Session 35: Among the Clouds
General Summary
Yeti Sauna
The party collects themselves in the bubbling hot pools within Gurruzzlrok's Cavern, choosing to shelter here from the storm and take a long rest in the early afternoon then set off early the next morning to continue on Arcon Dimona's trail further up the mountain. While the party rests, those on watch observe that the Fire Giants have placed a disgruntled guard on the gate that leads down into the heart of the mountain. Bāo Whitespine expresses his distain to the young Diylan Sprinkletoe for the task set by The Fidi Antistasi, speaking of the folly of releasing a dangerous sorcerer back into the world for the triffle fulfillment of simply gaining their trust.Ascenting Again
The party set off early the next morning and begin their trek up the mountain, the storm from the day before had quietened to sheets of falling snow, the party travel for up the mountain on foot knowing the Divide's Watch wall will be up ahead somewhere further up the mountain. Trudging up the deep snow of the mountain is slow, most of the party having to wade through the now waist-deep snow, Cassius Sanderson & Diylan Sprinkletoe both light and nimble enough to simply walk across the top of the deep snow. In the distance as they trek up the snowy steep mountainside coming into view through the thick sheets of falling snow the party notice glowing, flickering points of light. The closer they get the party realises the light emits from covered lanterns that hang from parapets of a great wall that stretches in both directions. The wall of the Divide's Watch.Murder at the Keep
A large stone structure rises out from between the walls, a heavy iron-wrapped gate at its centre. The small keep rises some 80 ft with 2 large ballista-like weapons that sit mounted on either side of the keep. A horn blows and heavily cloaked figures appear on the walls of the keep above the gate and hold crossbows pointed toward you. Below them, on either side of the gate, you see the red and yellow banner of the Jorak Empire and the blues and whites of the checkered Kydal Kingdom flag. After a tense exchange with Bāo Whitespine taking charge of the negotiation due to his familiarity with military converse, he manages to defuse the situation as the heavy oaken and ironbound gate is heaved open by a heavyset half-orc, two yellowed tusks stand stark against his grey-green wrinkled skin, plate armour fits snugly across his body, the nocks and chips catching the soft falling snow as well has his heavy dark woolly cloak that drapes overtop his armour. His expression is still tensed as he greets The Regulators, introducing himself as Kaldor Claw, captain of Claudios Keep and of the Divide's Watch. The party are taken to the main central hall of the Keep, warmed by a great roaring fire pit in the centre by the stairs and cold stone walls and floor ladened with many great animal pelts. The party joined Kaldor Claw at a small dining table as rangers move about returning their errands, some sparring, others moving back to patrol the wall. One large figure takes up the doorway behind the table, a large behemoth of a man furiously packing a large rucksack, peering around him into the room, you can make out a space that seems to be a mix of a storage room and a food preparation space, many crates and barrels lids removed and items scattered about. Kaldor Claw apologises for the hositlity and begins explaining the incident and reason for the Divide's Watch's hosility.“This fookin self important elf arrives here late last night with his fookin wife… said they were on some grand adventure to explore every fookin landmark “of note” in Alarius and of course, do not mistake me; Claudios Keep is a place steeped in great history and bears the name of an incredibly admirable general of one of the 12 Legions… but it ain’t no fookin global landmark that's for fookin sure… “But here we all are getting our fookin ears talked off by this snake tongued fooker, I had the fookin cunt sitting at my personal dining table upstairs, drinking my fookin wine, telling me how in awe he was of this fookin shithole… he had me wrapped around his fookin slender elven finger… I'll tell you… ... and what do you know, this all-important pointy-eared fooker ain’t nothing but a common bread thief and a fookin murderer.... One of our youngest stationed here, Verd’kor only just been through his first fookin winter at Claudios Keep and now he’s a fookin icicle damnit. My men, they want vengeance… aye so do I damnit…. But reports coming down the walls of Frost Giants, FOOKIN FROST GIANTS attacking the walls further west along the mountain, and our supply drop was due to arrive a few fookin days ago, and that fookin elven fook just took a good fookin chunk of it…. I need my men here, to protect the wall and we cannot spare the supplies to send a party out there to find this fooker. The only man I cannot command is Gual’kthor… he’s packing his things now… Verd’kor was his fookin lil brother… fuck the chain of command, someone draws blood from your blood, way I see it, there is nothing I can or will do to stop him…”The large figure turns and steps back into the hall, standing beside Kaldor Claw. Peering into the room the party sees the frozen solid form of a young goliath, mid pace, with a face of shock. The large, unfrozen goliath is covered in black markings, jagged tribal patterns natural or tattooed it is unclear, a heavy shoulder throw of dark woolly pelt adorns his shoulders and back, leaving his grey chest and stomach bare, a large gleaming great axe attached to his back with a leather strap, his expression dark and foreboding. Cortez Alexander presents the theory that this highborn elf may be Arcon Dimona. While Bāo Whitespine berates the captain of the keep for allowing such a dangerous individual to stay in a military encampment. Kaldor Claw volunteers to show The Regulators the rooms that the elf and his wife spent the night in. While responding to Mr. Whitespine that he would not turn away a seemingly innocent high born elf and his wife away for seeking shelter during a terrible storm. Bāo Whitespine stays downstairs to inspect the woollen rugs, discovering many of them are the pelts of great Mammoths. The rest of The Regulators invesigate the room and discover the bed in which the wife had apparently spent the night in did not appear to have actually been slept in. While the bed the elf had been given had been slept, with Cassius Sanderson discovering white hairs within the sheets. Reza Dimona confirmed it was a similar colour to her own and her family line and Kaldor Claw recalled the elf had dark reddy, brunette hair. The Regulators, with evidence, were sure that the murderer was the elusive Arcon Dimona. Rejoining Bāo downstairs, Cortez and Cane leaving 10 days worth of rations for the Rangers at Claudios Keep. Gual’kthor set on vengance for his lost brother joins The Regulators.
The Hunt Continues
The party form a plan to scout a wider region of the mountain. Cortez Alexander polymorphs into a great ancient winged beast and flies into the now mostly clear sky, carrying both Reza and Cane with him. The rest of the party continuing forward on foot while the aerial crew scout out ahead. As the sun climbs to its mid-point in the sky, Cortez spots a break in the expanse of the; seemingly, ever-rising white expanse. Three large, dark rocky rises break through and upward toward the sky, and he catches a glimpse of what appears to be a make-shift camp nestled in the centre of these large rocks. He notices this as Cane yells out spotting two large winged creatures skirting the few clouds that remain in the sky. Cortez immediately turns and heads into a dive back toward the rest of the party on the ground, his great ancient wings lending him the speed to keep ahead of the flying monsters as they roar and give chase. Two large monstrosities swoop down and engage The Regulators, each with three heads, a malformed goats head with nasty curled horns, a ferocious lions head in the centre and next to that one bears a dragon's head with crimson scales that breathes gouts of flame and the other a blue scaled dragon's head, that sends crackling arcs of lightning from its maw, a fierce but short battle ensues, leaving most of the party atop a small outcrop and the bodies of the dead monsters crashed into the deep snow next to them. A distant rumble sends ice and pebbles crumbling off the outcrop, but the rumble slowly grows to a roar as the whole mountain seems to shake, before a huge eruption sends snow blasting out from where the two bodies of the Chimeras lay, followed by the sizzle and pop of burning flesh and melting ice as steam billows out from the centre of the eruption. As the steam and snow clear the party see; partially emerged from the snow and rock below a huge, almost centipede-like creature, its mandibles enclosed around the body of one of the Chimeras. Large multifractal insect-like eyes gaze menacingly as it begins to chew on the beast. The party immediately burst into action assailing the giant multilegged creature, Gual’kthor leaping from the outcrop full of malice and rage slicing into it with his great axe, and promptly found himself inside the creature's maw, struggling to stop it from closing around him and consuming him. Cane leapt down, arching his great double-ended hammer downward, cracking the exoskeleton shell of the great being, and with another sure swing into the same spot, causing it to scream out in rage and anger as the heavy hammer hit exposed muscle and flesh, bouts of heat radiating off its body, burning all those around it. Cassius Sanderson leapt down and finding the weaker pressure points of its exposed muscle focused his ki into locking its muscles into place, after a few wild jabs he found the right place and the great screaming centipede froze, allowing Gual’kthor to pry himself free and the party to place a few good hits upon the fearsome, burning creature, but it was the baleful bellow of Cortez Alexander's fey horn that finally quelled the monster, the mournful notes piercing into the creature's mind and causing such physic pain that it's head imploded, falling to the ground limp. Exhausted and sore from the fight, Reza Dimona particularly injured after taking two blasts of firey and electric breath weapons from the Chimeras, Cortez Alexander told the party of the camp he had sighted up ahead, and the party began the 2 hour trek up to the sheltered campsite. Cane stubbornly insisting on having the muscled party members help him drag the behemoth of a corpse up the hill to the campsite.Mystery at the Hunting Camp
As The Regulators arrive at the entrance to this encampment, and are immediately greeted by the site of a battle, two large bodies of frost giants lie still warm, shards of ice jutting out from various places in the bodies... 3 large tents crafted of large mammoth bone and pelts flap in the wind, a once roaring bonfire, still flickers in the centre of the camp. Leaving the monster's body at the entrance the party begin investigating, Cassius's sharp eye observing various footprints, with Bāo's help they begin to work out a story following the scuffed footprints in the snow, three giants assailed by an individual humanoid, joined by two other humanoid footprints that leave a tent, sprays of giant blood indicate the fight went in the favour of owners of the humanoid footprints. Cassius clutches his Irema necklace and activates its power, searching for hidden invisible clues, but finding none, he follows two of the humanoid footprints and identifies they entered one of the large tents before disappearing. He also identifies one of the sets of two footprints, one set of boot prints indicating footwear of a Dragonborn. Bāo Whitespine follows another set of footprints that lead away from the encampment and further up the mountain, a giant's and a humanoids, the bootprints of the humanoids, matching the one that seemingly entered the camp initially. As rest of the party sit down around the fire and begin attempting to bring it back to a roaring heat to warm their aching muscles and bones, Bāo mounts his steed, Selphus and tells the party he is going to follow the footprints and attempt to learn where they lead. He follows them up the mountain, to a crest where the land seems to dip down into a small valley of tall pine trees, as he heads into the wooded area, he catches the sound of giants speaking in their native tongue.Bāo calls out to them in common regaling friendship and kindness, the giants fall silent and he can hear them attempting to begin to move quietly, a challenging feat for towering beings in a thickly wooded forest. Worried, Bāo turns Selphus around and gallops back to the camp, hearing the stomping of the giants behind him... Find out what happens in Session 36: A Path of Frozen Corpses!
Character(s) interacted with
- Kaldor Claw
- Gual’kthor
Created Content
Claudios Keep
