SESSION 7: Give them all a Hand!

As the party exits the house, they head back to the Twin Lilly Inn, where Godrus had previously paid for them all to drink while they discussed their plans. They decided to rest for the night and climb up the mountain Wraith Shadow in the morning. As they pass the Wizard’s Tower, a man exits the door. He looks over towards Erik, Jotun with Boda, Kai back in his human form, with Sali in the back looking cut up and bloody with some singed scales. This newcomer walks towards them, smiling, and says, “I am so glad to finally meet all of you.”

Darby Jenkins

The stranger has salt-and-pepper hair and looks to be in his mid-forties. He is garbed in yellow robes with dark brown pants and holds a quarterstaff in his right hand. The way he speaks to them as if he already knows everyone in front of him is disconcerting. Sali, uneasy about this stranger, speaks up to ask who he is and how he knows them. He tells them that even though they had never met before, he had foreseen meeting a group of travelers tasked with a quest to gain great fortune and treasures. He feels a sense of danger surrounding the group and offers to help.

Sali clasps one of his massive hands on the man's shoulder, delighted by such a generous offer. The wizard introduces himself as Darby Jenkins, and Sali introduces the rest of the party, almost forgetting their ally, Godrus Maywell. Unbeknownst to everyone, Darby gleaned into their minds hearing their most forward thoughts as they introduced themselves.

Godrus suggests that Darby accompany them to Twin Lilly Inn, and everyone agrees. Stares of disdain greet the party upon entering the building, but who could blame them. The establishment was immaculate, with tiled floors, tables made of fine wood, and a marble bar top. A maiden approaches them wearily. She curtly asks what she can do for the group, and just before Godrus speaks, Darby answers first. He politely asks for a round of ales and whiskies. Before the maiden departs, he pays her five gold for the trouble. Everyone sits as Sali leans on a nearby post, and the maiden returns in much better spirits to deliver the drinks.

After getting to know each other a bit more, the conversation turns to strategies for the coming morning. Once the plan is set and supplies gathered for the climb, they rest for the night and wake early.

The party gathers at the Wizard’s Tower with Farale. Before leaving, they ask her to retrieve the enchanted leg brace from the blacksmith, Milandro the Goldensmith. Farale agrees to pick it up and send it through the bag of sending for them. With that, the party teleports to the camp at the base of Wraithshadow.

It was clear Farale had spent some time here before. Sali inspects the area and finds papers covered in Farale’s notes of what could be causing this mountain to be frozen. While everyone else is putting on warmer clothing, Kai decides his fur coat will suffice. He transforms and continues reading. Darby was shocked to see this, but curious about how Kai can maintain his human mind in his beast form. Kai informs him it was due to extended lengths of meditation and finding an inner balance, but his humanity is still not always entirely in control.

The party started up the path to find the prize they wish to claim. It’s bitingly cold, and the climb is proving difficult for a few. Jotun and Kai are leading the way, not feeling any fatigue from the freezing air around them. Unfortunately, Erik, Darby, and even Sali feel the icy winds’ bite and are moving slowly. As they press on, the winds begin to die down. Sali and Erik both acclimate to the air temperature. Darby still feels the chill to his bones, but he uses three torches and a spark of magic to make a fire before he becomes hypothermic. The warmth begins to seep in, and he feels his stamina restoring as he takes time to rest. Erik and Sali are standing by enjoying the fire as Jotun and Kai search the surrounding area.

Boda is first to smell out an animal carcass nearby. Jotun inspects the beast and determines it is an elk. At least that is his best guess as the head had been ripped off. He notices long, broad scratches along with smaller bite marks on the body. He then sees a set of large tracks leading southeast, opposite their predetermined route up the mountain. While Jotun is busy scouting, Kai is watching the skies and spots an eagle circling above them. He remembers the contract from the Aaracockra, Sakki, asking for giant eagle eggs. Taking note of the eagle’s location, he plans to travel back here to hunt down the eggs, but the mission at hand takes precedent. Meanwhile, Darby strikes camp, packs up feeling refreshed, and they all begin up the path again. After 8 hours total of hiking up, they reached their destination.

They stand at the entrance of The Summits Maw. They’ve come so far, moving forward is their only option. Erik, Jotun, and Kai have no problem in the darkness, but it hinders Darby and Sali. Darby holds a locket in his hand, and light begins glowing from it. Small orbs lift and scatter, making light in the dark tunnel. They continue further into the massive cave. The dancing lights gleam off the ice-covered walls revealing giant claw marks gouged into the cave walls. They eventually reach a fork in the path. Go left? Or, right? On a whim, or possibly a strong hunch, Darby suggests they stay to the left, and everyone agrees. Keeping left, they move forward. Darby’s dancing lights still move around, shining along the walls revealing frozen treasures. Finally, the tunnel opens up to a cathedral room, and the dancing lights give everyone a view of the large mound in the center.

Darby and Sali look closer at the mound and realize it is the corpse of a young fallen frost giant. Darby looks beyond the giant's corpse and sees another tunnel out of the room. Sali, inspecting the floor, sees the ice is cracking under the giant’s weight, leaving him unsure if it would be safe to walk across. As the party discusses possible ways to get across, Darby mentions he can mend items, perhaps even the ice floor. He pulls out some rope from his pack, ties it around himself, and asks Sali to hold onto the other end. Darby starts sliding forward on his stomach, but just as he readies his mending spell, the ice shatters, and he plummets.

The instant he sees the ice break and Darby fall, Sali becomes enraged and holds his position, halting Darby’s descent into the pit below. Now secured by Sali, Darby asks to be lowered slightly for a closer look. The crater spans the width of the cavern and a length over ninety feet. Sali drops him a little more, and he notices piles of skeletons from various giants, humanoids, and animals. Surrounding the piles of bones are what look like hands. Severed hands scattered around on the floor, giving an ominous presence. Seeing what was below him, Darby quickly asks to be pulled up.

Even though the first attempt across failed, Jotun was determined to get to the other side. He attaches his rope to Darby’s and ties the 100 feet to one of his arrows, readies his longbow, and takes aim at a block of ice across the way. He releases the bowstring, and the arrow embeds itself into the ice block. He hands the other end of the rope to Sali, who gives it a few strong pulls to make sure it is secure. Kai takes out his rope and ties it to Sali’s to make a safety line. Everyone is hesitant, but Darby volunteers to go first and use his mending ability on the arrow to ensure it will hold the next person. Inching along the rope, Darby makes it to the other side safely, unties himself begins to mend the ice block, sealing in the arrow.

Kai is willing to go next. He takes one end of the line from Sali, ties it around him, and begins inching along to the other side, careful not to let his claws cut the rope. He is successful, and as Sali reels in the safety line, Kai goes to the arrow and holds on to it. With the line clear and Kai and Sali holding steady, Erik ties himself to the safety line and begins crossing. Godrus volunteers to go before Jotun, allowing him to stay by Boda as long as possible. Godrus travels across safely and asks Kai to back away as he proceeds to freeze the arrow in place with a cone of cold.

Jotun Is kneeling next to Boda, petting him and comforting the large wolf. Sali informs him it's his turn, and as Jotun stands up, he commands Boda to stay because he was unsure of how to get Boda across. He fastens himself to the safety rope, gives Boda one last look, and starts to the other side. Sali, now the last one left, ties the end he is holding to a stalagmite covered in ice and begins but hears Boda cry. Hearing Boda’s cries were too much and left him with a feeling of unease. Sali walks up to Boda and crouches, picking up the wolf in his arms. Still feeling the rush of adrenaline from becoming enraged earlier, he is confident with his plan to walk across like a tightrope.

Sali, carrying Boda, walks slowly and carefully along the rope. The party watches this massive Dragonborn holding a large wolf in his arms, walking along the line in shock. Sali hits halfway, and right as he readies to take his next step, the rope beneath him snaps. The combined weight of Sali and Boda was too much, and they began to fall. Sali is first to slam onto the ground below, and Boda lands on him, knocking the air out of his lungs. Both Sali and Boda take some damage from the fall, but Boda jumped right up while Sali staggered to stand up, gasping and coughing, trying to look around. As Darby mentioned earlier, there were piles of bones scattered about along with the severed hands. Finally, gaining his senses and catching his breath, Sali looks to find a way up but is caught off guard by movement on the ground. At first glance, the hands looked stationary, but they were slowly crawling towards Sali and Boda. Boda, animal instincts warning him to move, dashes off. Sali, unaware of where the wolf went, takes off after him. As if sensing the pair’s movement, the severed hand picked up speed.

Hands started flying. Boda easily dodged them, but Sali’s large stature was an easier target. The hands feel cold and dead as they grab him with unnatural strength, fingers digging into his scaly flesh. Ripping off the hands while trying to keep his pace, he catches Boda ascending a series of rocks jutting out of the cavern wall, almost like steps. Boda is making significant headway on the steps, Sali catching up and close behind. Just as Boda reaches the last rock before the ledge with Jotun and the others, a massive severed hand bursts through the wall and grasps onto Boda as it falls back into the pit. In desperation, Sali jumps out to Boda. Whether it was his strength and agility or sheer luck, he catches the pinky of the giant severed hand at the same time his other hand grabs the ledge of the rocks. His grip won’t last long, and as he Looks up at the rest of the party, Jotun’s expression exasperated and anxious his wolf was in danger, Sali only had one choice. Using the last of his raging strength, he swings himself forward, hurling this severed hand with Boda in its grip up to the ridge, and Sali falls back into the pit.

His back hits the ground with less force than last time, and without the added wolf falling on him, he takes less damage. While still on his back, the smaller severed hands start flying at him in waves. Immediately he releases his breath weapon freezing the first wave, and they fall shattering. Meanwhile, up above, the hand did not let go of Boda. Its grip tightens around Boda’s throat, and Jotun rushes to pry it off. Even while being crushed, Boda valiantly tries to bite the hand to no avail. Erik, seeing the half-elf’s desperation, begins praying.

His eyes glow, and he sweeps his trident around him as he continues his prayer. The trident’s tips kiss the ground as he moves and a pool of golden light appears around him. A pair of golden serpents with lavender inlays rise from the light, encircling their master. The light continued to expand until it enveloped the giant severed hand. Like predators sensing their prey, the spirit guardians strike out at the hand attached to Boda, ripping apart the undead flesh. Kai crouches down and pounces over Erik and Jotun landing on the back of the giant severed hand. Claws out, Kai begins tearing apart the hand on Boda. Finally, the hand’s grip loosens, and Boda breaks free. Everyone on top was safe now. Boda was a little worse for wear but had survived the ordeal.

Back in the pit of hands, Sali runs to the jetted rocks to climb out again. He slashes at incoming hands with his great axe, doing his best to fend off these foes. Sali makes it to the first step and looks back to see hundreds of severed hands closing in on him. Realizing this will be his final stand, he readies his axe and himself for the inevitable. Above Sali on the ridge where the party was saving Boda, Darby is looking down in the pit, assessing the situation, planning his move carefully. Once he sees that Sali reached the rocks, he closes his eyes, reaches inside his robe, and pulls out a locket.

The air around Darby begins to feel warmer. The whole area starts to feel almost tropical, and in an instant, the warm air disappears into Darby. He holds out his empty hands, and sparks begin to form, the air shimmering from the heat. The second he opens his eyes, the sparks in his hand ignite into a raging fireball that he hurls down into the hand-infested pit. The fireball started to veer off course from the severed hands, but suddenly a flash came from Darby making everyone blink. As they open their eyes, the fire hits the horde, and the blast consumes all of the severed hands. Sali, bewildered by what just happened, looks up at Darby, feeling deep gratitude to the one who just saved his life.

With the enemies at hand defeated, Sali finishes climbing back up to the party. Now all together feeling pride in a victorious battle, they start to celebrate, but Darby quickly silences it. “I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I do believe that spell woke the dragon.” Just as one danger had ended, another was indeed around the corner. Hoping to escape the eyes of an incoming dragon, the party climbs down into the pit. Darby cancels his dancing light, trying to use the cave’s darkness to hide everyone. The minutes passing feel like hours, and just as everyone starts to feel like there is nothing to worry about, the hair on the back of Kai’s neck stands on edge. He looks up, and his gaze meets with two glowing deep blue eyes shining in the dark of the room. A voice echoes throughout the cavern,

“Finally, the hunt begins!”