The remaining skeletons are disposed of swiftly enough. Even in their battered and weakened states, the Blaze is not threatened by such.

The figure in rags turns out to be a Tiefling woman with bright red skin. She's badly emaciated and breathing shallowly as she sleeps, unresponsive to attempts to wake her.

"Red tiefling," Perry says to the others. "This must be Maccath, the one who studied the horn. She is not in good shape."

Perry gathers whatever is left of the non-meat rations that Murtle wouldn't eat and also takes out his waterskin from the bag of holding. He warms them up near her with magic to get that food aroma going. Then, he echoes out a soothing note with his voice as golden fey lights surround and heal the tiefling a little. 

"Maccath? Hello is that you?" he asks again, hoping for a response.

Poljen simply nods in satisfaction as they end the skeletons easily.  "Good.  Perry, I suspect you wish to tend to the prisoner.  Lawrance, want to see if the horn we seek is here?  I will do whatever needs to be done.  I can help people search, stand guard, or help get Velon back to the castle.  Lia!  You are second-in-command.  We await orders!"

  Lia smiles as the crystal is destroyed.  " Well done everyone.   Lawrance, I hope you can determine who was behind this death trap.   We owe them a visit.  " 

 She looks at the weary group.  " Everyone looks like they could use a little healing. This will take a few minutes.  " She holds her amulet tightly while praying to Sune.   After a time she feels the power of her goddess flowing through her. She unleashes the healing power towards Velon and her friends. 

 Afterwards she addresses the group. " I do not have the strength to bring Velon back to us today.  Tomorrow I do however. We must conclude our business swiftly here and return to our home up above us.    Poljen and Cratol, will you escort Lawrance and assist in finding the horn and the other items that we seek.  I will stay with Perry to watch over the poor tiefling and Velon. Morgaine, will you stay here with us on watch?  Remember, the owners power was broken over this place but there might be danger still here.   Move quickly but carefully and return to us safely. May Sune guide your steps.   

As Lia casts her spell, Velon groans and falls backwards, crashing to the floor with the sound of rattling metal. He twitches once, and then is still.

Maccath finally stirs, and starts sobbing, in a weak voice she pleads, "No more illusions, please just let me die." There is a collar locked around her neck, it looks just like the one they tried to force onto Lawrence.

"We're not illusions, my dear," Perry responds to the red tiefling. "It's over...we think anyway. We destroyed the crystal that connected this place to...whoever or whatever that fiend was. Just rest and eat for now. My name is Peregrine Pennington, world-renowned bard and swordsmen, and this here is Lia Galanodal, cleric of Sune. My friends over there are all part of a group of heroes known as the Silver Blaze. You are finally safe," he says.

As Lia begins her ritual of healing and the others go about searching the room or staying on watch, Perry sits near Lia and the red tiefling. He pulls out his trusty mandolin and begins playing a soothing, folk song about a happier place. Little golden lights begin lighting up around the room as the song does its work.

Almost Heaven, Neverwinter, Sword Coast Mountains, Mirabaran River,
Life is busy, busier than the bees,
Relaxin’ near blue waters, fishin’ by the sea,

Trusty hoooooorse,
Take me hooooooome,
To the plaaaaaaaaaace,
I belooooong,
Neverwinteeeeer,
Purple Llamaaaaaaaa,
Take me hooooome,
Trusty horse

Search through the shelves of magic trophies, Lawrance tries to find the primary goal of their venturing into the ice castle - the Horn. Afterwards, he carefully starts collecting the magic items and valuables, putting what he can into his Pouch and passing to the rest to whomever has space for it. "Let's get this done quickly, so we can take care of Velon back home. We can check for the mark of ownership as we fly back to that surprisingly non-violent Ancient. Before the polymorph on Mari fades, too"

When his attention is drawn to the collar, Lawrance compares it to the one he has and offers to try to open it. "If you'd permit, Miss? I can get that nasty thing off your neck."

Cratol will take some of the items Lawrence passes to him and places them in his handy haversack that has the magical spaces inside filling it with what they can take.  He will not put anything sharp into it but will roll them up in his bedroll and tie it to the top of the haversack.

"Oh right, I forgot! I bet that thing is uncomfortable. Is this thing magically trapped or anything, Lawrance?" Perry asks as Lawrance mentions the collar.

Perry waits until the wizard is confident that nothing magically bad can happen if we attempt to remove the lock. After that, with further aid from Lawrance on the history of locks, Perry retrieves Mari's thieves tools and attempts to unlock the collar around Maccath's neck. 

Examining the collar closely and carefully, Lawrance determines that there appears to be no runic dangers or other magical 'gotchas!' on the device, just the known function. Looking at both the one already open in his possession and the closed one around MacCath's neck, he informs Perry of possible techniques that may aid his unlocking. After the clasp springs apart, he takes the useful, yet slightly abhorrent device from Perry and puts them both into his pouch for later examination. 

With some work, the collar pops open. Maccath's hands goes to her neck, rubbing it wonderingly. Then she lowers her hands, and with great apparent effort, causes a tiny flickering light to spring forth. Cradling that light to herself, she starts crying again as Perry sings, though its no longer in despair.

The group doesn't find any horns on the shelves, but quickly enough a fair pile of items is shoved into various packs. In his investigations, Lawrance pokes through the contents of the desk. Most of the papers appear to be notes by Maccath on the magic items here in this room, which he guesses from the context she was forced to study but not allowed to directly access. Flipping through, he finds a drawing of an ornate horn Maccath identifies as the Draakhorn. Apparently it was here, and she was allowed to study it for a time. But the last entry on the page indicates that some people came to the labyrinth and traded various beings and magic items for it.

Perry smiles softly as Maccath rediscovers her magic after so long in captivity. At least some good came of this terrible experience. During the rest, he has also polymorphed Murtle into a much smaller turtle which he places inside a pocket of his winter coat so she stays warm. 

"We don't have much time now, you guys. My spell on Mari won't last too much longer. Let's take the all the records and papers here so we have proof when we tell the totally-not-evil Old White Death what happened to his world-ending horn of catastrophe. We also need to figure out when his next scheduled pick-up is at the small village so we can give him back his stuff like we promised. I doubt he's been sitting there waiting for us after all. That should give us some time to study all these items, bring Velon back, fix Mari, get this nice woman some actual food, and come up with a plan," Perry says.

Finally, Perry turns to Maccath and says, "Are you finally ready to get out of here, my dear? Are you able to walk?"

  Lia kneels next to Velon.   She caresses his cheek sadly. " Don't worry love. You will rejoin us very soon.  " She keeps her head down until her tears have dried then stands up.  

  " It is as Perry said.  Let us make haste from here. Poor Mari...we must get  her to a better place.  I might have enough strength in me to restore Velon to us.   " She frowns for a moment and grits her teeth.  " All this sacrifice and we still don't have what we came for.  Hopefully the ancient one can give us some more clues of where to go.   I'm sure not much happens in this realm that he isn't aware of. " She looks over at Perry.   " Do you think she can make it out? " She looks at the others. " Can anyone carry Velon?" 

  Murtle starts clawing frantically as she is stuffed into his pocket. 

As pockets get filled, pouches get loaded and bags of holding get stuffed, Lawrance offers “If she can’t walk, she could ride. I could conjure up a disk that she could sit on and carry her, if needed? Definitely let’s take everything including notes and such, as it could have valuable clues to our next steps. “

Either way, Lawrance is done with this place once the rooms have been cleared. Unable to completely forget his addiction to information, he takes a large bone price from the dragon skeleton, as welm as small samples from the other creatures they recently battled. “The more the merrier. Who knows what they might tell me, upon close examination?”

Cratol will tell Lia that he can carry Velon out with no issues as he walks over to them and lifts Velon up with him resting over his shoulder.  He keeps one hand on Velon as his other hand carries his staff.

Morgaine will say to Lia that she will stand watch as the others do what is needed. Once everything is done and the room(s) are examined, she will offer to hold anything found that she can. 

OoC: STR is 17+3 so if need be can carry Velon or the Tiefling. Morgaine will offer to carry either one. If needed will use Second Wind. She is at 36 before Lia offered the latest healing. If she uses the healing Lia offers she will not use Second Wind. 

Within short order, the place is looted, the fallen paladin is secured, and the rescued prisoner given aid in walking out.

Exiting the labyrinth proves to be a quiet affair. The group follows the path already cleared, and encounter no resistance along the way. They make their way out to the ice fissure, and climb up into the freezing winds. Castle Skyreach is floating overhead, and soon enough the mobile platform floats to the ground to life you all up to your home in the sky.

During their trudging to the exit from the ice-buried castle, Poljen keeps his eyes and ears peeled, watching for trouble, and especially the cursed doll.  Once they reach the platform he allows everyone else to go before him.  He will continue to guard their retreat.

Lawrance aids how best he can in the move back to the Castle from the castle, wary for locating the missing doll-creature that was so annoying before. "Everyone check your bags for any stowaways, before we go home. We wouldn't want that doll to roam our own castle!" He says, as he checks his own magic pouch and other pockets for things that don't belong, as well as using his ability to see invisible and ethereal to prevent any sneaky animated toy passengers.

Once back home, he gathers with the rest of the group in the courtyard and casts Detect Magic on the gear, looking for the mark that claims the items for the Ancient One. Once that group of items is set aside, he then spends the time to Identify the rest, preferably with company.

OOC - ritual castings all. If we get to a long rest, that'd be nice. :D

As Lawrance starts checking through his bag, his hand gets stabbed, and all of a sudden the doll pops out and starts making a run for it.