Having claimed Castle Naerytar, Stormwatch bampfed through the treasure-moving portal to find yourselves in a heavily wooded mountain forest. The chill air told you you were at high altitude, and clearly nowhere near the Mere of Dead Men.

A two story mountain lodge

The Hunting Lodge

Ahead of you lay an impressive two storey stonework lodge. Behind you, a four-armed troll and his pet. Though not for long as Stormwatch did what it does best before approaching the dwelling.

Inside you were first half frozen when setting off a trap (almost spotted by Marko), then attacked by several gargoyles, before smashing the lot to pieces. Carefully moving through the (definitely untrapped) rooms revealed it was clearly occupied, though no-one approached despite your noisy  entrance.

One room contained a tapestry that glowed with an inner light. Another some sullen servants who advised the lodge was run by Talis the White,
and they were quite happy not to interfere with cult business thank-you-very-much.

The basement revealed some chained prisoners, two humans who appeared
harmless, and another dwarf who had clearly been tortured. After releasing the humans, the dwarf — Craggnor — revealed he was loyal to Varram the  White, another cult leader and sworn enemy of Talis. Hence his capture. He claims Varram has 100s of soldiers at his command. You left him chained up.

Upstairs you found more empty (also untrapped) rooms, desecrated the
dragon tapestries in a meeting hall, and ransacked Talis’s personal treasure haul. Marko found a secret door that led…nowhere interesting.

An Elf dressed in white and cult purple, leaning on a gold tipped spear

Talis the White

When you finally found Talis, she surprised you by inviting you to a parley. She realised you were coming, having been warned by Rezmir, but decided to make you a proposal instead of attacking outright.

She is furious that the dirty stupid undeserving foolish dwarf Varram somehow was granted the ‘White Mask’ by Rezmir, and she is very interested in claiming it for herself, thus elevating herself in the Cult ranks. If you will help achieve this, you will be free to take the bulk of Varram’s ammassed hoard for yourselves. She offers to get you aboard Skyreach Castle, a floating cloud giant castle that is used to transport the treasure. She doesn’t know where to — but does know you’ll have a hard time getting aboard without her.

After a short ponder you agreed. Using the glimmering tapestry, you teleported into the forest and proceeded to Parnast, a typical small alpine village now crawling with busy cult activity. At the far end, a stupendous ice castle hovers in the ravine, shrouded by fog and mist.

Marko equipped the group with cold weather gear, carefully avoiding the clues for local knowledge clues, and you proceeded onto the castle proper, observing the passphrase — “Tiamat, Our Mother and Strength” — and hence not being attacked by the two 18ft cloud giant statues that guard the  entranceway.

The fog is thickening, and dusk settling, as you step aboard Skyreach. What follows will go down in legend, one way or the other.

Map of the Hunting Lodge - ground floor

Map of the Hunting Lodge - ground floor

Map of the Hunting Lodge - upper floor

Map of the Hunting Lodge - upper floor

Rewards

  • A glowing suit of half-elven sized mithril mail
  • Scroll of Scorching Ray
  • Talis’s haul: 4000gp
  • 800gp worth of gems from the Tiamat tapestry

Also: LEVEL UP! Should be level 6. Check your class for what you get (e.g. Fighters get +2 to an Ability score!).

Session played: 4 August 2016