#122 - Consignment and Planning

From the Annals of the Gateekeper Izzeth, Druid of Dagger Wood / Zarantyr 25th, 999 YK

The Children of Winter have lost an ally. Frost is returned to Eberron.

Normally, I eschew the ways of my people and do not involve myself in revenge. In fact, if Frost had not sought us out and attacked, I likely would not have hunted her down for her actions, but once she chose to engage us, it was all too easy to draw upon some of my earliest memories and mete out justice. Despite her efforts to heal herself, once her pet was banished and we dispatched the lesser distractions, it took but a single spell to fell her.

When she collapsed to the ground, a dark grey-green mist emerged from her body and enveloped Cypher, Aleae, and Bale. The acrid mist burned their throats and caused fits of coughing, it was clearly some sort of poison. The poison cloud was so thick that I could only make out vague shapes within it. I can only assume that Aleae and Bale found their way to the far side of the mist, because their coughing ceased quickly. Cypher on the other hand, remained within the cloud for a moment longer as he fumbled around to see if there was anything of value on Frost’s body.

Having ended combat, my companions quickly made their way back towards the throne of Glyphone, where the hobgoblin woman awaited—perhaps a bit too quickly. In their haste, they did not even wait for the entire party to regroup. From the far side of the fountain, we faintly detected something approaching, attempting to move with stealth. Gnolls emerged from both sides.

Cypher, Bale, Aleae, and Clarion engaged the gnolls on the right. Aleae leveled her wondrous wand at the gnolls on the right and they were immediately limned in a magical flame of iridescent color, making them very easy to target, even in the near darkness of this chamber.

On the left, three gnolls aimed their bows at Magnus and myself and let loose their arrows. Magnus returned fire, literally, with streams of flame trailing from his arrows back to his bow. The fire reflected in his eyes and from some of the scales sewn into his skin and his grin was truly from ear to ear. Watching each arrow explode into a small fireball delighted him in a way that I cannot fully grasp. He also seemed quite pleased to see me tossing flames at our enemies.

I managed to note that Wynn took out a few of the gnolls before a sphere of darkness appeared and blocked my view of the enemies on the right. I am becoming more familiar with Bale’s methods and I have to admit, they are quite effective—if not always in concert with the rest of the party's.

These gnolls were no match for us—though we know there are many more of them nearby—and soon only one remained. The gnoll turned to flee, but Magnus drew back his bow and deftly placed his shot, exploding the last foe in a fiery torrent.

The group began to head, once more, for the throne, but I had to attend to Ket’s body first. I quietly informed them that I had to ensure that Ket would not rise again and to prepare a few rites so that Eberron could reclaim her spirit. Clarion suggested that we move her body to the throne and tend to it there, which I accepted.

While the others made preparations for our assault on the cauldron, I carefully laid Ket’s body down and began my ritual. I tended to her appearance, straightening her hair and smoothing her outfit. I brushed the dirt off of her face and cleaned the refuse from the mound off of her as best I could.

Taking some of my rope, I folded her knees and tied them together. Taking some bloodroot from my spell component pouch, I ground it into a fine powder and mixed it with saliva. I then painted her face—at least the part that had not been smote by one of the Children of Winter. I traced a circle of ash around her body and whispered a few words before setting the flame to her body. As the flame consumed her, I sat quietly, chanting the names of her family and friends so that she would know that she was loved in this world.

She will not rise again. Her body returns to the Dragon Between, and her spirit will pass into the realm of the Dragon Above.

Having done my duty, I was ready to return my attention to the group. There was much discussion as to how to proceed. Did we attempt to assault the Cauldron directly or seek the vampire lord they call Trazzen? Could both be attained? Which was the greater threat? Meanwhile, a small army of gnolls lay between us and the chamber of the Cauldron. With the power of the Sceptre of Glyphstone, Irakas would be able to teleport us anywhere in the dungeons we wished. In the end, we decided she would teleport us directly to the Cauldron chamber, and the golem would be used to draw the gnolls' attention. Irakas believed it might be able to withstand their attacks and eventually march down to the Cauldron through them. There was no way of knowing how tough the gnolls were, only that there were many of them. Sixty or more, according to Irakas.

Aleae used her magic to view the chamber of the Cauldron from a distance so we would have some idea of what we faced before making the jump. We watched her face in anticipation of good news, but before we could even ask what she saw, her face twisted into a mask of fright. When she was able to relay what she saw, we knew that our task would be difficult. Meanwhile, Irakas used the power of the Scepter to detect lifeforms in the same chamber—there were only a few. This suggested the rest would be undead.

According to Aleae, guarding the entrance to the chamber were two enormous undead beasts whose limbs stretched impossibly long into bony claws. These guardians alone would be enough to unsettle us, but there were also various skeletal guardians, a handful of chained goblinoid captives, a skeletal serpent, and the hideousness of the Cauldron itself. The most chilling foe was a shadowy dragon, which sat near the center of the chamber, vigilant.

I am not sure we will all survive this next challenge, perhaps I will see Ket soon.