Day 2: Part 3: The Ice Cave Battle Royale

Silvius stood in shock looking down at his acid burned hands as chunks of Erik’s and his own flesh dropped to the ground. Looking back at the flaming ice centipede’s split open bubbling carcass, he thought about the similar fate of Kazzug still inside. There was a heavy silence as he gazed across the rest of the party. All the faces he saw were tired, beaten, and frozen from the fight.

The battle began with the male dragon stuck in a sphere of force and his girlfriend taking a beating from across the team. The female dragon released a powerful blast of cold, sending ADC’s ghost back to the underworld and hitting ADC with a painful stinging frost. The blast also hit Czolg and Oscorn, but their meaty and canned meaty constitution saved them from the worst of it. As Fennuris knocked her next arrow, she heard the faintest sound of a boulder moving. She whipped her hair over from her right to left shoulder to see a big and an even bigger fire giant enter the cave, rush in, and strike Oscorn with a black metal mace.

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The female dragon burst in the air causing the team to lose sight of her in the snow tossed up by her wings. It landed next to Silvius and Silvius ran away shouting and pointing at the dragon’s new location. Oscorn turned to mist and reappeared in a place of relative safety, while Czolg charged at the fire giants to hold the door while the dragon breathed another cold blast hitting him and the smaller fire giant.

Fennuris shot a devastating arrow at the smaller fire giant and Kalinar finished him off. Fennuris next shot the female dragon bringing her down. The male dragon, seeing his girlfriend of decades killed, released a blast of cold covering the inside of the force sphere with ice concealing him inside. Czolg and Erik charged the remaining fire giant. The fire giant grabbed Erik, picked him up, and threw him down the hole near the western wall. Seeing Eric falling down the pit screaming, Silvius slowed his fall with a few hummed magical notes. Eric’s screaming could be heard growing ever more quiet as he fell down a seemingly endless pit.

The team finished off the fire giant and Czolg ran to the opening to block it with the boulder again. He rounded the corner and took a boulder to the face from a frost giant in the hall. Czolg ran past the giant and grabbed the boulder. The giant tried to snatch it back but Czolg again ripped it out of the giant’s hands and placed it in the door. ADC yelled “Give me time! If I touch it, I’ll seal it” and he dove between Czolg’s legs and reached for the door. As his outstretched magic filled finger was about to tap the door, the boulder lurched back as the frost giant pulled it out. Czolg fought back to regain control and put the boulder in the doorway as ADC sealed it shut.

Silvius yelled out to remind everyone he’s still holding an enraged dragon behind the team and tells everyone to prepare their attacks. Czolg raced towards the dragon as Silvius released the sphere. The force sphere vanished and the dragon burst out of a shell of ice as Silvius mocked him about the death of his girlfriend. Attacks from everyone slammed into the dragon until an arrow from Fennuris sailed across the room slaying him. Czolg then turned to Silvius saying “you couldn’t have waited a few seconds? Panzerfaust likes dragon meat”

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Fennuris then heard a new rumbling sound as a huge flaming ice centipede emerged from the hole next to her. The beast was huge and clearly battle hardened with blood and flesh of countless victims hanging from its mandibles. Fennuris and Silvius backed up and attacked the monster. It ran at Oscorn, bit, burned, and tried to eat him whole. Oscorn barely pulled himself out of the monster’s mouth and tried to back away. Silvius ran up to the monster and locked it in a wall of force to protect the man of god from this unholy beast that emerged from the deep.

The team took their positions to fight the monster. Czolg and Kazzug, fully aware of the beast’s power and intentions, bravely stood on each of its sides. Everyone struck as it writhed and lashed out at Czolg and Kazzug. Kalinar shot it in the face with a powerful blast of magic, cleaving one of its antennas off its head. Now furious, it caught Kazzug in its massive jaws and swallowed him. Everyone continued to strike until the beast fell.

Silvius ran up and stood on the flaming ice centipede. Recklessly slashing it with his shortsword until acid spewed out from its belly. Silvius dodged the splash then drove his hands deep into the acid-filled stomach searching for Kazzug. His hand bumped into a leg and he pulled it with all his strength but the leg wouldn’t move. While Silvius struggled wincing in pain as he held his hands deep in the acid, Czolg ran to Silvius, grabbed him, and pulled Silvius out while he kept hold on to his friend’s leg. Checking to see if Kazzug was still alive, Silvius was shocked to see the melted face of his other friend Erik that fell into the hole.

The party mourned the loss of their companions, but had work to do. What treasures lie amongst the carnage in the dragons’ lair? How long will ADC’s magic seal hold the boulder from the giants? Will the party find the Jarl and stop his growing army?