Session 42

=September 26th, 2019 - The Sacrifice=

Escape from Svardborg
The session began immediately where we last left off, with our adventurers staring off the deck of their airship as an adult white dragon flew right towards them. Half of the gnomish crew fled below deck while Captain Spangle tried to keep order among the five that remained. Rachen’s ten soldiers held their positions at the two ballista, with the rest readying their longbows. The dragon reached their altitude perhaps half a mile away, and then began streaming towards the airship to do a flyby. Cadmus tried to yell in draconic what Lachlan was telling him to say, but the cleric was unfamiliar with the language and was trying to say too much, too quickly.

The dragon whipped past the airship, broadsiding the deck with his massive cold breath. The entire deck was engulfed in a cloud of ice and frost, and only Thia remained standing after ducking behind one of the masts. All of Rachen’s soldiers, and the gnomish crew on the deck were frozen dead, while the rest of Thia’s party except for Harshnag were unconscious on the ground, possibly dead themselves. The elven ranger limped to the opposite deck railing, and watched as the dragon circled back and began heading towards the airship from the other direction. In draconic, as loud and clear as she could, she yelled out, “they destroyed your eggs!”

This caught the attention of the dragon, who veered to the side and buffeted his wings, slowing himself as he then slammed into the side of the wooden airship. The entire craft shook and tilted in the air, throwing frozen corpses off the side, but rocked back without flipping over. The head of the dragon came over the deck feet from Thia and bellowed, “WHERE ARE THEY?!”

“Second floor of the three story lodge,” Thia replied. Anger glowed in the dragon’s eyes as he pushed off the airship’s hull and fell backwards through the sky. Thia reached the other side in time to watch it circling around the island and crashing into the tallest lodge. Moments later the dragon roared in agony, and a second white dragon burst from one of the unexplored lodges across the island. The two then circled and began battling with the numerous frost giants, all while the airship continued to raise into the sky and slowly propel forward, away from the battle below.

Thia helped rouse her companions, healing Cadmus who in turn helped others, and luckily none of them had perished. With the gnomish captain dead, Rufus took over as commander of the ship with the help of the remaining gnomish crew and Rachen’s soldiers. Rufus appointed the most experienced of the remaining gnomes his XO, Rizzle. The party decided to head directly back to the giant temple with their artifacts. Over the course of the next two weeks of their travel, the crew rested, discussed what they were going to ask the Oracle, and went through the treasure in the one recovered chest from Svardborg. It contained thousands of coin, with a third being copper, a third silver, and a third gold.

Once they finally reached the mountain peaks high in the Northern Worldspine Mountains where the giant temple was hidden, the party decided to take the airship into the enclosed cavernous ravine where the entrance lay. The airship hovered above the forty foot wide land bridge across the ravine and the party descended on ropes, including Harshnag who would be needed to open the portal. After they had disembarked, XO Rizzle took the airship into the air but stayed within the massive protected space, shielded from the wind and snow. The party traveled into the temple proper, finding it empty, just as they had left it months ago. Once again, Harshnag pulled the frost giant axe from its statue and touched the frost rune, opening the portal to the Oracle chamber.

The Sacrifice
Harshnag stayed outside the chamber as before, in case anything happened. The party ventured inside and found the chamber just as cold and empty as before, with all six lanterns held by the hooded statues aflame. As they were instructed by the Oracle upon their first meeting, the group put the two giant artifacts around the edge of the circle, and Rachen stood within the center now ready to ask the group’s questions. This time, the Oracle answered their questions, and after each, one of the lantern flames were extinguished. First, Rachen asked the question they were denied previously, “Where is Ironslag located?”

The soft disembodied voice answered, “''Nearly one hundred miles north of the dwarven hold of Khaz Thorum, where the Nether Mountains spur from the Worldspines. The fire giant stronghold is hidden beneath a mountaintop village of Yakfolk, look for the entrance there.''”

Second, Rachen asked, “What is the best way to stop Tiamat?”

“By preventing her from being freed from her Under-Earth prison.”

Third, Rachen asked, “If we visit the Storm King’s court, would they be aggressive?”

“No, tradition dictates a bearer of a Storm Giant conch must be granted an audience with the ruler of the Storm Giant’s.” The third flame extinguished."

Fourthly, Rachen asked, “When we visited the Dethmere, we spoke with a black dragon named Voraghamanthar, but saw a second, different one that looked almost exactly the same, who was it?”

“''That was his secret twin brother, Waervaerendor. Together they rule the swamp as one.''”

Fifthly, Rachen asked, “How do we get to the remaining dragon masks?”

“''The red mask rests in the great Temple of Tiamat in the Well of Dragons. The white mask is within the sands of a central desert of the Storm Coast. The green mask treks through elven forests. The blue mask is shrouded in mist.''”

After the fifth lantern flame went out, Thia spoke up and told the group of her dreams she had been having since wearing the black dragon mask. What she believes are visions from the eyes of the other mask wearers, some matching the descriptions the Oracle just gave. She worries they may be able to see what she is seeing, but isn’t too concerned as they have just been flashes at this point.

Lastly, with one final question and after discussion with the party, Rachen asked, “How do we prevent Tiamat from being freed from her Under-Earth prison?”

“''There are multiple components to the ritual meant to free she who was to be imprisoned until her death, first are the dragon masks themselves, key to opening the portal to where she is trapped. Next, is the sacrifice of prisoners being gathered across the Storm Coast. Thirdly, she must not drink the potion unlike any other on this continent. Finally, are the Night Wizards themselves who will conduct the unprecedented ritual to break unbreakable chains.''”

The group took in what they had been told, and discussed who or what they thought the true identity of ‘Tiamat’ was. Clearly she could not be a true god as was being spread among the cult, based on what the Oracle had previously said, and what the religious and historical experts among the party knew. Their best guess was that she was the Black Queen, the firstborn of the all black dragons who surrendered after the Red King died during the Dragon Wars. It was never said what happened to her before the metallic dragon avatars left the world in the Maelstrom, only that she had surrendered. With all the lanterns expired and questions answered, the group left the Oracle chamber to join Harshnag with the intention of going back to their airship.

They didn’t get halfway across the main temple chamber when the giant stone entrance doors burst open and a massive ancient blue dragon rampaged in. The beast was the largest dragon any of them had ever seen, and it was roaring in anger as it charged on all fours towards them. Everything happened so fast, Harshnag leapt ahead and tried to grapple with the ancient blue, barely holding one paw and its jaw as the dragon erupted an enormous lighting bolt that raked across the walls of the chamber. “Run!” the giant screamed. The party hesitated for just a moment, knowing they could not retreat toward the portal room or be trapped, and so they did their best to avoid the rampaging dragon’s legs and tail as Harsnag took blow after blow.

Harshnag let go of the paw and with that now free hand grabbed his axe from the ground and struck at the large central giant statue of the All-Father. The dragon slashed and cut into the giant, but the deed had been done. The All-Father statue had been cracked, desecrated, and the entire roof of the temple began crumbling down around them. The wizards in the party had dimension doored out of the main chamber while the rest in the party ran and tumbled down the entrance stairs as uncounted tons of stone came crashing down. Debris and clouds of dust erupted from the temple, but the group had made it out alive.

And then there was silence. The opening where the doors stood was buried in stone, and their friend Harshnag had sacrificed himself so they could escape. One final shock awaited the party as they returned to the ravine where they expected to see their airship in the space above the land bridge. Instead, it lay hundreds of feet below crashed and shattered. Their remaining crew, soldiers, and supplies now lost to them. In the hours after as the party sought shelter and food high in the mountains Rachen used his sending stone to report what had happened to Lady Silverhand. To their surprise, Count Blagothkus also contacted them via the crystal ball he gave Rachen, saying he was ready for their help once more.

After discussing what had happened and their current predicament, the giant agreed to fly his castle to the Oracle temple and pick them up, as he was only a few days away. Thus, instead of having Lady Silverhand come to their rescue once again, they stayed in the mountains near the temple entrance with Thia scavenging food for them, always having at least one person watch the entrance for any activity. For two days nothing stirred at the buried entrance.

And that is where the session ended, one hundred and ninety six (196) days since the raid on Greenest.

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