02 - 11/8/23 : The Savage Curtain

"What do I want? I want all that you are able to give, and then more still."  

Orizana the Frost Druid

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The party packed up their camp in the morning and made their way to Hartwick, a shady town of loggers, fishers, and scrimshanders. The source of most of the Ten Towns' lumber, Hartwick was also known for being a town where many people with unsavory pasts went to hide or get away from their troubles.   It was decided that the best way to find more about the massacres occurring near Hartwick would be seeking out a tavern and asking around. However, the party was enticed by the wafting aroma of baked goods coming from a house larger than the others. Curious, Alithkav approached the door and knocked; she was soon greeted by a halfling woman holding a tray of cookies, who introduced herself as Bombini Buzzbubble, Town Speaker of Hartwick.   After introductions were made, Speaker Buzzbubble invited the party into her home. As her several children played upstairs, she treated the party to fresh cinnamon cookies and tea; both rarities in the Eternal Winter. She explained that one of the survivors of the logging massacres claimed that the other loggers were slain by a gigantic, white moose. She offered the party an even 100 gold pieces to hunt down and slay the creature, and when Melfina asked for an advance or a measure of aid in the endeavor, Bombini threw in a deed to a run-down "investment property" on the outskirts of Hartwick; the only inn of Hartwick, which had been abandoned since the beginning of the winter.   The party decided to prepare for a night before setting out on their investigation. Alith suggested making improvements to Ragna's axe before the hunt, and thus they stopped in to the local tavern, The Lucky Liar, and conversed with the proprietor; Danae Xotal, a half-elven woman who enjoyed hearing of their tale. As they chatted, the party also heard rumors that the speaker of Vrath Keep, Crannoc Siever, had fallen ill.   After their stop at the Lucky Liar, the party returned to Speaker Buzzbubble's Alith put her knowledge of artifice to use by crafting some 'arcane amplifiers'; small baubles meant to be attached to Ragna's axe to improve its accuracy and potential to cause harm. While doing this, Melfina assisted her by proofreading the schematics, and Alith began to teach Melfina the basics of Tir'Su, the script of the gith language.   In the morning, the party began to discuss their strategy on hunting the moose, but came to realize that none of them particularly excelled in survival or tracking. They decided to ask around for a wilderness guide to help them locate their quarry, and came across a figure in the snowy streets who was in the middle of stringing a bow. Guessing this figure to be a hunter, the party approached and inquired about their skills.   The figure, a human woman who seemed to be a recent young adult, introduced herself as Dahlia Kaltro, a hunter from the nearby town of Whiteridge. She had come to Hartwick seeking answers in a series of murders that seemed to be targeting people that had avoided or escaped being sacrified to La Saia; sacrifies being made periodically by some of the Ten Towns in a desperate hope to stave off the winter. Everyone that had turned up dead had all been killed the same way; by a frozen dagger to the back, implying the involvement of cultists or druids worshipping La Saia.   While speaking, Dahlia remarked that Ragna resembled a member of the Broken Blade tribe; the local barbarian tribe of Frostgale Taiga. Ragna refuted this connection. Dahlia mentioned that she herself descended from their kind, as her mother had once been a Broken Blade barbarian before abandoning that lifestyle to become a local druid in Whiteridge.   The party offered an exchange of services; Dahlia's expert tracking skills would be of use in tracking the white moose, and the party's overall affinity for combat would be of use in putting down the murderer (or murderers?) that Dahlia sought. Dahlia agreed to these terms and joined the three survivors, taking the lead in their tracking efforts with Ragna's assistance.   Not long after beginning their search, Dahlia picked up a trail and followed it to a pair of frozen corpses, both which had been gored to death with their logging axes in hand. Alithkav, feeling compassion for the dead loggers despite Ragna's indifference, searched them for indentifying trinkets. She managed to find two scrimshaw tokens and pocketed them for later use in finding their next-of-kin.   Dahlia's tracking led the party further into the woods and eventually to a clearing well off the beaten path; this clearing was the site of an old elven structure that contained several sculptures, a gazebo housing a ritual brazier, a sarcophagus on top of a rocky outcrop, a large sundial-like construct, and a tomb built into the side of a cave.   While investigating the tomb through a breach in the wall, the party finally laid eyes on the abnormal white moose. To their horror, however, they watched as the creature stood up on its rear legs and brandished two claws instead of hooves. The thing in the woods charged right at Ragna, grievously injuring the barbarian with a barrage of deadly strikes.   Dahlia and Melfina engaged the thing from a distance as Alith used her magic to bring Ragna back up to his knees. Once back in a fighting state, Ragna gave into the thrill of mortal combat and attacked with renewed bloodlust. As the thing fought the party, it barked threats in a strange language. Dahlia recognized this language to be druidic, a tongue that she was familiar with.   Surviving the thing's retaliation, Ragna then used a strange power to coat themself in armor of ice, and together with Alith, the two warriors combined their blades in a deadly strike that put an end to the monstrous creature.   Tired from the deadly encounter, the party took a moment to rest before investigating the rest of the elven site. They found inscriptions depicting the phases of the moon surrounding the sundial, a decrepit mummy in a tomb, and an ancient and cloudy mirror that casted no reflections. After failing to make any heads or tails of the mirror's properties, the party allowed Ragna to break it with an axe, though this also had no effect. Melfina later repaired the mirror with the mending spell.   Outside, the party discovered carved instructions on how to operate the ritual bowl outside. Using a twig, a pinecone, a feather, and one of the thing's severed hands, they were able to light a magic fire that turned silver; this fire's lighting unlocked a nearby second sarcophagus. This time, the mummy within rose from its resting place, though it remained docile and answered the party's questions about the place with groans, nods, and pointing.   When asked about the sundial and its operation, the elven mummy revealed that it was actually a moondial by casting the moonbeam spell on one of the moon phase inscriptions. This unlocked a door further into the tomb, which the party investigated.   Within, two druids were speaking. One, a tall masked firbolg clearly superior to the other druid in strength, admonished her fellow and instructed her to fix the situation by slaying the 'interlopers'. Ravisin, the lesser human druid, promised to do so, calling her superior by name; Orizana.   It became apparent that Ravisin had created the Thing in the Woods by using the awaken spell upon it, turning it from an ordinary white moose into a monstrous freak of nature. Thus was the beast was able to speak the druidic language.   Orizana greeted the party in the name of La Saia, the Frostmaiden, and praised their besting of the thing; something she did not believe would be possible. When asked what she wanted, she gave only a cryptic answer; "Everything you are able to give, and then some." before disappearing into thin air, leaving the party to face Ravisin.