Dark clouds loomed on the horizon as FCG began examining the gruesome scene before them. Endrin examined the remains of the dormant fire in the center of the wild folk camp, discovering traces of necrotic energy still lingering within the deep violet coals. Triple J held a brief conversation with one of the withered corpses through which he learned the details of the wild folk’s horrific demise at the hands of the Bladescarred. The party buried the informative corpse and rummaged through the camp for supplies before being forced to take shelter in one of the huts as a blizzard befell them.
Amidst the howling wind, FCG heard the crunching of footfalls in the nearby snow. Eris poked her head out of the hut to find two Righteous Brand soldiers sitting amidst the torrent of snow, staring blankly at the ruined camp. One rose and turned to face the princess. Immediately, Eris discerned the undead nature of the individual. Before the party could spring to action, the individual spoke to them. He relayed that they were part of an expedition team here in Eiselcross and that he and his companion were searching for a Cerberus Assembly mage by the name of Daggoth Ulyss. Disinterested in FCG’s lack of knowledge regarding Ulyss, the undead man and his companion departed, heading back out into the open Blizzard.
It was late in the afternoon when the snow began to clear. FCG gathered their things and began heading east toward the River Inferno and Aeor’s main ruin. As the sun fell low, the party arrived along the icy banks of the sprawling molten river. While examining the river and debating the best way to cross, the party made their way to the top of a nearby hill along the river for a better vantage point. On the immediate other side of the hill, the party discovered a large lava filled caldera along with a cave opening within. The party made their way around the lip of the cliff side and descended down toward the cave, hopeful they might find an easy way across the River Inferno or perhaps uncover some of Aeor’s many secrets.
FCG entered the cave and wound their way beneath Foren’s frozen surface until eventually arriving at a wide vertical shaft of ice and stone with a bubbling pool of lava lying at its base. Endrin flew down the shaft looking for another potential passage on the other side. Though Endrin eventually discovered a passage nestled under a rocky outcropping on the far side, he also found it to be filled with brown mold. The wizard unleashed a bolt of fire down the tunnel hoping to burn away the mold. The mold, instead, grew outward further, seemingly enticed by the heat. In response to the loud blast, the shaft was filled by a loud screech from above, causing Endrin to cower in fear as two large bat-like creatures descended upon him.
Endrin could not withstand the gnashing teeth of the closer monstrosity and fell unconscious, but all was not lost as the rest of FCG sprang into action from the tunnel above. Eris, Nyx, Triple J, and even Artaema harried one of the creatures with spellfire, while Malcolm leapt down into the shaft after Endrin. The gallant warrior jammed a piton into one of the protruding chunks of stone as he fell. The piton allowed Malcolm to catch himself long enough to leap off the stone surface and tackle the bat-like creature, currently holding Endrin in its clutches, slamming it into the wall. Overwhelmed, the creature released Endrin, causing the wizard to plummet down the shaft until he collided with another protruding section of stone. Malcolm leapt down and fell to Endrin’s level and then proceeded to revive his friend with a healing potion. Meanwhile, the rest of FCG finished off the other fel creature. The remaining monstrosity did not last long after that. Triple J hypnotized it, allowing Eris to web it in place. The trapped beast was then powerless to defend itself against the combined arcane might of Endrin and Nyx.
As the dust settled, the party had Artaema fly up the shaft and take a look around. She discovered the remains of the monsters’ prey along with a few useful bits of adventuring gear for the party. The Foren native then descended and eradicated the brown mold within the next tunnel, utilizing cold damage at Malcolm’s suggestion. At the end of the tunnel, FCG encountered a slanted shingled wall, barring them from further passage. Unwilling to turn back yet, the party decided the best course of action would be to blast their way through. Endrin bombarded the shingled wall until it crumbled into a small opening.
The party stepped through the opening to find themselves in the top floor of a cylindrical tower that had seemingly fallen on its side and been entombed in ice. Artaema concluded from even the smallest hints of architecture and design that this tower was likely of Aeorian make and a remnant from the fallen city. In this chamber they discovered a few magic items, a scroll and an arcane key, along with a journal written in Ancient Aeorian. Artaema deciphered the journal and informed the party of its owner, who’s bones lay beneath a splintered desk, and his work on an experiment referred to as L-17H. Hungry for more knowledge, the party proceeded further down the fallen tower, after taking a brief rest.
As they crept down the long tube, climbing over the staircases that spiraled down its extent, black ooze began to pour in from the surrounding stonework, blocking the party’s way at either end. The sentient puddings began immediately lurching toward the party with insatiable hunger. Eris’ blade struck true but merely managed to split the first ooze in two before she began calling on her patron’s aid to damage the foul pudding. Malcolm, realizing his own blade would be of no use, took a defensive stance, protecting both Eris and Artaema where he could. The casters, all clustered in the center, mustered their magical might and bombarded the blob of oozes with nearly every type of evocation magic, struggling at first to navigate the oozes’ numerous immunities.
The situation looked dire at one point as Eris fell prey to the oozes’ acidic nature and Endrin found himself polymorphed into a sheep due to a surge of wild magic. Reacting quickly, Triple J revived Eris with a healing word while Artaema and Nyx burned out a path ahead, further down the tower. Endrin, now freed from the polymorph, pulled the oozes behind the group back with gravity while Triple J momentarily halted their movement with another hypnotic pattern. Malcolm defended the party’s rear as the group began fleeing down to the tower’s base. As FCG ran, the casters took pot shots at the relentless pudding, eventually bringing their pursuit to an end.
At the base of the tower, FCG found that most of the chamber was missing, replaced by jagged ice and rock, and that the wall to the left, technically the floor of the structure, had a wide crack in it about five feet up. They climbed over the wall and into a wide icy cavern, faintly illuminated by a blinking light emanating from a narrow split in the ice on the far end of the cavern.
