Calm Before the Storm

Housekeeping

• Players hired a replacement tavernkeeper for the missing Danae. After interviewing Gilda "Glass-Eye" Trask, Wimbley Skorr, and Kessa of the Silent Stead, they selected Skorr. Skorr is a middle-aged gnome and failed inventor. Claims to be a “gastronomic alchemist” specializing in mead infusions and fermented experiments. Earnest, high-energy, always smells faintly of vinegar and cinnamon. Constantly tweaking the bar’s menu. He is a master gossip magnet—everyone tells Wimbley things. And he has a pet snow rat named Button who acts as a spy/scout. Keeps getting mail from a mysterious “Guild of Gastronomancers.”
• Twiggy B is now laden with berries (18). He can produce no more until some are eaten or they rot and fall.
• All was well at the bastion. The leak in the roof has been fixed.

The Best of Bryn Shander

• Before the vote, Jartha stepped forward. He revealed that he had long acted as a double agent within Naerth’s ranks, providing meaningless intel about Caer Koenig while learning about Naerth's operation for the Harpers. His testimony, delivered without bitterness, weighed heavily. In the aftermath, he remained in Bryn Shander, alongside Imdra Aggerlath, Fef Morryn, and Roark, all of whom have offered their advice and counsel and have offered to serve as trainers for both you individually and for the new army. A vote on Naerth was taken. By narrow margin, the Council of Speakers resolved to place him under arrest. He was taken into custody by Sheriff Markham Southwell, acting under the authority of Duvessa Shane of Bryn Shander. The Speakers found that the center of Naerth’s crimes—his schemes, bribes, and coercions—struck at the heart of the Council itself, which Bryn Shander was duty-bound to protect as host of the Council. Naerth is being transported to Revel's End for pre-trial detention. His conduct will be formally investigated. If you want to interrogate him, you will have to travel there. Orders have gone out. Every town has been directed to raise its militia, as best it can, with whatever it can muster. One week from today, half of all able-bodied fighters are to report to a rallying point where the Eastway meets the road between the Redwaters and Lac Dinneshere. Training is to begin immediately. The Council has deferred its decision on command. But it agreed, without dissent, that one general must be named. In the days to come, that burden will fall on someone. For now, the Dale begins to march.
• Players talked to Garn and received long-awaited magical items. Garn offers them for free in exchange for becoming a full partner in their tavern and leading a squad against a goblin fortress when Elza's curse is ready. The group agrees to the terms, with Logan suggesting custom steins called "Garn's Goblets" as part of the deal
• Players began trainings with the four assassin trainers. Johnny is training the blindfold with Fef Moryn. Bragnar chooses Jartha's training, which involves killing subdued enemies and recording details to gain insight into vulnerabilities. Merken is training in distilling essense of shiverlace, an herb that can be made into either a healing potion or a deadly poison. with Imdra Arlaggath. And Orion has not decided but no one is yet training endurance with Roark Bodwin.

The Jarl Moot

• Merken communicates with plants using a magical ring and receives cryptic messages about frost, roots, and rage. "(In Root-Speech, “root” and “time” share a syllable; it could mean the root lies coiled like a serpent—or that time itself curls under ice, waiting.) The root heals/mends. [Again, ambiguous] The frost binds the root. The rot rides the root. The rage must awaken. Ice is a prison." The plants mention a Jarl, a term for ancient frost giant kings. The group decides to seek out the Jarl Moot, located at the west end of the Shangeren River, based on information from a twisted juniper plant. They plan to travel there to investigate further.
• The group travels for about 8 hours towards the Jarl moot, encountering a chwinga that offers Johnny a piece of reindeer poop. They later meet some Reghed tribesmen from the Elk tribe, who become wary of the group and quickly depart after a brief interaction.
• The group discovers an ancient jarl moot site with seven giant stone thrones atop a snowy hill, surrounded by an unusual gathering of ravens. As twilight approaches, Merken casts moonbeam and speak with animals to investigate the area. When natural moonlight breaks through the clouds, they briefly see the ghosts of seven frost giants sitting on the thrones. As Bragnar enters the circle and activates his rage, the largest giant apparition summons a frost giant skeleton, initiating combat. The group engages in combat with a skeletal frost giant. Bragnar attacks and deals significant damage, but is later knocked unconscious by the giant's freezing stare. Merken uses healing word to revive Bragnar, who then successfully topples the giant. Invisible stalkers are summoned. Sparky the dog plays a crucial role, delivering the final blow to defeat one of the invisible stalkers. The combat ends with one stalker defeated and the other no longer present. The largest of the earls then raises his hands, signaling the end of this challenge and potentially the start of another.
• Merken perceives that the potion he brewed had a calming effect, but could not remember all the steps in brewing.
• Johnny completed two blindfolded combat encounters.
• As the final ghost-giant’s trial ends, the central stone throne groans and lifts into the air, revealing a shaft of glowing ice-veined earth. At its center: a single gnarled shrub, barely knee-high, radiating golden-green warmth that makes the winter air flicker with mist. Every plant in a mile radius goes still. Merken hears nothing. The plants are silent—the way a crowd falls silent before a god walks in. Bragnar approaches the shrug, which shudders once, and a deep hum enters Bragnar’s bones. A faint wind blows upward from the roots, carrying strange smells: pine sap, charred meat, summer dust, and something like blood on stone. To the rest of the party: Bragnar appears frozen in place, eyes glowing faintly green. To Bragnar: you are hurtling through a lightless tunnel. You emerge into a twilight realm of endless branches, floating roots, and islands of reality. You stand on a massive root, thicker than any castle wall, suspended in the void. Above you, stars twinkle through the canopy. Below you, you sees shards of other planes drifting—fiery battlefields, ice-covered wastes, endless cities of brass. A colossal humanoid form steps from the bark. It resembles a goliath draped in moss, bark armor, and eyes like knot holes burning with amber light. Antlers branch from its head like a crown. It leans on a staff grown from a living vine that twines into the root. Its voice rumbles like shifting glaciers: "Bragnar, son of storm and silence, you seek to crush those who took from you. You rage for the broken. For the dead. And so you came. You walk the path of wrath. I offer.... a longer road." "You walk a limb of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. All realms touch it. Some drink from it. A select few serve it." “The frost is the stilling. It halts so the wound will not widen. It is cruel only because it remembers warmth.” "What was the first magic? Let there be light. The sun. The deepest magic of all. Even gods cannot hold back the Light forever." Then, the Warden turns, revealing behind him a scene of a great City falling from the sky—a city of towers crashing into a glacier. The impact sends cracks through the ice down to an enormous root, and from those cracks green light bleeds, pulling whispers and shadows from the planes. The Warden extends his staff to Bragnar. "Will you bind your fury to the Tree? Or return to soil and snow and let the rot grow?" The shrub i bursts into golden flame, then vanishes—its energy sinking into Bragnar’s skin. The Warden adds: "Know this, Bragnar. A serpent of bone coils up the World Tree just as a serpent of glass prepares to fly. One who has cheated death seeks to ride the Root beyond the ice; while one who has never lived seeks to ride the ice to your ruin. You are bound to the Root now. Let it anchor you. Let it carry you. Let it rage through you.” Bragnar now gains the Path of the World Tree subclass.
• The group explores a chamber with braziers and a puzzle involving burning specific items. They solve the puzzle, opening a gate to a room with chests containing various items. Using keys they obtained, they unlock a large chest containing a powerful Horn of Blasting. After some debate and investigation, they decide to enter a portal that appears, holding hands. They emerge in the center of the Jarlmoot, surrounded by a swarm of ravens that disperse upon seeing Bragnar.

Loot

• horn of blowing ~ from Jarlmoot
• beautifully crafted shield 2x ~ from Garn
• beautifully crafted morningstar ~ from Garn
• beautifully crafted half plate ~ from Garn
• beautifully crafted shortbow ~ from Garn
• piece of reindeer poop ~ from Chwinga