Dice Shame - 50 | 'Cold, Dead Hands'

Episode Date: September 24, 2020

The party travels north, to Icewind Dale to answer a call for help from an old friend... Comedy, action and a whole lot of shaming come together in Dice Shame, an Actual Play Podcast of Storm King's Thunder by Wizards of the Coast! Join our GM Jo; her partner Harlan, his brother Alex & their best friends Justin and Rob as they tackle the daunting world of Faerun in this legendary adventure module! Dice Shame is a podcast that welcomes its audience to the gaming table. Like the games they play at home, they try not to take themselves too seriously. The show aims to be entertaining, inclusive, and irreverent, while still taking the rules (somewhat) seriously. Join us every Thursday morning for brand new episodes available on all major platforms including; Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and more! If you haven't checked it out yet... what are you waiting for?!?   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you hear that? Yes, but can we pretend that I didn't? You got to make sure you've done justice here. You might have just burned an innocent man. That thing is an abomination. It needs to be put down. It can hear you, Craylaught. I know what I'm talking about.

Just stupidly wrong. Rope burn's going to really screw up my day. So someone dies no matter what. That's what I said. I'm thinking what you're thinking. I think I'm thinking what you're thinking. Back on your feet, soldier. We're still in this.

Natural one. No! You know what? Shame, shame. You don't know anything and you pee a bit. Welcome back to Dice Shame, episode 50, cold dead hands. MVP this week goes to everyone who's been listening along with us since the start of our journey. Anyone can be MVP.

Just find us on social media and say hello. For our 50th episode, we were asked to be a part of the deep. and D&D Celebration and produce an episode set in Icewindale. Alongside Red Moon role-playing, Venture Maidens, One Shot Onslaught, and Adventure, they wrote, this episode can be found in its original form on the D&D website. Thank you again to everyone who listened and helped grow our show by sharing. All right, are we ready for this?

Let's do it. It's episode 50, you guys. Oh, my God. That's a number. No way. We're starting to go over the hill. That's 50 episodes. That's like 10 more than 40.

Who are you? Red. That's me. Guys, guys, who's this cat person? I was playing a character named Red. Didn't I tell you that? What? Red?

Oh. Red. It's my next character. It's actually cute because if I'm talking, now let me just make it clear that this voice is not just Red. When I'm walking around the house, I pull it out for no reason. I'm like, why are the toys all over the floor? But Henry, my son, now knows it as Red's voice as well, too.

So he's like, Daddy, is that red? I'm like, yeah. Mind you, he doesn't know what it means or why. He's a fan. Oh, he's the biggest fan. He loves Dyshake. My kid hears me do an impression of Doren,

and he runs for cover. He's like, my head, I want to keep my head. Tony. I wish. Come here, kid. Well, congratulations, everybody. 50 is quite the landmark. Well, congratulations to you, too.

Thank you. For getting us here. Should we save the fire, for two weeks from now. Yeah, let's say, I mean, so we released our first episodes on December 31st, 2019, which frankly feels like a decade ago. Because we released three at once. Ah, I was like math.

Episode one, two, and three all came out on the same day. That's right. Gotta get them hooked. Yeah, got to get those people hooked. You guys all got hooked by our three episode arc, didn't you? Didn't you? So technically, we haven't been releasing episodes for a full year yet. Oh.

But we're almost there. But we will be. And I feel like 50. is like, you know, it's a landmark. 50 is over the hill. Yeah. Everyone is 50. Just life starts declining.

So does that mean that dice shame will start declining after 50? Or will it be like a fine wine and get better with age? And experience. We're going to be, yeah, we're going to be the gray foxes. Guys, it's getting frosty. Do you feel it? There's a chill in the air. It's like frozen.

I left the AC off. What the hell is going on here? Tonight we join the party as they explore Icewind Dale, frozen north of Fyroon. All right, fellas, who's ready to shame some dice. Let's do it. I am. It's like locking a car.

Whoop, whoop. You're freezing. The wind claws its way in towards your body through small gaps in your clothes between your cloak and your wool coat. It was only 10 minutes ago that the four of you stepped out of a gleaming blue teleportation circle into the snow,

but your fingertips and feet are already starting to go numb. The alien landscape keeps you from fixating on the intrusive cold. A few sunbeams poke weakly over the crest of the farthest mountains. Although you know instinctively that it's noon, the sun is hardly tempering the deep darkness of the sky. It's not cloudy, it's just dark.

It's unnerving. You're following the treeless shore of a frozen lake, your feet crunching in the snow, trudging toward a distant settlement you can see by the lanterns in the windows of far-off cottages. That's when you spot something on the ground, about 60 feet away. Shapes are indistinct in this twilight gloom, but its dark form is stark against the snowbank. Red pulls his hood down.

And as he walks up to the carcass, he sort of turns to the other and says, I think it's dead. How can you tell? Well, it's frozen. And also, it's in it's a torn out. That's a good clue. Something has started to eat it for sure. The soft parts anyway.

So its eyes, its throat, its belly are all. gouged out, the ground around it is marred with frozen droplets of blood. This is a dead horse, for sure. Yeah, this is a dead horse, guys. Oh, 100%. Is there anything, you know, soft, fleshy tissues left on it to eat? I don't know, Doran, you come, look. Doran walks over, and, and this cold is really nipping at him through his armor. I'll tell you, this is not like the deep, damp cold of home. It is frigid out here. You're telling me, buddy. Jeez, well, what do you see? point down to the carcass. Ah, yeah, there's clearly nothing for anything to eat.

I wonder what sort of animal I would do this to a horse. Jack approaches the scene slowly, kind of taking a, walking along the perimeter, drawing a map of it in his head, and he's sort of just investigating, trying to find every clues, trying to take out mentally the footprints of red and Doran stomping all over everything that could be evidence. Oh, what's this? Is that the thing? Doran, what's that?

Lift that leg. Just like walking in circles. Just stand still for just a minute. Oh, sorry. That'd be great. It's cold. And, yeah, he sort of paces through the rest of the scene, trying to figure out if he can see what happened to this animal,

where to come from, where to go, all that kind of fun stuff. And I rolled a nine, but I'm good at investigating, so I got a 16. Hey, not bad. Yeah, it's interesting. As you pace around this carcass, you note that there are no tracks here. Either snow has fallen and covered them, or else the creature that killed this horse didn't make any. Does it look like fresh fallen snow?

Yeah. Red bends over and puts his fingers to the snow and then licks it. Yes, this is fresh snow. Hey, uh, step back, Doran. Jack, I'm going to take a look at this corpse here. Oh, sir, sir, Krilov begins to inspect over this horse, and he's going to see if he can suss out exactly what happened to this creature. I'm going to do a medicine check. Sure.

Fourteen. This is a vicious attack. As you cast your eyes over the dark figure, you see that it. its spine is almost separated in several places. And the teeth that made these bite marks are very big. Jack, can you remind us what we're doing here again? Yeah, Jack, what the hell is this place? And Red sort of looks around.

He's shivering to himself and standing next to Doran, as the two of them are not used to this sort of climate. You know, I appreciate y'all coming with me. It's an old school friend, Desan. He's staying here in East Haven now. He's got some fancy thing he wants to show me. He might have dug something up. He's always been the kind of guy

who has a chip on his shoulder trying to prove he's the best, really into that. But in a place like this, what the hell is this? I feel like you know a lot of those people, Jack. Why are you always bringing us to weirdos? You know, all my friends are weirdos, and I hope you feel, you know, in pleasant company. I don't mean to exclude you.

This is East Haven and Icewind Dale where as far north as possible, and Jack snaps his fingers and this illusory map of the world appears. And you can see Waterdeep, where we've been in sort of all of our golden fields and all these other travails and this little teleportation circle. And then suddenly this one dot way far off in the northwest corner of the map that's where we are now, just miles and miles and miles away from where we've ever been

together. So you're telling me. And Doran's now got out his leather bound notebook where he keeps track of maps and notes. And he flips and he says, well, where the hell am I going to put this on? My map is only so big in my book. I said, I'm going to have to start it. He's grumbling about me. I'm starting to be. Don't start drawing too much until we get somewhere a little warmer. We don't want you to break any nibs with the ink frozen or anything. This is true. There's some villages up there. Let's get over there. Let's see if we can find us on. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. I could use a warm drink or maybe just something to wet my whistle.

Yeah, I could use a beer and a stew as well. Yeah, beer sounds good. The weight of the snow on the rooftops of East Haven gives it the appearance of slumped shoulders as if the town were resigned to its fate. The buildings huddle along the shore of the frozen lake and iced over docks poke out of the snowdrifts to where fishing skiffs and small ships lean at crazy angles trapped in the ice. Many of the cottages are dark,

but a few show signs of life within with a pale curl of smoke from the chimney or the weak light of a candle shining from beyond a frost-curtained pane of glass. The homes are built on short stilts. The gaps of darkness underneath them could conceal anything. The streets are eerily quiet,

though they show the tracks of wagon wheels and boot prints in the snow. Several larger and more well-lit buildings appear to be public establishments, inns, shops, each of them bearing a similar sign outside, fringed by icicles. Watch thy pouch. Watch thy patch. How does anybody live here? Red says, turning to Kralath and Doran.

Yeah, I don't get it either. Yeah. Kind of reminds me of Barovia in the wintertime. Don't talk about that place. This is spooky enough. You're right. You know, I'm used to having no sun, because I live underground. but I've kind of been getting used to it on our adventures

by seeing the sun come up in the morning, but this place, this is dull. Look, you can't even see the sun. I thought it was noon when we left, Jack. Okay, now, now Dora, Dora, and hush now. There are people around. Oh, sorry, sorry. And Kralov looks around at these huts, and is there anybody here?

The streets are pretty quiet, actually. You spot a couple of figures bundled up in coats and furs coming down the street towards you, but there really aren't, there aren't that many signs of life here. Dear friend, Deson, is they're from here? No. You know, as kids, we went to school. My sister, Olinar, she taught us both,

and then we did a summer in Luskin together. And, you know, he got a little invested in some of the magic stuff, and I really wanted to go explore the world. I think he got involved in sort of the wrong crowd for a while. I don't know. Yeah, Jack kind of trails off, and Doren's like, more magic than Jack. Yeah, Doren, those figures that were walking,

down the street are almost upon you, and they're hurrying down the street. And one of them shouts up at you, no lottery tomorrow. They're lighting up the wizard. Hurry. You'll miss it. Lottery. Wizardry. Lottery? They like run down the street. That doesn't seem too good. Let's follow. And I'm going to run after them. Lighting up the wizard. Are there multiple wizards up here, Jack? None of that sounded comforting. And we all rush our way there. Can I catch up to these people? You have a feline agility, too now? Red, sort of just trying to figure out what the hell's going on, runs after these people and, like, stops them.

Hey, hey, hey, wait out. Hold on. Hold on. What do you mean the wizard's being born? What do you mean lottery? Oh, you're not from around here, are you? No. I'm sorry. I thought you were one of my friends. Oh. Jimry. Well, Jimery's not here, man, but I am. What wizard? What are you talking about? What is a lottery? We all kind of catch up at this point. Yeah. Dorn severely out of breath.

This is... Cardio's not my strong suit. Free, I'm not out of breath, red, it's frigid, I'm cold. Oh, of course, of course. I, like, roll my eyes to Kralath. Look, I could see my breath. The guy's, like, runs his hands through his hair, like, pulling off his toke, sort of shakes some of the snow off of it. He's like, well, they found him in town. He was wearing a disguise.

Sounds guilty, right, doesn't it? One innocent man disguises his appearance. Anyway, better him than me. Come on. I think with, like, a bewildered look, I look to the others and sort of, I guess, follow. Yeah. Yeah.

Let's maybe not talk a lot about how we got here or that one of us as a wizard. I just got a weird feeling out of that. Maybe we'll just like keep that on the downlow for a minute. I feel like the four of us exchanged like knowing glances about this conversation. We're like, yeah. And as Jack says that, we kind of all nod our heads and say, yeah. Yeah, except Red doesn't really understand. He's like, yeah.

Wizards are cool. Let's go. A crowd has gathered in front of the town hall. a two-story building flying the flag of East Haven. In the midst of the ground, there's a tall wooden stake to which a pale, naked human man has been bound. Members of some kind of militia

used torches to light the straw tucked around his feet. Fanned by the cold wind, the fire catches quickly. Dazan does not struggle or scream as he is quickly engulfed in flames. No! I'm running right over there. I'm... I grab Jack's arm.

As he starts to yell out, no. Dorn, what are you? Bundled up spectators move closer to the human bonfire, eager to bask in its warmth. You smell the wizard's flesh burning. Red's, like, got one hand on his bow, like, looking to Krayloff. Like, what are we doing? Is that his friend?

I got 60 seconds to cast Revivify. Doring physically stops him for moving through the crowd. Stop, Jack. And he's pulling you against your struggle. Look, look at them. Yeah, you're stronger to me. Look at them. They're burning his body alive.

You've got to stop. There's nothing you can do for him now anyways. You don't want to be up there yourself, do you? He's right, Jack. Play it cool. Who knows why he got burned? Kralov is going to look around, do a perception check, and see if he can see anyone who looks like there of import or self-importance.

Oh, yeah. Roll that for me. Self-important. I look self-important. 23. I mean... Nice. Yeah.

Just past the point. higher, you spot a half-elf woman in a red tailored coat with a fur hat. She's standing on the steps of the town hall with her arms crossed. Her face is bathed in flame. She's watching you. Krayloff put the hand on Jack's shoulder, catches his eye, and then nods up to the half-elf woman. Okay, but look, if we're going to do anything, let's be smart about this. Jack, you don't know why they killed your friend.

If it's because he's a wizard, then you need to play it cool. Right, guys? at Dorn and Kralath to like, come on, we can't come into this town and stop yelling. Never stopped us before. Well, I, I agree. We've got to form a plan, honestly. And now we're kind of huddled and we're kind of talking each other. I kind of felt the same way.

You know, Jack, I can't even imagine you up there. I'm not going to let you jump on in there. Okay, okay, nothing like that is going to happen, all right? We need to figure out what has happened here. I still am in the dark as to pretty much why. I'm here in the first place, so we just need more information. That's right. Right, right. Let's just find it out. I agree. And I pulled Dorn aside as we go walking and I'm like, you and I need to make sure Jack doesn't say anything scary. Scary or stupid?

That too. You're right. Also, your breath is terrible right now. I'm just telling you that. You're really close to me. It was the raw rabbit I ate earlier. I'm sorry, it's tasty, though. Do you have any left? I do. Here. Okay, thank you. Meanwhile, Kralath is with Jack and looks down at it. him says, you're going to be all right? Can hold it together for a bit? I just watched my friend burn to death. I know.

It's a rough start to a day. Yeah. We've got to get some answers, man. We can't stand around here. Let's go talk to that lady. We'll get to the bottom of this. All right. I'll let you take the lead on this one.

I need a minute. Excuse me. Kralath walks up to this lady. Any gestures for Red and Doran to come over as well? Yeah, Red would come up near Kralath, being the persuasive one he is. Doran's going to hang back a bit with Jack. For support.

Support, you know, also just in case. The woman in the red coat nods curtly at you. Greetings. I'm Imdra Argeloth. Captain of East Haven's militia. You're not from Ten Towns. No. What brings you to East Haven in such difficult times?

Well, we were just sort of passing through at the moment. And I sort of looked at Krayal. And then I gesture past him to the burning body on the pyre. I'm assuming it's still sort of a flame. Yeah, like smoking. Can you tell us exactly who that is and what they did to have this done to them? This is Dazan, the wizard. We think he's responsible for the icicle murders that have been happening in ten towns.

He's a serial killer driven mad by the darkness. Well, that's quite an accusation. How did you know it was him? Hilln-Trollbane has been searching for him. He's a retired bounty hunter. We were given assurance. Dazan was a lot of things, but he's not a serial killer. Jack!

I couldn't stop. There's no way. You've got to make sure you've done justice here. You might have just burned an innocent man. All right. Spoiler alert. We do know him, actually. I was just being coy there.

Desan was a friend of, well, a friend of ours. And we would like to make sure that justice was done. She's rubbing her mittens together trying to keep the circular. going in our hands. That's terrible. Come inside. We can talk about it out of the cold. Okay.

I'd like to roll an insight on this woman. Imdra oligoth? On Indra oligoth, yes. Sure. Natural one. No. Borsh. In a way.

Shame. That diet needs to go to dice jail. I am going to shame it. Shame it. Shame the shame dry. Shame. Shame. Shame.

For shame. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame the dog. Doren, you don't know anything and you pee a bit. Doran, you're peeing yourself. Come on. And I push inside.

Yeah, yeah. She leads you up the stairs of the town hall under the wooden awning through the main doors. You don't really get a good look at the interior because she ushers you into a side chamber right away. So she directs you to knock the snow off your boots, of course. And then she sets you down on some armchairs. The room here is dimly lit by some oil lanterns. There's some antlers. hanging from the walls, a coat of arms on the wall behind her desk.

And she, like, quickly busies herself crouching by the stone hearth. She's, like, pulling off her mittens, picking up some wood and stuff. Look, Jack, we have to play this cool. We want to make sure that we've got to get as much information from her as possible. You got to play it coy. What did you do to our friend? Right. She turns to you guys as she's building a fire in the hearth.

Listen, there's been a. series of killing in ten towns over the past two, ten day, folks figured he was the one who'd done it. He was formally accused of the crime and somebody had to die today. This month, every month. Someone has to pay. Hold on. What? What? Why? Yeah. Don't you guys hold trials like the rest of the world? Or not kill someone every month like the rest of the world does? Is this some sort of tribute? And Kralath kind of cocks his head as Doran says tribute. It's been a year since we've seen the true light of day since we felt the seasons change. First we were certainly would pass by itself,

but now we know we are to blame. We've angered the goddess, and her everlasting rhyme is proof. Now the speakers of ten towns have unanimously decided that it's for everyone's benefit that each town sacrifice something to try to appease the goddess oral. Humans happen to be good sacrifices? Yeah, can't you just do it, chicken? For the larger settlements, yes, humans. For the smaller, they can't spare them. Communities are too precious, so they sacrifice food. Whatever hunt or fish, they can... If that was going to help things, you'd be seeing daylight by now.

Listen, I feel bad about your friend, but what's done is done. If he's innocent and you find out, you come back and let me know. Maybe there's some reparations I can do. If you were friends of his, it makes sense for you to have his belongings. frankly, I'd be relieved to have them off my hands. Wizard stuff, you know how it is. Yeah, if I could see his things, I'll make sure they get to the right people.

I'm going to go make sure nobody's out there jumping on that fire. I'll go get his things for you, and I'll be back in a few minutes. Who put Dessoran up on the steak? Nope, Dazan. Who put the magic man up on the steak? You already forgot his name again. Dizan. Dizan.

She looks around a little bit uncomfortable. It's not easy to have someone volunteer for this duty. So unless there's a wrongdoer in town, it falls to a lottery. So someone dies no matter what? That's what I said. She leaves you alone in her office, a fire crackling in the fireplace for you to warm yourselves by. Jack, she thinks your friend was a serial killer. How does that make you feel?

I don't believe it for one second. Well, she said if we could disprove it, we should tell her. Ten people died in the last ten days, and they're killing one person every month. And there's ten towns. If we don't do something, there's going to be nobody left. Ten times ten is a hundred. We better not stay here too long, otherwise we might be on the shopping block. That's one lottery I would not want to win.

Kralov pushes himself up from in front of the hearth, and he walks behind the desk, and he begins rifling around very loudly. Just looking through her things. Yeah, he's just like, what is this thing? What is this thing? What is it? What are you reading? I'm sure he's innocent, but he also sent me a pretty big letter talking about digging down to some magnum opus deep archaeological stuff. And knowing the way his passions can lead him, I don't know what he uncovered down there. This town seems pretty focused with their own bullshit.

We got to go figure out what he was up to and finish his business and just make sure it's safe. Maybe something that he uncovered made his brain all wacky and made him kill all those people. Maybe we can do two birds with one stone. Yeah, she comes back in. She's got a large leather satchel, which she drops on the floor in front of you guys. That's what he had on him when we brought him in. Thanks, Indrid. Where are you off to next?

Well, probably wherever this satchel might lead us. If we are traveling, is there any easy way to get around down there? It looks a bit spooky. Well, you won't get far walking, that's for sure. It gets dark real fast around here and stays dark. This is about as bright as it gets. It'll last for another hour or so and then night comes back on.

Can I recommend Sion's stables? Of course. His animals are extremely hardy. Just east end of town, can't miss it. You know, just because we look rough doesn't mean we have to sleep in stables. Can you maybe recommend another place that's got... Doren, she's saying if we want to travel.

Oh. Like horses and stuff. Sorry, I mean... Yes. Indrid, thank you. She leaves her office. again with kind of a nod. She's trying to be polite, let you guys sort of go through your friend's things with some privacy. You find inside the satchel a whole lot of wizardly belongings,

which I'm sure make Jack's eyes light up with recognition. There's a lot of spell components, you know, phosphorescent moss, three nutshells, 300 diamonds, a golden wire. You do find powdered ruby worth 50 gold pieces. Oh, nice. Some dried caribou meat that he was probably munching on. I'll take that. And you find a map. I love maps.

That's my favorite thing. I'm going to open that map up first. This is a map of the area around Lake Dineshare, with East Haven, Kare Dineval, and Kerkonig indicated, as well as a spot marked to the northeast, some four miles away. And there's little writing, Jack, that you recognize as being in Dizan's hand that says like, oh, hell yeah, like right beside that place. So pulling out the map and just showing it to Doren first, just because I'm sure he's

going to be the most injures. I think this has got to be wherever Dazan was excavating, this has got to be where it is. If there's anything we can learn from what happened here, I think that's where we got to start. Just to put his stuff to rest, we got to go there. All right, Bada. Whatever you need, we're here for you. If you guys go take care of the horses, get them from, from Sines.

Maybe Krayalath, you and I can see if we can dig a quick. Grave for design. I was thinking the same thing. Good luck with that. Yeah, it's gonna be frosty out there digging a grave, I'll tell you. I'm sure we'll find a way. Also, I don't know how much of him is left, I say to Doren, like, as we go to walk out. And Doren and I head outside.

I think he's cremated. We'll meet you at the stables. Thanks for sharing the map, by the way, Jack. And Doreen kind of pulls out his own leatherbound book and jots down this map really quickly before leaving. Red and Doren are walking outside, and Red turns to Dorn and it's like, Doran, would you rather be frozen to death or burned alive? What a silly question. Probably burned personally.

What about you? That me, too. I mean, it is frigid out here. God, it's so spooky and cold. As you walk through these deserted streets covered in snow, there's a scratching sound coming from the darkness under one of the cottages you pass by. Jeez. As you watch in horror, a creature emerges from the cross.

all space. It's a hunched form covered in rags and it stumbles through a snowbank towards you and nearly falls. And you realize it's an old halfling woman. Oh. Her windburned skin creases in a thousand places. She grimaces toothlessly at you. Spare a coin for this old woman. Oh, sure if you'll go away. And he reaches into his bag and pulls out a silver coin. Not gold. Okay, I go, I pull it a silver, and then she's looking at me, and I put it back, and I grab a gold coin. Doren Rishi, this is his great axe. She reaches out and takes your coin, red.

She grabs you by the wrist. Her hands are cold as ice. Her cloudy eyes burn you with their intensity. Oh, oh, sweet creature whose fleet spirit left for the winds to scatter. like ash. You call her name into the dark, where teeth bite, where claws slash. Across the sea, across the veil, through the world that you once knew, your closest loves, your family, shred your hopes betraying you. Beware a child, for danger lurks around each frozen river's bend, not just evils in the night, but evil in the one called friend.

And I'd, like, pull my hand away. Gah! Your hands are so cold! She just kind of cackles and, like, backs away slowly. Dear, she said. Yeah, well, it was something about frozen rivers, and... I feel like he would have pulled out his book and started really jotting this down real quick. Yeah, do him next!

She'll yell under the thing to the Halfling Woman. Yeah, she's, like, back underneath the cottage, though. Let's get moving. You see her like gollaming with a little gold coin, like precious. Yeah, let's get out of here. That made me uncomfortable. That was creepy. Kraloth and Jack, so you guys approach the rear of the crowd who are still huddling around this burning

pyre and what, you try to press some gold into someone's palm to keep the body for you? If there's anyone who looks like they're in any kind of charge here, I definitely want to ask them to, I know they think he's a killer, but. I'd love them to be respectful and at least let us give him his last rights. Imra Argalath comes back up. She's like busy doing captainy chores, I'm sure, around town. Captain, I don't know what the plan is for Dizan after... Being that he's a sacrifice, his ashes are scattered into the wind.

Oh, you don't say. No depth, huh? No icy depth you won't go to. Let's go, Krala. Hey, well, uh, Jack, there's a... good chance that they're going to be all finished by the time we come back this way. You sure you don't want to say a few final words? I can't watch them dance around the fire of my friend.

I got to go. All right. And Kralath follows Jack back to the stables. Red and Doren are already there talking to, I assume, like the person who runs it. Stablemaster? Yeah. Jack, as you and Kralath approached this wooden cottage on stilts, it's connected to a series of smaller stables and kennels by some fencing that's like caught snow drifts.

There is an enclosure that holds seven foot tall bipedal feathered creatures, something like ostriches, but much more muscular. They've got thick necks, massive beaks that are shaped like axe heads, heavy looking and sharp, but their eyes are super intelligent looking with slitted pupils. And there's like a dozen of them standing around. And as you approach, there's a man in a leather parka with a bucket of raw meat that's, like, chatting with Doran and Red, and he's throwing hunks of this raw meat into the enclosure.

And these giant birds are snapping meat out of the air. And as you approach, you hear Red being like, I just think Icewind Ale is a great name. And if we do... Oh, hi, Jack. Kralov. Did you bury your friend? I don't want to talk about it.

Do you get our rides? Uh, yeah, so we got this big creature here, this axe hole, uh, axe beak or whatever, and then, uh, is that our only options, friend? They're called axe beaks, yeah. I mean, they're pretty awesome. Uh, I got sled dogs, too, if you like. They're both about of a speed. I haven't raced him myself, but... Now, what about the cost, I say, suddenly serious than my hands on my hips? Well, I don't let them go for cheap, obviously. Uh, if you want to rent them, if it's like a short-term rental and you're gonna bring them back in a good, good quality. Fill them up before we bring them back, you mean? Yeah, like if they're not dead or injured or broken or anything, then...

Ah, your bar is pretty low on these. Sure. You get a discount. We'll take some of these axe beaks, I suppose. Well, actually, why don't we get a couple of those in it? This sled of dogs seems like it would be a... Seems like it would be kind of fun, aren't you? Sled dog seems so classic for this.

That's absolutely jack style. That's the jack choice, 100%. Now, I'll take one of these axe beaks. They look pretty cool. You with me, Kralath, buddy? Yeah, sure, I'll try this. Yeah. Anything else we should know before venturing out there into the unknown?

An old human man who you didn't even notice who's repairing a sled nearby lifts his head in response to your question. Strange things happen in the dark, in the cold. Some people say the corpses of fools who die, Frost bitten up. Out on the tundra, sometimes don't stay dead, and their corpses glow like the northern lights out there.

So bright, you can't hardly stand to look at them. There's big cats out there, too, ones that hunt men, their fur, snow-white. You can't see them till they're right on top of you. He sort of cocks his head to the side and stares out past you out of the tundra. You can hear them sometimes in the night. their cry sounds just like a tortured human screaming for mercy I think they do it

to lure folks with a mind to hell good to know by the time you are all bundled into your sleds in a stride the axe beaks strapped in for your journey the meager sunlight from the horizon is no longer you leave the relative safety of East Haven and turn towards the desolate tundra of icewind dale,

miles upon miles of frozen wasteland and shifting mountains of snow and ice. As you travel, undulating lights appear in the sky and grow in intensity bathing the landscape in supernatural shades of light green and mauve. Halos and curtains of Aurora accompany you on the first leg of the journey, and they last for almost two hours before fading,

as cloud covers the sky and deep. True darkness descends on you for the first time. The cold wind chaps your face and your lips split with the cold, snot and tears freezing to your skin. But the animals run on. Snow starts to fall and soon you are in the middle of a blizzard. The wind is howling around you and both your visibility and hearing are significantly reduced. Wow, it's really cold out here and you can barely see anything.

There's something about this. This is so exciting, isn't it? Isn't it, guys? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the frost kind of heads my face, but I like it at the same time. Do you guys say something? What? Did you say something?

I said it's... What? Yeah, I said it's cold. Donnan said it's cold. Yeah, I could stop for lunch. What? I like to establish marching order at this point, quote, unquote, as you guys are not marching at all. I think red being the...

Ranger, despite this not necessarily being his favorite terrain, is still going to be at front. Despite being a very silly, fun, lighthearted Tabaxi, he is still very much in tune with the surroundings. And he is using his keen perception, his primeval awareness, to try to get as much out of the way for the party as we move forward. Sure. So red's up front. It's like red and crayloth, staggered for first and second. So Rhymo the Frost Maiden actually has new rules for what happens in a blizzard, which I'm excited about. Unfortunately for me in my mischievous streak, Harlan, your unearthed arcana ranger cannot become lost except by magical means. And Krayloth, you are wearing goggles of the night, which actually gives you a benefit because wearing goggles in a blizzard prevents you from having disadvantage on your perception checks due to the blowing snow.

Well, it's a good thing it's night. So for everyone except for red, I would like a survival check, please, made with disavisage. advantage for everyone but Krayloff. Holy. Good luck, guys. Jack got 14. Not bad. Yeah, he sort of huddled on the sled trying to get as much cover as he can. Doren has rolled a four and is barely holding on to his sled. And there's like snow drips coming up over his face and he keeps on wiping his eyes.

And it's not fluffy white snow. This is the hard, scratchy, icy snow. So it's like, it's actually cutting. his cheeks. It's like building up in your mustache and your hair. And he's just having a bit of trouble watching Jack in front of him. Kralath, what do you roll? Kralath rolled a 20.

The way that Kralath uses survival is it's more of a guided intuition where he's using his faith to look for signs and to give him inclinations as to whether or not he's going in the right direction. So I'm wondering whether or not Kralath is able to sense

that something is amiss with Dorn. Doran. Coyne me, Calabor! What? That goes out to the night. I don't see why not. I feel like it's five minutes since you last heard Doran laugh or whoop with joy and something prickles in the back of your mind that there's something wrong. And you look over your shoulder and you can't even really see Jack back there.

But as you slow down your axe beak, you realize that Doran's missing. Red, hold. Hold! And I pulled back. What's going on? I think we might have lost Doran. Dorian? Jack, you there?

I am here. Red has something called primable awareness, which allows him to find within five-mile radius humanoids, his favorite enemy, as well as giants, but not so worried about them right now. So instinctively, he swings off his axe beak, puts one of his severed ears to the ground, and casts this for one minute,

so that he can sense anything in a five-mile radius. Can I sense Doran? Perfect. After the minute there's like a miniature snow drift that's blown up against the side of you because you're basically lying on the ground here. But you do. You detect your friend, Doran,

traveling perpendicular to the way that the party had been going. And I hop back on my axe beak and I ride towards him. Doran! You're going the wrong way, buddy. What? Oh. And I grabbed the attention of, the dogs and bring them back to where we're heading.

Come on, Doran! Oh, yeah, I got a little sight, you know, just, uh, okay. And we ride, uh, back towards the other two. Awesome. Come on, guys, we got to get out of this blizzard. So after about four hours of travel, you know, slowed down a little bit by the blizzard, you just barely make out on the horizon a 20 foot high, a regularly shaped spur of rock. that's jutting out of the tundra.

It's just barely visible through the storm. What do you want to bet that's it, Jack? Says Dorn from the back of the group. Feels like it's about the right distance. I feel like the blizzard's a bit subsided. Yeah, yeah. Now it's just cold and windy. If that's what it is, Jack, then we need to go to it.

I'm getting a cold out here. Lead the way. And I start riding towards the tower. We all follow. Everyone gets close. Yep. Close enough. It's smooth and shiny surface.

cannot possibly have been worn down by the wind. No, this spire protruding from the snow looks utterly out of place as if it had been thrust into the ground. I'd like to actually perform one of my proficiencies here, which is stone cunning. So that means whenever I make an intelligence history check related to stonework,

I'm proficient and I add double my proficiency. It's funny, you should mention that, Alex, because in the adventure baked into the text, it says the dwarf's stone-cunning trait can prove useful here. Oh, no way. Much applause from your DM for absolutely nailing it. Inspiration. Do you have inspiration, Alex?

I don't. Well, why don't you take some? Here you are. Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm going to roll my history check. Oh, my God. Two? Oh.

I think you should shame that dice. Shame that. You're going to have no dice left, Doran. For shame. All right. I'm shaming it. For shame. Yeah, so Doran, you pace around the buyer here, and you can't really discern anything about it.

At least he got inspiration. Let me guess. Jack wants to roll a history as well. Yeah, Jack really patiently waits for Doran to see what he comes up with, because he's already got several ideas how he wants to tackle this tower. Jack is, of course, an archaeologist with historical knowledge. So, like, Dora walks up. He's like, nope, nope, this cannot be distinguished.

Some mysteries will be lost to time. So it's interesting. This protruding rock, you can tell now that you're a little bit closer, is the top of a larger structure that continues underground. You would need to more thoroughly explore the structure before you can discern its original purpose. but it certainly wasn't built in the tundra. Oh, amazing.

And like, this is the, Jack's face cracks his smile. He's loving it. This is not from here. No, no, no. It had to have been built here, Jack. Look, I'm telling you. I'm adorned on this.

I know what I'm talking about. Just stupidly wrong. Look, we're going to find a window up here or something that we can climb in. Just look, look around. This is the top of something that should not be here. Can I do a perception check

to see if there's any entrance? Yeah. All right. With a dirty 20. Ooh. Nice. Yeah, Red, as you search the area around the base of this protrusion, you find a five-foot diameter tunnel that enters the ground at a steep angle, then winds down into the frozen earth.

Looks very slippery and icy. Apart from that, you don't really see any way in. I stick my head in the tunnel. Hello? And I sit back up. Guys, I think I found an entrance. And I'm going to reach into the bag of holding, and I'm going to pull out some pitton, Pytton.

Depends if you're French-Canadian or not. It will be a piton and a nail it into the snow where it is ice, and I run a rope down into the darkness. Zoot, but no, and then I drop the rope down into the darkness as I kind of wave the other guys over. Come here, guys. Take a look. Kieran, fly down there and take a look. Kieran, of course, my raven familiar,

who is actually an imp I accidentally summoned and made a pact with, and I'm trying to keep that shame hidden from everybody else. So we're pretending Kieran is a raven, just like normal. Wink! The imp slash raven, who shall heretofore be named as raven and not imp, flies down this slippery tunnel into a room that is entirely coated in a layer of frost. Master, it's an empty room. Great, we'll be right behind you.

Let's see if we can climb down. Yeah, and since I have a climb speed, I'm sort of standing at the entrance now with this rope hanging down there, guiding everyone in. I'll go in last. Come on. Come on in, Jack.

Doran, Treyloff, sled dogs, axe beak. You guys secure the animals, make sure they've got shelter. You're not cruel. No. Well. No. Well. Doren takes the rope

And with Dwarvish glee He hops in and slides down Woohoo! Dorn, you land on your butt At the bottom of this tunnel. Who's next? If Doren's down there, I'll go. You're going to climb or are you going to slide?

I'm going to climb. Red's like the guy at the top In this water slide at the park. He's like, goat, goat, go. Yeah, I mean, my hands are my lifeblood. If I can't cast spells, I've got nothing. So I've got to be very carefully babying them in this rope. Burn's going to really screw up my day, so we're not

sliding. These fingers are worth money. Krayloff comes next. Krayloff brings his goggles down and he peers in the hole. He says, uh, hey, why don't you go first, Red? It's, uh... Sure! And he, like, without a hesitation, just jumps. Doesn't even hold the rope, just whee!

All the way down to the bottom. Bumps in the jack. Oh, sorry. Oh, what? Oh. Where's Krayloff? Maybe I'll just wait up here with the, uh, with the, with the birds and the dogs. Come on, Creelaw. I can go back up and get him again.

I don't mind coming down again. It's all right. I can just do it again. I mean, he might like the help, Red. You know how he feels about heights. And like, Red immediately, with my climbing ability, like, doesn't even use the rope, climbs back up. Hey, hey, Krayloff, do you want to come down again?

Okay, all right, all right. Hey, buddy, are you, are you a bit nervous? It's all right. And I say sort of in a hushed voice, I know you don't like heights that much, but... I don't like heights, but then heights in the dark as well is kind of, I mean, I got the goggles, but... Well, here, I'll do your favor, and I take off the goggles, and I'm like, now you don't know what's coming.

Thanks, Red. Best friends! He grabs the goggles back, puts them back on, and begins descending very slowly, hand by hand, until he makes it to the bottom. The four of you enter this empty room, as was called to you by your familiar Kieran. Yeah. However, it's not entirely empty. There are two identical stone statues.

hanging down from the ceiling, like stalactites. Kieran, how long have we been working together? Statues are not empty. This is incredibly important. And they're upside down. That is a detail I need to know, just in my soul. Whatever. What's Jack yelling about?

I don't know. He was complaining about the statues. The crow said that there is nothing in the room, but there are. There are statues. Across from the statues, there are two wall sconces that have upside down flames burning in them. and then a wooden door leads from the room on the east side, but it isn't flush with the floor. All of a sudden, your perception flips,

and it's clear that you're standing on what was once the ceiling of an entry room. Whoa. Oh, so I guess this whole thing's upside down. I can't wait to get to the bottom of this or the top of it. So, tell me this, oh, wise, companions, When we came in here, did we flip and are we actually on the ceiling or is this thing upside down and we're just... Doran doesn't know how gravity works. Hey, Dorian, I'm going to get you caught up here.

I'm going to roll a perception. Sure. Is anybody actually going to answer me? Yeah, we're all just looking in our pockets of the room while Doran stands at the center. 12. And what are you trying to perceive exactly? Just anything extra? Yeah, is there any big treasure chests with lights illuminating them?

No. So the flames that are burning upside down, it's so clear that they're magical flames, they're blue. And the fact that they're like burning the wrong way up and you guys are standing on the ceiling makes it very clear that like whatever magic was used to cast these flames was when the room was right way up. What a cool room. Jack, so what is this place? Why does it exist? I don't understand. You said your friend found this.

I'd love to poke around and just see if I could find. any, like, the statues were the cool only thing in here, so I would love to spend some time investigating the statues. Cool, yeah. So it's tricky because these statues are hanging from the ceiling, which was once the floor, essentially. And Jack, you are not a 12-foot-tall being. These ceilings are 12 to 15 feet tall.

I'm 4'5.6. Jack, how tall are you? I think we'd... Five, six, probably? Okay, so that's like nine feet. That's adorable. Almost 10 feet, you know? Dorian, there's a really important part of archaeology.

I need your help with over here. We've got to take a look at these statues. I need to stand on you. Jack, you get right up next to these statues, thanks to Doran's extra height. And maybe you scrub some of the frost off of the statues. They depict long-faced humans dressed in wizard robes, clutching a staff.

What do you see, Jack? The statues. Meanwhile, Kreeeloth and Red are, like, walking around being like, that's a pretty cool bowl over there. Oh, yeah. I like that ball. I understand why Desan was excited about this place. This is a wizard's tower and like an old one built by people who knew what the hell they were doing.

I can't wait to get deeper into this. And I grab the door and I open the next room. That's tricky, right? Because the wooden door isn't flush with the floor. It's flush with the ceiling. Red climbs up the wall and he jumps up to the door. And I'll wiggle on the handle a little bit and then turn it. Yeah, it's unlocked.

I swing open softly. Come on, guys! And I climb into the next room. And I picture Dora and Jack watch this. And Jack doesn't even get off of Dora's shoulders. Dora just like traverses across the floor. Oh, I love it. Jack on his shoulder.

Jack, like, steps off of me into the doorway. There's definitely a moment where I'm going to get on my, like, hands and knees and try and, like, help you climb back up afterwards, meekly. But I'll reach down as well and help people up. Yeah. And then try to lift Kraylock. Come on, buddy. Suck it in.

Oh. In like full plate mail? Yeah, it's just a breastplate, but... That's like the D&D equivalent of, I'm Big Bones. No, it's just my armor. It's just a breastplate. So you enter a dark hallway with doors on the ceiling leading to the north and south.

The far east end of the hall is choked with rubble and ice, though it looks like if the room were right way up, there would have been stairs ascending to a second floor. Inverted as it is, stairs on the ceiling lead down into a pile of rubble. Partially buried under the rubble is a corpse in tattered robes. I'm really interested in the dead body. Yeah, me too, Kralath says, as he walks toward it.

Well, let's see if we can dig this body out. Yeah, Kralath will do the heavy lifting. Jack supervises. You got enough room there now, Jack. I think we're almost there, yeah? Just if you can get that little boulder there, I think we'll be able to really fully see if I can squeeze him out here. Oh, yeah, I can move this one, no problem.

It's just, you know, it's like five pounds. It looks like in the moment of its death, this corpse had been trying to claw its way out from beneath the rebel on top of it. It was once a human. Its flesh is now freeze-dried to its skeleton, mummified and covered in ice crystals. One of its bony fingers is missing. I wish there was more to see. He's been dead so long. Looks like the clothes and stuff. Anything that would have told us much has brought it away. Yeah, too destroyed by time. I'm going to open the door that I'm standing next to. to and enter. Sure. Red, this room, so this is the one to the north, it contains shattered and

jumbled equipment all laying around on the floor. There's a heavy wooden work table on its side, and there are two badly damaged metal cages. One of the cage contains a figure lying prone, and there's a closed wooden door that leads to the east. Doran, come check out this room with me. It's so much cooler than whatever they're doing. Yeah, and I enter the room. And Doren clamors over the four-foot-high threshold to the room. I point to the figure over in the cage. Dora, look at that. And I walk over.

What's the figure in the cage? It's an insect-like person? What? Yeah, did you want to roll a nature check for me? Yes, please. Is that a bug bear? Bug bear. I rolled a six, and with my ranger abilities and my character, I get a five.

Whoa. Oh, no. You can't really tell how old it is or what species it would have been, but you can tell that the carcass is in good condition, considering its age. I think that is a bug bed, Doran. It's something creepy. Yeah, looks awfully buggy. Not so much berry.

It gives me the Wiggins. Let's poke it with a stick. And I reach over and grab a stick and just poke it for a minute. It makes a gross sound. Is there another door out of this room? Yeah, there's a door leading east. Yeah, I stand up and drop the stick, bored of this thing, and head to the other door. Guys, we had buggy thing in this room.

Doran and I think it's a bug bag. Good luck. And we open the other door. A bug? I can't wait to see it. It's really tragic that my friend got burned at the stake, but I am so excited to be here. As you should be. So Kraloth and Jack enter this upside down workshop.

Team corpse inspectors. More than meets the eye. Team corpse. Did you want to do some rolling while Doran and Red push on? I would love to know what this bug is and what happened to it. Go right ahead. Nature check, please. Uh, 19.

It's nice, but it's not nice enough. You can't identify it. Yeah, I'm sorry. Well, it's dead. I can tell you that much. It's a bug bear. We already figured it out. Come on, Doran, we're smart, too.

I feel like moving into the next room, uh, red very gracefully leaps into the next room. And then slowly, like, he's running a thousand hurdles. Doran's like climbing another one. I'm coming up to you. Come on. Yeah. And they collapse onto the other scene.

Yeah, and Red's like moving so quickly ahead and then just waiting for Doran. The floor of this room is covered with the wreckage of two cabinets. Shards of glass bottles, cork stoppers, and the evidence of long spilled fluids. There are stains on the floor and some frozen pools. In a niche in the far corner of the room, a closed metal chest is bolted to the ceiling. Hmm. Hello. I'm thinking what you're thinking.

At least I think I'm thinking what you're thinking. Let's take a look-see over at that. that chest. And without even asking, I climb on to door and shoulders. We walk over. Yeah, we don't do it at the chest. We do it like from across the room. Yeah, it's like we gotta walk across everything.

It's like two young kids in a trench coat trying to get into a movie theater. Like breaking shards of glass under your feet as you cross the room. The lid of this iron chest is locked. Ah. And I reach into the bag of holding and I pull out something that I've been holding onto for a long time. It's a magic item called the chime of opening. And I'm going to hold it over the locked chest and look down to Doren and say, All right, Doren, I'm going to open the lid real slowly so nothing falls out.

But just in case it does, you get your hands ready, all right? All right. I forgot we even had that thing. And I'm going to use it, and I'm going to try to ease the lid open so that it doesn't just spill out everything. Smart. Here we go. And I cast it, and I feel like it's almost like a woodblock where you knock it and the sound reverberates from it. and I hear this snap inside the lid as I sort of let it down easy and I look at what's inside.

Do you have inspiration? I do not. Well, I'd like to give you inspiration for being so careful with opening this chest. Thank you. I will take it. Out into your wading hands red, four potion vials roll from this chest. Oh, cool. Wow.

Well, I sort of show Dorn a little bit and I put them in my bag of holding as I climbed down off his shoulders. a strange sound that begins to echo through the rooms, starting very quietly. It's a tapping sound you barely hear, but it starts to get a little louder, almost in response to the sound of your chime, and then it disappears. Um, did you hear that? Yes, but can we pretend that I didn't? Kralath and Jack, what are you doing in this other room? So while Jack has been inspecting this corpse, after Kralath determined that it was indeed dead. He began casting Detect Magic as a ritual. Okay.

So the magical torches on the walls here, obviously, are emanating oras. And as Red crawls back into the room where you and Jack are, you see that he's holding some magical potions in his hands. But apart from that, no aura's present. Who's ready for a party, dudes? And I like wiggle them back and forth. Check out this stuff. What the heck are those?

Where'd you find them? I found him in a chest on the ceiling. Huh. Oh, let's just hold on from now. There's so much more to explore. And I go back out to the main hall and sort of usher everyone forward, and I open the door to the south. Lovely. Tall bookshelves affixed to the outer wall have spilled their contents onto the ceiling-turned floor in this room. A large table lies on its side. One leg broken. A five-foot-wide tunnel in the floor leads down. Well, there's our way in. I jacks had like immediately taken to like seeing if there's anything could be salvaged with with the books near the bookshelf most of the books are in very poor condition as you pick them up they're illegible and stained though you do find one book intact the title on the book is called wizards in the hollow oh the synopsis basically intimates that this book is about the birth of the netheries empire by a chronicle of a story about the lives of three wizards. Whoa. Cool.

I understand why DeZan was freaking out about this place. The net three is they like invented magic practically. The whole wizarding tradition is like basically how it works, man. But you're saying this to Red who's like standing next to you like nodding like, I totally get it. Yeah. So the context now, Jack just snaps into focus for you. This was probably once part of the magicist.

human empire of Netherill, which would make this tower between 5,000 and 2,000 years old. Wow. Everything here is thousands of years old. There's stories of floating cities and everything. It could have crashed from who knows where these people could have been from or what they've seen. Yeah, it looks so old. Red, you can't let me get distracted here. We need to focus on what's important, and I'm going to want to look at everything.

All right, everyone, ready up, and I turn everyone else. Come on, guys. We're here to find evidence that your friend, wasn't a serial killer. I don't see anything yet. No. Let's head down. And I walk over to the hole and I jump down. Krayloff will make his way down as well, feeling a bit more confident that the first drop wasn't so bad. This tunnel delves through ice and snow at an angle. It's like a slide, right? Yeah, it's like a slide. You can't see what lies below, but if you, like, hop down on your bum, you just slide landing prone in a lower level.

Wee. Ooh, that was kind of fun, actually. That was kind of fun. See? Now you're getting it? Where are we now? This tunnel opens down into a large room that has its own tunnel leading down. It appears to have once been a wizard's laboratory, as evidenced by the upside-down storage cupboards and empty shelves fastened to the walls. There's shattered glass and alchemical equipment strewn across the floor and arcane symbols painted on what is now the ceiling but once the floor.

In the middle of the space, five-foot-wide passageways punched through the ceiling and floor, obviously lead to the other levels. Near them, a partially collapsed wall exposes a room that lies beyond to the west. Doors on the ceiling lead to the north and east. The easternmost door is open and spills rubble from a choked spiral stairwell. So it looks like the door to the west has the tunnel in the way. So Red sort of hops over that to the open doorway leading to the other room. And takes a look in there.

What do you see in there, Red? It's kind of dark, but, and I'll do a perception. check. Please. And that's an 18. You are in an empty semicircular room. However, as you turn back to call towards Doran, you spy something on the ceiling. There's an eight-pointed star carved into a shallow altar on the ceiling. Oh, cool. That looks like there's a eight-pointed star. That mean anything to you, Doran? It Doran immediately looks to Jack. That'd be a religion check. He did ask Me, just tell me and I'll tell him. I got a 24.

This is the holy symbol of mistril, the first incarnation of Mistra, God of Magic. And you also know that holy shrines to Mistril are rare places full of mystery and occasionally secrets. I will... Just tell him. I can't repeat that. Just tell him. No, Doreen, you need to say it because I'm going to be too excited and want to stick around

here forever. So you tell him. He'll believe him if it comes from you. It's just a symbol of mispril. Yep, that's close. The Man'spril. First incarnation of the god of magic. It's the first incrimination of the god of magic, Red.

Yeah? Known for secrets. Known for secrets. Oh, Nate out! So there's lots of secrets around here. Thanks, Doran. Thanks, Doran. I'll do an investigation check on it.

Yeah, you don't see anything apart from what I just told you. Can I just start pulling on it? If it's secret, maybe it's... You touch the altar? Yeah. Stupidly. Make a dexterity saving throw. Oh, no.

You said it was a good guy, didn't you? I don't know. Mispiral. You know what? I'm going to use my inspiration for this. And that is a 12. So the altar hangs like nine feet above. the floor, so I guess you're just kind of jumping and batting at this altar.

Very cat-like. As your paws graze its surface, a stoppard flask filled with blue liquid appears in a shimmer of light atop the altar and immediately falls because it's hanging from the ceiling. And with a 12, you catch the flask just moments before it breaks on the ground. Oh, nice. Whoa. Something fell out. It looks like a cool flask. I'm coming in there. Hold on, hold on.

And Kralath is going to step over the hole and next to Red. Look, buddy! And I hold up this flask. What do you think it is, Krayloth? Well, you said it was attached to that thing? Yeah, I pulled on it and it fell out like a super secret. And you can see Red licking his lips. Hey, well, it might have been a trap. But no, they wouldn't leave a trap up there.

And I kind of like, give this look to Kralat, this excited look that you've seen before in Red's eyes. Back from when you and I know each other for months in water deep, you know, this, this, like, fire in Red's eyes, it's a bit like, I should do this, shouldn't I? And he, like, with his other hand really slowly goes to unstoppable it and looks at Kralov, he's like, it'll be all right, and he downs the whole thing in front of you. Kralov gets his hands ready. He's done this before. He's got his, like, 300 gold pieces worth of, he's got his diamonds ready. All right, Raviphy is this word. Doran looks at Jack.

I mean, this wasn't in a chest. This was in a hidden secret magic altar. I feel like this is something good. Red, you start to feel strange. My tummy heads. Okay. And you gain a new magical ability. A what?

A what? Wow. Yeah, you drink all of it, right? Every last drop. Yeah. You gain the ability to cast minor illusion as a cantrip. Oh. At will.

But you're using intelligence as your spell casting ability, which I believe you have a minus one. He's just like these shitty allusions. Yeah, I like look at Kralath and red is like overcome with this feeling. He's like, wait a minute. I feel like I look at this. And he holds his hand out. And in his hand you see appear just this feather. There's like this blue feather and it just rotates in his hand for a moment.

And then he like makes it disappear. Did you want to try to disbelieve the feather? Yeah. So I hold this feather. it to you. Okay. And Krayloth is not very astute when it comes to these sort of things. He got a six. So, uh... So you're like, great feather. Wow. A feather. Cool. Crailf, it's, it's a little illusion. And I like wiggle my fingers through it. I'm like, I just got a new spell. Hold on, hold on, hold on. But only you and I know we can have some fun with

this. Let's just put up in it for now. And we hop back across the pit. Just the giddiest smiles, being hidden from, at least Red's face. He's like, okay, guys, let's get out. Krayloff is just a little confused, I think. Anyway, wasn't there another door around here? Doren's, like, already at this door, he's climbed up. He's kind of standing on the lip of the threshold, and he swings the door wide open. Doren, you see another upside-down room.

Some effort, though, has been taken to arrange the contents of this room, creating a functional office. A table stands in the middle of the room. On which sits an amulet and a small stack of books, and more importantly, two figures stand behind the table. Oh, oh. One is an undead warrior in studded leather armor. Its dead gray flesh drawn tightly over its bones and its face locked in a terrible scowl. The other is an attractive young man in cold weather clothing. His face behind a frayed witch's hat displays studious,

eyes and a warm smile. Doran's like, oh, I kind of falls into the room, dust himself off and looks up his. Oh, oh, there's, there's people in here. Oh, how you doing? I'm Doran. Greetings, Doran. What brings you to the lost spire of Netherill? I think we all make our way over. Once you hear Doran talking to somebody. You know, I don't really know what to tell you right now. I didn't expect to see anybody in here. Hi, I'm... Jack. What a wonderful surprise.

This is Dazahn. Kralov makes his way into the room, and in this kind of awkward pause, and he says, Get back! It's undead! And he holds out his mace and his shield. And he says, Red, you get into the corner and provide covering fire. We can do this. We can take them down. Oh, right, buddy. And I move into the corner and sort of slowly go to draw my bow, just kind of waiting to see what happens.

creature tightens its grip on its sword and stares daggers at you, Kralath. And I stare it down. I think Doren being the soldier that he is, sees kind of what's going on. And he puts his hand on Kralath's mace, and he kind of pushes it down, like

lower your weapon type thing. It's all good. Oh yeah, hold on a second there's a lot going on here. Let's just, I think I rush across the room and hug him. That thing is an abomination. It does not deserve to be on this plane. It needs to be put down.

It can hear you, Craylot. They burned you at the stake. I thought you were dead. We're trying to clear your name. Holy, you're alive. Oh. He hugs you back, Jack. And then, uh, he goes,

damn. I hate to inform you, but I'm but a simulacrum of my creator. You're the simulacrum. Damn. Jack. Craylon, I, I... Crayloth, is it? Surely your friend Jack has

informed you that wizards occasionally employ the use of undead through necromancy spells. This is common knowledge. And it is a crime against Kellenvore to disturb the dead like that. Thankfully, I do not need to abide by the laws of your creator.

Then I don't need to abide by you! Kralov rushes forward with his mace held high. Whoa, whoa, Le Thander's light, Kralat. Hold on. Give us a second to find out what happened, just so we can find a little justice here. Come on, buddy. And I walk up and I take Kralath by the shoulders. Let's just go outside for a second.

And without turning his gaze away from the undead creature, for as long as he possibly can, as Red ushers him back to the doorway, Kralath hoists himself over and moves into the other room to give Jack his space. Suddenly, my familiar weighs a million pounds sitting on my shoulder. The one that's definitely just a normal raven and not a fiend. Wink! Doran kind of stands next to Jack

now that it's only Jack Doran and this simulac a simulacrum The baby formula What the hell is a simulacrum It's a very specialized form of illusion Given life It's sort of like making a copy of yourself

It's not quite a full copy But it's as close as the real Dazan As you can get it Wow What's happening here I know that Dizan had something really exciting to tell me Can I just call you Dizan

And do you want to This towers but a fragment of a netherese flying city that crashed nearly 2,000 years ago and lies somewhere under the glacier. It's fantastic, and he spoke of wanting to bring you here to show you its true glory. I mean, yeah, he knew me. This is a lifetime worth of work. Do you think the rest of the city is buried out there somewhere? Oh, certainly.

Wow. That's so much to think about, and I got to focus. because we need to... Like, they killed him because there's a bunch of killings going on and the sun is out. Do anything about that? I know that the savage people of the ten towns are committing whatever atrocities they need to

to try to remedy this everlasting darkness. Yeah, that doesn't sound like a great plan to me either. Redden Kralath, you're just outside the door. What are you talking about? It's all right, buddy. Look, just breathe, breathe. I know you don't want a deal. with this right now. I've seen a lot of undead, and I have never seen an encounter with one

go well. Are you talking about the creature or Jack's friend? Anyone who associates with the undead can't be trusted. Okay, but think about this for a second. If he was killed, as we saw in town, and he was innocent, then doesn't he deserve another chance at life? Shouldn't we let the simulacro whatever be? The simulacrum I haven't made up my mind about, but his undead lackey. That creature, whoever that was, doesn't get to rest when it's in this simulacrum's employ. Red, if you think that it's a good idea that we don't destroy this creature, then I'm on board reluctantly, but I've been in this exact situation before, and it hasn't ended well for the people who told me to hold. Look, buddy, I got you back, all right? If anything happens,

I promise you I'll put one right between his eyes. For now, let's just play it cool. I'll do my best, Red. And then we make our way back to the room, join the others sort of quietly at the back, watching. As you re-enter the room, you are in time to hear the simulacrum say, Jack, on the lowest level of this inverted tower,

my creator found a chamber that can turn illusions into reality. The life spark of a living creature is needed to activate its power, As a creation of snow and shadow, I have no spark of my own. And Krintas is no help in this regard, I assure you. The chamber, as far as I know, cannot harm anyone. I'm listening, wrapped, and you can see, like, and just all the technical details I'm analyzing, but I know I got a shitty read on people,

and I'm in no space to, like, tell if this guy's bullshitting me. So there's part of me, like, looking back over my shoulder as Kralath and Red enter the room, just trying to be like, Is he full of shit? What do you make of that? Red takes a step forward and just says, listen, are you the serial killer that they say you were? He spreads his hands wide and he says, I'm no serial killer.

And I'm going to do an insight roll. Yeah, which is a 16th. Nice. As far as you know, everything he's told you is genuine and he simply wants another chance at being a living creature. And I look at Jack, as far as I can tell, the crimes that they killed him for, he didn't do. The rest is on you. He sort of assesses the expression on your face, Jack, for a minute. And then he takes a step toward the table upon which the books and the amulet sits.

He picks up the amulet in his hand. It's this four-inch-wide disc composed of silver-framed wood with a ruin. carved on its face and he considers it for a minute before holding it out to you and he says if you need me to sweeten the deal jack you can have this trinket i want nothing more than my friend is on to be alive um but my eyes have not left the trinket since he's offered it uh it definitely does interest me enough to want to look at it too even though i'm trying to like say that the most noble thing that i think is appropriate but i am interested it does help he puts it into your hands you can tell that's a magical item immediately.

Once you roll an arcana check. I would love to. 25. This is a shield guardian amulet. Oh, shit. It's going to require attunement before you can find out any of the specific details.

The runes carved onto his face would match the runes on the shield guardian and it's the personal sigil of the wizard who created them. Yeah. So it doesn't have any direct correlation with like a verb or a, noun it's more like a it's like a proper noun so what are you asking us to do to what bring you back to life

yeah to take me down to the basement what was the top of this spire and to lend your life spark so that i might be reanimated as a live human so jack gets his friend back and it doesn't hurt or damage us at all from my research no all right and as everyone sort of moves i hang back with Jack just for a second, and I'm like, you sure you want to do this? This isn't Dazan, but it means A Dazan could still live. We got to do it.

Design, let's do it. Sometimes it's better just to strike first and ask questions later. Come on. And Doren, like, hops down the hole. Cool. Yeah, Red follows. Wonderful.

And Graylaf follows. Jack's right after. This is the one hole you're not supposed to hop down, right? Yeah, you did. Oh, and you're dead. Oh, you die. So Prince of Persia spike. Roll 12 D6s.

So Doran, followed by Red, Kralath, Jack, you land in another upside-down room. Rusty tableware, shattered plates, broken chairs lie scattered on the floor amid two tables, one overturned, one's on its side. There's a door to the south. All at once you hear the shattering of rock and ice as the northern wall collapses from ceiling to floor, emerging from the rubble a hulking humanoid figure, 10 feet tall and seemingly made of black rock. Its live musculature, naked and sexless, ripples as it cranes its thick neck back and forth.

The neck ends in a featureless, darkened stump. Instead, its fearsome mouth commands the majority of the creature's torso where flesh has peeled back from sternum to pelvis to reveal a three-foot-high dripping coral maw with rows and rows of sharp yellow fangs. It seems to taste the air with its short purple tongue smacks its lips and turns squarely to face Jack, taking three

steps and then slamming its hammer into you. Roll initiative. The really gross part is how excited Jack was when he heard, oh, there's dishes here. I wonder what sort of dishware the Nethri's used. Like I was going to ask that because I'm a sick person. That's what he's thinking.

You're like halfway bent down to look at the dishes when you get smacked with a hammer. Jack has problems, and he's interests. This is a new creature from Rima the Frost Maiden, and it's terrifying, and it's going to murder you. Is it a goblin? Is it five goblins and a trench coat? Red, would you get for your initiative roll? 16.

16. Jack? Six. Yikes. Crayloth. Five. Oh. Doran? I rolled a natural 20.

Oh! There we are. Which makes it 21. Natural to 20. This creature surprised you guys by busting through the wall at you. You were not expecting this. So it's going to act on its own in a surprise round. So it's going to swing its hammer.

That's an 18 to hit you? Yeah. That's 23 force damage. It's going to swing again at you with this sledgehammer. And I should say that this sledgehammer's haft is eight feet long. Wow. It's like dragging it on the ground behind it. That's a 22 to hit you.

Oh, that one hurts. You take 26 force damage. Holy ball. Holy shit. Bye Jack. Yeah, Jack is down to one hit point. Oh, no. So this thing's hit me twice in one round, and I'm at one hit point.

Doran, it's your turn. Top of the round. Doran takes great offense to anyone who attacks his friends. How dare you? And he turns to the foul beast and he says, How dare you attack my friend? Doran swings his great axe. I rolled a three.

I'm going to use one of my luck points. Nice. Hey, there you are. I'm going to switch dots. That's probably a good call. There we go. 27 to hit. Oh, yeah.

Nice. Doran is a lucky dwarf. So you just like step up to this creature. And I'm like, take that. And I swing at him and I hit him with eight points of slashing damage using my great axe. Ork Splitter. Nice.

Okay. Its legs are hooked backwards like a dog's. It's like walking on its toes and you just sink your axe deep into its leg. Oh, gross. You're going to attack again? Yep. That's 23. Yeah.

17 points of slashing damage. Nice. Crabbs, absolutely. It's the creature's turn again. It's just going to keep going for Jack. Oh, gosh. Oh. Boy.

Yeah. Jack, that's an 18 to hit you. So Jack is just stunned. He's been hammered so hard. He finally is able to throw up this pathetic shield above his, like, crouching, collapsing body and just enough to hold off the hammer from smashing down on him. Nice. He's going to try to hit you again, though.

Oh. That's a 21 to hit. Oh, my God. 30 force damage. Yeah, I'm dead. Super dead. You're unconscious. Jack!

So Jack just goes down. Red, it's your turn. You get him, Kraloff. This beast is mine. I'm going to cast Hunter's Mark, and I'm going to attack without sharpshooter penalty for my first hit.

Do it. That is a dirty 20 to hit. Nice. 10 damage. And then I'm going to attack again with a sharp shooter penalty. That was a natural one. Oh, my God.

Shame it. Shame it. I'm shaming this die. Put it in jail. Shame it. Sossy was the name of this die. Goodbye. Sausie!

Poor shame. And I'm going to be rolling with a new D20 from here on out in which I will call the Tomb Slayer. Nice. And I am going to move

as far as I can from this creature for the remainder of my turn. Now we're in a pretty tight corridor, aren't we? Yes, we are in very tight quarters. The room is about 25 feet wide.

I'll just back up into the corner and get ready for another fight. So, Jack, make a save against death for me. I would love to. 14. so you can mark down one success.

Love to. Nice. Kralath, it's your turn. Your friend, Jack, is on the ground, bleeding out. Kraloff kneels down next to Jack and muttering to himself, frantically, his hands shaking, he casts beacon of hope and then shouts to Doren and Red,

keep it distracted. I've got Jack. Just, I need time. No problem. Right out, buddy. Good stuff. Doreen, it's your turn again. You are toe to toe with this monster.

Doren's going to use his commander. strike and he's going to do a fainting attack, which is a bonus action and that's going to add eight points of damage to whatever. Nice. So does 14 hit on the first attack? No, you miss. Frigg. Just another normal attack then? Holy moly, this is garbage. A 13 misses. I'm just going to use my action to search then. Good call. Hack and slash. Okay, that's a 16 to hit? No. Oh, my, man. This is just pathetic. This could be it, guys.

Not looking good. That's got a hit with a 19. Oh, yeah. Nice. And that's going to do 17 damage. Great. Palpable. We can do this.

Keep your chin up, Doran. Yeah. We got this body. Don't worry. Brace yourself. It's the creature's turn. Red, you see as this creature turns its stump towards you, pulls its arm back, and releases its hammer as it throws it across the room at you.

Oh. No, come on. Dodge it. That's a 19 to hit you? It hits me. 28 force damage. And the hammer swings back through the room and returns to

the creature's hand. Holy moly. Red, it's your turn. Red, tightens his bowstring, draws another arrow. And I'm going to roll Tomb Slayer on this bad boy. No, that is a 14 to hit.

No, you miss. Damn. And I'll attack again. 18 to hit? That hits. Hey! That is. All right.

17 damage. Nice hit. Good stuff. Okay, Jack, you're stable. Yeah, that's a plus. That's all we can do with your turn. Nice. Kralath, what do you do?

Kralath brings his big hands down on Jack's chest, and with a word, he casts cure wounds as a level three, and because of Beacon of Hope, you are going to get max healing from this cure wounds. You are going to get 27 hit points back. Nice. Wow, nice. Oh, thank Lathander.

and Kralath. Your eyes flutter open. You're underneath the feet of this monster. Oh, yeah. Not a good place to be. You're alive. Back on your feet, soldier. We're still in this.

Doran, you're up. Doran's going to do an attack and then forego one of my attacks and use a bonus action to command red to strike. Cool. So I'm going to attack normally first using the dye that's been hitting. That's a good one. That's a good name, yeah. I don't know why I use that dye. Perhaps Jack will die.

I'm going to use my life. Again, this is the second time I'm using my luck. Lucky to be a lady tonight. Okay, there we go. 19 to hit. Yes. There we go. With 16 damage.

Okay. Nice. And then I turn to red and I say, Red, take a shot. All right, buddy. And I draw back on my bowstring and I'm going to fire without sharpshooter penalty. And you're going to add three damage to this attack if you hit. Oh, I hit, baby.

That's going to be a 24. Excellent. That's 16 damage. Good stuff. The arrow flies across the new lands and the creature's snapping jaws. It's the creature's turn. Blood and saliva dripping down from the creature's maw that's gnashing in the middle of its chest. It reaches out and tries to slash you, Jack, as you lay on the ground.

So it has advantage to hit. Yeah. That's a 21 to hit. I'm going to get cut up. All right. You're getting clawed. Let's do it. 13 slashing damage.

How? He's going to try to claw you again. That's 22 to hit. I'll hit. 17 slashing damage. I'm dead again. Oh, God. You're on my ground.

And he's going to make another attack against you. Even though you're unconscious, you're in its claws. And he puts you in his mouth and he bites you. So you take an automatic fail on one of your death saves. Shoot in the mouth of the monster. Holy molly. Then he drops your life. lifeless body to the ground again and turns to Kralath with a terrifying spoon.

Red, it's your turn. Red takes a deep breath and draws back on his bow again. No, that is a 13. Oh, damn. And I'm going to attack again. 18 a hit. You hit. 15 damage.

Cool. Okay, now you hear Dazon's voice echoing from the floor above you. Do you need help? Yes, come on! We've got one man down. He slides down the hole and lands on his feet beside you, Kraloth. And then he extends a hand. He casts magic missile at a fourth level.

It's 10 damage. We'll take it. Better than nothing. Jack, it's your turn. All right, 13. There we are. One success. So one failure, one success. There we are.

Kralath. What do you do? Kralath sees that this thing is getting ready to attack. and knowing that he's got his shield, he's going to hold his ground and he's going to wait for this thing to attack before he casts cure wounds on Jack. So he's holding the action. Okay. So Kralath, you're holding your action so that when the creature attacks, you're going to heal Jack. Exactly. Great. Doran, it's your turn. Doran's going to do this fainting attack again, and this time it's going to work.

21 to hit. Yes. 18 damage. Hey. Nice. Gorgeous. Do it again. And this one's just going to. to be straight up attack. 15 to hit. No, that misses. Yeah, so I swing clean. Made of stone or metal or something. Your axe just doesn't gain purchase.

The creature moves. It's dragging its hammer behind it on the ground. It moves around the side of where Jack is laying on the ground. So Doran and Kralov can both make opportunity attacks against it if you like. That's going to be a 19 for me to hit. Yep. 13 more slashing damage to it. Krayloff gets a 19 to hit as well.

Nice. Oh, yeah, you do. And he's going to do four bludgeoning damage with his mace. Nice. Okay. There you are. And then the creature reaches out with its long arms and it's even longer hammer and just tries to pound red directly into the ground. Bring it on, you beast.

At least it's going for someone living. 16 to hit? No. Oh, it misses. Hey. Hey, there you are. Red dodges out of the way. Dirty 20.

Yeah, that hits. A little. 27 force damage. Red is down. Holy my shit. It's going to be tough, guys. We can do it, though. The creature takes red down to zero hit points, and red you hit the floor.

Kralath, this should trigger your action, correct? Yes. As soon as it swings, I see it swinging towards red, which surprises me, but I had my action ready. I kneel down, I place my hands on Jack, and I cast Cure Wounds as a level two. And Jack is going to heal 19 points. Beautiful. Red, make a save versus dying.

Okay, 15 I succeed. Yes, you do. Nice. Dazan's turn, who's going to fire four more darts of magical force. That's 14 damage as Peep, pew, peo, peon. Darts fire from the corner of the room where he stands. Jack, now you are prone and your bones are knitted back together.

Yeah. This creature is standing over you. Jack's desperate. He's got his only move left is to conjure up magical missiles in front of him, one after the other. Force damage as much as he can. He's using his highest level spell slot to put them all in there. And then he's using chemical casting to goose them with an extra first level spell slot to do some extra force damage there. He's throwing everything he's got at this thing, all of the magical missiles he can do.

They're just like Red has always taught him. All the missiles look like Red's arrows. They're perfectly flying true right in this thing's face, trying to blow it the hell up. Doing 89 points at force damage. Wow. The creature just falls to its knees and then disintegrates. The hammer clatters to the ground.

What the hell? Red! And Kralov runs over and immediately casts cure wound. and you heal 11 points. Cool. And I sit back up. Is it dead? Jack got it.

Good. Yeah. I'm totally, totally flabbergasted. What the hell was that? Some kind of construct, something they made. Yeah, I don't know if they made it wrong or what, but we got to keep going, or this is all for not. That's right. Desana, are you still in one piece?

Yes. Yes, I am. Have you seen that before? No. Crazy. Can you tell us what that was? called? It's a tomb tapper. Cool.

Red limping a little turns to Jack and he kind of nods. Where do we get to the top here? Lead the way. DeZan opens the door in the south wall and moves through it into a dark corridor, then opens the door in the northern wall of the corridor and reveals

a cool chamber. With another tomb topper in it. A tomb topper? That's right. Like a cake top. but made of tombs. The walls of this chamber are inscribed with interconnected

runes and marred with cracks. What is now the ceiling bears similar inscriptions that swirl inward, converging around a golden crystal disc five feet in diameter. Red sort of limps in pain holding his chest, which is healed

but not fully obviously. Is that the thing that you need to use to activate your life force again? Yes. And this illusory figure appears upside down in the far corner of the room standing on the ceiling. And it just starts talking in a strange, foreign, forgotten language. It's like a recorded message that has a limited duration. Congratulations for reaching the end of my fun house.

Yeah, basically. That's good. Dizan's simulacrum takes his place in the center of the disc, and as he does, the runes on the walls, shimmer with golden light. A tiny moat of white light exits Doran's chest and floats over to hang suspended in the air in front of the simulacrum. Dizan's face looking on, hungry and impatient for life.

The spark dances for a moment, then shoots forward and buries itself in the illusion's ribs. Dazan falls to his knees gasping and contorting as the runes on the walls blaze with power. Then, just as suddenly as it all started, the runes darken. And the room is once again lit only by magical blue light. Oh, wow. Dzan, are you okay? Are you alive? Dazan struggles to his feet, breathing hard, sweat beating his brow.

I'm going to put a hand out for him. He, like, stumbles forward and catches himself on your arm. He looks pale. That was unpleasant, but necessary. Did it work? Yes, I think it did work. I just need some rest. How extraordinary.

We're glad that we could help you. Red turns to Jack. Can we please go home? And he, like, clutches his, like, belly, which is bleeding through his shirt. Are you going to be okay? I'll be fine, Jack. I just need some time to rest and recuperate from this nasty ordeal. Please, I'm grateful for your visit, but I have to recover my strength.

This tower will be my crown jewel. before long once I can restore it to its former glory. And DeZan walks back through the room and gestures up at the hole in the ceiling. I'll need some assistance getting up again. Yeah. I'm just going to wrap my arms around DeZan and we're going to levitate up. As we go back up a level, back into the room where you found Zon the first place where the undead bodyguard is waiting, Deson like shakes out a tote bag and starts putting books in it for you, Jack. He puts like six or eight books in it and he's like, uh, Jack. Are we back up at like the top now?

Yeah, he, I mean, you guys can like start getting your things together and leaving. He wants to say something in private to Jack. Yeah, I think we sort of look to Jack and we look to each other and we're like, Jack, we're going to make our way back up top to the animals. Hopefully this is everything that you needed here. Dazon, we're happy to have helped you and hope that you make this place a suitable home or whatever you want to do with it. Thank you. I will.

Kralov just gives him a distrusting glare and then turns to walk out with Red. Come on, Dora. Let's go. Jack, Dazan presses this knapsack of books into your hand. You are delighted by how heavy it is. Yeah. He says, Thank you so much for coming to my assistance.

Before you leave, I think you should know. I really am not guilty of those three silly murders for which I am accused. Honestly, an icicle through the heart of a fisherman. It's crude. The hand of his undead bodyguard tightens on the great sword, just a faction. Any wizard worth his brimstone would never be so clumsy as to allow the hundreds of corpses that pave the footpath to their greatness to be so easily found. I should hope that you have learned as much as I from this whole ordeal,

that mundane folks cannot be trusted. What they would do to an illusionist today, they might as easily do to a noble half-elf tomorrow. Be well, Jack. There's a lot of darkness out there. Jack takes it all in. He's a little stunned at everything Dizan has just said, but he still sees his friend in there in some level and reaches out and grabs his hand. He shakes your hand, and then he steps back.

You ascend the ice tunnel out into the cruel darkness of Ice Wind Dale. Your axe beaks have dug sheltered nests for themselves while they waited for you. The snow drifted to cover them. and as you approach they sleepily raise their heads and shake the ice from their feathers. The sled dogs step up excitedly into their harnesses, ready to run. And you travel back to East Haven, across the desolate tundra by starlight. It must be around midnight by now. Most of the cottages are dark, and the cozy smell of wood smoke seasons the wind.

I'm going to be happy to get the hell out of this place. Let's go home. Yeah, I have a feeling that's not the last we're going to hear. hear from that guy. You deliver the animals back to Scythin at the stables and approach the town hall to deliver your news to Captain Imdra Argeloff. Jack, why don't you wait here? Let me talk to her.

All right. She's still awake when you knock on her door. Oh, good evening. Oh, hello. Hi. We are just passing back through town. Thought we would let you know what we found. Please. It looks like the

man you burned was not a serious serial killer, at least not the one that you think you found. Thank you for the report. There was another murder earlier this evening. A dwarf ice fisher named Bunas was found with a gaping wound where his heart should have been. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Anyway, will you be staying in town the night? I'll need your names on these scraps of parchment here. No, no, no, no. We're rolling out as of now. Probably for the best. We'll be doing another lottery tomorrow after all. Best of luck out there. Yes, and to you too. And she closes the door.

As you walk through the deserted streets, Kralath, you are separated from your party for a few moments. Maybe you want to be alone? Yeah, it's, uh, after everything we ran into at the tower, Kralov needs some time to himself to think about what he saw. A hunched old halfling crone materializes from the darkness, milky eyes unnaturally bright in the starlight. She stumbles over to you, Kralath, and eagerly starts to grasp and pick at the hem of your cloak in her shaking hands. Oh, do you need some food? She holds out her palm outstretched to you looking for your hand. Oh, um, all right.

And as she takes it, she looks up at you. Never have I ever seen a man who's so unsettling. A hollow oak, a moonless sky, a scream without an echo. Why? Your empty, child, a haunted past. Among your friends, you are the last. Oh, ignorant one, listen to the sky. And then she drops your hand and scuttles away back into the darkness.

Krayloff is completely speechless. He just stands in the middle of the snow watching his mouth agape as she buries away. Trayloth, come on up. We're waiting for you, bud. Oh, oh, yeah, I'll be right there. And I join the others. And as you leave the cottages of East Haven behind you,

the wind whipping your cloaks, as you trudged through the darkness on the shore of Lake dinnershare. Your footprints fill with drifting snow and all too soon it covers the traces of your passing like you were never even there.

I'm gonna be happy to get the hell out of this place. Thanks again to our Patreon supporters as well as our great old ones, Michael and Brianna Weber, Adam Fry, Megan Shepardson, and Christopher Ryan Evans. See you around the table. See you around the table, guys.