Advancing across the cavernous entry, the group enters the dining hall, just in time to witness an ogre disappearing into a room lit by flickering light – presumably the kitchen. They move as silently as possible to avoid alerting anyone important – but that plan comes to an end when one of the serving ogres exits into the dining hall from another direction.
Ok then – the silenced zombie giant moves to block the exit from the room while Digin leads the party in the wholesale slaughter of the trio of servants and a frost giant matron in the kitchen area. Along the way a pack of dire wolves join the fray, but are not able to knock down or damage the plucky dwarf. In fact, the only damage Digin sustains comes at the hands of his party members firing missiles into the fray. A quick scan reveals that there aren’t a whole lot of supplies here – so either the garrison is small, or they are ill equipped to spend significant time here. Destroying the supplies might force a retreat, but what about that sweet sweet loot? Onward!
The advance is marred by the appearance of a seven-headed, cold breathing abomination of a lizard that is chained to the walls of a large cavern. The group maintains a screen of silence as much as possible, and swiftly brings about the end of the beast – which also has the unintended consequence of alerting the rest of the complex. Unbeknownst to the group the complex is rather simple, so there isn’t a lot that can be done. They gaze into a large chamber in which resides a large frost giant sitting upon a large stone chair.
The frost giant leader casts a sanctuary spell upon himself as he prepares to engage, and his two bodyguards are likewise eager to enter the fray. Alas, there are a number of spell-storing devices in the party’s possession and the overlapping volley of fireballs that follows deals significant damage to all the giants. Digin moves to engage, making note of a long hallway running perpendicular to his path and the rest of the group advances. A muted thumping seems to be coming from far away down the hall.
A few blows of his trusty – highly evil and possibly sentient – axe leads to the demise of the enemy. There is a short celebration and they are off to check the doors of the hallway. There is another short tussle with a group of ogres which results in the slaughter of most of the fleeing servants. Following that, there is the appearance of more frost giants (including the ‘queen’) and a cave bear. The giants seem a bit panicky and fight ferociously. The party rallies and does their level best to destroy the attackers with might and magic.
As they win the day, the thumping culminates in a grinding crack and a giant-dragon ‘centaur’ emerges, bellowing in some strange tongue. It spots the fallen queen and rushes towards it, hacking and stabbing with the blade it carries. The party takes this time to retreat strategically and drifts backwards into the throne room. The beast follows.
Upon seeing the king, it mutilates the body, all the while wailing in the same unknown tongue. The party deals some damage, which convinces it to move along. Its speed is much greater than the group as a whole, so it flees the area and seals the exit with a wall of ice.
The general consensus of the group members is that their job is complete. They spend a few days looting the place thoroughly and leave mere hours before the reinforcements arrive. The trip back to DeVost is uneventful – the year is drawing to a close. Bandits and miners alike have retreated to more hospitable climes, and the time for felling wood is long past.
Once in DeVost, they seek out the chef from the Howling Tankard and deliver their report. He is astounded at the description of the dragon-hybrid and seems troubled by the news – seeing it as an omen that Tiamat is mucking about in the north. Still, they have proven they are capable enough for his purposes.He asks the group to return in two days time to hear of his proposal.
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