Once they entered the Sea of Moving Ice, they began the search for the iceberg described in Maccath's last message. Mara volunteered to do aerial reconnaisance in eagle form, but her eagle was not up to the harsh cold of the far north. Frostbite said he would try. Although he didn't have the keen eyesight of the eagle, he could remain airborne for 3 hours or more in the frigid temperatures. Captain Lerustah possessed a minotaur's horn that had been fashioned into a signal horn, and he said he would use it to call Frostbite back to the ship if they needed him.
Although she couldn't use a wildshape form to go on reconnaissance runs, Mara did find uses for her Druidic magic on board the ship. With a crew of 40, there was always someone sustaining a minor injury, so she frequently had to do a Cure Wounds spell on someone. At times, some crew member would drop a small item that would then roll down under the deck into an inaccessible place. Mara's weasel wildshape was ideal for retrieving such things.
Frostbite was in daily telepathic contact with Talis, and Mara would sit next to him so she could get updates on Talis' situation and feed questions to Frostbite. Since the day Ralazrad had demanded that the guards stop beating Talis, her treatment had indeed improved. She was still being questioned, but the intimidating guard was no longer there. She was being given bigger food rations. She was assigned to a new cell, whose watchman was a good deal kinder than the previous ones. She continued to cooperate with the interrogators, giving them all the information she knew.
The first day among the icebergs, the Frostskimmr moved slowly and carefully among the floating masses of ice. They searched all day for the specific iceberg described by Maccath, but none of the many that they saw matched the description.
Mara found herself daydreaming about Talis. Grateful that she was no longer being beaten, she still longed for Talis's release from prison. What would Talis do then? Would she move to Helfton to live with the Evenwoods among other half elves? At times, Mara dared to dream that Talis would join her in their adventuring endeavors to stop Tiamat's summoning ritual. Then, they wouldn't be separated when Mara was sent on an assignment. Had Talis truly made her break with the cult? Had she finally begun to draw away from the worship of Tiamat? Mara prayed fervently to Mother Moon that this was true.
As night drew on, the party asked Captain Lerustah if they could haul up onto an iceberg to sleep for the night. This would give Kellen enough room to cast Leomund's Tiny Hut so the group could have a more comfortable quarters for the night. The crew all decided to sleep on the deck of the ship in the sailcloth shelters but had no objection to the party sleeping in the magical shelter on the ice.
Kellen was on watch when he saw 3 dark forms come out of the water and quietly approach the ship. He called to his companions to wake up and prepare for trouble.
Preston jumped up first. Pulling on his boots and a coat, he left the shelter and used his Wand of Magic Missiles to throw darts of force damage at the nearest of the forms. It bellowed at the unexpected injury coming from an unknown direction. Neega went into a rage and followed Preston out. Her night vision allowed her to see that the creatures were the same size and shape as trolls, but they came out of the water, not out of the woods.
She called out to the others, "They look like trolls."
Neega drew Hazirawn and attacked the troll Preston had just hit with magic. Two mighty blows delivered enough slashing and necrotic damage to the creature that it howled in pain. Meanwhile, Bree pulled out her dagger of venom and gave it the command to coat itself with poison. Kellen cast Crown of Madness on the 2nd of the trolls. It stopped cold, looking around in confusion and muttering to itself. Frostbite, who had already taken to the air, swooped down to the already injured troll and knocked it unconscious with a bite and a claw attack. He then switched to the third troll, trying to avoid injuring the charmed one. But he missed with his second claw attack.
Borovik took aim at the 3rd troll with scorching rays and left a nasty third degree burn on its chest. Mara became a saber -toothed tiger and attempted a pounce on the 3rd form, but it managed to dodge out of the way.
Suddenly, the unconscious troll jumped back up, no longer unconscious. Borovik realized that it must have used trollish regeneration to prevent death. He wished he had thrown one of the fiery rays at it when he cast the Scorching Ray spell.
"Use fire and acid if you have them," he called.
The newly regenerated troll attacked Neega, who had caused it the most injury. It hit with teeth and claws attacks, but Neega's rage reduced the injuries by half.
Kellen ordered the charmed troll to attack the 3rd troll. It did so, hitting with all 3 attacks, The 3rd toll was now bleeding heavily, in addition to its serious burn. It screamed in rage and sought revenge by attacking the charmed troll. It hit with a bite and one claw, and the charmed troll staggered from the injuries.
Preston realized he didn't have any appropriate spells for these creatures, so he cast Color Spray to briefly blind them. He successfully blinded the regenerated troll. Neega decided it was a good opportunity to leave the blinded troll and attack the third, uncharmed troll. Despite being blinded, the troll lashed out wildly with its teeth as it heard Neega leave and did a small amount of damage. Neega slashed the third troll across the chest with one of her mighty blows. Bree attempted a sneak attack on the third troll. But it saw her at the last second and avoided the blow.
Frostbite went back to the regenerated troll and once again rendered it unconscious with his bite. He then turned to the third troll and his 2 claw attacks sent it sprawling. It lay without moving on the ice.
Borovik again cast Scorching rays, but aimed one at each troll, thus briefly disabling the regenerative powers of all of them. Now that the charmed troll had been wounded by a party member, it shook off Kellen's charm and Mara felt free to attack it. She got it with a bite, and it screamed curses in Giantish as it she broke one of its arms.
None of the trolls were able to regenerate health because they had all gotten fire damage, so the 2 unconscious ones died. The final standing troll attacked Mara, raking her on the head and neck with 2 claw attacks.
Preston tried Color Spray again, but this time failed to blind the remaining troll. Neega hit it twice with Hazirawn and it sank to the ice with a groan. Borovik hit the troll with the Melf's Acid Arrow spell, disabling its health regeneration with acid. The final troll finally died.
Neega looked down at the dead trolls and said, "They sure look like trolls, but I've never heard of trolls that come up out of the water like that."
Kellen and Mara conferred with each other briefly, and Kellen said, "They must be scrags. Scrags are aquatic trolls who can breathe underwater."
"Sheesh!" complained Neega. We just can't get away from trolls, no matter where we go!"
Hazirawn couldn't resist commenting, "Aquatic trolls, huh? Their blood did taste troll-like, but it was brinier than I expected troll blood to be."
The party returned to their shelter. Their long rest had been interrupted by the battle so there was only enough time for a short rest. Most of the casters were not able to regain the magical energy they used in the battle, but Borovik's wizardly Arcane Recovery ability allowed him to recover a portion of his magical energy. Kellen played a Song of Rest on his harp and those with injuries regained their health.
Mid-morning the next day the crew was on the oars advancing slowly through the icebergs. Frostbite was out on reconnaissance. Suddenly, two giant octopuses rose out of the water and attempted to grab a couple of crew members with their tentacles. The crew members ducked out of the way and escaped. The entire crew shrieked in fear and ran into the sailcloth shelters on the deck to hide.
Captain Lerustah sounded the signal horn to call Frostbite back to the ship. Kellen, recognizing that Neega, the front-line fighter, was most in danger of getting struck and grappled by the octopuses, cast Freedom of Movement on her to help her escape a grapple. Bree hit one of the octopuses with an arrow from her shortbow. It writhed in pain.
The injured octopus struck out at one of the nearest sailcloth shelters, attempting to get at the crew inside. It hit and partially collapsed the shelter but was unable to reach the crew members. The other octopus waited to see if anyone came within reach of its tentacles.
Neega went into a rage and ran up to attack already injured octopus, which put her within range of the second octopus' tentacle. It attacked Neega, but her armor deflected the blow. She then took a swing at the injured octopus and a mighty blow left it senseless. She turned to the other octopus and hit with her second attack. Octopus blood flowed freely into the icy waters.
Borovik cast Witch Bolt at the 2nd octopus, shocking it with a lightning bolt. It waved its tentacles frantically, as it was in great pain. Preston threw a Ray of Sickness spell at the octopus, adding a little damage and poisoning it. Mara cast Moonbeam, positioning it to enclose both octopuses without hitting anyone on the ship. Both octopuses were seared with radiant damage. Kellen cast vicious Mockery on the still conscious octopus, giving it psychic damage and making its movements clumsy.
By now, the second octopus realized its companion was floating unconscious on the water and it was feeling very weak. It released a cloud of ink that completely obscured sight of it and dashed off to the bottom of the sea.
"Get grappling hooks and pull that octopus onto the deck," Lerustah commanded. "We'll feast on octopus tonight!"
"Be careful not to get your hand or arms in the moonbeam," cautioned Mara. "It will burn you, just like it did to the octopuses."
The crew hauled the unconscious octopus onto the deck and hit it on the head enough times to ensure it was really dead. By that time, Frostbite had returned to the ship, and he was mightily pleased to hear that there would be octopus for the evening meal.
The ship and its occupants went back to searching for the iceberg. No further creatures bothered them the rest of the day, nor that night.
The third day they were again searching among the icebergs for the one described in Maccath's last message. Not long before noon, they heard a panicked shout from one of the icebergs.
Captain Lerustah cocked his head and said, "Someone's calling for help in Uluik, the native language of the Ice Hunters."
"Then, we should go help," said Kellen.
They rowed the ship over toward the sound and shortly saw an Ice Hunter man standing on a ledge in an ice wall, just out of reach of a polar bear pacing back and forth beneath him. He waved his arms and called frantically in Uluik. They noticed that the hunter's spear lay at the foot of the ice cliff.
Lerustah translated, "He was hunting seal, when he saw this polar bear come after him. He managed to scramble up onto this ledge before he was caught. He dropped his spear as he climbed onto the ledge and now has no way to kill the bear. He's trapped and as soon as he comes down, he will be eaten."
"Tell him we will help," said Neega.
Lerustah translated Kellen's message, and the man looked a little hopeful, but still frightened. Lerustah sounded the signal once again to summon Frostbite.
The party put on their armor and took up their weapons. Lerustah had the crew steer the ship close to the iceberg so the party could get onto it. Neega went into a rage and the party screamed at the bear to get its attention. It turned away from the hunter and came running at them with a roar.
Kellen cast Heroism on the 2 front-line fighters, Mara and Neega, to give them extra health. Mara assumed the polar bear wildshape and attacked the enemy bear. She gave it a good swipe with her claws and left lacerations on one of its forelegs. The enemy bear in turn attacked Mara. It hit her with its claws, but the damage was partially absorbed by her temporary extra health.
After Borovik hit the bear with Scorching Ray it barely clung to consciousness. Bree quietly came up behind it and got a sneak attack in. Her blow was the finishing touch that caused it to collapse.
The Ice Hunter trapped on the ledge came down and retrieved his spear. He stabbed the bear several times to ensure it was really dead. He then turned to the group and said something to them in a language they didn't understand.
"Lerustah," called Borovik, "we need you to translate."
Lerustah came onto the iceberg and listened as the Ice Hunter repeated himself.
Lerustah turned to the party and said, "He wants to thank you for saving him and asks if there is anything he can do to repay us."
Borovik responded, "Ask him if he knows the whereabouts of the very large iceberg with the plateau on top that is ringed by ice peaks."
Lerustah translated as the Ice Hunter got a concerned expression on his face and pointed to the NE.
Lerustah translated, "He says that the iceberg lies to the northeast, not far from here. But he warns us to avoid it. He says an adult white dragon, whom they call Old White Death, is frequently seen flying around the iceberg. It would be dangerous to approach it."
Lerustah thanked the Ice Hunter, who then got into his kayak and paddled away.
"Well, we now have a lead," said Lerustah. "I suggest we begin heading to the NE."
Frostbite returned about this time, and they explained to him what they had found out. They set off in the direction indicated by the Ice Hunter. No further incidents happened the rest of that day or the next.
The following day, their 5th on the Sea of Moving Ice, they spotted a party of about 10 Ice Hunters pursuing seals on an iceberg near the ship. They rowed over to the iceberg, stepped onto the iceberg and Lerustah attempted to talk to the Ice Hunters. The party and the crew watched as the Ice Hunters responded harshly and gestured in a threatening manner. Then the Ice Hunters got into their kayaks and rapidly paddled away to the NE.
Lerustah re-boarded the ship, shaking his head. "I don't understand. They were very rude and demanded I go away and stop bothering them. Ice Hunters are normally shy, but never unfriendly like this. I wonder why they did that."
They continued on their path, keeping far enough behind the party of Ice Hunters to avoid the appearance of following them. By nightfall they had lost sight of the Ice Hunter kayaks.
The next day Frostbite came back from a reconnaissance flight and announced that he had spotted a large iceberg matching the description in Maccath's last message. They would reach it before the end of the day if they continued in the direction they were going.
Later that day they came within sight of the iceberg. The visible portion of the berg was a plateau which rose more than a hundred feet above the water. In shape, it was roughly triangular, with rounded corners. The plateau was ringed with jagged ice peaks, some of which rose another two hundred feet above the level of the plateau. Kellen sent a message to Dagult Neverember using the Sending spell, telling him they had found Maccath's iceberg.
They carefully circled the iceberg, looking for a possible landing site. They spotted a large shelf of ice, approximately 60 feet across, which rose a few feet above sea level. Ice Hunters kayaks had been beached there and the shelf was littered with enormous, cracked bones, including ribs that arched higher than human height.
Mara and Kellen went over to examine the bones.
"Looks like these big rib bones belong to a whale," said Mara. "What do you think, Kellen?"
"I believe you're right. And these over here look like bones from enormous seals."
"And look! There are bite marks on the bones. Something with a really big jaw was gnawing on these!"
"And that's not all! There are human bones with the same huge bite marks over here!"
They went back and told the crew and the rest of the party what they saw.
"Hmm," mused Lerustah. "Sounds almost like a dragon was feeding on this ice shelf. We better be on our toes."
They looked around for a way to climb to the top of the plateau. They spotted an ice chasm that split the cliff face above the ice shelf and rose to the top of the plateau. The chasm was 20 feet wide near the bottom but appeared to narrow significantly as it went toward the top. Steps had been cut into the ice, making for an easy climb to the top of the plateau.
Again, Lerustah rubbed his chin, "Ice Hunter boats beached at the foot of the plateau and humanoid sized steps going up to the top. I wonder if a band of Ice Hunters lives up there."
"Let's go up there and find out," said Borovik.
Captain Lerustah declined to go with them. "I'd rather stay here and guard the ship," he said.
"But what if we get up to the top, find Ice Hunters, and they only speak their native language?" worried Borovik. "Who will translate for us?"
One of the crew members, a dwarven woman named Helga, stepped up and said, "I can speak Uluik. If you are willing to give me a bonus payment of 50 gp, I will go up with you to translate for any Ice Hunters who might be up there. However, if a fight occurs, I am not going to be a combatant."
The party agreed to the extra payment for Helga, and they started up the stairs. Mara asked Frostbite to stay behind with the ship to help protect it. He protested that Talis told him to watch over her. Mara insisted, pointing out that she didn't want to have to explain to Talis why she got him involved in a battle that ended with his death. He reluctantly conceded.
They trudged up the stairs, and the first thing they saw at the top was the gruesome sight of a row of ten corpses frozen into a wall of ice. Three looked like Luskan warriors, one was a dwarf and the remaining six were Ice Hunters. The bodies had been preserved in the ice, making it impossible to tell how long they had been here.
"Do you suppose the Luskans and the dwarf were from Maccath's expedition?" asked Bree.
"Maybe," sighed Borovik. "At least we haven't yet found a corpse matching the description of Maccath."
"What about the dead Ice Hunters?" asked Mara. "Who do you suppose they were?"
"Heaven only knows," shivered Kellen.
The ground on the top of the plateau was uneven, fractured by narrow ice chasms and divided by rills, snowdrifts, and ice ridges taller than a human. Perilous features were sculpted by sea spray and wind. It was impossible to see more than about 200 feet in any direction.
Putting on their ice cleats to provide traction on the treacherous terrain, the party made their way toward the center of the plateau. Before long they began to hear dogs barking and growling from the direction to which they were headed.
"Signs of life," smirked Neega.
They slogged on toward the sound and presently saw what looked like a sheltered depression among the ice ridges. Coming to the edge, they caught sight of a small village in the depression. The 20 structures were a mixture of snow block shelters similar to igloos and double-walled yurts made from sealskin stretched over whalebone frames. Nearly all of the structures were small, single-family dwellings. However, there was one large snow block shelter, one yurt in the center of the village that was a little larger than the others, and one small yurt on the edge of the village. Another large structure near the village center was decorated with whalebone and fish skulls. Drying racks with fish, whale meat, and seal meat were scattered all around the village.
Mara nudged Neega and whispered, "That's a lot of food on those drying racks."
"Yeah," agreed Neega. "A lot more than you would need to feed a village of this size."
In addition to the buildings, the party also saw a group of about 50 tense looking villagers gathered in the center of town, pointing at them and chattering excitedly in their native language. Some twenty-five of the group were holding weapons. Helga tried to hear what they said. but the sound of wind blowing partially drowned out their voices.
They cautiously approached the group of villagers, who grew increasingly agitated. When they were about 50 ft from the group, one of the villagers called out to them in a loud voice.
"He told us to stop where we are," translated Helga.
They stopped. The armed villagers spread out and circled around the party. A group of eight villagers took off for the ice stairs, presumably to see if there were extra people waiting down on the boat landing ledge.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" asked the man who had ordered them to stop, and Helga translated it for the party. He appeared to be the tribal leader.
The party asked Kellen to come up with an answer, since he had a silver tongue and could potentially calm the villagers down just by the sound of his voice. He played a little calming music on his harp and made an answer in a song-like, lilting voice.
"We are adventures who have been hired to search for a mage from the city of Luskan. She had come on an expedition to the Sea of Moving Ice 3 years ago and vanished."
Although Helga had to translate Kellen's answer, his music did suffice to slightly lessen the tenseness of the crowd.
The tribal leader huffed a bit and said, "We haven't seen any mages from Luskan."
"Then who are the Luskans frozen in ice at the top the stairs to your village?" asked Kellen in the most soothing voice he could muster.
After Helga translated the question and had heard the answer, she translated it for the party.
"He says they were pirates who came to the village to steal their women, probably to sell them as slaves. The villagers killed them and displayed their dead bodies to warn other invaders to stay away. He had hoped that you would have heeded the warning"
As the conversation was going on, Mara noticed that villagers were sneering at Borovik and Preston. They seemed to have a particular distaste for workers of arcane magic. She also noticed that the woman standing next to the tribal leader was wearing items distinctly different form the rest of the tribe. She had a cloak made of reindeer hide, carried a wand made of a walrus tusk and had a necklace made of a strip of leather strung with several polar bear teeth.
Mara turned to Helga and asked, "Could you address a question from me to the woman standing next to the tribal leader, the woman holding the walrus tusk and wearing a necklace strung with polar bear teeth? I want to ask her if she worships animal spirits."
Helga translated the question and addressed it to the woman, pointing to Mara. The woman cocked her head and answered.
The translated answer was, "Yes. I am the tribe's shaman and I speak to Oomio the gray seal, Grandfather Walrus, the Great White Bear, and the Reindeer Mother. Do you speak to spirits?"
Hearing the response, Mara gave her answer, "I speak with Mother Moon. She gives me magical abilities and teaches me to promote balance in the world between good and evil, between nature and civilization."
The shaman smiled briefly, then spoke to the tribal leader privately, pointing at Mara. He looked over at the party, letting his gaze rest on Mara. He frowned initially, but as she talked more, he began to nod.
He turned back to the party and delivered a statement to Helga, and Helga relayed the translation to the party, "The shaman, Bonecarver, has said the spirits wish her to speak privately with the invaders and that she will, with the spirits' help, try to explain to them that they must leave the village. If the invaders choose to harm our shaman while she meets with them, we will surely kill them."
The party nodded their agreement, and Bonecarver led them to the small yurt on the edge of town, which was her dwelling. Up close they could see many animal totems surrounding the hut, and that there were many carved whale bones scattered around. She took them inside and sat them down on polar bear hide mats and began taking to them, with Helga translating.
Bonecarver explained that the reason the tribe wanted the party to leave was because they were enslaved to a white dragon. The Ice Hunters knew him as Old White Death, but he called himself Arauthator and he called the iceberg Oyaviggaton. The tribe had come to the iceberg many generations ago without realizing it was the lair of a dragon. He captured the tribe and ordered them to become guardians of his lair to keep away intruders. Those who refused were killed, and the terrified remainder acquiesced to his demand.
Since then, Old White Death had bullied them and intimidated them into remaining as his slaves on the iceberg. Anyone who tried to escape was killed and the dead bodies put on display to remind the tribe members not to try to leave. The dragon warned that if the entire tribe ever left the iceberg, he would hunt them down and kill them all.
Bonecarver also informed them that a woman with reddish skin and horns, and who was a magic worker, was taken captive by Old White Death 3 years ago when her ship came to the iceberg. Everyone else on the ship was killed, but for some reason Old White Death did not kill her and took her down into his lair as his captive.
Bonecarver knew that eventually something would turn Old White Death against the tribe, and he would kill them, no matter how hard they tried to please him. Over the years she had communicated with the spirits, asking them to send warriors to them who were strong enough to defeat the dragon and allow them to escape. The spirits had whispered to her that the current group are mighty warriors and magic users. Would they be willing to take on Old White Death and free the tribe from their slavery?
The party turned to each other and debated Bonecarver's request. It would get them closer to finding out Maccath's fate and securing the promise of help from the Arcane Brotherhood. But it would also put them in a position to have to battle an adult white dragon in his own lair. After a spirited discussion, they agreed to the request.
Helga protested, "I myself am not willing to fight a dragon. You need to figure out a plan that includes me getting back to the ship and my crew mates."
Bonecarver assured Helga that she could plan for that.
Bonecarver laid out a plan whereby she would tell the tribal leader that the party had refused to leave, so she poisoned them to allow the tribe to carry them down into the ice caves. Then Old White Death could dispose of them however he chose to. She would not poison the translator, but the tribe should send the translator back to the ship to explain that the party had been killed. The rest of the ship should leave the iceberg to avoid themselves being killed.
She would give all of them a bit of food into which she had put a little poison. It would make them feel weak, and potentially fall unconscious for a period of about 4 hours. Those who did not become unconscious could feign unconsciousness or serious weakness. She would have the tribe members tie them up and take them down to into the caves where Old White Death lived.
They would be left in a room underneath the village that is largely frequented by ice toads, who would be curious about them, but probably not harm them. Ice Trolls live down there, as well, but the Ice Toads keep them from harming prisoners of Old White Death.
She advised them that at least one of them needs to have a knife hidden in a boot so that the ropes binding them could be cut. She drew a general map of what she knew of the caves and told them to have someone hide it on their person. She warned them that Old White Death's servants in the caves had already been warned of their arrival, so they wouldn't be able to sneak around undetected.
The party wasn't keen on knowingly ingesting poison, so another round of discussions followed. Various members had been studying Bonecarver as she spoke and could see no indications of deceit. The party decided that they would take a chance.
Bonecarver prepared some food with a small amount of poison, and they all ate some. Within 15 minutes they began to feel ill and weak. Kellen, Mara, Neega and Preston retained consciousness and took a small amount of poison damage. Borovik and Bree lost consciousness and took a little more poison damage.
Bonecarver went to the door of her hut and called the rest of the tribe to enter. She pointed to the party members lying on the ground, feigning serious illness and made some explanation to the tribal leader. She then pointed to Helga and made some gestures which seemed to indicate she should be sent back to the ship. The tribe members took the party's weapons and wrapped them all up in a polar bear blanket, then tied them all up.
The party and the bundle of their weapons were taken to the large building in the center of town. Helga was pointed to the stairs down to the landing ledge and given a rough shove. She took off at a run. The rest of them were dragged into the building, which seemed to be a meeting hall.
They were taken to a back corner of the meeting hall and some planks in the corner were pulled up. Hidden beneath the planks was entrance to a chute descending 100 feet, into which had been carved icy stairs in a tight spiral. The tribe members carried the party down the stairs and deposited them on the floor in the center of a roughly rectangular, 45 ft. by 75 ft. cavern in the ice. They left the bundle of weapons against the wall and went back up the stairs.