A Lucky Reunion

With an exhausted Jukli at the reins and bedridden Ranoa, the group trudged on into the blizzard. As they rounded a corner and came upon a bridge, they saw an avalanche had taken out a cart and its horse. The party stopped and went to investigate and Lucy Luck recognized the cart as her sister’s, who she was on her way to visit. Lucy frantically searched the cart and snow as Ralathen began digging out the snow from the avalanche to clear the path. Below the bridge a frozen river ran and the party noticed a large ice cube sticking out of it, stuck to the surface. Putting together some tracks from the cart to the cube, Lucy Luck launched herself down the cliff believing the block of ice might be a clue about her sister’s whereabouts. With a lucky tumble down the bank she landed safely next to the cube and saw that it contained her sister! Using Ranoa‘s climbing rope, the party was able to lift up the block of ice and thaw out a living Lavidia Luck kept alive by an accidentally packed Thermal Cube. After much sisterly rejoicing, Lavidia Luck shared that she was on a mission from her client to stop the being causing the blizzards and disappearances along the road. She had done some research and interviewing to determine the creature was a flying blue humanoid. The party eventually agreed to help due to the circumstances owing Lucy Luck. Lavidia Luck had been attacked by the person and knew their lair was nearby and what direction they were headed after the attack. So with that information, Ralathen used their Raven Statue to scout down the river and found an orc with two wolves at a split in the river. Knowing it was peculiar for an orc to be out here by themselves, the group scrambled down to the frozen river and traveled downstream it to investigate further. Lucy Luck had volunteered to stay back to take care of Ranoa who was the butt of many jokes due to being sick and helpless.

As the group approached the fork in the river, they spotted the orc and Lavidia Luck and Jukli stepped forward to address him. The orc attempted to feign ignorance of the flying blue humanoid and inch closer to the party, but Jukli saw through his lies and could clearly overhear him talking in orc to his wolves. Eventually it was revealed that the orc was working for a blue lady and Jukli attempted to intimidate him for more information as Ralathen and Fergus approached to help causing the orc to look over at a broken section of the ice. The orc seemingly cornered between the group and a magical influence to protect the entrance of the lair, lunged to attack with his winter wolves. The groups then exchanged blows, with the wolves breathing frost and pouncing and the orc slashing with his great axe and Fergus using his recently Emerald-Infused Sling to great effect. Eventually, Jukli scared off the very bloodied orc who regained his composure and called for his wolves to retreat and they ran off. With the fighting finished and bruises aplenty, the party healed each other up with spells and Lavidia Luck used what she thought was a healing spell scroll on Ralathen and accidentally turned him into a frog. Polymorphing aside, the group investigated the hole in the ice and saw a teleportation symbol at the bottom of the river and one by one jumped into the chilling water to touch the symbol and get teleported elsewhere (presumably the lair).

And the lair it was! The party found themselves in a carved out ice cave with two paths in front of them. Investigating the ground for tracks they were able to determine clawed creatures traversed the left path and a humanoid traverses both. Deciding to head down the right path, Jukli found a skull and spoke with it gaining some information about the path ahead while Lavidia Luck took out a deck of cards and used Divination to gain more information about what was to come. Learning that ice mephits were ahead and seeing that the area was engulfed in mist, the party split into two groups with each group hugging a wall as they moved forward quietly. Fergus got a little off track and was swiped at by an ice mephit, but Ralathen grabbed him and pulled him to safety. The group met up at the other side of the mist and pushed forward towards an icy room. The room was relatively empty with furniture carved from ice set up almost like a study. On a pedestal at the back of the room was a box emitting conjuration magic. Lavidia Luck explained further that this being was likely a warlock and she was there to take the object linking the warlock to it’s patron, Beira. Believing the object was in the box, Lavidia Luck sent her frog familiar forward to cast the identify spell on the box, but as soon as the box was touched, the party was teleported again to another place.

The place the party found themselves in was a maze of large ice walls. As they stepped forward to explore, the warlock, Mevara, revealed herself cackling at her new play things while she flew above the maze. She attacked the party swooping down towards her target, slicing them with her ice knife, and swooping back up to hover above as the party searched for a way out. Jukli used his Balloon Backpack to float up above the maze and get a good look at the layout, while Mevara caused ice to crash down on Ralathen and block one of the paths. Seeing Jukli hovering above the maze, Mevara screamed “Cheater!” and flew over to slash the balloon rendering it useless. Mevara then flew out of sight and the party moved forward with Jukli‘s help knowing the maze layout. Keeping an eye out for traps, the party pressed forward navigating their way around obstacles and facing Mevara when she would appear over a wall. Eventually the party found an illusory wall and Ralathen punch through it revealing the center room of the maze, Mevara‘s refuge. In the center of the room, a white dragon egg box could be seen. Mevara put up a last ditch effort to turn the adventurers to ice, like the many they passed in the maze, but the party proved triumphant as Ralathen went all out on Mevara forcing her into a defensive ice block and hacking away. Fergus scored the final blow with a well-placed firebolt hitting Mevara causing her to melt away and get sucked into the dragon egg box. Lavidia Luck identified the box as the item she was tasked to find and scooped it up as the party grabbed the other loot in the room and made their way back to the cart.