Session 12

## 25th of Pentober, 1248

### In the Hall of the Mountain King

We begin our tale on the 29th of Pentober - Hearthfeast - far beyond the Dwarven Heartlands in the far north of Stormbound, in the city of Vugh Furum. Our party, hired by the Divine Church, gathered under rumours of something stirring, some ritual or spell of the Frostlings that threatened the stability of the Church itself.

In a cold stone hall of black stone, a host of dwarves and blue-wisp frostlings gathered for a great feast to reaffirm the Winter Pact. In attendance were two prominent dwarven figures: King Olf the Hammer and Elder Kallack. Absent, however, was Lady Rime of the frostlings.

Soon, the lighting began to dim, and the hall filled with blue light. Two dwarven pages flung open the doors and accompanied by a blast of cold air that froze the food and drinks in the room; Lady Rime drifted into the room. She approached the table and entered into some deep conversation with Olf the Hammer and Elder Kallick.

Our party - Hildegarde Barleybreaker, Elsa Snowforge, Frawd Cirelc, and Jynnan Hammerrest - were invited over to a table with a member of the Divine Church, Father Lacarim. Frawd showed little decorum, preoccupying himself instead with peeling a toenail from his toe. Once Frawd was finished, Lacarim revealed that he had organised their mission. Then, drawing a circle on the table, he created a *silence* spell around the table. He provided more details on their mission, informing them that they would be investigating a site of “heretic worship” in the wastes, where a dwarf was found disembowelled and suspended between four posts. He expressed fears that the strange sight was related to Frostling magic and the Tide of Winter. The journey would take them three days, but he provided them 10 days’ worth of provisions, a speaking stone, and sleds and dogs for the journey. Before leaving them, he recommended that they seek the King’s permission for the expedition and invite Olf to join them. He also cast a *magic weapon* spell on Jynnan.

Hildegarde and Jynnan decided to win the King’s cooperation through a drinking game. But as they approached the King’s table, the biting arctic cold of Lady Rime began to weigh them down. Lady Rime lifted whatever effect was affecting them, and they were able to approach the King. Olf jumped at the opportunity to join in a drinking game, and the three shared many tankards of ale. Jynnan tactlessly mentioned the dismembered dwarf and the upcoming adventure, and Frawd appeared horrified by their lack of discretion in front of Lady Rime. While the pair held their drink for some time, Hildegarde was the first to go down. As the final drink, the king produced a hip flask filled with heavy liquor and shared a cup with Jynnan. The pair passed out together.

When all three had recovered, the King agreed to the proposal of joining the party's mission.

While this was happening, Elsa approached Lady Rime. The frostling seemed cold to the dwarf, who pestered her with incessant questions. Noticing Elsa's control of cold, she told her to seek out the Frostlings in the far north should she seek to unlock a deeper understanding of the power of ice. According to Rime, to find the Frostling territories, she needed only to follow the northern star until she found it behind her.

## 26th of Pentober

### The Adventure Begins

In the morning, the King, accompanied by the Bear and Sir Duncan, and the party departed for the north. On their journey, they passed many strange sights, including an abandoned palace. After some time, the party began to feel a low song in the depths of their chests and saw a roaring fire ahead. As they approached, they saw a number of frost giants standing around the fire, swaying and singing an ancient ritual song for Midwinter's Morning (Hearthfeast) over the ice. Recognising the song, Jynnan joined in the song and approached the giants.

...

Before disappearing, they warned the party that the last of the ghosts wielded a deadly weapon.

### A Christmas Carol

They felt the chill in the air begin to lift and felt a hearth-like warmth in their surroundings. Elsa and Hildegarde saw a small child, no older than seven or eight years old, floating peacefully before them, their eyes and hair glowing with hearth fire. Looking into the child's eyes, they felt the warmth of childhood joy and wonder filling their hearts. To Jynnan and Frawd, however, the child appeared as a rotting figure with great horns and clawed hands. Its body was covered in many eyes, and it wheezed as it hung in the air.

When Hildegarde cast a twilight sanctuary over the party, every cleric saw the creature for what it was, and a tense battle ensued. He finished the creature off after the ghost reached a hand out and asked if he "remembered when [his] heart first beat". Frawd wished the ghost a Merry Hearthfeast and obliterated it with a blast of necrotic magic.

The party had a moment to recover themselves before another ghost appeared: a giant man in a brightly-coloured robe with wild red hair and a manic look. They punched Sir Duncan, almost killing him, and attacked the party. Another battle ensued. After a particularly painful attack, the party saw visions of their families celebrating Hearthfeast and were filled with the sensation that their presence was not missed. They also glimpsed a cat, a dragonborn, a mushroom woman, and a human spinning around in colourful light. Before long, Elsa finished the ghost off with a swing of her spectral snowman sword.

After some healing from Hildegarde (earning her a tooth from the Bear) and a short rest, Frawd provided a rousing speech on the dangers of charity. Then, in the light of the moon, they saw six wings unfurl, and a golden figure of pure divinity appeared before them, cloaked in black. They did not try to reason with the creature and jumped immediately into a fight. Elsa drew the moon back to fill the sky with dawn's light and attacked. When the King attempted to strike the ghost, he was pushed back, and a ringing filled the air. The ghost filled their heads with images of their gravestones, which some members of the party took as their inevitable fate, and others recognised as one of many outcomes. After this shocking vision, Elsa fell down, unconscious. Hildegarde brought her back from the brink, and the fight continued.

### The Betrayal

As the ghost began to look bloodied, Frawd did something the party did not expect. He cast *sanctuary* on the angel and ran from the party, leaving them to their fate. Elsa attempted to paralyse him but failed, and the dwarf slipped away. Jynnan finished the ghost with a swing of his axe, and the party was faced with a new challenge.

Olf the Hammer held aloft a stack of papers and pointed at the fleeing Frawd. He claimed that the church had other intentions in sending them to the Wastes and proclaimed that he would start the Jade Rebellion anew and split the dwarven monarchy from the church. He asked them for their loyalty. Hildegarde, Elsa, and Jynnan bent the knee and swore their loyalty to the King without hesitation.

Seeing this, Frawd used an amulet around his neck to tear open the ground beneath the King. A fiery chasm opened, and rotting skeletal hands pulled the King downwards. In that moment, Hildegarde broke free of her geas and threw herself at her King, sacrificing herself to push the King out of the path of danger. The chasm closed above her, and Hildegarde's soul was lost forever. All that remained of the cleric was her trusty keg of ale.

Emboldened by Hildegarde's sacrifice, the King yelled her name and charged towards Frawd while Elsa caged Frawd in with an ice storm. But the King, having run too far from his allies, was alone this time. Frawd used his amulet again to open a rift in the ground. The amulet disintegrated, the earth opened wide, and the King fell into the abyss. As his last act, he threw his hammer at Jynnan and yelled, "Protect my hammer". Then, as quickly as the rift had appeared, it closed. The King was gone.

As Elsa struck him with a deadly blast of cold, necrotic energy, Frawd heard the voice of Pontiff Kallack in his head. He heard one word: "good". Frawd's body slowly disintegrated, and the last thing to disappear was the duergar's unnaturally large, mocking smile. All that remained of Frawd Cirelc was a small lump of coal. Elsa picked up Hildegarde's cask, and with no allies remaining, Elsa and Jynnan began heading back to Vugh Furum..

While they thought their tribulations were over, about half a day into their journey, they saw a flash of purple/green light across the sky, and five figures began to fall from the sky. Five figures that looked suspiciously like our Greensgood gaggle.

Thank you all for a fabulous 2023 and an amazing first arc of our campaign. I love you all very much - B.