Session 10: On the Ice

The PCs arrived at the Laughing Beholder Inn somewhat sheepishly, expecting possible trouble from Luigi after trying to bewitch him on their last encounter. However, Luigi was all smiles, after hearing from Alston himself that the PCs had rescued him. He gave them all the first round on the house and directed them toward Imhotep who was waiting for them at a corner table.

Two other individuals were seated at the table with Imhotep. They were both older-looking Zami, a man and a woman, in very fine clothing with the bearing of nobility. They were glaring at each other. After Imhotep exchanged greetings with the party, he introduced the two Count Joba of Nefeeti and Baroness Uda of Yewande. Imhotep explained that the two had come to him to resolve a dispute and he was hopeful that the PCs would be able to assist. He asked the two to explain the predicament, but that immediately began a shouting match that provided no information. After quieting the two nobles, Imhotep explained the problem.

Both the nobles ruled an asteroid domain. Water is a persistent problem for asteroid colonies as most asteroids do not contain existing water sources. The typical solution to this problem is to drag a large ice asteroid from the ring around the gas giant Bazelpup near to the colony and then mine it over time for water. Two generations ago, the realms of Nefeeti and Yewande agreed on a joint expedition to the rings of Bazelpup to bring back a very large ice asteroid which they have jointly mined with equal rights. They take turns guarding the ice asteroid from the persistent problem of ice pirates, taking six month stints on the ice asteroid.

The problem began shortly after Count Joba’s soldiers relieved Baroness Uda’s troops. In a routine patrol of the ice asteroid, Count Joba’s soldiers discovered evidence of an illegal mining operation on the bottom of the asteroid where a large tunnel had been dug. Count Joba believes that Baroness Uda has been taking extra ice for herself in violation of their contract. Baroness Uda for her part thinks that Count Joba mined the ice himself after her men left. The two are at an impasse.

Imhotep believes that a more plausible theory is that ice pirates are responsible. He wants the PCs to stake out the illegal mining location on the ice asteroid for several weeks in order to catch these ice pirates or otherwise determine the source of the mining. The Count and Baroness will only trust a third party to do this. The Count and Baroness have agreed to pay the party 500gp for the stakeout and an additional 3000gp for the successful discovery of the source of the mining operation and its elimination. The money is being held in a trust by Imhotep.

After a few basic questions, the party agreed to the request. Count Joba explained that he had a damselfly ship ready to take the party to the ice asteroid in the morning. he suggested to dress warmly. The two nobles then left the inn after one final glare at each other. The party stopped for a brief chat with Alston before heading out on a shopping expedition for supplies, including some yeti furs for warmth.

The next morning, the party found a ship at the docks that indeed did have the basic shape of an enlarged damselfly. It was helmed by a Lt. Ndidi. The voyage to the ice asteroid was uneventful. Clancy was able to use his familiar to eavesdrop on the crew and heard many outlandish stories as to what was responsible for the excavation. He also learned that the prior guards were not the Baroness’s own soldiers but rather a mercenary group known as Morgran’s Myrmidions. The crew did not think much of these mercenaries.

After a week of travel, the party arrived at the ice asteroid which was roughly the same size as the Rock of Bral but made entirely of ice. A small wooden fort could be seen at the top of the asteroid, but the ship circled around to the bottom where the party could make out a large rough hole 50 yards in diameter that headed deeper into the asteroid. As the party approached, Lt. Ndidi turned the entire ship around so that the party felt as if they were upside down. Seeing the party’s disorientation, Lt. Ndidi laughed and explained that large space objects have a gravity plane that bisects their center along the widest dimension. On each side of this gravity plane, up is towards the end away from the gravity plane. Thus, they needed to descend down into the hole even though it felt like it was on the “bottom” of the asteroid.

After the party adjusted to this new orientation, they began to look out for good spots for a stakeout. They found a nice wide ledge near the bottom that was protected from view from the outside and directed Lt. Ndidi to drop them there. They also convinced him to give them some pitons and crampons for navigating on the ice. With that, Lt. Ndidi told the party he would be back in a week to check on them and departed.

The party settled down to prepare camp. While some were chipping away at ice to create an ice barricade, others started a fire. Meanwhile, Terlis sat with this eyes closed mumbling a ritual. After about 10 minutes, a white opaque dome sprung up around Terlis. He invited the other surprised party members inside. Inside the dome, they found the temperature to be quite pleasant. Furthermore they could see outside as if the walls were translucent. Terlis explained that the dome was impervous to any but who he chose to let in. Feeling comforted by their nice new den, the party got back to work.

Caught up in their camp preparations and not having adequately investigated the ledge, the party was surprised by the sudden crunch of ice behind them. They turned to see a male drow warrior looking at them in surprise. Recovering quicker than they, the drow retreated back toward the ice wall. The party jumped into action, ready to subdue the dark elf. However, Mid circumvented a fight when she cast charm person on the drow and convinced him that they were his friends. Confused, the drow answered her questions and informed him that he was part of a larger drow party that had come here to excavate some ancient ruins. Asked where this party was, he pointed toward the ice wall. Looking closely, the party could see that there was indeed an ice tunnel that had been cleverly designed to be almost invisible without close inquiry. The dark elf allowed the party to tie him up. They then led him over to a corner of the ledge where Zhang promptly knocked him out.

Terlis sent Fatbat through the ice tunnel. After about 30 feet, the tunnel opened up into an open chasm in the ice that descended for at least 100 feet. On the other side of this chasm, there were signs of an excavation of some ancient ruins. A set of steps cut out of the ice led from the opening around the ice walls of the chasm to the ruin. Most notably, a ship in the shape of a spider hung in the cavern. Throughout the cavern and on the ship, Fatbat could see a crew of drow warriors and quaggoths.

Realizing that they were dealing with something other than ice pirates, the party discussed how they should proceed. Ultimately, Clancy went through the tunnel in the form of the captured drow. He excitedly shouted that he had discovered more ruins and that they needed to come quick. The female drow commander shouted for one of the quaggoths to follow him. The quaggoth followed Clancy through the tunnel and was promptly ambushed and dropped by the combined arms of Zhang Min and Riya.

Clancy then tried this ruse a second time, hoping to draw in more people. He was followed by two quaggoths and a drow warrior but this time they seemed more suspicious. As soon as the first quaggoth entered the cavern, he saw the PCs waiting in ambush and a fight was on. Clancy was able to draw one quaggoth and the drow further out on to the ledge with sorcerous suggestions, but the remaining quaggoth retreated back toward the drow ship, pursued by Zhang Min. Realizing a full assault was on, Riya charged forward past Zhang Min and began bounding down the steps of the cavern as the remaining drow warriors and Quaggoths began to mobilize. The drow on board the ship began to move large ballista into position, while the quaggoths and other drow began running toward Riya. Zhang Min was able to bring down the retreating quaggoth. Terlis darted past him and reached the entrance to the cavern, overlooking the drow ship. With arcane words, a fireball erupted from the tip of his wizard hat and exploded on the deck of the ship, blasting the drow warriors who were preparing the ballista to bits. Small fires erupted all over the ship. The drow commander, managed to duck into cover just in time to avoid the blow. With an expression between a grimace and a grin, she aimed her crossbow at Terlis and fired. The bolt caught him in the shoulder. Although it wasn’t a fatal blow, Terlis suddenly turned green and collapsed onto the icy floor suffering from some kind of poison. Meanwhile the rest of the party began to make their way from the ledge through the tunnel to join the fierce battle now raging among the icy ruins.