FCG took an uneasy rest at the entrance of the cave, a cave they hoped would bare access to the fallen city of Aeor. Sleep came difficult to most as the sounds of dog-like yipping, falling rocks, and footsteps echoing through the darkness, keeping everyone on edge. The party awoke slowly, all still battered and weary from the day before, and some ill from the effects of the Woe. Triple J raised everyone’s spirits with a séance, through which the bard summoned an arcane eye that he sent to scout ahead. Triple J’s third eye discovered a bronze ship hull in the room beyond along with a small party of Bladescarred waiting to ambush whatever entered the chamber. FCG hatched a plan to dispose of the Bladescarred and sent Malcolm charging in head on.
Malcolm sprinted across the snowy cavern and engaged one of the archers waiting in an adjacent tunnel, however, he quickly found himself flanked and slashed by another Bladescarred who leapt at him from behind. Endrin tumbled in next and succeeded in paralyzing two more archers who were readying their arrows, buying time for the rest of the party to file into the cavern. Nyx fired off blasts of eldritch energy at the paralyzed archers while Triple J began whispering sinister nothings in their direction. Eris struggled to make it through the clogged entryway, shuffling through her allies. Malcolm endured another round of attacks from both the archer and rogue who he’d engaged with prior, before both disengaged and slipped down the adjacent tunnels. Eris rushed up to her bloodied comrade and laid her hands upon him to heal up some of his wounds. With renewed vigor, Malcolm furiously pursued the archer down the tunnel.
On the other side of the chamber, Endrin focused on keeping the archer duo under control. The wizard bought enough time for Nyx to unleash two fireballs in a cataclysmic instant, thus causing a cave-in of the north eastern tunnel and killing both archers outright. As is oft to happen in Eiselcross, Nyx’s surge of arcane energy caused the wild magic around her to spark and magically confuse both her and Eris. The confused paladin then proceeded to run wildly down the same winding tunnels that the rogue had passed through, her confusion fading as she found herself in an icy chamber by herself. Endrin and Triple J followed closely behind Eris, hoping to corner the rogue Bladescarred.
Meanwhile, further within the cave system, Malcolm continued his pursuit of the fleeing Bladescarred archer, but to no avail. Instead, the warrior stumbled across a cave filled with the bodies of Dwendalian soldiers, along with another much larger cavern containing a ruined tower and many giant icicles along the ceiling. As Malcolm ran through the larger cavern, a lurking ice mephit dropped a large icicle on top of him. Back up near the rogue, Triple J drew both dagger and Acheron Blade and actually engaged the rogue in melee combat, celebrating each small nick with jubilance and mockery. Eris backed up the bard’s haphazard slashing with a much more practiced approach, expertly carving through the Bladescarred rogue with each swing. Unable to get line of sight in the crammed space, Endrin left the rogue to his companions and set off to aid in the rest of the conflict.
At the top of a small drop-off before the icicle laden cavern, Endrin ran into Artaema who did her best to relay Malcolm’s intent. Endrin hopped down into the next chamber and quickly found icicles falling all around him as a whole clutch of mephits revealed themselves along the ceiling. Nyx, finally free of her confusion, followed closely behind and managed to snipe one of the mephits, charring its flesh. Endrin licked his lips and created a gravity sinkhole along the cavern’s roof, crushing both icicle and mephit alike into a bloody ball of rock and ice. Realizing that the final archer was beyond his reach, Malcolm rejoined the rest of the party just as Eris and Triple J finished off the rogue.
The party reconvened alongside Endrin and Nyx and examined the ruined tower within the icicle filled cavern. Endrin walked up to the tower first and glanced through a small hole in the crumbled wall. Inside, the wizard noticed shifting geometric arcane patterns lining the walls along with frozen over skeleton on the snowy floor. The party broke through the tower wall for a better look. Endrin thawed out the skeleton and claimed a scroll clutched within its bony grasp. Triple J spoke with the skeleton and learned that the entity was once an Aeorian in life and that the tower FCG found themselves in was used by ancient battle mages to recover their arcane reserves quickly. Marking the ruined tower as a potential rest location for later, FCG set back out to investigate the other cleared chambers in earnest.
In the previous cavern, the party discovered that the bronze ship hull actually belonged to a sky coach from the Age of Arcanum. Within the ship’s hull, they also discovered two more Aeorian citizens encased in a light blue stasis bubble. Artaema informed the party of her failed attempts to dispel similar stasis bubbles in the past, dissuading the group from expending any arcane energy on them. Triple J managed to probe one of the Aeorian’s thoughts however, and discovered a stagnant mind within. Next, the party discovered a small iron safe nestled behind the stasis bubble. After a few failed attempts to pick the lock, they froze the safe and smashed away the corner with a hammer, managing to salvage a greater healing potion from within along with a vial of healing juice, glass shards, and rock.
Finally, FCG investigated the chamber with the slain Dwendalian soldiers. During their investigation, each member of the group began to smell a sourceless scent reminiscent of each of their respective pasts. Eris identified that the soldiers had been killed no more than a day prior, and the party concluded that they had been killed by the Bladescarred. Triple J spoke with one and learned that the soldiers had been working for the Cerberus Assembly, searching for ancient artifacts of great power. The party stripped and claimed the belongings of the fallen soldiers and returned to the ruined tower for a short rest.
Along the way back to the tower, Eris’ shadow came to life and grasped the paladin in a stranglehold, sapping her life force and strength before being hacked to whisps by Malcolm. Suddenly on edge once more, the party retreated into the tower, being sure to keep a watch as they took a breather. The geometric runes pulsed to life and replenished the arcane reserves of the the party’s spell casters before growing dark. Refreshed, the party gathered their belongings and steeled themselves for whatever else lurked within the icy caves.
