Still reeling from their narrow escape and from their friend's demise, Lotty, Berrik and Null try to focus on their current situation and what that means for their overall mission in High Rock. Berrik gets to work on Tiny Hut, hoping to give them some respite from the elements as they plan next steps. Once the dome is complete, Lotty gathers Berrik and Null, reminding the latter to heal because she looks terrible. Null is not enthused about healing up when she just saw her friend die half an hour ago, but she obliges. We have work to do. Lotty fills in Null about what they learned at the hobgoblin camp: Zubbe, the kids, Sally and Trolley's visit. She thinks we should go straight for the prison next, as this may be our best chance while the Deathless Queen and Babysitter of the Year are away from the city. Null chimes in that Ashen Rider implied he wouldn't be back before tomorrow. It goes unsaid between the three that going directly for the prison is exactly what Flynn would do.
Lotty next asks Berrik to send her Da another message, hoping proximity will give them a better chance for a response. Berrik casts Sending to Frug, saying: "We're coming soon, we're going to get everyone out. Be ready. Have you figured out the collars, rouse any fighters you can. Lotty loves you". To everyone's dismay, the message goes unanswered. Wherever he is, Frug is unable to respond.
With the bones of a plan in place, Null and Berrik take a short rest. Lotty casts Arcane Eye and sends it towards High Rock, hoping to get a lay of the land before they go back. With the Eye she surmises that Calitrax has not yet returned. She sees Indra giving orders in the Longhouse. Lotty also manages to narrow down the prison's location in the mountain below the Longhouse before the Arcane Eye dissipates. Next, Lotty gets to work healing up Nessie while the group figures out the details of their plan. Flying is the quickest way, but how do we get across the landscape without being seen? Berrik mulls Polymorphing vs. Invisibility. What are the risks compounded with these strange psychic attacks that have been afflicting him? Null is hesitant to use up another ten minutes of her invisibility cloak, as she only has 45 minutes (yes, definitely 45 minutes and not 40 minutes) remaining after their earlier run-in with the Ashen Rider. What could possibly obscure us from view during the entire flight? Surely we haven't been carrying around the perfect item for this exact need? Damn right, we have! Null had certainly vibed with the goth aesthetic of the jet-black orb she'd been carrying around, but she never thought they'd actually have a use for the Nightfall Pearl. No time like the present to summon 10 miles of nighttime darkness. Everyone agrees that this is our best bet to get to the mountain below the Longhouse unseen. We wrap up our resting and preparations while Null gets to work. After ten minutes, darkness falls across the land and dang I sure hope we're not going to have to live through the rest of Vincent Price's outro to Thriller. The previously jet-black orb now glows with a white light, warm to the touch in Null's hands. She wraps the Pearl and places it in her pocket. Time to fly.
The journey takes exactly ten minutes. So tight is the timing that Berrik has to cast Passwall into the face of the mountain at exactly the moment Lotty and Berrik's flight runs out, giving them a place to land. They've got 20x5 ft of solid ground to work with now, so Berrik takes the time to cast Locate Creature on Frug. He detects Frug's presence far deeper into the mountain, so we best keep tunnelling in. Another two castings of Passwall reveal a large dark cave, around 100 ft across and chilly as hell. The rock formations are irregular in placement and height, and so are inconvenient for us to traverse to the single passage we see. Instead of wasting more resources on a short trip, Null (and her Ring of Flying) volunteer to ferry Berrik and Lotty across the rocky platforms. We make it across and continue through the passage into...
Another cavern! This one is less platformy, but still more massive and dark and even colder than the last. Stalactites descend from the 30 ft ceiling and several throughways surround a deep chasm in the centre of the chamber. We notice that this room is occupied by 3, no 4, undead frost giants. One of them is blocking the only visible exit to this chamber. They're kinda just standing around at the moment, so our presence hasn't been noticed. Yet. Null flies up to the ceiling, hoping she's less likely to be spotted there. Lotty and Berrik hear very un-sexy moaning coming from the chasm below. Their disgust must be truly palpable because a couple of the frost giants now seem to be aware of their presence, looking around for the intruders. Null sees this and aims her crossbow at a stalactite across the room, hoping the impact will pull the attention of the giants away from her friends and away from where we need to go. This ploy works for all giants but the one in front of the exit. The chasm churns to life at the noise and a blue glow starts emitting from the bottom. Berrik tries to take advantage of the commotion, casting Greater Invisibility on himself and Lotty. The door giant doesn't see them, but does hear the verbal component of the spell and so knows something is up. Lotty casts Expeditious Retreat on herself and lobs a Firebolt across the room to help further the distraction as she sprints through the door giant's legs. Berrik runs up to the giant as far as he can, stopping just short of the towering form. He notices the blue glow from the chasm getting ever brighter as the seconds tick by. Null activates her invisibility cloak and flies past the giant as well. Berrik finally passes the giant on his next turn and three keep fleeing. They don't go far before the passage narrows too much for the giant to follow, but the sounds of pursuit still persist. The moaning and rushed foot steps on the slippery floor tell the trio that the coldlight walkers from the chasm are still coming. Greater Invisibility drops on Lotty and Berrik after one minute, and so Null pulls her hood down to drop hers. 44 minutes left on the cloak. The trio keep running until they see a fork in the passageways ahead. We need a breather. Lotty turns around and rifles through Flynn's belongings until she finds a scroll of Wall of Stone. She needs a Flash of Genius to finish the job, but she successfully conjures a thick stone wall behind them. The dead will have no way of following them now.
Berrik tries to ignore the sounds of mindless flesh hitting the new stone wall as he focuses on Locate Creature. We will need to take the passage on the right to get to Frug. Null suggests Berrik cast Telepathic Bond so that we make less noise going forward. He obliges and we keep moving. It's even colder here and it takes extra effort to unstick our feet from the frozen floor, but we all manage to stave off exhaustion. Berrik casts Oasis on himself to make the journey easier for us - the 15 ft surrounding our wizard now feels like a crisp autumn day. We keep walking through the rocky tunnels for 10-20-30 minutes until we see an opening ahead - another cavern? Whatever it is it's well-lit, so brightly that we can see falling snowflakes amidst a stiff wind. It's the sound of rattling chains that stops us in our tracks though - we're here. We halt our progress around 30 ft back from the opening. Null pokes her head out of the Oasis and finds the temperature less punishing than before. Lotty casts Arcane Eye again to try to scope out exactly what we're dealing with. This will drop her concentration on the Wall of Stone, but hopefully 30 minutes of distance is enough to keep the walkers away.
Lotty sends the Eye ahead and describes the horrific realities of the prison beneath High Rock to her companions. She sees a truly massive chamber, hundreds of feet high. In the centre of the ceiling is an enormous winch-like device with hundreds of thick chains connecting to it like steel tendrils. Each chain connects to a single dangling cage. The cages are suspended high above the ground and each one holds a wretched, shivering occupant. The prisoners wear nothing but rags and thick metal collars, the ones we've heard about. Through the Eye, Lotty starts scanning the cells for any sign of her family.
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| And this is just one branch! |