Alturiak 2, 1489
Dre'zel, my love,
As the spire stabilized, Talyth placed the Scroll of Tarrasque Summoning and the Scroll of Comet in her pack.
JoJo looked over Graven’s shoulder and surmised that the quicksilver and crystal rod were related to creating magen, along with some blood.
Graven suggested that the obelisk could be activated by spending ten or more charges of the staff while it was in contact with it, but was unsure what activating it would do.
Taimen and Gosse summoned the Everlast, who seemed upset at this master’s demise, but was appeased by Gosse, who explained that Iriolarthas had become incompetent and that we still intended on restoring the Netherese empire.
They were interrogating the Everlast about the spindle when their questions were interrupted by Auril’s booming voice, addressing her army: “They are still within the tower. Shoot down any who flee. Slay any who emerge. I will hunt them down myself! Throw down your weapons, and I will spare you, but know I am coming!”
Taimen and Gosse concentrated on the mythallar until the city shook, righting itself as it hovered free of its icy shelf. From the tiny scratched window, we saw some buildings fall, and chaos erupted from within the Frostmaiden’s army as many scattered for safety. The barrier of force still seemed to be intact and holding the remaining horde at bay.
Casting Thaumaturgy, Talyth approached the window and boomed to her goddess, “Have you been keeping this place encased in ice to keep the blight in? We could destroy it together.”
Auril boomed back, “Look at you! Mere tombraiders. Cloaking yourselves in artifacts stolen from a dead people. Clutching your staves and scrolls, this is but another ruined temple for you to explore and loot. Your hubris is a testament to the impatience of mortals. I sought to protect this place. To shield the world from what it contains. You have let it loose. It is too late to destroy it, Talyth of Menzoberranzan. But it is not too late for me to destroy you!”
There was a chill in the air, as wind and even snow began to pass through the very walls. Then the Frostmaiden was there, with us in Iriolarthas’ study! Hovering atop the upper landing was a hunched, seven-foot-tall bipedal grayish-white wolf with cloven hooves, black talons, and curved goat horns protruding from a snowy owl head.
“All I wanted was quiet,” the Cold Crone roared at Talyth, her voice a raging blizzard. “The Furies crave noise and chaos. Umberlee with her crashing waves. Malar with his gnawing, gnashing teeth. And Talos with his storms and thunder. I wanted stillness. I wanted peace! The duergar! The drow! Any who followed, I would have buried them in snow. All would have been still, silent, and serene. But you have unstoppered a bottle whose contents will pour across the world! And now it is time for us to parley. It’s time for you to explain yourselves or else face my vengeance.”
“My mother tried to sacrifice me to you, but she failed,” JoJo admonished the deity. “Your followers aren’t very good.”
“One of my followers has kept you alive time and time again,” the goddess replied. “I know not why.” Then, turning to Talyth, she continued, “She failed out of cleric school. Just like in Menzoberranzan, Talyth, you fell for the first pretty thing you saw. You stepped onto the surface and saw an aurora above you, and you pledged yourself to me, not knowing who I was. I stand before you now. Flee!”
“That’s not true!” Talyth pleaded. “That’s not true. I’ve seen the other sides of you. This is what you choose to do right now, because you’ve built up all of these followers who will do whatever evil tasks you set out, but they don’t help you. They just leave you in this cycle where you will slowly destroy this part of the mortal plane, and then you’ll have quiet, but it won’t matter because there won’t be anything in contrast to it. That’s not quiet, that’s nothing! You won’t have anything, and then you’ll have to leave here too.”
“I don’t need your words,” the Frostmaiden reprimanded. “I don’t need your praise. I don’t need your worship. All I need is your terror and the silence that follows your screams when they are last—”
Gosse whipped out his eldritch wand and blasted Auril before hiding behind JoJo. Rising to the ceiling, the goddess blasted Taimen, JoJo, Talyth, Graven, and Vellynne with an Ice Storm that covered the area around the pit in frost. Gosse and I managed to leap away, avoiding the flurry.
Staring at Talyth, Auril taunted, “See what power could be yours if you but accept me for who I am.”
Summoning Twilight Sanctuary, Talyth floated toward her goddess.
“You do not believe in me,” Auril admonished. “You barely believe in yourself.”
“Then where does the magic come from?” Talyth countered.
Extending an icy, taloned claw, Auril soared toward Talyth, who continued, “You reject me because I believe in a part of you that you’ve refuted.”
Talyth’s barb stopped the claw in midair, just inches from her neck, as JoJo leaped over the library pit and slashed into Auril. His blade dug deep, sending owlfeathers scattering, as the Cold Crone disappeared in a puff of snow and reappeared in the center of the upper platform. Before leaping onto Princess Skullcrusher and galloping toward me in the far corner, Taimen singed the goddess with a fireball. The goddess's eyes betrayed her agony.
Hiding behind Princess Skullcrusher, I shouted, “You are not worthy of her worship!” and sank two arrows into the Frostmaiden, and she fell! As she tried to crawl toward Talyth, she melted away until she was nothing but slush.
Then the slush began to grow and transform until it quickly became a stunning ten-foot-tall woman made entirely of ice and frost. The Brittle Maiden’s eyes burned with a cold blue light, and a thin cloak of mist formed around her. Blades of ice grew out of her body at odd angles.
“Not bad!” she exclaimed, her neck crackling as she looked down at the arrows in the slush. “Not bad at all!”
I sank another arrow into her as she summoned three ice mephits. Suddenly, the outer wall of the chamber exploded as a six-foot beak smashed its way in. Inspired, I leaped aside with Taimen as the roc snatched Princess Skullcrusher and dragged the furious moose outside before it disappeared. A beam of brilliant light flashed out from Rowan’s extended hand, blasting the Brittle Maiden as she protected herself in swirling ice that chilled Rowan, JoJo, Talyth, Graven, and Vellynne.
Climbing the ladder, Graven glanced at Taimen and squealed, “I must do what I must do.” Then he cast Misty Step and reappeared behind the Frostmaiden, where he said, “Saldrinar!” and stepped through the portal as soon as it appeared.
“I got you, friend,” Vellynne growled as she reached the top of the ladder and stared at an ice mephit with her rotting gaze.
The goddess snapped her fingers, and the three mephits exploded, their shards cutting into Talyth, Gosse, and me.
“Children are starving because of you,” Gosse shouted. “If it’s not us, some other mortal’s gonna slay you!”
Unfazed, Auril replied, “You spent your whole life hungry. Your whole life running, just to run into me. I’ll feed you to my yetis. You’ll barely be a snack!”
Marching toward Rowan, the Frostmaiden raised her morningstar menacingly and smacked the druid. Then she tossed an ice crystal at Gosse, mocking him, “You tried to mess with my mind?” and he disappeared into it.
Talyth cast Dispel Magic on the crystal. Cracks formed on its surface, but nothing else happened. Floating toward her goddess, she held out The Codicil of White and pleaded, “There are stories in here of you sparing people and helping them through the winter so that they can try again next year. There’s a whole history that you’ve had this whole time of who you used to be, and you’re choosing to ignore it. I’m not being delusional. You’re choosing to ignore it. It’s in here! I know you know it is!”
Distracted, the Brittle Maiden missed Rowan with her morningstar and was slashed by JoJo’s sword from behind.
Turning toward the barbarian with her morningstar raised high, the Frostmaiden growled, “You should have fled when you had the chance! Killed your mother! Killed your brother! Killed your father in a cave!” But she was still distracted by Talyth’s barbs and swung wide.
Raising her newfound Staff of Power, Taimen rebuked, “The goddess of the waves enslaved me to her will, which is why I serve her, and Talyth has literally followed you every step of the way, bitch!” Then she smited her twice, chipping away huge chunks of the Brittle Maiden’s icy form.
“What a fool you are, paladin of Umberlee,” the Frostmaiden howled. “Follow me, and I shall show you rest. I’ll bury you in blankets of snow so you may know peace and quiet.” Then she conjured three more ice mephits.
Leaping away from one of the ice mephits, I cast Magic Weapon as I ran across the ceiling and sank two arrows into the Brittle Maiden. Maneuvering, Rowan blasted Auril and a mephit with their Sunbeam. Vellynne destroyed a mephit with her rotting gaze. Suddenly, the roc forced its massive head and shoulders through the widening breach and clamped down around me, dragging me out of the spire while an ice mephit clawed at me!
The ice crystal cracked, and Gosse appeared. The Frostmaiden blasted Talyth, JoJo, Taimen, and Rowan with a Cone of Cold, though the druid was immune to the cold. As she flew around her goddess, Talyth looked around at her companions. As our eyes locked, I mouthed, “I will be okay. Do what you need to do,” and she cast Bless on JoJo, Rowan, and Taimen.
“Cruelty is my domain, you soft thing,” Auril snarled, tormenting her cleric and smacking her with her morningstar.
Leaping to flank Auril, JoJo brought his blade down, shattering the Brittle Maiden.
As soon as the shattered ice melted into slush, it began to grow once more, forming a hovering three-foot ice diamond that radiated intense cold all around it. “There will be no more dawns in the Dale,” we heard the Queen of Frozen Tears’ voice emanate from the heart of the diamond.
Taimen struck the diamond with Inflict Wounds before smiting it with her trident. A blizzard grew around the Frostmaiden, enveloping Taimen, Rowan, Talyth, and even JoJo. Emerging from the blizzard, Rowan turned and shot their sunbeam back into it, and we could hear frost cracking within.
Wriggling free of the roc, I fell into the library pit. I scrambled up the ladder, hiding just under the ridge, but an arch of frost let me know that hiding from this form would not be so easy. Shielding me from the roc, Vellynne growled, “Fly, little ranger. You led me through the snow. Now I shall guard your path,” and she turned her rotting gaze at the roc. Meanwhile, I heard the goddess’s icy voice in my mind, “You’ve been traveling with a monster. Someone who pulls divine from me.” Then my mind was bombarded with visions of Nimsy Huddle’s children frozen to death, and drow raiders pillaging the surface.
As ice mephits clawed at Talyth and me, the spire briefly shook.
Drawing his rapier, Gosse ran into the freezing blizzard. Polar rays shot out at Talyth, Gosse, and Taimen.
“You don’t need to tie yourself to this plane,” Talyth entreated. “You can go back and reclaim your domain where it should be. I know that you know that the version of you I worship is not false.”
From within the blizzard, JoJo blew his Horn of Blasting, blasting the diamond, Taimen, and a hole in the chamber’s outer wall. In retaliation, Taimen blasted the diamond and Talyth with a Lightning Bolt. Leaping away from the pit, running up the stairs, and hiding behind Rowan, I sank two arrows into the roc’s beak. Entering the blizzard, Rowan cast Thunderwave, blasting the diamond, JoJo, Gosse, and Talyth. Polar rays shot out from the blizzard, hitting Taimen and me with irresistible cold. Just a foot away from where I had been just moments ago, Vellynne was swallowed whole by the roc as it pulled itself from the hole in the chamber wall.
I rolled away toward the portal, evading an ice mephit. Another ice mephit clawed into Gosse before he could shake it off and emerge from the blizzard. As the diamond’s blizzard intensified, Taimen fell. Polar rays shot down at the fallen Taimen and up at the hovering Talyth. Emerging from the blizzard, Talyth cast Mass Cure Wounds, reviving Taimen. The blizzard dispersed, and the diamond flared with a blinding blue gleam, blinding JoJo, Taimen, and Gosse. I was able to shield my eyes behind the portal. Blinded, JoJo blew his horn again, causing slight cracks to form on the diamond.
Also blinded, Taimen blasted the diamond and JoJo with a Fire Ball, causing large cracks to form all along its surface. “If Umberlee is going to ruin my fucking life, then I’m going to ruin yours, you bitch!” Taimen wailed and followed up with a Fire Bolt that shattered the diamond.
The ice mephits exploded harmlessly, and the roc flew away from the spire.
All that remained of the Frostmaiden was a glowing snowflake that drifted to Talyth, who held it in her hands where it burned them while she cast Healing Word. Its glow began to grow, forming a small aurora which slowly melted away and vanished into nothing.
In a minute, the blindness affecting JoJo, Taimen, and Gosse wore off, and out of the holes in the walls, we could see Auril’s army scattering from the spire and fleeing Ythryn across the bridge.
Gathering our things, we exited through the portal and returned to the Chamber of the Ebon Star, where we found that the spindle was gone! In its place were runes in a fiendish script. Stuck to the side of the cracked wall was a note with draconic-looking scratches, “My dear mistress. You slew a demilich, but I serve another. I must take this to him, so that he can be free.”
The skycoach still waited by the balcony, and we all made our way down to the surface of Ythryn, JoJo climbing and me running down the spire walls.
The city was evacuated, save Talyth’s patiently waiting Shield Guardian and a single creature, a giant albino penguin pushing a library cart toward the Mythallar. Kingsport happily waddled toward us with his cart, which was stacked with books and scrolls. “Thank you for saving me,” he squawked. “My master left me with a few things I thought might be of interest to you.” Among the many items in the cart was a spell scroll of Teleport.
Taimen and Gosse activated the Mythallar, lifting the city into the air until it reached the icy dome above, and huge chunks of ice melted and cracked away. As the floating city of Ythryn rose out of the glacier, the bright sun shone down on us.
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