Session 17 Report
General Summary
[session 17: 08.06.2024]
29th of Hammermoon/Deepwinter, 1489, in the year of the Warrior Princess.
The moon is nearly full.
The rest of the morning is spent acquiring necessary - and less necessary - items for the upcoming travel to the lake ice. Everyone gets crampons in their size, fitted over winter boots for easier travel on the ice, the iron spikes large enough to dig into the ice for a sturdier grip. They should make travel a little faster, especially now that you’re planning to walk on the lake’s ice. Vilu disappears for a while to order themselves a new set of clothing for when they return, their current set of clothes basically falling apart despite multiple attempts at repair. Rune’s Cape’s offers both ready-made tunics and trousers as well as tailor’s services for those who would prefer to get their style just right.
Annie and Vilu fashion a safe bag for the portrait of Alcor, made out of the brand new waterskin Vilu has purchased earlier.
Eventually, by noon, the party gets going on their way down to the docks. Last night was foggy, and with the appearance of the White Lady, Annie and Primrose have not slept much.
Several stone piers cut through the coastline of Lac Dinneshare, the stone branching out to smaller, old wooden piers that web the shallows with countless boats anchored at the harbour. The main pier houses an old, green keelboat with the words Easthaven Ferry painted onto its hull in common. It’s a handy little thing that used to operate on the lake between its three main towns, Easthaven and the two Caers, but ever since the Rime took over, it has been stuck in anchor. The captain’s business has since gone under.
However, as you’re walking to the dock warehouses, Viridian sees something strange with her keen eye - ahead of them seems to be someone walking in the same direction, leaving behind heavy boot prints - but no one in sight. With precision, she gathers up a snowball, packed tight before she throws it - and hits the mysterious, invisible person straight in the back of their head. The attack startles them, and the person flickers into existence. To Viridian’s shock and horror, it is in fact not the person she was expecting it to be (a recent acquaintance Rinaldo Ramheart of bardic nature), but a complete stranger instead - a short duergar man with a symbol tattooed on his forehead.
After a short conversation and a little bit of threatening, you decide to leave the duergar alone as is his wish, but both Annie and Primrose decide to take a peek inside the actual dock house, whose doors are cracked open. Primrose spots several large shipping crates, and for a while you ponder whether you should spend time to cast detect magic to see if they might contain perhaps something more valuable, but decide against it when the ritual casting would have taken too long to really justify it. Perhaps this has something to do with the chardalyn shipping containers? But you remember the man was wielding a sharpened axe and his words weren’t kind, so you decide to not brave his wrath.
Before you lose more of what Icewind Dale has come to regard as meagre daylight, you head onto the ice proper.
Lac Dinneshere is less deep than Maer Dualdon, and its waters are crystal bright even through the ice of the everlasting winter. In the distance, there’s a couple of dark seals enjoying a leisurely time at a fishing hole, diving in for a dip every now and then. You see a flash of something large and red swim by and the locals recognise the large shape as a knucklehead trout, likely a bull. The grand prize when it comes to a fisherman's day, but also certainly the most dangerous, as the fish are known to have pulled more than one angler under the ice. Vilu, being the most familiar with trout angling, also points out that often the fish itself is not as dangerous as the death toll may make it seem, as drinking alcohol to keep warm is a common practice. A fish may be strong and pull with all its might, but if its opponent is not sober, accidents can happen.
Viridian notices in the distance the silhouette of a large bird-like creature, and for a moment you ponder the possibility of another peryton sighting, but once the creature circles a little closer, you notice it to be a harpy - a creature half vulture half human - or is it? Its face and upper body looks humanoid, and they’re known for luring their victims with their mesmerising song. They often live in larger colonies, roosting together on the cliffs by the water, making Easthaven a perfect location for them. Viridian decides to try and keep an eye on the creature, while Primrose spots a couple of old, weathered anglers sitting by an ice-fishing hole.
They seem to be familiar with the three men you’re looking for, but haven’t seen them since last night - they had talked about returning back home, but their tent is still by the ice’s edge. The hole they’re fishing at right now is actually Samuel’s spot, but since he hasn’t returned, it has been claimed. Jokingly, they suggest that perhaps they’ve decided to take a little vacation before returning home, taking a detour up Serpent’s Run, the river that runs down to Lac Dinneshere from the east. Apparently, up near the river there’s an old bath house, the Whistling Kettle, that has harnessed the many hot springs in the area for a relaxing, luxurious experience for the locals. There’s talk of the caves nearby, and while the men are not familiar with Caves of Hunger, they do confirm that the Maw of Ivory is the closest cave system and one might seek safety in any of the caves in case of a blizzard. Primrose offers to buy the men drinks at the Wet Trout later if they happen to be there at the same time.
As you head closer towards the ice’s edge, you notice the ice beginning to crack, many of the ice floats slowly drifting apart. Down here on the open ice it’s a lot windier than in the city proper, and the twilight is quickly making way for the darkness of the night. You decide to risk it, the first crack easily jumpable. Be it by accident or by planning ahead, the party gets split to two separate ice floats - perhaps it’s for the best, with your combined weight not taking the whole thing under. Primrose and Viridian, being the strongest of the four, make the next jump without difficulty, even when Viridian has to jump twice, the small ice float not being attached to the one where you’re aiming to land.
Annie is less fortunate, following in Primrose’s footsteps. Her ankle still hurts from the … dream? The ghost pain of splintering the bone in it is ever present even when there’s no actual injury. And so her initial jump lands short, tumbling her down into the freezing, dark waters. It takes only a blink of an eye for the shock of the cold to set in, feeling like sharp needles and the air that escapes her lungs hurts just as much as breathing in does. Luckily Viridian and Primrose are quick to act, pulling her on the shore with Viridian’s wooden staff and quickly divesting her of her wet clothes and wrapping her in a dry sleeping bag. Viridian gets immediately working on starting a new fire on the already existing firepit. It looks like there’s remnants of a spell keeping the fire from melting the ice. The cold kills fast, far faster than any other danger the party might encounter on their journey.
Vilu watches and gets cold feet, realising that if Annie couldn’t make the jump, they’ll likely have difficulties as well. Eventually, they decide to brave the jump - and immediately follow suit, not making the landing properly and slipping down back into the water. The water takes, and it keeps once it has taken a hold of you. But Viridian, once more, saves the day with her staff and drags Vilu up on the ice before they go under.
Before long, Vilu is also bundled up in a sleeping bag and warming up by the fire, both their and Annie’s clothes set to dry near the fire. Plotter is warming up, curled up against Viridian’s neck to leech body heat off of her. For some time, the only thing you can do is to rest, at least until your clothes are dry once more.
Vilu decides to share a story - about their escape from Dougan’s Hole, about the old, abandoned cabin you saw earlier. The gruesome site of a ritual, how it was something they had done. They mention that it was out of necessity, to invite an entity in to help them on their journey, and now they’re never quite alone anymore - there’s something that sees through them, and Vilu has promised to help free them. However, that’s where their knowledge of their patron ends, having no memories of where exactly their patron is being held, and how to free them. A slip of the tongue gets the patron’s attention, forcing Vilu to take the backseat as they take over, a dark presence within.
Annie asks whether they have heard of her brother, but the entity doesn’t seem to recall Alcor, perhaps for his own good. Asking for a name seems to be futile, as the entity doesn’t seem to regard you worthy of such knowledge - names hold power, after all. They reveal that while they are from here, they are also from many another place, their existence not limited to such mortal coils. However, they are trapped, and there are limits to their power. When Primrose, foolishly, taps Vilu on their forehead, asking whether they can feel it, the entity snaps at her, the shadows darkening before they disappear and Vilu returns back into their own body.
They show the rest of the party a necklace they keep, a black sword made entirely of black crystal that feels warm against the beat of their heart - much akin to chardalyn.
While it takes some time to recover from the shock of meeting Vilu’s patron and all that it entails, Primrose and Viridian look around the camp while Annie and Vilu stay by the fire. It seems like everything is intact, there’s three bags of gear, and even a small fishing boat with all their fishing rods and tackles still in it. Viridian, with her keen eyes, notices three sets of footprints heading out of the camp and towards east, walking on the edge of the ice seemingly all the way to the cliffs. Eventually, you all follow the prints and find that the cliffside is tall and daunting, with four cave entrances at different heights. One of the entrances is parallel to the water level. However, reaching it seems difficult unless one wants to risk falling back into the water. The risk of it is too big, and you decide to take a short trek back and get the rowboat from the camp, just in case. High up on the cliffs are several large nests with harpies roosting and flying above you. They do not seem hostile right now.
The boat is well-made, but clearly having seen better days. Primrose and Viridian split rowing the party back to the caves, and it doesn’t take long until you’re back at the cave entrance. During your trip, something bumped into the boat, but you convince yourselves it must have been just another knucklehead trout, curious of what’s swimming above it.
As there are four cave entrances, Annie gets the idea to send Coco to scout ahead on a separate cave while you traverse the easiest one to reach - Coco, being an agile creature, quickly climbs up to the next entrance. However, it doesn’t take long for Annie to call him back, as through Coco’s eyes, she sees a den of what seems to be a large cat-like beast, its eyes gleaming in the dark as it spots Coco. On the cave floor there’s dried blood and bones littered around, clearly from the beast’s previous meals.
The ice creaks under you as you walk, clearly thinner here now that you’re in a cave. It’s still crystal clear, and in light of Viridian’s torch, you can see water flowing under you. Air travels through the caves in such a way that makes it sound eerie, almost howling. Or at least you hope it’s just the wind.
In silence, you continue forward.
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