Hammer 13, 1489
Dre'zel my love,
Even though we all survived, our incursion into the berserker’s cave went horribly wrong in ways I never imagined. When we first entered, we were ambushed by two white dragon wyrmlings, which breathed their frost breath on us.
Leaping into action, Ambrose ran up the side of a stalagmite, leaped into the air, and punched the nearest wyrmling with a flurry of blows that left it crashing down, dead, on the spiky stone cave floor. Sliding into the darkness, I finished the remaining wymling with a few arrows.
Using his magic detection, Saritu picked the valuables from the paltry wyrmling hoard. She also explained that the ring that had transported us to the cave was given to the berserkers by Auril.
Following a passage north, we found two gated alcoves, each containing an egg from which the wyrmlings hatched long ago.
From here, we could see the heavily barred portcullis entrance from the inside. No mechanism to open the bars could be found, leaving us to conclude that the berserkers must just lift the bars every time they come and go.
We followed a blue glow coming from the west, which led to a small chamber that was chilled by a blue flame in a stone brazier that seemed to be built from the cave itself. After confirming that the chamber contained no inhabitants or exits, I stood guard outside while Talyth and the others investigated.
A short passage to the northwest led to a wooden bridge spanning a chasm. A chopping sound could be heard in the distance from another passage leading northeast.
Suddenly, we heard shouting from the entrance to the cave, and I heard that one of the voices was Steve’s.
Just then, the chopping sounds stopped, and a large berserker rounded a bend from the end of the northeast passage, wielding a large cleaver and an owlbear leg. From the darkness, I landed three arrows, dropping the berserker, and ran toward the refuse hole to assist Steve. It seemed that he and his new companions were being chased, presumably by more berserkers.
I later learned that the berserker I dropped rose again, as would all of them, as long as the cold flame burned. Saritu read the inscriptions on the brazier: cruelty, endurance, isolation, preservation. She had also identified the brazier as a gift from Auril, providing a blessing to its inhabitants.
I slid down the chute, where one of Steve’s new companions lay dead, only to be attacked by two berserkers before I could get to my feet. I scrambled away from them as quickly as I could, and fortunately, they ignored me and climbed up the hole. Had they pursued me, I may have been done for, but in retrospect, they were eager to enter their protective home.
By the time I made it inside the cave entrance, all five of the berserkers had been killed by my companions and Steve’s new companions. Steve’s two surviving companions seemed to be D'zaan, the Red Wizard and member of the Arcane Brotherhood, whom we had seen burning at the stake, and his undead bodyguard. The wizard later explained that he was only a simulacrum of D'zaan.
I ran inside to check on Talyth and found her badly injured. She had used her divine magic to merge with the stone brazier in order to disrupt its power to heal the berserkers. She was successful but had paid a steep cost. Besides being almost mortally wounded when she was ejected from the brazier after an encounter with Auril, the Frostmaiden robbed her of her darkvision! I tried to console her, insisting that her eyes would be fine. She is so wise, I’m confident that she will find a way to overcome this malady. Perhaps ending the Rime will restore her darkvision. I cannot imagine that she will remain so diminished.
After Ambrose and Jojo explored the rest of the cave, only finding sleeping, storage, and food quarters, we took a short rest.
It seemed that Steve owed a debt to D'zaan, who explained that he wanted to find his master’s tower, which was less than a day’s travel away, so that he could restore his master. We were all dubious of allowing this to happen, considering that D'zaan had betrayed his previous companions.
We decided to rest in the cave and alert Vellynne to what had occurred.
Saritu cast a Sending: “We found D’zaan’s tower, high hill east of Kelvin’s Cairn. Simulacrum of D’zaan and its dead ally walk with us. Will meet us there?”
Vellynne replied: “Do not trust the red wizard. We are on our way. Know hill you speak of.”
It was midnight when we left the cave, heading northwest toward D’zaan’s tower, which supposedly had fallen upside down from the sky, impaling the tundra where it fell.
The travel was slow, as we were in no hurry to reach this tower before Vellynne did, and I was paying more attention to assisting Talyth navigate in the dark.
After a few hours, we reached a frozen river. On the other side, I saw almost a dozen large humanoids, whom I assumed were barbarians, followed by a giant. Not wanting to risk a fight before we reached the tower, we decided to wait until they passed before crossing the river ourselves.
A short while after we had crossed the river, we were once again engulfed in one of Auril’s blizzards. This one lasted far longer than the previous ones, and we rested for sixteen hours in Talyth’s Tiny Hut before it stopped.
Being in such an enclosed space with these folks was almost enough to drive one as mad as one of Baenre’s torture chambers. I was fortunate enough to occasionally escape into the blizzard, but I kept my excursions brief due to their magical nature and knowing that Talyth could never leave.
I don’t know what was worse. Ambrose and Steve got obnoxiously drunk. Jojo kept going on and on about our adventures, past and future, and the prospect of meeting his true family, who had abandoned him. Despite the obvious impediments, D’zaan kept complaining that we weren’t making haste to his master’s tower, while his undead bodyguard looked on in ominous and odorous silence. Talyth was obviously in a dark place. And Taimen was also brooding unexpectedly for some reason. Meanwhile, Saritu was periodically cackling like a lunatic.
Talyth questioned Saritu about her dwarven amulet, which the half-elf took the time to identify, sharing that it had psionic powers and allowed her to see invisible creatures and things. Fortunately, she was convinced to place the device in Steve’s bag of holding. Hopefully, this will restore her to her senses…
Once the blizzard had stopped, we continued on our journey. I was grateful to finally escape into the refreshing tundra.
After three hours, we reached a large hill topped by a smaller but large depression made by the falling tower.
Nodding an indication of her plan, Taimen swatted D’zaan into the depression with her tentacle, and the wizard went tumbling down.
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