Session 62

# April 8th, 2021 - Old White Death

## Old White Death

The session began immediately where we last left our heroes, as they and their dwarven contingent were all descending a very long rope through a sixty foot deep hole. At the bottom of the hole, they emerged through the ceiling into the dark and cavernous lair. It was a further twenty feet down the rope until the top of the small ice pillar directly beneath the hole. There were a few ledges further down the ice pillar, until a large ice platform beneath them. There was even a drop-off from this platform, but none could see further in the darkness.

Frozen just under the ice of the platform, treasure could be seen strewn around.

Rachen and Rufus had entered the lair when the owner, Old White Death, bellowed out and took to the air somewhere in the darkness. The sound of his massive wings flapping and creating gusts of wind were all they could hear as the group tried to speed their descent. Rachen and Rufus had reached the ice pillar and were looking around in the dark as Alburt got down. Moments later, after the first two dwarves dropped to the pillar, the whoosh of the dragon flying by out of sight. The massive ice breath broadsided the top of the ice pillar like a hurricane force blizzard.

The two dwarves were instantly frozen solid, and Alburt fell to the ground half frozen and unconscious. Rachen and Rufus survived, but were severely hurt. The bottom ten feet of the rope had frozen and snapped off, dropping the next dwarf to the pillar. Thia scaled into the chamber, and had flipped upside down holding the rope with her legs, firing at the dragon as it flew away. Her *Black Dragon Mask* allowed her to see the furthest in the dark, and after her shots she somersaulted off the rope onto the top of the pillar.

The group started climbing down the ice pillar ledges, or jumping, as the sound of the dragon arcing around and coming back for another attack spurred them. More dwarves had dropped from the bottom of the rope along with Cadmus, and he used a healing spell on Alburt. The wizard didn’t want to risk getting ice breathed again, and immediately *polymorphed* himself into the fiercest foe he could, a young red dragon.

Old White Death continued to mock them as he started his next pass. Seemingly waiting for more to drop into his lair, he made a thick cold fog materialize at the top of the pillar. Then, he came swooping out of the darkness with incredible speed, roared, and slammed into the side of the ice pillar. He clawed Cadmus and a dwarf, and proceeded to swallow a second dwarf whole. Most of the force seemed *frightened* by his terrible display, but started trying to attack regardless.

Alburt breathed his own fire at the dragon, while Thia and Rufus did their best to strike true with their magical ranged weapons. The dragon then buffeted his wings, knocking everyone around him down, or off the pillar, and he took to the air and started to fly away. Just as the dragon had turned and was laughing, Cadmus called forth a mighty *dawn* spell. Summoning a massive cylindrical column of fiery sunlight, the cleric simultaneously lit up the space like a sun, and burned the dragon enough to make it growl in anger.

## Ice Allies

The dragon continued to use his lair against the intruders as he flew around for another pass, summoning a massive ice wall to separate Rachen and Rufus, and triggering massive ice spikes to fall among the group. He then came around for another hit and run, slamming into the eastern side of the platform and ate another dwarf. He wounded other dwarves, and fought with Rufus and Rachen, before once again buffeting wings and taking to the air.

Thia got good shots in, and Cadmus had thrown his *javelin of lightning*. Kiruna was swooping in and biting, and ultimately grabbed onto the massive dragon’s backside. Old White Death was circling again far away in the darkness, and must have started to feel threatened as he summoned four large ice elementals on the platform around the ice pillar. They rose up out of the ice, and started attacking everyone with their massive sledgehammer like arms. Alburt was able to use his fire breath again and melted one down easily.

Cadmus and a few dwarves were able to defeat another, as the cleric continued to move the massive *dawn* effect to zone out and burn the elemental and dragon. The rest of the party fought the other two elementals, as Old White Death came in for another flying charge. This time he focused his attention on Rufus, the other small target that seemed to be dealing massive pain. The halfling was mauled twice, slightly bitten - which he barely dodged - and then backflipped away from a massive tail smash. He was quite wounded, yet alive.

The dragon buffeted his wings once again and took to the air, flying back the way he came. Old White Death continued to mock them, despite being quite wounded himself. “You will never see the light of another day! You fools should never have stepped foot here!”

Just as the group killed the last ice elemental and thought they had the upper hand, they saw the group of four ice trolls climb onto the platform. They must have come from some other part of the massive space, and started running and roaring at the little intruders as the dragon flew away. Only a couple dwarves were left alive, but they yelled their battle shouts and charged the trolls with the rest of the party. The dragon had flown out of sight around a corner, and the group locked into melee with the ice trolls.

And that is where the session ended, it was the evening of the two hundred sixtieth day since the raid on Greenest.

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