Rime of the Frostmaiden - Adventure

Ophelia is panting once the group makes it to the wall and culvert.  Not from exertion, but rather agitation.  What she murmurs next is likely sound reasoning regarding the massive creature she has perceived soaring overhead and briefly shadowing the sun in transit, yet as always with the she-elf, it is difficult to distinguish her ravings from lucidity.  She gazes wide-eyed and slightly panicked at her companions.

"Wide Winter skies, the dragon flies,
Of her breath is blizzard made,
Though icy fate rides in her eyes,
In her foes does nothing fade,
But does suffer a snow change
Into something cold and strange..."

In her state, it takes her a moment to register that Marva has asked her to do something.  Even when she understands, the fact that the former librarian is an COLD-oriented dragonborn throws Ophelia for a momentary loop given what she believes she has seen flying overhead, no matter the fact that Opehlia very much likes Marva.  Finally, the she-elf gulps and dutifully turns to stare past the culvert into darkness, possibly still more distracted than ideal.

Ophelia's Perception to stare into the darkness of the culvert with her 60' darkvision to sense if there is a possible opening on the other end:  10

The four bars are only six inches (15cm) apart so they block entry, but the bars appear rusty from water and age. To pull one bar out, make a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check. Repeat for as many bars as you want.  Ophelia sees that the culvert is around 20' long and then opens up into a dark room of unknown size. She sees no torches flickering inside the stronghold. 

Dvu gets excited seeing the rust and starts to pull at the bars.  With a grunt he wrestles the first one loose, first pushing, then pulling with all of his might against it.  

Athletics : 20

With his success he gives a big smile to the others, saying "Look, not so hard!  I'll show you!"  And he pulls at the other three bars.  

Athletics (2nd) : 14

Athletics (3rd) : 14

Athletics (4th) : (Nat 20!) 24 

He turns to look at everyone with a self satisfied look on his face.  "Our route of entry!"  He peers over at the bunker, looking for any sign of movement or bolts.

Ophelia is clearly still agitated about what she saw earlier soaring overhead, but fills her companions in on her peek through the culvert.

"Darkness lies beyond with no illumination, opening up into a larger chamber after perhaps ten steps along the ice.  Beyond that, I could not see..."

Feeling skittish, she cuts off with a stifled yelp and nearly jumps back into arrow range from the bunker as Dvu tears out the bars one after the other.

Hearing Ophelia’s verse about a dragon, Marva casts Guidance on herself to aid her Perception and scans the skies herself. The stronghold cuts off much of the view and the falling snow obscures the rest. As Dvu pulls the last bar free, she congratulates him and says, “Let’s go! I’m sure they realize we are coming, so we can probably use light of some kind if we need it.”

Perception: 8+3=11

Ellora nods to Marva and is about to send Oculus inside as their massive goliath guide simply opens the way for them, so she merely shrugs and smiles. "I suppose I could still send Oculus inside. He is however not quite used to skulking around in dark corridors and tunnels." She explains, otherwise ready to follow the others inside.

Zuleikha laughs with delight as the party make it unscathed to their destination. "Everyone unharmed? Good!" She chuckles, giddy and breathless from the thrill. "The Ghosts of Caer Konig will not be so easily thwarted." She waves towards Trovus in the distance, signalling that they have made it across the firing line unharmed, his instructions still ringing in her ears. In retrospect, she wonders if it might not have been more sensible to bring with them some manner of shielding or mantlet to screen their approach, but the silliness of their enterprise, running headlong through enemy fire certainly makes a better tale. 

She is about to offer Dvu assistance by drawing a crowbar from her belongings - an incongruous tool for a pasha's daughter to be bearing - but stuffs it back into her satchel at the first sight of the goliath ripping the culvert's metal bars free as if they were nothing but brittle twigs. "So... downing pints long into the night is the best exercise for growing biceps?" She grins with surprise, then shakes her head in admiration. "Who would have believed it?"

When it appears they can make entry into the tunnel beyond, she lights her Hooded Lantern and affixes it to the belt cinched around her willowy waist. The shimmering wall of shamshirs of coalesces around her once more, and she inches forward into the dark room beyond, keeping a wary eye out for trouble. 

Stealth: 21
Perception: 20

Marva scans the skies but sees no further sign of the distant dragon or its shadow. She also sees no door in the bunker on any of its sides. Ice, rust, and iron flies as Dvu impresses with his biceps. Remodeling work is not silent and you judge that anyone on the other side of the culvert would have heard the forceful removal of the bars. The path is now clear to go through the culvert on the slippery ice to enter the silent and dark unknown of the stronghold. Zuleikha lights her hooded lantern to send a spotlight ahead and starts crawling forward taking care to minimize any noise she may create with her entry.

Does Ellora send Oculus or Drift his Wonder ahead? 

Drift shakes his head at the implicit question in the eyes of the others. Though its capabilities are many, its flight is noisy. It’s not best used in circumstances like these. He jerks his head at Ellora and Zuleikha. This is work for a familiar. 

Marva reports to the group, “It seems that the dragon(?) has left the area. Also, that bunker has no apparent entrances. I’m guessing that there is a tunnel between it and the stronghold, so anyone within will be able to come help defend against us. We need to find a way to the front doors to get our own reinforcements. We need to move fast before they trap us in this tunnel!”

Knowing that Zuleikha and Dvu have shown great proficiency in melee fighting, she hangs back to let them go first. She would follow next unless one of the others expresses interest in going before her. She casts Guidance on herself to improve her dexterity on the slick ice.

Dex check: nat 20+1+1 from Guidance

Dvu smiles at Zuleikha and quickly flexes a bicep, kissing it, then starts to shimmy his way through the opening.  Goliath buttocks and feet up in the air, he gets through to the other side then rapidly looks to find his directions, wanting to make his way to the front door as rapidly as possible.  “Be on guard, they are likely pulling that invisible stunt.  Get ready for a fight.”  Ku-Krack! he says to his mace, preparing to smack any duergar he finds.  He casts produce flame to create some light and peers forward, looking for some turn to the left that would head to the front doors.  

Once the party enters the culvert, Ophelia, as ever, brings up the rear, still hugging herself and shuddering at the thought of an ice dragon far above.

(With any pretense at stealth seemingly gone with the loud bending and breaking of metal bars, she re-casts Blade Ward on herself.)

"First the deep gnome cultist who attacked me in Targos, and now these duergar," she murmurs,  "Perhaps there is an opening to the Underdark in Icewind Dale."  Ophelia's elven face, already strained at the thought of a dragon, becomes even more worried at the prospect of legions of implacable drow.

Ellora too would follow along inside with Oculus snuggled up on her shoulder.

Stealth: 13
Perception, assisted by Oculus: 24

"Dragon?" Zuleikha asks, her brows rising with surprise. "Surely that was a great eagle or a wyvern at most. If dragons wheeled above Icewind Dale, we would have heard tales of them from the townsfolk? No?" Nevertheless, she looks perturbed. She is shaken out of her thoughts by the urgency in Marva's voice, and nods sharply before moving to action. 

When Drift gestures towards her familiar, Zuleikha pets the peculiar beast that is her ever-present companion. "Go forth, my fair rafayar." The strange hybrid of peacock, lion and hound trills and preens with pleasure, before taking flight into the darkened chamber ahead. 

"If this turns to battle... Ellora, Ophelia - are you able to repeat that trick before we enter? The illusion of large stones that we spied on Kelvin's Cairn, perhaps." She gestures toward the room ahead. "Some of our ambushers may see through the mirage, but others will take them for solid cover, magically sprouting from the ground. Even a heartbeat's hesitation could spoil their aim."

With plans made, Zuleikha's eyes cloud over as her senses are subsumed by that of her cherished pet.

Scheherazade's Stealth: 16
Scheherazade's Perception: 13

You successfully enter the stronghold by crawling on the frozen stream through the culvert without significant challenges. Once inside, between the darkvision ability of Ophelia, Marva and Scheherazade as well as various light sources, you get a sense of where you are located. It is the main entrance to the duergar's stronghold, which has all the charms that a duergar could provide, which is to say no charm whatsoever. It is strictly utilitarian construction with thick walls and no decorations. Duergar's have excellent darkvision (120') so do not bother with torches. It is pitch black, with the lights casting spooky shadows and lighting your faces in unsettling patterns. The ceilings are tall and smooth, made in a way and size that an Enlarged duergar could safely use. The stronghold is silent, except for one long, low squeak that you believe was made by a moving door. You cannot tell the direction the noise came from.

The frozen stream you used to enter the stronghold disappears into a well. To your right, you see hallway #3, which leads into darkness. More or less straight ahead of you, you see three 5' square cages, only one of which contains anything. They are the goats that were stolen from Caer-Konig, minus one that has already been eaten. You also see hallway #2, which leads into darkness. To your left is hallway #1, which, not surprisingly, leads into darkness. Each hallway entrance is 10' wide.

You see a wooden bridge over a 30' deep pit - the bridge allows safe use of the front door. You see a lever that presumably controls the bridge on the far side of the bridge, between the wall and the other dry culvert. (The lever is the red line at J3.) The bridge is down and the doors are closed. 

Although you do not see any threat, you recognize the chill in the stronghold is not just from the frozen weather but the frozen hearts of its builders.

Marva scans the room, absently casts Guidance for perception, and listens closely for any sounds that might suggest where the duergar are.

Perception: dirty 20 + 1 from Guidance = 21

Unless she hears something that would change her plan, she soon whispers, “As our guide said, there could be any number of invisible foes in this room. My guess is that there is one at that lever, waiting for us to venture onto the bridge. If we all fire into that corner at once, at least some of us would hit them.” She switches out her shield and mace for her crossbow.

Ophelia still appears agitated, concerned about Trovus and the townsfolk outside, potentially exposed to the dragon.  (She does not look convinced that the dragon is gone for sure, even though Marva did not spot it when she looked.)

"I believe we must open the double-doors quickly," she breathes.  "If we should control the lever first, then let us make haste."

She looks ready to cast an illusion or other cantrip in the general direction of the lever (or follow whatever other course of action the party chooses).

Drift nods grimly. The enemy could be anywhere. He gives his lantern to his flying wonder and sends it up to the ceiling to offer a broader light, and target. 

Dvu is cautious, but begins to make his way over to the lever at J3, agreeing that the doors need to be opened so that the rest of their force can enter.  His senses are on high alert as he walks across the north end of the room, avoiding the bridge, and ending up at approximately D7, maintaining a dodge action, ready to shield and avoid any attack from a hidden duergar.  He will make his way over to the lever , listening carefully as he goes.