Closing the Winter Portal

"I watched you come up through the tower.  I knew you would be here soon." the man stated.

"Radosek, where is my daughter?" demanded Nadya.

"Why, haven't they told you?  I watched them in Taldor through Thora's new glass eye," Radosek sneered in response.

With that he rose into the air as a battle began.  The heroes began firing into the air at the Radosek and the goat charged at Fanara.

The goat delivered Frostbite spell to Fanara who became fatigued. Fanara and Amadeo then cut down the goat quickly.  Santrel shot magic missiles at Radosek while Casia, Jorgen and Milos gathered to fire at the
witch.  Radosek then cast a Flurry of Snowballs spell that caught part of the party and six small ice elementals appeared in the room next to the party members.  The party set about attacking the ice elementals but Nadya was still intent on killing Radosek.  Radosek then pointed an ice wand at Amadeo and a large ice stalagmite rose up from the floor ten feet into the air carrying Amadeo with it.  The damage was severe and Amadeo fells prone next to the pillar of ice.  Radosek then flew out an open window and disappeared from view.

The party thus focused on the elementals before them.  Since they were ice elementals they took extra damage from fire which the party tried to concentrate on them.  The elementals were more a delaying action than a real threat and soon the party was finished with them and then began to heal and search the remaining area.

The main area was covered with books, charts, maps.  The alcove held a whole Alchemist's Lab plus several Alchemical items on shelves.  Fanara looked out one of the windows down to the courtyard where he saw Radosek and what appeared to be a moving Ice Dragon where the statue had stood before.  She shut both windows in the main room.  Fanara then smashed both mirrors in the room.

Casia began studying the globe and using her knowledge determined one of the lines of arcane energy stretched from a northern area, possibly Irrisen to the Border Wood outside Heldren. She surmised that it was an indication of the portal in the Border Wood.

Jorgen moved to the northern door of the chamber.  This led to a large bed, reading desk, padded chair, bookshelf, and storage chest furnished this long, angular room. Two windows provided ample light, and several paintings of winterscenes hung on the wall.  A search of the room found robes and clothes for a man.  In the chest were additional paintings of nature scenes depicting every season.  As Jorgen walked past the window he saw the ice dragon flying around outside the fourth floor.

A little shaken Jorgen followed Fanara to the other door which he opened to find another bedroom which seemed to have been unused for some period of time as there was dust on the bed, desk, chest and wardrobe.  There were no clothes in the wardrobe nor any other objects of interest.

As the party left this second room they felt a slam against the north wall of the tower and the whole structure moved under their feet.  Soon it happened again and Fanara ran to a window and saw the dragon attacking the tower.  Milos headed to the last remaining opening to the east. He opened the door and saw a hallway leading into another bedroom.  This one was fancier than the other two and held a teleportation alcove.  Near the alcove was a ice statue of a female but floating behind the statue was Radosek.

The battle was on again as Radosek again used the wand to bring up a stalagmite under Milos. He then moved out of sight.  Then Fanara and Amadeo saw the dragon break the wall of the tower.  Fanara began with Alchemist's Fire which did additional damage.  The dragon was identified not as a dragon but instead an animated object.

Radosek came back out of hiding and Jorgen and Casia began to fire projectiles at him. Nadya began to fire arrows at the dragon and then a tower guard appeared in ice on the teleportation alcove. Santrel tried Acid Splash several times with mixed results.  Milos and Casia entered the chamber with Radosek attacking him in the air.  The guard fired his crossbow at Jorgen as the dragon entered the room and attacked Fanara.  Then another guard appeared in the alcove.

Radosek now hit Casia with the ice stalagmite. Amadeo and Fanara were busy with the dragon.  Nadya was firing away at guards or the dragon.  Milos and Casia were fighting Radosek and Jorgen and Santrel were harried by the guard.  The dragon was the first to fall followed by one guard as the second came to life.  The second was followed by a third and a fourth so the heroes were kept busy. Radosek cast Chill Touch on Casia but was finally taken down as another guard died.  The last two guards didn't last long either and the party could finally take a breath. Healing was done and the party converged on the final bedroom.  

A large bed, wardrobe, reading desk, and bookshelf took up most of the circular bedroom. A carved ice statue of a striking, robed woman with an owl on her shoulder stood next to an alcove of crystalline tiles. To the south, a white curtain hung in a doorway.  No magic was evident in the chamber and the wardrobe held women's clothes and robes.  The desk had orders from Queen Elvanna to find and kill the Black Rider.  After some speculation by the party Nadya confirmed that the statue was on Nazhena.

Fanara moved the white curtain and revealed a hallway leading to a door.  Fanara did not find any magic and called for Jorgen's help.  Jorgen found the door was locked but his attempts to use keys and then pick the lock failed.  Fanara smashed the ice door with the morningstar. Several crates, urns, decanters, and storage boxes filled the small room. A mirrored vanity and chair sat next to the east window. An ice statue of a tall, imperious woman stood in the center of the room.

Jorgen immediately felt a trap on the inside threshold of the doorway.  Fanara saw magic there and on the statue.  Jorgen attempted to disable the trap and succeeded in eliminating the Glyph of Warding.  He then stepped into the chamber.

"The uninvited shall wither and die like the frost-covered bloom. You should never have ventured here, and you'd do well to leave before my return." the statue proclaimed.

Jorgen ignored the warning and began to inspect the crates.  Fanara stepped in warily but no voice sounded.  Santrel then entered to check for magic and the room lit up with magic items.  The first crate was filled with scrolls so Jorgen moved on to the next, which had sliver bars stacked inside.  The urns were full of wine.  The next crate had more silver bars.  Fanara determined that the decanters held potions that were ready to be stored in vials.  Jorgen next found a locked chest.  Again no key opened the chest so he picked the lock.  Inside were a bag, a coffer and a blue robe.  Santrel noted that the bag and robe were magic.  Jorgen opened the coffer to find a bird shaped feather and a tree shaped feather along with a white gold ring set with a green sapphire.  All these items were magic.

Casia was insistent on figuring out how to close the portal to save Heldren and possibly Taldor from the depredations of winter weather.  Santrel and her began a study of the maps, journals, books and notes in the ritual chamber. After an hour of study Santrel felt ready to try to close the portal to the Border Wood.  With support from Fanara he wove a reverse of the ritual and successfully closed the portal.  The ley line on the globe to the Border Wood disappeared but the others remained.  Milos recalled that the Black Rider had told the party that they needed to find Baba Yaga to close the other portals.

With the portal closed the party began to make plans to rest and identify the magic they had recovered.  Talk of blocking or destroying the teleportation alcoves was rampant.  Santrel wanted to at least try the portal in Nazhena's room but no one else was interested.  With this the party decided to sleep on it and retired after identifying the magic.

DM's Notes: The party earned 866 XP for the night.  We have finished Book 1 - The Snows of Summer.