Storm King's Thunder

## Synopsis

The party arrived in a small village called Nightstone, only to find that it had been attacked by Giants and the townsfolk were mostly missing. Clearing the invading goblins from the town, the party eventually made their way to the manor house and found the leader of the town, who they were due to meet with, had been killed in the initial attack and the guards were trapped on the upper area of town.

With the town cleared, the party dealt with a few minor threats to the town, before heading north to find any survivors who might have fled town to nearby caves. Here, the leader of the goblins that had been ransacking the ruined town was found keeping the survivors of the town hostage in his caves, feeding some of his large rat creatures, killing some himself. He was prepared to ransom them back to the party, but they fought and killed the goblin and the rest of his followers.

Morak, the dwarven barkeep became the popular leader of the town as the party released them and guided them safely back to Nightstone. As Morak and the townsfolk started to work out what they needed to do to put their town back in working order, Morak asked the party to aid in one of three possible tasks, heading out to far-flung corners of Faerun to deliver news of the attack to the next of kin of Nightstone.

The party decided to head to Bryn Shander in the frigid north of Icewind Dale. As they started their long journey, a cloud giant called Zephyros lowered his castle and allowed them to travel in his castle with him, cutting their long journey down significantly.

While the party was in Bryn Shander, the town was assaulted by Frost Giants looking for the Ring of Winter. The party, joined by Luze Weiss, paladin of Lathander, and the people of Bryn Shander fought back this invading force Luze joined the party as she was on a quest to find a criminal known as the Weevil. The people of Bryn Shander asked the party if they could aid them in a number of side quests.

After a number of small journeys, the party fought some more Frost Giants, who had attacked Fireshear. While the party fought and killed the giants, the refugees from the town managed to make it to the safety of Bryn Shander. Markham Southwell, the sheriff of Bryn Shander proclaimed the party to be The Heroes of Icewind Dale. This attracted the attention of a bounty hunter from Mirabar, who introduced himself to the party as Nemmonis Kriv. He was also looking for the criminal the Weevil and had found evidence of his last known location. He needed a new partner as a recent troll attack had taken a toll on his partner, who was now missing an arm.

Nemmonis Kriv travelled with the partner to Xantharl's Keep. Here they found the Weevil, as he was also found by a number of Bugbears, who seemed intent on capturing him. The party fought the bugbears and rendered the Weevil unconscious. As they started to leave, Chupacabra lost her patience with Nemmonis and fired her crossbow at him, causing Talon to spot a Zhentarim ring on him. Finding this new information, the party instantly turned to attack the Dragonborn assassin, who fell quickly to their attacks. As he lay dying on the ground, Luze fought to keep him alive and bring him to justice, but Chupacabra slaughtered him.

Luze attempted to leave the party, but she was knocked unconscious and tied to her horse alongside the unconscious Weevil and Kriv's body. The party made their way back up to Mirabar to hand over the Weevil, Along the way, Fenthwick spoke candidly with Luze, who decided, begrudgingly to stay with the party despite their differences. In Mirabar, the party found a blacksmith to upgrade their weaponry and then found a tavern that served ice cream and they had a big ice cream party to celebrate Luze's Birthday (Ches 3). Eralith announces to Fenthwick that he is going to take a different path the following morning, realising that he can move quickly on his own to meet one of the contacts they made who might have some information about the Giant attacks and be able to offer some assistance.

Following a week of travel, the party make their way to Neverwinter, where they find Sir Lanniver and tell him about the capture of the Weevil. He offers Luze his Cloak of Protection and the rest of the party get a chance to pick magic items from his vault. After some embarrassing misadventures with some magic rings which leads to Luze's arm having a side adventure with the Tomb of Annihilation crew in Chult, as well as finding a pair of rings that cause varying levels of invisibility. Chupa finds a Flametongue Longsword, while a ring of petrification is found in the corner on the hand of an elven sorcerer called Caelynn.

The following morning, they find that the Ring of Petrification had a mind of its own and wanted to be worn. After a fight through the streets of Neverwinter, the party decide that it might be wise to quickly leave. Eralith finds the party and announces that his contact told him the Ornding is broken, the order that the holds the giants in place, each different type of giant is now vying for the top spot. His contact, a member of the Harpers, also offered them the use of a secret teleportation network that would allow them to quickly make their way around Faerun. They make use of this to head south to Waterdeep, Caelynn's hometown.

Arriving in a tomb in the graveyard, the party swiftly make their way to Caelynn's home, where she has a tearful reunion with her mother, Keylith. The following morning, it is revealed that Talon recovered the Ring of Petrification and is chased by Chupacabra, Luze and Caelynn, before it is taken from him by Keylith. When Keylith is returned to normal, Eralith puts on the Ring of Petrification and the Ring of the Wandering Limb, causing his hand and the rings to both vanish. Chupa grabs the Invisibility Ring which causes your gear to vanish turning Eralith into a nude statue that was then placed in the gardens of Keyleth's house.

The party had other business in Waterdeep, the son of Artus Cimber had sent them there to talk to Lord Zelraun Roaringhorn, who might have some information about his father and the Ring of Winter that the Frost Giants were hunting. Lord Roaringhorn holds regular parties and Keylith was able to get the party on the guest list for the next one, which was at the end of the week they arrived in town. The party then spent the rest of the week shopping for the appropriate attire.

At the party, following some misadventures with Lord Roaringhorn's special brew, Caelynn found herself forgetting Common and able to only communicate in Elven. Talon slipped away from the main party to see what Lord Roaringhorn might have stashed away. The rest of the group spoke with Lord Roaringhorn, who was pleased to see both another Tiefling at the high-class event and the return of Caelynn, who had been missing for three years. Unfortunately, he didn't have any useful information for the party about the whereabouts of Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter, but after he heard about the problems that the party was facing, he was eager to lend his assistance where he could. Lord Roaringhorn was a keen alchemist and offered the party a number of potions of healing, before privately offering some other potions of Luze and Chupacabra.

Hitting a dead end in this investigation, the party decided to head back to Neverwinter and head south from there to Helms Hold, a small stronghold held by an offshoot of the Order of the Gauntlet who were eager to root out demonic influences, causing Chupacabra to worry that they might be interested in causing her harm if they found out about her identity as a Tiefling.

Helms Hold turned out to be haunted, ghosts wandered the streets on certain nights. Mostly these were silent shades that repeated a certain action that they had taken in life, but two caused problems for our party. Caelynn spotted a ghost walking in circles chanting "The Ornding is broken" while another ghost walked straight through Luze accusing her of being a murderer for some of the parties recent actions. The Leaders of the Order of the Gilded Eye were quick to meet with the party and assuage their fears about the missing Knight that had been mentioned to them by Sir Lanniver a few weeks previously. She had been sent south, also investigating the attacks of the Frost Giants.

The party rode south and found a number of Frost Giants returning from a raiding party. After killing him, they track where he was heading to find a Frost Giant Longship moored off the shore. After another tough fight with another returning Frost Giant, the party meets with Harshnag, a friendly Frost Giant and former member of Force Grey, an Adventuring party from Waterdeep. He had a plan and needed the help of others who were trying to solve the problerm of the Giant attacks.

He led the party to an old Giant temple in the Spine of the World called the Eye of the All-Father, who following some misadventures with the traps inside the temple, the party consulted with the Oracle. The Oracle demanded the return of long-lost Giant relics in exchange for information leading to the Giant Lords who might hold some answers.

Upon leaving the temple, the party was met with a giant red airship piloted by the followers of the great red dragon Klauth. He was offering them the use of the airship in exchange for dealing with the dragon's ancient enemies, the Giants. Most of the party accepted this offer, with the exception of Chupacabra, who continued to follow the party on horseback. The party headed south towards Morgur's Mound.

Along the way, Luze and Fenthwick climbed into the crow's nest atop the balloon and had a deep and meaningful conversation about Chupacabra and Nemmonis Kriv.

The following evening they passed Xantharl's Keep, the stronghold where Nemmonis Kriv had fallen. Smoke and fire burning in the town which was clearly under attack. The party manoeuvered their airship to land outside of town and ran into the town to meet with Lady Shinju Kotone a friendly bard and the assault of a cult of dragon worshippers. During the attack, they fought an adult red dragon and stopped a troll from kidnapping the unconscious form of Luze who had fallen in the combat. As the dragon took back into the sky, the party heard of a vicious warrior who was fighting guards on the outskirts of town.

Talon quickly moved to stabilise Luze with his first aid knowledge and looked around to find the resurrected Nemmonis Kriv wandering through town with his War hammers out. Chupacabra and Talon started to attack Nemmonis while Luze fought to keep him alive. Chupacabra swung a mighty attack which Luze stood in front of, causing herself to fall again to the strain of her wounds. Once again Fenthwick revived her and fighting with Nemmonis halted with the appearance of a large silver dragon, who claimed that Nemmonis could be redeemed. This cult was doing a lot of evil in the world and it would be of great use to her to have an infiltrator in their ranks. Nemmonis and the silver dragon took off for places unknown, but Luze felt that she could no longer travel with the party and took off on her own path.

The following morning, Chupacabra announced that she too felt the need to leave the party as she was unsure what she had done wrong to anger Luze and needed to work things through for herself. Lady Shinju offered to introduce the party to three new adventurers to refill the ranks of the party. Fenthwick and Talon met with Lunar Silvermoon, Briar Gardenier and Jaghol Bloodheart. Following a brief introduction, the party returned to their airship where Fenthwick found a note from Luze.

The party continued on to Morgur's Mound where they spent the day digging through the ruins and found a number of magical relics, including the giant relic they had been tasked with finding here. A quartet of skeletal Thunderbeasts rose to fight the party and they were quick to dispatch them. The party decided to continue finding relics before heading back to the Oracle and turned north to Raven Rock.

While Briar was forced to deal with the cold and her unsuitable choice of clothing, the party dealt with wolves and werewolves at Raven's Rock. Jaghol was bitten and infected by the werewolves during the fight, and a pair of werewolf hunters, Bismun and the Librarian, arrived to explain there were two solutions, either he could be put down, or he could use this newfound infection to fight evil in the world. Jaghol was quick to agree to fight evil in any form, and while the party dug for the relics, The Librarian brewed something called Hunter's Bane which would allow Jaghol to gain some form of control over the werewolf.

The party continued the relic hunting quest heading back south to Shining White, where the relic was buried under another altar, which Fenthwick dealt with by polymorphing into an Umber Hulk. He kept this form on returning to the airship and caused the crew to dive off the ship to their deaths, leading to an argument between Fenthwick and Briar. Fenthwick was quick to point out that he was the only person who had paid attention to how to pilot the airship, and was released from his bindings to start barking orders before Talon managed to crash the airship.

At Flint Rock, Fenthwick turned into an Earth Elemental and sunk beneath the altar, quickly finding and retrieving spear that was there. The party then moved on to the Grandfather Tree, an ancient tree in the middle of the elven woodlands.

When they arrived they found a group of seven centaurs were resting under the branches of the tree, but they clearly wished to be left alone. As Briar started to climb the tree, four protective Dryads emerged from the neighbouring trees and demanded to know what the party was planning with the Grandfather Tree. Caelynn managed to convince them that they were just here to remove a relic, and not harm the tree itself. The Dryads returned to their trees, while Fenthwick turned back into an Earth Elemental, allowing him to search under the tree without digging anything up. Retrieving another relic, the party decided to have a relaxing picnic under the Grandfather Tree, after checking with the Dryads. During their picnic, Caelynn finds from one of the centaurs that the group has been cursed while exploring a nearby tomb... but they are hoping the tree can restore them. Fenthwick casts Speak with Plants to ask the tree for aid.

The Grandfather Tree responds that the centaurs only need to rest under his branches and he will remove the curse. The party then ask about Briar and the curse afflicting her. The tree explains that this magic is too powerful for even him to stand against, but there might be a way to slow it down, a Ring of Protection. Lunar believes that her jeweller might be able to make something like that and invites the party back to her hometown.

Landing a day later in Silverymoon, Lunar gives the group a guided tour of the marketplace, dropping stacks of gold coins as she goes, buying them many presents, including the Ring of Protection that will need to be resized to fit Briar. While the party wait, Lunar invites them to spend the time in her small mansion, where following a bath, Briar and Fenthwick overhear the angry shouting of Lunar's father, before he slaps Lunar for choosing to live the life of an adventurer.

While Lunar's father is inside, Talon sneaks into his carriage to see if there is anything worth stealing, before sabotaging the wheel when he finds nothing.

## Active Characters

* Fenthwick Fizzlebang - Gnome Druid
* Talon Shadowkin - Human Rogue
* Caelynn Liadon - Elven Sorcerer
* Jaghol Bloodheart - Dwarven Cleric
* Lunar Silvermoon - Human Sorcerer
* Briar Gardenier - Human Ranger

## Retired Adventurers

* Chupacabra (Kal-re Tek) - Tiefling Fighter
* Luze Weiss - Human Paladin
* Nemmonis Kriv - Dragonborn Paladin/Death Knight
* Logan Redbone - Goliath Barbarian
* Eralith - Elven Ranger