RangerWickett
Legend
Tonight I and my fellow characters entered an oddly cold cavern that jutted away from the lava-filled tunnels we had been exploring the previous week. We heard what sounded like children singing and playing, and when we went inside we saw the walls covered with ice, the ground packed with snow. Some strange cryoluminescent fungal colonies grew in lines along the ceiling, glowing faintly in red, blue, gold, and green.
I snuck ahead and up onto a snowy ledge. Two ice bridges led away. Across one, on a ledge against the opposite wall, sat a jolly figure built of three giant snow balls, each smaller than the first, and the top one adorned with a face of button and coal. It held a giant corncob pipe in its wooden arms.
Across the other was the great revelry. Three wee folk in red hats capered and pranced in circles, while a trio of reindeer the size of horses danced in the opposite direction, all of them ringing around a central figure, twice as large as a man, coated in red and white blood-soaked ice.
Then one of the singing figures spotted me, and jumped with a fright, which brought the dance to a halt. I started to wave greetings, but the central figure suddenly emitted a mechanical, grating laugh:
Ho Ho Ho.
Its eyes began to glow red, and its laugh only grew louder and louder, and despite the eminent horror I felt, nonetheless his voice brought a smile to my mouth. Then he raised his hands in the air, and shimmering motes of radiance like the Northern Lights filled the cavern. With that the little elves pulled from their jerkins hammers and woodcarving blades that one might use to make toys, and, hooting and hollering they leaped upon the backs of their reindeer, which sprung into the air and flew straight at me.
My fellow adventurers came to my aid, but then with a roar of fury the snow man came to life - to which the little dancers cheered, "Frosty!" - and it charged our warden. He battled it heroically, tearing through its snowy body with his hammer, but its wounds simply filled in with fresh snow.
Meanwhile, I slung magical bolas at the reindeer to immobilize them, and our kid artificer, Billy, sent in his toy golem to fight the giant golem, whom the wee elves called Santa. Santa seemed nearly impervious to harm, and whenever we drew blood on one of his companions he would stop laughing to shout, "NAUGHTY!" and then hurl lumps of flaming coal at us.
We quickly learned to stay out of his line of sight, and our rogue kept taunting him, tricking him into going under unstable ice stalactites, all the while trying to shoot the golem's eye out. Occasionally he tried to steal one of the wrapped boxes hanging in the bag on Santa's back, but the machine would always rebuff him.
Reindeers fell, but the wee elves in their red caps jumped at us and continued the fight, and the snow man engaged in a titanic duel on the ice bridge, but our warden refused to let it pass. Again and again he would knock the monster down, but it would always stand again, and we realized the only way to truly slay it would be to melt it. I drew a torch, but we were in a grave spot, and I didn't know if I would be able to light it in time.
Then our invoker - who apparently knew these beings, and for whom today was some obscure religious holy day for his faith - yelled at Santa that he was destroying the 'true spirit of Christmas.' With a baleful invocation of furious malediction, he smote the elves and their reindeer with fire and brimstone, and slew all but one.
Santa roared, but could not fling flaming coal at the invoker, who had cleverly hidden himself out of sight. So he settled on pegging me, when moments later I planted two arrows down the glowing red nostrils of the last reindeer. I screamed as I caught fire, but then saw my chance. Without even trying to bat out the flames, I sprinted at the snow man and leapt upon his momentarily immobilized body, burning us both, but finally melting his murderous, icy heart.
Santa cried, "No ho ho!" and in his moment of distraction, Billy the kid artificer charged him and impaled the giant golem with his greatspear. Santa, having been worn down by a long battle, and his jolly spirit finally thwarted, shattered in a pile of red and white ice.
We cheered our victory, and set to opening the strange wrapped packages he had left us as loot.
I snuck ahead and up onto a snowy ledge. Two ice bridges led away. Across one, on a ledge against the opposite wall, sat a jolly figure built of three giant snow balls, each smaller than the first, and the top one adorned with a face of button and coal. It held a giant corncob pipe in its wooden arms.
Across the other was the great revelry. Three wee folk in red hats capered and pranced in circles, while a trio of reindeer the size of horses danced in the opposite direction, all of them ringing around a central figure, twice as large as a man, coated in red and white blood-soaked ice.
Then one of the singing figures spotted me, and jumped with a fright, which brought the dance to a halt. I started to wave greetings, but the central figure suddenly emitted a mechanical, grating laugh:
Ho Ho Ho.
Its eyes began to glow red, and its laugh only grew louder and louder, and despite the eminent horror I felt, nonetheless his voice brought a smile to my mouth. Then he raised his hands in the air, and shimmering motes of radiance like the Northern Lights filled the cavern. With that the little elves pulled from their jerkins hammers and woodcarving blades that one might use to make toys, and, hooting and hollering they leaped upon the backs of their reindeer, which sprung into the air and flew straight at me.
My fellow adventurers came to my aid, but then with a roar of fury the snow man came to life - to which the little dancers cheered, "Frosty!" - and it charged our warden. He battled it heroically, tearing through its snowy body with his hammer, but its wounds simply filled in with fresh snow.
Meanwhile, I slung magical bolas at the reindeer to immobilize them, and our kid artificer, Billy, sent in his toy golem to fight the giant golem, whom the wee elves called Santa. Santa seemed nearly impervious to harm, and whenever we drew blood on one of his companions he would stop laughing to shout, "NAUGHTY!" and then hurl lumps of flaming coal at us.
We quickly learned to stay out of his line of sight, and our rogue kept taunting him, tricking him into going under unstable ice stalactites, all the while trying to shoot the golem's eye out. Occasionally he tried to steal one of the wrapped boxes hanging in the bag on Santa's back, but the machine would always rebuff him.
Reindeers fell, but the wee elves in their red caps jumped at us and continued the fight, and the snow man engaged in a titanic duel on the ice bridge, but our warden refused to let it pass. Again and again he would knock the monster down, but it would always stand again, and we realized the only way to truly slay it would be to melt it. I drew a torch, but we were in a grave spot, and I didn't know if I would be able to light it in time.
Then our invoker - who apparently knew these beings, and for whom today was some obscure religious holy day for his faith - yelled at Santa that he was destroying the 'true spirit of Christmas.' With a baleful invocation of furious malediction, he smote the elves and their reindeer with fire and brimstone, and slew all but one.
Santa roared, but could not fling flaming coal at the invoker, who had cleverly hidden himself out of sight. So he settled on pegging me, when moments later I planted two arrows down the glowing red nostrils of the last reindeer. I screamed as I caught fire, but then saw my chance. Without even trying to bat out the flames, I sprinted at the snow man and leapt upon his momentarily immobilized body, burning us both, but finally melting his murderous, icy heart.
Santa cried, "No ho ho!" and in his moment of distraction, Billy the kid artificer charged him and impaled the giant golem with his greatspear. Santa, having been worn down by a long battle, and his jolly spirit finally thwarted, shattered in a pile of red and white ice.
We cheered our victory, and set to opening the strange wrapped packages he had left us as loot.
