One-Shot: Ebb'n Load

General Summary

Our heroes started all swirling in a collective unconscious, somehow knowing each other but with any other sensory input. That is until a shrill alarm of power failure pierced their minds. They awoke high atop Mt. Frostspire one of the ultras on the Drakehorns. Each of their five stasis pods had been carried into a white dragon's horde atop a long-forgotten fort affixed to the pointy summit. Rising from the viscous tangerine goo, our naked heroes introduced themselves: Grixx, barbarian son of a werebear whom he shares partial powers with… Auktav, the sorcerous, scorned, and scorched blue jay aarakocra… Rachael, aquamarine gnome sailor rescued from a sea elf ritual… Gekko, corvine kobold caught with her stasis pod upside down… and Samuel Sheddric, malison wizard whose serpentine hiney spooled up taking the majority of the tank. Resuscitated from their slumber unapprised of the situation, our heroes lay nestled in a large icefield on which sat the horde of treasure and Atarax, the young dragon. That alabaster drake slumbered between their pods and the attached donjon of the fort. Gekku and Rachael scaled the treasure horde and motioned to Sheddric whose pod lay closest to the donjon’s entrance. The team, whose stealthy attempts to get to the donjon’s reprieve, stirred the lethargic Atarax who finally spied Gekko perched on his golden horde. Panicked, Rachael grabbed a piece of broken metal hull and tobogganed away from the approaching dragon. Auktav skeletoned penguinesque across the icefield onto the snowpack from which Sheddric stood adjacent to the donjon’s door. Grixx strode across the ice holding frame and challenged Atarax unperturbed. That blue eyes white drake replied with an exhaled blast of pure cold dropping Grixx instantly. Sheddric slithering back onto the ice minor illusioned a yell from dragon’s rear. Grixx, with a natural 20 death save, rose from his icy encasement and readied himself for another blast. Atarax could not overcome the illusion and after the partiy's barrage of blow was finally spooked by psionic dissonant whispers retreating as a prey animal would for its life. Rachael and Gekko firebolted a smoldering fire in the donjon’s fireplace but it was not enough for many to overcome the alpine exposure on their naked bodies. Grixx, whose frostbitten injuries lingered on his left side, collapsed alongside Sheddric; both huddling next to the only source of warmth. The team spent the night cradled together fighting for warmth in this hostile place. Insomniac Gekko held watch and inspected the tower’s donjon which within they barricaded themselves. Skeletal remains littered the room; all which had met a violent end. The mantlepiece to the fireplace was a display of 5 curved longswords set in a star pattern with blades facing outward. Upon waking, our heroes fashioned crude rags out of the orcish treasure in the room and the animal pelts which they had huddle under last night. Atarax would later return, but it gave our heroes time to inspect their pods. Rachael marveled at the engineering remarking that even for a tech savvy gnome these tanks were ‘out of this world’. ) Venturing downward, the fort seemed long abandoned with most of its furnishings wrecked or dilapidated. They met a cowardly kobold hiding in a cabinet with a bag of grain. Sip was enamored with the taste of metal and wanted a goldleaf piece Gekko had stolen from Atarax’s horde. Sip agreed to lead them to an exit for that singular gold coin. Sip led the party past a monstrous mass and across a bridge leading to the keep’s gatehouse. Auktav reached into the minds of the red cloaked individuals within the room. Those ruffians within the next room were a splintered remnant of a larger group who set up an outpost at this fort. Grixx knocked on the door but was rebuffed by the three Redbrands inside slamming the door on his face. As a SWAT agent does during a raid, Grixx gripped Gekko, leveled her to the door hinges, and firebolted them into smithereens. Funneled on the bridge, the group was bottlenecked by the doorway allowing the Redbrands strategic advantage. After the two breached the door, Rachael maneuvered her swords around the room, and into the chests of several of the ruffians. Felling all but the archer inside, she sloughed her form revealing her jackal-like form. Thanking Sip for leading them here, she warned them of the chaos of the Wylds and the ‘fun’ that awaits them. With a smirk, Lauper the Arcanaloth teleported away. Resting and licking their wounds, the party equipped and clothed themselves with what was available. Four riding horses waiting in the stables would become their ticket out of this mountainous frozen hell. Gekko acted as a translator as the party grilled Sip to determine his motive and whether he should be left alive. The decision was made to keep him as his ‘actual master’ was Lauper. Perhaps his scatterbrain draconic knowledge could help them as they embarked downward off that terrible peak…