The party of adventurer returned to the Flagon Dragon Inn. Despondency surrounded Mara in a fog, and she was only dimly aware of what was happening around her. Her companions tried to comfort her as best they could, but she barely spoke the entire time.
Approaching the Inn, they were stunned to see Frostbite sitting outside.
"Frostbite!" exclaimed Borovik. "What are you doing here?"
"Talis told me to look after Mara and I came here to find her."
"Frostbite!" Mara said, smiling weakly. She held out her hand and he ran to her, nuzzling her with his snout.
"Talis asked me to look after you before she turned herself in," he said.
Mara hugged him and said, "Thank you, Frostbite. Somehow we will get her out."
"Yes, we will."
Okay, you two, let's get up to our rooms and rest a bit. Mara has had a tough day," said Kellen.
As they began to walk into the Inn, the Inn Keeper looked distressed.
"You can't bring a dragon into the Inn!" he whined.
"Why not?" asked Neega. "He's not very big and he's quite friendly."
"He might make a mess."
"Oh, come on!" snorted Frostbite. "I know enough to not poop on the floor! I am housebroken, you know!"
The entire party laughed at this, and the Inn Keeper sank into a chair in defeat. He didn't think it would be good for business to have a dragon running around, but it would probably look bad for him to get into a fight with the Phandalin Heroes.
They went up to their rooms and had Mara lie down on the bed assigned to her. Frostbite lay down next to her. Exhaustion soon overtook her, and she fell asleep. Preston and Borovik went down to the tavern and ordered some food that they could bring back up to the room so they could eat and there would be some for Mara when she awoke. When asked about what he wanted to eat, Frostbite said a good-sized piece of meat would be to his liking. It didn't even need to be cooked.
After they ate, Mara was still sleeping, so they began to discuss what to do next. They all agreed that Mara needed to go back to the Evenwood farm to recover for several days.
"Frostbite," asked Borovik. "I know Talis can communicate telepathically with white dragons. Can you contact her and see how she is doing?"
Frostbite looked sad. "Ralazrad asked me not to bother Talis for a few days, so I haven't been trying to contact her. She said Talis would get in touch with me when she was in more of a situation to talk to me."
By now the sun was beginning to set and Mara was waking up. Her companions gave her some food and told her that the next day they would take her home to her family. Mara nodded and slowly ate her food.
After eating she sat back and sighed, "I wish I had my Sending Stone with me. Then I could send a message to Talis."
"I can cast the spell," Kellen spoke up. "I can relay to her whatever message you want to send."
"Oh, thank you. I want her to know I love her, and I want to know how she is. Can you send that?"
"Sure can."
He cast the spell and got in touch with Talis, relaying the message Mara wanted sent. He then reported back that Talis said she loved Mara. She had received rough treatment during questioning but had no serious injuries. She asked them all to pray for her to whatever gods they worshiped.
Mara and Frostbite both grieved that Talis was being beaten, but Mara thanked Mother Moon that Talis was at least still alive.
Kellen also cast the Sending spell to give Helena Evenwood the message, "Talis bought Mara's freedom by turning herself in to authorities. Will bring Mara home to farm tomorrow."
Helena sent back the message, "Talis is very brave. Awaiting the return of my eldest child. Thank you for taking care of her."
The next morning, they packed their gear, saddled their horses, and prepared to leave the Inn. Borovik called to the Inn Keeper and instructed him, "If anyone comes looking for us, tell them we have gone to the Evenwood farm in Helfton for several days."
With the party on horseback and Frostbite in flight, they made good time getting to Helfton. A couple of hours later they arrived. Mara's family was waiting and gathered around to welcome her home.
"Mara, honey!" said Helena. "We are so glad to have you back safe with us!"
"My child, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" asked Riardon.
"I'm okay, but now they have Talis," sighed Mara.
She leaned against them and allowed their love to provide comfort as she thought of her own imprisonment and of her fear for Talis' safety.
After she began to feel less shaky, she introduced the party to her family. The Evenwood's had never before seen such a concentrated example of fighting skill and magical ability in such a small group of people and were amazed. And, on top of that, there was a dragon! They hardly knew who to talk to first.
After a while, Neega noticed the sun was getting into the noon position, and she asked the family where they could go in Helfton to get some lunch.
"Oh, no!" said Helena. "We prepared extra food because we knew you were coming! We expected that you would have lunch with us."
"It wouldn't be an imposition?" Neega.
"No! Not at all! We would be honored to have Mara's adventuring companions eat with us."
As they all sat down Helena and Lia served up pancakes covered in strawberry preserves for everyone. They laughed, joked and told stories. Even Mara seemed to be a better mood.
During the latter part of the meal, Neega and Preston were seen whispering to each other and giggling. After lunch, Neega announced, "Preston and I would like to prepare the evening meal tonight. We would like to cook up a stew like my tribe members used to do."
"Wow! That would be fabulous!" cried Lia and Harley.
"Are you sure it's not too much trouble?" worried Helena.
"Oh, I think it will be fun," Neega grinned and Preston nodded in agreement.
Shortly after lunch Neega and Preston went to the market in Helfton and purchased some venison, along with some potatoes, some carrots and some onions. They brought it back to the farm and began the process of cutting up and cooking all the ingredients. Potatoes, carrots and onions were sliced and put into the pot to boil. The meat was cut into cubes and browned. Then the meat was put into the pot and the fire was allowed to die down so that the delicious smelling stew could simmer away on the stove.
"By the evening meal, this will be cooked to perfection. When it's time to eat, Preston and I will serve up the meal" announced Neega.
"You have to let me at least help with serving!" said Helena. "Otherwise, I will be completely disoriented throughout the meal."
"Let me help them," laughed Mara. "You can be the guest of honor tonight, Momma."
The evening meal was a joyous affair. Even Mara was feeling better. Frostbite found the stew to be very much to his liking, especially the chunks of venison.
Near the end of the meal Frostbite cocked his head to one side and announced, "I'm getting a telepathic message from Talis! She said Ralazrad negotiated with Lord Dagult Neverember to ensure she was not beaten anymore!"
Mara breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "How did she do that?"
Frostbite relayed the question to Talis, then said, "Now Talis is laughing. She said that when Mara asked the question, she could hear it in my brain. Except she said that the voice sounded a little different because of the differences between half-elf ears and dragons' ears.
"Oh, here is the answer. Talis said that Ralazrad told Lord Neverember that unless the authorities stopped mistreating Talis, Ralazad would have a band of white dragons attack the city. Lord Neverember decided to accept her terms."
The entire table cheered at this news.
Frostbite continued, "Talis tells me she didn't want me to be in contact with her as long as she was subject to beatings. She was afraid that hearing about that would cause me even more distress than I was already feeling."
Mara said, "Tell her I love her, and we will find a way to get her out." Other members of the party and the family also asked Frostbite to telepathically relay messages to Talis. The communication went on for about 45 minutes before both Frostbite and Talis became exhausted from the mental exertion.
Mara then asked Helena, "Momma, where is my Sending Stone? I want to see if I can use it to contact Talis myself."
Helena went to the table beside the bed she shared with Riardon and retrieved the stone. Mara tried to send a message to Talis but got no response.
"Maybe she's asleep," suggested Bree when Mara looked disappointed.
"Maybe," sighed Mara. "I will try again tomorrow."
The family prepared for bed and offered to let the party bed down in the various bedrooms. They declined, fearing that there was enough of them to make the sleeping arrangements crowded in the house. Kellen cast Leomund's Tiny Hut next to the house and assured the family that the hut would be a comfortable place in which to sleep. Frostbite decided to sleep next to the hut, since he would have gotten overheated inside.
The party remained at the Evenwood farm for several more days, doing chores in the house and out in the fields. They provided money to pay for the extra food required to feed them all. They told stories of their exploits and Kellen sang ballads to the townsfolk in the evenings. Frostbite had plenty of time to play and everyone wanted to come out and meet the dragon.
Mara tried the Sending stone again on a number of successive days, with no success. She finally got an answering message, but it wasn't from Talis. It was a clerk from the prison at the Castle Waterdeep, who explained that this was part of Talis' personal property that had been confiscated when she was arrested. Although she couldn't use it to contact Talis, Mara continued to carry the stone around to remind herself of Talis.
After they had been at the farm for five days, Dagult Neerember came riding up to the farm on his horse. He asked Helena and Riardon to gather the party so that he could talk to them about plans to continue the fight to stop Tiamat's summoning ritual. Mara sat at the back of the group and looked sullen.
Dagult explained what they knew at this point, "We have gotten a lot of information from the captured cult official, Varram. He said the call of the Draakhorn is important to the ritual to call the chromatic dragons to the summoning. Therefore, if we could stop the sounding of the Draakhorn, we might be able to disrupt the ritual.
"We don't know exactly where the Draakhorn is, but Dela Silmerhelve has been told by her family's benefactor that the last known location of the Draakhorn was in the Sea of Moving Ice. We contacted the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan. Since they are an association of some of the most powerful mages in Faerûn, we asked if they had any experts who might know more about the Draakhorn.
"They told us that one of their mages, Maccath the Crimson, was the foremost expert on the magic of dragons. Three years ago, she had undertaken an expedition to the Sea of Moving Ice in an attempt to learn more about the Draakhorn and other dragon magic lore by talking to dragons themselves. She also wished to inquire from the white dragon Arauthator about magic items stolen from the Arcane Brotherhood during a dragon raid more than a century ago. She had kept in contact with the Arcane Brotherhood, but suddenly stopped sending messages. Attempts were made to find her by various divination methods, but only her damaged ship and some dead crewmembers were ever found. No trace was ever found of Maccath herself. They have indicated that if we find and return her to Luskan, they would be willing to join us in the fight to stop Tiamat's ritual.
"The rest of the Council is anxious to have this lead followed up on. Information we received from Talis Kasterel indicates that the schedule for the ritual has been disrupted by the loss of Sword Coast Treasure and the capture of Varram. However, we don't know how long a reprieve this has bought us. We need to move on this information.
"Are you ready to set off on this mission?"
Most of the party nodded yes, but Mara sat there and stared hatefully at him.
"Mara, are you with us?" Dagult asked.
"Why should I be with you?" she spat out. "You imprisoned and beat me for information. Then you imprisoned and beat my lover for information. You have caused me a great deal of misery and I don't really want to do anything for you."
"Mara, you have every right to be angry with me. But this isn't just for me. It's for the entire city of Waterdeep. It's for the entire Sword Coast. It's for all of Faerûn."
Mara looked down at the ground and said nothing.
"What will it take to get your cooperation?" asked Dagult.
"Release Talis from prison," said Mara, fixing him with a steely gaze.
Dagult felt his heart drop, and he was unable to respond.
Mara jumped to her feet and shouted at him, "Will you release Talis?"
Finally, haltingly, he said, "Yes. If you go on the mission and complete it, I will release Talis."
"Then I will join the rest of the party on this endeavor."
"Good," he said wearily. "Return to the Flagon Dragon Inn tomorrow and we will give you more information you will need."
That night Frostbite contacted Talis and told her that Dagult had agreed to release her from prison if Mara and her companions successfully completed their mission to discover where the Draakhorn was.
The next morning, the party packed their gear and prepared to return to the Inn. They said a tearful goodbye to Mara's family and set off. A couple of hours later they arrived at the Inn and got rooms. The Inn Keeper had been asked to inform Dagult Neverember when they arrived, so he sent a messenger to the Palace as soon as they checked in.
Dagult met them for lunch at the Inn. As they sat down, they noticed a couple of white dragons flying high overhead.
"Why are the dragons flying over the city?" asked Borovik.
Dagult sighed and said, "An enormous white dragon threatened to have dragons attack the city if I didn't stop all mistreatment of Talis. I accepted her terms and the dragons fly over the city to remind me not to renege on the bargain."
Mara couldn't resist smirking, which made Dagult exclaim, "Oh, stop it!"
He then went on to convey more details of what the Arcane Brotherhood relayed to the Council of Waterdeep about Maccath's expedition. Her last Sending message before she disappeared said she saw some local tribal people, Ice Hunters, paddling toward a huge iceberg and she was going to follow them and investigate the iceberg. She described it as having a flattened plateau across its top surface, and the plateau was ringed by icy peaks. The white dragon she wanted to gain information from, Arauthator, was known to have a secondary lair on an iceberg in the Sea of Moving Ice, which he called Oyaviggaton. Maccath may have suspected that this iceberg was Oyaviggaton.
Frostbite looked worried, "Arauthator is very aggressive and territorial, even for a white dragon. It will be dangerous if we end up having to deal with him."
"If Maccath did find Arauthator at the iceberg, he may have killed her," noted Kellen. "In that case, the best we could hope for is to locate her dead body. Would the Arcane Brotherhood still be willing to join the fight against Tiamat's summoning ritual if we were unable to return her alive?"
"I hope so," responded Dagult. "We didn't think to ask them."
He went on to explain how they would need cold weather gear, since the Sea of Moving Ice was far north and very frigid. They would need heavy coats, insulated boots and gloves, woolen undergarments, and fur hats to keep warm. For travel on the icebergs themselves, they would need snowshoes and crampons for their feet. Pitons, pickaxes and other climbing gear would be needed if they had to ascend or descend slopes. The Council would arrange for all this, as well as plentiful rations, to be ready for them in Luskan.
They would get to Luskan through a portal connecting Waterdeep with Luskan. A ship equipped for voyages among the icebergs of the Sea of Moving Ice would be required to go further. The Arcane Brotherhood said they would contract with a captain who was experienced in navigating those waters.
Dagult asked them to pack their gear and be ready to teleport to Luskan by noon the next day. They should meet him at the Palace, and he would lead them to the Wizard's guild hall that had the teleportation portal.
After lunch, Frostbite said he was going to telepathically contact Talis and ask for advice in dealing with Arauthator. Mara and Borovik decided to be there when he did so they could listen to Talis' answers and suggest questions for Frostbite to ask her.
Talis repeated Frostbite's concern about Arauthator's aggressiveness and added that he was an ardent supporter of the efforts to bring Tiamat to the material realm. If he found out that the party was trying to stop the ritual, he was almost certain to kill them. He possessed greater magical power than other white dragons because it was he who had stolen the arcane items and tomes from the Arcane Brotherhood. He had learned new spells from the stolen tomes and scrolls and learned to use some of the artifacts. He would be a formidable enemy.
They met Dagult the next day and went to the Wizards' guild hall. They entered a large room that contained about fifteen 10 ft. diameter circles of glowing runes. The wizards on watch led them to one with a sign indicting its destination was Luskan.
"Step into the circle of runes and you will be teleported to the destination circle in Luskan," said the wizards.
One by one they stepped into the circle and found themselves instantly transported to a new room filled with teleportation circles. The walls looked different, the people in the room looked, different, their speech had a distinctly northern accent. After a short period of disorientation, they realized they had arrived in Luskan.
One of the attending wizards, a gnome woman, stepped forward to greet them. "I am Caramip. Welcome to the Hosttower of the Arcane Brotherhood. We look forward to working with the Phandalin Heroes in an attempt to find the ultimate fate of Maccath the Crimson."
"Thank you, "nodded Borovik. "We are at your service."
"Have you eaten yet? If not, we will provide you with a noon meal and answer any questions to may have," continued their host.
"We haven't eaten yet and are hungry!" said Neega.
"Follow me to the dining hall, then. Does your young dragon have any special dietary needs.?"
"No," said Frostbite. "I prefer meat, but I can digest almost anything."
"Very well, we will make sure your bowl is heavy on the meat."
They sat down and began to eat, with Borovik taking the lead in the conversation with their host Caramip.
"We have been briefed on the mission by the Open Lord of Waterdeep. We have been told of Maccath the Crimson's expedition to the Sea of Moving Ice to learn more about dragon magic and the Draakhorn, as well as inquire with the white dragon Arauthator about the items stolen from the Hosttower. We were also told that she vanished while on the expedition. Is there anything else we need to know?"
"I think you have the gist of it," replied Caramip. "We will outfit you with the necessary cold weather and climbing gear today. Tomorrow, we will introduce you to Lerustah Half-face, Captain of the Frostskimmr, the ship that will take you to the Sea of Moving Ice. He will probably have more information you will need to know."
"So," asked Bree, "what if we find Maccath's corpse? Will your offer to help disrupt the effort to summon Tiamat still be valid?"
"Yes, of course. We would have her resurrected by one of the powerful Clerics with whom we have an alliance."
"What if we don't even find a body?"
"If we feel that you had done a thorough enough job to convince us that she has died, we will still honor the commitment."
They finished their food and Caramip led them to a shop that sold expedition and adventuring gear. Coats, gloves, boots, hats and undergarments were chosen from the stock in the store to fit each party member. They then received snowshoes, crampons, pitons, pickaxes and additional lengths of rope.
Caramip led them to the Seven Sails Inn and said, "Rest well tonight. The Arcane Brotherhood will pay for your room and board. I will come to the Inn and take you to the docks tomorrow morning to introduce you to Captain Lerustah. I expect that he will want to set sail within a day or 2."
The next morning Caramip met them at the Inn after breakfast and took them down to the docks. She led them to a 60 ft. longship with the name Frostskimmr painted on its hull. The shallow draft of the vessel left little room for below deck quarters, so shelters made of sailcloth had been erected on the deck. The ship had a single large sail, but also had stations on either side of the deck for crew members to staff the oars. They boarded and were greeted by a human man who was warmly dressed against the cold and wore a leather hood drawn across his face.
"This is your captain, Lerustah Half-face," announced Caramip. "He will go over what you need to know to embark on the journey to the Sea of Moving Ice."
Noticing the party shivering, Lerustah called out to one of the deck hands, "Bring out some blankets for these folks to wrap themselves up in."
He led them into a sailcloth shelter on the deck of the ship and had everyone sit down on fur mats, then said, "Introduce yourselves to me. I want to know what fighting and magic skills you possess, since we will almost certainly encounter at least a few hostile creatures."
The party members introduced themselves and Captain Lerustah nodded as each recited their abilities. "Ah," he remarked. "We have a mighty Barbarian with a magic sword and her mage lover with a magic wand. We have sneaky little Rogue who can stab you from behind before you even know she's there. We have a Wizard who can throw deadly spells. We have a Bard who can charm the pants off you. And we have a Druid who can turn into animals, including a polar bear! We even have a young white dragon who, I expect, has an icy breath weapon. I think we will be well represented in case of a battle."
At this point, Bree's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "Why do they call you Half-face?"
The captain removed his hood, revealing the heavily scarred right side of his face. "Years ago, I suffered severe frostbite to my face while on an expedition. So, half of my face is a scarred, frightening mess."
"Oh, wow! So, the cold can be that bad?"
"Oh, yeah. When you board the ship, I want you to all be wearing your cold weather gear. As cold as it is here in the harbor, it will be even worse out on the water. And speaking of the water, it is extremely cold. Don't fall or jump into the water or you will freeze to death unless we can get you out in a hurry."
He continued, "The trip to the Sea of Moving Ice will take about 2 and a half days. Once we get there, we will be among many icebergs, and will need to proceed carefully so as not to run into one and damage the ship. Icebergs are much bigger than they seem to be, because they float just above the water. Most of the iceberg is below water, so it's easy to run into a submerged portion of one if you're not careful.
"There are lots of dangerous creatures, including that nasty white dragon Arauthator. Don't underestimate any of them.
"Also, the saltwater spray can be corrosive to your armor and weapons. Keep them oiled up and watch out for signs of damage. I'm assuming that at least one of the magic users has the Mending cantrip. Be prepared to use it if small spots of corrosion appear on your gear."
"Unless there are any questions, I have told you what you need to know," he concluded. We set sail tomorrow morning, so rest up the remainder of the day and prepare your gear. Then meet me on the ship at sunrise."
The next morning, they boarded the Frostskimmr and it set off for the Sea of Moving Ice. The weather was good, and a stiff breeze filled the sail, driving the ship along at a fast clip. As Lerustah promised, it was cold on the water. The wind combined with the frigid air temperature to make exposed flesh become frostbitten. The party had to wrap scarves around their heads to protect their faces. The crew took care of sailing the ship, so the party was free to spend most of their time inside one of the sailcloth shelters on the deck. Captain Lerustah and his crew kept wary eyes out for other ships, since pirates frequented the area. They also anxiously watched the sky for signs of coming storms. Kellen was not able to cast Leomund's Tiny Hut because it was too large to fit on the deck, so the party had to sleep in the sailcloth enclosures with the crew. Frostbite, of course, had no issue with the cold and was happy to sleep out on the unprotected deck.
Finally, they approached the Sea of Moving Ice. Captain Lerustah pointed out the icebergs when he first caught sight of them.
"The Sea of Moving Ice is full of thousands of these icebergs. They all float and move around, constantly threatening to pin ships between them and crush them. We have to be very careful navigating these waters."
The party looked at the icebergs with wonder and fear. They thrilled at the beauty but quaked at the danger.