"So many secrets, but not nearly enough answers. Why did she have to write poems instead of detailed reports?"
Alithkav
With the danger passed, Dzaan acknowledged the party's assistance and rudely addressed them, inquiring as to why they had arrived. He was pleased that the gambit of leaving his simulacrum behind had paid off, and shared what he had found; a fifth and final page of the Winter Witches' diary.
Without a compass, wand'ring, lost in lies of faith
Only alive in fighting Death's amber embrace
On Hands and knees we pray to gods we've never seen
The final hour upon us, no more time to breathe
My brief return gives me cause to ponder. How long has it been since I looked upon this tower? Memories of chasing memories. Faded, murky like old glass. I look at my old ring, once a treasure beyond treasures, and feel nothing. Hollow and empty, as all material wealth is. How very mortal of me, to once feel these things, and to even now pen my thoughts in something so ephemeral as the written word.
I walk along the ice, drifting, heedless to no voice but my own. How things have changed.
My rhyme is at last complete, for there is all the time in the world to pen the words.
My song, my words, and my will shall endure forever in the Codicil of White. From it shall all my frigid masterpieces be made, and unmade. From the Codicil of White's decree shall mountains thaw and oceans freeze.
Stillness. Tranquility. Unbound by past or future in this single perfect moment.
Given the information contained in the fifth journal entry, Dzaan surmised that the Codicil of White named in the journal, likely a sort of magical tome or holy text connected to La Saia, was the key to unmaking the glacier that surrounded the lost city Hollowfaust. This city, he theorized, was the most likely place in all the Taiga to contain some sort of magic or artifact powerful enough to counter the Eternal Winter.
It was soon realized that Dzaan and Beren had been locked in stasis for two months, and had no knowledge of what had happened in the time since. Melfina was contacted by a soft and icy voice, likely La Saia herself speaking through the Ring of Winter, and was given a vision of what had occurred in the past; Sephek Kaltro, still alive, was separated from the rest of his party in the midst of the fighting in the tower. He chanced upon an orb of icy magic surrounding a golden ring, which he attempted to breach. This caused the orb to erupt into a blast of ice, obliterating Sephek in an instant and activating the stasis functions of the tower, freezing Dzaan and Beren in place. Marik, the halfling in their company that managed to avoid the stasis magic, tried to escape to warn the Ten Towns, but did not survive the journey back home.
The party had no leads on where the Codicil of White might reside, and so Dzaan departed to do his own research, vowing to find the party once he had found something. He asked Beren to come along, but after Beren was informed of the impending barbarian invasion and the threat it posed to his people, the dwarven prince instead elected to remain with the Lonesome Few to do his part in fighting against it.
With Dzaan gone, Beren in their company, and the Lost Spire cleared out, the party departed and made their way south to Duhngrave. Before any hunting was to be done for the Codicil of White, the impending barbarian invasion would have to be dealt with.
Duhngrave welcomed their lost prince home with much celebration, and Lord Bellen Blackhammer was especially overjoyed to see his son returned once again. In return for the great service done to him, Lord Bellen swore to the Lonesome Few that he and the warrior-dwarves of Duhngrave would fight alongside the people of the Ten Towns against the Broken Blade barbarians and the Sunblight Duergar marching to Whiteridge.
Electing to set out to Sunblight Fortress with all haste and not waste time meeting with the Speakers one last time, the party began their trek to the Northwest, seeking Sunblight Fortress amongst the Dragon's Teeth mountains.
Over the course of a day and a half's worth of travel, the party spotted torchlight in the distance and heard singing on the wind. The Broken Blade barbarians had finally begun moving south, and Ragna estimated them to be a mere few days out from Whiteridge at their current speed. With luck and hasteful action, the party would be able to return in time to aid in the defense.
At last the Lonesome Few arrived at Sunblight Fortress, and followed a natural ridge up to the precarious ledge where the door inside could be found. Although the door featured no handles and was locked from the inside, Melfina was able to open an entrance with the passwall spell.
The party soon encountered the first line of defenders within the fortress, who clearly did not expect interlopers in their home. A large party of Duergar were unable to stand up against them, falling in short order to the five adventurers. One duergar in particular attempted to escape to a room down a hallway to the east of the entrance, but was locked out.
After unlocking the room, the party discovered within an older duergar woman who was seated at a large dining table, a veritable feast of odd Underdark delicacies laid out before her. She bade the party welcome and invited them in to discuss matters with her before they could be discovered. She also offered some of her odd dishes to them; Ragna tried a sample of stewed intellect devourer, finding it chewy, rubbery, coated in a light layer of ash, and generally unpalatable.
The duergar woman introduced herself as Grandolpha Muzgardt, a leader of clan Muzgardt from the duergar city of Gracklstugh. She was an honored guest of Xardorok Sunblight, who was trying to court her in order to secure an alliance between their clans. However, Grandolpha had plans of her own for the Sunblight Clan, and had already won several of Xardorok's people over to her side. She wished to have no part in Xardorok's campaign of conquest, and instead wanted to take control of Sunblight Fortress and seek control and power in more traditional, patient ways.
The party agreed to help Grandolpha in exchange for information on the fortress, hoping to make their exploration smoother and their eventual confrontation against Xardorok easier. They learned that Xardorok's quarters were nearby, and that a key was hidden behind one of the braziers in the hallway leading up to it. In addition, though Grandolpha knew not what Xardorok was building, she did hear him speak about the planar power source currently powering his forge; a captive, living angel, whose radiant essence was being stolen to empower Xardorok's mad designs. She also revealed that Xarodork's project had been delayed, but would be ready to launch soon.
With this new information in mind, the party made their way to Xardorok's chambers, discovering a large table upon which rested a crude map of the Ten Towns. A small chardalyn figure in the shape of a dragon rested atop the map near where Sunblight Fortress was located, and from this dragon a path was drawn, moving from the fortress and passing through five of the Ten Towns.
This piece of parchment shows a crude map of the Snowdrift Flatlands, with each of the Ten Towns marked with an X. A path is drawn, detailing the following planned flight plan for the Chardalyn Dragon to follow.
Depart Sunblight Fortress
South, bypass Storm's Call
Southeast to Honeybrook
Northeast to Caer Sella
Southeast to Vrath Keep
East to Hole-in-the-Ice
Northwest to Lystheim
Icemeet, Mirlake, Three Streams, Hartwick, and Whiteridge appear to be excluded from the flight plan.
At the bottom of the map, a single note is written in dwarven.
"Abort and join force at Whiteridge at King Siegmar's telepathic command with King Xardorok's agreement; otherwise hold Lystheim until reinforcements arrive."
The party realized from this map and figure that Xardorok's chardalyn monstrosity was almost certainly a dragon construct made of chardalyn, powered with the essence of a captive angel by way of Xardorok's magic forge. This monstrosity surely lurked in the forge below, waiting to be unleashed on the Ten Towns while its defenders were occupied at Whiteridge.
The party then found the hidden key and unlocked the door to Xarodork's bedchambers. After triggering a gas trapped chest and recovering some valuables from Xardorok's belongings, the party found a shrine to the duergar creator god, Don Duergedyn, in a small room to the side. However, the statue depicting the god was somewhat off according to what the religiously-educated members of the party could tell. Instead of wielding his traditional weapon, the Undercrescent, Xardorok's statue depicted Don Duergedyn wielding a rapier, an odd weapon of choice for the stout deity.
The party recalled from their experience with the Knights of the Black Sword that the rapier was the favored weapon of many gods and godlike figures, including the archdevil Levistus. They kept this information in mind, wondering if Xardorok was putting up a ruse in his worship or was being subjected to a ruse himself.
Seeking more clues, the Lonesome Few continued searching the entry level of the fortress. In an unlit bedroom that was seemingly unoccupied, the party discovered a magically shrunken duergar hiding behind a bedside table. Ragna grasped the small duergar, who called out for aid; answering his call was not other duergar, but a mimic that had been disguised as a chest at the foot of the bed in the chamber. Combat ensued, though the duergar was at a stark disadvantage even with his shapeshifting minion in play.
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