The party is exhausted and head to their quarters in the castle, and there is a slight tremor. Teren attunes to the silver sword looted from the Ultroloth’s bag of holding. The other items in the bag are:
- 85 soul gems
- Jewellery worth 12000gp
- A small brass ship's wheel (magic of some kind)
- A vial of magical oil
- A tome of instructions and advice, slightly magical.
- A stone carved into the shape of a die, magical
- A smooth stone with a hole in it, magical
The party wake at dawn when another tremor shakes the mountain next to the town, sending some rocks down. Worried now about how the Orb of Aster in the temple will respond to the souls lost last night as well as the soul of the Ultroloth that had gained a divine spark, Julius performs Divination. He sacrifices 10 soul gems and some jewellery to call upon Kelemvor. His vision darkens and he senses the presence of his patron. “When will the dragon egg kept in the temple nearby hatch?” A deep voice in his head echoes “A new god will be born on the morrow. This displeases me.” Although the spell allows for only one question, Julius desperately sacrifices 5 more soul gems to keep Kelemvor on the line. “Oh lord, how can we prevent this?” As the presence fades, it replies “You hold everything you need.”
The townsfolk are headed up the small mountain behind the town to the temple to mourn the dead from the catastrophe that occurred in the town square last night. (Almost 100 people died.) Most of the party join them to see what’s happening. The temple is lit brightly from within, the orb in the centre is lighting up the whole circular amphitheatre like a sun. It is thrumming with energy. Sister Euberi is in religious rapture leading the chanting, and the crowd is excited with possibility though they are mourning the loss of their loved ones. The new King of Dactris, Hanum, is there with his wife, the princess. He does not follow this odd religion and is still upset by the death of his father last night. He glares at the party occasionally, possibly blaming them for not being able to save his father, and also for hanging around the town when he has already asked them last night to exact vengeance on the giants and to retrieve the crown.
Meanwhile Ix analyses Ship wheel, and the stone carved into a die. The ships wheel is a key of sorts, and can be used to control a device (no doubt the astral ship the Ultroloth used) as well as being a link to it that can be used to find it. The die is a luck stone, useful to anyone.
After the ceremony, the party heads down to the town square where the wounded captive frost giant has been chained and guarded. King Agrilus has allowed it be freed to aid the party in finding the giants. In fact, the party just lets the giant go free, as it was enslaved to the cloud giant it served and simply wants to flee south back to where it came from. The party recall into the vault in the dwarven stronghold high up in the mountain range. It seems the dwarves have used the last week to re-arm themselves and re-form something of a fighting force now that they have a real king and the Horn of Valhalla to call their ancestors to aid them. Satrogur mentions that he can teleport them directly to the castle this time, if they have something with a strong connection to it. In fact, they do! The ancient scrolls (whole cow hides) that the long dead cloud giant Belnoth wrote.
The party find themselves in the shelves of the study, deep inside the cloud castle. It is dark apart from some light coming from under the only door. Julis casts silence and they climb down to the floor. Peeking under the relatively large gap under the door, they see the main bedroom, empty apart from a torch on the wall, and a bed and a chest. Ix casts Locate Item, and senses the Crown of commanding beyond the bedroom, around where the throne room and scrying pool is. Nagwen casts pass without trace, and the party are perfectly silent as they carefully use mage hand to open the study door (the handle is 15 feet high). As they creep through the bedroom, Nagwen’s sharp ears pick out a sharp word whispered in Giant from outside “Silence!”.
They carefully open the door, and are surprised by a giant greatsword cleaving down through the slight gap of the semi-open door, smashing Teren, and then stabbing him, leaving him on 1HP. A fire giant was waiting for them! And a frost giant on the other side of the door too! Valrick valiantly steps up in front of Teren to protect him, and engages the giants. Nagwen summons his drake to attack then steps back to use his bow. The drake latches onto the giant’s leg and distracts it for a moment before the giant smashes it with its sword, killing it. Ix casts Haste on both Nagwen and Valrick who become blurs of arrows and axes as they engage the giants. Nagwen continues to summon another drake and another as the giants become increasingly annoyed with them and kill them. Then the cloud giant appears from the throne room, wearing the Crown of commanding “Kneel, and serve me, peons!” However the party had resisted the crown’s power the night before, so they were still immune to it! The party finished off the two giants just as two more appeared in the doorway across the hall. With Julius healing Teren, he rejoins the fight, sneaking attacks just where the giants were not expecting. With the fight going against the giants, the cloud giant vanishes in a cloud of mist that moves back into the throne room. The last fire giant attempts to flee into the courtyard but is taken down before he can leave the hallway. In the throne room the mist is headed for a window high on the wall and starting to stream into it. Ix blocks it with a wall of force, and the mist heads for another window. Nagwen’s drake shoots a cloud of acid at the cloud and it appears to have some effect! Ix casts dispel magic and the heavily injured cloud giant wearing the crown lands in a jumble on the large stone throne. “Let me live, please!” “Why should we” is the immediate answer. The giant takes the crown and throws it at the party. “Take this accursed crown, I wish I had never come to claim this castle of my uncle, and only wish to flee.”
The party takes the crown, and has a quick conference, deciding that the giant can stay in the castle and use it as his home, but must swear fealty to them and do as they command. They remind him that they can teleport into the castle at any time. He is terrified of the party and agrees. The party believes they have time before the god is born, and so take a long rest, waking just before midnight, before asking the giant to use weather control to fly the castle down to the valley where the town is. On the way, they examine the Tome and stone with a hole. They are a Tome of Leadership and Influence (used) and a single stone of sending. No sign of its pair. (New stone, who dis?) Ix also learns Sending from the cloud giant.
Just after midnight, as the castle descends into the valley, they cast Sending to king Agrilus to let him know of their approach and not to be alarmed. Instead of him being awakened by the spell, he responds immediately. Terrified. “Help! Come at once! There is a d-d-dragon. The town is under attack and I need you here.” As the castle breaks through the lowest layer of clouds above the town, the temperature drops and they feel a dread chill. In the dim glow of the clouds under the moon, they can make out streams of townsfolk leaving. A swathe has been cut through several streets in the town, demolishing buildings and leaving shards of ice crystals sticking through the surrounding buildings. Atop the small mountain behind the town, curled around the domed temple is a gigantic ancient white dragon.
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