Qhortho, enraged by Andrea’s comment, leans forward to attack just as Andrea leans forward to touch his arm. She casts Dispel Magic and Qhortho’s Haste evaporates. While dazed, Andrea runs past him to make some distance.
She then casts Sap Life of Farron, which he shrugs off.
Aran, still Hasted, runs towards Andrea. They trade a few blows, with Andrea taking the worst of it.
Qarzdaq casts a Fireball at Dorleck, which he dodges, at least somewhat. Dorleck looks as if he’s having a good time as he pats out the flames dancing across his cloak.
One of the Death Slaads casts an intense psychic wave towards Qarzdaq and three of his allies, causing them to each believe their worst fears are just in front of them. Qarzdaq resists the wave but notices two of his allies have dropped their weapons. Qarzdaq looks back to the Death Slaad.
The other Death slaad attempts the same on Qhortho and Aran, but both are able to push through, seeing the mirage for what it is.
Suddenly, a gateway to the dark between the stars. A region infested with unknown horrors. A 20-foot radius sphere of blackness and bitter cold appears around the weirwood. This void is filled with a cacophony of soft whispers and slurping noises that can be heard up to 30 feet away. No light, magical or otherwise, can illuminate the area, and creatures fully within the area are blinded. The void creates a warp in the fabric of space and the area is difficult terrain. Anyone that starts the turn in the area will take damage from the cold, and anyone that ends its turn in the area must succeed be dexterous enough to evade milky otherworldly acid tentacles that attempt to drop against them.
Psychic Whispers, of the same kind experienced in the Frozen Aviary, fill Aran’s mind. He dismisses them surprisingly easily.
The ground cracks open with an ancient wail, releasing a frigid void. Except for Qhortho, the entire Unlikely Assembly and their allies are pulled 30 feet towards the void. Farron, Qarzdaq, and Aran are sucked in, chained in spectral ice.
Farron casts Dimension Door to get far away from… whatever this is. The spectral chains dissipate in the void (or do they? With no one there to see, did they?), freeing Farron to shoot one of his motes at the Death Slaad that mentally disabled his allies.
Andrea is casts Wither on Qhortho while he’s still restrained and makes more distance between her and Qhortho.
Qhortho snaps out of his stupor just after being hit, and immediately focuses on the slaad in front of him. Two strikes with his greatsword and the creature falls.
QHOR: WHO’S NEXT?!
He turns to see the inky black void encompassing the Weirwood and focuses on Dorleck. He runs up to his face and just before he strikes, Dorleck reveals a Parasitic Tentacle from under his cloak. It wraps briefly around Qhortho’s arm, leaving behind black marks in his skin as the necrotic damage takes hold. Qhortho just looks back at him and smiles.
Aran shrugs off Andreas Sap Life spell and manages to free himself from the void without too much damage.
Qarzdaq avoids the void’s damage also by blinking into the Ethereal Plane. As he does, he realizes he can see a little more into the room but now realizes the room is contained in a giant magenta box.
QARZ: Is this a damn Force Cage?
If so, it would be the biggest force cage he’s ever heard of, let alone seen.
Meanwhile, in the Material Plane, the Death Slaads take down all but one of the remaining allies.
Farron is sucked back into the void, and attempts to escape, but he is not quick enough. Some kind of force blast causes him to teleport 30 feet outside of the void just as he takes a step outside it.
He shoots a mote at Andrea, striking her hard. She instantly retaliates, but her first three attempts miss him. As the fourth looks to be well-aimed, Farron instinctively casts Shield, blocking the Wither.
Frustrated, Andrea moves away another 30 feet.
A portal opens beside Qhortho, blasting him with force damage and teleporting him 30 feet away. He immediately runs back to Dorleck, and slashes at his leg, hoping to cut off his tentacle. Dorleck teleports 60 feet away immediately after taking the damage, tentacle intact.
Returning to be within range of the portal, Qhortho is again blasted with force damage and teleported 30 feet away.
Andrea attempts to strike Farron with another Wither, but that sails wide.
Aran sees his opportunity. He runs up to Andrea and slashes her repeatedly with his guandao. After 2 strikes, she falls lifeless… and unlifeless…
Qarzdaq is pulled back towards the center, but he runs back out, escaping before suffering any ill effects. He uses Quickened Spell to send a Fireball towards the Death Slaad and a Firebolt towards Dorleck. Both spells cause massive damage to their targets, but it’s not enough to destroy either of them.
The Death Slaad sends a Fireball back at Qarzdaq, but he manages to evade some of its impact.
As the last remaining ally finally suffocates in his ice prison, Dorleck moves in on Qarzdaq and thwacks him with a tentacle, causing his aged skin to blacken in the areas where it made contact. Still, Qarzdaq maintains his concentration on Aran’s Haste.
The psychic whispers fill the minds of Aran and Qarzdaq, but both of them push the thoughts out of their minds without repercussions.
Suddenly, 3 more Death Slaads appear from the portals. As they step from the realm beyond, the portals disappear.
Their minds revisit the time when one of these almost killed them back on the Shield Islands. The Slaads attack Qhortho, Aran, and Farron. Some of their strikes even manage to hit! Though even the ones that hit hardest are mere flesh wounds. Things are different now without the artifacts… Much different.
Farron uses Dimension Door to be near the wall closer to Aran. He shoots a mote from his Crown of Stars at Dorleck.
Qhortho and Aran attack the slaads again, whittling them down a little more.
Qarzdaq calls a Meteor Swarm down on the field as a Quickened Spell. The slaads near Qhortho and Aran are killed, the ones near Farron and farther away from anyone are still alive. Dorleck would have taken the full brunt of the meteor that struck his area, but his innate magical prowess protected him from half the damage. He then teleports clear across the arena to set up his next attack.
Casting a Quickened Meteor Swarm allows Qarzdaq to focus on taking a Supreme Healing potion, providing him a sweet, sweet 60 health. Blink then takes him to the Ethereal Plane.
The 2 remaining slaads cast Fireballs at Qhortho, causing him only minor damage.
The howling abyss returns, forcing everyone to use all the strength they can muster to prevent themselves being sucked into it. Only Farron is pulled into it and is restrained by the extremely cold darkness.
Farron quickly uses Dimension Door to escape and give him a clear line of sight on Dorleck. He fires off a mote causing tremendous damage! Though he is still alive, Dorleck appears to be close to death.
Qhortho attempts to steamroll over the slaad closest to him, but it is too strong for that. Failing that, Qhortho slashes him with his great sword until it dies! He turns his gaze to Dorleck, and starts running towards him with rage in his blackened eyes.
Aran, still Hasted, dashes towards the last remaining slaad and manages to kill it with a single strike!
Qarzdaq blinks back into the Ethereal Plane and closes the gap on Dorleck, striking him with a Firebolt.
The walls are clearly closing in on Dorleck now.
Dorleck attempts to cast a Lightning Bolt, but Qarzdaq quickly Counterspells it!
Dorleck’s eyes give away his surprise and lack of options.
DORLECK: Look! Fellas! We can still join forces! You’ve seen how tough I am to kill… What if I was on your side? Think of the power we could wield! We could rule this entire world!
QARZ: We’ve killed enemies tougher than you, and…
Suddenly the ground shakes violently. Clearly Kaltherzig does not approve. This seems to snap Dorleck back onto his patron’s side. Dorleck mutters under his breath, “yes…”
He uses his Psychic Whispers of Qhortho and Aran use the last bits of inspiration to keep the whispers from affecting them.
A bright, stark radiant mote flies up in the air from Farron’s Crown of Stars and crashes down with prejudice through the top of Dorleck’s skull. Bright beams of light shine through his eye sockets and mouth before they go dark. For the last time.
As his body falls to the ground, everyone’s’ eyes are drawn to the Weirwood. They watch as the Cold-Hearted looks them over.
A sudden piercing shriek sears through their minds. This shriek is not to cause damage exactly, but to transmit a message, which is instantly translated inside their minds.
You have defeated my Frostbound Vanguard. But it is no matter. They were just one more step along my path. You have released me and have my gratitude, something your predecessors were unable to accomplish. You have already seen my capabilities while in these restraints, but you may now finally witness my unbridled power. You now have to choose a side. Either be destroyed as the other mortals shall be. Or join me as my new Frostbound Vanguard so we may rule together over all.
Their minds drift to a memory that now seems ancient.
A veil of darkness, a stark white point of light.
An emaciated older man with a stringy white beard in a torn blue robe, a woman in red lying before him.
Two skeletal men approach from an archway in the background. One, a dark figure with flowing white hair; the other, somewhat shorter, wearing lighter-colors. The woman sits up as the other three figures gather around her. They all stand as the whirling wind blows snow around the area, obscuring the scene.
A gaunt, yet fierce, spectral rider atop a flying beast lands beside them. The four figures surround the rider then fall to the ground in unison, as a deep rumble snaps you out of it. The woman sits up as the other three figures gather around her. They all stand as the whirling wind blows snow around the area obscuring the scene.
A gaunt yet fierce spectral rider atop a flying beast lands beside them. The four figures surround the rider then fall to the ground in unison as a deep rumble snaps the party out of this trance.
As their minds return to the physical surroundings, before even getting a chance to answer Kaltherzig’s question about picking sides, they simultaneously notice the fluids from the artifacts running onto the ground pooling around the base of the tree.
This construction of artifacts in this specific and improbable orientation begins to glow.
You’ve seen this before…
Each of the members of the Unlikely Assembly look at each other for a moment before everything goes black.
The artifacts create a massive explosion centered on the Weirwood tree, 1570 feet across, causing 1105 damage.
What seems like a moment later, the party awakes!
They look around their surroundings to see that they are in a giant crater where the central chamber once stood.
A crystalized shell holds the crushed skeletal remains of the Cold-Hearted inside. The shell appears to go deep into the ground, encasing the creature’s remains with no way for it to impact the outside world ever again.
Looking at each other, they are all in very rough shape, unsure of how they could possibly even be standing at this point.
The gods truly must have been looking out for them.
They feel a sense of power they’d never felt before.
They do not appear to be alone. They notice movement around them as several remaining undead surround them while still giving a wide berth.
The undead simultaneously fall to their knees.
They now await their commands…
from the latest generation of White Walkers…
the most Unlikely of Assemblies.
