Session 7: Journey Home

Road Encounters

The party encounters the following while on watch or on the road:
Exploration Music: Out of the North
Blizzard Atmosphere: Blizzard
Battle Music: Witcher Battle Music
On watch:
1. Otran's patron speaks to him, warning him not to trust the party members, that all of them have secrets. For example, have you ever noticed how pale Enna's hair is? Or alternatively, the journal encourages Otran to collect some of the Chardalyn for future use.

2. Nevari's notices a raven following the group out of the corner of her eye, but when she turns to look at it, it is no longer there. She is filled with dread.
3. The character hears strange, eerie singing as the aurora flashes across the sky.
4. A herd of reindeer moves across the tundra, led by a large buck with blue glowing antlers.
5. Some chwingas play in the snow, throwing snowballs imbued with colorful magic. If the players are friendly and play along, the chwingas hit them with a snowball, granting them a blessing, most likely the ice troll blessing. The players scared off the chwingas and did not receive a blessing.
On the road: 1. Two snowy owl bear cubs (stats as badgers) run out of the bushes, one chasing the other. They are curious about the adventurers and approach them in a friendly manner. Any character that doesn't vacate the area within three rounds finds themselves facing a very angry, protective mother snowy owl bear. If killed, she can be harvested for her pelt, feathers, and claws.
2. A frozen traveler near the road with his sled, containing 3 days rations, a flask of oil, a small tent, crampons, and a hammer with pitons. He has clutched in his hand a flask of Odgen's Firewhiskey, which warms the drinker right up and negates the effects of exhaustion from extreme cold. Otran took the firewhiskey and the jacket and Skywatcher took the oil.
3. You see an arctic fox run across your path chasing an arctic rabbit.
4. The party comes across an outcropping protecting a small patch of flora. If they investigate the plants with a nature check, they discover 6 Allathorn plants (commonly known as snowberries).

• In the cold north, edible berries are a treasure. You can use dried Allathorne berries to make a strong and bitter tea that wards off the chill (the folks of Neverwinter swear by it). In the wild, you can spot this scraggly bush even in places where extreme winter weather wipes out most other plants. Thorny, with large and waxy leaves only growing here and there, it seems like the plant is on the verge of death at all times, until you dig one up and discover 80% of the plant lives beneath the surface. The top of it is really just for sprouting little flowers for a month or so during the year, followed by berries that bears eat most of the time unless something else beats them to it.
The party takes this opportunity to short rest and drink some tea to warm up.

5. The blizzard begins to clear up, and you can see Bryn Shander's walls in the distance.

Chardalyn Terrors

The party continues down the path home through the blizzard, coming across a jagged outcropping of Chardalyn in the middle of the tundra.

Chardalyn Properties

• Chardalyn is cold to the touch and readily accepts magical enchantment, making it an ideal substance for wands, staffs, and other magic items.
• More than a hundred years prior to this adventure, a wizard named Akar Kessel found an artifact suffused with demonic magic called Crenshinibon (better known as the Crystal Shard) and used it to erect a great black tower in Icewind Dale. When this tower was destroyed, the magic used to create it fused with the surrounding ice to form what is now known as chardalyn: a nonmagical, crystalline substance as strong as metal, though considerably easier to work with than steel. In the years since, more deposits of chardalyn have been found across Icewind Dale.
• Long before Akar Kessel left his mark on Icewind Dale, Netherese wizards created their own chardalyn. Many items made from this dark-colored crystal can be found in the ruins of ancient Netherese enclaves.
• Like the Crystal Shard, these deposits tend to be suffused with demonic magic. Prolonged contact with chardalyn that has become suffused with demonic magic can warp a creature’s mind, causing madness that usually fades away once the contact is broken. A chardalyn object suffused with the magic of the Upper Planes is considered a consecrated object, while a chardalyn object suffused with the magic of the Lower Planes is considered a desecrated object; both can be identified as such using a detect evil and good spell or similar magic.

As the adventurers investigate this scene, a group of three chardalyn beserkers ambush them, screeching that the party is trying to steal their precious prize. The chardalyn bersekers are insane and answer to their master, Auril. She has cursed much of the chardalyn in Icewind Dale in an attempt to gain more followers and power.
Battle Music: Flight of the Dragons
Any hit with their chardalyn weapons forces the players to make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned, which grants disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws. A creature wounded by one of these chardalyn weapons can feel a sudden sickness creep over them, but it passes quickly.

1. Flail: +5 to hit, 1d8+3 bludgeoning damage.
2. Greataxe: +5 to hit, 1d12+3 slashing damage.
3. Shortsword: +5 to hit, 1d6+1 piercing damage
Chardalyn Madness. The berserker must roll a d6 at the start of each of its turns. On a 1, the berserker does nothing on its turn except speak to a nonexistent, evil master whom it has pledged to serve.
Reckless. At the start of its turn, the berserker can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn.
Multiattack. The berserker attacks three times with a melee weapon.

Otran and Boreas have been knocked out.