D&D 5E (IC) Rise of the Dracolich

[FitzTheRuke]

OOC: If you plan to just do your best to walk down, please give me a Dex (Acrobatics) check. Marching order is still important, of course.

 

[Ancalagon]

OOC: First Kalorn will wait for a report from Sooty to know what's ahead. Second, I couldn't wait and I saw that Lorenn has pitons. Kalorn has athletics and survival, and a pair of hand axes he inherited from Tarkol, the one-eyed dwarven ranger who taught him many trick. Unless there are foes nearby ahead, Kalorn will use these tools and skills to lay a secure rope and create a few hand/foot hold where necessary.

If there are foes nearby, then we'll have to do things differently!

 

[gargoyleking]

Mord drew a very mundane looking scythe from his belt, held it out and cast a small spell. The weapon levitated from his grasp and went to the first stair where it began to scratch a series of thin lines into the ice. Hopefully making it more tractable.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

OOC: Okay, with the guidance, carved traction, and ropes, I'll drop the DC to the point where no one has to roll. Good thinking, all.

The going was slow and treacherous, but even Sesto was able to find his way over the worst of the slippery and steep stairs without incident. Alhana stepped with ease, her elfish balance keeping her from slipping at all. Soon everyone was down the long staircase into a cold rectangular chamber, empty except for a dozen baskets woven from leather strips and walrus ribs, stacked in the north corner. The chute and its icy stairs had ended at the ceiling; A sturdy ladder then descended into the approximate centre of the chamber. There was an exit to an icy corridor - a fifteen-foot-wide passageway that sloped downward in two arcing directions.

The two familars had both scouted a bit. Eko had travelled from the room under the hole that led to the town hall and up the chute in this room, and Sooty had travelled down this cute and around the room, checking that it was clear of potential enemies.

OOC: You can send them out again, but this is the picture that the familiars have so-far given their masters; 1 is the rectangular room the party is in; 2 is the room under the town hall. It had an ill-looking ice-hunter in it. The brown stuff on the map covers up what you haven't seen. Have a look:

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[Fradak]

Lorenn turns his armor into ice to camouflage himself before jumping on his board. "I'll be back" he whispered, sliding swiftly but silently into the icy corridor going south.

OOC: Lorenn casts Disguise Self to look as the surrounding walls. He follows the corridor discreetly and signals any threat with a Message spell (120ft). Stealth: [roll0] (advantage because of board + camouflage? [roll1]) Perception: (best of) [roll2][roll3] To pass discreetly an entrance, Lorenn slide along the wall above the passageway if possible (so you don't see him from the passage).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Lorenn scouted ahead to the south. He found the sloping ground continued on, but it also led to a chamber on his right. A dozen kobolds occupied this disheveled and filthy space. Half-eaten fish heads and gnawed seal flippers were tossed into corners or carelessly strewn around matted heaps of furs, which would undoubtedly smell as bad as they looked if not for the cold which preserved everything. A few of the Kobolds were sleeping but most were tossing knucklebones, sharpening blades, sewing clothing, carving whalebone, or picking on each other to pass the time.

None of them noticed the half-elf floating on his board in the hallway.

At the far end of the room, an opening led to an ice-slide, which sloped away into a deeper chamber.

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[Fradak]

Lorenn keeps going south.

"Kobold on the right." He whispered with his message spell.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

OOC: What's everyone else up to while Lorenn is scouting? Staying in the room or following him south? Is Kalorn sending Sooty west by north-west?

 

[Ancalagon]

"Kobolds ahead" Kalorn passed on the message in a low grim voice. He didn't relish the idea of fighting kobolds. Either they had murderous traps, and that was bad, or they weren't ready and then it was a massacre and... bah. He was getting soft. He missed Tarkol. He would have used a stealth spell that would covered the group. Kalorn knew he couldn't sneak.

He shook his head, and closed his eyes again, seeing through Sooty's eyes. What was that opening directly north?

OOC: Send Sooty on that room close to where we are (1 right) and directly north.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Sooty flew along the curving passage going north and west and turned into the first side-passage to the right. This room was deeper into the iceburg than the others had been, and it held some sort of cloying mist that was very cold and made it hard to see, even for a bat. Through the mist there appeared to be six Frost Giants, standing perfectly still while kobolds polished their boots. At least that's what the familiar's eyes saw. Sooty's ears and squeaks showed the scene quite differently - there was a solid wall of ice and the giants were quite frozen inside. The kobolds were keeping frost from forming on the surface of the wall, keeping it a nice clear window - where the dragon could come to see his frozen victims.

OOC: It occurred to me that echolocation would not be fooled by giants frozen in a wall of ice.

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