Ascending Kelvin's Cairn

"**Ascending Kelvin's Cairn**" is the third episode of *Queen of Cold and Frost*, played on airing on July 13th, 2022.

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

## Summary

*...continued from session two*
Lucine makes a second snow Solar before the party sets out from the basecamp to climb the mountain, spotting a group of mountain goats during their ascent before reaching a stone outcropping several hours later. Shortly after reaching the ledge, an avalanche breaks loose and tumbles along the pathway that the party had just ascended, and when it comes to rest, they spot a body in bloodstained winter gear among the snow. They revive the injured man, and discover that he is Garret Velryn, who explains that he and his clients were attacked by a yeti who carried the rest of their party further up the mountain.

The team is then attacked by a pair of Crag Cats, drawn by the scent of blood on Garret's clothes, and Lucine sustains a vicious attack that renders her unconscious; Dharwyn attempts to channel divinity in order to reflect the damage that Lucine's attacker inflicted on her back onto it, but he finds himself unable to do so, so Armamore channels his divinity instead to revive her and Dharwyn conjures a shield around her to provide additional defense. Dharwyn is then attacked, losing concentration on the shield protecting Lucine; he responds by summoning an infernal flame that destroys the creature. Falidus flanks the remaining Crag Cat and attacks it with a psionic dagger, rendering it unconscious before killing it.

The party takes a short rest in the outcropping to recover, healing Garret and arming him with a breastplate as they resolve to continue up the mountain and rescue any survivors. They complete a perilous climb that leaves Falidus exhausted, but eventually discover the mouth of a cavern with indications of a bloody struggle. After formulating an entrance strategy, the party proceeds into the mountain and discovers the skeletal remains of the goliath Mokingo Growling Bear, who had been a member of Garret's party; not long after, Lucine hears a scream from deeper inside the cave, and the party pushes on to find a pair of Yeti tormenting a halfling woman.

Falidus stealths into the shadows of the cavern and Dharwyn *Bless*es himself, Lucine, and Armamore to prepare them for combat. Lucine casts *Shatter* on the Yeti and Dharwyn lands a Greatsword attack, after which Armamore casts *Guiding Bolt* and Falidus succeeds in delivering a devastating sneak attack with a pair of psionic daggers. Garret successfully attacks with his longbow, killing the larger Yeti, at which point Dharwyn casts *Toll the Dead* on the remaining Yeti and Armamore casts *Poison Spray*, killing it as well. The party learns from the halfling that the third member of their group, the tiefling wizard Astrix, died after falling into a fissure in the cavern while fighting the Yeti.

Dharwyn and Lucine spend half-an-hour harvesting the horns from the two Yeti before the party proceeds back down the mountain, reaching the basecamp at the foot of Kelvin's Cairn shortly after sundown. Garret reunites with Boy, and the expanded party camps for the night before heading uneventfully back through Dwarven Valley toward Targos the next morning.

*continued in session four...*
## Notes

By rescuing half of Garrett's group, the party advanced from Level 3 to Level 4.