Having found the iceberg, you have
now descended inside into what you believe is one of the lairs of Arauthator in
search of Maccath the Crimson.
Book Two, Chapter 1.3 (session 34, 7 th December 2017)
Following Mad’s defeat of Orcaheart, Barking Seal (reluctantly)
invited you into the longhouse for a ceremonial meal and discussion.
Present in the longhouse were about half the village males (12
tribal warriors), Orcaheart (tribal champion), Bonecarver (shaman) and Barking
Seal himself. The remaining tribal warriors and all the women and children
remained outside. The hall itself was floored in what was clearly reclaimed
timber from ships and the walls hung with leathers painted with artic hunting
scenes.
A ceremonial meal of very gamey (almost rotten) shark was
presented which was refused by all members of the party. Although the locals
tucked in with gusto.
Barking Seal continued to deny any knowledge of seeing
foreigners recently, continued to claim that Whit Death was killed by frost
giants a year or two ago but was vague on the details. When pushed he said that
these were just local stories and had been passed down from his father and
grandfather, all he knew was the dragon was killed out on the floes ‘somewhere’
by frost giants – not the first battle between them. He was unable to explain
where the frost giants came from, just that they often wondered the floes.
Both Mads and Dilon were unsatisfied by these answers and things
started to get heated. Franz in the meantime got up and started walking about
the hall stamping on the floor to see if he could detect a trapdoor or secret
opening – he was followed by the glares of several ice hunters. He then
wondered to the doorway (a many layered shield of hanging leather flaps). Jamna
stepped out and wondered around the back of the longhouse and out of sight of
the tribesmen, disappearing into the shadows and snow storm.
Back inside the argument between Mads and Barking Seal reached a
crescendo, with Mads trying to browbeat the chief but failing and surprising
himself by backing away from the increasingly hostile and angry tribal leader
who was now adamant in his demands that you left – you could still stay the
night in the store lodge but should go in the morning. Dilon asked Franz what
he had found, Franz shrugged raised his bow and shot over the heads into the
far corner of the longhouse (meaning to indicate the location of the hollow
sound he’d detected). This action resulted in pandemonium as Barking Seal and Mads
continued shouting in each other’s face and several tribesmen attempted to grab
Franz and drag him outside. Dilon reacted with a fireball that killed several
tribesmen. Weapons were drawn and a significant short and dangerous fight
developed – with other tribesmen charging in from outside.
In the end the party triumphed but not without expending much
effort. None of the male tribesmen survived, all were killed but the women and
children were ignored – they appear to have fled out onto the icy plateau. Dilon
erected Leomund’s tiny hovel and the party sheltered in that within the
longhouse.
In the morning the party opened up the concealed trapdoor and
ventured down the 100’ long icy stair that wound around a chute carved into the
ice core of the iceberg. At the bottom the chute emptied into a large ice
chamber via a short ladder. In this chamber they found another male tribesman,
he spoke no common and was wracked by a hacking cough and looked ill. Dilon and
Franz gave him a cursory examination and despite Naergon wishing to question
him, claimed he was probably diseased and contagious and Franz shot him dead
The chamber itself was dark but in the light of Mad’s driftglobe
it could be seen that the walls were covered in art, draconic art and
iconography depicting dragons and the defeat of giants and other creatures of
the north. Often crudely done but magnificent in terms of quantity with not an
inch of wall being left undecorated. The floor, it quickly became apparent, was
polished to a glass like finish and difficult to walk across. The temperature
down here is also well below freezing, the heavy weather gear supplied by
Waterdeep keeps you from suffering ill effects but it is clear that without it
survival in here would be difficult. Peering into the gloom two passages could
be seen, one to the north and one to the south, before venturing out Naergon
casts Arcane Eye and sends his sight out into the vast emptiness that is the
interior of the iceberg. As he does he narrates what he sees to Dilon who draws
an approximate map of what Naergon sees – this endeavour is abruptly cut short
as Naergon’s eye is terminated by an unknown force, deep within the lower
levels of the iceberg.
XP earnt is now irrelevant as the rest of ToD is based on
milestone XP. No levels were gained this session.
Naergon:
9 th
level
Carharvilios: 8 th
level
Mads:
8 th level
Franz:
8 th level
Jamna
8 th level
Dilon
7 th level
In-Game the session ended at 04:00 on 15 th Hammer
1485 DR as you prepare to explore the iceberg’s interior.