2017 03 29 Game Notes

Game Night - March 29, 2017
After everyone poked and prodded around the enormous stone slab/anchor at the top of the south polar ice cap, they decided to assess gear and transportation.

Pre-Trip Loot
Paul had brought an enchanted footlocker along, stocked with all manner of cold weather gear, which he distributed.

Everyone got
 * Cold weather parkas
 * Cold weather pants
 * Face mask
 * Scarf
 * Eye Covers
 * Wool overclothes
 * Sturdy insulated boots

Modest Dickery
Out of the goodness of his heart, Paul got different colored cold weather outfits for everyone: snow-white for Paul, strawberry red for Dave, Barbie dream house pink for Maggey, a patchwork of colors for Darius, and forest green that was intended for Laser, but wound up being worn by an elf ranger from the Jumala Academy named Mirja.

A Useful Gizmo
As everyone pulled on their gear, Dave also pulled out a strange tracked crawling contraption from his hat. The large and unwieldy machine looked like the tread of a small bulldozer with a number of other gizmos sticking off the sides that looked like a blend of magic and hacked together technology. He hitched the device to a large sled, which he hitched to another sled, and motioned for everyone to load their gear and climb aboard.

The Land of Ice and Snow
Darius protested, pointing out that they had no idea where the were going. So, together, the casters put their wills together and conjured up a small ice elemental who agreed to guide them to where the giants' castle once was.

Maggey shifted herself to the astral plane and raced ahead to make sure the way was clear, and after a short time, encountered an enormous, Hershey Kiss-shaped ice elemental that radiated age and boredom. It confirmed to her that she was heading in the right direction and that the Last Bell lay below the ice.

After about a week of excruciatingly boring travel - reconjuring the elemental each morning - the group reached the mid-antarctic ridge system - a series of towering ice mountains that formed a sort of crown that ringed the South Pole at a radius of a few hundred miles. Travel through the zone of ice mountains was even slower going, but thanks to Dave's strange tracked contraption, at least the pace was steady and stayed on an accurate heading.

A Lucky Fail
After about three days of travel through the southern mountains, their elemental guide became visibly nervous, and it urged caution and silence, as there was some sort of greater spirit being in the area. About two hours later, there was a distant grunting noise, and then a sudden, thunderous crack! They looked to the East in time to see the top quarter of an ice mountain break away and crash down the remaining slope. Amidst the shattering noise was a strangled cry of frustration that was somehow even louder than a mountain's death.

Another day led them out of the mountain region and on to the last boring stretch toward the South Pole. After another four days of travel, a part of the Dragon's Tooth artifact lit up, and they used it to home in on the part of ice that lay just above where the Last Bell was. Eventually they figured out that they were smack dab on the South Pole, Absolutely nothing was around - the world was nothing but wind and white in every direction.

That's a Big Crater
Eventually Mirja realized that they were standing in the exact center of a very large, very subtle crater that was nearly 15 miles across!

Dave shifted his sight to the astral plane and saw that the South Pole was a major ley line nexus point! A dozen separate ley lines crossed in the exact center of the Pole, and Dave could see powerful spirits drifting in the astral plane nearby.

The group worked together to summon another spirit, and this time, Maggey put her full power into it. They summoned a huge and mighty ice elemental, a being that towered over twenty feet, with enormous, blocky legs and four many-jointed arms. The impressive being agreed to help them, and spoke to Maggey in its own language, which she was able to understand. It described a humongous cavern under the ice, where the Bell and the giants' castle had fallen, and it offered to take them there.

Ice Elevator
With some trepidation, the group agreed. Concentrating, the giant ice elemental began to lower the ice below them, causing the ice to act as a sort of elevator, descending down at a glacial pace. After about an hour, the ice elevator moved past the inner rim of the ice cavern, and the mortals that bravely looked over the edges could see no sign of the side walls or ground below, only icy darkness.

After a few hours of descent, they realized the ice elemental had been angling their descent away from the remains of the castle on the cavern floor. Now, with the faint blue light filtering into the cavern and a number of light spells, they could see the battered - but still intact - remains of the giants' castle! Its task complete, the elemental took its leave of them after telling them that they could summon it again to return to the surface - but that no amount of help from it or its elemental brothers would be able to move the Last Bell from its resting place.