Session 106 - Race for the Pinnacle

General Summary

The party wakes in the workshop. In the gloom it is hard to tell time but everyone feels rested but disturbed by strange and haunting dreams. This will be the third day traveling the Wood and with steady riding they expect to reach the Ashen Pinnacle sometime near evening. As the team packed up, Ell sent Tear a comforting message through the earrings, as he had continued to do since the adventurers had arrived in the Shadowfell. The young goblin still didn’t seem to believe that it was really them nor that the team would come all this way just to rescue him. It was clear that the Voice had been tormenting Tear and while that upset everyone, it was also the drive that focused them and kept them moving.
  Janora and Forest took to the air to check on their progress and scout any dangers the group might run into. The witch confirmed that with a solid day’s riding they would be at the Pinnacle, but swore when she spotted small humanoid figures moving around the base of the stone spire. Without getting close, she couldn’t tell exactly who or what it was so she put them aside for the moment and turned to scan the shaderoad that the party had been following. Janora spotted a small village that they would pass along the road, but it was off a spur path and some distance from the main road so they judged that it would be safe to pass…so long as the team kept their wits around them.
The others hadn’t waited around for Janora’s report but mounted the spectral mounts that they had been gifted and started down the road. The Woods had been surprisingly quiet, if strange, but still Jilken and Ha’aash kept their eyes peeled and focused on the nearby underbrush and canopy. There had been a shadespider attack the day before, but while large, the spiders burned quite easily and made excellent arrow targets. Janora had been relaying what she had seen and upon rejoining the others suggested that they might make better time cutting through the forest as the road twists and turns a bit. Denye pointed out that the difficult terrain would probably slow them down and Ell added that they stood a higher chance of running into something dangerous if they strayed from the road.
The day passed as the miles vanished. The party passed the turn-off for the village a few hours after setting out, but they saw no signs on the denizens and were focused on getting to the gateway so chose not to stop. Every once in a while Janora and Forest would take to the air to scout and take stock of their progress. When they were only an hour or two from the Pinnacle, the witch identified the humanoids around as kobolds, although unlike the ones they had met below the Sunless Citadel, these sported scales of black, blue, and tarnished silver. She was also shocked to report that while there were natural cave openings in the tall stone pillar there were also clearly windows and balconies built into the stone. Neither the Fateweaver or the Duskmatron had mentioned that the Ashen Pinnacle was inhabited so the party was in discussion about how to handle the situation when a strange haunting song drifted through the trees and most of the party drifted to a stop, eyes unfocused as the song filled their minds.
Janora and her iron will watched as several swarms of moth-winged sprites descended out of nearby trees and flew to surround multiple party members baring mouths full of needle-sharp teeth. As they closed to attach, the witch conjured a Gust of Wind into a line to blow the creatures off her friends. It worked, somewhat, although both Ell and Ha’aash took yelled in pain from numerous bites.
The attacks seemed to jolt the rest of the party out of their trances and the fight was truly on. It wasn’t a long fight, the adventurers were much stronger, but the sprites were numerous and difficult to hit. Forest and Ha’aash proved quite adept at biting and clawing the fey out of the air and Ell conjured a Wall of Light to try and contain the creatures.
This bright light lit up the forest for miles, a beacon in the surrounding gloom. So it was perhaps unsurprising that as the party was finishing off the last of the sprite swarms, Janora noted a pair of lightning-wreathed whirlwinds that were headed directly for the battle. With a muttered oath, she ordered Ell to drop the wall. When the light vanished, it was more difficult to see the whirlwinds, but Janora watched as they seemed to speed up, rather than slowing down. Cursing, the witch reported what she had seen and emphasized that they needed to get away NOW, unless they wanted to fight whatever had been drawn by the light. Denye conjured an Arcane Gate to take them immediately some distance away and from there the party made haste to get away from the battlefield.
They were successful, but didn’t let down their guard until the party neared the Ashen Pinnacle. They had had some discussion on how they were going to approach and while no one wanted to take longer than necessary, they all agreed that an extended short rest before approaching the tower was a good idea. Janora led them off the road toward a small hidden dale that she had spotted and began ritually casting a Tiny Hut over them. Denye immediately dropped into a trance and began her Arcane Recovery as Ell and Jilken set up a small campfire to brew tea. Once the dome was up, Janora cast another spell, this one an accelerated healing spell that left everyone feeling refreshed and energized. Ell, meanwhile, had left Jilken to pass out the tea while he pulled out a musical instrument and began playing a Song of Rest. He chose inspiring and hopeful music, as much to drive away the gloom of the environment as anything else.
Denye came out of her trance just as Janora finished the incantation to summon a Hero’s Feast. A round table appeared in the middle of the Tiny Hut, groaning under the weight of the food upon it. Six cushions sat around the table, two large enough for their canine companions. Eagerly the party settled around the table and began enjoying all of their favorite foods as Ell led them in telling encouraging stories. Denye was the only one who didn’t really participate. She did eat, but it was distractedly and sporadically as she focused on ritually casting Alarm spell after Alarm spell. The Corva wizard was so distracted by her spellcasting that she didn’t notice she had been eating a fried chicken drumstick until it was almost gone. Shaking her head she focused on her friends and sheepishly put down the drumstick and after explaining that the multiple castings helped to power a new magical shield turned her attention more fully on the feast.
Once the party had prepared themselves as best as possible, they decided that it would be better to approach the spire stealthily through the woods rather than ride in openly along the road. In her flights Janora had marked the entrance that the Raven Queen had spoken of.so was able to lead the party through the Forest and were able to get fairly close, stopping near the edge of the treeline.
There were a couple of dozen kobolds about and while many of them seemed to be laborers, others were clearly on guard duty. They didn’t seem to be on any sort of alert so Jilken mused that this must just be the general footing. What they couldn’t answer was if the kobolds were guarding the portal to the Desert or just the tower in general.
Deciding that it probably didn’t matter and they just needed to get past Denye suggested that she could cast Invisibility over the party and then they could just sneak in. That seemed like a good plan, although Janora and Forest absented themselves from the spell so Denye could conserve magical energy, saying they could watch from above and dive down once the others were through.
Things began well enough with the four on the ground making it to the first set of stairs and past two squads of kobolds. Unfortunately the problem with group invisibility is that you can’t see your teammates and Jilken bounced into Ha’aash,causing her weaponry to clatter. That drew the attention of a handful of kobolds who looked around for the cause of the sound. It also drew the attention of someone else. From up in the sky, Janora watched as a shadow detached from the side of the stone spire, revealing itself to be an ancient dragon of tarnished silver and black scales and smoky black and purple wings. The shadowdragon landed on one of the stone levels above the party and spoke, asking, “Who is this that would sneak into the domain of Naindroath the Hungry? Do you seek to rob me or only shirk the toll for crossing one of my gateways?”
Over the earring, Denye chirped, “I’ve heard that name before…but it was Naindroath the Gentle. He ruled over a portion of the Carsano Range almost a 1000 years ago. He was supposed to have a powerful silver dragon who protected his people and territory during the War of the Undead. He was supposed to have vanished shortly after the Binding and the conclusion of that fight.” 
“Interesting,” mused Ell, “do you think he got pulled here somehow and has been corrupted by the Shadowlands?” 
Rather than replying directly, Denye who had tucked herself into an alcove in the rock, used Thaumaturgy to throw her voice. She asked, “We do not know of Naindroath the Hungry, though I know that there was once a mighty dragon who called himself Naindroath the Gentle. Was that you?”
The ancient shadowdragon laughed at the question and in a blink of an eye, teleported himself from one stone platform to another where he could see all of the party. “That was once my name, yes,” he rumbled in an echoing tone, “but now I am hungry….so very hungry. So once again I ask, what have you brought to offer me?”

Report Date

18 Oct 2024