(Additional to: Stones of Blood)

Risen from the Ashes of Caer Konig

Descending from the snow-covered slopes of Kelvin’s Cairn, the ruins of the lakeside town of Caer Konig have not been rebuilt since the desolation of the chardalyn dragon nearly two months ago. Indeed the town itself is dark and the timber remnants of buildings snowbound in the shadow of the hilltop, down to the lake. Gone are the settlers from the Moonsea.

Reports claimed almost none survived the attack, and the location was instead taken by the displaced Xardorok Sunblight, who rebuilt the tower (or Caer) - connecting it with the Underdark while making his treaty with the Chardalyn Syndicate of Targos and Bremen, part of his surrendering of the Sunblight Stronghold to Clan Muzgardt. (See Ten little Towns).

The looming tower seems impossibly large to have been constructed in so short a time and so meager the resources from which to build it. Now surrounded by an army and siege engines, town buildings being turned to support structures, bunkers and barracks - the structure bears an intimidating silence and malevolent glow. Dark clouds circle above, and the stone bears more resemblance to blood than any color of stone, evident even from a distance and in the dim light of the Rime of the Frostmaiden. Occasionally bright flashes burst against the tower walls, or waves of darkness sweep from the tower’s base and retreat - launched by dwarven siege engines and wizardly magic in the attacks of forces assembled against the structure.

Sinister Schemes

Within and beneath the tower something horrific was underway, anyone within sight of it could feel this, like a body senses that subtle wrongness in an unsettled stomach after eating rotten food. And certainly anyone sensible would also think this logically, just checking off the list:

• Last known location of a psychopath that built a weapon of mass destruction and used it to kill a thousand people indiscriminately.
• Blood-colored tower mysteriously rises from the site of mass casualties (of that psychopath).
• Circling dark clouds above said tower.
• (Less obvious from the surface, but easily added): the shield dwarves report that in the recent tremor all known passages of the Underdark to this region were cut off (some likely by Duergar cave-ins, not solely the tremor itself).

A growing force surrounds the structure, in hopes of preventing whatever it might plan to unleash. Yet, little progress has been made to penetrate its defenses.

Scouting Report: Adversaries

Listing of adversaries encountered so far defending the tower:

1. Duergar loyal to Xardorok and the Sunblight clan.  These include saboteurs (using their racial Invisibility skills) from behind the lines, poisoning drinks, setting fires to shelters and supplies, and damaging trebuchets and other siege engines. They seem to be operating from some outpost or exit from the tower that the attackers have been unable to locate.
2. The Ravenous (Unknown) flail-bearers and spearmen, enormous fearless/enraged hyena-men.
3. Goblin slaves supporting. 
4. A strange fungal zombie that is not the usual sort of undead raised by necromancy, these undead are encrusted with a fungus and bear spores that poison and create more zombies. Some even burst when destroyed.
5. Fiends (unverified types) that attack (along with the zombies, who seem to have a form of blindsight) from within magical darkness extending from the tower as it counter-attacks.

Attacking Forces

The assembled attackers include:

• (Leading the attack) Knights of the Black Sword - the mysterious order of rogues, warriors, priests, warlocks and wizards based out of (nearby) Caer Dineval. (Led by Hethyl Ark'orran).
• Wizards from the Arcane Brotherhood, including the tiefling evocation adept Avarice, and the pair of necromancers Vellynne Harpell and Dex (along with their small army of zombie gnolls).
• The Shield Dwarf Clan Battlehammer, from the valley beneath Kelvin's Cairn at the center of the Ten Towns (led by Bron-yr-aur Battlehammer).
• Warriors of the Elk Clan of Reghed Tribesmen (led by Hathorn Aesnvaard).
• A powerful paladin from Fireshear named Apricity Dawnseeker, champion of the sun god Amaunator.

Observers (not engaging) include members of the Free Towns (a group from Termalaine), a group from the enigmatic Kalteswetteruntergrund, and (only seen at a distance and elusive) Zhentarim, no doubt at the request of the Chardalyn Syndicate.

Matters to Deal With

• General battlefield combat (Dex and Vellynne have already merged their little army with the other forces)
• Stop the saboteurs / find their outpost
• Liberate the goblins / send home to Karkolohk
• Stop the fungus-zombie factory (yes, a bit of Last of Us there)
• Breach the walls of the tower & find out about/stop whatever awfulness is going on inside/below
• Vengeance on Xardorok

Battle Reports

The plan had worked pretty well for a while at least. Joining with the forces of the Knights of the Black Sword, the necromancers' zombies fought well, immune to the poison of the fungus zombies and less vulnerable to the darkness - but the battle was very one-sided and eventually it was down to the Necromancers and their single Summoned Undead.   The walls had still not been breached, making it impossible to counter-attack or even know the enemy’s capabilities. Magical reconnaissance was impossible due to the antimagic. So how to gain entry?

Since only “trusted” creatures were allowed back within, Dex comes up with a plan to place her Eerie Token on a fungus zombie and allow it to return within. Then peering through its senses - can gain the needed view to use a magical teleportation item owned by the golden-haired lady-paladin Apricity, with the problem that its use would be the last charge of the amulet until stricken by the light of a sunrise.

The teleportation could only bring two - and at the last moments of preparation, a great fiend struck at the camp - drawing away Apricity to engage the threat, substituting Vellynne instead to join Dex, the two necromancers vanishing into the tower.

(See: Stones of Blood)

1. Counterattack: The tower's darkness launches a counterattack on the battlefield - Knights of the Black Sword move ahead with a great net to counter the advantages of the darkness, only to be torn apart by a variety of the fungal zombies able to explode.
   Hethyl Ark'orran is among the casualties.
   
2. Clouds converge: Skyreach Castle, the flying cloud giant fortress (see Skyreach Castle journal) arrives, bearing an urgent message from the Council of Waterdeep, delivered by Mon-Kei on the back of a griffon. (See quest: Old White Death). 
3. Strike of the Thundersmith: The stone giants of Skyreach drop boulders on defending forces, and the barbarian Tallon the Tall leaps from the castle, withstanding terminal velocity and bearing its force with a (critical) blow to the bloodstone walls, cracking one side open.
4. Attack!: Following Tallon, Phantom, h'Rothgar, Sudon, Alyks Askaria, and Umka surge through the walls, encountering a cloud of spores surrounding the Fungal Behemoth spawned by the Flesh Hag.  The Shield Guardian enters the cloud, immune to poisons, and strikes a venting lever, lofting the deadly spores and exposing dozens of zombie forces.  A fireball attack enrages the Behemoth, which is taken down after swallowing Tallon whole and mounted by Phantom: the first Thunderstep'ing a great boom within, blasting the second into the air - exposing the Flesh Hag having dwelt within. She then crawls up the inner wall, chasing Phantom, who she has hexed, and becomes the focus of attacks (after knowing the fearsome power the Blood Hag displayed at Karkolohk).
5. Barbarians at the Gates: With the death of the Behemoth and the Flesh Hag, the inner tower was more easily scaled to confront Xardorok atop the tower - however, from the bowels of the tower - and whatever dread gateway had been opened down into the Underdark, a surge of slithering, crawling, hopping creatures - insectoid, reptilian, both and otherwise strange but uniformly eager to tear flesh from the living.  To one side, their forms of pulsing yellow, from the other a glow of blue. This swarm of creatures would flood the roof from the two stairwells, but for the cleaving might of Phantom, wielding the Alagondar Glaive and Tallon with Hew.
6. Preventing Apocalyptic Hellfire: The desperate need to hold these apart becomes clear when a single yellow fiend escaping the glaive exchanges fang and claw attacks with a single blue creature escaping the axe, and their mixing of blood combusts into a blast of hellfire.
   The potential ignition of an inferno resulting from these hordes combining might level a mountain! Truly, fate was now in the hands of two raging barbarian butchers and the blades they wield!
7. Bishop to King / Checkmate: Wielding that magically empowered gauntlet (seen in Sunblight Stronghold) Xardorok link with a sinister energy in the form of an enormous clawed hand. A hand set to reach into the clouds toward the white Roc and its rider - far on the edge of the battle, but for the distraction in the stubborn advance of the warlock-king's nemesis, h'Rothgar. Girding within adamantine plate armor, the relentless approach of the forge-cleric of Moradin defies eldritch force-magic attacks and army-stopping protections in a hundred singes from a sea of fire motes. Magical ranged attacks from the tiefling wizard Alyks bring the house-sized hand down upon two of her Mirror Images as she rolls to safety, turning to launch a (Portent-powered 20) Dispel Magic upon the arch-magic, dissolving the hand and fire mote defenses alike - disrupting the warlock's concentration. The forge-cleric's warhammer delivers vengeance to the deceitful betrayer, a final wrath upon the psychopath pawn of the Adversary. 
8. Coven's Demise: As with the fungal behemoth and the vampire spawn, from the gore of the body of Xardorok emerged the final hag of the coven: the Bone Hag. Despite her desperate attacks launching savage necrotic attacks up on the heroes, with the flood of the swarm-creatures at an end, the hag falls quickly under the concerted attacks of the party, putting a final end to this coven of witches.
9. Battlefield: On the ground, the ravenous (Unknowns) attempt retreat, only to be hunted down mercilessly by the Elk Tribe and Goliath warriors riding snow griffons. Surviving Duergar, Quaggoth, Myconids, and other subterranean dwellers slink deep into the Underdark.
10. Skyreach: The castle is driven back over the Spine of the World, escaping wicked winds and ice - a message from Auril it is unwelcome in her realm.

(Next: Machines of the Adversary / see also: Old White Death)

It is believed the Goddess of Winter Auril has chosen to empower certain minions in the preservation of this everlasting winter, the Rime of the Frostmaiden, including the vicious Yeti native to the tundra and heights of the Icewind Dale. Indeed, the north and northeast faces of Kelvin's Cairn have recently become more perilous due to savage attacks by an enormous monster that has become known as the Red Yeti, as it is so thoroughly stained in the blood of its victims.

To hunt down this common threat, a temporary peace had been called between the goblins of the Karkolohk fortress on the northeast side of Kelvin's Cairn and the people of the town of Termalaine.

Meanwhile, a secretive group of magical investigators of the Rime (the "Kalteswetteruntertgrund") hired some explorers to place a magical sensor high up on Kelvin's Cairn, so they could perform research into the strange ongoing-winter weather. Tragically, the group had selected a path that intersected the Red Yeti's territory.

Result

Members of the Sewer-side Squad successfully returned to Termalaine with the head of the Red Yeti. The head was needed to gain passage to Karkolohk, to determine whether the story told by Dzaan is in fact true (see: Hostage King). 

In the process of the hunt, the party was able to rescue one of the explorers hired by the magical investigators, a halfling cleric of Yondalla named Perilou Fishfinger. The party was also able to successfully install the the magical sensor - but the rest of the expedition died on the mountain: Garret Velryn (rugged human tracker - killed by yeti), Barthoom Hammerhome (dwarf explorer - killed by yeti), and Astrix (Tiefling divination wizard, frozen to death hiding from yeti - found next to Barthoom's body). Perilou was to return to her organization and report the results.

The party received a bounty for the yeti and a payment from the researchers.

(See also journal: Grim Trophy)

Far to the north, beyond the Spine of the World and above even Icewind Dale , lies the Sea of Moving Ice. Gigantic icebergs wander listlessly through this glasslike sea, or are sent smashing and grinding against each other by bitterly cold winds, the sea spray transformed into fantastic frozen shapes around them. Only creatures adapted to severe cold can survive such frigid extremes, but many beasts—and even people—make their homes in the Sea of Moving Ice.

(See also: wiki)

High-elf paladin wearing dragonscale armor and shield, bearing a bright morningstar and dedicated to eradicating the forces of darkness from the lands.

Belcoria Diamondstars is an Aeldyr-descended High Elf serving as a Paladin of the Oath of Starfire in Our Party. Her noble bearing and presence betray she is far older than she would claim. She is a survivor of the travesty of her kind, a lone scion of telling their story before lost to history, a vessel for vengeance on the wicked dark forces that consumed her people's civilization. Expending untold power to make it to this world, she is regaining her prior abilities alongside the other adventurers she has chosen as allies in this great struggle.

Belcoria wields a commanding presence and always looks striking - with polish and gleam and attention to "looking the part," she expects no less from those who wish for the same. She is poised and well-spoken, quick to defend those needing a champion, but also quick to challenge others around her. She is a beacon of light and hope as the world at times dims into darkness.

Once calling themselves The Dragonslayers, this group of adventurers based in Phandalin's Tresendar Manor have had a story evolving alongside that of Our Party.

See a collection of journal entries (in progress):
Tales of the Dragonslayers, 6. Return to the Tower of Storms

The rivals were taking on the Dragon of Icespire Peak storyline in parallel to our beginning Lost Mine of Phandelver, and just as Our Party had a moderate success, these guys came back from the Sword Mountains with wheelbarrows of coins, the dragon's skull, handed out scales to the kids - they were the rock stars. (Making the "home team" jealous / checking their egos.)

This crew included:

• Zosime Longblade (worldanvil) (dndbeyond)
  • High Elf Rogue
  • armed with a scimitar and a shortsword, which seems to make his name kind of weird.
  • Quiet and patient. Party tactician?
• Cernan (worldanvil) (dndbeyond)
  • Odd Human (Fire Genasi) Wizard 
  • perhaps leads this party with Zosime?
  • Looks humanish, but we heard he is something called “Gen-a-si” (bright red hair that sometimes looks like flames in the right light).
• Ledwen Blackbreeze (worldanvil) (dndbeyond)
  • Human Sorcerer
  • with a pet owl familiar
  • seems to be nobility from Cormyr?
  • He was very polite and formal.
• ChaChasa (worldanvil) (dndbeyond)
  • Halfling Monk
  • super-fast and full of energy
  • kind of hero-worships Zosime
  • phobia of machinery/constructs
  • likes to sleep in barns and stables with nice warm animals as pillows
• Jörgund Brynjolf (worldanvil) (dndbeyond)
  • Human Fighter/Barbarian
  • (“yor gund brin yall-f”) is a tall two-axe style warrior from up North in the Luskan area.
• Orren Ironhammer (worldanvil) 
  • proud dwarf craftsman /warrior
  • mostly forging weapons.
  • Played significant role in rebuilding Phandalin
  • including working with Hamun Kost and Mormesk enchanting items from the corpse of the fallen blue dragon.
• (Deceased) Valen Nightbreeze (worldanvil)
  • Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter)
  • Killed in Cult of the Dragon attack on Phandalin 
  • Archer, gave arrows to Willow