Just a stone’s throw away.

Game date: November 8, 2011

SYNOPSIS

Long story short, after the heroes closed the portal to the Far Realm, they easily (relatively speaking) took care of the situation. Oh, Ikar did get away, but he left behind his living phylactery, the deva Ailis Marzal. There was much discussion on what to do with the severly depressed and captive deva, but in the end it was decided that the heroes would keep her alive in hope that Ikar would return in about a week or so. Volarn, the Kaorti priest who was transported from the Far Realm, was not so lucky. With the Tear of Knowledge destroyed and the portal destroyed, Volarn’s disciples remained locked away in the Plane of Madness. Life was good.

The PCs contemplated their next step. They were virtually stranded far to the north in the natural world in a forgotten outpost fortress of Bael Turath. They easily surmised that they could hike out by foot across the frozen wasteland and hope to eventually find their way back home. But, for heroes of the time, is there really a “home” to go back to? Their other option was to use the Linked Portal ritual they had found, but that would require them to find another portal. Or, they could use the Argent Portal and take their chances…seek their destiny, in a different direction.

Instead, they chose to explore the fortress a little further to clean up/out the current residents. The shadow demon, Artantos had offered his help to ease the characters mission to stop Ikar, but now that that was done, the heroes had a mind to deny the demon his foothold in the icy north. A clean sweep of the outpost seemed to be in order.

The characters found their way to the surface through a trap door into the interior of the fortress. Immediately they had to deal with an icetomb wight and its pesky icewight allies. Travok charged through the snow and engaged the icetomb wight while Berend moved into position to take on the closest icewight. Directions and encouragement were called out to all by Heskan as he advanced, belching forth his dragon’s breath. The icetomb wight caught the brunt of it and let out a deathly screech as his icy form popped and splintered from the heat.

Tavar muddled with whatever sentience the undead possessed and forced them to fight each other while Thia channeled the divine powers from the Raven Queen, searing the monsters desiccated flesh and vaporizing their icy armor. Berend set aside Angalia and drew forth the sun blade he had recovered from the late Tiberius to take advantage of the enemies vulnerability to the sword’s holy power.

One by one, the undead guardians of the fortress fell from the combined assault from the heroes. The wights cold bodies sank into the deep snow covering the courtyard and the raging blizzard soon covered their bodies in a matter of seconds. More of Ikar’s followers likely still remained within the fortress or the complex below, and Artantos waited for the moment he and his demon army could swell the windswept battlements and icy halls.

There was definitely unfinished business here at the top of the world. The PCs could complete their work here and hope to find a portal that would link them back home. Warm beds, hot baths and succulent food surely awaited them in Fallcrest. They also guessed that they were as close to the tiefling temple of Ryazan as they ever had been or might ever be, and they could finally return Dajaani’s symbol. But there was also the temptation to use the Argent Portal ritual and travel to the legendary city built when the dust was still settling from the Dawn War. The howling winds and stinging snow encouraged them to make a decision and make it quick.



FINDINGS

• Where to begin…The heroes discovered Ikar’s intent to deceive the demons from entries found in a journal in the laboratory.
  
• Also, in the journal, he…it described how had betrayed Bazuul Thoresh who founded the Cult of Thoresh centuries ago. “His policies are archaic and short-sighted and it’s time for a little realignment,” he wrote.
  
• Ikar had expected to be some powerful captain, maybe even a general, with the Far Realm invasion lead by Volarn that would lead the aberrant army across land to dominate, consume or destroy the natural world.
  
• Ikar had plans to abandon The Fortress at the End of the World and make his home base out of Argent, the fabled city of legend, that overlooked the Plains of Chaos.
  
• Instead, Ikar fled…leaving his living phylactery behind. He obviously was over-confident that his plans would succeed.
  

ENCOUNTERS

“Bleeding Universe” (9,000 XP)

• Ikar Malachi, aberrant lich
  
• Volarn, aberrant kaorti
  
• Ailis Marzal, deva phylactery
  
• True Orrery, trap

Treasure: 10,300 gp and two (2) potions of vitality

“Chilly Welcome” (4,000 XP)

• Icetomb Wight
  
• Icewights (2)

Treasure: none

MAJOR QUEST REWARD: “Let My People Go” (4,000 XP)

EXPERIENCE
Each character earned 2,600 XP for “Bleeding Universe”, “Icy Welcome”, and major quest reward “Let My People Go”

• Total character experience: 44,520
  
• Experience needed to 14th level: 2,480


CAMPAIGN QUESTS


GROUP QUESTS


• The Tears of a god had been causing a bit of trouble in Wellspring, a small town to the north of Fallcrest. Members of the Stormcrows had found it, but it had been stolen from them by agents of an ilithid, who was the victim of theft from Deirdre, a priestess of Ioun. Ikar, the lich, in turn stole it from her and his hirelings have taken it through the Shadowfell to the Fortress at the End of the World. Ikar plans to use it to open a permanent portal to the Far Realm to unleash unstoppable havoc on the natural world. Tavar also knows this is a key element to his personal quest as well.
  
• The Disciples of Orcus have been hard at work trying to raise an army of undead. Mauglurien is their most visible champion to lead those forces in the name of Orcus against the Raven Queen. With the Spinner of Fate defeated, they hope to elevate the Demon Prince of the Undead to her vacant throne.
  
• Tobolar Quickfoot has a Get Well Wish that he hopes the heroes can deliver. His master, Nimozoran the Green rots away in basement of Septarch’s Tower after he went stark-raving mad from haunting nightmares from Karakos. The PCs must find a miracle to bring the wizard back from oblivion.
  
• True Love is out there somewhere. Hayne Kasar has given the PCs a Black Feather of the Raven Queen as a token of his love for Sharaea and asked them to help him search for her.
  
• Dajaani’s symbol of Pelor is worth an unspecified reward if returned to Ryazan, a secluded but significant temple in the old tiefling empire of Bael Turath.

INDIVIDUAL QUESTS


• Tavar: - A valuable and significant ritual for binding devas as living phylacteries has been discovered. Now, Tavar has to hit the books to find a way to Undo the Ritual. He even has a suitable guinea pig in Ailis Marzal, to test things out on when he’s ready. It will take all his knowledge, skills and wits to unravel this mess.
  
• Thia: – Sisterhood: Kakashtari, Thia’s sister, has been abducted by unknown captors for reasons unclear. Recent discoveries suggest that the winter-touched, members of the Winter Court may be involved. Thia is bound by familial love to find out what happened to her sister.
  
  


GM’s THOUGHTS




• OK, so that really wasn’t a long story short. I got inspired along the way.