Session0033

Episode 0033 - Spring Queen, Bitches
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**Setting:**

Mount Samhain - May 16th, 211 AW
**Synopsis:**

* The party summits Mount Samhain and confronts Princess Camellia.

## May 16th

At the base of Mount Samhain, as the party is resting and preparing for to summit the mountain in search of Princess Camellia, a three-headed frost giant approaches their campsite, seemingly searching for them. They manage to remain hidden within their *hallucinatory terrain* and *tiny hut* for a while, during which time Gragnok spots nearby displacer beasts also prowling the area, seemingly working with the giant.

Eventually, the giant finds the party within their illusory hiding place and attempts to attack them, along with its displacer beasts. However, they are unable to break through the *tiny hut*, and the party manages to badly damage the attackers while remaining safe within the hut. The giant tells a group of nearby owls to report back to Camellia with what they have found.

Eventually, the giant and displacer beasts attempt to retreat, but Malkoth drops the *tiny hut* spell, and the party kills the giant and all but one of the displacer beasts. Gragnok manages to calm the remaining displacer beast, speaking to it in Sylvan.

The party searches the giant's body and belongings, recovering a spell gem. They also find a displacer beast kitten in one of its pockets, and several harnesses and leashes, presumably for the displacer beasts. After some discussion, Gragnok returns the displacer beast kitten to the adult displacer beast, which takes a protective stance over it. Gragnok also convinces the displacer beasts to follow them up the mountain to assist in their trek.

The conflict resolved, the party begins taking down their camp and preparing to summit the mount, as the Zenith arrives. As the party is preparing, the Material Plane residents notice that their memories of the Material Plane are beginning to grow hazy, and Patches is unable to remember Odell's name. They speculate that spending too much time in the Feywild might cause them to lose their memories of the Material Plane.

The party begins their ascent up Mount Samhain. On the way up, Brook maintains a *pass without trace* spell to keep the party hidden from the scouts that she encountered the nights before. During the climb, they continue to spot several white owls - presumably spies for Camellia - which they dispatch along the way. They also spot the displacer beast from before following them up the mountain, also helping to kill owls.

Making their way up the mountain, the party arrives at the avalanche trap that Brook spotted while scouting the mountain the night before. They spot an eladrin hiding near the embankment, seemingly waiting to trigger the trap when the party passes by, though he doesn't seem to see them yet. Using Brook's *pass without trace*, they sneak past without triggering the trap.

For the next several hours, the party continues their trek up the mountain, the weather conditions becoming more supernaturally extreme the higher they proceed. Using *pass without trace*, they manage to sneak past a few more eladrin guards, while also setting up traps along the way such that any guards who pursue them might be stopped.

Nearing the peak of the mountain, the party is spotted by a last pair of eladrin guards. The battle them on the mountainside, eventually pushing both off of a cliffside and sending them falling down the mountain. One of the eladrin manages to catch itself safely using teleportation magic, but Malkoth uses his own conjuration magic to pull the eladrin back up to the party, and they kill him. Gragnok retrieves the eldarin's magical longbow.

Finally, the party arrives at the peak of the mountain, where they find a group of white owls congregated around the entrance of a large cave mouth. They also spot footprints surrounding the area, and a magical sleigh hitched with reindeers outside the cave entrance. The party quickly dispatches the owls from a distance, then approaches the cave.

From outside the cave entrance, Gragnok calls out for Princess Camellia to come out and surrender, but there is no response. The party sneaks up to the cave entrance and looks inside, where find a large ice cavern, with a bridge extending over a frozen body of water below, which glints with frozen treasure. They see a pair of ice trolls patrolling the bridge, and hanging from the ceiling above, they spot Princess Camellia, who appears to be a hideous hag. They attempt to sneak into the cavern undetected, but they are spotted by the ice trolls.

Princess Camellia and the ice trolls attack the party, as Camellia scoffs at the notion of cooperating with denizens of the realms of summer and spring.