Session 26

### Summary

The Amber Order gathers supplies and ventures into the dangerous Unscaled Peaks in pursuit of Mavka's doppelganger and a powerful relic that she stole. Things take a turn for the worse when the party encounters a couple of stone giants, who trap them in the mountain tunnels with a voracious monster.

## Setting

### Locations

Isaldul, Salyava'trea, Appledore, Vandorythe, The Unscaled Peaks

## NPC Appearances

### Met

Relidyr, Pix; Kendrick the Communicator, Mavka's Doppelganger

### Mentioned

Zund

In the morning, Helio accompanied Caeli on her way to mail a letter. A nice man named Ted, who was a stonecutter, directed them to a post office. When they got there, Caeli sent her letter which was promptly delivered by bird to Helio, who was already with her. They went back to the farmhouse.

Gossamer made breakfast for everyone, but nobody was there except Karaa, who didn't seem to be doing well. Eventually, everyone filtered back in and tried to plan over breakfast. The party decided to gather their clothing, supplies, and horses, and then head out as soon as possible.

Helio went to go talk to Faen about getting the party some horses, and it was a train wreck. Karaa and Caeli went to Vandorythe to get supplies; they picked up clothing, rations, rope, and a dulcimer. Gossamer started copying down the all Elvish to Abyssal translations that she could and began investigating the calendar of Niperro's journal. She also discovered that Niperro was a bit of a poet. Mavka had a talk with Tasa about taking care of Ara and Takal, then told the two boys that she'd be leaving them here for their safety.

Just as everyone was arriving with their supplies, there was a huge explosion on the mountainside. The party scrambled to their mounts and took off in the direction of the mountains. Even at the foot of it, the path was a steep set of switchbacks. Gossamer sent a message to Helio, who was at the back, and told him to stop, but he plowed through everyone else, knocking himself and Karaa off their horses. Karaa came to a sudden stop at the bottom of one of the cliffs.

Mavka dismounted her horse and slid down the mountainside to reach her. She wasn't badly hurt, but she had a couple broken ribs, so Mavka cast Cure Wounds on her. They made their way back up and Gossamer gave Mavka the hags' eyes, and Mavka saw her doppelganger on the top of the mountain, surrounded by smoke. The mountain began to shake.

The party pressed on. Helio and Caeli abandoned their horses to double up. Nearer to the top of the mountain, the party saw a silhouette looming above them and pursued it.

They found an old man, hunched over and carrying a staff. Mavka asked him if he was lost, and he said that he was. He said that he was from Isaldul. His name was Relidyr and that he didn't remember why he was up here. He drank all of Caeli's water and ate her leftover pancakes. He said he could see the future, and that chaos would end the world; he said he saw a lake of darkness, people dying, a group of ugly men around a portal. He then read everyone's palms. Karaa did not offer hers.

We continued up the mountains and got about half way up. It started to get dark. After sunset, Gossamer found a hole in the ground that all of us might be able to fit into, but it looked like it was made by something burrowing. Mavka gave her staff, radiating warmth and low light to Caeli and Helio. She then went outside to plant the tree to get everyone's bedrolls and the tent down from the tree, but they all fell down the incline. Inside, Caeli tried to fix the dulcimer that she and Karaa got for Mavka.

Mavka struggled to maintain her grip on all of the sleeping bags and messaged the others for help. Karaa came out to help. She gave Mavka a little instrument, a kalimba, and Mavka gave her a shawl embroidered with stars. Karaa cast sleep on Caeli, then got to talking with Mavka about the old man.

Mavka, worried, asked Gossamer for the Hags' eyes, and spied on the doppelganger. She was dressed in new clothes, with her hair in a topknot, and she was dressed in black and purple, rogueish, carving something, nodding like someone was talking. Mavka took the first watch and got distracted by a nearby campfire while the mountain still tremored. In the meantime, Helio silently stood and began walking deeper into the tunnels.

When Mavka turned around, Helio was gone. She woke up Gossamer and Karaa and they decided that Gossamer and Caeli would go after Helio while Karaa and Mavka went to investigate the campfire. When they arrived, they found only Relidyr snoring beside the cinders of a campfire. He had a spit cooking a rabbit over the fire that had been burnt out, and his bag was open.

Helio woke up in the dark under the mountain, but he was calm. He heard a commotion coming from the entrance, and began walking that way. He met up with Gossamer and Caeli who were out looking for him. Mavka and Karaa decided to go back as well, finding nothing else of note.

Mavka went back to sleep so that Karaa and Helio could take the next watch. He could tell that it wasn't an earthquake; rather, something was making the earth tremor. They also talked about Faen, and Helio's past rocky relationships. Gossamer took the third watch; once again, she felt an unnatural presence with the group, but couldn't tell who or what it was.

She woke up Mavka to take a short watch while she went to investigate Relidyr's camp. Gossamer investigated the bag while Relidyr slept in the dirt in his rags. She pulled out a giant sock, then tried to shake the contents out of the bag, to no avail. She took out a giant fork, then put back both it and the giant sock back in the bag.

Above everything, on the mountaintop, smoke glowed like an aurora in the night. In the morning, Gossamer slipped a note into Caeli's backpack. Then, she woke up Mavka so that she could wake up everyone else. They had rations for breakfast, then saddled up. As they rode further and further up the mountain, there were more burrows, and there were deeper snowbanks that slowed the horses. Some of them lay below the surface, and Mavka and her horse fell into one. She cast Cure Wounds on the horse, but it let out a shriek that could probably be heard for miles.

Further up, on the ridge, there were several figures, large and small. Using the Hags' Eyes once again, Mavka spied her doppelganger at the top of a mountain, tall figures conversing in front of her. She began to head down the other side of the mountain. Mavka had the idea of going in the tunnels to avoid the giants. Caeli and Helio found a good tunnel and the group descended. After about forty minutes we made it out.

Mavka spotted her doppelganger descending the mountain. Karaa cast dimension door to bring Mavka to the doppelganger; Karaa landed on her feet, but Mavka tripped the horse, sending it, her doppelganger, and herself tumbling down the mountain. Mavka managed to tackle her doppelganger, then used wildshape to shift into a huge wolf and bite at her.

There were more figures at the top of the mountain. Helio could see that one small figure was an unknown tabaxi, and the other was Kendrick the Communicator. There were also two giants. The rest of the party emerged on horseback from the tunnels, losing the element of surprise. One of the giants leapt down from the mountain to intervene, but Caeli stunned it.

Mavka ripped into her doppelganger, jaws clamping down onto her leg, and slammed her into a stone, knocking her prone. Karaa drew her rapier and started going after the tabaxi. The doppelganger stood up and tried to run.

Gossamer shot at the giant, Kendrick continued closing the gap between the Mavkas, and Helio continued charging at Kendrick. Caeli continued whaling on the giant, stunning it again.

Mavka bit the doppelganger again, then exited her wildshape to yell "Where's the relic?", but the doppelganger just glared at her.

The giant slammed Caeli into the ground, then grabbed into the mountain and hurled a ball of rock at Gossamer, crushing her. Karaa cast Misty Step to get to Gossamer, then cast Mending on one of her arms where the bone had broken.

The doppelganger struck at Mavka with her daggers. One missed, and the other sank into her shoulder. The doppelganger kicked Mavka's legs out from under her, pinning her. Kendrick tried to persuade the doppelganger to leave, and get going. Mavka broke free of the doppelganger's grasp and with a screeching howl cast Conjure Animals, summoning eight wolves to her side and sending them after Kendrick and the doppelganger. Four of them tackled Kendrick, but the doppelganger nearly killed one of them. Kendrick killed two of them and then vanished.

Helio slammed his morning star into the tabaxi's neck, and she fled down one of the pits. Helio followed, feeling something brush past him as he entered. Gossamer cast hunter's mark on the doppelganger, and Caeli kept hitting the giant, who was starting to show signs of wear and tear. Mavka sent her a message to get below-ground, but the giant swatted her and then threw another rock ball at Mavka, killing three of her wolves and knocking her prone. The doppelganger kicked Mavka in the head, then fled into the tunnels. Mavka's remaining three wolves dragged her into the tunnel, away from the giant, where she cast Cure Wounds on herself.

Caeli made it into the tunnels. With that, the giants began hurling boulders at the tunnels, sealing them in. The tunnels darkened. Karaa, Gossamer, and Caeli were sealed in one, and Mavka, Helio, Kendrick, the doppelganger, and the tabaxi were sealed in with the other.

Gossamer was able to stand despite being half-crushed by a boulder. Her ribs were broken, though. She lit a torch and started trying to track the doppelganger through the tunnels, to no avail. They decided to go left. They continued this way for some time before going down an intersecting tunnel.

Helio was on his own in the tunnels. After a loud crash and sudden darkness, the torchlight of the tabaxi was the only light he could see. He ran to catch up with her and tackled her, demanding information that she was reluctant to supply. He tried to steal her torch, unsuccessfully. He managed to convince her to talk eventually, and she said that she and her friends were arraigning a trade with the stone giants. She said that Zund had the relic, but that she could gain something from it and that she was willing to sacrifice herself for it.

Mavka managed to make it into the tunnels just as boulders crushed the entrance. She sent two of her wolves scouting up ahead, and they said that her doppelganger was just around the next bend. Wary of further confrontation, she sat down to take a short rest.

While Helio was talking to the tabaxi, Pix, someone stabbed him in the back. Mavka sent one of her wolves to see if the doppelganger was still there, and it didn't come back. Elsewhere in the tunnels, something huge burrowed in front of Karaa, Gossamer, and Caeli, tearing the tunnels apart.