Reunited With Sorrow
The tavern where the Assembly sits and imbibes is buzzing with general delight and relief. They are on the winning side after all. However, there has been a brewing undertow of dread as the words “Winter is Coming” become more commonplace. Those are the house words, but this was more a matter of environment than politic.
The four members of the Assembly are without Dorleck. While the Assembly was dealing with the Dreadfort, Dorleck focused on gaining more information about the larger situation at hand and still hasn’t returned.
The Assembly leaves the tavern with a light buzz to check in on the Stark training grounds. The soldiers have proven themselves quite capable; the future looks to be on their side. After only a few minutes of observation, they hear Farron’s voice behind them.
FARRON: Guys? I have some good and bad news.
They turn to see three druids behind him. They are badly beaten and carry a palpable sense of loss.
The Roots hand over the Teletherscope and describe the creatures they fought to get it. The descriptions match those of the gnolls the Assembly had fought back in the swamps of the Neck.
After describing what they were able to see with the Teletherscope, Qarzdaq looks through the scope around the grounds at Winterfell. He is caught off guard when he sees a spiritual being nearby the crypt. It does not appear to be ill-intentioned, but its presence is startling nonetheless. He takes a second glance and it looks to be watching over the place, as if he is a steward on watch.
QARZ: This allows us to see into the Ethereal Plane and will almost certainly provide more information on these places of power we’re after.
Artair agrees and also shows him the piece of cloth map they’d found, which led them to the gnoll cave, and ultimately implies that Bear Island is worth a visit. He tells them of the rowboat they stashed up the coast, away from the gnoll cave. He also shares that the dragonglass dagger provided by the Assembly was the only thing that was very effective against the foes they’d faced.
The Assembly speaks to the maester about acquiring more dragonglass weaponry, but none exist in Winterfell. They are told about how it had been mined from Dragonmont, but it is brittle for combat purposes, and no other use had been found. The stories do tell of many of these weapons used against the reanimated dead, but not in ages.
Dorleck shows up and tells the group that he needs to head back to Moat Cailin to pick up additional supplies. Things he hadn’t expected to need, but now believes they will do some good. Mostly fortunetelling reagents and various hard-to-source ingredients. He offers to check in with various clans along his way to garner support.
Rolan offers to join Dorleck.
QARZ: That doesn’t make sense.
ARAN: Yeah, why wouldn’t you just stay with us?
The phobias they’d picked up recently move to the forefront of their minds.
ROLAN: I think my usefulness is waning and I have other responsibilities calling to me on the Iron Islands.
DORL: This is unfortunate timing for the group. I could travel with you towards the west, as long as I am not traveling away from the Moat.
ROLAN: I think that would be for the best.
Farron walks up, seeming right on cue for the moment.
FARR: Well, then , perhaps I could join you fellas. And maybe since Rolan is leaving the group, perhaps he will forgo any useful treasures that are more helpful to the group than himself?
ROLAN: Yeah… Yeah I could do that.
Without having to look at Farron’s gaze, Rolan knows Farron is seeking the Tear of Life. He instinctively holds it in his hand as it dangles around his neck. This is troubling, given what they know of these artifacts.
ROLAN: Aran. I’d like you to hang on to this.
Rolan hands over his most powerful weapons and items to Farron. They are very clear that he is not part of the Assembly, but he will be treated as an honorary member until he proves himself.
Retracing the Roots
They leave Winterfell and their phobias begin to drift away as they focus more on their travels. After several days, they happen upon the location of a bloody battle, clearly the location where Lucian met his demise.
Nearby growling grabs their attention. Direwolves. It doesn’t take long before all six of the wolves are killed. Farron makes a good show by aiding his allies with his bardic ways, laying the foundation for forging these new bonds.
Another 5 days pass as they travel westward, following the route taken by the Roots towards the Inventorship.
They approach a well-established village without a surrounding wall. It does have a short wooden fence-like structure though. Large water wheels in the central area of the town, the tops of which are visible from outside the town.
They approach the gate and after a few questions, and the Assembly offering to lay down their weapons, the guards let them in.
The Assembly’s weapons are treated with respect as they are greeted by a person named Rolf, who then introduces them to the group of people known as The Committee. The Assembly are brought to a small standalone stone building where they tell about the Roots and the loss of Lucian. The Committee believes their story and intentions, and then permit them to move about the town as they wish.
The Assembly is sure to add that if anyone dies, of natural causes or otherwise, that their bodies be burned to prevent them from coming back to life. The Committee is sure to add that this information should not be shared around freely as it could cause a panic.
QHOR: There is one more thing. We are headed to Bear Island and I will probably have to do all the rowing since I am the strongest of the group. I am not so much a fan of work though. You seem to be an inventive bunch. Do you think you could devise something to help me?
The Assembly stays overnight and checks in with The Committee in the morning.
The Assembly inquires about whether such a rowing device was able to be developed. The Committee is about to give the bad news when someone comes running up to them with a large device in hand, totally out of breath.
INVENTOR: I’m… I’m glad I caught you…
He continues to breath heavily.
INVENTOR: The device you asked about. I had been developing something over several weeks that I was able to repurpose for your use case. You see, I was working on something to move air over some of our parts as they were getting too hot and deforming.
ROLF: That IS interesting, Floyd. I had heard of these developments recently, but hadn’t thought about propulsion.
FLOYD: Yes, exactly. Me neither until I realized that air is a FLUID!
ROLF: Oh that in itself could be a major breakthrough in how we develop our waterwheels.
FLOYD: Yes among other things! I think we can harness the air itself high up in the mountains to…
Qhortho clears his throat.
QHOR: Can we just get to the point?
FLOYD: Ah, yes, sorry. We tend to get into the weeds on this stuff. Once I realized the air mover could be a water mover, and rather than have it attached to something stationary and moving small amounts of air or water, it could instead be attached to something mobile, and treat a large body of air or water as stationary, in a sense…
ROLF: This… With our other invention we’d just recovered…
Floyd nods quickly and glances to The Assembly then back to Rolf. Rolf does the same and they non-verbally agree this is not to be openly discussed.
ROLF: Yes, we will talk about those applications later.
FLOYD: Indeed, so then is only comes down to a source of energy, which we’d developed over the past several years. The energy takes the form of a Heavy Energy Alchemical Generation and Storage Apparatus. Had been calling it a HEAGASA, but we in the lab have just been calling it Generation And Storage for short… or GAS. The propulsion device requires GAS to produce the intended effect.
QHOR: Ok, look. I don’t know what all this mumbo jumbo is supposed to mean. Can you just tell it in plain Common???
FLOYD: You strap this to boat. You add GAS. Blades spin. You no row much. Disconnect GAS to stop.
Qhortho is not sure whether to be insulted or pleased. He decides on pleased.
Floyd hands over the device, which must be about 50 pounds.
FLOYD: This will work for about 20 days of usage. After that, it will need to be recharged by our water wheels here in town.
Aran tosses a platinum to Floyd and thanks him. Qhortho matches the donation.
They leave town for the west coast.
The Bear (Island) Cave
Seven days later, they reach the coast. They find the hidden rowboat. They attach the device and it works like a charm. It cuts the time in half, easily, and they can finally see Bear Island five days later.
As they get closer to the island, you see a small keep with 4 towers sitting upon a large hill. When they make landfall, they see the water washing up onto the rocky shore seems to freeze temporarily before washing away. The keep atop the hill is flying the Stark banner. They pull the boat onto the rocky shore and quickly realize the rocks are very slippery, require attention not to fall.
Farron tells the others they should wait here while he summons an owl scout to help do some reconnaissance. The owl tells Farron that the keep looks desolate and there are logs blocking the gates.
They begin climbing the hill. Getting out of the rocks and onto the grassy hill, they find the ground crunches beneath their feet. With each step, the icy grass melts then refreezes around their footprints, almost providing support. Qarzdaq missteps, but Farron is able to react quickly, grabbing Qarzdaq’s hand before he slides down the hill.
Upon reaching the top, they find a cobbled road, which leads to a large wooden door. It is barred from the outside with 2 large wooden beams. The owl tells Farron that the windows are all closed and it seems quiet. There also appears that the inner keep doors are barred the same way as the outer wall.
Aran scales the wall to get eyes on the windows. He shoots an arrow through the window to break it then tells Farron to send the owl inside. The owl flies inside and Farron’s connection the the owl severs. Aran sees the telltale wispy signs of an ethereal being inside.
Aran climbs down and they decide to move on. Qarzdaq looks through the Teletherscope and finds the red lightning very close by, just to the north side of the island and very much within walking distance.
They crest the nearby hill and see a cave about 100 feet away with a horde of more than 30 corporeal wights wearing tattered clothing of brown and black stand outside aimlessly as if awaiting orders that could come at any time.
2 red frog humanoids stand just within the cave opening, peering out for any sign of distress. Their mannerisms imply they are having a conversation, but their mouths do not move.
Farron realizes these black cloaks are those of the Night’s Watch. They decide that the brown cloaks are those of the Bear Island inhabitants. But the presence of black cloaks implies that the Night’s Watch already has information about the undead situation.
Qarzdaq launches a fireball, clearing the corporeal wights in a single flash. As their corpses roast, the rest of the Assembly rushes in and quickly dispatch the slaads before they can even make a sound.
Upon entering the cave, they are forced to make a decision: right or left. They choose right. Upon entering the next section, they are again faced with a decision: right or left. They decide to continue making rights to traverse the cave system.
They follow a winding tunnel that opens up to a larger room before narrowing to a tunnel along one side. Seeing no other options, they continue in this tunnel which winds to the right. Aran finds a trip wire guarding the next room. He advises the rest of the group and everyone steps over it with no issue. Near the rear of this room, along the left-side wall, they hear a low humming sound. Otherwise, this room is fairly nondescript, save the scarring made from pickaxes and other handheld mining tools.
They backtrack, avoiding the tripwire, and find their last decision point then follow this unexplored path. This section widens into a roughly spherical shape then narrows to a choke point. Aran already knows he needs to be on the lookout for traps now.
Aran alerts the crew of a pressure plate. There is enough room to jump over it without too much effort, but Aran’s attention is immediately grabbed by 3 blue slaads, 3 red slaads, and 3 of the ugliest hags he’s ever seen. They’re almost too much to look directly at. The hags are focusing on keeping a portal open though it seems fairly stable.
The Assembly strikes first. Qarzdaq sends a streak of light, blinding 3 of the slaad. Farron Holds Monster on 3 more of the salad. Qhortho rushes up and kills one of them with 2 devastating strikes from his great sword.
Qhortho realizes now that he’s closer to the hags that he has trouble looking at them directly. A fear bubbles up inside him when he attempts it, so he chooses to look away. He calls out to warn the others. Qarzdaq notices that one of the hags is about to cast a spell and he immediately counters it!
Aran rushes in and causes massive damage, but is clawed by a salad in the process. He’s unsure if he’s been impregnated, but he’ll focus on that later.
They continue to take down the slaads, pulling out all the stops, until 1 remains by the time they kill all 3 hags. At the moment the last hag falls, their surroundings become ethereal. The last slaad becomes grayscale and seems to no longer see the Assembly, but they are surrounded by ethereal beings.
Just as had happened in the floating castle of Greywater Watch, they re-enter the material plane, then back to the ethereal, then back to the material, with greater and greater frequency, becoming a flicker of color and grayscale… of a single blue slaad and being surrounded by spirits: 2 banshees, 2 wraiths, and some kind of wraith commander.
With each flicker, the spirits get closer and closer to them, until the ethereal plane finally sticks… Game on.
They manage through the banshee screams and work down the wraiths. During this time, Farron managed to separate himself from the group somewhat to continue providing support, knowing he cannot stand at the front lines. This is going well until one of the banshees targets him. Qardaq sees this and grabs its attention.
Suddenly, the wraith commander shouts a disassociated command that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Suddenly, 4 wraith soldiers are summoned into existence and surround Aran and Qhortho.
When the last ethereal foe is dispatched, their surroundings flicker between the ethereal and material plane. The reappearance of the Assembly catches the attention of the remaining blue slaad. He prepares for battle as the Assembly flicker in and out of existence until they are firmly in the material plane. It strikes first, but the Assembly prevails before long.
A section of wall at the rear of the cave disappears, revealing a tunnel leading to a strange bubble-like portal. Inside the portal appears to be a stone cellar.Farron asks to look more closely at the Teletherscope. Using his vast knowledge of the arcane and higher mysteries, he realizes there is more to this object than originally thought. He tries pulling out the icosahedron quartz, but it doesn’t want to leave its home. It’s as if it is being sucked back in by vacuum. He tells Qarzdaq that he might want to spend some time studying the device a bit longer.
Qarzdaq is happy that Farron had pointed it out but also slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t thought to just do that in the first place. He spends about an hour studying the device while the others take a short rest. He now feels a bond with the device that gives him a sense of deep connection to the ethereal plane.
Big Rest in a Tiny Hut
Before they enter the portal, Farron sets up a Tiny Hut for them to all snuggle into. As they enter his pitched tent, they feel warm and cozy inside. They rest quite peacefully for a full 8 hours.
Upon waking they decide to explore the rest of the cave system. They travel back to the first fork and head down the left side. This presents them with a decision to travel left or right and, by way of their previously decided creed of exploration, they go right.
They enter a large and empty cavernous room roughly 60 feet across. Aran doesn’t trust it. Looking closer, he notices the ground here is not just rock, it’s covered in a layer of dirt. And in the dirt, there appears to be a line… an edge of something buried underneath? The line seems to run concentric to the cavern wall, roughly a foot away. Qhortho calls out that it’s a trap and rushes ahead of everyone else, being careful to stay along the wall and not step on the main floor of the chamber. Aran decides to stay in the rear to prevent being ambushed from behind.
They follow the wall around to an entryway of the next room, which is another dead end. They can hear a low humming sound similar to what they’d heard in the first dead end they’d reached.
FARR: Probably the hum of that portal.
Everyone agrees. They decide to look a little more closely at the walls here and notice flecks of gold in the stone. This was likely where the gold streak ran dry as the flecks appear to be rather sparse.
They backtrack to the last room they were in, being careful not to step away from the wall. Aran tosses a small rock into the center of the room. It hits, then rolls a bit, leaving small trail of disturbed dirt in its wake. The sound when it struck the ground was different than hitting rock; it is more hollow… more metallic.
They exchange looks. All at once, they decide they’d better just leave that rock sitting there without any further exploration.
They follow the path back to the last fork. The tunnel opens wider just before narrowing to a tunnel the winds to the right. It snakes around back to the left, leading to a dead end. This also looks like it was mined, but in one area, it appears the miners hadn’t finished yet. Chunky gold nuggets are clearly visible in the cavern wall.
They use whatever hand tools they have to chisel out some of the chunks.
QARZ: How much do you think we’ve got?
QHOR: This looks to be about 160 gold pieces’ worth.
ARAN: Oh, I disagree. This is clearly about 180 gold pieces.
FARR: Where we’re going… we don’t need… gold.
The three others look at Farron like he’d grown an extra head.
FARR: I’m just kidding guys… MOAR GOLD! In all seriousness though, we could better use our time. I can easily charm merchants to give us much more in discounts if we need it, and in a fraction of the time.
They all agree to continue back to the orb-like portal. They decide it’s time to jump right in.
They are now in a stone cellar. In front of them, two torches light a door with a metallic ship wheel. On the door are 3 vertically revolving wheels that display 2 digits on each. Investigating it more closely, they find the wheels can each be set to a number between 01 and 26. They realize the range of digits correlates to the Common alphabet, and they should be on the lookout for either a set of six numbers or possibly just 3 letters.
Qarzdaq realizes his Teletherscope is vibrating. He looks through the scope while spinning the digits and finds nothing of interest.
They decide to try a word: ICE… 09-03-05… Qhortho and Aran take several steps back to allow Qarzdaq to open it. Qarzdaq grabs the handle and attempts to turn it, but rather than turn, he is blasted by a great blue fireball of pure cold. The two torches are snuffed out immediately.
QARZ: Holy shit! Yeah, we’d better get this thing right the next time. That was not fun.
They decide to go back through the portal to see what the keep has to offer.
A Restless Keep
Arriving outside the keep, they are again faced with the large beams locking the main gate doors.
Qarzdaq looks at the gate then up at the battlements. He feels something in his blood. Something hot. Searing. Yet… enthralling. Suddenly he feels his back ripping open. The pain is extraordinary at first, but it’s paired with jolts of euphoria. It’s enough to make him call out in draconic. His vision goes red.
He blinks a few times to clear his eyes and finds himself now looking down at the battlements. The sudden realization doesn’t induce panic. Instead, he’s never felt more in control in his life! As he looks behind him to see if the wings he envisions are actually there (they are), he realizes his cloak has been ripped into tattered rags (he’ll get another).
The rest of the party is looking at him with awe as he swoops down, out of sight, to the other side of the wall.
Qarzdaq looks into the second-story window that Aran broke earlier to see a spiritual being look up at him then rush towards the window. Qarzdaq instinctively flies backwards 10 feet from the Banshee. He wants nothing to do with this thing. He turns and flies up and over the wall, landing on the ground next to his allies and folding his wings as if he were placing his arms at his sides.
In unison, Qhortho and Aran each take one beam, lift, and shove to the sides. They land with a stereophonic thud on the cobblestone road. They pull open the gate doors, get to the other side, and shove them open about 2/3 of the way, as far as the beams on the ground will allow.
They are met with the keep doors, barred in the same way. They lift the beams and shove them far enough out of the way to open these smaller doors entirely.
They find a large open hall with a great fire pit in the center of the room. Qarzdaq ignites the unburned logs in the pit, lighting the hall, and revealing dark blood-stained areas all around the hall.
They explore the keep and find various corporeal wights, quickly dispatching them using their dragonglass weapons. They find a couple of doors to the outside that are locked by key, and the staircase to go to the second floor. They hold off on going to the second floor until they finish exploring the bottom floor, where they find the kitchen, a map room, and two bedrooms with 7 beds each.
In the map room, they find a map of Bear Island with various three-letter identifiers: MAP, CAS, GLD, CST.
QARZ: Perhaps Qhortho can try inputting these into that door?
Qhortho looks giddy to be nominated for such an important task, then he remembers what happened to Qarzdaq and realizes it is all a ruse. He shoots Qarzdaq a glance as if to say, “I’m on to you.”
Qarzdaq chuckles.
They climb the stairs to the second floor and find a privy at the top. They open the door and a corporeal wight jumps out! Aran slashes it with his dragonglass glaive and it shatters. They explore the rest of the upstairs and battle 3 specters, 2 more corporeal whites, and a banshee.
While walking through one of the hallways, Qarzdaq feels the Teletherscope vibrating. It seems to be reacting to something on the other side of the wall, the next room over. Upon further exploration, they find that the room is a library, taking the entire central part of the second floor.
However, upon entering that library, they are faced with a wraith. Of course, that’s no match for the Unlikely Assembly, so they destroy it quickly.
Inside the library are 2 large conference tables, one has a large map of Bear Island built into its surface.
Qhortho finds this to be rather boring, so he explores the last room and barges in on 4 more corporeal wights. Farron hears the commotion and aids Qhortho in destroying the zombie-like creatures.
Qarzdaq finds the area where the Teletherscope is vibrating the most and he peers through it. He finds one book glowing in the Ethereal Plane and pulls it from the shelf. It is a book about food preservation and cooking techniques. A Song of Ice and Fire?
QARZ: Strange.
He skims through it finding nothing of interest. He does the same thing while looking through the scope and finds something in the back cover: the letters SIF scratched in glowing ink, only visible in the Ethereal Plane.
QARZ: Uhh… guys? I think we’ve got the code… S I F?
FARR: 19-09-06
They decide they might as well stay the night here in the keep. As they are winding down, relaxing their guard, and perusing the keep, Farron brings up that these wights were most likely living in the castle. He adds that he doesn’t believe any of them were family Starks, based on their dress, but they were likely keepers of the estate that were barred in here once there was no hope for saving them.
Farron spends some time writing in his notebook about the events of the day, knowing this entire adventure will make an incredible best-seller.
Aran and Qhortho look through the drawers and person effects, finding a few gems and pendants to share with the group.
They spend the night with no ill effects and leave for the cave in the morning.
Back to the Stone Cellar
They make their way to the orb-like portal and jump through into the stone cellar.
Qarzdaq walks confidently up to the safe door. He spins the dials to read 19-09-06 and turns the large wheel. It spins freely. He releases it and it continues to spin faster and faster. As it accelerates, it slowly disappears. Not just the safe door, the entire set of walls. The 2 torches fall to the floor. They realize they are actually at the center of a much larger cellar. Lying on the floor before them, is a small shard of very cold and smooth ice-like material.
Qarzdaq decides to pull the quartz icosahedron free from the Teletherscope to see if there is any interaction between it and this shard. When he does, the Teletherscope goes silent. He hadn’t realized the slight hum it had been making to him since he became attuned to it, but it was obvious once it was quiet. He places the shard onto the quartz in various ways, but finds no interaction. He places the quartz back in the Teletherscope and it feels like it hums to life in a very settling way.
QARZ: It was worth a shot, but what’s weird about that thing is that it feels like a piece of ice, but it’s not melting.
They all agree there must be some sort of Air magic behind this.
The party investigates the area of the cellar that was blocked to them before and finds nothing of interest until Qhortho pipes up.
QHOR: Was that there before?
The rest of them turn to see Qhortho pointing at a staircase.
ARAN: No, that was definitely not there before.
Aran walks to the base of the stairs, weapon drawn, and waits for the others to line up behind him. As soon as they do, he slowly starts up the stairs. At the top of the stairs is a translucent wall. He touches it and it disappears. He steps through to see an open door ahead, an open door to the right, and a hallway that goes back behind them, alongside the staircase. Going forward, he realizes this is the Bear Island Keep’s kitchen and that the cellar was below them the whole time.
QARZ: This is a level of illusion that is beyond even our capabilities.
Since it is still early in the day, they decide it best to leave right away. They walk outside and Qarzdaq uses the scope to look across the horizon. The crimson lightning bolt is gone on Bear Island, but there is one to the south and another to the east. The southern one appears somewhat closer, so they decide that is their next destination.
The Motte
They get back to their boat and travel south. They use the Inventorship Motor™ and cut a few days off the trip. On their way, Qarzdaq makes some revisions to his clothing to accommodate his sprouting wings, but he’s not exactly a tailor, so he does the best he can.
They make landfall at the northern tip of a long peninsula nearby Deepwood Motte. The Motor now shows about half capacity remaining. After several more days of travel through the snowy forest, they finally lay eyes on the site of Deepwood Motte. The banner flying above the gate and keep depict a dead weirwood tree on a black field, bordered in scarlet with a flock of ravens within. The path they follow continues into a field, stretching to the gate in the timber palisade wall.
As they approach the walls of the fort, they notice no one in the battlements. The timber gate is wide open. The fort itself is atop a muddy motte.
They draw their weapons and upon reaching the keep’s door, they find it to be locked.
Qhortho slams on the door.
QHOR: Anyone there?
No one answers, but they hear some movement on the other side. Aran and Qhortho look at each other, knowing what they need to do. They both kick at the door repeatedly until the barricade gives. With one more simultaneous bash, the door flings open.
Inside are 20 corporeal wights that rush directly at them. Aran and Qhortho stand fast, ready to keep them at bay.
Aran and Qhortho smash several of them apart before Qarzdaq launches a fireball inside the wooden fort, setting it aflame.
QARZ: Well, at least the zombies are dead…
Aran watches it start to burn as the others try hard to put the fire out. They pull out all the stops between using prestidigitation, shape water, telekinesis, and good ol’ fashioned blankets. Eventually, they stop the fire by using their blankets and patting it out.
Once it is out, they finally get a look around the main hall, which is a single large room with a hearth on the far end. A long table stretches out in front of the hearth with a mess of tin plates, cups, and candlesticks. A wooden ladder leads to a loft above.
Looking around, there is something about this place that is strangely familiar.
Aran climbs the ladder and notices the handle of a weapon sticking out from under a bed. He pulls it out and is surprised to see that it is a beautiful dragonglass great axe.
ARAN: You’re never going to believe what I just found.
He brings it down the ladder and shows it off.
They discuss next steps and realize it would be best if they could convey the information about Bear Island and Deepwood Motte to the Starks, so they hatch a plan.
Qarzdaq teleports to Winterfell to speak with Karlon; Farron teleports to Bear Island to snag a black cloak to have something from the Wall; Aran and Qhortho stay at the Motte and hold down the literal fort.
Side Steps
Qarzdaq speaks openly with Karlon in the main courtyard about the zombies they’d fought on Bear Island. Karlon hushes him immediately and asks to speak more privately. They bring the discussion inside and Karlon thanks him for the information.
Karlon decides to send men to Bear Island and Deepwood Motte to reestablish the Stark presence and ensure it is not taken up by bandits or the like. Karlon makes the realization that the entire North has been invaded by the undead if they’ve already reach as far south as the Motte. He asks that Qarzdaq keep him updated as they travel south and throughout the North.
Karlon shares that he’d spoken with Maester Urlyn about the dragonglass and they discovered some texts that describe a cache of dragonglass weapons held at the Fist of the First Men, north of the Wall. There is not much detail, and there is no guarantee it actually exists. Qarzdaq takes the information with the intention of exploring that area when they get the chance.
Qarzdaq stays the night in Winterfell so he will be able to teleport again back to the Motte. He stays in a warm cozy bed, and has great food and drink with the lords.
——-
Farron arrives on the coast of Bear Island and makes his way to the cave entrance. It takes a few minutes to find a decently large portion of a black cloak left unburned from Qarzdaq’s fireball. He creates a Tiny Hut and stays the night nearby the cave, with all manner of spooky sounds to serenade him to sleep. He jots down some inspirational notes for the stories he can write later.
A Recent and Familiar Past
The next day, Farron and Qarzdaq arrive back at the Motte. Farron with a scrap of cloak, Qarzdaq with a nice pot of Winterfell stew to share. They have a nice hearty meal and discuss where they might go next. They know they must go to the south for the red lightning location, but something is pulling at them about the locations they’d just been to. The cave in Bear Island, Deepwood Motte, and that axe.
They realize these are all very similar to the strange dreams they’d had after leaving Moat Cailin. There was another location they’d visited when looking for the Stark girls: Sea Dragon Point. They agree they should go there next. Is it fate that they visit these locations, foretold by their dreams? Or are they in charge of their own destiny, making their own decisions?
They get on their way and a few days later they find themselves on a path leading out of the woods. The sound of waves crashing on the rocky shore become more and more clear. The path leads to a circle of weirwood trees. At the far end of the circle is an ancient snow-covered barrow. The low, snowy dome is ringed by a waist-high wall of wave-worn stone.
Looking around as they approach the weirwood circle, they realize they are walking through a field of dead soldiers and horses, yet their blood does not stain the snow. There must be hundreds of them in varied stages of decay. Some may have been dead a week, some 6 months or more. It is not obvious as to whether these were Starks, Night’s Watch, or clan warriors.
Walking into the circle of trees, their sense of deja-vu peaks as they look around at the trees. At the base of each one is a small stone, carved with a face. Each of the stones face the center of the circle.
Approaching the barrow, where the door should be stands a wall tiled by a familiar sliding mural with one tile having fallen to the ground. They know the last time they encountered this exact door, they inside that corrupted toy box and were attached by tin soldiers riding wooden horses.
They equip their weapons and Qhortho tries to slide a tile. It moves with ease. The sound of grinding bones catches their attention from behind and they see the fallen soldiers rising from the ground. A skeletal horse is seen in the distance along the path, perhaps a hundred yards away or more. A white walker is on its back with arms risen. The dead are ready to attack.
Qarzdaq takes the lead on trying to solve the sliding puzzle while Aran and Qhortho provide cover. Aran, wielding his newly-found dragonglass great axe, and Qhortho, with his Valyrian great sword, begin bashing the corporeal wights into shards.
Farron sees the white walker still out along the path and decides he can make for a quick end to this. He quickly sends uses Bardic Inspiration to Qarzdaq, then opens a Dimension Door near the white walker. The white walker, only 60 feet away from him now, maintains his arms-out pose without moving an inch.
Qarzdaq continues sliding pieces around, hearing shattering bones like ice falling to a stone floor. The sounds of grinding bones is a little too close for comfort. He glances behind him just as a corporeal wight is about to attack him. He quickly causes mirror images of himself to appear around him, confusing the wight. It attacks one of the images instead of Qarzdaq, causing it to disappear. Qhortho runs up behind the wight and shatters it to pieces with a single blow.
QARZ: Thanks.
With blackened eyes and breathing heavily, Qhortho grunts. Qarzdaq looks at Qhortho’s Root, which is active and seems to be pulsing. He then realizes his Amulet is also pulsing. They are still 10 feet from each other, but they both come to the realization that they really should not get any closer than they are.
Qhortho takes a step backward and the pulsing slows to the normal steady glow. Qhortho nods then runs towards the next undead soldier. Qarzdaq turns and gets back to work.
Meanwhile, Farron attempts to cast a spell on the white walker, but as he does, it just vanishes. No movement… just… gone.
FARR: Pussy.
Farron looks around, not seeing his target anywhere. He looks back at the flurry of activity in the center of the weirwood circle, over a hundred yards away. The dead continue to reanimate, but who is commanding them?
Suddenly, the White Walker appears roughly 40 feet from him in a different location from where he disappeared. He is still sitting atop the skeletal horse with his arms raised in the same position as before. The exact same position.
Farron realizes he’s been had. This is an illusion. A very powerful illusion. Just in case, he attempts to hold him in place, but it disappears just as before.
FARR: Fuck.
He looks back to his allies and starts running towards them. It’ll take him some time, but it’s all he can do at this point.
Qhortho’s had enough of this ruse. He remembers they just bashed this thing last time, and he gives that a shot. With a couple of smashes of his blade, it’s already looking damaged. Aran jumps in to help out, and smashes it a few times to destroy it. A magnificent and powerful burst of energy ripples from the door, knocking Aran, Qhortho, and Qarzdaq off their feet. It takes a few moments for them to get back to their feet.
Farron watches from afar as a blast of energy and light sweep his friends off their feet. At the same time, all of the undead that were already risen, and those in the midst of rising, suddenly disappear. They aren’t knocked down or blasted apart; they simply… disappear.
FARR: Fucking illusions… What are we dealing with here…
The barrow is now busted open, giving access to a dusty and cobwebbed stone room with various stone compartments. Upon entering, they notice a small spherical stone of a marbled scarlet and blue. Immediately, this seems to be another Ioun Stone.
We end this session on Day 758, with 4.5 kXP earned for each (this was actually two sessions), and everyone now at Level 14. Their intent is to travel southward, to the next Red Lightning location, but will they upgrade this Ioun Stone first?