Warning: Spoilers below for the adventure, Menace of the Icy Spire (albeit a modified version).
Taking a brief rest to deal with some logistical stuff, the party determines that some of the items they’ve found in the last few sessions are magical and what they do. Of particular interest is the parchment found upon the Shadar-Kai…presumably the Bairwin mentioned in the parchment. It turns out that this parchment is magically linked to another and whatever happens to one (e.g., written upon) happens to the other. Ah ha…this Bairwin can receive messages/instructions from someone. The party contemplates how this might be used to track down the individual(s) involved with Bairwin.
The party then presses onward…actually upward. Squeezing on to the disk in the secret room, they levitate up to the next level…the roof of the tower. The top of the tower is a rather bizarre scene. The view of the surrounding area is refracted and twisted through the icy sheathe surrounding the tower. The ice comes to a peak about 20 feet above the tower. All around the peak of the icy spire, swirls a vicious wind and heavy snow. Floating several feet above the center roof is a sapphire easily the size of a man’s fist. It pulses with energy and, with each pulse, wind whips across the rooftop and snow swirls about; the clouds above the tower appear to draw energy from these pulses.
The gem’s otherwise perfect surface appears marred by scratches or runes that glow with a dark purple energy. A small magical circle of some sort has been carved onto the roof in similar glowing runes. The runes are in the same Iokharic script as found on Bairwin’s parchment. Upon careful arcane examination, it is apparent that the circle is some sort of protective circle and that the gem controls the wintery weather. It also becomes clear that the magics which had contained the wintery, icy weather to a very small area (i.e., the tower) have been broken. The purple runes on the gem have removed those “safeguards” and allowed for the wintery weather to expand outward.
The party determines that the gem cannot be fixed (i.e., restoring the safeguards) and that the only way to stop the wintery weather is to destroy the source…the gem. Ruben starts to concentrate on the gem with the intent to unravel its magics when a cold, white mist floats out of the gem and coalesces into a large, white-furred creature (can you say Bumble) who has patches of dark purple marring its otherwise perfect coat. A rather cold, difficult fight ensues with both the Bumble and the gem (it shot icy rays). The Bumble causes a wintery blast that forces Roxy from the roof and to the ice below and she was the first of many PCs to fall before the creature. Eventually, only Deornoth remained standing…largely because he took shelter in the protective circle. The creature was unable to strike him, its wintery blast could not penetrate its protections, and the gems rays were stopped.
In the end, Deornoth defeated the creature. After he struck the killing blow, the gem exploded and the icy sheathe encasint the tower begins to creak and crack. A huge chunk of ice falls and smashes into the tower’s roof, destroying the section it struck. It is quite clear that if the ice comes down, the tower will be demolished along with anyone inside it. As Deornoth prepares to flee, he notices that the bodies of all of his fallen companions are not where they fell. In fact, none of their bodies are visible even though each, except for Roxy, had been lying on the rooftop. So Deornoth flees before the tower collapses.
Reaching relative safety, he realizes that the weather has already begun to warm. Feeling at something of a loss as to what to do, he begins to head back towards Loudwater. As it gets dark, Deornoth finds a suitable campsite and eats alone next to his small campfire. Suddently everything goes completely silent and still and the campfire becomes a frozen, blue flame. A beautiful, unearthly woman steps into the light of the blue flame. She asks if he is the companion of Roxana Sabrina Carmichael in a voice that though beautiful suggests an ancient power. He says yes and the woman responds that Roxana and her companions have commited crimes against her and if he would come with her to discuss this.
Taking the woman’s offered hand, the pair takes a couple of steps and are no longer in the Dire Wood. Instead, they are walking in a large, icy chamber with a throne at the far end. The bodies of all the fallen party members lie on the floor of the chamber. The woman ascends the throne and sits while Deornoth sees to his companions. Each is alive but unconscious and he is able to revive all but Tyrande (she was out of healing surges).
Roxy, being the feylock type, recognizes the woman on the throne as Queen Geimheadh (geev-reh). She is a very powerful Fey Queen of the Winter Court and not one to be treated lightly or with disrespect. Geimhreadh explains that the Dire Wood is part of her domain and that the gem, the Bumble, and the whole tower were hers. She had caused the tower to be encased in ice as part of a punishment for Draigdurroch. Roxy attempted to explain that they only did what they had to fight those who were corrupting her magics.
Geimhreadh seems unmoved by Roxy’s arguments and suggests that they ask the opinion of he who is ultimately responsible for all of this. With a wave of her hand, a block of ice appears. A dwarf, who turns out to be Draigdurroch, is encased inside, frozen with a look of complete agony upon his face. The ice melts, releasing the dwarf, and he instantly starts to beg for Geimreadh’s forgiveness. The Queen asks for his opinion of what punishment she should subject the party to for their crimes against her. She suggests that maybe she should do to them what she has done to him. The dwarf begs her not to do that. Geimhreadh explains that, as she had promised Draigdurroch she would grant him a single boon at some point, she would not. This seems to bring D to his senses and he says that is not whe he meant and then leaps at the Queen…another wave of her hand and he is returned to his icy prison of agony.
The Queen, with something of a smile of satisfaction, expresses her surprise that one such as Draigdurroch would use his one and only boon to aid others rather than himself. She then contemplates exactly what to do with the party. She can’t simply let them go without any punishment as that would cause her to lose face with her rivals and peers. Of course, if the party had been acting upon her interests, even if somewhat prematurely, then their actions might not be seen as acting against her. Such would not appear plausible if the party did not do other tasks for her and, in fact, she has something in mind. The party agrees to accomplish the task for her but, when they ask what it is, she smiles and simply says that they’ll know.
When the party exits the chamber through its only door, they find themselves under the night’s stars, upon a road passing through farmland. The crops are all dead and no livestock is in sight. Yuri realizes that he doesn’t recognize any of the stars in the sky. The nighttime sounds also seem somehow wrong or different. A short distance ahead is a small village and, a bit farther up the road, a castle. The party heads towards the village.
Most of the buildings are dark and quiet but one, which turns out to be a tavern, has the sound of voices. The party goes in and see a bartender and three farmer types sitting at one table. All of them make some sort of gesture with their hands, reminiscent of a warding sign, and, although the party claims to be simple travelers, the bartender orders them out of his tavern. All four appear to be afraid of the party.
After camping in some nearby woods for the night, the party skirts the edge of town and heads towards the castle (oh, the sun is a different shade of yellow than what they are accustomed to and the party accepts that they are definitely not in Kansas anymore). All of the buildings in the village look to be shuttered, there’s no one visible in the village, and neither are any livestock. Reaching the castle, the party knocks upon the door…a few minutes later, an elderly gentleman answers. He is cordial in his greeting but makes the same gesture that the taverngoers had made the previous night.
Telling the elderly man that they are travelers and not sure where they are, he asks if they’d like an audience with the Duke and they, perhaps a little shocked, say yes. He suggests a dinner audience at dusk time as he thinks that “you people” prefer dusk time. They spend the day mostly in the woods discovering new species of bird, squirrel, and fish. They arrive at the castle at dusk and are invited into the castle.
Inside, the castle mirrors the state of the village. The walls are largely bare, though it is clear that they once had pictures and tapestries hung upon them. The whole place looks rather run down and stricken with poverty. No other people are seen until the party is led into a large banquet hall. At the end of the table, a human sits. He rises and greets the party introducing himself as Duke Etan of the Kingdom of Nordy.
As dinner is shared (although he doesn’t appear to eat or drink and the food is rather common), the party learns the following from the Duke:
- They are in the Kingdom of Nordy.
- He believes that the party is fey and servants of some fey queen. He claims to be able to see through their normal glamor to see their true selves (remember, the party contains some elf types and everyone in the group has silver eyes).
- Most of his villagers have left, the crops are diseased and withered and the livestock has either died or been taken away.
- He tells his story. Nordy has been at war with another kingdom, Alban, which lies across a short sea. Alban is a strong naval power and raids Nordy’s coastal holdings and then retreats to their homeland. Nordy, on the other hand, has never been a naval power and could not strike back at Alban. A queen from a far away land came to the court of the king of Nordy and offered to build a fortress that could travel over land and sea and would protect the kingdom. Doubtful of her claims, the king demanded proof and she gave it by raising up a fortress of ice on the spot. She gave the king a key and said when payment was made in full, the key would unlock the fortress.
- She turned down all offers of payment until asked what she would accept in exchange. The queen said she wanted a bird that she could hold in her hand while it sings and it would never die. The greatest mages in the land created just such a magical bird and Duke Etan was charged with delivering it to the queen for she had said that he would know how to reach her.
- Duke Etan continues, saying that he took the box but when he returned here with it, he looked inside. The beauty of it was so striking and enchanting that he simply could not give it up. He replaced the bird with a dead robin and gave the box to the queen. When the king went to unlock the fortress, the key would not work. The king and all of the assembled nobles assumed that the queen had betrayed them but the Duke said he, obviously, knew better.
- The queen cursed his lands. No crops can grow, no calves born, and game is scarce. The duke cannot enjoy anything that is his (he lifts his wine goblet and turns it over…a chunk of ice falls out). He claims that he should have known better as he had known the queen for many years as had his father before him and his father’s father before him. Much of the riches of his family had come through their dealings with this fey and, in fact, the Duke is the one who took her to the king’s court in the first place.
- The Duke claims that he’s attempted to make amends and offer other treasures for his crime but neither the queen nor any of her emissaries have answered his call until now. But now that her servants have come (i.e., the party), he can give her the gift he has had made. Instead of one bird (which, by the way, he had destroyed), he has had three created. Although the box they are in is not as beautiful as the original, the birds have no rival. He begs for the party to take the birds to her and beg for her forgiveness on his behalf (hmm…seems Geimhreadh was honest about the party knowing what the task would be).
After dinner, Duke Etan leads the party to a door deep beneath his keep. He gives them a box that, presumably, contains the three bird but the party does not check within. He hands them the key to the door and they open it to reveal a dark hallway.
The hallway turns out to be quite long but finally opens up into a large cavern that appears to be made of some blue crystal. As the party travels through the cavern, they hear numerous voices mumbling things like “Mortals” and “Warm Flesh” and such. Roxy mentions the name of Queen Geimhreadh’s and the voices all whisper “Enemies.” Hundreds of tiny, tiny blue faeries come out of the crystal walls and attack. A few grow to about the size of a goblin or halfling but most of them remain tiny and swarm about the party (this is a good example of how easy it is to take existing monsters and “reskin” them to create something apparently new). The fight turns out to be rather tough and Tyrande is killed (not by the piranha smurfs but after being caught in a Thunderwave by Ruben and its critical damage).
Another long passageway exits the cavern and the party travels for what seems like hours (with Tyrande’s body in tow on a Tenser’s Floating Disk). Finally it ends in two doors…one black and one white. Each has a snake motif carved upon it. As Yuri approaches the doors, the snakes animate and give the classic riddle of one door leads to their destination, the other to greater danger, one question can be asked, and one snake always answers truthfully and one snake answers with a lie…what is your question? The party asks the “correct” question and the white door opens. The party proceeds through. After everyone has gone through, the door closes and is replaced with a wall and the snakes can be heard to say that they never said the whole setup was true (i.e., maybe they lied about one door leading to their destination and the other to greater danger).
Roxy realizes that the party is in the Underdark of the Feywild…not a very safe place! She is not certain, however, whose domain they happen to be traveling through.
They travel for, again, what seems like hours but, given they are in the Feywild, time may not be what it seems. This passage eventually opens up into a large, natural-looking cavern. The floor of the cavern is covered in sand. Yuri goes in first and, with his longspear, checks the depth of the sand. At first it is relatively shallow but after a short distance, the sand is deeper than his spear. Proceeding with all due caution, Yuri is still surprised when a worm shoots out from the sand about 10′ away and wraps around him (i.e., he’s grabbed) and bites him.
That’s where we ended the session.
