Beorn, Tenli, Iroh, Orophor, and Zain (AKA the Krampus Champions) found themselves returned to the necromancer’s tower. And upon their return, Sven seems a bit timid about what he and Balthazar had been up to in their absence, as well as the fact that they didn’t put up any fight at the rest of the party’s disappearance.

And though the Krampus Champion’s first reaction might have been anger at the old necromancer, Gadoof, for sending them to exile on his Christmas island, the necromancer soon easer their fury with some charisma and promise of payment for their trouble.

He led them up, high in the tower, to a locked door. Behind it, they found…

FEY, a Githyanki fighter who had put herself in Gadoof’s employ as a test subject for his experiments, in which course, she found herself now rather giant. Gadoof seemed certain Fey would suffice as payment, an idea Fey rejected. But upon learning that the party planned to enrich themselves through means of violence, Fey decided to join them.

Once agreed upon, Gadoof seemed to feel the party had outstayed their welcome, and teleported them all out to the bottom of the tower, amongst the corpses of their enemies. They made their way to the canyon they had crossed on their way to the tower, and Orophor shot a rope for them to shimy across.

Sven called for Balthazar to test it out, which he did gladly. Sven then came after, and jumped into Balthazar’s waiting arms. When he noticed the party watching the charged moment, he backed off and called for Gugu to cross after him.

The traverse went smoothly until Fey attempted to zipline. Being a giant, the rope snapped under her weight. But demonstrating a great feat of acrobatics, she yanked on the rope and flew through the air, landing nimbly next to the others.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Bastard Nigel’s mercenaries had cut the leads of their horses, and the scamps had wandered off. Beorn turned into a blood hound, and set his nose to the trail. After a short search, they found the horses deeper in the canyons, perhaps half an hour off the main path.

They decided to make camp, and as they slept, heard a rumbling in the cliffs. Rocks toppled, and an enormous hole yawned open in front of their camp fire. The hole smiled at them. Fey, similarly giant, said hey to the hole. The hole said hey back.

This was the Creeper of the Mountain, an ancient being who tunneled the mountains, learning what it could from the people it encountered. The Creeper spoke of some dwarves it had encountered three seasons past, who had regaled it with a tale about Thresher’s Finger, and how it was holed up in Ysig, the dwarves’ capital.

After speaking a bit longer, the Creeper opened its mouth wide, offering a challenge to the adventures. Make it past the Creeper’s tongue, find secret knowledge. Orophor accepted.

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Plucking up every bit of stealth Orophor had in his bones, he crept into the mouth. The tongue of the Creeper searched for him, feeling about the cavernous opening. It nearly touched the elf, but displaying great skill, Orophor clambered out of the way, and found a cabinet at the back of the mouth. Inside, he found a map. He made it out of the challenge, and the Creeper congratulated him, then disappeared back into the mountain.

The map showed tunnels, leading from a large antechamber into a vault room. Inside the vault, a finger.

The party then argued whether to head south to Samso, where the Ice Stone was being mined; southwest to Videl, where Bastard Nigel wanted to meet with them; or far north into Bergen and the Gorluck Mountains to enter Ysig, the capital of the dwarves and try to find the relic.

After much discussion, and perhaps a discrete application of Charm Person, Tenli convinced the party to head south to inspect the mining operation in Samso and possibly fuck it up to buy the world some time before the Death Head enacted its plan.

They rode, many miles stretching between them and the town. Fey, rather than crush a horse under her weight, simply ran alongside. For practically a week, all Orophor talked about was the dragon egg still in their possession.

As they rode, they came upon a fallen tree blocking their path. Two bandits appeared, and immediately saw they were outgunned. Finding the level of violence she had been promised unmet, Fey grabbed one of the bandits and attempted to run over to the other bandit to smash the first bandit into him.

But, as the second bandit ran around the other side of the tree, the first bandit wriggled out of her grasp. Zain then stabbed the bandit in the thigh, and Sven skewered him with a javelin throw. The other bandit pleaded for his life, and as the party discussed sparing him, he ran.

Orophor gave chase, and threw a knife at him, hitting the bandit in the leg, causing him to come crashing down. Still thirsty for blood, Orophor then stabbed the bandit in the neck. Beorn charred the remaining bandit to ash.

Expecting loot, the party was disappointed to find that two bandits along trying to rob people in the middle of the desert actually didn’t have much of anything.

They continued on riding. Two weeks in, they came across a band of Dellish soldiers marching toward the border. Orophor brought out the insignias he had stolen from Thorn the Thumper and Brock the Breaker, and tried to persuade the captain of the soldiers to let them pass.

But traveling in a racist country with two dragonborn, a githyanki, and being himself an elf, the party was quickly outed as the very assassins wanted across the land for the murder of a high ranking noble. The battle commenced.

Outnumbered, they party had to rely on tactics. And rely they did. Zain utilized some Gensai magic to float the captain off the ground. Beorn lightning struck 4 and killed them instantly. Sven went rage on somebody. Fey caved a guys head in.

They killed them all. Got some gold and provisions, as well as papers for enlisted men. Armor and weapons were deposited into the bag of holding. Beorn mounded earth over the bodies to the side of the road.

They mounted up and pounded ground, making it to the edge of Samso.