14 - 2/29/24 : That Which Survives

"Farewell, Gunnar the Bone-Breaker. May you find honor and peace among our ancestors."  

Ragna Íssbur

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  In a quick, brutal contest, the chardalyn-infused berserkers were brought low. Ragna tried to talk her enraged brother down, but the hold the fiendish chardalyn had on his mind proved too great. Ragna managed to tear his arm off at the shoulder, bringing him to clarity for a brief moment.   With his mind unclouded, Gunnar thanked Ragna for one last good fight, but then quickly realized he needed to warn his sibling. He begged Ragna to beware King Siegmar's collaborator, King Xardorok of the Sunblight Duergar Clan. He warned them that Xardorok planned to construct some kind of monstrosity out of the chardalyn the barbarians had been collecting, and that such a diabolical creation could surely bring calamity to the Frostgale Taiga. He succumbed to his wounds soon after.   Ragna regretted that things had to end so with Gunnar, and decided to send him off to the ancestors with respect and honor. A pyre was built and lit with Gunnar atop it, with Ragna saying a few words to praise his brother's name and deeds.   After taking a moment in reverence, the Lonesome Few carried on with their journey, choosing to put some distance between themselves and the corrupted chardalyn cave before pitching camp. They settled on an embankment shielded from the icy winds that overlooked the snowy plains below, and rested for the night.   When they awoke, they found they had better visibility in the morning, despite the darkness of the aurora-covered night. Not only could they see the wreckage of the crashed nautiloid in the distance; they could also spy an interesting formation of icy pillars arranged in a circle farther across the plains.   The party recalled tales heard in the Ten Towns during their journeys of a place called Jarlmoot, where the ancient frost giant jarls gathered to settle disputes and make agreements when they ruled the Taiga in ages past. It was said that a great treasure was hidden there; therefore, they resolved to keep its location in mind for later.   Before long, the party found themselves at the nautiloid crash site, finding a way in through a ramp up to the flight deck. Aboard the ship, they encountered foul otyughs, intellect devourers, and broken mind flayers driven feral by their unsatiated hunger. They tore through the opposition they encountered as they made their way further into the nautiloid's depths.   Deep in the hallways, the party was set upon by another otyugh accompanied by several mind flayers. During this battle, Ragna was incapacitated by the intellect devourers and was nearly slain by way of their brain-eating, but the quick thinking and teamwork of Melfina, Alith, and Tali managed to keep Ragna safe until the coast was clear. Once battle had been done, Melfina administered the vial of water that they had taken from the blessed spring in the verbeeg cave near Honeybrook, and Ragna was restored to a sound mind.   Pushing further, the party found the bodies of several of Alith's former crewmates. They seemed to had been infected by illithid tadpoles, but died before ceremorphosis could set in. In one chamber, after dispatching an injured but still sane-of-mind illithid, the Lonesome Few found a small creature that had escaped death at the hands of the ship's occupants; a tiny, miniature space hamster, who immediately took a liking to Alith. The hamster was dubbed 'Peanut', and she was allowed to ride on top of Blamo; a seat Peanut was more than happy to take.   Finally, the party discovered the bridge, in which was contained a horde of lobotomized zombies much like those that attacked them on the fateful night they had met. However, more notably was the mind flayer that stood at the helm of the ship. The mind flayer spoke to Alith, revealing himself to be the ceremorphisized form of Aslintial, the once-githzerai captain of Zerthimon's Arrow.   Captain Aslintial said that he still retained some of his mind, and that he believed the nautiloid could be used to get back to the stars above and flee from the frozen hell that was La Saia's abode. He asked for Alith's help in getting the nautiloid functioning once again, and promised to seek a cure for his new condition; Alith, however, could not be swayed, and Aslintial chose to attack rather than yield his one hope to return to Realmspace.   The Lonesome Few first fought through the horde of zombies, with Alith's thunderwave spell dispersing the greater portion of their numbers. Captain Aslintial put up a fierce fight, combining his illithid powers with the remnants of his arcane powers from his former life. However, he could not stand up to the party, and was slain by Alith's blade. The mind flayer sputtered and offered no words at his own demise; only hisses and blood-choked gasps.   As the bridge quieted down, Alith realized that the nautiloud's bridge was emitting a noise; a noise indicating that it was broadcasting a distress signal. To her horror, she realized that the signal had been detected and answered by none other than the githyanki, indicated by the appearance of the Lich-Queen Vlaakith's holy symbol on the bridge's displays…