After days of preparation and healing, and waiting for Mudgol to return from his teleportation back to Floivin Keep (where he paid to have Slab's remains stored and magically preserved in the cellar of the Cathedral of Blades), the PCs don their cold weather outfits and set out across the Frogmarch to find any survivors that might have been abducted by the Wolf Tongues tribe. They decide it would be best to first attempt the further of the two ruins, Tun Staab, where Hagel and the villagers thought they might have been taken. En route, the party spots a large pack of canines rushing through the frosted grasslands, which Baro identifies as blink dogs, that the party decides not to confront. A starving, desperate arctic fox attacks Balard, unable to breach the dwarf's armor before being systematically disposed of by an arrow from Langston. Once the night sets in, the group decides to rest on the plain, and this time passes uneventfully.
Varony, Malarous 30th 838 ID
The PCs arrive at the small mountain valley which houses the Tun Staab ruins. It is fronted by a trio of crumbled towers, upon which are runes scripted into the ancient Shann tongue. Baro and Mudgol are able to decipher these as reading ‘Here Lies the Brother-Ward of Denhema Staab, Guardian to the Deep-Ways’, and Balard identifies the structures as human (and non-dwarf) architecture. Beyond the towers, there is a ruined coliseum and an old manor, both also decayed, and a large cavern entrance to the Weaponscrest mountains. The valley is full of whorls of snow, huge drifts, and sheets of obscured ice created by runoff from the surrounding highlands. They also make out several broken humanoid bodies through the drifts, and when they approach, they are frightened to discover that a half-dozen giant yetis have taken up residence in the area, some climbing forth from the broken, open towers, others rushing down from the foothills. They don't seem too happy about the PCs' presence, and a massive fight ensues...
The treacherous, icy terrain and the long reach of the ape-like creatures prove devastating against the party's attacks, rendering much of the melee ineffective for a good part of the battle, though Luz, Ginkwrench, Langston and Barr all strike some decisive blows. Fire seems most effective, but before they can finally bring down the monsters, both Vondort and Balard have been reduced to paste and guts by the horrendous slam attacks. After the fight, Ginkwrench decides to remove one of the yeti's claws to hollow out and use as a backpack, and the party discovers a treasure stash of some coins, gems and vials hidden up in one of the entrance towers. Afterwards, they proceed to check out the fallen manor, where they discover a survivor of Tretcher hidden in the outer wall, and then a fancy dwarven waraxe inside the old hearth next to a dwarven corpse.
The next area of interest is the arena structure, which the whole party sets out to explore...unfortunately, the center of the coliseum turns out to be an ancient death trap, a 100' circular pit of packed earth reinforced by blocks of stone. Though Barr and the Professor manage to evade it, Mudgol and Gruulsh are unlucky enough to fall through the pit, the former being knocked out at the bottom and the latter deftly avoiding the same fate, though taking a lot of damage in the process. It seems that this pit proved some sort of grisly afternoon entertainment for the ancient Shann, who lowered captives and creatures by a winch to the depths, and enjoyed the sport of slaves trying to climb out on a series of wooden spears that circled the interior of the pit, while beasts attempted to devour them...Gruulsh gives the unconscious Mudgol a potion to wake him up, and the two teleport back up topside.
The last order of business...the cavern entrance. There is some dissension on whether or not to explore further, but Mudgol decides to use clairaudience/clairvoyance to peek inside. It's a massive, snowy cave with the upper walls and ceiling obscured by thick, frost-tinted webbing. Mudgol summons a giant bee and sends it in, but while its able to piece the veil of cold webs, it soon disappears. As the party decides whether to press on into the depths and risk whatever lies in the webs, Longjohns (the lookout) alerts the rest of the expedition that two humanoids have entered the valley near the front towers...
PCs: Baro, Ginkwrench, Grulsh, Langston, Luz, Mudgol
NPCs
Buck Beltreg (human male): An orphaned, emaciated 10-year old boy from Tretcher who was taken by the Wolf Tongues to serve their twisted pleasures. The PCs discover him (and Gruulsh recognizes him) in an alcove in a crumbled stone manor at the ruins of Tun Staab, in the Frogmarch. He claims the Wolf Tongues in the valley were slain by the great yeti, but several might have gone inside the nearby caverns with other abductees. The Wolf Tongues used his rags and hides on which to urinate and smear feces, so Buck is presently emanating a nasty scent...
No comments:
Post a Comment