16 - 4/25/24 : Sacred Ground

"I have known this land for many years. Known its gifts, its beauty, and its horrors. I can sense the anger in the air, I can hear the Frostmaiden's despair on the winds. There is death in the falling snow."  

Gleha

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  Once morning came, the party made their way to Lystheim's southern gate together with Brynjar. They were met by Sheriff Southwell, who wished to bestow on them a gift on Lystheim's behalf. Since the party was going to stand with the Ten Towns against the barbarian invasion, Southwell saw it only right to gift them steeds able to traverse the snow. The party saddled up on their new axe beaks, or 'chocobos' as they were known in the gnomish language, which allowed them to travel overland at nearly three times the speed they were capable of on foot   The party proceeded southward with little incident, with the trek to Vrath Keep being drastically shortened by their new steeds. Along the way, Brynjar spotted the hut that he believed to be the home of Gleha, the firbolg druid he sought. The wizened firbolg greeted the party warmly at the door and invited them in to speak with her.   Once inside, the party quickly peppered Gleha with questions. She was quite knowledgeable about the Taiga, having lived in it in natural harmony for centuries, and was acutely attuned to its ails in the light of the Endless Rime. She suggested that La Saia was angry or aggrieved in some way, for Gleha could feel it on the winds and in the ice.   When asked about Orizana, Gleha revealed that the shadow druid was her daughter, who had long since strayed from the path of harmony with nature. Years ago, the ancestors of the Broken Blade barbarian had razed their commune of firbolgs, and the settlers of the early Ten Towns refused to aid the survivors in their plight. While Gleha returned to living silently and relatively isolated in the wilds, Orizana became radicalized and turned to the worship of La Saia for succor, eventually becoming her high druid in the area.   Melfina returned Orizana's mask to Gleha, who hung it up on her wall next to a similarly crafted but visibly older mask, "in case she ever decided to see reason and return to nature". Ranga assured Gleha that they would likely have to slay Orizana if she wouldn't see reason. Gleha agreed, saying that she had already grieved for her daughter long ago.   When asked about the strange owl-like creature they had encountered out in the snow and in their dreams, Gleha revealed the creature to be one of the three forms of La Saia. The goddess was known to appear in three forms: the dreadful horned owl who embodied the deadly wintry creatures of the land and soared above the Taiga on the back of a tamed roc, the frozen crown-bearing Frostmaiden whose embodied the perilous beauty of winter, and the Heart of Ice; a glowing icy crystal that was said to be the coldest object in all of creation.   Gleha guessed that the Lonesome Few had caught La Saia's attention for working against her attempts to permanently freeze the Taiga, but was unable to confront them directly given that her avatar was expending a great deal of power to maintain the Eternal Winter each day; this was why minions such as the Frost Druids and Sephek Kaltro were needed to act in her stead. When asked about the Caves of Hunger, Hollowfaust, and chardalyn, Gleha knew little more than the party already did.   Tali asked Gleha for aid with their inborn aversion to the natural world. After examining them, Gleha quickly realized Tali's heritage and the challenges it presented them, and advised them to 'seek to conquer the darkness in their own heart'. Only then could Tali hope to distance themselves from the Shadowfell.   With their questions answered, the party bade Gleha and Brynjar farewell. Bryn was eager to get to work and learn the druidic arts, and bade his sibling goodbye and good luck. Ragna entrusted Gunnar's greataxe to Bryn, hoping that he could keep it safe and perhaps make use of it despite its great size.   With their business concluded, the party kept south and eventually arrived at Vrath Keep, stopping in at a tavern called the Uphill Climb. The worn human bartender, by the name of Roark, informed the party that he had no mead or rooms available and bade them ask elsewhere while the cult was still in power at the titular Keep.   When the party revealed that they were in town to investigate the cult and their fixation on chardalyn, Roark quickly ushered them in and asked them to close the door. He explained that the cult, known as the Knights of the Black Sword, worshiped a figure named Levistus. Melfina and Tali recognized this as the name of the sixth Archdevil, lord of the frozen infernal realm of Stygia.   He then granted them free rooms for the duration of their stay; he wanted to see the cult driven out, and had already advised another group on the same task. Ragna quickly realized that this group was the one led by his brother Fannar, and Roark gave them the location of the other team. Ragna led the party there, expecting a fight but hoping to parlay.   Fannar's party had occupied the abandoned inn known as Dinev's Rest, and were quickly roused when Ragna kicked in the door of the old establishment. A tense standoff occurred, as Fannar defended the invasion, his role in it, and the actions of their father in spite of Ragna's doubts and experiences. Ragna belittled Fannar's lack of progress, which Fannar brushed off with doubts of Ragna's capability to face off against the cult's powerful Ice Devil minion. However, both were able to agree that the Cult was a common enemy, and agreed to assault the keep together.   Fannar entrusted his two warriors to Ragna's command and planned to infiltrate the keep and assassinate the cult's leaders, all while the others led a frontal assault against the gates. The party were able to sneak into the keep itself without incident; Ragna used their ice form to fool the cultist guards into thinking that they were a herald of Levistus, while Tali and Melfina followed behind while invisible. The two barbarian warriors remained in hiding, awaiting a fight to break out.   Inside the keep, Ragna bypassed the young tiefling servant named Nere, and was led to meet Kadroth, a tiefling demagogue who was ruling Vrath Keep on behalf of the cult in the ill Speaker Crannoc's stead. Kadroth seemed somewhat suspicious, but advised Ragna to present herself to a person named 'Avarice', who led the cult. Ragna attempted to enter a side room, but one of the warriors of the Knights of the Black Sword refused to believe her story and attacked.   As the sounds of battle rang out, Kadroth summoned an Ice Devil and tried to make his escape to the second floor. Ragna responded by sounding the Gjallarhorn, summoning a spectral stone giant to do battle with the fearsome devil. Leaving the situation to the others, Ragna sprinted upstairs to chase Kadroth.   Melfina's magics and Tali's mundane arrows were dulled by the devil's shimmering carapace. However, the spectral stone giant reveled in the glory of battle and badly damaged the devil with his mighty club, standing on even footing with the foul creature. Meanwhile, Ragna caught up with Kadroth on the battlements of the Keep, where he saw the tiefling confronted by two others; a gray-skinned tiefling woman and a young human man who Ragna realized to be Huarwar, the missing son of Icemeet's innkeeper. To Ragna's surprise, the tiefling woman assailed Kadroth instead of aiding him, thus indicating a betrayal within the cult's ranks.   Once Kadroth was dead, the tiefling woman introduced herself as Fel Suparra, the apprentice of Avarice, and explained that the chaotic situation signified that Kadroth had failed in his duties, and she slew him for it. She stated to Ragna that they need not be enemies, since she had little interest in fighting to maintain a hold on Vrath Keep any longer; Ragna accepted this and returned downstairs to return to the fight against the ice devil.   Both the devil and the spectral giant were badly injured, and the devil attempted to lock out other combatants from the fight by erecting a wall of ice around itself and the giant. Melfina was able to melt a hole through this wall large enough for Ragna to enter, allowing the barbarian to smash the ice devil back into the hells from whence it came. With the battle over, the stone giant thanked the party for a good fight and faded away, returning to the glorious eternity of Valhalla.   With the coast clear, Fel and Huarwar descended to the first floor. Melfina was able to convince Huarwar, who had joined the cult to secure survival for himself and possibly the rest of the Taiga as well, to return home to his mother. Fel wished him well and excused herself, intending to look over the damage and recover what she could; she urged them to proceed downstairs to seek Avarice, who Fannar had likely already found.   Indeed, in the cistern of the keep, the party found Fannar, grievously injured and half-frozen from his battle with Avarice. After assuring his stability, the party proceeded through the partly frozen cistern on a boat, happening on a crude effigy of the archdevil Levistus. Just beyond this door, the party finally encountered Avarice; an albino tiefling wizard with a cold and calculating disposition, who radiated vast arcane power.   From Avarice, the party learned that she was a devoted follower of Levistus who had started the cult herself to take over Vrath Keep as a base of operations while she searched for a way into the frozen city of Hollowfaust. She believed that chardalyn, which apparently was most concentrated near this city, was related to it in some way, but could not verify this.   Avarice stated that many powerful mages had heard of Hollowfaust, and that she was not alone in seeking it; she then revealed that she was acquainted with Melfina's master, who had told her little of his plans before departing and disappearing two years ago. Avarice guessed that he sought Hollowfaust's secrets and did not wish to endanger his apprentice, but befell the dangers of the lost city and was killed by its defenses, or by La Saia herself. Avarice found it amusing that Melfina had been told so little, having not expected such sentimentality out of a peer of hers. Melfina refused to believe that her master had perished, and remained confident that he was still alive.   Not wishing to confront the mage, the party allowed Avarice passage out from the cistern so that she could continue her work elsewhere. She walked onto the water, which froze beneath her feet, and departed quickly as she had been found. She left no chardalyn behind, and did not seem to have any on her person either.   On their own way out, the party collected Fannar, who was still recovering. Against his will, Ragna scooped him up and carried him back upstairs, where they could continue exploring the Keep that had been liberated. With luck and persistence, they would perhaps be able to locate the missing speaker.