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The Truth of the Ice
One morning during their rest in Kuldahar, our six heroes fell to five. Azgul had not only fled, but it appeared he murdered Eirys in her prison. Knowing it was best to be on their path, the party returned to the Hooked Knucklehead and after some merriment convened with old Vellynne Harpell. The conclusion to this eternal winter was grim. The boundaries between the Plane of Ice and that of Icewind Dale were thinning. They decided to venture to Solstice Isle together to seek the Codicil of White and gain entry to the lost city of Ythryn. There, they hoped, the core of the city, its mythallar, remained intact. This was assuming they didn't run into into the Frostmaiden first. Inquiring with Reghed about supposed trials within Solstice, they instead listened to tales of grizzled folklore. What may be seen as cruelty and torture to outsiders is endurance and survival in the tundra. That was the truth of the ice. Hours into their journey north the band was ambushed by chardalyn berserkers and the goliath werebear, Oyaminartok. Oona knew Oya too well. This was her adoptive mother. With no cure to her corruption, the hero knew they must put her mother down. After communing with Oya's departing spirit Oona resolutely broke the silence. With tear-stricken eyes Oona denounced the name of her birth mother, Queen Bjornhild of the Tiger Tribe. Oyaminartok was her one and only kin. And this, they all knew, was also the truth of the ice.

Kuldahar

#TheDevilYouKnow #Kulduhar After returning from the Yuan-Ti ruins, the party spent several nights recuperating in Kuldahar preparing for their trek back to Ten Towns. One morning they awoke and Azgul was not only gone, but the evil druid Eirys was dead. Either in his haste, out of guilt, or for the future of his comrades, he had left behind the Great Oak Crystal and Frostburn Blade.

Bryn Shander

#TenTownsThings The journey back to Bryn Shander was faster without the caravan of Dalefolk refugees. At the Hooked Knucklehead, they were met by T-Rex and Copper, the latter of whom had been driven batty by the, erm, industrious kobold. It appears that T-Rex grew more enterprising under Marta Pekryk's tutelage, so much so that she left. The kobold had found a cache of weapons stored under the floorboards and sold them to some really cool dudes for several barrels of Good Mead's good mead. He said they brought over the good stuff from Bremen, which, you know, recently burnt down. Tetro began detecting for poisons, while Crank took a sip. It was delicious. After sleuthing around their tavern, the party deduced those really cool dudes must have been Zhentarim smugglers. In any case, T-Rex emptied a coin purse into Fern's palm, delivering a profit of 100 gp.
#TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden #TheForgottenRealm Copper fetched Vellynne Harpell, who had also returned from her journeys. With the party retelling the story of Kuldahar, the old wizard nodded and addressed what she believed the state of affairs were. The boundaries between the Plane of Ice and the locale of the Material Plane surrounding Icewind Dale were thinning. Or, perhaps, merging. It would explain what little word and travelers were seen from the outside, as well as teleportation mishaps, and the appearance of frost salamanders. The move then, was to end the Frostmaiden's endless winter, one way or another. Perhaps Ythryn's mythallar, its reactor core so to speak, would be able to override or overpower the divine magic - if it were still intact at least. And if not, perhaps the Netherese ruins would provide another avenue out for this frigid wasteland.
#Solstice #TheForgottenRealm Vellynne continued to explain her proposal. Together, they could venture to Solstice Isle, the moving isle of Auril and her cult, and take from within it an incantation from the Codicil of White, teachings passed from generation to generation of Frostmaiden worshippers. This incantation was the key, she admitted, to undoing the barrier at Reghed Glacier. Past the frozen waterfall was where Ythryn slept, and together they could uncover its secrets. It was win-win, she said.
#TrialsOfTheFrostmaiden #ReghedTribes Within Solstice Isle were a series of trials, the nature of which Vellynne had yet to divine. Seeking out Reghed Nomads, those close to the essence of the tundra, the party found some Tribe of the Bear traders who mused on their folklore about the cold reality of their ancestry: What may be seen as cruelty to outsiders holds reason in old tribal teachings. What ends you must pursue in order to endure, a city dweller may consider torture. This is the truth of the ice.

Towards Angajuk's Bell

#battle #ReghedTribes #Oyaminartok Onwards to Solstice Isle. Three sled teams head out towards Angajuk's Bell, the party's two sleds and that of Vellynne Harpell. Six hours into their journey, they were ambushed by grimacing husks of Tribe of the Elk warriors, all perverted by the influence of black ice. One carried a censer with a blue flame, and each laughed as their destroyed bodies endured seemingly forever. Worse, though, was the presence of Oyaminartok, a folklore beast of the tundra. Skewers of chardalyn jut out from her chest as she lunged at Oona. Fending off the goliath werebear, Oona saw not a beast, but someone she knew too well. Oya was her adoptive mother, who found and reared her when she was discarded as a child. Unable to reach the Oya she knew, our hero knew it was best to put her mother down. Soon after, the heroes snuffed out the chardalyn berserkers, quite literally, as when Gadget catapulted the blue flame censer into a tree, the battered bodies fell lifelessly.
#ReghedTribes #Oyaminartok Before burying Oya, Oona sought closure. See, the half-orc barbarian had been tossed into the Sea of Moving Ice as a child sacrifice by her birth mother, and the goliath werebear had rescued and raised her as her own cub. The last time Oona had seen her was at the mere buddings of adolescence, when Oya pushed her back into the human world of houses and trade before heading off into the white of the tundra alone. With the aid of their necromancing companion, Oona communed with her adoptive parent, learning of her ambush by berserkers, her impalement and struggle to the black ice, and the eventual oblivion that overtook her senses. Oya proudly told her cub to live strongly and fiercely. In the afterlife, she said, they would spar once again - but this time for real, and one on one. With tear-filled eyes, a resolute Oona covered her mother in the snows, and after a moment, broke the silence in proclamation. She denounced the name of her mother by birth, Bjornhild Solvigsdottir, queen of the Tiger Tribe. Oyaminartok was her one and only kin. And all knew that was the truth.

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XP

Total XP: 25601

500 ~ #Oyaminartok complete

Loot

100 gp ~ T-Rex ~ Fern
Ice Troll Heart ~ Oyaminartok ~ Oona