After a short rest in the caverns the group continued through a tunnel to the east away from the frozen river. Moonlight streamed through natural holes 30 feet above their heads, lending an almost fairy-like atmosphere to the glistening ice-coated surfaces.
The tunnel led the group to a chamber strewn with bones: humanoid, knucklehead spines, and other remnants of death. Bits of armor and long rusted weapons lay scattered throughout the chamber, and the icy floor was sticky with congealed blood. Curiously, a giant skeleton sat in the middle of the room, ice having apparently affixed the remains to the ground in its ever-sleep.
Talion cautiously crept beyond the skeleton, only to have it animate and start to break the ice holding it fast, all the while raging at the intruder. The party attacked, benefitting from the giant’s predicament, and Thoradaen’s maul proved to be the undead thing’s undoing, exploding the skeleton into large fragments with the dwarf’s powerful swings.
The threat gone, the adventurers continued east where they grew careless. Coming to another chamber, they too late spotted an old crone at a cauldron, into which she was adding the entrails of one of the fishermen whose flayed corpses lay close by. She had heard the noise of their battle against the skeletal giant and was prepared – a violent explosion of cold erupted from her outstretched hands, enveloping four of the five members of the party (only Ferus was out of range of the frigid spell). Thoradaen and Haryk immediately succumbed to the devastating cold, and the others had no choice but to attempt to flee the hag’s wrath.
Daring to grab their comrades, Talion and Hawlkrin quickly cast healing spells on their fallen, allowing them to move more quickly through the tunnels. The hag gave chase, mocking them as she followed but the group’s panic pushed them faster and sent them out of the caves, alive but humbled.
Upon returning to Easthaven, they located Arlaggath and related the fishermen’s fate. Although distraught at their loss and the proximity of the fey fiend, she offered them one of the executed wizard’s confiscated possessions for the information and suggested they retire to the White Lady Inn to recover.
Ferus identified the small gray bag as a bag of tricks, and Talion, excited to try out the new magic item, reached in and pulled out a giant elk, which was very out of place in the Inn’s lobby. Bartaban, the inn’s proprietor, was unamused. After dismissing the elk from the Inn, the party was able to rent rooms and take a well-deserved long rest, though Haryk still suffered from the phantasmagorical nightmares allowing him no benefits.
The next morning, the group encountered a strongheart halfling named Rinaldo who told them of a séance he was planning that night to speak to the White Lady, a ghost of local legend rumored to haunt the area. A few members agreed to take part, and passed the day identifying the properties of their gains from past adventures.
Most curious were the pair of dice with strange markings – Ferus, for all his intelligence could not decipher the arcane runes. Talion, believing there was only one way to find out, rolled the dice and was immediately stunned, as if by a spell. Seeing this, Thoradaen snatched the dice away and rolled them, only to suddenly look wildly around fearing that small forest animals were sneaking up on him. Hawlkrin took his turn with the dice and upon rolling, a hideous imp materialized and demanded his dice back. Hawlkrin, surprised, refused, and the imp struck at him with his tail but missed and then dissipated into nothingness. Ferus, perhaps wisely, declined to roll, though the party convinced Haryk to take a turn, whose roll summoned the imp once more with the same results.
That evening at the inn, the group participated at the séance with Rinaldo. To their surprise, the White Lady appeared and – after some prodding by Rinaldo – they were able to ask the spirit a few questions, though the answers were not so helpful (maybe their questions sucked).
Deciding to finish what they started, the party returned to the caves and once more fought the hag. Overconfident in her previous victory, the hag questionably made NO preparations for the possible return of the adventurers which allowed them to defeat her rather handily (you’d think intelligent fey creatures wouldn’t allow themselves to be caught so unaware. Probably won’t be happening again in future encounters). Searching the remaining caves, the party came upon the large cauldron they had seen before and recognized it as magical. The group decided to take it back to Easthaven where the Town Speaker, Danneth Waylen, bought the Cauldron of Plenty for five 500 gp gems, knowing that the wonder would be invaluable to the town while the Everlasting Rime remains.
What’s next for the party? Do they make more deliberate attempts to uncover the secrets behind the curse? Do they explore more of the Ten Towns? Will Scython’s tale of a lost treasure far out somewhere in the tundra entice them out into the wilds of Icewind Dale?
