The ice on the cavern floor glistens with the eerie light as you walk past the massive pillars in the cavern entrance. It is hard to discern the source of the light, but it dimly suffuses the entire ice-covered cavern.  

70-foot-high ledges of rock flank the glistening floor, and you can see atop the ledges two totem poles of chiseled ice that resemble winged snakes. 

Small caves riddle the walls below the ledges, and many narrow niches have been carved into the walls above the ledges. 

In between the flanking ledges, rising from the back of the cavern, is a triangular promontory of ice-covered rock, 120 feet above the cavern floor at its peak. Thereupon stands an altar of frost-covered stone, carved in the shape of a coiled serpent with great wings.

You feel the slick ice below your feet—it's going to be hard to move in here without falling on your rear end. (When in this cavern, the first time you move on a turn, you must succeed at a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone.)

Standing on the ledges as you come into view are four individuals (two per ledge). These tall men wear the same kind of furs that were worn by the barbarians that you fought & killed at the entrance to Annam's Temple. They ready their spears to throw.

// What do you do? //

Seeing as no other was chomping at the bit to play negotiator, Nirzeg holds up his hands as if in surrender and smiles brightly at the gathering of barbarians. "Why hello there, my well built friends! I would ask that you pardon the intrusion and perhaps lowers those spears a tad, as there needs not be any bloodshed today! We come merely wishing to entreat with you in regards to a certain problem. A problem we all can appreciate needs to be dealt with... involving the giants. Might I know which one of you are the leader?" He calls out, and would continue to slowly approach on that note, hoping at least Derrikoth was following not too far behind.

Persuasion: 11.

A spear soars through the airs and pierces the ice, a yard or two from Nirzeg.

The tribesmen don't respond—whether they understand, or are simply unwilling to negotiate with an outsider, is unclear. What is clear is the message sent by way of the spear: "proceed at your own peril."

The fur-clad tribal warriors, atop the high ledges, stand in the most threatening and imposing way possible.

From further in the cavern, you hear the echo of some faint whimpers, followed by shushing. 

Nirzeg sighed and shook his head. "Very well then. Let it not be said that we didn't at least try to be reasonable ones here." He glances back to Lydia and Ah'brasar, and says just loud enough for the group's ears. "This shits a bit too ****'n important to let a bunch of ingrates slow us this time around. Don't hold back on a show force. Red. You like fire so much, right? Hit those on the left with the big one. Windy. You do the same to those on the right." Nirzeg then turned about and took maybe one step forward before...

Acrobatics(DC 10): 22.

...practically gliding across the ice without much problem. Though his first step he quaffs a purple potion with flecks of green, and then calls out something in an alien tongue, causing metallic bits aligning his boots to glow, and his pace to suddenly increase. Zeek, in the meantime rushed for the cieling, aiming to get a bird's eye view and send any warnings back to the master.

Action: Consume Experimental Elixir(Boldness), gaining the effects of Bless(effectively) for the next minute. No concentration.

Bonus Action/Movement: Cast Extreme Advancement and dash as well as move 60ft between the two ledges.

[From Lydia, casting at the ledge on the left/north: "She'll cast Sleet Storm on them. The area they're in is automatically obscured so they can't see, it's difficult terrain, and on the start of their turn, they must make a DC15 Dex Save or fall prone"]

Nirzeg manages to skate across the slippery ice most effectively, for now. Zeek, flying up, can now see the entire eerily-lit room, with the gong at the back. 

Responding to Nirzeg's suggestion, and seeing Lydia's sleet storm brewing up on the left, Rasa quickly responds with a control spell of his own. Rasa flies up several feet to conjure a massive flaming barrier, surrounding the two guards on the south ledge with a wall of fire. 

"It seems they do not speak our language. Pero, perhaps they will understand this, yes?" Rasa calls down to the other. 

All four guards, now obscured by elemental force, scream in fear and dismay. You can tell they are trying to communicate with each other, but the language is not one you understand. 

As Nirzeg dashes past the flanking ledges, he catches glimpses of several people huddled in the caves along the floor of the cavern, illuminated by the glowing fire atop the south ledge.

You can hear more screams, these originating from the same caves underneath the ledges.

Swiper, having no issues with where this was going, remains of Lydia's shoulders (unless she orders him to get off) and takes out his crossbow to take a quick shot at one of the barbarians!

On which ever one doesn't get knocked prone - Attack: 14 Damage: 12

Derrikoth opts to run behind Nirzeg, keeping pace with his ally.

Swiper fires a crossbow bolt, but with the sleet completely obscuring his vision, he doesn't know whether he's hit his mark.

The sleet storm pummels one ledge, and the fire rages on the other. The barbarian sentries still call out in shock and dismay, unable to see anyone due to Rasa and Lydia's spells. 

As you move further into the great cavern, you can can now see inside three of the floor-level caves more clearly. There are women and children in the caves, huddled as far back as they can get. A little girl is screaming, while an older woman is trying to shush her in vain.

// Players up! //

"Easy now, you can stop screaming. We are not here to murder old women and children."

Upon receiving the alert about the gong from Zeek, Tressym and master both are spurred into action. The latter...

Acrobatics(DC 10): 20.

... gets so side-tracked scanning the nearby caverns for hidden warriors that one misplaced foot leads to a nasty spell. Whether he cracks his head against the ice, or is merely left with a sore bum, a growling Nirzeg clamors back to his feet. Now at a more uncertain yet no less determined pace, he eventually picks up the pace once more; his pace bolstered by magic and science!

Movement: Spend 1/2 to get back up and any remaining to move closer to the slopes.

Action/Bonus Action: Double Dash to get closer to far off slopes.

Movement/Action(Zeek): Full movement and hurried flying in direction of gong.

(Per roll in Discord)

Lydia tries to get the nearest old woman's attention, but the old woman is still cowering. She either can't understand Lydia, or else is just too afraid. Rasa does a quick flyby of the caves on the ground level, then lands nearby to Swiper and Lydia. "Amigos. There are women, children, and elderly in every cave. I will concentrate on the wall of fire for as long as possible, pero I do not want to kill unless necessary." 

Meanwhile, Nirzeg and Derrikoth reach the point where the ground starts to climb upwards. As they ascend the ramp, they both hear a voice speaking to them telepathically.

Nirzeg starts sweating bullets as many a things start to rapidly come together in mind. But it is only after awkwardly sharing a look with Derrikoth to see if the dragonborn had a similiar epiphany in his expression did he dare to speak upon the back of clearing his throat. "So, about all that. That, uh, 'concubine' you mention wouldn't happen to be some important figure to the tribe as a whole would they? Or were that chieftain's favorite?" He asked.

Rasa calls out, "Perdon, mi amigo; what was that?"

The telepathic voice comes back, again audible to Nirzeg and Derrikoth...

 Rasa's wall of fire and Lydia's sleet storm still dominate the ledges at the entrance of the cavern. All the barbarians have gone quiet and tense, and seem to be waiting for their inevitable demise by the awful powers of these spellcasters. 

Nirzeg scrunched up his face. "I see... And would the tribe take her back, assuming her to be in charge? Or is this a case of if both happened to have shaken off their mortal coil, everything is or will be fan-*******-tastic here? Also, hold up! By the ****'n ninez, who the ff-.... who am I addressing right now?" He asked, just barely catching himself in town. Though his expression still held that bit of skepticism and haughtiness to it.

The bodiless voice address you once more, and the words seem to burn brighter in your minds (Zeek, Derrikoth & Nirzeg).

It's been nearly a minute. Lydia and Rasa know that the control on their spells is waning, and soon they will stop working. 

One of the elderly women steps out of her cave, about 50 feet from where the trio are standing on the ice. Hunched over, she wears a thick blanket to keep warm. She points at Lydia, Swiper, and Rasa, and says something in a foreign language.

// Players up! You have two more rounds left on Wall of Fire and Sleet Storm. What do you do? //

"Don't worry about it Red, just keep those people calm and contained." Nirzeg called back, finally responding to the Aarakocra. "As for you, our seemingly bodiless friend, Me and my people and creatures that seem to communicate mentally... don't get along very well. You could even ****'n say that we pride ourselves on making sure that said creatures don't stay alive for very along if our paths cross. So, you'll have to forgive me if I'm bit touchy over this shit." He stated plainly/deflects and with a note of irritation creeping into his voice.

"Just as I would hope you can forgive me for not having caught your name. Must've been lost in the urgency of the moment, I'm sure." Nirzeg adds. "Care to give it now along with why we should trust some random voice? We're a bit on a time schedule as-is, and it's been twice now since we've had spears pointed at us by tribesman. Nevermind that whole ****'n mess that is giants rampaging across the land we need to fix."

Swiper repeats what the old lady says in her voice back to her, then tilts his head and looks to Lydia. “Any idea what she’s sayin’, lass? Any way to let them know we wanna help ‘em out?”

"I do not speak the same language as this woman, so I do not know what she is saying. But it seems like women and children are sheltered here, so we should try to help, not hurt." Lydia says to Swiper. She furrows her brow in thought for a moment, knowing that her spell has about 12 seconds left and is glad that she chose not to use a more destructive one. She pulls out some rations and hands it to the old woman, hoping that it'll help convey her intentions.

Responding to Nirzeg's request, Rasa comes alongside of Lydia. The old woman looks mistrusting at first, but then looks to Lydia, Swiper, and Rasa in turn. Finally, she accepts the ration. She points to the spell effects above on the flanking ledges, her eyes still full of fear.

 There is a pause in the interchange between Nirzeg and the invisible creature. Then...

With that, from out of the stone altar in the center of the cavern, a luminous being emerges. It shines brightly in many colors, and has the form of a winged serpent. Its wingspan rivals Ah'brasar's, and it is covered in brilliant scales.  

// Players up! //