05 - 12/13/23 : Lonely Among Us

"Can you not feel the call of battle, the urge to break bone and steel as our forefathers look down upon us? Do you not feel the burning in your lungs, kingling?"  

Jorund Elkheart

 

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  The party was awoken by the sound of a mustering horn in the distance, signalling the assembly of the town militia. Expecting a fight, the party prepared themselves and took the time for Alith to don her armor.   As they left, they spotted Marta moving through the corridors of the Eastside, a dagger in hand for her own self defense. She implored the party to take care of themselves and let the militia handle the disturbance, but they assured her they would be fine.   As the party made their way up to the ground floor, they were met with Speaker Oarus, once again seeking their services as mercenaries. He informed them that unknown brigands had broken through the treeline from the north and forcefully took a watchtower that looked over the road to the town's tourmaline mine. Given their ability to easily travel overland, Oarus suspected the 'brigands' to in fact be Broken Blade barbarians. The militia went on ahead, with the party following behind them on the trail.   Ragna tried to convince the party to abandon the fight and continue with their own tasks, even as the party followed Oarus to the watchtower, saying that such a confrontation wasn't worth it. Dahlia expressed surprise at what she perceived to be cowardice on Ragna's part, Alith insisted on helping the people of Whiteridge, and Melfina posited that this encounter with Ragna's people was fated; not to mention potentially profitable, and certainly able to be handled by them. With all of this prodding, Ragna finally agreed to join the battle.   The scene they arrived upon was a grim one; all of Whiteridge's lookouts had been killed, with one's body even skewered on a standing spear. Oarus announced himself and declared the leader of the raid an enemy of Whiteridge; one that would not leave the area alive for their transgressions against the town.   The raid leader answered in turn, naming himself Jorund Elkheart; champion of the Broken Blade. Unlike the rest of the barbarians, Jorund wore a suit of heavy armor and sported a helm that bore two elk horns atop it. Ragna didn't recognize the name, meaning that it did not belong to one of the Broken Blade tribe's truly significant champions.   Ragna then strode forward and announced himself with his chosen epithet, "The Burning Blood". Jorund seemed to recognize Ragna's name, and expressed excitement at the prospect of facing her in battle. The battle began, with Ragna taking point and engaging several of Jorund's raiders while others ran past to attack the backline.   Dahlia, Melfina, and Alith's automoton cannon 'Blamo' peppered the bandits afar alongside Oarus, a talented marksman in his own right. Alith and the members of the Whiteridge militia strode forward and stopped the advancing barbarians in melee, clashing violently atop the heavy snow.   Ragna taunted Jorund while they fought against his barbarian subordinates, admonishing him for standing behind underlings and throwing javelins instead of fighting face-to-face. Jorund laughed, agreed, and strode into battle with his warhammer aloft. As he dueled Ragna, he called her 'kingling' and boasted about how Ragna's head would be a fine thing to bring back to the barbarian king.   Despite enduring great punishment, Jorund remained strong and powerful, and fought Ragna into a desperate situation. Powered on by desperation, Ragna truly earned his epithet as his very blood began to exhibit magical potency, adhering to the skin and forming into a protective layer that exhuded steam into the frigid air. Ragna combined this by freezing their skin with their Íssmynd power, greatly improving their defenses against the powerful barbarian raider.   With many of his cohoirts slain by Whiteridge's defenders, Jorund whistled to summon a tamed saber-tooth tiger, who leapt to his defense. Alith was forced to deal with and slay the beast while Melfina and Dahlia dealt with the barbarians that broke the backline; Melfina was able to phase into the weave and deliver a deadly, point-blank barrage of magic missiles before one of the barbarian warriors was able to deal any meaningful harm to her.   Pushed to her limit, Ragna was finally able to seize a critical opportunity, and with all her strength, rended Jorund's head from his shoulders. As the elk-horned helmet hit the snow, the battlefield finally fell quiet. Ragna claimed the magic helmet as a trophy, and Oarus supported her with his shoulder as the mustered force returned to Whiteridge's town hall.   Once at the town hall, Ragna was tended to by local chirurgeons as Oarus thanked the party and paid them for their services to Whiteridge. Oarus promised them aid in the future should they need it, and also promised to speak of their bravery to the other speakers at the next council meeting. He also theorized on why the barbarians would want to attack and capture Whiteridge's mine, unable to conceive of any need for tourmaline amongst the Broken Blade.   Ragna theorized that the Broken Blade may have been looking for veins of chardalyn in the mine, although he also noted that they typically mined this in their own territory. There had to be a reason they were seeking it down south; Oarus suspected that since chardalyn was a powerful material in making potent weapons, the barbarians must have been seeking additional sources to prepare for war. This shadow hung over him as he retired for the evening and allowed the party to go on their way, thanking them one last time for their aid.   After saying goodbye to Marta, Melfina took a peek into a room Marta had been frequenting. Within, she saw the withered form of a sickly older man, who wore around his finger Marta's ring of warmth.   The party began making their way west to Mirlake on their way to Icemeet, as they had originally planned before the barbarian attack. Ragna was visibly angry during the trip, and Melfina guessed that the source of Ragna's fury was the barbarian's connection to the Broken Blade tribe; Ragna confirmed that she was once a Broken Blade barbarian before the attempted sacrifice, though Ragna still considered them to be her people.   When the moons rose during their eight-hour journey, they noticed that the larger moon was in its full phase, visible even against the obscuring auroras. Melfina expressed fascination with the moon, since she had grown up underground and had only recently been able to see it. Alith also found it interesting, given that it was a far different sight than what she would often see in the city of Tu'narath; that is to say, the endless starry void of Realmspace.   As the party began to see Mirlake on the horizon, they noticed that firelight and smoke was visible in the distance. Ragna initially suspected the town to be on fire, but upon making it closer, the party realized that a bonfire had been built in preparation to burn a man at the stake. Given that the moon was full, this was sure to mean that a sacrifice to the Frostmaiden was iminent.   The leader of the mob, a tiefling man outfitted in full plate armor, announced to the gathered crowd the man's crimes. The man, a shaggy-haired human wearing a wizard hat, was named Dzaan, and Dzaan had apparently hired a trio of adventurers on false pretenses, leading to their demise. The tiefling man, Captain Skath, announced the coming execution to the crowd.   "People of Mirlake, look upon the face of Dzaan, wizard from parts unknown! Discovered hiding in a derelict home and brought before you today, Dzaan has been found guilty of the crime of murder. This wizard hired a number of adventurers and enterprising souls, promising them a quest to discover a means of ending this accursed winter. This mage led these noble souls astray on a fruitless endeavor, hoping only to find riches and artifacts for himself! 'Ere this morn, the body of Marik Nimblemane, son of Mirlake and adventurer in the employ of this wizard, was pulled into town by sled, pulled by dogs yet loyal to their departed master. The demise of this proud halfling and the disappearance of the two other adventurers, Sephek Kaltro and Beren Blackhammer, have sealed this wizard's fate. Therefore, by the power invested in me by Speaker Naerth Maxildanarr, I proclaim this wizard has been sentenced to be burned at the stake until death, rendered as a sacrifice to the Frostmaiden; may Levistus spit upon her throne. Good people of Mirlake, have you any objections to this punishment?"   Upon hearing mention of her father, Dahlia grew quietly frantic, and asked the party to get to the man so that he could be spoken with so that she could have answers about her father's whereabouts. Ragna and Melfina stepped up, and the tiefling man greeted them with suspicion. However, he allowed them to speak to Dzaan after hearing about Dahlia's identity, as a display to the crowd of how Dzaan had robbed Dahlia of her father.   When Melfina mentioned that the party was investigating matters related to the Everlasting Rime, Dzaan stated in a hushed panic that he was seeking the same thing, and such was why he hired adventurers to accompany him. He asked that the party seek out the lost city of Hollowfaust to the Northwest; he suspected that the magical secrets within could possibly contain some way to reverse the region's climate woes. However, Hollowfaust was encased in a massive and impassible glacier, and such an obstacle would have to be broken through first.   Melfina mentioned to Dzaan that he hadn't given them enough to warrant his release from his fate. Surprisingly, Dzaan was rather accepting of this. He assured Melfina that they would meet again, though he asked her to remind him about their conversation when their next meeting took place. Melfina agreed and stepped away, leaving the wizard to his fate.   With the interrogations concluded, the tiefling guard stepped forward and gave the final proclamation, consigning Dzaan to his fate.   "Then the people have spoken. Gods deliver you swiftly to the Lady of Graves, wizard. O Frostmaiden, mother of ice, ruler of frozen fury; accept this sacrifice of life and warmth as a show of our supplication. May it serve to end your vengeance against us. In your name!"   As Dzaan burned, Ragna noticed that he did not boil into a charred husk, but instead melted. While the gathered townsfolk thought this was the representation of the Frostmaiden claiming her sacrifice like so much melting snow, Alithkav and Melfina deduced that the 'Dzaan' they had just watched be lit aflame was, in actuality, a simulacrum of the real Dzaan. They decided to save the information about the mysterious Hollowfaust for later, when more could be learned about it.   After Ragna nearly threatened a random villager for the location of the local tavern, Melfina was able to spot a sign pointing them to it; the Three Flags Sailing, a nicer tavern than many the party had seen during their travels so far. Within they were surprised to see Captain Cinderswift once again, who greeted them warmly and invited them to sit with him.   With dinner and drink put on the captain's tab, the party reported on all they had seen and done during their travels, including their newly forged alliance with Dahlia, her entanglement with the series of murders, and her missing father.   Captain Cinderswift discussed further leads he had discovered; in particular, a mountain guide from Mirlake had gone missing on Famrial Mountain, and his husband was offering a reward for his return. The captain also reminisced about his lost ship, the Lady of Pain, and the voyage that led to his crew's mutiny and his subsequent stranding in the Taiga.   Meanwhile, Dahlia begrudgingly asked for Melfina's help with navigating the magical nature of the quest her father had pursued for Dzaan, since she had little tolerance for wizardry. She still believed her father to be alive, even if some of his companions weren't; Melfina affirmed this belief and promised to do what she could for the young huntress.   While making merry, Melfina made the observation that each of the party and Cinderswift himself were all alone and estranged from their people in their own way: Ragna was cast out of the Broken Blade, Alithkav had escaped from the Githyanki, Melfina had broken free of drow society, Dahlia's father had gone missing, and Captain Cinderswift's crew had mutinied against him. Cinderswift echoed this coincidence, naming the group a 'Lonesome Few'. This name struck a chord in the very air, forever giving the party the name they would come to be known as.   With their carousing concluded, the Lonesome Few retired for the night to pursue their goals the following day.