Leaving Stones to Ferry Support
Aran grabs a healing potion from Farron’s bag and injects it into Farron in the most Unlikely manner.
Farron jolts to life with a smile. They know they need to make a tiny hut, but they also know that these frost worms burrowed through the ground. They scan the horizon and notice a small plateau that should provide relief from the worms so the party can rest.
Meanwhile, Aran administers a healing potion to Qarzdaq, who also jolts upright. Once Qarzdaq is ready, Farron teleports all of them to the plateau and summons a tiny hut.
Since they’d recently rested, they use the time to keep themselves out of the scathing cold, knowing they would need to repeat this until nightfall before they can regain their strength. An added benefit of sheltering from the cold is that they no longer feel drained at the end of the day. At least not more than they’d already been experiencing.
After a very long and boring day, they finally rest for the night.
The party awakes the next morning, fully rested with no exhaustion remaining from the prior day. They discuss how they might transport their allies to the battle. After some time, they devise a solution.
As long as the Black Gate remains open, the Assembly has a way to transport south of The Wall without using any resources other than the 30 seconds it takes to open the portal. But how do they get up to The Wall without using any resources? They must have someone at the Nightfort to open a portal for them… so the Assembly needs to hand over at least one of the upgraded Ioun stones. But how would the Nightfort know when to open the portal?
They remember back to when they’d stepped through the portal into the cavern that the portal flashed quickly just before they were pushed through and ended up in the Eyrie. They know the Eyrie opened a portal just at that time, which must have turned off the Assembly’s portal when the Eyrie’s was opened.
They digress for a moment discussing how the Eyrie could possibly be tracking them, but they circle back around to the core point: simply having the ability for a freshly opened portal to close an existing opened portal is a way to communicate without resources!
So in order for the Nightfort to know when to open the portal, they must have had the portal opened already at the time the Assembly open theirs. That way, when the Nightfort sees their portal close, they know the Assembly has opened theirs!
If the maesters have one of these Ioun stones and they keep the portal opened at all times, the Assembly could just open their portal when they need support. By doing so, the Assembly has sent the signal to the Nightfort. One of the Assembly can walk through the portal into the cavern and wait.
Once the Nightfort sees their portal disappear, they work to summon their portal again. This allows the person in the cavern to step into the Nightfort, but it also signals to the other members of the Assembly that the Nightfort has taken their next step.
This is only half the battle though. To go in reverse, the rest of the Assembly in the far north needs to re-open the portal and keep it open until it disappears so they know their support is ready.
The member of the Assembly in the Nightfort gathers the appropriate troops, then re-opens the portal. Once open, all of the allies that are meant to go north rush into the cavern. This signals to the rest of the Assembly that the troops are being readied, and signals that they should re-open the portal.
When the Nightfort’s portal disappears, they know the Assembly is getting their support from the cavern to the front lines. At this point, since the Nightfort does not know what they are up against, they should probably given them a minute or so to position their people. At this point, the Nightfort opens their portal again and remain on standby.
When the reassembled Assembly sees their portal disappear, they also know the Nightfort is on standby.
QHOR: Wait. So one guy is just going to stand there all day focusing on the portal?
ARAN: Yeah, that seems like a bad idea.
QARZ: We’ll need to leave at least 2 Ioun stones so they can take shifts then. But who should be the ones to take the stones?
FARR: The maesters would be my choice. We know they are focused on this mission and they are probably the best minds up there to understand the plan.
They all agree.
ARAN: But which stones do we leave?
They decide on Fortitude and Regeneration. Just before they teleport to the Nightfort, Qarzdaq takes a stone from this rocky outcrop to ensure they can pick up where they left off.
They speak with the maesters, describe their plan, they write it down with diagrams, and take possession of the Ioun stones.
The Assembly tells them to start the attunement process and they would return for them to make sure they know how to open the portal.
What About the Children?!?
Aran looks over to the large Weirwood tree in the courtyard and it dawns on him that they hadn’t spoken with the Children yet! They will be a critical addition to their arsenal.
The Assembly leaves the Nightfort through the Black Gate, passing the large guard detail ready for anything that might attmpt entry. They travel just north of the Wall to the patch of woods where they’d seen the recruits take their oath to the Night’s Watch. Aran touches the Weirwood and says the words.
Balishna appears, looking for the threat they’d most certainly been called to fight. Seeing nothing more than the Assembly, he asks what they need.
Aran tells him they need support for the battle to the very far north. Balishna is reluctant to offer any aid, given their numbers are so short.
BALISHNA: How many of my people do you need?
ARAN: As many as you can provide. We have 140 already, but it’s not enough. We’ve been all over Westeros, calling on close allies and those not so close, and each has provided an elite squad of 20.
BALISHNA: You know our kind is almost extinct because of humans.
QARZ: We are in need of your earth magic to go against certain enemies that we expect to find. Qhortho retains the artifact, but we need more than just a single point of that spear.
BALISHNA: I see.
FARR: We are also in need of thunder. Would you know who might control that force?
BALISHNA: The only ones I can think of are the giants.
QHOR: Yeah, we don’t know any of those.
ARAN: So, are you in?
BALISHNA: We certainly can’t risk traveling that far north with 20 of our kind. I’m sorry.
ARAN: You wouldn’t need to travel. We can just call upon you when we are in need.
BALISHNA: And how will you do that so far north? There are no Weirwoods beyond the Haunted Forest.
Balishna seems almost embarrassed that he cannot help and looks away.
ARAN: There has to be something…
Aran consults his Book of Trees and manages to flip directly to a passage about the far north that confirms Balishna’s comment.
The Weirwoods north of The Wall were once plentiful, before the Ages of record. The frost claimed all land beyond the Haunted Forest, as it came to be known. A solitary beacon was said to exist, but none have gazed upon its face.
Aran puts this together with some of his learnings from the Citadel and the Nightfort maesters.
ARAN: I think there may be a single Weirwood left up there.
QARZ: Not sure we’d ever find it, but are you able to?
Balishna looks directly at Qarzdaq and quickly looks away. He starts to speak then looks back to Qarzdaq.
BALISHNA: There are stories, now considered fables, of our kind having a connection to a Weirwood to the far north, but that connection has long been severed. I’d never heard any mention of such a thing since I was a child Child.
ARAN: We have another way. If you could station your squad at the Nightfort, you can travel the way we’re having the rest of them travel. We have a system that will allow us to get everyone up there, only if we need them, and without having to suffer the unbearable cold that exists that far north.
BALISHNA: Will we be welcomed?
QHOR: We will ensure you are.
Balishna expresses concern about factions from the Reach and farther south, as they are less kind to the Children and are thought to be responsible for the destruction of the Isle of Faces.
The Assembly reassures him they will ensure his kind’s safety, but they will do this before Balishna’s people enter the Nightfort. Balishna agrees to see who would be willing to fight this battle, with the Assembly to meet them at Black Gate within an hour.
The Assembly returns to the Nightfort, passing through the guards again. They speak with the Lord Commander and the troops to ensure the Children of the Forest, who will be fighting alongside them, will not only be unharmed, but will be welcomed here at the Nightfort and among the crew.
The only factions that might cause trouble are the Red Temple and the Ironborn are the only factions that may cause an issue, but even they seemed to be accepting the reality.
The Assembly head to the top of The Wall to watch for the Children. The top of The Wall is cold, of course, but there is a biting chill in the air that is faintly reminiscent of the magical cold to the very far north. They hear a ranger say, “yep… winter is coming…”
After some time, they see the Children approaching. They tell the one manning the horn not to sound an alarm. These are the Children of the Forest and they are here to help.
The Assembly descends and meets Balishna and his warriors outside the gate.
ARAN: Alright! You made it. We’ve talked it over with everyone and you are going to be perfectly fine here.
BALISHNA: This is all we could possibly muster. You mentioned that each of the other factions provided 20 fighters, and we figured that we should find a way to contribute in kind. Since there are so few of us left, I could not rightfully exclude myself as part of your support, so I bring you myself and 19 seasoned warriors.
ARAN: We appreciate it. Let’s get you set up inside and then we’ll be off to find out what we’re up against.
The Night’s Watch are setting up a separate barracks for the Children, but in all likelihood, the Children will not be staying inside a man-made structure. They do find comfort at the giant Weirwood tree in the courtyard.
The Assembly tells the troops that they are off to the far north and they should remain at full readiness.
Before leaving the Nightfort, the Assembly ensures the maesters can summon the Ioun portals and that there are no additional questions. Before the party leaves the maesters, two other maesters approach pushing a stout cart with an oddly shaped bell.
The maesters tell the party that they tuned this bell to have a very distinct tone to call their support troops from wherever they might be on the castle grounds.
The Nightfort assets seem to be fully prepared.
Restocking Trip!
It is now time for the Assembly to stock up on their own supplies. They teleport to Oldtown to pick up some gems and potions.
They arrive in Oldtown on the street they’d recently torn up with the dragon skull. People flood the road supplying goods to shops, seeing as no wagons can traverse the disheveled stone street. They make their way to a potion shop and due to the party being on a mission for the realm, the merchant provides her wares at less than cost.
They stock up on as many resistance and healing potions as they can afford.
They stop in at the gem shop to arm their Rings of Universatility. Aran looks to purchase some emeralds, but he doesn’t appear to have the coin. The shopkeep wants the sale, so he asks about the purpose of the stone, thinking he might hide the imperfections in a piece of jewelry or something like that.
ARAN: I’m using it to help myself in the battle to kill the undead.
SHOPKEEP: I’m sorry… what?!
ARAN: That one doesn’t look so good. Do you have another one?
The merchant is flabbergasted.
SHOPKEEP: Can you go back to what you just said?
QHOR: He said that we’re about to save the realm from ultimate doom against the army of undead. Are you confused about that part?
SHOPKEEP: Uhh… uhh… uhh… yeah… so… okay… umm… look… guys… I’m not really sure what to do with that information.
FARR: You don’t need to do anything with it except hook us up with a deal for the emerald.
QHOR: We pull through, you don’t have to worry.
The look on the merchant’s face goes from surprise to ultimate skepticism.
SHOPKEEP: Ah. I see now. Do you have any way to verify these claims? Any way to prove this?
FARR: Prove this?!
SHOPKEEP: Yeah. I mean, you almost had me, I have to say. Points for creativity for sure. But guys, if you break this down, you’re just walking in here trying to get a deal on gems, right?
They decide to just pile up the gems they currently own alongside their remaining coin, mostly electrum and copper.
ARAN: We’re open to buy and trade. This is all we have. If we tell you what we need, can we make it work? We’re not in this to get a deal just to get a deal.
QARZ: Yeah. The gemstones we seek enhance our current skills, so we each need specific types.
SHOPKEEP: Ok, ok. So what do you need besides an emerald.
Qarzdaq needs a couple of blue sapphires, Qhortho and Aran need white sapphires. They strike a few trades and get on their way.
They teleport back to the rocky outcrop to the far north and, seeing as it was not long before sunset, they remain inside their hut. Qhortho sets a white sapphire into his Ring of Universatility. He flexes his entire body.
QHOR: Yeah. That’s better.
Qarzdaq and Aran follow suit by inserting their own sapphires into their own rings.
After a few more hours, they finally lie down to sleep.
Qhortho and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
The next morning, they continue traveling north, following the compass guide. Through the blistering and brutal cold, they continue to take injury, only mending themselves when resting for the night. Upon awaking on their fifth morning, Qhortho realizes the gem in his ring is already broken!
Qhortho looks at the others whose gemstones had not yet cracked. Qhortho could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Later that day, when they were just walking on their way, they are stopped in their tracks by a Frost Salamander!
It was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
The frost salamander jumps out of the ground directly in front of the group, surprising them all, except Aran, who gets an inkling of the threat a moment before the creature appears. What’s worse, they immediately realize there are 4 more of them, surrounding the party!
While everyone except Aran is surprised, Qhortho can’t help but thinking that Aran is once again getting to do damage when he’s not! It is turning out to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
This makes Qhortho extremely angry. He goes into a rage, breaking through the temporary shock of surprise, and lashes out at the closest enemy. He connects, but loses his footing and doesn’t deal as much damage as he’d like.
The frost salamanders respond by unleashing unrelenting frost breath on all of them, causing incredible pain.
It really is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Then Aran killed one of them, then frightened the other. And then Farron got the scared one bloodied. And then Qarzdaq cast created a Wall of Fire around all of the enemies and made them really mad. And that one that Aran frightened that Qhortho really wanted to hit? Yeah, he died. And then before Qhortho finally got to hit the two that were still alive, they hit the entire party with more of that frost breath! And what’s more, one of them tried to hit Aran and missed, so he got to hit them back!
It is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Qhortho, now extremely angry, attacks one of the salamanders, killing it.
Aran quickly slashes clean through another salamander while Qhortho faces off against the last one standing. His weapon through the huge creature with so much force that it splits cleanly in half.
Qarzdaq drops the Wall of Fire.
Now that the fight is over, Qhortho feels a little better.
QHOR: Today was turning out to be a bad day.
QARZ: Yeah, some days are like that. But we’re the motherfucking Unlikely Assembly.
QHOR: Fuck yeah we are. It’s a good day.
He looks down at his ring with the cracked gemstone, but he still feels strong.
Though they are all exhausted, they only take an hour to rest in the tiny hut perched on a nearby rocky protrusion.
The remainder of the day is spent battling the weather, but nothing else. Eventually, they find another suitable place to set up camp for the night, summon the tiny hut, and rest for the night.
The next morning, Qhortho realizes his gem is now just a pile of dust.
QHOR: Fuck it.
He gets up, steps outside the hut, and takes a long piss into the oncoming wind.
Meteors and Mansions
They get on their way and after another four days of increasing wind and decreasing visibility, they finally see something at the limits of their visibility… a whole pack of somethings! It doesn’t appear the Assembly has been spotted yet, but it is plainly obvious that the Assembly won’t be sneaking up on these creatures either.
Qarzdaq uses the night vision goggles and sees the creatures more clearly.
FARR: Ice dire wolves, ice spiders, and corporeal wights… Nothing we haven’t fought before. They’re still more than fifty feet out though.
QARZ: How many?
FARR: Looks like five wolves, with maybe twice as many ice spiders and about the same number of corporeal wights.
QARZ: I got something for them.
All of their artifacts light up. They approach, ready for battle, still with minor exhaustion.
Farron provides Haste to Qhortho, who grins when he feels that familiar sensation running through his body.
Aran dashes forward stopping just 20 feet from the enemy’s front line, waiting for the first creature to dare step to him.
Qarzdaq unleashes a Meteor Swarm on the entire back line. Large fiery rocks slam into the permafrost, killing all of the ice spiders, all of the dire wolves, and all but one of the corporeal wights. Ice and rocky chunks are thrown into the air, littering the local region with debris.
Qhortho rushes forward screaming with a rage into battle against the lone corporeal wight. As he closes the last few feet, he shoves the pointy end into the creatures torso, causing it to shatter into thousands of icy shards.
They finally rest, now moderately exhausted.
They discuss how they need to get rid of this exhaustion and decide they should just sit inside the tiny hut for a few days until they fully recover. But then something occurs to Qarzdaq.
QARZ: Magnificent Mansion.
QHOR: What now?
QARZ: You’ll see.
Qarzdaq casts Wish to conjure a shimmering portal 5 feet wide and 10 feet tall. They step inside to enter a magnificent foyer with numerous chambers.
After the last of them step inside to the very comfortable mansion, Qarzdaq turns to the others.
QARZ: Yeah, this’ll do. Should provide us with all the comforts we need for a whole day, and there should be some food around here too.
FARR: So much for the Tiny Hut.
QARZ: Wish is a helluva drug.
While standing in the foyer, they are approached by a dozen near-transparent servants ready to attend to all their needs.
After one night, they recover the exhaustion experienced by the day’s travel, but another two nights are required to recover from the persistent exhaustion from the effects of their artifacts.
That third morning, they are fully refreshed.
It is important to note that even I, as narrator for the Unlikely Assembly, am unable to pierce the extradimensional veil provided by Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. Research shows this particular spell allows the caster to decide how the mansion is furnished and decorated, and that it contains sufficient food to serve a nine-course banquet for up to 100 people. It also provides a staff of 100 near-transparent servants that attend to all who enter the mansion. The caster can decide the visual appearance of these servants and their attire. The servants are also completely obedient to their orders. Each servant can perform any task a normal human servant could perform, but they can’t attack or take any action that would directly harm another creature. Thus the servants can fetch things, clean, mend, fold clothes, light fires, serve food, pour wine, and so on. We are all left in the cold as to what transpired inside.
Arrival
Getting back into the deep freeze is a bit of a shock, and the desire to stay in the mansion for all eternity does seem enticing, but they are here to save the realms of men.
Another three days of travel through worsening conditions has them second-guessing whether they are even able to reach the location.
However, the next day proves to them they’d not experienced anything near this region’s pain-inducing capabilities. The visibility is now highly obscured and the wind and debris feels like being pierced by icy needles. The entire day is spent traveling, though they feel as if they’ve made no progress. They haven’t actually been slowed, but it is impossible to know they’ve even moved a foot based on their surroundings alone.
Another two days of worsening conditions, and they are reaching the brink of them not being able to go on any further. They continue to dig deep until suddenly, they step through into an eerily quiet area where the air is entirely still.
They feel as though they’ve been viscerally undressed. Their clothes and armor are intact and structurally sound, though there is something about the way they feel in this space. It’s almost as if they’d been flayed, their raw dermis exposed to the cold still air, though without the pain from a “Ramsay treatment.” It is a… unique… sensation.
The positive is that they finally have full visibility and are no longer taking cold damage from the environment.
Directly ahead, perhaps only 3 miles or so, is a collection of very large structures. Farron retrieves his telescope and looks carefully across the buildings. The assembly of buildings appear to be interconnected as a campus; a gigantic necropolis crafted from ice. It’s difficult to believe the scale from this distance, but it appears the complex may be a hundred feet tall and more than a thousand feet wide!
He also sees some activity around the grounds, with various forms of undead, winter wolves, and ice spiders.
As they approach, getting within a quarter mile, the creatures seem to be organizing themselves, as if being commanded to do so. They must know the Assembly is approaching.
Qarzdaq twins Haste on Farron and Qhortho, while Farron sets up his Crown of Stars and Hastes Aran.
As they get within a hundred feet of the entry structure, they finally feel how enormous it is. Qarzdaq quickly grabs a rock so they have a way back here if they need to leave abruptly. They don’t get much time to take it in before a pack of dire wolves, ice spiders, and corporeal wights running towards them.
Aran rushes into battle, focusing on the corporeal wights with his dragonglass glaive. He rushes through the front line, destroying 7 of them before getting out of the way of whatever might rain down next from his allies.
Qarzdaq opens his wings and flies 15 feet into the air then launches a Fireball into the group of wolves and spiders, badly damaging several of them.
Qhortho rushes in and finishes off a few of the fire-singed wolves.
Farron launches a Qarzdaq Fireball from his ring, killing a few of them in a burst of flames.
The remaining creatures scatter, running all different directions away from the Assembly. Qhortho manages to kill one of them as they retreat.
With no other creatures around, they take a moment to look at the building before them. The double doors in the arched entryway are easily 20 feet tall, with each door 10 feet wide. This is clearly the entrance to this massive necropolis.
The doors begin to creak open on their own, causing tremors within the icy ground as they move.
Is this an invitation?
Peeking inside, they see this is a cathedral constructed of ice. Inside looks to be 50 feet tall, a few hundred feet wide, and over 500 feet to the back where a few steps lead to a dais. The entire room seems to be cast in a bluish hue.
We end this session on Day 953 with the Unlikely Assembly standing outside the open doors to enormous icy necropolis complex. Each member of the party gained 5.8 kXP, bringing their totals to 243.15 kXP and halfway to Level 18. The end is nigh… for someone…