And so I write our return to Coppecore and what happened there in and a bit beyond.

The dwarf Schlomo being blinded from some foul Ravan Clan magic and Valbraun slowly being choked to death by some obsidian necklace he didn’t hesitate to put on, visited the Drachen Lodge. There in the High Shaman Attarran, cured the blindness and removed the curse, at some cost to each of them in gold or a favor.

The rest of the group scattered about town tending to their own means. I chose to stay at a quiet lodge call the Warriors Rest. There however I overhear a group of men planning a meeting to discuss an attack upon my temple, and upon the party I have gathered. Their ignorant fear of the Old Gods driving them on. So I chose to pay a visit to their meeting.

Our group gathered at Trevyk’s Lodge, he always seem happy to take our coin and hear our tales. Be that as it may, I gave up the Raven Bow to the Skald, as it is not a weapon our Order trains in, though it is certainly an item of impressive power. I informed the group of the diversion I’ll be taking before we set out to the lost temple. Surprisingly, they chose to join me, though I did advise we’d be avoiding any violence. May the Light Guide our hand.

So tending to some various mundane things we then made our way to an abandoned farm outside of town where the group of ignorant ruffians were gathering. We joined their group incognito and listened to their tirade about burning down the temple of Ardennor and taking out the heroes of Coppercore.

Surprisingly, both Schlomo and Valrbraun spoke up against both, but it was to no avail, and soon they were picked out as part of the group they intended to attack. And so I took the front and revealed myself and chose to share the Light of our Lord Ardennor with the mass of folk gathered, and so they were enthralled with his glory and shortly there after peacefully dispersed.

Oddly enough, Valbraun threatened to kill me if I ever invoked the power of our Lord upon him again, unasked. Not too likely he could but fair enough I suppose. Though perhaps he learned something and has seen the Truth in the Light, this may explain his misguided aggression. Thus far a servant of the Light has returned a “sacred bundle” and an empowered bow to their clan, and yet they cannot see the Light and are threatened by it.

The next day we set out to deal with the quest that was upon Valraun to check up on the Beaver Clan. Light above, the Beaver Clan, seemingly they’re very skilled at wood work. So we went on and found their village upon Beaver Lake, enshrouded in a foul fog. The people were ensorcelled and moved about like zombies yet live. Working our way to the Chieftains Lodge in search of the shamen Lobato, we encountered what remained of the chieftain. Controntime him, we soon learned he’d been taken by a powerful banngeist and so battle ensued.

It was a hard won victory, we struggled to damage it weapons and fire while it threw about baleful magics. Eventually of course the Light prevailed and we vanquished this creature. Interestingly enough the Skald claimed the golden horned skull of the creature. Seemingly he’s gathering quite a few items of power, as spear that allows him to sprout wings, a ring he can disappear with and now a skull that can animate the dead. He will certainly need watching and may the Light of the Lord scatter the darkness upon him.

As for the others, they certainly held their own, but may the Light watch over me with this group of heroes. One calls upon a god of beer, Skallgrymm, the other Thraxus the Betrayer. Woe to us when he no longer finds us useful. Then there’s the drunken dwarf warrior Mudreck the Barbender, ever ready to swing his axe, and an odd gnome, unsure what he actually brings to the group.

The appreciative Beaver Clan allowed us to rest and recover for saving them and then we pressed on to where the map showed the lost temple to be. On the way we found evidence of some raiders, and followed the trail leading to where the temple may be..?

We’ve engaged some insectoid creatures of various nature.. They are intelligent and will I’m sure prove to be quite dangerous. It would appear that these may indeed be the children of the entombed devil. We will work to cleanse this place and sanctify the temple once we’ve secured it.

May the Light Shine upon you and guide your steps.

Aden

And so I Aden, a humble servant of Ardennor, have gathered a group of heroes, or so I am told they are to aid our Order in finding and cleansing a lost temple of our Order. May the Fathers light shine upon us and guide our way.

Our group, heroes of Coppercore having recently retrieved a girl from the wintry grasp of a giant, agreed after some payment to join me in attempting to follow an ancient map to this lost temple, said to possibly be a prison of some ancient evil smited by Ardennor.

Led by a skald known as Valbraun of the Raven clan, earnest in his leadership, but also a bit roguish. His group does a bit mercenary, which truth be told may serve it’s purpose. The rest are an odd assortment of fellows. Two of the stout folk, both seem to be drunkards with a seemingly never ending supply of ale. There is Schlomo, a priest of some beer god, the other , Mudreck a fierce warrior, when he’s not sodden with ale.

Then we have Sunny, and odd man, dark and obviously strong, apparently a follow of the great betrayer Thraxus. May Ardennor free him of his shadows. I shall judge him by his actions not by the god he worships.

And finally one that I thought to be a dwarf child, but is seemingly a gnome of unknown skill name Izull, or Izy. Very small, and rather confident.

And so we set out into the wintry wilderness. After some days, we came upon a burial mound of the Raven clan. Finding some bodies of the clansmen outside we investigated inside and did encounter a group of bandits calling themselves the Crimson Red Badgers or some such. We defeated the first and the second group we encounter and rescued whom we though was a shaman of the Raven clan. He however was seemingly unthankful of our aid and offended of my following of the old gods and accused us of wielding strange sorceries. His ignorance wasn’t surprising all things considered. But after telling us he needed to attend to those of his clan that were killed he’d return to help us clear the intruders. But instead he closed the only doors in an sealed them with some sort of arcane magic. As such we had to press on deeper into the tomb.

The mound led deeper into the mountain, there we found a great statue of a Raven. It was some sort of guardian and blasted the party with black energy that blinded Schlomo. We pressed on and shortly encountered a group of the brigands fleeing from some fearful thing. Capturing one, we interrogated him and then coerced the others in joining us in finding a way out.

Oddly Valbraun thought this all part of some test to prove his worth to his people, and so we carried on with I leading the blind dwarf through the darkness of the tomb. We did find some crypts and their guardians and so battle ensued. Fortunately the Light of the Lord guided our hand and we were victorious. The only casualties were three of the four brigands that were with us. An interesting note, the Skald would allow the party to loot some of the tombs but not others, very odd. He and Sunny seem to have some strange alignment together exchanging items of power. However one such item looked was an obsidian necklace that began choking the skald once he put it on, we could do naught to remove it, but he survived at least for now.

In one of the tombs I did recover a great raven bow of incredible workmanship and beauty, it speaks to me. Though I was able to draw and fling an arrow most accurately, I do not think the bow finds me, worthy. I will need to either return it to the crypt of give it to the skald, whom seems to have also claimed all other treasures.

However being the Schlomo was now blinded by some ancient magic, and the skald slowly being choked by a cursed necklace, we made our way back to town to seek aid from the shamans there. I find it interesting that they didn’t even bother to ask me if my brothers at the Temple of the Sun could aid them, but then, I also didn’t offer.

May the Light of the Lord shine upon us all…

Then the

The party being totally exhausted after their misadventures had very little to do with the excitement of the Winter Festival. Even such things as a menagerie getting loose in town, and the Lords Tower being broken into, didn’t pull them from their warm beds and ample food and drink. Instead they focused on selling look, repairing armor and discerning what items of power they discovered.
A few days after the festival, Schlomo, Kenneth and Valraun were summoned to the Lords Hall to tell their tale before a large number of notable towns people, the Iron Guard and of course Lord Brie and Lady Gwendolynn. Valbraun performed and exemplary telling, of their harrowing adventures and the fall for Sir Rolan, Halburt, Bloody Dubs Bullocks, Salia and Attya. There were tears and down turned head around the tables and fires. Flagons of ale were raised in their honor. But in the end, after much sacrifice the girl Tonya was indeed rescued, a lair of troll cleared, and a dangerous if crafty giant located. The three heroes were each given a Torc of Courage for their efforts. Sir Rolans battered shield was raised in the hall, Halburts name was added to the Wall of Honor at the Hold, and the rest were given honors based on their back round, except of course the betrayer, Double Hat.
Several day later the party was approached by a priest of the Southron Temple of Ardennor, naming himself Aden. He was sent out by his high priest to seek out the heroes, requesting their aid in finding a lost temple to the Sun God, and clearing it of any evil. A good measure of the party decided to aid the Temple of Ardennor in this quest as most of them weren’t from the Vale at this point, and the gold was good. And so a new party was formed, still led by Valbraun of the Raven Clan, with Schlomo of Skollgrymm, Aden a southron priest of Ardennor, Sunny a strange half orc warrior/priest, Mudreck Barbender, and an even stranger gnome going by the name if Izy… As of yet, they’ve taken no name for their group, a very bad omen…

Seemingly the Winter Spirits guided both parties to encounter a camp of the Verloren Elk Clan. Schlomo and Kenneth along with Tonya told them their adventurous tale and they were welcomed to join their fire and share in their meat. The small group procurred some furs and gear then hired a young warrior named Athawulf to guild them back in town. They arrived on the first day of the Winter Festival. The vale outside of Coppercore filled with an army of Verloren encampments their different Beast Totems standing proud.

Schlomo and Kenneth delivered a rather reluctant Tonya to the Sisters of the Mothers Hearth, the center of the local Druids circle. They then went and reported in at the Hold, telling Ike Stonebrow their harrowing tale along with the death of Sir Rolan, Halburt, Salia and the betrayal of Double Hat. They also advised the the Raven Skald was with some others two of which are orcs, whom might be showing up any day now. They then went to their homes in search of warmth, food and rest.

As for the others being led by Valbraun, they too encountered the Elk clan Verlorens, sharing their tales and trading the fine Elk Antler bow if they could join them as they travelled on to Coppercore. And so they arrived during the second day of the festival. By this time the town was filled with happy chaos and good cheer even though it was freezing.

Sunny managed to find lodging at Trevyks hiding his orcish nature under his cowl, then found a smithy to work on his remohaz armor. Ole Dented Dan could surely help him with that.

Lasaka and Mudreck swaggered about town swilling from the goblet of Boftar which led the dwarf to mention to some boy that he killed Sir Rolan. As they wandered into the dwarf quarter to find some better ale, they were accosted by some of the city watch.

Valbraun spent a bit of time at the Loremans Guild, and other places trying to figure out more information about some of the items he’s collected. He also picked up his Spear of the Chosen. But as he was leaving the alchemist shop he spotted Lasaka and Mudreck getting approached by the city watch and decided to intervene…

And so the party ventured back to the lair of Ygaryll the Frost Giant. Bringing with them a live subdued Winter Wolf in place of the yeti they failed to rescue from the Ice Trolls., Tonya from his clutches. Schlomo finally figured out how to use the wand Cloud Bringer, which could be a powerful tool against the giant initially though to vanquish the giant and save the girl Tonya. But in the end the group decided to parley with the giant and make another deal. If they cleared what ever was behind a frozen waterfall in the back cave of his lair and bring him what loot they found he’d relinquish the girl to them, apparently the live Winter Wolf wasn’t enough, but then what would be so though Schlomo who refused to go on yet another quest for the giant, at which point Lasaka gave him a shove causing him to slide down an icy ramp into the giants den where the rest of the party was already talking to the giant. Ygaryll found this greatly amusing watching the dwarf tumble an slide into his lair, but Schlomo didn’t and climbed back out of the cave and retreated back to the camp where Kenneth and the horses were. So this left four heroes to do the bidding of the giant. Valbraun the Skald, Sunny the Priest, Lasaka the Warrior and Mudreck Barbender.

The Giant used his great ax to shatter the water fall allowing them to venture in. Almost immediately however they were met with a highly polished curving wall that reflected their images but instead release a small horde of screaming Verloren Spirit Warriors causing fear to wash over the party. The Skald fled back to the far side of the giant lair, while Sunny held his ground and was blessed. Lasaka and Mudreck however raced forward down a passage tripping a trap that collapsed the tunnel. Lasaka jumped clear but Mudreck was buried. After some time the party regrouped and dug out the dwarf and pressed on into what they soon realized was an ancient Tomb of the Cave Ber Clan judging by the next chamber with a life size cave bear wooden statue of incredible detail as well as the wall art depicting warriors hunting and fighting along side bears.

They spent two days exploring and recovering ancient items from the tombs. Not having any Verloren shamans with them made it much easier to loot the tomb. Even the Raven Clan Skald didn’t have much to say about that. So they found various ancient weapons and odd items of power. This was apparently a tomb of old clan that slew a White Dragon. Eventually after bypassing some traps they came to the Tomb of Uthen Wyrmrender. But when they opened his tomb a ring of eldritch fire washed over the party causing them all damage. Then the old Chief rose, his body animated by his spirit. With his great sword in hand he tore into the party with vengeance. It was an epic battle, all four heroes were greatly wounded with only Sunny and Mudreck left standing by their will alone. A few healing spells brought the other two back from the brink of death and so the rested before venturing further into a secret chamber they’d found.

Here was a final trap. A ring of coffers fill with coins at the bottom of a natural cave. Hanging over them, the skull of the great slain dragon. While Sunny and Lasaka climbed up behind the skull finding other treasures Mudreck dug into the coffer of platinum coins. With that the dragon belched forth a final blast of it’s icy breath, nearly killing the Skald and only slightly damaging Mudreck. He was wearing one of the newly gained items that protected him from cold attacks.

After this they rested again and returned to the giant carrying four of the coffers. However while they were away Schlomo and Kenneth worked out their own deal with the Giant. They offered him the sword Thander in place of the girl. Showing him how the sword could detect precious metals, kind and amount Ygaryll agreed and released the girl. Those two then began their long cold journey back to town.

As for the others, after further parley with the giant, he took all four coffers of coin and let them leave with what ever else they had gained. He offered them other tasks to do for him, but they declined and headed out after Schlomo and Kenneth, though at this time they were two days behind them.

And so they still are making their way back, both groups having different encounters and frigged weather. The white dragon previously encountered swooped down and snatch up the pack mule leaving Kenneth and Schlomo with only Comanche and the girl. But the next day they encountered a group from Verloren of the Elk clan that offered to share their fire and food with them. From them they gained a guide named Athawulf to lead them back to town.

The others, eager to catch up to the dwarf as he had all of Lasaka’s share of coin from the troll caves. They thought perhaps they had encountered some of the fey fold, but the brassiness of Lasaka had them all disappear back into the wilderness. After another day of travel deep in the snowy forest they have become ambushed by several very angry Ice Trolls….

The party left the Ice Troll lair laden down with the loss of their companions, but their pouches and packs full of loot. Their decision was to return to the Wayhouse Ersten to recoup and figure out a plan from there. However the wilds of the Dragonback mountains fed them up some other plans.
In their trek back through the harsh snowy mountains they came across come killed elk, some frozen another torn apart. So thinking to gain some easy rations they started taking meat from the carcasses. This however wasn’t agreeable to Aberath Frost Reaver. A white dragon that then attacked the party with it’s frigid breath , tooth and claw, nearly killing the Skald Valraun. But before it could eat him or the rest, Sunny parleyed with it and offered up much bullion for their lives, and the magical spear Shiver. The dragon being greedy found this agreeable, and so they journeyed on. A few days later they were attacked by a Remorhaz, this creature burst out of the snow with hungry fury, but the party drove it with blade and spell. But they chose to pursue it and in it’s last defensive attack it did swallow Salia into it’s burning maw. Though she seemingly cut herself free with her magical sword Thander she perished in the attempt, consumed by the great head of creature that the party then quickly dispatched. Salia was the very last of the original Kleefhangers, her blades would be sorely missed by the party.
They made camp to put to rest their fallen Attya and Salia, also to recover from there wounds, but they were beset upon by a pack of worgs led by a winter wold. Will skill and brawn they killed all the wargs and captured the Winter wolf. Seemingly Sunny could make some communication with it using the head band from the troll chieftain.
They then changed their course and decided to return to the giants lair, to see what could be done to get the the girl Tonya released.
Eventually they made their way back to the giants lair, and negotiated her release offering up the winter wolf. Ygyaryll found this agreeable, provided they also coughed up 1000gp or loot of equal value, or explored some an area he couldn’t connected to his lair…

And so it was that the party delved deep into the fresh water iceberg, seeking the source of the corrupting evil of the sacred tomb. Here they found evidence of the on going battle of ice trolls and undead. After a fierce battles against trolls, one wielding the wand called Screecher, they found the yeti and released it. The skald Valbraun calmed it, the ranger Salia soothed it and the druidess Attya charmed him so that it followed the party peacefully. Pushing on a bit further they found a food stores chamber of mostly frozen eels and decided to take a rest there. But shortly their rest was disturbed by the arrival of the two headed shaman chieftain bearing the Staff of the Tiger Claw, with four of her guard and her pet borrelisk. There was an attempt at a parley but the party and the trolls couldn’t come to terms. As such an impatient Lasaka drew her bow and took a shot, and so the battle began. Lasaka didn’t have time to get a second shot off before she was frozen by the gaze attack of the Borrelisk. The troll shaman cast a spell but all three resisted the spell of Hold and charged into battle engaging her guards. The yeti tore into one of the trolls but was aided by Attya. Valbraun blew his horn to little effect but his spear bit into the trolls. Salia stabbed and slashed her way to the two headed troll taking a savage wound on the way that nearly dropped her. Mudrek threw his hammer to and frow. Vylmek plunged his daggers into the chieftain even though over taken by the evil of the staff. The yeti then pounced on the borrelisk and they rolled upon the icy floor ripping and tearing at each other. The troll chieftain used the staff to create darkness sending out a wave of evil. From there the battle was chaos. Party members fell within the darkness by terrible blows from the massive two headed troll, but they two did damage though they couldn’t their enemy. The yeti was bested by the borrelisk, but Sunny finished it off with some swift blows. But where the sphere of darkness went , party members fell. Even Attya using the Ice Crystal neckless fell until finally only Lasaka having been thawed by an ever burning log and Sunny were engulfed in the darkness. Lasaka after being horribly slashed by the bitch troll took up the burning log and leapt into the air somehow managing to strike the creature square in one of its heads, just as Sunny feeling about in the darkness hammered it a mighty blow with the dwarven hammer from the rear. The creature and Lasaka fell with a roar and a crash, the darkness dissipating.
Sunny stood alone, allies and foes lay dead and dying around him. The strange priest did what he could to save who he could, but had no power left. At the end of it, only Attya and the yeti died. The others somehow managed to survive…
Upon resting, they looted the corpses, found the Trolls Chieftains treasure then searched the rest of the ice troll caverns, finding previously lost gear, but no further trolls. They said a few prayers over the body of Dubbs then fed him to the eels. They eventually rejoined with Schlomo, Kenneth and the horses. They dug themselves free of the ice cavern and decided to journey back to Ersten. Having lost a total of 5 party members the though it best to leave Tonya the sister of Attya in the Wintery Grasp of the Frost Giant instead of trying to free her. Which was the prime directive of the mission…. Heroes, one and all…pfftttt…

Winters Grasp. Chapter 1 of , The Coming of Winter. And so the heroic party that was once known as the Kleefhangers led by Sir Rolan Vankleef has fallen on hard times. Answering a call of aid by the druidess Attya to save her Tonya who was taken by some shaggy beast in the night. They tracked it through the mountainous wilderness to the lair of Ygaryll the Frost Giant. Parlaying with the giant they agreed to rescue one of his pets from some Ice Trolls in trade for the girl. However this endeavor has proven to be more than a match for them. Stopping as a ruined tower to shelter from a winter storm, they lost both Sir Rolan and the mighty Halburt while exploring it’s dungeon. Proceeding from there to the Troll lair, the party fell into chaos when one of their companions known as Double Hat betrayed them. Both he and Dubs Bullocks fell in the ensuing battle with the trolls. The troll lair was also an ancient burial mound of the Sabre Cat clan, so restless spirits and undead prowled about as well. After freeing some captives from the troll and finding an ally in the wilds they delved again into the troll lair. They found the giants pet, a yeti. But instead of retreating they chose to press on deeper into the lair of the trolls. This led to an epic battle with their chieftain a 2 headed she troll shaman, four of her strongest guards and a boralisk. Dark magics were cast upon the party her Boralisk pet froze a party member but the heroics of the party led them to victory, but at tremendous cost. Only the odd fellow named Sonny, a priest of Thraxus remained standing, with all the foes and his companions lying dead and dying about the chamber….