse, so Chaevaris could activate her necklace and bring forth the door that led into their extradimensional living quarters. There stood Carruthers, the shield guardian linked to the amulet Alistair wore about his neck. "There you are!" greeted Alistair. "Didn't have time to come get you, old boy - maybe next time!" Carruthers stood motionless as the heroes tossed the [I]frost blade greataxe[/I] and the [I]banded armor of luck[/I] into their dwelling before Chaevaris shunted it back into her necklace and the heroes made their way carefully back to the [I]folding boats[/I], where the mapmakers were just finishing up. "Journey's just about at an end!" spoiled Orchid. And that proved to be the case, for just around the corner, the river finally exited the glacier and stood exposed to the open air. The expedition cheered, their supposition that there was an underground passageway through the Lortmil Mountains having finally proven to be true. - - - This was a pretty cool adventure (no pun intended), although I got a kick out of Logan guessing perfectly what we'd be encountering once he learned we were inside a glacier. He accurately predicted the hole in the ice wall was a polar worm tunnel, figured there were frost giants living behind the double doors, and also expected them to have one or more winter wolves as pets. [/QUOTE]
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Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
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