Storm King's Thunder

No answers come from Noori, who is still uttering prayers in her tribal tongue. 

The Couatl, having given you all your gifts, recedes back into the altar, de-materializing as he does so.

You are met with the softly echoing silence of the ice caves. 

Ink looks around, seeing no one approaching, shrugs, gives half a smirk and lightly taps the gong with the back of his gauntleted hand. 

The gong reverberates softly against the tap, its resonance quite deep, and seeming to go on for quite a long time, even with such a light touch.

Ink smiles, "That was kind of nice." 

Crownsguard gives a silent double thumbs up.

"D'ye s'pose that's th' relic?" Flint casts identify on it.

When Flint touches the gong to cast his identify spell on it, it stops resonating. 

// Let me know if there’s anything you want to do while Flint is taking a minute to cast the spell! //

"Red dragon scale. Thirteen feet in diameter, but not whole. A giant fashioned this... Perhaps as a shield," Ink replies to Flint.

"The Great Wyrm tribe seems to use it as a ceremonial gong. Likely very effective."

Flint doesn’t detect any magic about the item, nor does his spell reveal any magical origins, but in the minute he is able to examine it he can tell that it was a fine shield in its day. Its pure copper construction would denote an important figure, while the scales of a red dragon adorning it would signify a champion of giantkind. How the shield came to be broken is a mystery, as are the purposes of its use among the Uthgardt (especially as the barbarians seem less than forthcoming at the moment), but the copper would definitely make for a serviceable gong. 

"Lessee  how ta  get it down...." Flint looks for any latching or straps and starts working to remove the shield.

These ropes securing the gong are looped through holes in the stone support. They are knotted, pitched, and frozen over, making untying them a rather unworkable idea. The ropes could be cut fairly easily, of course, or burned through with a decent application of fire.

Ink pulls out an adamantine scimitar.

"Well, let's just do it the fast way and get out of here. We cut it down and slide it out of here... You can pretend you're a young dwarf again and use it as a sled," Ink says with a chuckle.

Ink slices at one of the ropes and when the gong stabilizes he'll cut through the other rope."

Smiling under his beard at the thought Flint says "Whul who's ta say ah ain't a young dwarf? Ain't but seventy..."

Ink slices through one rope like cutting through butter. The 13-foot gong swings down and crashes into the stone support with all its weight, deflecting off the stone and then clattering back down against it with awful, cringing reverberations.

The violent crash causes a few huge icicles, high up on the ceiling, to drop to the floor below with explosive force, though thankfully not near enough anyone to cause harm. 

There are a couple scared screams from inside the caves where the Uthgardt families are, in the midst of all the noise.

// Holding here for any immediate reactions! //

Crownsguard shouts back, “Please remain calm. That was not an attack. We are still very friendly. We continue to mean no harm.”

Ink waves meekly, "Sorry everyone - didn't think my music would bring the house down."

Then to Flint and the group, "Let's support it before I cut through the other rope so that another collapse is avoided..." 

Don brings his floating disk up to underneath the shield. "Ok, CG, Flint, want to help me catch this thing and keep it from falling off the disk?"

As soon as Don, Flint, Crownsguard and the disk are in position, and he gets the signal from Don, Ink slices through the other rope. 

Before you are able to make it more than a couple steps, rumblings from the icy floor intensify. 

Before your eyes, three blue bodies burst forth from the ground in a cloud of steam! Winglike fins flare from heads, and jagged teeth gnash together in their wide mouths. The armored carapaces and spindly legs are a familiar sight, though these are a bit smaller than the one you encountered weeks ago in the Temple of Annam. Despite this size difference, they still tower over you, their bulbous blue eyes just as menacing as their flamelike back spines, which seem to pulsate with internal heat. 

The good news is, these smaller guys don’t seem to have the capacity to swallow you whole...

// Initiative please! Anyone who rolls higher than 8 isn’t surprised, though the remorhazes will be acting first. //. 

Crownsguard assumes defensive position, “Threats identified! These are the same, likely juvenile, creatures that we encountered before. Do you recall, Ink? Be cautious. These almost consumed you last time. Please stay away from their mouths.”

Initiative: 6

yaaaaay...