It is still Day 960, now 90 seconds into the battle in the Frozen Aviary. 90 seconds may not seem like much, but the Unlikely Assembly has never been in battle for anywhere new more than a minute.
Farron, Simon, and Qarzdaq remain regroup near the structure while Qhortho and Aran are split along the perimeter. With archers closing in on the casters, who are already badly injured, the party’s situation is quickly becoming dire.
As the archers that fled their towers get farther from their posts, Coldlight Walkers and Animated Breaths appear at the base of those towers.
The sudden influx of new enemies doesn’t deter the party; Qhortho and Aran continue to kill those closest to them, but this leaves the casters still out in the cold.
Dissonant whispers fill Qarzdaq’s mind, but he pushes them away. He quickly downs a potion and recharges his sorcery points to be ready for what’s to come.
Farron recognizes they need to get closer to one another and starts running towards Qarzdaq, who is still 20 feet in the air.
FARR: Qarzdaq, come down to me so we can get to the others! We’re not going to make it if we stay separated!
Qarzdaq flies directly towards Farron, and upon them getting within 5 feet of each other, Farron uses Dimension Door to bring them both to Aran’s location.
Qhortho finishes off the enemy near him, Fey Steps to a nearby archer, shattering him with one strike, and finally Stepping over to the rest of the group to act as a shield for those less beefy.
Qhortho arrives just in time because Haste just wore off on Aran, leaving him in a wave of lethargy for the next several seconds.
QHOR: What’s up guys?
ARAN: Getting a bit sleepy, if I’m being honest.
QARZ: Let’s fix that then!
Qarzdaq casts Haste on Aran.
ARAN: Oh yeah! That’s the stuff!
Aran uses his newfound speed to down a health potion, then goes on a killing spree, destroying the 3 enemies in his vicinity.
Farron Tolls the Dead, killing the Coldlight Walker about to strike Aran, then sends a mote towards an Animated Breath, killing it as well!
Qhortho hops around the room, destroying the remaining archers, then appears back by the group.
Now that the enemies are dying left and right, and the battle is quickly swinging in their favor, the swarm of Corporeal Wights, Deathlocks, and Deathlock Wights they’ve been waiting for finally make an appearance from behind one of the towers on the east side near the main structure.
Qarzdaq responds by dropping a Meteor Swarm across the board destroying all of the newcomers, the other remaining scattered enemies, and dealing some damage to the Roc still in its force cage.
It sounds as if a wall of glass has shattered from the area where the Deathlocks emerged, sot he team goes to check it out.
Qhortho approaches the trapped Roc and begins stabbing it through the bars of the cage, eventually killing it. He calls out to the group.
QHOR: He wasn’t so hard, what was all the fuss??
They decide to check out the source of glass shattering as it probably leads to the shard key for this room.
They find a large open door revealing a hallway back inside the structure.
Large icicles hang from the ceiling overhead, indicating this must have been warm enough for liquid water at some point, but also cold enough to refreeze. Everyone except Qhortho realizes this is very strange because, although this area was enclosed just a minute ago by the door, inside the necropolis is only moderately colder than would be comfortable. That’s not enough to freeze water…
They proceed down the corridor, walking cautiously beneath the large icicles.
Suddenly the hall fills with a dense fog.
A moment later, they hear a loud crash as a large icicle slams into the ground. The ice shatters, causing them all superficial damage. Those ice splinters also strike a few of the other icicles, causing them to fall, causing a chain reaction that forces all the icicles to strike the ground. The fog clears a few moments later.
QHOR: Hey guys… I don’t think those were normal icicles.
FARR: They may have been Ice Mephits. Those things from the main hall acted the same way when we killed them.
QARZ: Good point.
ARAN: Let’s push forward.
They continue forward, finding a small chamber with a pile of rubble preventing the way forward.
FARR: This must be the other side of the collapsed hallway we found earlier.
In the corner of this chamber, they find an opaque white ice shard. Aran picks it up and they exit the way they’d come, walking across the destroyed forest area, and towards the entryway.
Aran inserts the white ice shard key into the door, resulting in a resounding CLUNK.
He removes the key, just as he’d done in the other 3 rooms. The door crackles as the key turns transparent, and the door opens with a low-frequency rumble.
Upon exiting the white room doors, the group immediately teleports back to the Nightfort to rest, taking the ice shard with them.
Potions are Back on the Menu, Boys!
After resting overnight, Farron stays behind to focus on building his simulacrum, Second Simon if you will. Everyone else teleports to Oldtown for one final potion run.
They enter the potion shop they’d visited last time.
SHOPKEEP: Oh no… not you guys again… Look, all sales are final, you can’t just…
QARZ: No, no , no, you have the wrong idea. The potions were great. We’re here for more! We want to spend some gold, maybe some platinum – we may just buy everything you’ve got in stock.
SHOPKEEP: You were just here a couple of days ago!
QARZ: Well, you know, we’re thirsty boys.
SHOPKEEP: I don’t have that much left. I mean, how much more do you need?
QARZ: What you got? How much for a Supreme Healing Potion?
SHOPKEEP: Well, Supremes usually go for 25,000 gold apiece.
QARZ: That’s 2,500 platinum?
SHOPKEEP: Yeah, it takes a lot to get those things so concentrated.
QARZ: Well… I don’t have that kind of money.
Qarzdaq turns to Aran and Qhortho.
QARZ: What have you guys got?
ARAN: Not that much.
Qhortho just shakes his head.
ARAN: Do we need the maesters to come?
SHOPKEEP: Well, how about this… I’ll get Hightower to pay for it, but here’s what I want you to do… I want you to say you took double the amount that I actually gave you.
QARZ: Yeah, that’s fair. R’hllor pays those that pay him back.
They leave the shop with 4 invulnerability potions, 4 supreme healing potions, and 4 superior healing potions.
QARZ: Ok, so as I count them, we’ve got 8 invulnerability potions, 8 supreme healing potions, and 8 superior healing potions.
SHOPKEEP: Exactly.
They leave the shop and teleport back to the Nightfort, where they divvy out the potions within their party.
They stay overnight once more, then teleport back to the Icy Necropolis.
Back to the Roots
Aran slides the transparent shard into the last open position in the door. Just as the others had, this one begins to pulse with a purplish-magenta glow. Then the entire door begins to pulse.
After a few pulses, the door stops pulsing, remaining a solid purple-magenta. The color slowly fades from the door.
A background hum they hadn’t even realized was there, suddenly stops.
The silence is off-putting.
The door slowly swings open.
They now see, in the center of this icy courtyard, a massive frozen Weirwood, almost 10 feet across, its roots woven in and out of the ground within the chamber. The roots pulse with a bluish hue, looking almost fluid and crystalized all at once as if their minds cannot make sense of what your eyes are seeing.
Farron casts Crown of Stars to initiate his motes.
They approach the tree, only now noticing a shimmering cylindrical force shield protecting the trunk of the Weirwood.
Getting closer and inspecting the frozen Weirwood, they see a skeletal face inside where the Weirdwood’s face might have once been. They also see that evenly spaced around the trunk of the tree, there are four cavities that match the shapes of the artifacts.
They decide to put their artifacts into the cavities. A strong chill runs through their hands as they pass through the shimmering barrier.
The artifacts suck into the Weirwood’s trunk, still visible, but unable to be removed. A moment later, the trunk splits vertically from where the artifacts were placed. A bright white glow from within, beams through the cracks.
Branches are suddenly blasted into icy shards around the courtyard. The center of the Weirwood is now opened to the air.
The skeletal creature inside tilts its head with jagged movements as if it’s the first time it’s moved in ages. It has tough leather skin and you can make out that it is wearing some kind of ornate armor.
This must be who known as Kaltherzig… the Cold-Hearted.
Out of the shadows in the corners of the room, each of the dark mages they’d encountered in the 4 chambers of the necropolis slink into view.
Tyrone slams the door shut, knocking the shards from the chamber door into the corridor outside the chamber.
The hum returns.
They are locked in.
They know this means they are either about to win… or die… as goes the Game of Thrones.
The lair itself emanates a haunting feeling. Whispers from beyond time claw at the minds of those that dare trespass. Spectral echoes fille the minds of everyone in the chamber.
Tyrone attempts to cast Cloudkill on a large group, but Qarzdaq recognizes it and Counterspells it. Tyrone looks at Qarzdaq, recognizing how powerful they’ve become, and knows he will need to step up his game.
Farron casts Foresight on Aran, providing those oh-so-useful Deji Knight powers, then also provides him Bardic Inspiration.
Aran looks over to Farron and nods.
Following Farron’s lead, Simon casts Foresight and Bardic Inspiration on Qhortho. Qhortho looks to Farron and nods as Aran did. Farron shakes his head and points his chin towards Simon. Qhortho looks to Simon, that creepy Farron duplicate, and gives him a big grin and a thumbs up.
Aran and Qhortho brace themselves for a burst of flames at their backs, now that they have knowledge of the immediate future.
Andrea casts Firestorm in a line through the allies, causing tremendous damage but not quite killing any of them.
Tyrone uses Mind Blast to emit psychic energy to all those in front of him and stunning them. Aran and Qhortho manage to avoid the impact thanks to Foresight, but many of the allies that were just struck by Firestorm were not so lucky; they perish in the blast as their minds melt within their skulls.
Andrea hits Aran with Wither, causing necrotic decay within his body.
Qhortho downs a potion of Invulnerability, then runs at Illus in a rage. He lands a crushing blow causing an insane amount of damage to the illusionist.
Dorleck blasts a Lightning Bolt across a range of the allies and Aran, whose quick reactions allow him to evade some of the damage.
Aran engages Illus, striking him several times in succession. Although he lands every hit, Illus is still not dead.
Tyrone generates another Mind Blast again, this time capturing Qarzdaq, Farron, Simon, and another group of their allies.
The remaining allies strike back at Tyrone, enough to take down any mortal several times over. Tyrone is no mere mortal and, although he takes the damage, he shrugs off the attacks.
Psychic whispers from Dorleck infiltrate Qarzdaq’s mind, causing him immense pain and keeping him stunned in place.
Andrea sends a Wither attack at Farron, causing his insides to decay with necrotic damage.
Illus moves on Qhortho with Paralyzing Touch, but his Constitution prevents any ill effects! Illus quickly uses Dimension Door to get out of retaliation range.
Three green rifts suddenly open in various locations within the chamber.
Andrea sends several Wither attacks towards Qhortho, striking him twice for minor damage.
Tyrone approaches Simon, and uses Paralyzing Touch. The cold damage runs through him as his eyes widen. A second later, he is nothing more than a pile of fine ash.
Without Illus around, Qhortho turns his gaze to Andrea. Under different circumstances, that would mean attempting to pierce her with a different sword. Instead, he slashes through portions of her leathery exterior.
Aran has had enough of Tyrone. He runs up to him and repeatedly strikes with his jaded guandao. After landing several strikes, Tyrone has had enough as well. He scowls with rage as a tentacle appears from beneath his robes. The tentacle grapples Aran, stunning him and holding him still so Tyrone can extract Aran’s brain. Instantly, Aran’s health is halved with the attempt! Despite the pain he’s just suffered, Aran should consider himself lucky that his brain has not yet been extracted.
Out from the three green rifts appear a Death Slaad from each! They attack allies, killing a few.
Dorleck attacks more of the allies, then uses Psychic Whispers on Aran, who avoids the worst of it.
Illus uses Dimension Door to move into the middle of a group of allies. He instantly paralyzes one of them.
Farron finally snaps out of being stunned, but is still a little woozy.
Andrea touches Qhortho with a Poisonous Touch. Although it sears his skin, Qhortho does not remain poisoned.
The remaining allies all attack Tyrone, who doesn’t even notice as he is so focused on another attempt of extracting Aran’s brain. This is also unsuccessful but still causes immense pain.
Qhortho deals more damage to Andrea, but she’s still standing toe to toe with him without issue.
Qarzdaq casts Twinned Disintegrate on Tyrone and Illus. Tyrone avoids the effect entirely, but Illus takes the full brunt, causing him to be reduced to a fine white powder.
Spiked glaciers suddenly erupt from the ground, freezing the battlefield. Four of the allies are encased in ice, restraining them and bringing them one step closer to death.
Farron downs a health potion just as he Tolls the Dead on Tyrone. Tyrone is so focused on Aran, he doesn’t even notice the sound of dolorous bells filling the air. His Wisdom fails him, allowing the bell’s toll to force a chunk of undead flesh to fall from his face. This distracts Tyrone long enough to drop the grapple.
Andrea again attempts to poison Qhortho, but again he only takes superficial damage. Though superficial for him would be immediately lethal for any of the allies.
Tyrone casts Finger of Death on Aran, but Aran’s is too tough, allowing him to skate by with only minor impact. Tyrone realizes he might actually need to retreat as he attempts to take a few steps back, Aran slashes him, taking him down!
The tides are finally shifting.
With Tyrone out of the way, Aran takes down one of the Death Slaads with a few well-struck blows.
Qarzdaq focuses on Dorleck, casting Disintegrate at a high level. Dorleck is unable to dodge the attack. Although he does not turn into a fine white powder as Illus had, he still takes a lot of damage. He immediately uses Dimension Door to make some distance between himself and the party.
With only four allies able to attack, they can only do so much to help. Still, they do what they can, focusing entirely on the nearby Death Slaad. It retaliates by killing the closest one of them, who happens to be encased in ice.
The other Death Slaad attacks Qhortho, but Qhortho proves too difficult to hit.
Farron runs towards Qhortho and casts Haste on him. Qhortho looks Andrea dead in the eyes…
QHOR: Awww, you’re fucked now!
Andrea squints at him with a grin.
ANDREA: Nah… Not even in this lighting…
Though still enraged, this somehow angers Qhortho even more.
We end this session on Day 962, with Tyrone and Illus defeated, leaving only Andrea, Dorleck, the 2 Death Slaads, and Kaltherzig.