Session 18: Icespire Peak

The adventurers, guided by the orc Darokha, head toward the Sword Mountains to face the white dragon.

Summary
The adventurers gathered in the dining hall of Dawn's Shield Keep to consider their options against the white dragon. Latham suggested they fight the dragon on their own terms, at the keep, but it had been reported by the Red Sentinel scouts that the dragon appeared to be purposefully avoiding getting too close to the town of Phandalin.

Return of the Bounty Hunter
Don-Jon Raskin appeared before the adventurers and presented Baldir Ruby-Eye, the dwarf bounty hunter that the adventurers met on the road to Thundertree. Baldir was looking to complete his hunt and presented a spell scroll that would help the party defeat the creature, a scroll of Earthbind to keep the dragon out of the air. Shanjan took a look at the scroll and confirmed that he could cast the spell against the dragon.

Latham questioned the dwarf's motives but relented when the bounty hunter offered half of the monetary reward he was promised.

Leaving Town
With Baldir's scroll, the support of both Shanjan and Davos, and Varien's potion of white dragon invisibility the party readied themselves to track down the dragon before it caused more havoc on the roads. Quoorin led the party to the town green in search of Robard and the others in Red Sentinel; Baldir knew the general location of the dragon, but the orc captive that Red Sentinel had with them knew the exact location of the dragon's lair.

The party was met by Red Sentinel and Pureoux presented their orc captive, Darokha, to the party before he caught up with Moneux. Darokha agreed to lead the party to the dragon's lair — an old fortress in The Sword Mountains — on the condition that the party would leave the fortress to the orcs after the dragon was slain.

With the guidance of Darokha and the assurance that Robard and his guild mates would protect the town, the adventurers wasted no time to leave the town. Spills the Stew bid L'aela farewell and the elf sister of Tymora produced a magnificent bow to Moneux. She asked that the ranger protect Spills the Stew at all costs.

As the party made their way for the road, several townsfolk looked on them in confusion before realizing what the adventurers intended to do. The adventurers were met with wordless expressions of gratitude as they made their way out of town.

The Cold Wilderness
Darokha quickly led the adventurers through the wilderness instead of the roads. After a day of travel the adventurers approached the snowy foothills of the Sword Mountains where they saw two figures covered in ice. After determining that the dragon was not nearby, Moneux saw that one of the ice-covered creatures was an ogre and the other was Dobin Noreth, a sellsword the party met a few days back looking for supplies in Phandalin. Dobin's horse was nowhere to be found, but the party found both the ogre's and Dobin's belongings nearby.

The party continued toward the Sword Mountains. Darokha led the party through a mountain pass and guided the group up dangerous, rocky climbs before the terrain took on the form of a narrow and winding mountain path that took them to Icespire Peak.

The Icy Fortress
Howling winds carried snow that obscured the adventurer's view as they carefully navigated the treacherous path before them. As they progressed further, the structure of a large, stone fortress could be seen atop the mountain's peak. The party devised a way to use rope and climbing tools to safely move across the snowy path but as they walked along a path directly below the fortress they asked Darokha about how to enter the fortress.

Latham led the party, with Darokha guiding him from behind. The orc described the path before them as a cork screw that would lead them to a gatehouse, from the gatehouse they would need to cross a stone bridge to enter the main fortress. When pressed about another entrance, the orc described a door connected to a crypt underneath the main fortress. The entrance to the crypt was, for some reason, set against a sheer cliff at the southern end of the fortress.

The adventurers decided to split the party in half in case of the dragon attacked them on the narrow path. Quoorin learned from Darokha that the crypt itself was hidden behind false walls in the main fortress, but access to the stone bridge would be no problem from the crypts."'You go into the crypt, climb stairs to dead end. But no dead end! The walls are doors! Take the wall to right and find room with fireplace, other door in room will lead to stone bridge!'"With this information, Quoorin had Spills the Stew use his magic to give the elf the movement of flight. Quoorin lifted Spills from the narrow path and moved to the southern end of the fortress. As the two moved through the cold, nearly snow-blinded area arrows flew out from the fortress toward them. Quoorin was able to avoid the projectiles and find the secret entrance where he dropped off Spills the Stew. The tabaxi shouted that the door was locked so Quoorin took flight back around the fortress, this time going around the western walls to avoid the arrows.

Quoorin needed to shout over the howling winds to deliver the information to his companions; Baldir called out for Quoorin as he had the tools necessary to open the locked door. As the Quoorin picked Baldir up, arrows once again flew out toward the adventurers. Moneux readied the bow she received from L'aela and attempted to shoot back at whoever was attacking them. Baldir was successfully carried to the locked entrance and broke open the lock at the cost of also breaking some of his tools.

Quoorin continued flying back and forth, taking one companion at a time with him as he attempted to avoid the arrows flying toward him. The elf did not make it unscathed but Moneux was able to launch an arrow that hit something that let out a blood curdling scream from within the fortress. By the time Quoorin's magical flight subsided, he had transported Spills the Stew, Baldir, Ravana, Shanjan, Varien, Poe and himself into the crypts below the fortress.

Latham, Darokha, Moneux, Morgana, Davos and Rocinante remained on the narrow path headed toward the gatehouse.

Player Characters

 * Baldir the dwarf arcane archer/wizard
 * Latham the goliath paladin of devotion
 * Moneux the shifter beast master
 * Quoorin the wood elf battle master
 * Varien the half-elf warlock of the fiend

Non-Player Characters

 * Darokha, the male orc guide to Icespire Peak
 * Davos Seafarer, the human monk of Ilmater and one of the founding members of The Shielding Hand.
 * Dobin Noreth, a male human member of The Stone-Cold Reavers.
 * Don-Jon Raskin, the male human overseer formerly employed by the Neverwinter Consortium. He is now the chamberlain of Tresendar Manor.
 * L'aela, the female elf sister of Tymora in Phandalin
 * Morgana, the panther animal companion to Moneux.
 * Poe, the raven familiar to Varien.
 * Pureoux, the male swiftstride member of Red Sentinel and Moneux's brother.
 * Ravana, a female elf that was summoned by the Deck of Many Things to serve Quoorin.
 * Robard, the male human senior member of Red Sentinel.
 * Shanjan, the male human wizard/fighter and member of The Shielding Hand.
 * Spills the Stew, a male tabaxi bard and adventurer looking to catalog the adventures of heroes.

Deaths

 * Dobin Noreth: frozen to death by the white dragon of Icespire Peak.