Trollopulous Adjusted Session 108 (Machodor #61); Ice Lizard's (W)reckoning

  

          

There's a lot going on under the Ice Castle

Timekeeping

This session took place on 03/04/2025, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Introduction

After getting S ratings in session #57 for bypassing a 'dragon' lair that Slippery Pete had explored, the party were ready to kill those baby white dragons and their larger kin if necessary. However, unbeknown to them, these weren't dragons at all.

Player Characters Present

Sever the Wrathful (Level 8 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength, rider of Mustang) with henchmen Paul (P1) & Poindexter (M2)

Giuseppe (Level 7 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of the Dragonslayer and the Shield of Protection from Missiles, rider of Bonecrusher) with henchmen Bishoy and Tawadros (F5)

Sheamus (Level 7 Irish Fighter from Brovenloft, rider of the Rocket Cycle and wielder of the Drewblade) with henchman McScales (Lizardman F4)

Gurt the Green (Level 6 Paladin of Machodor, wielder of the Liberator+3, bearer of the Fabled Ice Jewel of Frigia, rider of Artax) with henchman Solaire (F3) and Anri (M3)

Julius L'Orange (Level 1 Fighter)

Downtime

Having accepted the thankless task of commanding the forces at the Ice Castle, Giuseppe arranged for a caster from Guarda to Dispel Magic on the Wizard Lock-ed door in the castle, saving the party from expending a Knock spell every time they wished to use it. Good work.

I.T. and McScales have been working on the captured sentinel robot head from the PSoD. Although non-operational, they had success extracting some of its memories. They were disturbed to discover what they called the "Liber qui nominari non debet", an audiobook* version of a forbidden tome being compiled by the Old Ones. 

*I didn't come up with that but it made total sense when one of the players said it.

Session Report

The tunnel appear pretty much the same as last time, except for the area of the 'conduit', this was nearly completely gone, mostly likely consumed by Ice Mephits like the ones they had tangled with in session #57. The found no opposition and took up positions to invade Part of these preparations were a rope ladder which Sever now hammered into position.

Earlier I had established the following rules that are relevant to what happened next. If approached in the day time, 1d4 Ice Lizards would be out hunting. Any so doing would be returning in 1d6 turns. Those remaining in the lair might be sleeping or might be awake. That seemed reasonable and low prep, as low Intelligence creatures they had no plan as such to deal with intruders.

So now it was time to roll and evaluate the results. The d4 came up with 4! I had to second guess myself here for a bit, would they really leave their lair unattended? Well they had some reason to be weary of an attack, their lair had a narrow and difficult to reach entrance. Also, their treasure (though substantial) , was not of much interest to the creatures. So I went with it. The "return time" rolls came up with 1,1,2 & 3. I scribbled down time markers.

10 archers were placed on lookout as Sever climbed down and established that the entrance was clear. Giuseppe came next and sent out a ping of Detect Evil, with no result. The lair itself was 70' away. Time to move in.

With the substantial party of 12 intending to make their way down the ladder one by one, I was now able to count down to when the first two of the creatures would return, with the suspicion that they would not all make it inside first. The countdown ran out with Julius having just made it into the entrance (the party shuffling down the narrow fissure with each new arrival) and Sever's henchman Paul coming down the rope ladder.

Combat #1: 2 Ice Lizards

Rounds: 1 surprise segment and 3 rounds

Result: Party Win

Highlights: From out of the swirling mist two Ice Lizards flew, holding between them a large herbivore they were bringing back to feast on. To add insult to injury, they got 1 segment of surprise; this they used to fling the dead shaggy cow thing into the fissure, right at Julius. Sporting a large shield, I decided that the new adventurer had a 50% chance of looking in the right direction to get it position to help. The dice came up his way and he simply blocked the creature from sliding further into the party.

Paul (Sever's new Paladin henchman recruit) was not so lucky, the other Ice Lizard breathed its frosty breath weapon on him. The Paladin made his save and took only 4 hit points. Good right? Well it turns out he only had 4 hit points. Now, we know that 0 hp is not instant death; but what if you are on a rope ladder? Well, as it turns out, then 0 HP is instant death. The unfortunate Paladin plummeted down out of sight into the mists below. The return fire from Solaire, along with 9 0-level human archers, and Irishman Shaemus, with his current 18:00 strength and a specially bought bow to match, got a solid hit in.

I wonder how he's doing now?

Next round, in the narrow funnel of rock in which the most of the rest of the party were strung out in a long line, the Ice Lizard flew in and its breath weapon got all of them, starting with Julius. I ruled that he had a bonus to his save due to cover from the large herbivore and shield, but he rolled very well and blocked the worst of it anyway. The rest of the party found that they faired better than expected from the blast; but why? Gurt held aloft the now glowing Fabled Ice Jewel of Frigia, which apparently provided similar protection to a Ring of Warmth, but to everyone within a certain radius. Thank King Vultan for the Old Ones in the PSoD getting their hands tentacles on it in time for the party to take it off them.

With their formation completely around the wrong way and with no means to rearrange themselves, all they could do was advance into the main section of the lair; not knowing that it was unoccupied. Here they started searching for enemies and detecting evil. Meanwhile, outside, the Ice Lizard there flew up and cast Fear: catching Sheamus, Solaire, and the 9 0-level human archers up there. 

The two characters saved; but most of the archers failed, and half of them dropped their bows in fear. Next round all but two would run way. Someone (I think Solaire) caught the little ice dragon with an arrow and, the hit point threshold crossed, it could no long fly and plummeted down to join Paul somewhere below.

With the outer threat gone, Shaemus scampered down the rope ladder and with McScales started tag teaming Ice Lizard #2, trying to subdue it. As a dragon crossbreed, similar to Firedrakes, I've ruled that subdual is possible and they managed to do so before it could get in its own Fear spell.

The danger was over (or so they hoped) and the party inside the lair began a careful search and gathering up of the treasure. According to the rules, after a fight a party needs to rest for 1 turn (searching around can be done in this time, and, given that most of the party hadn't actually fought, I was more lenient), Sever went to retrieve the body of his henchman (kicking out the dead woolly cow absent mindedly as he did so) and Giuseppe positioned himself to guard the entrance. Ice Lizard number 3# was due back part way through this period, so I allowed that Giuseppe would have been in position when it arrived. Sever had disappeared into the mists below and for a change was the one receiving comms in his own channel.

Combat #2: 1 Ice Lizard

Rounds:  1 

Result: Party Win

Highlights: For the first time in the campaign Giuseppe was able to wield his Dragonslayer sword against an actual dragon (of sorts); at least I allowed the bonus to be applied. But does this really count if no one was there to see it? Anyway, the Paladin prevailed and became ever more wary.

Combat #3: 1 Ice Lizard

Rounds: 2

Result: Party Win 

Highlights: Ice Lizard #4 arrived just as Sever was carrying Paul's body back up the rope ladder. At this point I was glad I had a method in place and had a clear conscience over the hard time I was giving them. Giuseppe killed the previous Ice Dragon and finally things were back under control when the new one arrived.

The party gathered up the loot and sent it back with their Dwarf mercenaries (triggering a loyalty check), along with Paul's body, and the party reset to continue forward. They first returned to the scene of the talking tree from session (#57?), but it was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the door or the landing that had been there either, only a shallow nook was remaining. WTH?

They now continued down the terrace into unexplored areas filled with the icy mists. The mists moved and flowed in an unnatural fashon, and each part member started to get a strange feeling about what was going on in their depths. 

Sever went to investigate the edge of the terrace and found he could see nothing beyond. When he turned back, a group of strange icy undead looking creatures had been advancing on the main body of the party while he was scouting:

Combat #4: 7 "Ice Men" 

Rounds:  3 rounds

Result: Party Win

Highlights: It turned into a big old unarmed combat fest. Fortunately, after some trial and error I've been preparing a spreadsheet for storing all the variables required for such combat and I finally was ready to use it. All seven "Ice Men" went for grapples but were fended off by the stout front line of Giuseppe, Gurt, and Sheamus. The next round the enemy used claw/claw/bite routines, with the latter giving Giuseppe a nasty nip; the paladin's eyes misted over and he went on a rampage against his allies! This turned into an unarmed combat extravaganza that thankfully ended when McScales threw his net over four battling player characters and Giuseppe was beaten into submission.

Sever retraced the steps of the creatures and found they stopped some 70 yards down the terrace ahead. It was uncanny, as though they had come out of nowhere or had simply been dropped there out of the sky. This was enough for one day, the party retreated to the Ice Castle and locked the door.

Epilogue with Sheamus

DM: You get back to Castle Irish safely. Do you take Polk {Sheamus named him} to show Sarumin (NPC Wizard)?

Sheamus: "Yes"

Sarumin: "This is not a dragon, but an Ice Lizard, a creature perhaps bred from dragons in similar manner to the Firedrake."

Sheamus: "Oof"

DM: He immediately casts Charm Monster.

Sarumin: "Although subdued, that thing is not smart enough to stay that way. It may have attacked me on sight, but it is safe for now.""

Sheamus: "Do you know of any potential buyers?"

Sarumin: "Certainly, if you are interested, I will purchase the creature from you. For the right price."

Sheamus: "800 gold"

Sarumin: "Done!"

DM: Sarumin has a Firedrake familiar, you get the feeling it is not too impressed with his purchase.

Session Statistics: 

Wilderness travel: 1/2 Mile

Combats: 4

Combat rounds:  9

Treasure & Items

10,000gp in foreign coins extracted from the frozen gore in the Ice Lizard lair,

also 5 items of jewellery:
1. 1800gp wrought gold fertility figure
2. 2500gp thin human figure of jade
3.  8000gp gold cube with gems
4.  3000 silver diadem with gems
5.  300gp wrought gold pin

total value 25,600 gp (not bad! thank who ever allocated treasure type G to these guys)

Flask of an Oily Substance: Seems to provide some benefit against cold. 1000xp

Ice Token (Greater Identified) : BIRD — a token which when activated can be used to drive off any sort of hostile avian creatures or as a vehicle of transportation equal to a roc of the largest size in all respects (1 day duration). Can be used once only. 500xp

Bracers (Greater Identified) of Defence AC 7 1500 xp

Scroll of 4 Magic User Spells (Blink (3), Hallucinatory Terrain (4), Phase Door (7), Charm Plants (7)) 

Monsters

3 Ice Lizards 1020xp
7 "Ice Men"  1890 xp

31,510 XP & 25,600 GP Assignment

Sever (E) 3939 XP & 3100 GP

 and Poindexter (E)1969 XP & 1550 GP

 and Paul (E)  0 XP & 0 GP

Giuseppe (E) 3939 XP & 3100 GP

  and Bishoy & Tawadros (E) 1969 XP & 1550 GP

Sheamus (E)  3939 XP & 3100 GP

 and McScales (E)  1969 XP & 1550 GP

Gurt the Green (E) 3939 XP & 3100 GP

  and Solaire (E)  1969 XP & 1550 GP

  and Anri (E)  1969 XP & 1550 GP

Julian (E) 3939 XP & 3100  GP

Graveyard

Paul (Henchman Paladin level 1), reduced to 0 hit points by white dragon breath when climbing down a rope ladder in session #108. Killed not by the fall; but by the sudden stop at the bottom. RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Ignatius the Smiter (Cleric level 1), horrifically mutilated and killed by double hit from a Shoggoth in session #106

Domby (Henchman with Dex 5), double surprised and turned into a pin cushion in session #87

Luke (Half elf Fighter/Cleric level 1), tragically killed by a normal hydra while trying to cauterise one of its neck stumps in session  #86

Gurt the Green (Paladin level 3),  killed by a hydra bite in session  #86 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Pleasance (Footman level 0), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Siegward (Henchman Fighter level 1), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Tawadros (Henchman Fighter level 4),  killed by a phase spider bite in session #81 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Patria (Footman level 0), killed by a two headed snake bite in session #81

Deltacron (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 1/1), threw his last flask of oil at, and was level drained to death by, a Vampire in session #76

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), wrong place, wrong time; killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Red (Paladin Level 1), always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Magic User level 1), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2)  Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39