Rime of the Frostmaiden: Icewind Dale, Part 4

The previous post is here. The chapter starts here. The campaign starts here.

The PCs had repaired and activated a magic item known as the Summer Star to banish the cursed winter, for a brief time. When the Star stopped working, the PC that it had previously disintegrated suddenly appeared in a flash of light, perfectly healthy… and nude!

The party was gobsmacked! Once the PCs recovered some of their wits, they started shouting Hjolgram the dwarf bard’s name along with questions about where he had been and what happened to him. The dwarf laughed and replied that he had been taken beyond the stars again. “The light sent me into space! And Macreadus was there!” However, further conversation would have to wait until they were inside; even a dwarf could not last long without protection in the frozen hell that was Icewind Dale.

Everyone climbed back into the Black Cabin, and Hjolgram raided Macreadus’ wardrobe for some ill-fitting clothes. “It’s okay,” he told the others, “he told me I could have his stuff.” Then the bard reclaimed his chardalyn amulet, his only possession to survive the explosion that killed him, and concealed it under his shirt. Madoc the ranger was shocked, but not terribly surprised, to see that the reckless bard had pilfered one of the amulets of the devil cult and had been wearing it all this time. But he let the matter slide for the moment, given that Hjolgram had just returned from the dead.

Finally, as the gathered adventurers warmed themselves around the hearth, the bard told them of his experience. After the Summer Star exploded, he appeared floating in what he said was the land beyond the stars, like he had seen when the mind flayers took him to new worlds in their flying boat. This time there was no boat, but he did run into Macreadus, who led him back to the cabin. There the pair could see the PCs but couldn’t be seen or heard in return. Hjolgram did discover that he could blow his ashes around, though, and used that to try and communicate with the living PCs. Macreadus told him what needed to be done to modify the Summer Star, which he attempted to pass on to the group. And after PCs had activated Macreadus’ invention, Hjolgram had suddenly found himself back in the world, with all of his wounds (and possessions) gone!

The DM told us after Hjolgram had gotten blown into the border ethereal, and was brought back by Amaunator, god of the sun, for his part in momentarily dispelling the winter. So the scenario was set up with the idea that one or more PCs would bite it. What would have happened if everyone died, I wondered? In that case, a goliath werebear would eventually wander near the cabin so that the PCs’ ghosts could direct him to fix and activate the Star.

“Macreadus was really happy you got the Summer Star working!” the dwarf informed his companions. “He said we would need a bigger version for it to get rid of the winter for good, though.” The original version was now completely inert, and no longer even magical.

Unfortunately, the party had no idea what the thing was made of. You’d think Macreadus would have put that information in his blueprints! Different theories were bandied about, and Omm the tiefling sorcerer predicted that perhaps they could find what they needed to craft a Summer Star of sufficient size at the duergar forge that they had heard about.

But their ruminations were interrupted by a strange light that came through the east-facing windows. The Star and the blueprints were snatched up and the PCs made their way outside to get a better look at the source. What they saw was a tall, shrouded figure that radiated a blinding white light walking towards the cabin, flanked by two icy, imp-like creatures! That certainly looked ominous, and so the party’s response was to pile into the sleigh and get those doggies moving!

Turn On Your Heart-Light

“Wait, what if they just want to talk?” asked a disappointed Hjolgram as the sled pulled away from the approaching figures.

“Did death make you crazier!” shouted Madoc the ranger as he snapped the dogs’ reins. “It’s a man made of light and a couple of ice monsters! They don’t want to talk!”

“They didn’t come until after we used the Summer Star,” concurred Omm with a frown. “The Frostmaiden must have sent them.” Nevertheless, a regretful Hjolgram watched the figures recede in the distance as the sleigh gained ground on them.

The adventurers figured that their pursuers were not going to cease their pursuit or tire out, and so Madoc directed the dogs to a spot between some hills and had them stop on the far side. The PCs then got out and laid in the snow behind the hills, and waited. Except for the bard, who insisted on standing out in the open. “I still think we can parley,” he declared, ignoring the others imploring him to take cover.

“Ah, let him go,” said Flint the half-elf rogue. “He can be the bait.” To help set up the ambush, Omm created a minor illusion of himself standing next to the dwarf (minor illusion is a 5′ cube at most, so most of the other PCs were too tall to create images of), hoping that would look less suspicious than having only a single PC visible.

Soon enough, the walking lantern and its companions came into view. The silent stalkers steadily advanced on the party’s position, and Hjolgram called out a greeting as the walker’s light fell upon the bard. But the creatures did not answer, and did not break stride. As expected, they were there to punish the adventurers for defying the Frostmaiden’s will, and no parley was possible.

Vulnerable to Fire Sorcerers

Hjolgram resorted to plan B, which was to try a charm person spell on the shrouded light source. Unsurprisingly, it was immune. The flying imp-like ice creatures – ice mephits – surged forward, and one breathed a cloud of fog around the dwarf, blocking his vision and cutting him off from the others! When the bard stumbled out of the fog, the other mephit breathed shards of frost at him! Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get resurrected from the dead.

The rest of the group – Flint and Twiggy Tenderfoot the druid on one side, and Madoc and Omm on the other – sprung out of hiding and attacked! Flint went after the mephits while everyone else targeted the big guy.

Against this assault, the “coldlight walker” suffered quite the string of bad luck! It ate a firebolt from the sorcerer, failed its save against the druid’s faerie fire, missed the sorcerer with its own ray of frost, got pierced by the ranger’s javelin, failed a save against the bard’s dissonant whispers, got hit by the ranger’s attack of opportunity when the whispers forced it to run away, and failed a save against the sorcerer’s flaming sphere. It did recover enough to take out Hjolgram with a powerful blast of cold, and then temporarily blinded Madoc with its intense white radiance.

But the comeback was short-lived, as the unholy monstrosity failed more saving throws and went down to the tiefling’s barrage of flame, which also destroyed one of the mephits; Flint had killed the other by that point, discovering in the process that they explode when they die.

As the walker’s shrouded body collapsed, its radiance was suddenly snuffed out, plunging the area back into darkness and leaving spots in the PCs’ eyes. The adventurers cautiously approached the now-dark bundle of rags, and under the cloak they found the body of a frostbite-ravaged human corpse.

“I guess it’s lights out for him!” a happy Hjolgram joked. But the other PCs were concerned about this new threat. Were they now on the goddess of winter’s hit list?

Next: business with dwarves!