Kuldahar

Info

Kuldahar was a settlement that sprung up around the gargantuan ancient oak tree, holy to the Church of Silvanus in the northern reaches of the Spine of the World mountains.
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Locations

Counsel Chambers

Shrine of the Heartstone Gem

Statue of Silvanus

Root Cellar

Happenings

§ Details
40 #Kulduhar The Great Oak of Kuldahar jutted out of the misty mountaintops of the Spine of the World. As our heroes approached the gates, the temperature pulled back from the biting cold to a pleasant warmth. The snows were visible far overhead and to their backs, but the aura emanating from the Great Oak caused nearly all signs of winter to dissipate within its canopy. The power of Kuldahar's Great Oak lied within the Heartstone Gem, an artifact said to be a seed bestowed by Silvanus himself, which lay at the pedestal within the heart of the tree. Several bands of Ten Towns refugees had already made it to the gates, which were closed to the travelers causing a hubbub. Some talk with the guards led to the party's entrance into the village to negotiate the refugee situation. They were to be led to the Druidic Counsel, who were in session about this very situation.
40 #Kulduhar On the way to the Counsel Chambers, the party saw the various workshops, taverns, and inns of the druidic enclave. Several worshipers were praying to a statue of Silvanus in the center of the enclave, below which were effigies of the founders of Kuldahar, archdruids long gone. The guards noted that the current archdruid was Iselore, a green haired elf who had seen the village through the past hundred years, including a troubling time when the village was attacked. This attack stemmed from outsiders taking advantage of ancient Yuan-Ti temples underneath the roots of the Great Oak, which existed long before the tree was a sapling. This holy site had been a wellspring of magical potency for eons it seemed.
40 #Kulduhar The Druidic Counsel sat around a long wooden table, intricate carvings and rootwork ornamentation embellishing the room. Iselore was fielding suggestions from various counsel heads, amongst the two dozen or so individuals in the room. The old elf was hesitant about permitting outsiders inside the enclave, given troubles in the past and simple logistical issues. An aasimar woman named Eirys balked at this, exemplifying the merits of her decades long sanctuary at Kuldahar and championed for the refugees to be accepted into the haven. Iselore had not been outside the walls of Kuldahar in quite some time, Eirys complained. She did not understand the winter. The party decided to bolster this point, describing Auril's Eternal Winter and the recent assault on Ten Towns by the Xardorok Sunblight and his Chardalyn Dragon. The counsel put forth the decision to a vote, which narrowly came in favor of allowing the refugees solace. Iselore, while not pleased, accepted the outcome.
40 #Kulduhar Oona and Tetro noticed a strange druid eavesdropping at the fringe of the counsel chambers. He startled at the discussion of the Eternal Winter, and bolted into the courtyards, muttering to himself. Following him, they met Keeper, which was more of a title than name for he was the one who tended to the Shrine of the Heartstone Gem. He insisted that something was amiss with the Greak Oak, but that, well, he needed evidence. He seemed to be wary of trusting the counselors and wished the heroes to meet him at the shrine to help investigate.
40 #Kulduhar The party spent some time around Kuldahar. Crank spent some time at the Root Cellar, a tavern in a defunct airship at the edge, where Eirys thanked the party for their efforts in bringing the Ten Towners into the haven. Azgul and Gadget checked out the laboratory of a gnomish herbalist, Oswald Fiddlebender, whose had a decent stock of potions which they picked through. Fern, Oona, and Tetro went to a wizard's tower, where a masked half-orc mage named Orrick offered to sell them some of his old belongings. When Tetro spotted a Belt of Dwarvenkind, he had to have it, 3000 gold cost be damned.
40 #Kulduhar Meeting with Keeper at the Shrine of the Heartstone Gem, the oddball druid attested that something was off about the Great Oak. Frosted rime was found along its roots, and he swears the temperature had been a degree lower than normal. And the birds! Of the 2000 birds known to him in Kuldahar, he now only counted 1998! While listening to the quirky man was a labor in its own right, the party did notice some peculiarities. Large bootprints were noted, which didn't belong to the barefoot Keeper nor to Iselore who frequented the shrine recently. Azgul cast identify on the gem itself and revealed a curse on it with imprints of a snowflake pattern.
40 #Kulduhar Winter would have taken Kuldahar if it were not for the meddling Heroes of the Cairn. With Eirys imprisoned, Iselore thanked the party, bestowing on them a gift of divination, the Blessing of the Great Oak. While calamity had been averted, the Rime-Kissed Curse on the Heartstone Gem remained to be removed. Archdruid Iselore tasked the party with investigating Yuan-Ti ruins nestled deep within the roots of the Great Oak, a possibly wellspring of magical potency that Eirys may have been abusing.
39 #TheChosen The singers moved up the northern streets of Bryn Shander, away from the main crowds of the market. Fern and Crank quickly and quietly worked through the crowd, the rest of the party in tow, to catch up with Vurnis. They found her brushing snow off a child's face, near a small family's shrine to Auril. At first they beat around the bush, but then Oona had enough. "Aren't you dead!?" It seemed that Vurnis believes that some things are miracles. "Those of us who believe, persevere. I hear there are many stranded here in the cold of winter, some wishing to journey to the mountains for Kuldahar. Indeed, they are suffering as they are. It is a cruel world. Remember to endure." Gadget remembered stories the parties told of their first encounter with the dead Vurnis: how she was laid nude and surrounded by runestones on a dais by her sister Ravisin, how her throat had been slit in what was believed to be suicide, and how in their encounter with Sephek Kaltro the possessed sailor also slit his throat yelling in a mixed voice "Witness me!" before turning into slush. Vurnis was a midwinter child, but here she was swaddled in scarf and robe. Whatever this woman before them was, she was certainly alive in service of Auril. Still, in the busy street of a wounded city, without a good idea of her plans, the party had little choice but to let her walk away. Vurnis assured them they would meet again.
39 #Kulduhar Several refugees came by the Hooked Knucklehead with a proposal. Many fed-up, homeless, or otherwise desperate Dalefolk were considering a pilgrimage to Kuldahar, a druidic settlement in the Spine of the World whose massive tree, the Great Oak, spreads warmth to the small village. Around a hundred people were looking to make the journey and wished the heroes to serve as guides and protection. They had little to offer, but perhaps the druids or Great Oak itself may provide resources to the heroes.
39 #TheRimeoftheFrostmaiden #Kulduhar Azgul, accompanied by Oona and Fern, sought out Vellynne Harpell. The necromancer was seen packing her sled with the help of a zombie Bartaban. She was heading to the tundra to investigate a nagging thought. Something felt wrong with the Weave, she admitted. The cold was colder and the Dawn did not stir in her magical equipment as it should. The party recognized a similar passing, as their Boon of Lathander had diminished with time. In a previous travel, she and Azgul II, who had since turned into black ooze, encountered a frost salamander. Such a creature was native to the Plane of Ice, not of the Prime Material Plane. The party too had fought one of these, back in the Lost Spire. They had also been thrown briefly into the Plane of Ice itself, when Varrin Axebreaker attempted to use a Cubic Gate. When asked about Kuldahar, Vellynne encouraged them to go. The Great Oak was known to be a wellspring of divination magic. Perhaps its druids could see what was wrong with the Weave in Icewind Dale. Sharing now between them that the Reghed Glacier held the entrance to Ythryn, she revealed that the key to crack the rimed waterfall, whatever that key exactly was, was likely held on Solstice Isle. Vellynne would like to band together to head to retrieve this key.
39 #battle #Kulduhar The party left with a caravan of a hundred refugees to Kuldahar. On the fourth day, guiding people through the ravines and foothills of the Spine of the World, they realized they were literally on thin ice. Moving carefully to prevent cracking and soaking in icy waters, they took their time. Problems arose when two coldlight walkers and a pair of crag cats attacked from the cliffs on either flank. The treacherous terrain made for a difficult fight, several Dalefolk not making it. Still they pushed on. The valley of Kuldahar was not much further ahead.