Donaar, a Dragonborn Paladin of Kelemvor,
Travok, a Dwarvin Cleric of Kelemvor,
Scapin the Sly, a Halfling Rogue &
myself - En'Kethradath, an Eladrin War Wizard.
After an arduous journey, we reach the town of Loudwater and head for to the nearest tavern, the Green Tankard. It is here that we stable our horses and find our contact, Curuvar the Brazen, who tells us that the Netheril Agents are searching for the Death Tomb of Karsus. It is believed by many that Karsus' remains lie somewhere in the Direwood. Before investigating this however, Curuvar has another task that he requires us to perform.
We must discover the source or reason behind the unseasonably cold weather plaguing the area. Curuvar believes that the weather change comes from the direction of Draigdurroch's Tower. We are also introduced to Lady Moonfire who wants to protect the town's interests. She says that the town can afford to give each of us a payment for putting right the weather and asks us to bring back any research papers scavenged from the tower. Curuvar draws us a crude map to the tower and casts and Endure Elements Rite.
We travel for quite a ways through snow and ice and eventually come to realize that this weather is a magically enhanced ice hurricane. It is hard to see and we must weave through trees and avoid the icy patches underfoot to travel. Eventually we arrive at a snow plain unscathed and are attacked by Goblins. Travok charges and splats a Goblin Cutter. The Goblin Hexer throws off a Freezing Cloud at the rest of us, while Scapin, in a artistic display of knife throwing, sliced a Cutter's throat with a thrown dagger. Together Scapin and Travok surrounded the Hexer and beat him down mercilessly while Donaar and I dispatched the rest of the Cutters in quick order. Donaar then went after the Goblin Sharpshooters while I sent a Magic Missile off at the Hexer. Travok distracted the Hexer with a swing (and a miss) of his hammer so that Scapin could get in under the Hexer's defenses and shiv him. Seeing their Hexer defeated, the remaining Sharpshooters fled. From the body of the Hexer we found 50gp, two potions of healing and a Quick Curse Rod +1.
In the eye of the storm, encased in a block of ice, stands the Tower of Draigdurroch. Lining the path leading to the entrance are grotesque demonesque statuary, some of which spring to life at our approach. There is a Tower Clay Scout and several Iron Defenders. Travok uses Divine Glow, making us all better at attacking for a short while. I Chill Strike the Tower Clay Scout which allowed Travok to gain advantage over it and smash it to pieces. Scapin attacks one of the Iron Defenders and with an excellently placed hit, kills it. Travok bloodies another defender with his hammer allowing Scapin to finish it off. Meanwhile, Donaar held off the defenders so they could be killed one at a time and himself killed one with a deadly hit.
The ice encasing the tower is definitely magical in origin, and whatever created it could be inside the tower. Travok, like a typical dwarf, wants to climb the ice, bypassing the interior of the tower completely, but after observing the ice's melting process and structural integrity it is agreed upon that this would not be the wisest course of action. In the end we decide to chop through the ice to the door and while Scapin picks the lock, I point out to the others that the ice is slowly regenerating. Inside the tower everything is rimmed with a layer of ice and frost. Even the fires are frozen solid. We find some history books on the bookshelves related to Karse and an expensive crystal statue to the god Asmodeus. Opening a servant's bedroom we find Frozen Dead People. In the kitchen is a jar of frozen larvae, and I took the jar to the table in the other room where the statue still rests.
From the fires appear Ice Warrior Shardings. Scapin and I act quickly to close the Frozen Fire Portals while Travok and Donaar fight the Shardlings as more keep appearing through the remaining open portals. Afterwards we head to the stairwell only to be attacked by two Ice Hurlers, two Ice Raiders, and an Ice Frostling who uses her Icy Aura to make the floors slippery and difficult for us to move over. Sending an Acid arrow at the Ice Frostling allows me to also hit a hurler and a raider adjacent to her and they all take ongoing acid damage. Donaar's raider that he has been constantly attacking finally melts away, only to be replaced on the stairwell by the other raider. Travok uses Divine Glow and significantly aids Scapin in Sly Flourishing the Ice Frostling, who finally shatters upon a Magic Missile impact. After this battle, one of the Raiders drops a Frost Maul +1 and we find three vials of Alchemical Frost and the formulas for making Alchemists' Acid, Frost and Fire.
Searching the upper floors, we find a large summoning circle inlaid with silver and inscribed upon the floor. Disrupting the active circle to the Nine Hells turns out to be relatively simple, but it is not what makes the tower covered in ice. Continuing to the Third floor via a modified version of Tenser's Floating Disk, we find a Ritual Book and some notes from Draigdurroch's magical research. In the library we accidentally set of a fire trap, which Scapin easily disables. Inside the warlock's desk we also find a journal detailing the location of Karse, how Draigdurroch had been sent here by the Netheril for the purpose of creating a Dark Pact with Karsus, and how he succeeded. The journal tells of how creatures from the Faewild appeared in his tower and threatened him and how he did not take their threats seriously. He laughed at them, and now he is missing.
The bookshelves mostly hold History Books, many of which are tied to the rise and fall of the Netheril Empire. Poking around we also notice that the gargoyle statues that we have been seeing all over the house are in actuality peepholes to see outside the tower in all directions in great distances. In the obviously secret room on the third floor, we find another Tenser's floating disk and ride it to the rooftop, which is currently covered by a large and high ice dome. In the center of the roof resides a dark blue gem floating above a pedestal between some pillars and a large Ice Elemental. To begin, the Ice Elemental uses his Aura to cause everyone who comes within ten feet of him to be slowed. He knocks us over easily, slamming us into the walls and floor at his leisure. Scapin and Donaar slide the Ice Elemental around the icy surface until it is bloodied, wherein it unleashes a burst of icy energy that knocks over everyone that it hits. Travok and I focus our attacks on the gem instead, while Scapin keeps Sly Flourishing the Elemental. Surround and Conquer seems to be our strategy, and it works. Travok, who had been flailing around on the icy surface screams out as he finally hits the gem which then turns black and shatters. A Blue wave of energy with Black streaks crashes through all of us, knocking us to the ground and continues into dome behind us, shattering it. The gem was most likely one of the ancient Core Gems, created by the Earlanni elves. Since it was most likely corrupted by the Warlock's research into the spellplague it probably was not salvageable and needed to be destroyed anyway.
As we each take a moment to look around and assess our situation, it is noticed that there is a strange ripple effect of black flames affecting each of us. We have become spellplagued. The icy weather immediately begins to dissipate and by the time we leave the tower, the weather has almost completely returned to normal. Upon our return to town we are greeted by Lady Moonfire who gifts us with 50gp each. Curuvar is happy that we have done this great service to the town and promises to help us research this altered spellplague. It is apparent after the first inspection of the research materials found in the tower that the Netheril have indeed altered the spellplague in an attempt to harness its power. If we are very lucky it might go away on its own... or it may change each of us irrevocably.
765 xp & 2nd level
120 gp each
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