Beyond the Divine Gate

"**Beyond the Divine Gate**" is the sixteenth and final episode of *Queen of Cold and Frost*, played on March 8th, 2023.

The session was DMed by Adonvel and hosted on his server on Discord.

## Summary

*...continued from session fifteen*
Having successfully ascended into the Entrance Hall of Grimskalle, the party proceeds along a hallway to a set of double doors through which they hear a low rustling. They open the door to discover a massive, elderly frost giant sleeping in a corner, and after some deliberation, Lucine uses her *mage hand* to wake him; she uses her Universal Speech and Dharwyn casts *comprehend languages* in order to understand the giant, who identifies himself as Ertgard.

He offers to reveal the location of the Codicil in exchange for an honorable death, and though the party attempts to avoid combat, Ertgard demands it. The party obliges, killing the giant after Lucine promises to tell tales of Ertgard the Mighty; she then discovers a large iron key that unlocks another door in the room, revealing a small hoard including 1,350 gold, 4,400 silver, 7,800 copper, four gold rings, a seven-foot-tall shield made from a white dragon scale, a fifty-pound ice statue of Thrym, and an alchemy jug.

The party rests shortly before following Ertgard's directions, passing a Feast Hall on their way to a room where six ice mephits watch them curiously. They descend the staircase in the room to find a large chamber occupied by a giant walrus who identifies himself as Ukama; the party befriends the creature with an offering of food, and he admits that the same frost druid who awakened Angajuk had also given him the ability to speak. He directs the party to the southern tunnel of the chamber, explaining that the servants of the Frostmaiden store the treasures of their faith in the vault there.

The group carefully makes their way across the icy chamber to the entrance to the vault and pass through a door into the Hall of the Four Winds, finding four ice tablets inside bearing the tenets of Auril's faith: Cruelty, Endurance, Isolation, and Preservation. The party selects the Preservation tablet and places it into a recession in another door, activating a magical portal that allows them access to the chamber beyond, in which they find a lectern with a white-covered book resting on it.

Addison retrieves the book, and Nass Lantomir confirms that it is the Codicil of White; the ghost directs the warlock to the magical poem "Rime of the Frostmaiden" within the book, at which point Lantomir vanishes, leaving behind the Professor Orb. Moments later, Dharwyn receives a telepathic message from Naomi, who has spotted the inbound figure of Auril on her roc along the horizon. The party estimates that they have about ten minutes before the goddess arrives, and proceed back upstairs in order to prepare for the confrontation as Naomi ascends to the castle entrance.

Addison retreats to Ertgard's chamber to begin the ritual incantation as the rest of the party strategizes, and after seven minutes, the building rumbles as Auril lands on the roof. The group moves into the Feast Hall and takes up defensive positions around Addison as the goddess descends the staircase to face them, and Dharwyn unsuccessfully attempts to cast *Command*. Auril responds by destroying Naomi, after which Lucine attempts to cast *Charm Person* only to discover that the goddess is immune to being charmed; Auril then casts *Touch of Frost* on Dharwyn as Armamore strikes her with a *Guiding Bolt*, after which the goddess teleports next to Addison.

The warlock uses the *Blessing of the Raven Queen* to teleport away from Auril and strikes her with a pair of *Eldritch Blasts*, continuing to recite the incantation as she does. Auril then teleports next to Addison again, at which point Dharwyn enters a flanking position and delivers a devastating blow that renders Auril unconscious. Addison continues reading as the Frostmaiden's body collapses in on itself, regenerating a few moments later into the form of a large ice elemental that strikes Dharwyn twice with an Ice Morningstar.

Lucine casts *Shatter* on the goddess, after which Auril summons an Ice Flurry; Armamore summons his *Spiritual weapon* and attacks with it, after which Addison uses the *Blessing of the Raven Queen* to teleport away again and strike the goddess with a pair of *Eldritch Blasts*, continuing to recite the incantation as she does. Auril responds by casting an Ice Dart at the warlock, but fails to break her concentration, after which Dharwyn delivers another pair of vicious attacks.

Auril retaliates by casting a *Cone of Cold* that severely injures the paladin and knocks Lucine unconscious; Armamore responds by casting a pair of curative spells that revive the bard and heal Dharwyn, after which Auril casts *Ice Stasis* on the cleric, encasing him in an ice crystal that fully incapacitates him. As she does, however, Addison successfully completes the incantation, causing a matrix of runic chains to form around the goddess, trapping her as a tear in the fabric of reality opens above her and she is dragged back beyond the Divine Gate.

Addison, Lucine, and Dharwyn free Armamore from his crystalline imprisonment, and the party retreats to the ruined kitchen across the hall, creating a bonfire from the rotted timber there and recovering for the night. The next morning, the party wakes early and ascends to the castle rooftop to watch the sun rise unimpeded; there, they find the abandoned nest of the roc, who seems to have fled the island after being released from Auril's control.

In the nest, they find an electrum chain with a bloodstone pendant, a carved wooden harp with ivory inlay and zircon gemstones, and a small chest containing 320 gold, a ring set with a black pearl, and a spell scroll of *Mass cure wounds*. The party then descends back through the stronghold, retrieving the dragon scale shield from Ertgard's hoard and using it and their ropes to hoist Ukuma out of the frozen vault beneath the castle.

As they traverse the exterior castle staircase, Dharwyn resummons Naomi, and helps Addison onto the elk. The group spends the day making its way back to the southern peninsula where Angajuk had left them, and Lucine casts *Sending* to summon the whale, who returns to the Island by that evening. Boarding the board tethered to the creature's back along with Ukuma and Naomi, the group spends three days traveling through the Sea of Moving Ice back to the mainland, where they make their way first to Bremen and then Targos, where they spend the night at The Luskan Arms before moving on the next day through Bryn Shander to reach Easthaven by that evening.

By the time they arrive, word of their victory has spread, and they are hailed as heroes; they return to the blacksmith to pick up their commissioned items, and are then given rooms at The White Lady Inn. The next day, they begin assisting with the rebuilding effort, and over the next several weeks, Armamore, Dharwyn, Addison, and Lucine help to construct a theater in the revitalized western section of town. Several weeks after that, Dharwyn asks Addison to marry him, offering her the gold ring he recovered from Iskra's nest, and she accepts, and a few days later, the theater opens with a performance of Lucine's composition *The Song of Ertgard the Mighty*.