When Summer Freezes Over

Picking up just after we left, Tara and Sina went to The Golden Goose, awkwardly trying to find each other again after all that has transpired the past two and a half years, Arthur, Alruna and Meicoril went all out to party, Meicoril easily finding a cute guy to hit off with, leaving Alruna and Arthur to their own devices. Later on the A-team finds Kromal again, who had drunk himself into a stupor. Hijinks featuring flaming axes, dwarves singing birthday songs and alround hilarity ensue, leaving the three of them crashing in the hay for the night.

That night all four of them were plagued by the same dream. Before them the ground was starting to give way as three items were going to fall to their doom. An egg, pulsating with life, a chest, filled to brim with treasures, and a weighty tome, containing a multitude of secrets to be discovered. However, there was only enough time to save on item. Alruna and Tara gave priority to the egg, not deeming material possessions or arcane knowledge worth the sacrifice of living beings, Arthur chose the treasure, for certainly it would prove the most useful and Kromal chose the tome, seeking to expand his knowledge, after the dramatic revelations of his heritage.

As they woke up they made an astounding realization: it was snowing. In Sun’s Height.

Furthermore, Arthurs blade broke apart, leaving a trail of light in the sky. Following the trail they came across a sort of winter storm in the midst of Ael’Tas. They met up with Tara there and jumped straight into the storm, Tara at first hesitated, but wasn’t quite willing to abandon them to their fates.

As they exited the magical storm, our intrepid heroes found themselves in an icy cavern. Apart from ice, and the remains of various prey animals they found an Orc Druid tending the wounds of a polar bear. Carefully, Alruna managed to approach the polar bear and administer a bit of medicine Tara gave her. In gratitude, the Orc Druid Tarak, who was somewhat rusty on social interactions offered them an antitoxin and walked along with them for a bit. Luckily so, because next to the corner a huge Winter Wolf was awaiting them feeling like a little snack. He was however swiftly overcome by the combined assault of 5 combatants, and ultimately knocked out by an Eldritch Blast. Saying goodbye to Tarak, the party, after finding some valuables in the proximity marched onwards deeper in the complex, each still guided by the feeling that what they desired most is still there. They also had learned by now from Tarak that the were in the Northern Peaks; so merely retreating wasn’t an option.

Venturing deeper in the cavern the noticed the signs of artificial constructions, the environment became straight corridors rather than the random artefacts of erosion. They, to any norms that are not Dashawns, expertly managed to avoid a plethora of traps and tried to enter a room.

At which points the inhabitants, 4 silver dragonborn, decided to go for an immediate extermination effort. Spoiler alert, though they valiantly tried, they failed. 2 were bisected, 1 burned and 1 knocked out. Upon regaining consciousness he tricked a party member not named Pendragon into believing an adjacent room contained treasures. Said party member quite instantly opened the door to the adjacent room, finding 3 half-ogres. One man’s trash or an outright lie? Given the attempt of said Dragonborn to flee the scene, the latter seems rather more likely. Luckily even the heavily battered party could get through this challenge with minimal effort. From there, after taking a well deserved break, the party pushed on through, meeting up with a Chimera, and taking it out. The Chimera was on a dais, which Tara recognised as paying tribute to Auril, the Lady of Winter, Queen of Ice and Snow.

Having cleared one side of the cold complex, the party turned its attention to the part that was even colder, supernaturally so. They found a room with a hearth and an elaborate but faded tapestry, depicting Auril. They passed a gate, and then exited the complex, ending up on the side of the mountain range. There, they found a young lady, a knight named Lyuna wielding Arthur’s sword. She seemed weakened by the circumstances.

Lyuna apparently came from a time of strife, before Ael’Tas and the Dragon Lands were founded. Though she professed no knowledge of current events, she remembered the side effects of a wish. As she seemed to shimmer, blink in and out of existence a little Tara remembered that she might actually be an apparition, a side effect and echoe of a person due to the wish, rather than physically there. Or she might actually be there but slowly fading out of existence. When Tara discreetly informed Arthur of this Arthur steeled his resolve to save the young lady.

The lady had an idea as to how they could leave though, there was a friendly white dragon around, named Antara. Though Kromal was actually very smooth in dealing with her, she had to refuse the chance to bring them back to Ael’Tas since her boss, the Frost Father, expected her to patrol the areas. Inquiring further led to the stunning revelation of the identity of the Frost Father, also known as amongst others Saint Nic, or Santa.

So Antara brought the heroes to the entrance of Santa’s realm in the Feywilds, and left of, leaving Kromal with a single scale of hers though and the gang stranded before the Feywild.