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Previously on Rime of the Frostmaiden
Starring:
Valravn, level 6 Eladrin Bard of Eloquence
Fray, level 6 Halfling Barbarian of the Beast
Celeste, level 6 Plant Spore Servant
Edmond, Level 6 Human Alchemist Artificer
Thimbleweed, level 6 Gnome Swarmkeeper Ranger
We left off last week with our heroes approaching some militia trying to fend off the dragon, only to see them attacked by duergar assassins.
The Marshals face off against five duergar spies, who had already killed several militia (tribal warrior statblock) around a pair of half-destroyed buildings. With their high initiative rolls the duergar are able to finish most of the rest off, leaving only a single militia, as well as a shocked Captain Arlaggath (veteran).
Celeste the spore servant lumbers up the nearby stairs to the north to fight the duergar. Fray enrages, grows fangs, and gleefully joins her, tearing and ripping into the duergar like a frenzied ghoul.
Two more duergar lurk in the southern building. Edmond thorn whips one onto the ground, while the other tries to tuck and roll to attack, falling on his face instead (though still stabbing Edmond).
A hidden, shrunken mind master reveals himself in the ruins nearby, and tries his mind mastery on Thimbleweed. Thimbleweed fails, but using Inspiration grants him a success.
Valravn casts Slow, affecting two of the three duergar in the south, including the mind master, thanks to his Unsettling Words. The mind master remains slowed for three rounds, leaving him with only his mind mastery ability.
The mind master succeeds at mind controlling Thimbleweed, forcing him to turn his powerful bow attack on Valravn. But the disadvantage attack (melee range) misses, catching a break for the party, while Thimbleweed lands a crit on the pesky mind master. This poor duergar can’t catch a break!
Fray has a moment that’s both heroic and terrifying, as she saves a random townsfolk from capture while simultaneously, and gruesomely, splitting the duergar assassin in half, then turning around and KO’ing the other one.
With multiple sneak attack strikes and a crit on Valravn, he’s brought down to one hit point. He summons Celeste to defend him. With her nearby the mind master cackles gleefully, targeting her with his mind mastery. She fails, uses inspiration and succeeds, despite a -4 modifer. ARGH, curse you Inspiration!
Thimbleweed ends him with another devastating crit. Fitting.
Finally the last of the duergar fall dead. The party took some heavy wounds in the battle, especially Fray, Edmond, and Valravn. But with the dragon still rampaging nearby, they don’t even have time for a short rest.
A wounded but grateful Captain Arlaggath thanks the Marshals for arriving and helping. She explains that with the city all but fallen, people know to flee to Bryn Shander. The party warns that the dragon will hit all the towns, and Bryn Shander last.
The Captain isn’t sure what’s going on in the town hall and the weird force-field thing that surrounds it; she’s sticking to the streets and trying to help people. She bids the party good luck and hopes to meet them again, as she hurries off. This is no longer a warzone, it’s an evacuation.
With the dragon still destroying the town all around them, the Marshals hurry the last few hundred feet toward the town hall in the center of town.
Several people surround the glowing dome that encircles the building, praying to the Frostmaiden, which annoys Fray. They enter the field, expecting a forcefield. Instead they pass right through.
Inside is horrifyingly cold, however. It wasn’t exactly a picnic before, but inside this dome of cold feels like a deep freezer, with dangerously low temperatures. Valravn is unaffected thanks to his Ring of Warmth, and Fray quickly quaffs a Potion of Cold Resistance.
The other three began suffering the effects within minutes, however. Edmond, Thimbleweed, and Celeste all fail the CON save, suffering a level of exhaustion.
The town hall is filled with an eerie blue light. More townsfolk brave the extreme cold inside, praying and suffering terribly. The Marshals are confused and worried at what’s going as they slowly make their way toward the larger back room, they same room where they fought the duergar thieves who tried to steal chunks of chardalyn from a statue.
Another round of CON saves, but this time everyone makes the save, avoiding another level of exhaustion. For now.
In the back room the Marshals find Ravisin holding a bird cage aloft, a flickering blue flame inside, and chanting a litany to the Frostmaiden. More townsfolk are kneeling and praying, most suffering from frostbite or worse. Speaker Waylen is also here, looking anxious, but otherwise unaffected by the cold (like Valravn and Fray).
The party have a lot of questions, but Ravisin is seemingly in a trance. Speaker Waylen thanks them for arriving, explaining that the dragon attacked without warning. Soon after Ravisin came to him with an emergency plan, a ritual that would create a powerful weapon to fight the dragon. But the ritual would take faith, sacrifice, and time.
The ground shakes with a nearby blast of the dragon’s laser-like breath, and the Speaker worries they’re running out of time.
The Marshals have many more questions, but their concerns are cut short when another rumble threatens to knock them down, this one from underground. The wall and floor near the speaker suddenly erupts, a clawed hand emerging to grab the Speaker!
Before he can even scream, a hulking, bipedal insectoid lurches through, and bites the head off the Speaker Danneth Waylen.
Ravisin stumbles backward, the flame within the cage flickering.
The Umber Hulk is partially armored, with straps and chains winding around his body to a miniature bunker on its back. Inside is another shrunken duergar mind master. His eyes flash and the beast tosses the body aside, shrieking.
So much for a safe haven inside the town hall!
MVPC – Fray
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