The Lake Monster

Morning finds our party in the Buried Treasures Inn, where they enjoy a warm breakfast made by the proprietor and innkeep, Cora Mulphoon. Jamekas notices that she seems a little forlorn, and while talking with her hears a story about her son Huarwar.

Several weeks ago her son had joined a search party to find Speaker Shalescar after he went missing during a blizzard one afternoon. The speaker was brought back safe and sound, but Huarwar got separated from the others and didn’t find his way home until the following morning. He had frostbite and could barely walk.

Over the next few days, Huarwar displayed a meanness toward his mother that was uncharacteristic. The change in his demeanor started after Cora found what looked like a shard of black ice in her son’s room. Huarwar snatched it away and threatened his mother with bodily harm if she touched it again. The next day, two tieflings (a male and a female) arrived at the inn and Huarwar left with them. She has no clue where they went, but did hear something about a castle. 

After eating, the party decides to go to the docks to speak with Grynsk and find out about the missing fishers. Upon arriving, Grynsk mistakes the party for fishers that he had hired recently, telling them to get to work. Much gruff conversation ensues until they are interrupted by a half-elf named Tali who says “Did you tell them about the monster?”

Grynsk storms off and the party speaks to Tali about the monster. For the past few weeks, boats from Bremen have been getting attacked by something in the lake, and it's been destroying boats and many have met their end in the freezing waters of Maer Dualdon. Tali is interested in researching the monster, and they ask the party to take notes on what they find in the lake. 

Making their way to two rowboats (one in better shape than the other), the party makes a bumpy path through ice flows and out onto the lake. After a few hours of mildly successful fishing and nearly falling into the water, a large shape glides under the boats, giving one a "nudge". It circles around and sticks its head out of the water, giving the boats an appraising look. Thorburn gives the creature a wave, says "hello?" and oddly the creature begins to talk. 

Peski realizes that they are speaking to a plesiosaurus and the party hears an odd tale. A few weeks ago a human cast a spell on the creature and suddenly it was smart! (The party realizes that this was most likely a druid spell - Awaken.) “The human who gave me this gift is named Ravisin and claimed to serve the Frostmaiden. Ravisin said I must do my part to help the Frostmaiden, who wants the people of Bremen to suffer.”The plesiosaurus doesn’t know where Ravisin came from or where she is now. They convince Champ to stop preying on boats and go back to eating lots of fish.

After giving the beast the name of "Champ", they make their way back to shore. Grynsk pays them handsomely for the knucklehead trout they found, and Tali is very grateful for the information about the beast. The party decides to make their way out of town and head to Targos, as that was where Torg's Caravan and Sephek Kaltro were last known to be heading.

As they make their way out of town the encounter an encampment selling axe beaks for 50gp each, but that is a bit out of their means at this time, so they carry on. Two things of note happen on their way to Targos. First they see a duergar and a frostbitten human engaged in fierce combat which ends with both combatants falling through ice into the rushing river. 

Next, as they are halfway to Targos, a blizzard moves in and makes travel a bit difficult. In the blowing wind a snow high-pitched howls are heard and the party is attacked by six gnolls. The goliath brothers drew most of the attention in the fight, and the party makes relatively short work of the gnolls. As the storm subsides, they find that they've strayed a bit off course and eventually make their way to Targos. 

When they arrive in town, they are greeted by a sled dog with a broken harness. This friendly dog is very clearly in need, and the party follows him. It leads them to the front door of a modest dwelling where he barks and scratches at the door. Keegan Velryn, a handsome man in his thirties, opens the door, and the dog races inside. He greets the party, invites them in, and is beset with worry about his husband Garret.

“A few days ago, Garret was hired by some adventurers to lead them up the slopes of Kelvin’s Cairn. Garret’s plan was to take the adventurers to Caer-Konig, the town at the foot of Kelvin’s Cairn. After they acquired some climbing gear from the outfitter there, he was to lead them up the mountain. Garret took six dogs and a sled with him. Boy, here, was Garret’s favorite. Raised him from a pup. Boy would never leave Garret’s side unless something terrible had happened.”

The party agrees to help Keegan out by heading to Kelvin's Cairn in search of Garret. He leads them to the Luskan Arms where they get free lodging and agree to head out in the morning. 

See you all on the 23rd!