Episode 05 - Cold Blooded Killer

Caer Dineval continued..........

With the cultists defeated and the mysterious mage having apparently fled from Caer Dineval our party of heroes took some time to investigate the rest of the outer castle including each of the 4 towers which yielded them with around 80GP worth of coinage from the cultists possessions. Crossing the yard Tor decided to investigate the kennel and the barking sled dogs. Here she found a young boy huddled up with dogs. Informing him that it was safe to come out and no need to be afraid as the cultists had been vanquished they sent the boy off to find the cook and Speaker Crannoc to inform them of the news while they went to investigate what was below the trap door in the north west tower. 

At the base of the ladder the party found an underground cistern with a number of side chambers accessed via a small rowboat. Only able to hold 2 characters Tor and Grom remained at the landing while Aldrick and Shayde proceeded to take the small boat on the water. With a flick of his staff Aldrick cast dancing lights to light up the darkness. This also allowed our heroes make out the shapes of humanoids under the frigid water. From their attire they looked like guards from the Caer. The first side chamber contained 4 bodies laid out. Each with a black amulet, the distinctive mark of the Knights of the Black sword. Aldrick ritually cast "Detect Magic" which allowed him to perceive an aura from the amulets. Unable to determine the school of magic but that there was some sense of corruption Aldrick advised Shayde not to touch anything. From their wounds it was obvious they had died fighting, probably against the guards who now lay weighted down beneath the water. 

The next side chamber appeared to be an empty storeroom. On the opposite side of the cistern was a larger chamber with additional rooms. An effigy of Levistus encased in a block of ice and wrapped in chains stood at the far end of the small central chamber. Behind the statue was a patch of what appeared to be brown fungus on the wall. One of the side rooms appeared to be a small prayer room while the other looked like it had been used as personal quarters. Looking through the desk and bookshelves Aldrick found some pieces of parchment containing partial spells and practice scribing along with a notebook written in a language he couldn't read but looked familiar. Tossing the book to Shayde she instantly recognised it as infernal and was able to translate it into common. A second book turned out to be a book of prayers to Levistus.

The notebook contained entries referring to "Ancient Lost Netherese City of Ythryn" and it's potential location. They're also appeared to be some confusing scribbled notes about a "Broken Spire". All in all Aldrick was delighted with this find and at last a lead in his main reason for journeying into the frozen north. Aldrick stuffed the notebook into his robes and headed back to the boat with Shayde. Just before boarding he conjured up a "Firebolt" and tossed it at the block of ice. The fire did little damage to the solid ice block but to his surprise the brown fungus immediately erupted into life growing in size and spreading outward towards the heat. 

With only the very end chamber left Aldrick and Shayde were able to locate the prisoners and safely ferry them one at a time back to the landing at the western end of the cistern. Reunited with Speaker Crannoc back up in the Caer and extremely grateful for everything our heroes had done they were treated to a fine banquet and told that they could stay at the Caer whenever the need arose and to help themselves to anything of use in the armoury. Six flasks of Alchemists Fire may come in handy!!

Over dinner Aldrick conversed with the speaker, his wife and the other staff about the cultists and what they had found in the lower levels. Impressing on them the apparent danger of the brown mould and the cultists amulets. After dinner the speaker's dog keeper and the young boy headed off into town to raise the militia. Tor helped the rest of the staff to move the frozen bodies of the recently deceased into one of the towers where they would wait to be buried. During this time it was discovered that young Huarwar Mulfoon was indeed among the dead cultists and Aldrick agreed with Speaker Crannoc that his body would be returned home to his mother in Bremen for burial. We also learned that the mysterious mage's name is Avarice.

With the Caer secure our heroes settled in for a well deserved long rest, one that would finally see Aldrick and Shayde fully recovered from their exhaustion. When the morning came a hearty breakfast was consumed and the party headed back to the "Uphill Climb". A short exchange with Roark about Duergar rumours or sightings and payment made for housing and feeding the sled dogs and our adventurers set out once more,  heading south towards Easthaven.

A clear run and relatively good weather saw the party come in sight of the city shortly after mid day. As they approached along the "Eastway" they were met on the outskirts by the shady merchant Torrga Icevein and her bodyguard Saphek Kaltro who had set up shop on the way into the city. Grom took the lead at this point opening discussions with Torrga. Presenting items they had recovered in their recent exploits, a great axe and some scrimshaw carvings. Torrga's offers were met with disdain by Grom. Grom accusing Torrga of being little more than a thief and a liar had managed to get under her skin and sensing a potential for physical violence to erupt pushed the point further. Saphek meanwhile had positioned himself now within range to attack. 

Torrga made for her wagon, releasing the dogs and Initiative was rolled. With Aldrick first up, it was time to test a new spell copied from Astrix's spell book "Scorching Ray". Moving back 30ft he unleashed the three streams of incendiary flames at Saphek with two slamming home. Shrugging of the damage Saphek vanished in a swirl of mist only to reappear seconds later in front of Aldrick, a long blade of ice growing within his grasp. Luckily Saphek's first strikes were ineffective and Aldrick was relatively unscaythed. Shayde leaped to help Aldrick hitting twice with her short swords including additional "Sneak Attack" damage.

Seeing the danger of Torrga and her six dogs Tor summoned forth a mass of writhing spikes and brambles from the ground managing to envelope all six of the dogs and Torrga with "Spike Growth". Unsure about this sudden eruption of thorns and spikes the dogs ran forward to attack Grom, 2 of them perishing as they were ripped apart by the deadly obstruction around them. Taking damage too the remaining four made it through to attack Grom doing him some serious damage. In defence Grom swung his great axe felling another dog. 

Lookout swooped in to distract Saphek giving advantage on the next attack which was Aldrick who reached forward with his hand grabbing hold of Saphek and unleashing "Shocking Grasp". Dealing lightning damage but importantly removing Saphek's ability to make an attack of opportunity Aldrick moved away from the melee. Saphek now spun to attack Shayde landing a heavy blow with his ice blade. Shayde fought back landing further hits on Saphek with her short swords and managed to keep him occupied. 

Torrga had also moved through the spikes and thorns to get into range of Grom taking damage as she did. With Torrga and the dogs all out of the deadly terrain Tor dropped her concentration and transformed into a ferocious brown bear rushing forward to attack Torrga. Aldrick continued to move away from the melee and unleashed magic Missile at Saphek with all three darts doing damage. Engaged with Shayde Saphek swung again. Shayde once more returned blows before using her "cunning action" to disengage and move away from Saphek.

Taking cover within the trees Aldrick hurled "Chromatic Orb" dealing lightning damage to Saphek. Saphek and Shayde exchanged more blows as they continued to dance about each trying to get an advantage. Torrga unsure of how things were going to end and obviously in fear of this large brown bear took a swipe at Grom who succumbed to his wounds and fell unconscious before retreating towards her wagon.  Grom failed his first death save!! Aldrick returned his attention to Saphek and brought forth another surge of fiery blasts to damage this seemingly invincible foe. 

Saphek then struck a blow against Shayde and she dropped unconscious, meanwhile Tor in her bear form took out more of the dogs who were still surrounding the unconscious Grom who failed a second death save. With two of her companions down Tor transformed back into her true form and used her healing kit on Grom to bring him back to health as an action and then cast "Healing Word" as a bonus action on Shayde to bring her back. The last of the dogs taking a bite at Tor.

Aldrick moved into range of Torrga and let fly with another "Magic Missile". Saphek sent a volley of ice daggers towards Aldrick who used his reaction to cast "Shield" deflecting the shards of ice away. With the battle reaching it's climax the penultimate round saw Saphek go down to a mix of attacks from Shayde and importantly "Flame Blade" from Tor. Outnumbered and enraged Torrga threw herself at Grom but she was overwhelmed by the combination of our four heroes and that is where this episode ends.

This was an epic encounter with a difficult enemy for low level characters. The combination of high HP and multiple low level attacks with advantage made for a tactically challenging encounter. Tor's use of Spike Growth really helped to control the battlefield in the first round. The combination of good attack roles and moderate damage from Shayde kept Saphek busy and allowed Aldrick to cast his spells at a distance while Tor's always useful circle of the moon combat wild shape bring much needed extra HP and multiple attacks that helped turn the tide. Overall this was a really enjoyable session where we learnt something about one of our story's main protagonists. 

To be continued..........