10th April 2022 - Session 42 - The Airship and the Great Worm Cavern - Ciara

The party start the adventure with a little nap and recover some health.  Instead of napping, Dipple questions Harshnag on his clothes and how he sources material, along with the fine details of giant babies.  Harshnag becomes confused and uncomfortable.  

Once awake, the party leave the Eye of the All-Father.  While travelling out of the entrance hall, a hawk flies in and drops a note in front of Kin.  Kin reads it and then shares it with the group:

Kin,

We have investigated the Aboleth mucous that you sent to our lab.  We had to transfer it to our most powerful wizard in Neverwinter to get answers.  He almost went crazy and now fears one of the ancient monsters of the past is back and is somehow involved with the downfall of the giants.  He became paranoid that the tendrils of this monster were everywhere.  Please find and send further information to our operatives.  You will be paid 300GP if you can find the location of this creature.  

The Emerald Enclave

After considering the note and sharing it with the group, the party move on out of the entrance tunnel past the 6 columns depicting giants.  As they do a strange vehicle appears in the sky overhead.  It looks like a ship with sleigh runners, held aloft by a giant red balloon.  

While the others puzzle over what it is, Dipple announces he knows the owner.  An ancient and powerful red dragon named Klauth that he occasionally plays poker with.  Dipple once trained with a wizard named Crispee who planned to kill the dragon.  Dipple told Klauth and gained favour with the dragon as the source of his sorcery was dragon based.  Ironically Crispee died by being crushed by a boulder.  

The airship lowers its rope ladders and everyone gets on.  The followers onboard welcome the party and tell Dipple they were sent by Klauth to aid him in killing the giant lords.  They offer their service to provide passage to travellers anywhere in Klauth's domain (the Sword Coast).  Klauth considers war with the giants inevitable.  He offers the party a reward if they succeed in quelling the giant threat.  This is relayed through the ship captain Delsephine.

The ship's balloon is made from red dragon skin and a magical forge seems to heat it.  There is a propellor at the back.  

The party ask to go to the village of the nomadic tribe of the Great Worm (Graupel's tribe).  When arriving, the ship lands at the perfect angle to show off its dragon skin balloon and makes an awe-inspiring sight.  Graupel puts on the hat of disguise to make herself look more formidable and 4 inches taller.  Dunbarr blows his horn as they land and the sound echos powerfully off the mountain cliffs. 

4 tribal warriors stare at the sight, then greet them and ask what they are doing there.  They recognise Graupel who announces she is now the tribe leader (while Dipple moves the amulet she is wearing to a more obvious position with mage hand).  The warriors heard of 2 injured warriors returning from the Eye of the All-Father and they brought news of the death of Wormblood.  Graupel explains she faked her own death to travel her own path and gain experience so she could come back and claim the tribe.  The warriors seem a little wary but go along with it.  They want to put on a feast for their new leader.  Graupel invites the rest to stay in the village but this makes the villagers wary as they don't like outsiders.  Dipple uses mage hand to loosen one of their belts.  

They accept Graupel as their leader and prepare for the feast.  Graupel heads to the hall of the elders (which is a tent just like all other buildings as they are a nomadic tribe).  On the way, a young boy asks Graupel for help as his father was one of the warriors the team attacked in the Eye of the All-Father.  He was severely injured and the wounds infected.  Dunbarr lifts his axe and says he will try to finish him off.  Bearnabus puts a hand on Dunbarr's axe and says that they might try healing first so "Show me to your da".  Bearnabus performs cure light wounds and heals the wounds and the infection.  

They head to see the elders who want to know what happened with Wormblood.  The elders ask questions about the battle and Graupel tries to convince them she tried not to fight (which was true).  They explain Wormblood was trying to find a very "skilled" warrior who was on a special mission and had disappeared a few days before.  The warrior was Noori.  The party did not find her in the Eye of the All-Father but suggested they look in the Great Worm Cavern burial ground.  The elders agree with the plan. 

When they arrive, Dipple pulls a boar from his bag of tricks and slides it across the cavern.  The poor creature skids and slides on the ice floor but can't stand up.  Nothing attacks it.  The party put crampons on their boots and walk slowly into the cavern.  Dunbarr ties a rope around the boar and his waist and drags the creature around to try and help it.  Dipple heads for the crypts and starts to steal some coins from them.  Kin and Graupel head to the gong which looks likely to be the giant relic.  Kin has already spotted that the gong has giant ruins on it and most likely was a shield.  Up close can see it is made of red dragon scales on copper with a shard missing.  It is 13 feet wide and 250lb, held up by a rope to be 1 foot off the ground.  They chose to do nothing and not hit the gong which turns out well for the party.

Bearnabus changes to a polar bear and becomes the snowy Brrrnabus.  Brrrnabus and Dunbarr head to the altar.  Dunbarr ties another length of rope to him and the polar bear for safety.  On the way, they wonder "Why they are here?" in their mind but assure their minds it's because they are searching for a relic and/or shiny things.  This voice in their heads then wants to know if they will help it stop the crypts from being desecrated by Wormblood, the evil tribal leader.  Dunbarr uses message to multi-message the group about what is going on.  He mentions Dipple should probably stop thieving which he willingly does.  Dunbarr and Brrrnabus convince the couatl that they have already defeated Wormblood and to look at Graupels amulet.  A couatl (flying snake) appears to phase out through the alter with ease.  He checks the amulet on Graupel's neck and gives every member of the party a Charm of Restoration as a reward for defeating Wormblood and accepts that they need the gong for some unexplained reason.  He goes back to the altar warning that if the gong goes off it will make many young Remoraz appear in the cave.  

The party debated how to get the gong out without making noise.  Using some clever rope ties and wrapping, Dipple and Dunbarr wrap the gong in blankets.  Dunbarr holds the bottom of the gong, angling it to fall on Graupel and Brrrnabus.  Kin offers to shoot the gong down but the rest of the group has become skittish about anything they can't control and Dipple uses mage hands to cut the ropes.  With a great show of strength, Dunbarr holds the gong and it falls on Brrnabus and Graupel who manage to hold it up in an awkward manner.  It's lowered to the floor where Dipple uses it as a sledge and Dunbarr ties it to the chain of tied up animals he has collected.  Thankfully the weight of the polar bear stops the gong from smashing into many things.  

They get the gong out to the front of the cavern and Graupel covers it in a layer of snow while Dunbarr frees the boar (despite Dipple's efforts to traumatise the boar).