After the Ice Hunters had retreated back up the steps, party members who were conscious sat up and looked around. The room was lit dimly by lamps. It was cold in the caves, a good deal below freezing. The floor they sat on was composed of ice and was worn smooth from the constant traffic of many feet. They would definitely need their crampons to walk in this area. The ceiling was 20 ft high. A 15 ft. wide door opened to the south and another to the north. They didn't initially see any other occupants but did hear some loud coughing from a pile of furs in the SW corner of the room.
"Neega, Honey," said Preston, "let me use my Mage Hand spell to get that knife out of your boot. Then I can cut the ropes on your hands."
Because his hands were tied behind his back, he struggled to do the somatic part of the spell casting but did finally manage to summon forth a floating spectral hand. He sent it over to Neega's boot and had it retrieve the knife hidden there. He then commanded the hand to cut Neega's bonds.
Once free, Neega grabbed the knife and quickly cut the bonds on the rest of the party. She paused after freeing Preston to give him a quick kiss.
"Good job, Sweetie," she smiled at him.
"Let's grab our weapons, in case someone comes in here to attack," said Kellen
They reclaimed their weapons and immediately felt a little safer.
"I'm going over to see who is doing all that coughing," Mara announced.
She went over to the pile of furs in the corner and found a sick Ice Hunter. He looked up at her weakly and said something in a language she didn't understand.
"It looks like you're suffering from some sort of disease," she said.
She cast Lesser Restoration on him to remove his illness and his coughing stopped. He sat up and smiled at her, wonder in his eyes. He continued to speak to her, but nobody knew what he was saying. After a short while he rose from the pile of furs, gave a quick hug to Mara, then began climbing back up the stairs to the surface.
"I hope he doesn't tell the rest of the tribe that we're free," worried Kellen.
"Well, if he does, we'll just have to pick off their warriors one-by-one as they come down the stairs," said Neega.
Borovik and Bree were still unconscious from the poison, so Mara used Lesser Restoration to remove the poison and revive them. The entire party then explored the room they were in. There was nothing in there except for three bundles of rolled up sealskin at the bottom of the stairs leading to the surface. When they opened the sealskin rolls, they found food that the Ice Hunters and brought down, presumably for occupants of the caves. Examining the walls, they found they were covered with intricately carved images: dragons, pillars, cornices and decorative flourishes.
"Maccath clearly isn't in this room," said Borovik. "I suggest we explore the rest of the area."
"North door or south?" asked Bree.
Borovik pulled out the map Bonecarver had drawn for them. It turned out to be incomplete. There was a broad corridor in the shape of an arc, with open ends, indicating that the corridor continued into areas Bonecarver had never entered. Near the left edge of the arcing corridor, there was a passageway leading south into a room about the size of the one they were now in. A large X had been drawn in the room.
"This room with the X must be where we are now," said Borovik. "The passage to the north leads to a corridor, and to the south leads to another room. I gather Bonecarver has been in the room to the south, because it has been outlined. That room seems to have another exit, but she has only drawn the exit, not the room beyond.
If we go out into the corridor and turn left, we will see on the other side of the corridor another passage. This room also has not been drawn in. If we turn to the right, we will come to a passage that goes off north, but this one is not drawn in, either. Finally, near the right end of the corridor, there is a passage leading NE into a room. This room has been outlined, so Bonecarver must have been in it."
"If Bonecarver has outlined the room to the south, let's go there to see what it is," suggested Mara.
Walking carefully on the slippery, sloped floor, they entered another cavern which was about the same size as the entry room. There was a slight fog in the room which limited visibility a bit, but not so much that they couldn't see the entire room.
Looking around, they saw that what looked like a larder and storage area. Dried and frozen fish, whale, seal and walrus meat, and giant squids were stashed in large piles. There were piles of furs as well as some other odd items: fish organs, shells, bones and soft stone. Also stockpiled in this chamber were coils of rope, spikes, and a few pulleys, which were clearly brought in from the south and were not made by the Ice Hunters.
There were 2 exits form the room, one to the SE and on to the north. They went down the SE passage and found a small, diamond-shaped room with a hole in the middle. Cold seemed to emanate up from the hole. They crept up to the hole as close as they dared and peered in. A yawning pit twisted down into darkness. Looking around they saw a heavy iron hook anchored in the ice of the ceiling. A five-foot-wide walkway extended around both sides of the pit, connecting this entrance to an exit across the room. Carved into the ice of the walls were images of dragons in flight.
"Well, I certainly don't want to go down that hole!" Bree shuddered.
"Do we want to go around the hole on the wooden walkway to get to the room's exit?" asked Borovik.
"I don't," answered Neega. "What if one of us slips and falls down that hole? We don't know how deep it is and don't know where it goes."
They decided to turn back and try the door on the north side of the larder. This led into a room that was considerably foggier, and the visibility was only half of what it was in the entry room. The room was roughly square, about 45 ft. X 45 ft. It looked like a trash pit. The floor was covered to a depth of several ft. with food scraps, small worn-out boots, tattered clothing, broken items and something that looked like frozen dung. The cold kept it from stinking, but the party had to step carefully over the trash. Borovik drew the room onto Bonecarver's map.
"I wonder if there is anything worth looting in here," mused Bree.
"Are you really going to dig through all this trash in the vain search for treasure?" asked Kellen.
"I suppose not," sulked Bree.
They saw no signs of Maccath in that room, so decided to exit through a door to the SE. As they entered the room the fog slightly lessened and they spotted a dozen kobolds, some eating, some sleeping, some mending their clothing, some gambling and some just chatting. Upon seeing the party, the kobolds jumped up and grabbed their slings. One of the kobolds shouted out in Draconic, "Go warn the Ice Toads and Ice Trolls!"
Borovik judged that they intended to attack, so he targeted the nearest kobolds with a Fireball spell. A flaming sphere of fire erupted in the room and 5 kobolds were instantly fried to death. The remaining kobolds all responded by flinging sling stones at Neega, who was at the front of the party and was the biggest target. Only two of them managed to hit, and Neega took minimal damage. They all ran off toward the door leading east out of the room. Only 2 of them actually made it to the exit but got no further than the passageway out of the room.
"Borovik called out, "Get them before they warn anybody about us!"
Preston targeted the kobold nearest him and shot it with his crossbow. The bolt pierced the kobold through its chest, and it fell unconscious. Neega ran up to the next nearest kobold and completely flattened it with Hazirawn. She then shouted out a battle cry to the remaining kobolds, "By the sword of Tempus, you will all die!"
Bree fired at one of the kobolds still in the room and it died when the arrow hit it in the abdomen. Mara went further into the room to get a good line of sight on the eastern exit and then cast Entangle on the 2 kobolds who had managed to reach that passageway. Weeds and vines sprouted from the floor on the passageway and grabbed the legs of the kobolds there. They shrieked as they realized they couldn't move.
Borovik moved forward and started throwing fire at the remaining kobolds with the Scorching Rays spell. His aim wasn't very good, so he had to throw 3 rays to hit one kobold. However, the one that hit blasted a third degree burn over a good portion of the kobold's body, and it lost consciousness.
The kobolds in the eastern exit tried unsuccessfully to break out of the restraint of the entanglement spell but lacked the requisite strength. One kobold was left standing in the room and it took off at a run, trying to flee. When it reached the edge of the entangled area, the going was rough, and it had to slow way down. Therefore, it only had time to get just beyond the vine-covered area, but no further.
Preston moved closer to the exit passage to get a good line of sight on the kobolds trying to flee and cast Chill Touch on the one who had progressed just beyond the vine-covered patch. The nimble kobold dodged to the side and avoided being hit by the spell. Neega approached the edge of the entangled patch and threw a javelin at the same kobold. This time, it did not successfully dodge and was killed by the javelin hitting it in the back and piercing all the way through to its chest. Bree found a good spot from which to aim her short bow and shot an arrow at one of the entangled kobolds, dropping it to the floor. One kobold remained standing. After Kellen missed it with his crossbow, Mara got close enough to throw a javelin at it and the kobold fell over with a whimper.
Looking around, the party saw that none of the kobolds had escaped to warn anybody else in the ice caves that the prisoners were loose. Borovik took a little time to draw the new cavern onto Bonecarver's map.
"Now that we have eliminated the threat of the kobolds raising an alarm, I intend to look for loot," announced Bree, in a voice that suggested she would not take no for an answer.
While there was no coinage to be found, there were a number of carvings on walrus tusks. Six of the carving were of high enough quality to be of interest to art collectors. They placed these in Bree's Portable Hole.
The party then went through the passageway to the east and found themselves in a broad, curving corridor. The light fog somewhat reduced the distance they could see, but they were still able to see an entrance to a passageway off to their left. Neega thought she might see an entrance to a room around to their right, but it was at the limit of what the fog would let her see, so she wasn't sure.
"Right or left?" asked Neega.
"Let's go left," suggested Mara. "Whatever is there is closer, and we can see its entrance clearly enough to know it's really there."
They all agreed and headed off to the left. The corridor curved around to their left as they progressed. After about 75 ft. they came to the passageway leading off to the NE into the next room. The passageway was slightly inclined upwards going into the room, so they were glad to have their crampons.
As they entered the room, they saw it was fog free, so visibility was good. The room was a little smaller than the ones they had already explored, about 30 ft. X 45 ft. Borovik realized that it looked like one of the rooms Bonecarver had drawn on her map.
"Hey, look," he said. I think we can now connect up the corridor we were just in with the end of the corridor on our map. It almost seems like the corridor circles around the rooms we first explored. And I would guess that the room we are in now lies outside the circle of the corridor, as do some of the other rooms she drew only the entrances for."
In the center of the room was a ladder that led up to a hole in the ceiling. Bree scampered up the ladder and announced that there was a set of stairs going up that spiraled around a chute.
"Do you suppose it's another exit to the surface of the iceberg?" she called down.
"Makes sense," responded Kellen. "That would explain why Bonecarver would have been in here."
They hunted around the room but found only a dozen baskets woven from leather strips and walrus ribs. Poking into the baskets they found frozen fish and shark meat, presumably provisions for the Ice Hunters.
"Let's get on with the search for Maccath," said Mara. "No need to linger in here."
The others nodded in assent. They left the room and looked down the corridor in the direction the direction they had been heading. It continued to curve around to their left, and, just as Bonecarver's map had indicated, the entrance to another cavern could just be seen, leading off to the north.
They approached the entrance and noticed that the floor sloped downward going into the room and the fog in the room was dense. Visibility was limited, even for those with dark vision. Mara and Neega crept quietly forward, peered into the room and saw a few kobolds in the light of the whale oil lanterns. Oddly, they seemed to be polishing the ice walls. Neither of them was as stealthy as they had hoped to be, but the kobolds didn't seem to notice them. They crept back without alerting the kobolds and reported in whispers that there were kobolds in there. The party retreated a few feet from the entrance and debated what to do.
"We could stand in the doorway and take potshots at the ones we can see," suggested Bree. "That way they won't be able to run out the door and get help."
"But we don't know that there isn't another exit somewhere in the cavern that they can escape from," said Mara.
"Maybe I could do a sleep spell," suggested Borovik. "I don't have to see them to put them to sleep. How many did you see? Were they all clumped together?"
"I saw one," said Neega, "but from where Mara was standing, she saw 3."
"Yeah, and they were kind of spread out," said Mara. "I don't think you can get more than 1 of them in the circle of a Sleep spell."
"How about a Wall of Fire?" Borovik asked. I can make it up to 60 ft long, so it would probably span a good deal of the width of the chamber. Then if they tried to run out towards us, they would get burned."
"I suppose if there was another exit, we could locate it if they ran out. And if they were gone it would give us a chance to search for Maccath in the room," mused Kellen.
They agreed on the Wall of Fire. Borovik hid the light on his staff, quietly approached the entrance, and cast the spell about 45 ft. in front of him in between 2 lanterns he could see. A 60 ft. long, 20 ft. high wall of flame shot up, stretching nearly across the width of the cavern. One of the kobolds was in the area where the wall materialized and was immediately killed. Several screams emanated from the other side of the wall. The kobolds would not be getting out the door that the party had just come in.
"The active side of the wall is on the other side from us," Borovik told the party. "If you go around the end, don't get within 10 ft. of the other side."
Mara assumed the Polar Bear wildshape and she and Neega dashed into the cavern. Mara went toward the gap between the cavern wall and the western end of the wall of fire. Neega ran up to the only kobold on the nearer side of the wall, which put her close to the gap of the eastern end of the wall of fire and the cavern wall. They were now in a position to see farther into the cavern and could see more kobolds. They could see portions of the back wall and saw no obvious exits at the rear of the cavern. Bree ran into the entry passageway of the room and was able to see one of the kobolds standing in lantern light near the western wall, just beyond the wall of fire. She took aim with her shortbow and her arrow flew true, instantly killing the kobold.
The panicked kobolds all tried to flee to the rear of the cavern and hide in shadows, away from the lantern light. The one next to Neega ran off, but Neega got a swing at it with Hazirawn as it did so. She hit and the kobold dropped dead.
Two of the kobolds fled to dark corner at NW rear of cavern. Another retreated to the back wall into shadows. A fourth ran behind a wall of an alcove in the NE corner of the cavern and hid in the shadows.
Preston dashed into the room just behind Mara and Kellen ran in as far as the could go up the middle. Preston's lack of dark vision prevented him from seeing any of the kobolds who had run into the shadows. Kellen, although he had darkvision, couldn't get far enough into the room to see any kobolds. Neega bolted past the fire wall and ran up to the kobold hiding in the alcove. The kobold nearly fainted upon seeing a heavily armed half-orc approach it.
Borovik ran as fast as he could into the room to a spot behind Mara, but his lack of dark vision prevented him from seeing any of the kobolds. Bree followed the eastern wall further into the cavern so she could guard the eastern gap. Mara loped past the fire wall and ran up next to the 2 kobolds hiding in the NW corner of the cavern. Once she got there, she saw another kobold hiding in the shadows about 10 ft. from her.
The kobold about 10 ft. away from her backed up a little and drew its sling. It hit her with a stone and did minor damage. The kobolds next to her attempted to stab Mara with their daggers. Only one of them hit, doing a small amount of damage. On the other side of the cavern, the kobold against the back wall used its sling to throw a stone at Neega. It hit but did very little damage. The kobold next to her tried to stab her but Neega's armor deflected the attempt.
Preston continued into the room up to the western end of the fire wall to block the exit and Kellen ran up next to Bree to help her guard the eastern end. Neega went into a rage and attacked the kobold next to her. She hit and cut its head clean off. She then turned and ran to the back wall to confront the kobold who had hit her with the sling. Her second attack left a vicious gash across its abdomen, killing it instantly. Bree then ran up next to Neega to do backup but could see no more kobolds in that area. Borovik did a dash that brought him past the wall of fire and next to Mara, where he could now see the 2 kobolds next to her. Mara bit one of the kobolds next to her in the throat and it fell unconscious. She hit the other kobold next to her with a mighty paw to the head and killed it.
The kobold that had hit Mara with its sling was the only one left standing. It took off at a run and managed to get past the fire wall and just past Preston. Preston cast Ray of Sickness at the kobold, but in his haste he missed.
"Get that kobold!" he yelled to the rest of the party. "It's trying to escape!"
Kellen tried to get it with Vicious Mockery, but the wily kobold managed to dodge out of the way of the spell. Borovik hit it with Magic Missiles and the 3 magic darts of force damage finally killed it.
The party looked around and the room seemed to have been cleared of kobolds. There was no exit at the rear of the cavern, so none had escaped. Once again they had managed to prevent the Ice Trolls and Ice Toads being alerted that they were loose.
It was obvious that Maccath was not in this room, but they did a search to see if there was any evidence she had ever been in the room. It was an irregularly shaped room, with alcoves and oddly angled corners. The ice walls were polished as clear as glass to allow unobstructed views of the frozen bodies of giants embedded in the ice. They had been positioned upright, as if they were standing. However, they looked as though they had died in battle, with damaged armor and lacerated flesh. Frozen blood still clung to the bodies. They counted 10 bodies: 8 frost giants, a cloud giant and a fire giant.
"Do you suppose Arauthator killed these giants in battle?" wondered Neega.
"That seems like a good guess," replied Kellen. "Maybe this is a trophy room where he displays his kills."
"Kind of gruesome, if you ask me," shivered Bree. "Although, I suppose it's no different than hunters displaying heads of beasts they killed."
"Well," said Borovik, "no sign that Maccath was ever in here, so let's keep looking.
Back out into the corridor, Neega looked in the direction they had been going. The corridor curved around to the left. About 75 ft. in front of them she could see lantern light spilling out of a passageway going to the south.
The party went to explore that passageway, and found that it went back into the room they had originally been brought into. After drawing in the new information, Borovik grew more convinced that the corridor was indeed circular, enclosing an inner set of rooms and with other rooms radiating from the outer wall of the corridor.
There was one more passageway indicated on Bonecarver' map, leading NW from the outer wall of the corridor. They decided to explore it next.
Neega stood at the entrance and looked down the passageway. The chamber beyond extended westward from the end of the passageway. She could just see a couple of giant toads with mottled white hides in the light from a whale oil lantern. They seemed to be bent over a table of sorts, working on something. She motioned for the others to follow and she crept further in. When she got up to the bend where the passageway joined the cavern, she was able, between the lantern light and her dark vision, to see most of the room. It was a long rectangular room, about 105 ft. long by 30 ft. wide. There were about 10 of the odd toads in there. Some were engraving in an unknown language on the ice of the walls and stone tablets. Others were penning things onto weathered parchments. Their hands, although webbed, seemed to be nimble and they expertly used sharpened antlers to do their engraving and writing. Some toads transferred parchments and tablets into and out of floor-to-ceiling cubbyholes cut into the ice along the entire southern wall. They didn't seem to be armed. They had yet to notice that Neega was hiding behind the corner.
Neega crept back to Kellen and whispered, "Play some magic music that will make them more likely to think we're friendly."
Kellen played some soothing, lilting music as Neega walked back up to the corner. She saw the toads jump up in surprise and look in her direction. She stepped out from the passageway and held out her hands to show that she wasn't holding a weapon.
The toads looked back and forth at each other and at Neega, chattering nervously in a language Neega didn't understand.
"Borovik," she called. "Can you come here and translate?"
Borovik slowly came up next to Neega, but he couldn't understand the language, either. He called out in Draconic, "Hello. We will not attack you."
One of the toads responded in broken Draconic, "Who are you? Is there anyone else with you?"
Neega called the rest of the crew to come out of the passageway. The toads stared in fascination at each one. When Mara appeared, they jumped in alarm, pointing at her and repeating a phrase that she thought must mean "polar bear".
Realizing that she had frightened them, Mara sat down and began to lick her paws, trying to look less intimidating. Bree and Kellen walked over, hugging as much of her as they could get their arms around and stroking her fur. She nosed them gently and made little burbling sounds that she hoped would reassure them. The toads were entranced.
One of them pointed to the far end of the cavern and said something to another toad, who immediately went off on all fours in the direction indicated. A couple of minutes later, it returned with another toad in tow. She approached the party and introduced herself in fluent Draconic.
"I am Marfulb, leader of this band of what you people call Ice Toads. My tribesman tells me you have a pet polar bear."
"We have a polar bear," explained Borovik, "but she is not a pet. She is normally a half-elf, who looks a lot like a female version of me. She has magic that lets her turn herself into animals."
Marfulb looked intrigued and impressed. "Oh? Can she turn herself back into a half-elf?"
"Yes," said Borovik. "Mara? Want to show them?"
Mara resumed half-elf shape, and the toads jumped up and down with joy, excitement and wonder.
"We certainly want to learn more about you," said Marfulb. "Where do you come from? Why are you here?"
Borovik answered, "We are a group of warriors and magic users who have been hired to find a Tiefling woman magic user. She was on an expedition in the sea of Moving Ice 3 years ago when she vanished. We befriended the tribal shaman of the Ice Hunters on the top of the iceberg who told us that she is down here in the ice caves."
"Ah, you speak of Maccath. Yes, she is down here."
"And is she still alive?"
"Yes. She is Arauthator's prisoner. But if you want to free her, it will be extraordinarily difficult. Arauthator is a very powerful dragon."
"Will you help us?
"Yes, if you will do something for us. Maccath has told us that she belongs to a group of magic users from a far city, called Luskan. They love to study lore and history and geography. and welcome new information about all topics. We Ice Toads have created a large volume of writings about the dragon Arauthator. We have massive collections of information and maps about the Sea of Moving Ice, the weather north of the Spine of the World, and the culture of the Ice Hunters. Maccath has said that that her magic users group would love to have this information, since they are topics about which they know little. In exchange for helping you, I would like for you to take some of our writings to them and bargain for them to come teach us about matters to the south, of which we know little and about which we have great curiosity."
"We will do this. I would also love to see your writings, since I am also a very curious magic user."
"Very well, come with me and I will show you what I wish for you to transport to the city of Luskan."
She led them over to some of the cubbyholes where parchments were stored. She began picking out scrolls and handing them to Borovik. Since he was unable to read what the Ice Toads had written, she explained what was on each scroll and tablet she gave him. His smile got broader and broader as he accepted each one and gave it to Bree to place into her Portable Hole. By the time they finished, they had an impressive collection.
"I have not given you everything," said Marfulb, "But it should be enough to convince the curious magic users of Luskan that they should come to meet us so more information can be exchanged. Now, let me explain to you where you can find Maccath. I will draw a map for you."
"We've been making a map as we explored," said Borovik. "You can add to the one we already have."
Marfulb filled in the rest of the map that they had not yet explored. As she drew, Borovik saw that the broad corridor did indeed encircle a number of rooms, with others radiating out from the outer wall.
"Now, this is important," explained Marfulb. "As you follow the corridor around from here, the first passageway you come to leads into the Ice Troll lair. Don't go in there! They don't like anyone else except Ice Trolls entering their lair, and they will kill and eat you if you do go in.
Continue following the corridor and you will come to another passageway that leads off to the SW. Go in there and you will be in an unused chamber. There is a passage out of the back of the chamber that leads NW into Maccath's quarters. If she isn't in there when you get there, she will be back soon.
Be on your guard. This area of the caves has a lot of Ice Troll traffic. They are aggressive and tough, but you should only have to deal with 1 or 2 at a time."
"Okay! On to find Maccath!" exclaimed Neega.
"It has been a long day, and I'm tired," said Mara. "Maybe we should go back to the room with the frozen giants and take a long rest. We can go to Maccath's quarters after that."
The rest of the party agreed. They went back to the giant room. Kellen cast Leomund's Tiny Hut in the far back NW in a secluded alcove. The comfortable temperature inside the hut was a welcome relief from the cold in the ice caves.
Before they went to sleep, Mara asked Kellen to send a message to Talis. "In Dragon's lair. Maccath is in lair. We will try to free her. Please tell Frostbite we're okay. Love you." Kellen cast the spell, but looked puzzled.
"It didn't go through. Something stopped it," he said.
"Do you have enough magical energy left to try sending a message to Captain Lerustah?" asked Bree.
"I do, and I will try."
He cast the Sending spell again, and shook his head. "Something is blocking me getting a message out with the Sending spell. There must be some sort of magical shield around the iceberg."
"Great!" groused Neega. "We can't contact the ship to tell them what's happening to us, and they can't contact us to tell us what's happening with them. We're completely on our own."