17 Awakening 509

The four primary members of the Crimson Cord and an elite team of seven Aethyngs are below a cathedral in the frost giant city of Jarlheim. They have just dispatched three frost giant guards that had attempted to ambush them from a series of alcoves.

Surm shows the rest of the party the bridge he’s encountered and the chamber it leads to. The party lines up to continue through the strange ruins that have attributed to the long-extinct Ysar.

Mõrvar and Savaric lead the way, with Surm and the Aethyngs following, and with Rilka watching their backs.

They walk into a what appears to be a crypt. There are six alcoves with stone sarcophagi sitting within them. Surm sets about trying to open one. They discover that the sarcophagus has a curse lain upon it, a trap of sorts, to punish the disrespectful. Surm dispels it and removes the lid. He finds a strange, humanoid, skeleton inside and magical scroll of mage’s faithful hound. He takes the scroll and decides to deal with the rest of the sarcophagi. He manages to remove some curses—and just flat out risk a few—and take out a phylactery of negative channeling and a potion of endure elements to add to the party’s growing horde of treasure.

After this, the party moves on through the ruins. They eventually make it around to a large sanctuary where 5 guards and 3 other frost giants await—with a huge viper skull what has a vapor of darkness bleeding from its oversized fangs.

A major fight ensues, where the Cord manages to bottleneck the frost giant guards into the doorway and then proceed to take on the remaining frost giants. One of the giants, the last one they fight, has twin hammers that he throws and retrieves with deadly effect. Nevertheless, the Cord emerges victorious.

The skull gives off an unholy aura that the heroes of the Cord can withstand quite well, but the Aethyngs wish to avoid and so they refuse to enter the sanctuary chamber. Savaric manages to find a secret door and Surm dispels a magical trap on it. Inside, they find a horde of goods.

They figure out how to carry their newfound riches and decide to leave the huge skull—for now. They leave the sanctuary and head back out into the cathedral and into the city to see how the main battle has fared.

They discover that the main force is fighting a huge, draconic ice worm called a linnorm that is guarding the treasures of the amphitheater. Many frost giant bodies lay about, looted. The party witnesses the Northon finish off the linnorm and open the doors of the amphitheater. Inside, is another large horde of loot.

Surm finds Kremlach and says that the Crimson Cord is willing to forego taking a share of the amphitheater loot if they can claim only the horde found in the cathedral. Kremlach agrees that that is fair. The war leader also reports that the Northrons overwhelmed the frost giants and took them handily. There were, of course, some casualties, but not near as many as there could have been.

The Crimson Cord and the Aethyngs camp for the night as the shouts of celebration go up in the night.