(Following Shipwreck, Spirits and Scion / See lead-in: pursuit of quest Auril's Abode)

Quest for the Frostmaiden's Tome

Zaknalimar returned from the Dark Duchess shipwreck to approach the Kalteswetteruntergrund through Agaric, assembling a task force to find the Codicil of White from the Isle of Solstice. This isle was said to be the chosen home of Auril herself, and such a quest truly bold beyond imagining. However, the scholars of the Kalteswetteruntergrund insist with the right timing, her absence could be assured.

It was crucial to make certain this caper coincided with the Frostmaiden's journeys afar on Iskra, the Coldlight Roc on which she flew across the Frozenfar. For years this had been a nightly and predictable route - and this had been carefully tracked by the Kalteswetteruntergrund's observers and instruments. But upon the recent completion of phase one of her ritual, Auril-and-Iskra had been traveling to corners of her realm, for longer deeds on which they could only speculate. What was fortunate for this mission was they could communicate timing and hope to find an extended window allowing the team to search for the tome without threat of the cruel Goddess of Winter.

The Isle of Solstice had been a legendary location for centuries - shaped as a snowflake and floating upon the Sea of Moving Ice, it eluded maps and became a setting for fanciful fireside tales of adventure. The ghostly Unknown Jarls implied it would also be a seat of power of their kind (see Jarlmoot: Circle of Thrones). So stealth would be key regardless - and a team was assembled for the deed.

Aelar was enlisted to arrange transport via his friend, the Awakened whale Angajuk (with the boat-in-bubble - see: Dungeon & Dragon). A dwarven warlock-warrior named Zigzastromanth Ziggastromarch ("just call me Ziggy") insistently joins the team. He is a member of an order of knights out of Caer Dineval working with the Kalteswetteruntergrund to put an end to the Everlasting Winter.

During the journey, coaxed by a fine rum in Angajuk's stores, Ziggy shared some information on this knightly order, which was probably an otherwise secretive group. (See: Knights of the Black Sword) His story, like all of the knights, tells of being spared in a time of desperation by the Patron of the Order. This patron is not given a name, only in offering survival in trade for their loyal service and pledge toward escape from this prison of ice. He even shares that another Adversary, one other than the Frostmaiden, has led to preparations back at Caer Dineval for war with Caer Konig.

The quest calls for this team to obtain knowledge held within the ancient book called the Codicil of White. This tome was said to be written by Auril herself and contain lore essential to her following in the Children of Auril including rites and rituals and enchantments. Whether it could be taken or if merely reading would be sufficient was unknown. But this was now the greatest hope of the Kalteswetteruntergrund to unravel the Rime of the Frostmaiden enchantment that barred the return of Spring to these lands. This holy book would be safely secured somewhere on the Isle of Solstice, most likely within the great castle at the center of the island.

Castle of the Frost Giants

Guided by the whale's expert knowledge of this seam the party circled the snowflake-shaped iceberg. From the ship tethered to the back of Angajuk, the party carefully sought out places to land and explored a couple sunken ships of its coast. Finally, high above the great white bird was seen parting the island and a Sending from the Kalteswetteruntergrund confirmed their prediction this would be an extended trip, according to their patterns. 

Pulling up alongside the identified docks, the party found everything to be equipped for giant-sized inhabitants (specifically, Frost Giants).

Peculiar Guide

A patiently expectant  Ice Mephit greeted them at the dock, almost as if dutifully awaiting their arrival. The creature called itself "Sopo", and offered to guide the group  in whatever tasks they might have on the Isle of Solstice. The party decided to simply make straight for the front door of the skull-shaped Castle Grimskalle at the isle's center, which required a difficult climb of the winding giant-sized steps on the approach.

Along the way, while offering (modestly) helpful information, Sopo exhibited clear indifference to the party's well-being - even suggesting it had been profoundly bored until noticing their arrival, and eagerly anticipated how entertaining it would be to watch their horrific deaths.

The group found the castle to be profoundly quiet, first passing the enormous door of the castle's warden, an elderly and (after the group took great effort to be sneaky) deaf (inconveniently belatedly reported by Sopo) Frost Giant named Ertgard.

As the cheerfully morbid guide was unhelpful in sharing the location of (or even knowledge of) the sought-after book, the party thought to try the upper rooms first (perhaps making an escape faster going down rather than up four-foot steps). Laboriously ascending a stairway from the kitchen, they emerged through a subtle side-entrance what appeared to be the bedchambers and attached throne room of the Frost Giant Queen Vassavicken, Handmaiden of Auril.

Here, they found no sign of a prominent book or even any sort of library - and then were forced to flee down the stairs at the approach of heavy footsteps descending from further above, the heavy tread dropping deadly icicles from ceiling to the floor (eliciting gleeful amusement for Sopo).

Readying Ambush

Taking positions in the enormous kitchen at the foot of the stairs back on the first floor, the party set an ambush for (presumably) the approaching queen (including Spike Growth outside Ertgard's door should he somehow be alerted). The ominous footfalls of a giant descended...

[ ONE YEAR PASSES IN THE REAL WORLD ]

From the cover of giant chairs and the tabletop, our heroes launch ranged attacks as Queen turned to the room, towering and armored. Mephits, like Sopo, in battle-stations atop her crown and on each shoulder. She radiated a cold aura as she approached, saying nothing and bringing her massive hammer down upon the plate mailed dwarf.

The sea elf's bolts fired upon the tiny minions as his spirit bird (Summon Beast) harassed from above. (His initial shots so far off the mark, Sopo helpfully pointed out where the target was, in case Aelar was somehow befuddled). The pistol shot from Zak hit its mark soundly before the wave of cold forced him to retreat for cover, where he launched a devastating Shatter spell upon the giant.

Ultimately, the conflict came to a close as Agaric unleashed a Wall of Fire upon the crowned-giant, even as her own focus fell upon smashing the dwarf's armor into more of a flat shield upon the tabletop. As the giant expired in a burst of ice shards, Sopo clapped and hooted and danced and giggled merrily. The ruckus had alerted even the deafened Ertgard at this time, who bellowed, "Gul-LOO-vick-en!" (followed by something in the language of giants that certainly sounded chiding in tone). As the party readied to face off against him, Sopo suddenly shimmered and transformed into the huge form of an adolescent woman-giant, continuing to giggle, eyes twinkling with mischief and offering Aelar a friendly hug, as she responded to Ertgard with hand signs and spoke in Common to the smaller humanoids:

Ah, no, no, dear Ertgard, these are my new friends!
They have been wonderful to me, and made such great fun!
You know I've been SO bored and lonely, we can have them be guests, yes?

In the discussions following, the young frost giant princess Geluvicken, daughter of Queen Vassavicken reveals much more than Sopo had concerning the situation on this floating iceberg-snowflake home of Auril. The Isle had been left empty when her mother left to lead an army joining the White Inquisitor and her Children of Auril against forces from Icewind Dale. Absent family and friends and playmates, Geluvicken found little interest in her delegated duties as regent (or housekeeper) between the flights of the Frostmaiden on the Coldlight Roc, weaving her enchantments across the sky of the Frozenfar. Bored and lonely, just as was Sopo, she eagerly sought out anything to break the monotony, and became delighted with the adventures following these visitors.

Sometimes Good Guys Come Out On Top

It seemed even Ertgard held some disdain for the goddess and perhaps even the girl's mother as Auril's Handmaiden - offering to prepare a (tiny) meal as Geluvicken and her new friends spoke and plotted.  The princess, aware of the party's objectives through their conversations with Sopo, described there being Four Trials designated by The Frostmaiden herself to gain entry into the vault that held the Codicil of White. These would force any seeking the tome to experience the essence of being the Winter Goddess - requiring they themselves embody her cruelty, her endurance, her isolation, and her need for preservation.

However - Geluvicken then declared that she could - and would - replace two of the trials with those of her own making. First, she named the Trial of Friendship to replace Auril's Trial of Cruelty. The group had been patient, friendly and compassionate to little Sopo, despite his taunts and meddling and being so weak as to have easily been dispatched. Second, her Trial of Courage, replacing Auril's Trial of Preservation (which would reflect the obsessive sealing away of things within prisons of ice). For the group had stood against what they believed might be the Handmaiden of a Goddess herself!

But the two remaining trials would fall to the party to accomplish to complete the requirements for entry into the vault.

(Next: Trials of the Frostmaiden)

Rumor has it there is a circle of giant thrones in the tundra, where the Unknowns of Icewind Dale go when they need answers - an oracle of sorts. The place is not easy to find, but a guide in Dougan's Hole named Yselm claims to know where it is.

Result

Returning to Bryn Shander by airship from Revel's End, the party of adventurers hears their prison-liberator and yeti-hunting friends Aelar and Agaric have recently arrived in the large town in the company of a woman from Targos. The Sea Elf and Gnome introduce the group to the wizard Madouc Mac Donnagh of the Kalteswetteruntergrund (see Meanwhile) and information regarding the secretive Cold Weather Underground's evidence and theories on the Everlasting Winter are shared.

The party takes the most interest in three points:

1. Auril is very actively involved in the Everlasting Winter - using her personal power to perform a ritual every night before dawn. (Its effects can be seen on clear nights as the "northern lights" aurora).
2. The Kalteswetteruntergrund has viewed her doing so via the weather instruments: a Roc shining with moonlight carries her across the sky.
3. Auril is usually noted in myth as one of the "Gods of Fury" - but unlike the others, she is forced away from the world most of the time (the seasons excluding Winter - not to mention in the south were Winter does not come at all!) Two of the Gods of Fury: Talos and Umberlee have taken on more personal manifestations in the world over the same period as the Everlasting Winter:
   • the storm god Talos most notably through the Cult of Talos' recent rise of Anchorites of Talos.
   • There have been tales that the priests of Umberlee, have successfully sent the great sea monster the Unknown in attacks, sometimes assisting the forces of Talos.

Madouc had come to Bryn Shander to find others to join Aelar and Agaric on an urgent expedition.  Meeting with prior adventuring companions is taken as an omen, and hearing the party aligned with the Kalteswetteruntergrund's opposition to the Rime of the Frostmaiden, she urges the group to make haste for a site out on the ice west of the town called Jarlsmoot (which means "meeting place of the kings" in Frost Giant language.

The timing is important because Madouc claims the spirits of the Jarls only appear on the night of the full moon, and the 1st of Tarsakh (each month on Toril begins on a full moon) is only a day away! She believes important questions about Auril and the Rime can be learned by consulting with the spirits on the Thrones of Jarlmoot. She herself is unable to go to the site due to some purification ritual she must maintain to use the weather instruments, but she uses a ritual to place a sense of direction to it in the mind of the divination-apt mind of Alyks.

The plan splits the adventurers into two groups:

1. This important once-a-month night is said to also be used by Unknowns as a rite of passage, so in the event one of them is seeking the place, Madouc, Phantom and Agaric will create a distraction and otherwise mislead them away from the place.
2. A second group pulled on swift dogsleds will seek out the wisdom of the spirit Jarls, led by the direction-ritual.

The Challenges

Arriving with the full moon of the 1st of Tarsakh, the ghostly figures loom above the party, conversing with each other while sitting in the enormous thrones, ignoring the tiny people until Zaknalimar uses Tongues to address the largest giant. This one, calling himself the Jarl of Jarls, Reggaryarva - challenges the party to prove they are worthy in a trial of combat and summons three deadly minions: a Frost Salamander, an Ice Elemental Warrior, and a Frost Giant Skeleton.  The battle brings the group terrifyingly close to their own end, but victorious only having Alyks Askaria fallen, targeted for her powerful fire magics, but spared from death by the necromancy of Dex, who also - crucially to survival - had tremendously weakened the giant skeleton with Ray of Enfeeblement.

Upon this success, the party is granted entry into the (frost giant-sized) Questing Halls beneath the Great Throne: "Bring the artifact and ye shall have three questions answered." Within the rooms beneath the ice, the party finds six arches with words of a poem above and large bowls below. A room to the side has two more arches with runes at their peaks and a ring with matching golden runes high on the wall. A hallway to the other side is barred by six floating runes forming a wall.

Alyks uses Comprehend Languages and translates:

The runes forming the wall are:

("Ise" - Ice) ("Fjell" - Mountain)
("Krig" - War) ("Liv" - Life)
("Vind" - Wind) and ("Wyrm" - Dragon).

The poem over the arch-bowls reads:

• Snatch a scale from a sleeping wyrm
• Against the blowing wind, stand firm
• The tallest stone sits atop mountain head
• Life's paths lead to being dead
• Blood from battle starts the war
• Snowflakes fall, till blood stains no more

The archways in the side room are reached by placing the key-runes in the top (aided by Sudon using Fly).

1. Wyrm disappears after Aelar sneaks into a dragon's cave to steal a scale through one of the arch-portals opened in the side-room and places it in the bowl, which lights with a flame.
2. Vind fades when Zaknalimar, trying to read a figure blows across the bowl.
3. Fjell vanishes after Aelar climbs to the top of the rocky pinnacle of the upward-gravity-angled passage in the side-chamber arch, placing a pyramid-like stone in the bowl. (Note the dangerous guardians of the peak, giant mountain goats were horribly burned by the Tiefling Alyks Askaria's fire magic, falling as enormous burning meat-boulders through the archway and sideways to pummel several party members - but providing an excellent meal later).
4. Liv dissolves after drops of blood from a survivor of the battle among the thrones above are added to the bowl.
5. Krig dims as a sawn-off head of one of the goats is placed in the bowl.
6. Ise melts away when snow is placed in the bowl.

Through the now-opened passage, a giant-sized chest is found with a key already in the lock. Just before Aelar turns it, Alyks uses her Wand of Secrets to learn while the chest has no trap itself, there is something about the key. The key is removed, and Aelar realizes it does not in fact fit the lock. Using his own lockpicks (and larger tools such as knives, since it is so large), he opens the chest, revealing a pile of battleaxes and a horn. Reaching for the horn, the axes jump to life, attacking the party.  Dex uses Mage Hand to grab the horn and run to the exit. With the successful removal of the Horn Relic, the battleaxes cease their attack, falling to the ground, and the Jarl of Jarls offers the party one question to each of the Seer Jarls, the three ghostly queens in the circle of thrones.

Questions and Answers

Question One: How can we end the everlasting winter?

"Only by preventing Auril the Frostmaiden from repeating her ritual may Spring return to these lands." 

Question Two: Where does Auril keep the Roc she rides each night?

"Iskra the Coldlight Roc dwells in a lair atop Grimskalle on the mist-shrouded Isle of Solace in the Sea of Moving Ice. Most sailors and creatures of the sea know how to find the island – and how to avoid it, if they can.”

Question Three: Why is Auril preventing the other seasons from coming to Icewind Dale?

"Thousands of years ago powerful and arrogant wizards built cities that flew in the sky. One of these cities fell deep into the Frozenfar and the Frostmaiden preserved it in a tomb of great ice as a prize and treasure for herself.  Silent for all those centuries, something suddenly stirred in the ruins and Auril feared her precious keepsake might escape in the melt while she was away in summer's warmth. And so she devotes a great deal of her power each night to prevent the change of the seasons."

Treasure

The Horn Relic is a Horn of Blasting - shaped like a cone with a lion's head at the large end. It can deal thunder damage and deafness.

The large gold key is worth 25gp, but also has a property of creating a doorway - but Alyks' Identify is unclear on how this works or the danger it might pose - the wand insists a trap is somehow involved.

Return

Phantom and Agaric report there was indeed a frost giant contingent headed to Jarlmoot. Madouc was able to lead them astray with illusions of some sort - and into a time-wasting conflict with a stampede created by the barbarian and druid (and an enormous Snowy Owlbear friendly to Agaric) - delaying their arrival.

Flying castle built by Cloud Giants, overseen by King Blagothkus.

Dex is a promising Necromancy apprentice to Idroxius Black of the Arcane Brotherhood. He is also of the lineage called "Hexblood" and the nature of his birth unclear - clearly not the natural child of human parents from a long line of menial servants at the Host Tower, he is some sort of fairy "Changeling."

He has been part of the Host Tower of the Arcane since he was old enough to sweep a floor for the Arcane Brotherhood's servants. He quickly worked his way up to being trained in the dark arts, showing himself (perhaps literally) born with talents and a fascination with the forces that can bring creatures to act beyond their deaths.

Dex grew up with and is very close to fellow students / wizard apprentices Alyks Askaria, Maccath, and Nass Lantomir. The group often assisted each other in studies and practice when the instructors were less than helpful or at times even hostile. Three of them were seen as prodigies: Dex being so capable and precocious with necromancy, Maccath a rising authority on Dragons and Alyks pulling together lore on the ancient and mysterious Netheril. In contrast, Nass has struggled to find her place or distinguish herself.

Dex Shadow is the chosen of an Ancestral Weapon bearing the spirit of Mormesk, called the Sickle-Staff of Darkness. With this, he is able to call upon three of his fallen brethren as undead minions: Nass Lantomir, Sarith Kzekarit, and Dzaan.

(See also: Arcane Brotherhood)

Mysterious Guild of Wizards

Trading company and wizard's guild based in Luskan, operating from their Host Tower structure. The organization's power is well-established and feared, but its intentions shrouded in mystery beyond building its own strength and wealth and control over the North. Even its leadership was unknown.

Known Events

• (Around 1300 DR) The Arcane Brotherhood appears in Luskan and begins its grab for power.
• (1373 DR) a cabal of dragons, including the white dragon White Dragons of the Frozenfar, attacked the Arcane Brotherhood's Host Tower, stealing a hoard of magical items and research.
• (1376 DR) Waterdeep sends an attack force including adventurers and mercenaries to Luskan, successfully removing the guild's control of the City of Sails (Luskan).
• (Around 1400 DR) The Arcane Brotherhood reforms claiming to be a "School of Magical Study", focusing solely on magical research and staying away from politics. The leadership of Luskan was hesitant at first, but over time gradually came to accept this new version of the Brotherhood.

Rumor and Legend

• As with so many things of the ancient times, the Host Tower is likely a creation of The Netheril from before the Dale Reckoning (1 DR).
• Before the Arcane Brotherhood, the tower was held by a group of powerful undead Liches, called The Grand Cabal. This group and the tower were untouched even when Luskan was overrun by invasions over the centuries.
• (Around 800 DR) the Grand Cabal was banished or destroyed when Laeral Silverhand herself broke through its defenses and lifted its shadow of fear over the land.
• The brotherhood has four "Overwizards" each living in one of the Host Tower's branches, and a high-leader "Archmage Arcane" in the central spire.
• Were it not for the powerful guild of wizards known as The Many-Starred Cloak in Neverwinter, it is quite likely the Brotherhood would have long ago assumed control of the "City of Skilled Hands" down the coast.