Session 60

After arriving in Crystalwind, the party briefly searches around for a town magistrate or village chief, but are confused to learn that there is none, being told that the village has no leader. The party wonders how they handle someone committing a crime, to which an amused Goliath simply replies "We kill them." The party instead decides to venture into the local tavern, which is a Viking longhouse style building with smoke from a fire billowing out of the top. They are greeting by the smell of roasting meat as they enter and the sound of a few Goliaths drinking and talking, while the Tabaxi inside seemed to keep to themselves in the corners of the building.

The group asks a particularly loud Goliath, who introduces himself as Kavaki, how to get to Stillwind Pass, to which Kavaki replies telling them that it's a harsh journey that would bring them dangerously close to the territory of roaming warbands of Tundra Goblins. Kavaki offers to guide the group to Stillwind Pass for a price… 500 GP. To this, a nearby Tabaxi laughs, calling Kavaki's offer ridiculous, and countering with an offer for 200 GP. The Tabaxi introduces himself as Needle in Hay, and says that if they were to accept Kavaki's offer, they'd hear the big brute stomping through the tundra from miles away. Needle in Hay's interference offended Kavaki. Needle in Hay then mentioned that he was a member of the Emerald Company and could safely traverse the path to Stillwind Pass and help the group avoid the goblins. Hearing of his involvement with the Emerald Company piques Dain's interest, who decides that they can trust the Tabaxi. The party tells him that they will set out the following day, which a bemused Kavaki simply tells the party that if they take this journey with the Tabaxi, they will not return, and returns to his drinking.

The following day, the party purchases some rations for the journey and goes to see Needle in Hay, and then sets out on their journey to Stillwind Pass. After a few days, the party begins to approach a forest along the way, and Needle in Hay tells the party that they will cut through the forest to avoid being spotted by the roaming Tundra Goblins. After venturing a few miles into the forest, Needle in Hay stops the group to set up camp. The party gets set up and avoids building an above-ground fire to avoid being spotted since they were so close to the edge of the forest. They take shifts watching over the camp while the group sleeps, when in early morning, the sounds of wildlife begin to grow silent, and all they can hear is some Elk calls in the distance. However, the sounds begin to grow closer, and Icarus realizes that they don't sound normal, and are distorted. Shortly thereafter, the party is awakened by Icarus' Shortbow of Warning as something speeds through their camp. They hear a cry from nearby, the direction where Needle in Hay was sleeping, and look over to find that he is gone, with a trail of blood leading off into the woods.

The party follows the trail of blood leading off into the woods, with it leading to a bloody clump of fur and the mangled body of Needle in Hay, who is very much dead. They continue to hear the strange distorted Elk calls all around them until at one point, something comes charging out of the woods and tackles Icarus. They see a gigantic humanoid figure with the skull of an Elk adorning its head and razor sharp claws and fangs swipe at Icarus before disappearing into the woods again.

Dain lets loose a couple Fireballs into the woods attempting to get rid of the trees concealing the figure and to hopefully damage it, but the thing then reappears in the tree Summer scrambled up into attempting to hide and claws at her, knocking her out of the tree. They witness the figure vanish into a puff of leaves a couple times, clearly teleporting, but they manage to force the thing into the open and get rid of its stealth advantage. It's a hard fight, but the party eventually emerges victorious.

Upon searching the body of Needle in Hay, the party finds a letter on his body along with their gold and a significant amount more. The letter gives a description of the party and indicates the gold is payment for Needle in Hay to lure the party into the forest, where the intent was for the Wendigo to kill them. However, it seems Needle in Hay was not able to slip away from the party with his life intact. However, the letter is clearly signed by Aubron…

The party continues along their journey on their own, eventually managing to find their own way to Stillwind Pass, though their journey is slightly delayed as a result. They venture into the pass, where they have to leave their horses and carts behind when they reach a narrow part of the pass that they cannot fit through. Continuing along, with Summer taking the lead, she spots a tripwire that is under tension at the exit of the narrow passage. The party backs up a bit before Dain uses Mage Hand to pull the tripwire, which triggers a rock fall that traps them in the passage. With no other way forward, Icarus uses the Cape of the Mountebank to teleport himself and Grim to the other side of the rock fall, and they begin clearing the rocks. They then take a short rest and continue along the path, eventually reaching a wide pass where one of the ice shelves shows a massive ribcage jutting out, and the party sees a Frost Giant Skeleton lumbering around the field, with numerous skeletons chipping away at the ice and rock encasing the remains of Tharsos.

Eskall summons his skeletal warhorse and charges forward, attempting to use his abilities to take control of the Frost Giant Skeleton, but in doing so he attempts to usurp the control of Aubron himself, who proves far too powerful, and the undead notice them and attack.