Chapter Seven: No River To Take Me Home

 Session was held at Casa De Grandiosa in 15th of March

There is no man who would head north with a light cause. Although the thousand stars shimmer on the night sky, and Aurora Borealis might illuminate the way, the northern darkness won't unbind it's shackles. And still as you go, the ever-gnawing cold reaches your core, despite all the efforts to keep warm.
To this very journey you will lose yourself. There is no fellow to walk that path alongside you, no comrade to comfort you. 
Alone must you stride, like descending into an open grave. Into vast emptiness.

Reghed Glacier

Cold northern winds slashed it's cold whip against the Expeditions men. Morale was plumetting as day's labor consisted of walking trough seemingly endless cold wastes the Reghed Glacier with no sign of destination. As they had journeyed on the glacial ice for three days already, following Enoch Crowgale's vague destination, old-man Crowgale was finally ready to announce their next waypoint. He had studied the rose-red gem pendant that they had taken from it's guardian back in Dol Aurmeth, and according to Crowgale it did indeed show them their next destination. Either or not it was of makings of Valgaerd the Whitefarer, they did not know, but it was the only reasonable clue they had at the moment.

Valgaerds Pendant

Enoch explained that the seven holes of the pendant matched to well-known constellation known as the Crown of the North or Cold Crown. This same seven-star celestial body was known by the northerners as the Eye of Evil and Hole That Leads To Darkness. Phrases of old northern language, sort of a proto-illuskan was ascribed to the center of the pendant. Crowgale had been translating it the last few days and he was ready to announce his findings

See the Cold Crown rise,

fourteen days in a row.

When you stand with

 the Goddess of Magic, 

Alagairtha will

lead your way.

Crowgale thus presumed that Expedition was to continue it's march northwards, taking bearings from the constellation that rose to the northern sky every night. And at the end of fourteenth day they would reach a location that would guide them further. As an waypoint this was somewhat indefinite, but the men continued nevertheless.

Crust of Ice
Days at the glacier came with a steep learning curve. Many near go situations showed them to watch their step as hidden crevasses lurked under the thin crusts of ice and snow. Sunlight made the snow into a bright blinding mirror, and sudden snowstorms came with much too brief notice.

On fifteenth of August,  seventh day of of their fourteen-day quest, a climb onto a snowy steppe drove the expedition face-to-face with a herd of woolly mammoths! As the herd made a defensive circle, young bull mammoth decided to make a show-off and charged towards the men and dog-sleds. Due Orgots abnormally quick wits, that charge was fended off as the half-orc cleric evoked a wall of fire on the front of the mammoth. No animals were harmed nor blood spilled that day.

But luck was not on their side the next day. Days journey was suddenly interrupted as someone spotted something big flying towards them. Quickly a fearful cry was heard aloud "DRAGON"! Our heroes organized everyone to spread out in fear for a devastating breath attack that everyone was familiar with. The white scaled creature landed to their front and started yapping with it's crude dragonic language. It was slightly bigger than the largest war horses, thus making it just an young adult dragon, but a dire threat nevertheless. Thelon who had studied draconian languages back in Evermeet translated it's will to the party.

Nidhogrym was it's name and it wanted "all the furry ones" meaning the dogs that pulled the sleds. Of course this was a no go, and our heroes demanded the drake to back off and fly away. Arrogant young wyrm took that as an insult and launched an attack. It's frozen breath freezed many capes as most of the expedition ran away due it's frightful presence. But our Thelon, Orgot, Bolwyn and Posco stayed, fighting off the dragon. So did Nespil Crowgale and his mercenary friend Artyom. Rest of the men who were not panicked did their best to handle the dogs. Even old man Konrad Haldurssen shot few bolts from his dog sled.

Young white dragon did not posses the power to usurp it's prize, and it retreated cursing and hauling insults. But it's last breath hit Thelon with cold-feet, and the elven warrior was blown down. He suffered partial nerve damage of permanent status, but everyone was happy to still have him.

Unexpected departure..
On the ninth night of their journey, a new struck of bad luck presented itself. The camp was alerted in hearth of the night as Abbie Bousson cried for help. Watchmen at the shift along with Posco rushed to Abbies tent, where her tent-mates Gorim and Enoch were leaning over fourth member of that tent, Konrad Haldurssen. Old man Lord Haldurssen was coughing badly, an it was evident that he was on his death-throes. For days Abbie had tended his health but his time had come.

Few moments later Konrad Haldurssen took his last breath. His last words were "I'm afraid". Enoch Crowgale spoke to the men on that bleak night, announcing Haldurssens death due poor health and old age. Crowgale said that it was Haldurssens dream to reach Ultima Thule, as he was sure that he would regain his health there and see many good years. This was not the case this time, but Enoch did his best to rise the men's morale. Still, many suspicious words were whispered.

On the eleventh day the expedition discovered old remains of a camp that had apparently been build
 by similar expedition. Nothing of value was discovered, but remains of a man were found from old wreck of a tent. Causes of death for this headless corpse were unknown, so no conclusions could been made.

They stayed it the same vale with the ruins for the night, making funeral pyres from the old camp for Konrad Haldurssen and the unidentified body. Memorial words were said.

.. And an unexpected arrival.
Day later the expedition was preparing the camp for the night as a blizzard was arriving from the north with haste. The preparations were put on hold two unidentified men were closing the camp from south. They announced to be friendly men seeking shelter. It quickly became apparent that the man speaking was none-the-less than Windmill Hágo, notorious swashbuckler from Luskan. He had been on a journey with his friend Agnor and two wizards of the Arcane Brotherhood Obiran and Feldolin. But northern harsh climate and rumors of frost giant kingdom Kongrike ov Hvítrfjell had been too much for the spellcasters, who had left with magic, leaving Hágo and Agnor alone to the glacier.
Hágo admitted that they had been following the expedition as a mission granted by the Brotherhood, but now that they were abandoned by it, they had no ill-thoughts about the expedition. Thus they wished to join in order to survive, as travelling alone in a glacier was quite suicidal.

After brief negotiations, the members of expedition decided to take Hágo and Agnor in, but many doubtful thoughts were shared between the heroes. Posco even did some eavesdropping on following night to learn Hágos motives, but no evidence of bluff or vile play was present, it seemed that their intentions were genuine.

Destination unkown
As the blizzard stormed for a day, the expedition reached their destination on the fifteenth day, instead of the fourteenth. It seemed that they had arrived to the upper parts of huge ice-fjord, a stream of ice that slowly drained over the years into a vast snowy plain that seemed to be an frozen sea. As night descended upon the glacier and the Cold Crown rose once a gain, Crowgale witnessed a distinct change in the pendant. It gleamed in the starlight, and a engraved picture of the same ice-fjord appeared into the pendant. In the middle of the engraving was a arrow, a clue for their next way point.

Valgaerds pendant with some obvious changes

Thus they slept the night at the top of the glacier and begun descending the ice stream in the morning. Icy slopes and ridges that served as their path were treacherous, and many close calls were witnessed. But luckily no one swerved down. Finally they reached the half-way of the fjord. Quickly an anomaly was discovered, as one bright blue icewall had steam coming from it. On a closer inspection it was revealed that finger thick stream of boiling hot water was pouring from a small crack in the ice.

General consensus was that this had to have something to do with pendants clue, and untrustworthy newcomer Hágo was ordered to use pick against the ice wall. Shielded with elemental protection spell, he began his work, hitting the wall few times hard. But that was few time more than enough. Something moved inside the ice, something that seemed to move in quite lively fashion. Suddenly the whole wall exploded, as it seemed that it had been somekind of a pocket of boiling water, washing Hágo almost off the edge of the cliff. As the fog and steam caused by the water had disappeared a bit, many covered in terror as two centipede-like monsters rattled their red fins.

These abominations were known as remorhaz, monsters of the cold north, with a heat so impressive in their insides that it could destroy even steel weapons that hit the creature. Everyone attacked these monsters with fury as it was apparent that it was either them or us. Their carapace was penetrable, but while everyone were smashing the hell out, Bolwyn and Nespil Crowgale were grappled into maws of these centipede beasts and eventually swallowed whole. This resulted into even more desperate fight, and thanks to newcomers Hágo and Angor, both mosters were struck down.


Bolwyn emerged from the gizzards with severe amnesia, bad burns and wounds alike, but Nepil never recovered from his horrendous wounds. Witnessing the horrible death of his one son, Enoch Crowgale fell to weep and cry his sons fate. Whole expedition was struck with grief as something like this was expected but not welcomed.


As grieving the decesed continued, someone explored a long cavernous tunnel that seemed to lead far into the the Underdark, that was now exposed from the wall. Only thirty feet from the entrance, there was a an ancient wooden board struck into the ice floor like a sign. Thelon managed to decipher the old runes used in it, but he did not known the language. But Enoch knew, and despite his sons demise, he came to the tunnel to see the sign. Tears already in his eyes he turned even more pale as he understood the signs meaning:

"það er engin Thule - There is no Thule"

Chapter One: Compass to the North - Encounters in the City of Sails Part II

Session was still held 24th-26th of August at the Shadowy Cabin of the Hidden Lands.

Read Part I here to keep up with the plot.

The Withering Wench had high south winds on her sails, plunging the vessel towards the island of Icepeak, where the harbor of Aurilsbarg awaited for our new heroes. Bolwyn and Orgot were experiencing the joys of marine travel for the first time, although Posco was also quite a greenhorn at the seas. Only Thelon had experience from the seas, but the human ships felt much cruder to him than the elven vessels that floated through the waves with no rocking.
Their peaceful naval travel came to a quick halt, when a loud shout was heard "THAR SHE BLOWS!". Men on the Wench exploded into action, pulling ropes and preparing one of the whaleboats for it's purpose. Captain Herrod asked if the passengers would like to take part of a whale hunt, and with the guidance of Otkell, ships most experienced harpooner, they agreed to come.
The boat was soon on the waves, men rowing furiously to gain with the whale. The crew had identified it as a minke whale, a perfect size of a whale for our newcomer harpooners. Although the art of the harpoon throwing proved to be quite an obstacle, the whale was eventually catched.

Rest of the journey went without notable encounters. Captain decided to process the whale at the harbor, so the Withering Wench towed the carcass alongside it. After two days of successful seafaring, the ship reached the frozen harbor of Aurilsbarg. Walruses greeted the ship with their great bellowing. It was clear that summer was yet to come to this northern island that was the last island with permanent settlements before the Sea of Moving Ice. Small city of Aurilsbarg was the trade nexus for the fishing villages around the island, and only one to support a open harbor through the harsh winter. The town center was small with only two dozen buildings and it was hard to believe that it actually had population of almost 3000. But there was no city wall and most of the buildings were widely spread along the coastline and the hillsides. There in the shadow of the gigantic mountain the Icepeak the city of Aurilsbarg had stood for centuries, frozen for ten months in a year.

Small city of Aurilsbarg

From the center of the city our adventurers found a comfy inn called Pint & Tusk. The innkeeper, Eilif Ekkilson greeted the newcomers warmly and every patron there gathered around them to hear about news from the continent. Enoch Crowgale explained their ambitions to investigate Valgaerd the Whitefarers final resting place, and although the audience that they shouldn't tamper with the past, they wished luck for the heroes on their deed.

Servant of the Flames
After the peaceful night of rest on the firm ground, the team left to the Church of the Frozen Waves, a temple of goddesses Auril and Umberlee. The Church was just outside the city and it was the only one that was full stone-craft  as the others were mainly wood with stone foundation. The Church was covered with frost, but unlike the inn and all the other buildings of the city, the Church was also frozen from the inside. As our mercenaries stepped in, Atledan, the priest in charge, received them. As he understood that the heroes hadn't come to seek mercy from the wrath of the goddesses, he became reluctant to cooperate.

Perfect example of the
brave nature of Kobolds

Valgaerd did have a small mausoleum inside the church, but Atledan declared further investigation blasphemous. But just as the disappointed investigators were bout to leave, the priest came up with a proposition. If they would bring him the head of Vasiljus the Dookian, the sacrifice might be adequate for the goddesses to consent to the excavation of the tomb.

Quick round of information gathering around the city provided the adventurers with all the details they needed. Vasiljus the Dookian had come to the Icepeak from somewhere south. He was a devoted servant of Kossuth, the deity of fire. His plan was to awaken the slumbering volcano inside the Icepeak. The Aurilsbargians weren't quite fond with his plan, and he soon retreated to his cabin at the mountainside. Locals have tried to forgot him, but recently local hunters have heard strange barking and yapping from his isolated mountain cabin.

With the information they needed, Thelon, Posco, Bolwyn and Orgot headed towards the Icepeak. Crowgale stayed behind as he felt that the headhunt wasn't for him. The ascend to the cabin was a harsh one, and late that night they finally reached the desolate cabin. Little warm light flickered through it's small windowpanes and Posco took the privilege of little scouting. He positioned himself behind the window, as he saw Vasiljus talking to someone/something that yapped back to him. The others took position behind the door and from Poscos mark, Bolwyn kicked the door in. Posco himself launched a bolt through the windowpane, but failed to bring the worshipper of Kossuth down.

For everyone's surprise, the cabin was full of kobolds, wretched pawns in Vasiljus's fiery plans. The charge inside the cabin was rapid, but Vasiljus escaped into inner cavern that was dug from inside the cabin into the mountainside. There were more kobolds that had organized themselves into defensive positions. Thelon almost killed himself as he charged against the defensive wall, but the rest of our headhunters followed quickly, and the small lizardfolk were soon defeated. Only Vasiljus himself proved to be bit challenging as he swung his tendrils of flame (the preferred weapon of Kossuth, spiked chains), but eventually our brave firefighters extinguished the fire of life from his eyes.

Because of the nightfall, the journey back to Aurilsbarg could have been perilous, so our heroes decided to stay in the cabin until the morning. While staying there, they had good time for some looting, and with an appraise done hastily, they counted treasure worth of almost 2000 gold pieces.
After the uneasy night at the scene of a bloodbath, our mercenaries wandered back to the coastal city. Quick trip to fetch mister Crowgale from the inn, and the headhunters began to approach the church.

Priest Atledan was really pleased when he learned that his rival
Vasiljus the Doorian had met his end. 

Priest Atledan was pleased to receive Vasiljus's head, and he began to perform the sacrificial rites immediately. Whims of the two goddesses were at our heroes side, as they were granted the opportunity to explore the tomb of Valgaerd.

The Tomb of the Whitefarer
The cubic mausoleum of Valgaerd was quite easy to open. But a surprise occurred to our grave robbers as the tomb was empty. There was a big hole in the middle of the tomb and it looked like it had collapsed years ago. A rope was tied around Bolwyn and the dwarf was lowered down into a cramped tunnel that ran beneath the crypt. As the others descended also, they began to investigate the strange complex of these low tunnels that forced Thelon and Orgot to cower really uncomfortably. It was soon obvious that some grave-robbers had dug all these tunnels, as many ceilings had holes to other tombs and crypts that lied in the church, and the tunnels had bones scattered everywhere.

Tomb Mote from book Libris Mortis

Crowgale managed to dig up old burial shield that, according the runes engraved into it's surface, belonged Valgaerd the Whitefarer, but no sign of any kind of journal or logbook that Crowgale believed to be buried alongside the corpse. Eventually they stumbled upon a slightly wider "room" that had served as a resting room for the tunnelers. There they found lot's of mining equipment, alongside a sack of loot robbed from the graves. A tunnel leading out of the room had collapsed and three maimed corpses of the grave-robbers lied in front of the cave-in.
While the heroes examined the wounds of the mummified tunnelers, Enoch Crowgale searched around the room and managed to find a old withered and worn book that he quickly identified to be Valgaerds logbook! His joy ended fast, as something approached them with great speed. Two tiny,vaguely humanoid,creatures attacked our fellowship, clawing and biting with unnatural haste, not so often attributed to undead creatures. These tomb motes  challenged our heroes, but once again they prevailed. As they began to ascend from the grave, all the loot obtained from the perished grave-tunnelers, were hidden so that the priest wouldn't notice them. As Atledan heard about the tunnels underneath, he was shocked not to notice them before. And using his shock to their advance, our mercenaries left the church with sacks full of gold.

The Dead Haverigg

Later that night, our mercenaries were raising their pints for success at the church. Captain Herrod was there too with his men, and he told that ship called Shivering Nordman would leave towards Luskan within a week, but its captain Randvir Unnarrson hasn't yet returned from his home village, so the heroes couldn't ask for a ride just yet. Thought of boredom while waiting for the captain bothered our heroes, but a old man overheard their conversation and approached them with a bet. Kell was his name and he dared that our heroes would not have the courage to spend a night in the village of Daud-Haverigg. Of course they swallowed the bait and promised to venture there as soon as possible, meaning the next morning.

Village of Daud-Haverigg

At the break of next dawn, the party gathered for their journey. Crowgale stayed at the inn to began his studies with the logbook that seemed to be written with some sort of a secret code that he hadn't yet been able to break. Crowgale promised also to look after their ride back to Luskan, if only Captain Unnarrson would return first.
Journey to east, towards Daud-Haverigg took the whole day, and at dusk they finally reached the old fishing village. It looked abandoned with all it's buildings were more or less ramshackle. Village road was still covered by thick snow, with no sign of trails or human footsteps. But in the middle of the village, faint light gleamed from small windows of a inn named "Blue Burial-Inn". Our four heroes walked inside and the innkeeper Dalfarr welcomed them in. He acknowledged that the village had drifted into decay, as did few nodding patrons, sipping their pints in the corner. But no signs of terror painted by old man Kell was found, and our heroes took a room as they were to stay for the night to win the bet.

Shortly after midnight Thelon woke up feeling cold. All the warmth had disappeared from the inn and the room they were had turned into dark abandoned nightmare. As he tried to awaken the others, low growling and muffled stumping was heard behind the door. Just as they had taken up their arms, the door was forced in and a pack of bloodthirsty zombies charged in!
Defeating the small group was relatively easy task, but soon our daredevils understood that the living dead were swarming in with constantly increasing rate. The biggest and the ugliest of them was Dalfarr, the innkeeper himself, who instead of serving pints, served our heroes with terrible zombie assaults. The others positioned themselves into the high end of a staircase in order to defend efficiently against the horde, but Posco was left to trouble as the undead managed to force themselves up the stairs, bringing part of the first floor ceiling down, and opening a new route for attack. As the others hacked the zombies to pieces, Posco tried to escape from the claws of the innkeeper, who had taken the small halfling as it's target. But that night was not their last, and they managed slay every last one of the undead. Closer examination of the wretched inn after the battle revealed some horrible secrets, and some modest loot too! Dalfarrs account book had it's last note dated to 12.2.1342,  which was thirty years ago. Also, a hidden room was found from the basement, and there lied a corpse of a shackled woman. Apparently she was a sorceress of some sort, and from his basement cell wall a short written curse was found: "Cursed be thine village, may thee walk eternally, as dead and restless"

The Red Claw
After a restless night in the village of Haverigg, our adventurers began their journey back. It was shadowed by Orgots illness that was diagnosed to be originating from the tombs beneath the Church of Frozen Waves. By the end of the day Thelon succumbed too for this dread disease, but lucky for them, they arrived back to Aurilsbarg in time. Priest Atledan removed the disease with his divine magic, but they were still quite weakened as it had ravished their bodies greatly. Later that night at the inn, old man Kell admitted his defeat, and the mercenaries were acknowledged as brave lads!

Next morning, Orgot and Thelon stayed at bed in order to recover, but Posco and Bolwyn went to the piers to book themselves to Shivering Nordman. Captain Unnarrson was favorable to take them as passengers, and our shorties planned to return back to the inn. But a local huntsman, the Master Huntsman of Aurilsbarg to be exact, Mordr, intercepted them and asked them to give their opinion about something. After a short walk to the seaside rocks where the walruses had been earlier, Mordr showed them a scene of murder. Almost a dozen dead walruses lied there ripped and gutted, with no clear sign by whom or what. As the island had no natural predators, Mordr was quite puzzled by this massacre. Posco and Bolwyn promised to help and after closer investigation, Posco found tuft of fur from a tusk of a great bull. Mordr couldn't identify the coarse, dark grey fur and the investigators returned to inn to show it to Crowgale. He was almost certain that it belonged to a wolf, but their absence from the island aroused even more questions. Query around the city came up with nothing, but Bolwyn and Posco already had their own theories for the suspect. They believed that the bloodbath was a work of a werewolf, as the moon was currently full too! Mainly because of this theory, they stayed up late, circling around the town, watching out for any wandering wolfmen.

A Werewolf

But their efforts were in vain, as the mysterious killer stroke before they could witness it. Niklaus Domarsson was a local craftsman living his life as everyone else in Aurilsbarg but now he was dead, shredded in the same way that the walruses night before. Posco and Bolwyn executed series of investigations although they couldn't get far with the mystery. But during the day, a word reached their ears that Dagstyrr the Locksmith was found naked and unconscious earlier that morning. Our Sherlocks proceeded to Dagstyrr's residence immediately, to question him. The locksmith stated that he had drank heavily last night, and couldn't recall anything from the last night.
Something wasn't alright about Dagstyrr, but as our heroes had no real evidence about their shapeshifting werewolf, another night of vigilance was needed. That night was also the last of three-night-phase of the fullmoon, so if the werewolf would present itself, this was the last change. Orgot and Thelon, who had finally gained some of their strenght back, joined also for the nightwatch.

After uncountable hours of patient waiting, a loud shout broke the anticipating silence. Posco arrived to the scene first and he witnessed a great beast, half a man, half a wolf, shredding one member of townguard apart. Posco pulled the wolfmans attention to himself, and the maimed townguard managed to escape his doom. Soon the rest of our heroes arrived, and although the shapeshifter was resilient, repelling most of the strokes with it's supernatural resistance of mundane weapons. But eventually the load of damage was too great for the wolfman, and the beast collapsed. It turned out that Dagstyrr the Locksmith was after all the one behind the menace. Later on it was speculated that Dagstyrr had contacted the lycanthrophy on his journeys on the continent. The Master Huntsman Mordr thanked the heroes for solving the mystery behind the murders. He also granted a small reward for their job by the behalf of Oddnar Alrek, the Jarl of Aurilsbarg.

Return to Luskan
After a quick nap during the forenoon, our heroes packed the gear and stepped to the Shivering Nordman, their ticket back to the continent. The voyage was a success and our mercenaries managed to rest for few days. During their rest, Crowgale engrossed in to the logbook even more, but the key to the secret code was still waiting for him to unveil it.
One encounter occured during the voyage, as Posco was awakened during the night by some shady sneaking just in front of him. The sneaking sailor, Chale, claimed that he was just walking by, but Posco accused him to be a thief. The ships bosun Oleg interrupted the quarrel before it escalated any further. But the seed of suspicion stayed was left behind, and Posco kept his eyes open.

Windmill-Hágo

Rest of the journey went well and it was a beautiful morning when the ship arrived to the Piers of Luskan. While they were unloading their gear and themselves from the Shivering Nordman, Posco spotted that Chale the sneaky sailor was whispering suspiciously to some crooks at the pier and pointing out the heroes direction. Our observant rogue informed the rest about his suspicions and they proceed to the piers with great caution.

The halfling guessed it right, as soon they were surrounded with thugs asking for their purses. The leader of the band (who called themselves as The Amazing Luskan Lads) was a flamboyant swordfighter named Windmill-Hágo, who presented himself in exquisite manner. As our heroes declined to hand over their possessions, the Lads tried to subdue them. Our veteran mercenaries responded in lethal fashion, wounding few severely. Finally Thelon charged against Hágo himself, who had previously abstained himself from the battle. Our brave elf learned a quick lesson about mastery of blades, as Hágo slapped him with his swords flat several times. Disappointed by his unskilled adversary, Hágo left the scene only to challenge our mercenaries again one day, when they would be ready for it.

As Thelon regained his consciousness, and the rest had finished beating the Lads till pulp, our awesome quartet ( plus Crowgale) took a small breather and stepped towards the alleyways.

And by the way they were just greeted at the piers, they knew they were back in the City of Sails!