Session #11: Path to Icepire Hold
Jan. 14th, 2024 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
istainionAfter the final arrangements have been made and all that was said has been said, we followed lady Sade toward the edge of Kryptgarden forest. A path partly familiar to us, but not without the guidance of the powerful druid to save us from invisible portals leading to the feywild.
During our journey toward the exit closest to our destination, we participated in small discussions. We wondered if Punk, Kyndel's familiar, would be willing to scout the enemy grounds, but he seems unwilling. Then we discussed the tools we are handed for our mission, the scroll will transform us into eagles to fly toward our destination. Flying into the enemy's grasp, however, is not a very bright move to make. Besides that, eagles do not fly in packs, and we must be considerate of that, in case the dragon will be at the top of the hold to keep an eye on any incoming enemy forces.
We were told that dragons see sharper than we do, smell better than we do and, like this, he may even pick up on our smell and detect minor unnatural things, such as eagles approaching the Icepire Holt's grounds. Alerting the dragon or the enemies near the walls will result in us failing the mission, for they must have a plan in case of an attack. Knocking on the door is the most foolish thing to do. We relied heavily on the secret passage and are yet unfamiliar with the battlefield of choice. Planning ahead is difficult, and so the discussions seemed meaningless until we'd get closer.
During our discussion, Sidah was suddenly missing but with the ladies' skillful eyes, he was quickly found. It appears he stood still for a moment, he was caught in an illusion of some sort, so lady Sade was so helpful to recover him and bring his attention back to where it belonged, reality. Sidah was surprised, he had said, for he had heard a voice that is familiar to him. Not only that, it showed a Kobold to him, wielding something that gave off a bright, golden light.
Lady Sade explained to us that the fey wild's tricks use the memories of the owner to establish an illusion to lure their prey. While Sidah is at least vaguely familiar with the principle, he did use the opportunity to look into an unfamiliar memory. It may be tied to the name he had heard before, this may as well be the one that cursed him and robbed him from the memories. Or the one, that we assume is the magic user, the shaman, if not an innocent person that would reach out to the lost kobold to help him. Whoever he may be or have been, we will eventually discover more when we visit enemy grounds. Sidah let us know that the Icepire Hold reeks awfully, so our scent may not be an obstacle nor needs to be neutralized by any needs.
We continued the walk and another topic came to discussion. Lady Sade explained that the pool is for multifunctional use and had confessed that she is a hero enthusiast. The spirits hold memories of various types of heroes, as well as many of their tomes. She'd sometimes use the pool to view the memories of heroes. One of them is the tabaxi we met, Tibirin by name. A paladin that granted us his hand in combat, giving us hope in times of desperation and fear, he revealed us the light, and we defeated our fears. The druid explained that she has never met him before, he is a hero from hundreds of years ago in the past, one of which she heard of by the elder druids. It makes sense why he was so thankful to be remembered. Neither will I forget him, it is such a shame that we may never meet again.
Once we reached the edge of the forest, the druid gave us her farewell and best wishes, before she transformed into a beautiful falcon with blue/green elements to her wings. After spinning half a circle above us, we waved her off.
We decided not to climb the mountains, for it may take longer than we anticipated. A mistake can be deadly and besides that, there is a storm around the hills. It may cover our path toward it, but it may also bring severe danger. After opening up the scroll, Kyndel transformed each of us into eagles. The sister would head toward our destination as the first, followed by the rest of us. She is quick to pick up on small things and this may add to our advantage. We don't have the luxury of taking risks with just the five of us against a well-prepared army of kobolds and a dragon.
Yolantha led us to an entrance at a lower location from the hold. One, that would normally be poorly visible and maybe even dangerous to travel to, our path as eagles made it a safe one, even with a snowstorm out. It was a battle to keep sight of all that happened, but as soon as Sidah arrived, he flew off in response of fear. It made me wonder what happened in this place. Kyndel flew after him to change Sidah's mind and direction, but it seemed harder than it was. The fear was intense from how it looked, but with Hemlock's assistance, all three returned safely. The fire genasi was quick to undo the transformation to complicate a second attempt of escape.
In front of us there was an entrance to some type of under croft. We entered to see what it holds. The first room had coffins positioned on the ground with no clear order. No information of the owners was found, but that didn't hold me from making a brief prayer for the deceased. May they be in a better place now. At the end of the entrance room, there was another door, leading deeper into the unknown. From there on, there were three paths to take. To our left and right, each a door and ahead of us, there were stairs leading to a higher floor. We first took the entrance to the left, to where more coffins were positioned, along with a type of operation table with straps and blood according to the sister. The look in Sidah's eyes seemed fearful when she entered that room specifically, and a type of unsettling stench traveled to the open space. Nothing else was found inside, so we headed to the other door to the right. Confirming that no sounds were heard, but it didn't last long when the Sister took her position right next to me and a magic trap went off.
The tile on which she stood lit up and not far from us, a second light showed in the distance, but the string of magic was interrupted by Hemlock's skillful approach. This would have alerted the enemy if not interrupted. We held our position for a while and continued after everything went quiet again. With a failed attempt to open up the right door, we again had to hold our position once we got into the room. There was movement from two different directions again, but that, too, went quiet. The right room held more coffins and nothing to be found. It made us wonder what has happened here.
We couldn't afford any more time to stand still, and continued our way up the stairs, where we were guided inside a larger room with a religious symbol on the floor. The sun of the Morning lord, Lathander. Above the ground, corpses and skeleton remains of many. These, limited to humans and orcs alone. It was unclear as to why these were positioned here.
The others had discovered a gap in the ceiling, or rather, a connection. Kyndel commanded Punk to climb his way up and take a closer look at what is happening above us. When he returned and Kyndel straightened his posture again, he let us know his findings. Above, there is Cryovain and a handful of kobolds. He said that they are in the process of taking care of a ritual for the dragon. It may be tied to treating his wounds. Inside the room which we are present, the others detected necrotic energy and another detail became clear, a part of the corpses had been eaten. It was an unpleasant thought to wield in a place such as this.
Our exploration was interrupted when suddenly we heard the sound of a key making an attempt to unlock the door leading to the eastern side of the building, accompanied by the voices of kobolds. We positioned ourselves away from sight, and used the opportunity to strike down the offense. It was a shame, however, the sounds of battle and fire caught the attention of others. When the three entering kobolds were taken down, another entered through a secret passage and escaped in time to inform the others of the attack. A call for backup has been announced.
Our position as we hold it right now will allow only a limited number of enemies to enter, while it looks like a disaster, we may still hold the advantage. May Torm's guiding light shine upon us all.
During our journey toward the exit closest to our destination, we participated in small discussions. We wondered if Punk, Kyndel's familiar, would be willing to scout the enemy grounds, but he seems unwilling. Then we discussed the tools we are handed for our mission, the scroll will transform us into eagles to fly toward our destination. Flying into the enemy's grasp, however, is not a very bright move to make. Besides that, eagles do not fly in packs, and we must be considerate of that, in case the dragon will be at the top of the hold to keep an eye on any incoming enemy forces.
We were told that dragons see sharper than we do, smell better than we do and, like this, he may even pick up on our smell and detect minor unnatural things, such as eagles approaching the Icepire Holt's grounds. Alerting the dragon or the enemies near the walls will result in us failing the mission, for they must have a plan in case of an attack. Knocking on the door is the most foolish thing to do. We relied heavily on the secret passage and are yet unfamiliar with the battlefield of choice. Planning ahead is difficult, and so the discussions seemed meaningless until we'd get closer.
During our discussion, Sidah was suddenly missing but with the ladies' skillful eyes, he was quickly found. It appears he stood still for a moment, he was caught in an illusion of some sort, so lady Sade was so helpful to recover him and bring his attention back to where it belonged, reality. Sidah was surprised, he had said, for he had heard a voice that is familiar to him. Not only that, it showed a Kobold to him, wielding something that gave off a bright, golden light.
Lady Sade explained to us that the fey wild's tricks use the memories of the owner to establish an illusion to lure their prey. While Sidah is at least vaguely familiar with the principle, he did use the opportunity to look into an unfamiliar memory. It may be tied to the name he had heard before, this may as well be the one that cursed him and robbed him from the memories. Or the one, that we assume is the magic user, the shaman, if not an innocent person that would reach out to the lost kobold to help him. Whoever he may be or have been, we will eventually discover more when we visit enemy grounds. Sidah let us know that the Icepire Hold reeks awfully, so our scent may not be an obstacle nor needs to be neutralized by any needs.
We continued the walk and another topic came to discussion. Lady Sade explained that the pool is for multifunctional use and had confessed that she is a hero enthusiast. The spirits hold memories of various types of heroes, as well as many of their tomes. She'd sometimes use the pool to view the memories of heroes. One of them is the tabaxi we met, Tibirin by name. A paladin that granted us his hand in combat, giving us hope in times of desperation and fear, he revealed us the light, and we defeated our fears. The druid explained that she has never met him before, he is a hero from hundreds of years ago in the past, one of which she heard of by the elder druids. It makes sense why he was so thankful to be remembered. Neither will I forget him, it is such a shame that we may never meet again.
Once we reached the edge of the forest, the druid gave us her farewell and best wishes, before she transformed into a beautiful falcon with blue/green elements to her wings. After spinning half a circle above us, we waved her off.
We decided not to climb the mountains, for it may take longer than we anticipated. A mistake can be deadly and besides that, there is a storm around the hills. It may cover our path toward it, but it may also bring severe danger. After opening up the scroll, Kyndel transformed each of us into eagles. The sister would head toward our destination as the first, followed by the rest of us. She is quick to pick up on small things and this may add to our advantage. We don't have the luxury of taking risks with just the five of us against a well-prepared army of kobolds and a dragon.
Yolantha led us to an entrance at a lower location from the hold. One, that would normally be poorly visible and maybe even dangerous to travel to, our path as eagles made it a safe one, even with a snowstorm out. It was a battle to keep sight of all that happened, but as soon as Sidah arrived, he flew off in response of fear. It made me wonder what happened in this place. Kyndel flew after him to change Sidah's mind and direction, but it seemed harder than it was. The fear was intense from how it looked, but with Hemlock's assistance, all three returned safely. The fire genasi was quick to undo the transformation to complicate a second attempt of escape.
In front of us there was an entrance to some type of under croft. We entered to see what it holds. The first room had coffins positioned on the ground with no clear order. No information of the owners was found, but that didn't hold me from making a brief prayer for the deceased. May they be in a better place now. At the end of the entrance room, there was another door, leading deeper into the unknown. From there on, there were three paths to take. To our left and right, each a door and ahead of us, there were stairs leading to a higher floor. We first took the entrance to the left, to where more coffins were positioned, along with a type of operation table with straps and blood according to the sister. The look in Sidah's eyes seemed fearful when she entered that room specifically, and a type of unsettling stench traveled to the open space. Nothing else was found inside, so we headed to the other door to the right. Confirming that no sounds were heard, but it didn't last long when the Sister took her position right next to me and a magic trap went off.
The tile on which she stood lit up and not far from us, a second light showed in the distance, but the string of magic was interrupted by Hemlock's skillful approach. This would have alerted the enemy if not interrupted. We held our position for a while and continued after everything went quiet again. With a failed attempt to open up the right door, we again had to hold our position once we got into the room. There was movement from two different directions again, but that, too, went quiet. The right room held more coffins and nothing to be found. It made us wonder what has happened here.
We couldn't afford any more time to stand still, and continued our way up the stairs, where we were guided inside a larger room with a religious symbol on the floor. The sun of the Morning lord, Lathander. Above the ground, corpses and skeleton remains of many. These, limited to humans and orcs alone. It was unclear as to why these were positioned here.
The others had discovered a gap in the ceiling, or rather, a connection. Kyndel commanded Punk to climb his way up and take a closer look at what is happening above us. When he returned and Kyndel straightened his posture again, he let us know his findings. Above, there is Cryovain and a handful of kobolds. He said that they are in the process of taking care of a ritual for the dragon. It may be tied to treating his wounds. Inside the room which we are present, the others detected necrotic energy and another detail became clear, a part of the corpses had been eaten. It was an unpleasant thought to wield in a place such as this.
Our exploration was interrupted when suddenly we heard the sound of a key making an attempt to unlock the door leading to the eastern side of the building, accompanied by the voices of kobolds. We positioned ourselves away from sight, and used the opportunity to strike down the offense. It was a shame, however, the sounds of battle and fire caught the attention of others. When the three entering kobolds were taken down, another entered through a secret passage and escaped in time to inform the others of the attack. A call for backup has been announced.
Our position as we hold it right now will allow only a limited number of enemies to enter, while it looks like a disaster, we may still hold the advantage. May Torm's guiding light shine upon us all.
