Frost, Fey, and Folly

This past week's session was an original adventure I wrote for my Swords & Wizardry campaign players. Now that the group has been playing through 140+ sessions it is fairly easy to do some callbacks to the past. I incorporated the Silver Princess in this one. A few of the players had forgotten the connection.

Session 143: Frost, Fey, and folly

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aldus (human cavalier), Gabriel Anteriana (human cleric), Domago (human cleric, NPC), Brovin (human thief, NPC).

The adventurers have passed through a forest gate into the feywild. Arriving in winter, their magic tracking points unerringly in the direction of their stolen ship.

The group makes its way through the snow and ice. The landscape is devoid of life. After an hour of trudging, they feel some large thumps through the ground. Concerned for avalanches the group looks about cautiously and then spots an enormous, white, and blue hairy spider on the horizon heading in their direction. The spider is 60 feet in diameter and stands 40 feet tall.

“Wait!” Lakima tells everyone as he prepares a spell. Then with the final command word a bolt of intense light flashes toward the giant spider and it is turned to powder in an instant.

“Disintegrated it!” Lakima laughs.

Emboldened the group continues on in the direction the arrow pointed hours ago. Making steady progress toward the crag of rock they are using as a waypoint. Out of the snow emerges a small three-story stone castle. The castle has no windows on the ground floor but orange light peaks out of windows on the first floor. The roofs are peaked to prevent snow from building up. The entire structure is covered in frost and ice.

“There!” Eathwund shouts and points to a ship covered in snow and ice, not 50 feet from the entrance to the castle. The Cloudstealer. Steps lead up to a nine-foot-tall pair of double doors on the second floor.

“Be on guard, it looks like we might be dealing with Frost Giants,” Lakima warns.

Lakima waves Brovin forward and the trapfinder moves quickly up the icy steps to the door. While trying to pick the lock the door swings open and Brovin finds himself face-to-face with an ugly goblinoid creature with a bloody red cloth cap and bloodshot eyes.

“You are expected, come in,” the creature cackles.

Eathwund looks at Lakima who shrugs. Eathwund then steps through the doorway as the creature steps back. Soon Aldus, Lakima follows. A short time later everyone else enters. Inside is a tall stone chamber. An ornate pair of oak doors of similar height across the way are guarded by another goblin-like creature with a red cap. More doors enter the chamber but they appear human-sized. 

“Frostbite, tell our Ladyship that the guests have arrived,” the first creature encountered says to its fellow. The second creature nods and cracks open the far door to step inside. The chamber is cold and made of stone. A light frost covers the walls.

“The Lady Althea will see you now,” the creature says and swings open the door into a well-lit chamber.

One by one the adventurers enter a large audience chamber. A coldly beautiful woman with elvish features sits on a wooden throne atop a dais in a fairly bare chamber. There are four portraits on the walls and a pair of doors entering the chamber on opposite walls.

“I am the Lady Althea of the Winter Court,” the woman says. She pauses as if expecting a reaction or some sign of recognition. When no one moves or speaks a look of annoyance crosses her features.

Finally, Aldus steps forward and kneels and introduces the adventurers to Lady Althea. Lakima immediately launches into a series of questions to the lady asking why she stole their ship and risked the consequences of the Company of the Black Dragon. Lady Althea is unthreatened and appears amused. She listens to Lakima and then explains her tale.

She summoned them in what seemed the logical manner to her. As a Winter Fey of the High Court, there are Rules she must adhere and for this reason, she needs agents to work on her behalf. Her child has been kidnapped by the Summer Court and she needs them to return her. Fortunately, she knows where her child is being held. Unfortunately, it is in the mortal realm in a place called Haven. She did send winter elf agents to Haven but they have not returned. She will return their ship if they rescue her child from Princess Argentia of Haven.

“Well, if a child is at risk, we are willing to take on the task,” Lakima states, “Otherwise we would just take our ship.”

Further in the conversation, Lady Althea is surprised to hear that they did not receive her message that was to be delivered by one of her servants. She is also surprised to hear that they were attacked by the giant spider. It is a pet of hers and was supposed to be in its pen. She summons her consort Hailshadoe and questions him about the pet’s location. Lady Althea gives the company an escort of three winter elves to ensure they can get to the portal to the Kingswood unmolested.

The trip back to the portal is cold but uneventful. The winter elves leave without a word and the group steps through the portal.

“Where is this, Haven?” Aldus asks once they are safely back near the Bridgeway. Lakima tells Aldus and Gabriel about the adventure the group had a few years ago in Haven when they saved Princess Argentia the Silver Princess. They are friends of the court so this mission should be simple.

Confident that he has a good sense of direction, Lakima leads the group into Kingswood in the general direction of Haven. They expect to arrive before dark but as darkness falls, they find themselves lost in the woods. They set up camp and set watches.

The next morning, they find an old friend watching them sleep from a nearby tree. Elysia Silverwind, the elven ranger greets them and asks them what brings them to the border of Haven. Eathwund explains their mission and Elysia is puzzled but agrees to take them to Haven. It takes only 6 hours for Elysia to lead the company to the new village of Haven. A small town of Summer elves who have left the Feywild to accompany Princess Argentia. From the village, they head to the Silver Palace and gain entrance. Elysia explains that the Company of the Black Dragon wishes to speak with Princess Argentia and they are given an audience after only a short wait in a guest chamber.

Entering the busy throne room they see fey elves, high elves, and humans and dwarves. Princess Argentia greets the company recognizing Lakima and Eathwund. She asks after some of the members of the group who are no longer with them – Alonso, Ashdoshan, Fenris, and Lantosh. After the pleasantries are over, Lakima brings up the reason for their visit.

Princess Argentia looks concerned and then turns and waves to a beautiful young elven woman seated on her right.

“This is Naeloria, my sister, and she is hardly a child,” Argentia says. Naeloria appears to be about 20 which could be as old as 40 for an elf. “She is old enough to make her own decision, but perhaps it is time for her to visit her mother to alleviate her fears.”

Argentia convinces Naeloria that she should go with the Company of the Black Dragon and stay with her mother for at least a few weeks to let her mother know she is well.

“You can come back and visit anytime, Naeloria,” Argentia tells her.

The adventurers stay for a state dinner and stay the night. The next day they set out with Lady Naeloria. A troop of elven rangers guides them to the Bridgeway and tells them that they will wait and guard the structure. The adventurers cross through the Forest Gate again to the Feywild in the Realm of Winter. It is bitterly cold and windy, but Naeloria seems unaffected by the cold. They set out in single file for the castle of Lady Althea.

After an hour they see a white dragon approaching from the direction of the castle. Atop its back is Hailshadoe. Naeloria warns the group that she does not trust Hailshadoe.

“He has always hated me,” Naeloria says.

The white dragon lands nearby and Hailshadoe greets the group. He spots Naeloria and orders her up on the dragon telling the adventurers that he will return the lady to her mother. Naeloria looks clearly afraid to go.

Lakima tells Hailshadoe that they will escort the lady and they need no assistance. Hailshadoe is angered by this but he does not threaten them. Instead, he gets on his white dragon and flies away.

Not long after the group is ambushed by a pair of yeti and a pair of snow owlbears working together. The enormous creatures attempt to overrun the group but are held back by Eathwund and Aldus. During the fight, a snow golem rises up out of the snow near Lakima and knocks him unconscious with a single strike. Domago hurries to Lakima’s unconscious form lying in the snow and casts healing on him bringing him around. The white dragon reappears and breathes its frost breath on half of the group, Lakima is knocked unconscious again. August grabs up Lakima’s fallen Staff of Power but Gabriel heals Lakima and he stands again taking back the staff. By this time Eathwund and Aldus have killed the two yeti and are fighting the owlbears. The snow golem is killed with magic missiles and Hailshadoe and the white dragon are blasted by a lightning bolt. Hailshadoe plummets 100 feet to land in the snow dead, and the white dragon flies off. Aldus and Eathwund manage to kill off the last owlbears.

Naeloria emerges unharmed from cover in the snow. The group sets off and makes it to the castle. Lady Althea is happy to see her daughter and rewards the group. She also freezes a confidant of Hailshadoe. Lady Althea has her servants return the helm to the Cloudstealer and she releases Ezmeralden and the crew of the ship. 

The adventurers fly back to the forest gate and enter back in the mortal realm. Ezmeralden thanks them for saving him. The ship then flies north to Edgerton. After some rest, Lakima takes the time to identify the items they recovered from their adventures in the Great Desert. Once everything is identified the group splits the magic items up between them.

Epilogue

Aldus goes to visit Norine Gayheart in the School of Magic. He is surprised to learn that Norine is aware of the love potion in her wine when Aldus confesses to her. Heartened by the fact that Norine is not mad at him Aldus asks Norine to marry him and she accepts.