However, now that they have the piece in hand they make an about-face and decide that now is not the time to go. They have other issues that they want to address before they go to another plane of existence for some undetermined amount of time. They return to Althofen and the house they have bought to find Crystalia. They go downstairs and really look for the first time. They discover that some masonry in one corner is much newer than the rest. They have a place to start. They go shopping for digging tools and furniture for the house. Starkad notices a juggler watching him.
The next day they start digging. They punch through the wall and find a tunnel. Before going in, they try to find Hans. Hans has been playing catch up with all the work he has missed away from Althofen. On his way back John sees another juggler and an acrobat near the house. That afternoon there is a fire about 7 houses away. The party is drawn to the commotion and Croom rushes to help. There are bluecloaks there and witness Croom using magic to put out the fire. The owner of the building is not happy that Croom used so much water and flooded his place. The bluecloaks seem to take silent note. Meanwhile, the digging has widened the tunnel enough for the party to find the old temple of Dunay. Croom casts find the path and asks to find the path to Crystalia. The answer: he is already there. They use a wall of stone to seal up the leaking sewer entrance. They try a number of other find the path spells: to the place where the Lemegeton was stored - nothing. To the place where Octavius is - it leads outside the city to the east. On the way back, Starkad decides to ask the priests of Dunay about the old temple. They seem cagey to him but tell him they simply needed more room to dig. He suspects they know more about what is hidden undeneath the city than they are letting on.
They finally try another find the path: to the palace of Crystalia. They are lead to the proper site in the wall of the old temple where they must dig. They proceed to do so, but then Croom uses stone shape to do the work more quickly. Finally, they expose a natural crack that they can widen to a tunnel that they can go explore down. They rest the night and go fresh the next morning. They go deep beneath the city and start to encounter strange buildings made of Crystal, long buried thousands of years ago. They encounter some ancient undead creatures that they defeat easily. They find some statues at last: a great archon holding a flaming greatsword in one hand. They identify it as a heavenly angel. The interest of the devils in this place begins to make sense. They continue on and encounter their first demon interloper. They kill it but before they can take the body back as evidence, it is consumed in flames. They go back to rest before proceeding further.
They notice the next morning that another juggler is outside. They return to the ruins and go further in, encountering more hostile undead and other creatures along the way. They have to return again to rest. A knock at the door makes everyone suspicious, but it is just a boy, Lance Kreedy, who wants to get a job working on their lawn. They agree to hire him. They go further into the tunnels and this time encounter some really tough devils. During this fight Conrad is killed and one of the devils escapes. The party is now urgent. Word may have gotten to their enemies that they are down there. Conrad does not respond to the resurrection so they bury him in the old temple graveyard. The fight wasn't in vain. They recovered an item that the devils were digging for: a rod of exalted spell penetration. That night John suddenly discovers 3 different scrying attempts on the party. He successfully gets a glance at the third: an older man with a pince-nez, blue robes, white goatee, and a red hat using a crystal ball.
The next morning Lance returns for more yardwork, and while he does that the party returns to the ruins. This time they take a tunnel at random and fight a strange decayed undead angel. It corrupts the things it touches and the party has a hard fight of it. They recover a +3 shocking burst mighty composite longbow. They must return again to the house to rest. The next morning, however, they go downstairs and discover that the old temple of Dunay is destroyed and burning. A diabolic head of flames above the altar taunts them. Croom, however, suspects an illusion and uses true seeing to learn that he was right. Osric charges down the tunnel and is immediately attacked by the cornugon hiding there. There is another battle that at first seems bad but is finally won. The jig seems to be up. The devils know what the party is doing. Instead of traveling further, they go up into the city. Osric briefs Franklin and Eberulf on their suspicions of Lord Natas. Unfortunately it all comes down to incontrovertible proof of which the party has none. Starkad returns to the temple of Dunay and meets a priest of Dunay, Wilhelm Hastokar, who shows interest in helping out. Eventually he is hired by the party.
When they return the next day they go further in, now with Wilhelm along. They find a chamber where fresh holes have been dug to uncover a looted vault. They push on, using find the path to find the palace. Now they start encountering old temples to the Aspects. They first find, quite by accident, the Temple of Baldrin. Croom prays, having been the first priest there in thousands of years. Baldrin grants good hope to the party. When they reach the temple of Hysor they find it desecrated by the devils. The next temple is Arawn's, and Osric nervously stays away from it, but it holds nothing. At last, they reach the outside of what they guess is a giant building. They are lucky in that they arrive just as a voice is giving orders to a number of devils inside. The leader says that he feels that something is there in the building, he can feel it. He wants them to find it before the "meddlers" arrive. Starkad moves up to get a look and sees the man in the blue robes and pince-nez disappear amidst shadows. Unfortunately, he makes a noise that the pit find hears.
All of a sudden, its a climatic battle with the party pitted against a pit fiend, malebranche, 2 hamatula, and 6 barbazu. During the course of the battle a cornugon and gelugon are summoned, but well placed defense such as holy aura turn the tide of battle in the party's favor. The room they are in is nothing but a hug map with statues placed in various places on the map. They discover the location of Reym is clearly legible. It is on a claw shaped peninsula south of the Alsasian mountains just to the southeast of Krewald in fact. There some notable statues on the map: a stone man, looking sort of like a dwarf in the area they know as Dun. He is holding a two bladed sword. A strange glint makes the party look closer and they find that a real two-bladed sword has been hidden in the statue. They recover it for Starkad. Another statue is a lithe man where Uchdry is. An angel where Krewald is. A man with a scimitar east of the Alsasian mountains. A swarm of pixes on Vaious. And lastly a crowned giant on the western coast of Deir es Mal. There is another statue that got knocked over at the end of the fight that also showed something glinting: a two handed sword.
They return quickly to the house fearing that the man with the pince-nez will return with reinforcements. Back at the house they identify the two weapons (a +3 cold iron greatsword, evil outsider bane and a +2 axiomatic Holy two bladed sword) and notice that it is a strange coincidence that these two weapons are perfect for two of the party members. Did some agency have foresight? They go into the city to have a meal and see what is going on. They question a bard about the entertainers and learn nothing except that there seems to be an unusual amount of them in the city these days. They also learn that Krewald has two coast cities Kempten and Duren that might know about what lies southeast in the sea. When they return to the house after the meal they find a large contingent of bluecloaks waiting for them. The party tries to put the bluecloaks off by claiming that they don't have permission to enter the house because of the Temple of Dunay, but the bluecloaks magically seem to have exactly the right paperwork. They demand to be let in to have a look around. The party has little choice, but they are able to buy time by saying that they don't have their lawyer present to check the paperwork. The bluecloaks surprisingly agree to return in the morning, but leave 5 behind to watch the house for wrongdoing. Osric goes to the temple of Hysor to get a good lawyer reference. He gets Gelrin du Hassey.
That morning the bluecloaks return and the party meets them along with Gelrin. Gelrin is confident that he can hold up the search at the entry hall. The rest of the party finds spots to watch throughout the house. The lawyers of the bluecloaks insist that all the owners immediately present themselves. The party reluctantly comes to the entry hall after Gelrin advises them to comply. The guards surround them and Gelrin confidently looks at the paperwork. But then he looks uneasy and finally after finishing the papers, he tells the party that they have no recourse. The papers have been signed by all 12 ruling council members of Krewald. An unprecedented event. They must do what they are told. It is so extremely irregular that Gelrin uses the phrase "diabolically clever." Fortunately, the Krewaldian militia can also be present and the party summons them. Once all are present and the formalities finished, the bluecloaks start searching the house. They find nothing on the grounds. They go upstairs and in John's room they open his chest and find a big book of evil necromancy. They mark it exhibit A. In Osric's room they find 6 bloody daggers. Of course the party says they have never seen these items before and have caught on that they are being set up. But they have no legal recourse at this time. The search continues. In Croom's room they find a skull with jeweled eyes under his bed. On the first floor they find little. In the dining room they find plates with bloodstains. In the kitchen there is a cauldron full of bloody meat of an undetermined type. Could it be human?
At last they go into the basement. Fortunately the night before the party had resealed the tunnel and used Wilhelm's skills to disguise it well. So the bluecloaks do not find that. But what they do find is enough. In one of the storerooms they find a bloody altar with a hacked body on it, three bodies hanging on the wall including a young woman. A pentagram with black candles is on the floor with more blood everywhere. The guards are white faced, including the Krewaldian militia. The party starts trying to escape as the captain screams for their arrest. Sir Osric surrenders immediately, knowing that he must follow the law. The rest, however, teleport away. Osric is disarmed and arrested.
Gelrin meets with Osric later and pleads with him to try and help get the rest of the party to surrender. Their flight has hurt their case very badly. Meanwhile, the party has escaped to Huysum where they send urgent messages to Ulrich. They get disguises and return back to Althofen to start scrying things out. They are planning to break Osric out until they realize that the lawful paladin would never go along with such a thing. Once they make that realization, they meet with Gelrin and negotiate a surrender with certain concessions. They want impartial 3rd party priests doing true seeing and zones of truth during the proceedings. They want clauses that if they are slain while in custody that they will be true resurrected at the expense of the prosecution.
The next morning Starkad goes to Franklin with the intent of having his equipment safe, but Franklin immediately arrests him and confiscates and turns in the equipment. The lawful priests of Hysor could do nothing less. Unfortunately, this equipment includes the Cursed Book of Travel. Suddenly the party is in dire straits. Will the Cursed Book of Travel be read into the public record? Could the bureaucrats be bribed by the devils to see what the party knows? Franklin agrees to send more messages to Ulrich with the urgency of the situation. Croom casts greater planar ally and summons a shiradi eladrin named Brasala. Croom asks for advice and is told typical chaotic good advice: destroy the evil, free your companions, pursue the good. He's not much for laws. They pay the eladrin gold and items to keep a bunch of their possessions safe for 16 days. He also agrees to come to their aid if they are attacked in prison. Then they turn themselves in.
Gelrin has tried to negotiate the terms of their surrender and the prosecution will agree to all the exhorbitant assurances the party wants if the party agrees to have a greater geas cast upon them to enforce the outcome of the trial. They balk at that, and they end up giving themselves up almost unconditionally instead. The trial date is set for 3 weeks away, and the party must wait nervously in prison. Gelrin has a team of lawyers working on their case and meets with them every day. Meanwhile, every day past is a day they can't do anything about the devils in Crystalia. They are visited by some members of the 12 council. They get a letter from Ulrich. "I will be there. All will be well." They note that this could be either a good or a bad thing.
The time runs out on the planar ally and their items are given to Ulrich for safekeeping. At last the day of the trial arrives. Gelrin has learned some disturbing things. Unfortunately, one of the victims is the granddaughter of one of the council members, Lord Feducci, and he will be out for blood. There are strikes already against the party. They resisted arrest and ran from the scene. They killed the previous owner of the house. This hints at hidden motives. They were caught red-handed. However, there are factors on their side: they have a paladin of Hysor who has not lost his blessings. They have been staunch supporters of Krewald.
Witnesses are called. Lance the gardener boy says that they were nice to him but they were always watching him. He overheard them talking about evil entertainers. He found a strange number of dead birds in their yard. And just a couple of days again they sent him away because they were about to do something "Dangerous". Lady Pine Also gives witness, but in the party's favor. Hans, Franklin, and Eberulf also give witness in the party's favor. Unfortunately, what the party feared most happens: the Cursed Book of Travel and the other documents are read into the record. Finally, on the fourth day Ulrich arrives, resplendent in his best gear. He slaps down his device and asks permission to give testimony and to cast a spell. There is a scramble of lawyers and papers but once the priests prepare themselves for the worst, permission is given. Ulrich casts his spell, wish and says "I wish that everyone here knew the truth of this matter." And all is revealed. They all know that devils planted every bit of evidence in the house. That it was devils that kidnapped and tortured the granddaughter and the others under the orders of a wizard in blue robes, pince-nez, and red cap.
The next day the party is in prison still, but it feels like the trial must be coming to a close. Back in the hearing room, the two lawyers agree to a contract to close the trial. The contract declares the party innocent of the crimes. It takes the rest of the day to draft it and to sign it, but finally they are all free with all their gear returned to them. They return to the house to find it intact but a bit ruffled. They go downstairs and find that the walls were never breached. They do this themselves and find that the devils had also desecrated the old temple of Dunay, just in case the bluecloaks managed to find it. However, the party is feeling more lawful and decides that they should report it. They go to Gelrin first and again there is more bureaucratic hassle as this last wrinkle is taken care of. But it doesn't seem to result in any new charges.
Ulrich appears later and returns the stuff that was entrusted to him by the eladrin. They fill him in on their findings of Crystalia and talk about going back. Ulrich questions them, "Why? What will you find that the devils didn't already take?" Already the party has discovered that the entire tunnel that they were using has been collapsed while they were rotting in jail. They reach an important revelation when they talk about the map they found in Crystalia and the location of Reym. It fits in with their initial divinations from The Temple of Epolde. They realize that the prize they are seeking is in the claw that is not a claw. That the prize was indeed the location of lost Reym, which they already know now.
Excited, they ask Ulrich to help them teleport using greater teleport to get directly to Reym. The spell fails however, surprising everyone. They try again, for some place outside the city and fail again. This time they are all stunned. They try a third time for a place just south of the Alsasian mountains and this time there is a great thunderclap and all are knocked to the ground with only 1 hp each. They decide that the next time will probably kill them so they will have to do the traveling the long way.
The next day as they are getting ready to leave, Lady Pine knocks on the door. They have no choice but have breakfast with her and thank her for her help in the trial. They ask her for domestic help on the house because they are going on vacation, needing to take a break from the city after the ordeal. She agrees happily. The party promises to tell her tales when they return. They tell her they aren't sure where they are going, possibly north. After she leaves they take a trip to Gelrin's to have him start an investigation as to how this whole thing with the trial started. Who gave the tip? Finally, they mount phantom steeds and fly out of the city in broad daylight. On their way they notice that a large contingent of bluecloaks is moving brazenly into the city. Is this a consequence of that search warrant? The bluecloak compound looks like it has tripled in size since they last looked at it.
In no time at all they are across Krewald and flying over the sea. In a few hours they see a huge fog bank reaching from horizon to horizon to the east and it appears to go far up into the sky and even under the water. This must be it. They detect artifact level magic and true seeing reveals nothing new. Osric and Eldrin remember seeing this from the island with the red dragon. They keep going and Osric's horse begins to fade. Even more disturbing - the glow from his armor also fades. That has never happened before. The speculate about artifact level antimagic. They decide to try and ride to the north through the mountains and find the river that was on the map that leads into Reym. They plan to walk down it. They camp on the south coast outside of the fog.
The next morning they are surprised by an eldritch giant and have to battle it, but its spellcasting proves overwhelming. Osric is killed by its mighty sword while the party is separated by walls of force. Fortunately, they defeat it but they must retreat back to Althofen to get Osric resurrected by Franklin. They return to loot the giant and to return to the house to rest. They find a strange weapon that no one has ever seen before. They are clearly on the borders of unknown lands. They buy items that will work in an antimagic field and provisions in case Croom can't summon food and return to the coast. This time they fly through the mountains around the fog until they notice a strange mountain peak. It grabs their attention even more when they spot a dwarven troop trying to climb it. They meet them on a plateau where a cave entrance leads into the mountain. The troop is led by a certain Baron Hagenti, and it appears that the Baron has had some sort of holy vision about this mountain. He is leading the dwarves there to explore it. They agree to explore together in the morning.
They enter the cave and notice that the ground and walls become much smoother than a natural cave first. They find ancient ruts like wagon wheels. The enter a vast cavern and a bit farther in they find a cliff face. They find a broken stone arch bridge and then fire a daylight arrow across to find an entry to a floating castle above a great chasm. In the castle they find the broken remains of golems with burn marks on them. Beyond the courtyard is a single building with an entrance again 60 feet large. While this exploration has been continuing, they have been getting more and more suspicious of this Baron. They get the feeling that he is evil and slimy, but have no proof. They enter the building and now hear a thumping noise. They reach the center of the building, which is another 100 ft. radius and in the center they find a greater stone golem limping around a crystal obsidian plinth and a purple crystal ball set in front of it on the ground.. Osric gets too close and the golem animates, slowing the group and taking Osric down in a few hits. Walls of force and acid fog, however, whittle it down until it can be destroyed easily and Osric is healed up. They inspect the plinth carefully, careful not to touch it. They presume it controls the fog around Reym in some way. Detect magic reveals nothing. They are circumspect about talking about it in front of Baron Hagenti. They go further in and find that the road continues to large 60 foot portal. The wheel ruts stop at it. The portal is easily big enough for giants and dragons, but it lies silent and dormant.
They return back to the plinth and discuss some more carefully. Unfortunately, the Baron attaches himself to the party and walks with Osric around the plinth. John guesses that the purple crystal must be placed in the plinth and tells the party this secretly using message so the Baron doesn't overhear. Osric touches the crystal ball and suddenly the party is surrounded by an illusion image and a voice speaks in a language that no one can understand. Even after John drinks a potion of tongues, he can't figure it out. This is what the image shows:
The Reyman peninsula as seen by the sky looking alive and vibrant with cities and roads and ships on the seas, the point of view then swoops down towards a vast city easily 20 miles wide. Glimpses are caught of sprawling villas, fountains of fire, water, and ice, gleaming doorways standing in mid-air, and all manner of magnificent building of white marble. At last the point of view comes to a hilltop with a vast complex of buildings, at least a mile in diameter itself. From these structures of white marble spires fly thousands of banners all depicting various symbols of heraldry that go by too quick to see.
Then we are within a vast hall with a floor of gold and gleaming crystal columns. The sun shines brightly upon the place, and you realize that by cunning magic it appears as if the room has no roof and the sun shines down upon it. On a dais rising at least 50 feet is a massive throne of diamond. Standing in front of it is a humanoid figure wrapped in a white toga, his legs exposed, wearing sandals of fine gold. His features are unearthly beautiful, and while he looks like a man, he is clearly not. Upon his head is a massive crown made entirely out of light that coruscates through the spectrum. He holds a scepter of gold with which he gestures.
Before the throne is a thousand of what can only be described as wizards, men of power. They bear distinct impressions of power, and hold various instruments that clearly thrum with magic. They are of all races and mere glimpses are caught of elves, dwarves, a few strange looking short humanoids, some with wings, some with tentacles upon their face, and other strange things.
Then the point of view changes, rising up again as the gathered throng of wizards are now seen in a joined circle at the center of the city and from their combined chanting there is a burst of white fog that spreads out and as the POV moves upward it spreads outward to encompass the entire peninsula.
Then the POV moves to the far north to a complex of white buildings at the inside edge of the fog and inside a large hall similar to the one they are standing in now with a vast portal and before it another plinth with a yellow crystal gem. Giants can be seen pulling vast carts full of goods and the POV moves with them through the portal into the very room the party is standing now where there is another plinth and a blue crystal.
Then the scene changes and before them in the room is a wizard, old, dressed in a scarlet toga. His hair is white and his facial hair is long drooping sideburns. His features are humanoid but not human. He walks over and picks up the blue crystal while talking still, gestures out the cave, then fades out.
The baron suggests that they explore the rest of the castle and then go camp the night outside on the ledge. The party is again suspicious but agrees. Nothing new is found, but the party notices the rest of the dwarves glance at the baron strangely when he suggests they camp outside. During the talking out on the ledge, Croom lets slip the words Crystalia and Lemegeton. The baron is most interested in these and the party tries to cover up the slip but the interest of the baron is undisguised. They will use comprehend languages in the morning and the baron insists that he be included in this. Croom says he'll agree if the baron will enter an antimagic field. The baron scoffs at this. Meanwhile, John has taken out the Cursed Book of Travel and searched the list of names from the Lemegeton. He finds Hagenti.
Everyone on alert, Croom makes a move to cast antimagic field and the camp erupts into battle. The baron gets the punch and sinks into the stone. However, John uses disintegrate on the area and nukes it, but the baron resists. Croom tries destruction, but again the baron resists. The Baron disappears with greater teleport and the party speculates while continuing to cast buff spells. After a minute, Croom hears a noise from inside the cave and they know the Baron teleported there. They pursue him there, discovering that the Baron has coated the floor with spike stones. John tries acid fog, but the baron is immune to acid and has freedom of movement from his own buffing. The Baron had also summoned demonic allies of a type that the party has never seen before. The battle goes on for a while and the baron then uses an earthquake that buries the party, killing some of the dwarves. The rest of the dwarves work to free Eldrin and Wilhelm. The Baron has an antilife shell up so he cannot be approached and the battle is most one of magic and ranged attacks. Finally, over time the Baron's stoneskin goes down and he starts taking real damage. Heavily wounded after a protracted battle, he teleports away defeated but not killed. The party has had their first encounter with a spirit of the Lemegeton.
During the battle, the Baron revealed that his crime was to destroy a mountain and all in it. Most likely this was dwarves. Dargon, the second in command of the dwarves, has no memory of such an event in history. Croom tries to find the Baron using discern location but fails. Finally, there is nothing left but to go back to the room and use magic to get a translation of the illusion. What they hear is this:
"In the last days of the Reyman Empire, while the beauty and splendor still remained, the last Emperer Inachius XXXVII, decreed that Reym must be protected from the raging kingdoms that had splintered from the Empire. He gathered the Mille Veneficus Auxilium and commanded them to secure the Empire with an impassable barrier. And thus, the Auxilium joined in the greatest casting of magic since the Epoch of Fleutian when the great gates to the planes were created, two eons ago. None may pass within or without the great barrier. One portal only allowed passage to and from Reym, and this only with a key in its place: yellow to exit the barrier, blue to enter.
Many questioned the wisdom of this, but the command of the Emperor was to be obeyed. And thus it was for three centuries, and for a time there was peace and prosperity again. But when the Emperor passed, there was no heir and chaos reigned. I, Quintus Publius, leader of the Auxilium, foresaw that this was the end of the Empire. The secrets of Reym had to be preserved, and I foresaw that the last portal must be closed for a time. I have taken the entry key and made many copies. These have been hidden across the ancient great empire and given to those races I trust, and have always proven their loyalty to the Emperor in times past, until the time comes when passage must be granted."
Armed with this new knowledge, the party says their good byes to the dwarves and teleports back to Althofen once again. They try to decide what to do next. They have no idea where the blue crystal key might be. What races did the old wizard trust? They assume that Quintus himself must have had a key and perhaps it is buried with him. But they have no way of finding that. John and Croom go to visit Hans and he reminds them about the Reyman export Thaddeus Gren who might be found in Cyneburh. Lance the gardener tries to get his job back but is turned away. He also has finished Starkad's backup two bladed sword. Wilhelm starts making a tuning fork in case the only way home from wherever they end up is via plane shift.
While wiling away the time, they try to use discern location on Lady Pine and get no reading. They connect that they get the same result when trying to find Baron Hagenti and the wizard in blue robes, pince-nez and red hat. They also remember the letter introducing them to Count Plutho but dismiss the idea because of the source. Suddenly, they wonder if perhaps the dragons might be allies that Quintus might have trusted a copy of the key with. It would make sense considering the dragon claw shape of the Reyman peninsula, the divinations from the temple of Epolde, and the ghostly armies that fought on the side of Reym they saw in the Black Forest that included dragons. What else do they have to lose, they think? It's time to go to Draconia.
They gather their supplies, Hans and Wilhelm, and invoke the amulet by saying the name. Draconia.
They arrive on the top of a mountain amidst some ruins buried in snow. The wind is biting and the cold is instantaneous. They were unprepared for arctic conditions and have to hastily erect protective spells and pull out the clothing. But it isn't enough at first. They end up battling an ice golem that was guarding the ruins, but it is dealt with easily. John tries to teleport everyone away to somewhere warm and instantly fails. They try to return to Althofen and fail again. They try to plane shift and fail again. They are trapped here. After experimenting with magic they learn a few interesting things. His area fire spells are widened automatically. Eldrin's hawk scouts and finds that there is something interesting both to the east and to the west. They decide to try for east. They summon the trusty phantom steeds and set out. They quickly learn that flying spells grant one maneuverability category better than normal. They travel on, discovering some other ice creatures that are hostile that must be defeated. They camp in an indentation in a mountain.
The next day they spot something white flying towards them. It is their first dragon, a white one and an old and powerful one at that. They prepare defensive spells which helps a lot. They must use flying steeds and spells to battle the dragon who refuses to land. Osric is grappled at one point but Croom flies up and casts freedom of movement on him to free him. The dragon retaliates by killing Croom's flying steed and Croom plummets out of sight. In these critical seconds they manage to defeat the dragon while John chase after Croom. Croom tries plan after plan to save himself as he falls, but all fails. Croom hits the side of the mountain and survives that and the damage he takes while sliding down and by a miracle he snags a rock and anchors himself from falling further. He uses a smokestick to tell the party where to recover him from and they do. Back on the ledge they summon more mounts to get out of this dangerous area.
Towards sunset they encounter another dragon, this one a curious silver dragon named Halcilof. The dragon lands with them on a ledge and shimmers into the form of a young man happily agog at this new form. He tries to speak with them but it is necessary to use tongues to communicate. They start into their story and he tells them that they had better come to Colleva. They fly south across the glacier plain until they reach the city of the silver dragons - the long mountain peak. There are hundreds of silver dragons there, flying and cavorting around the mountain. As they land the dragons curiously come to see them. The party notices that as soon as the dragons study them, the dragons start taking on human form. It seems like they haven't ever seen humans before to know the form until they see the party. Halcilof takes the party to a small cave where they can camp.
The next day Halcilof takes the party to meet a revered ancient wyrm named Muxenum at the top of the mountain peak. He meets them as a colossal wyrm first then shifts into the form a kindly old man. He listens to their story about needing help against the evil threatening their world. They mention that they are from Reym in order to put them in better graces, or perhaps as an easier connection. The dragons certainly wouldn't have heard of Krewald or Gwynyth Raius. Muxenum says it is impossible that they are from Reym. They pull out their map and show him correctly where it would be, but he still insists that they can't be from there. He says that there are no more humans there. The party insists they are not lying and that humans are everywhere where they come from. They ask about the blue crystal and Quintus. He says he will think about their request and see them later. They explore what they can of the city of silver dragons. There are no shops and no piles of loot that they were hoping for.
Muxenum meets them again and says he might be able to help them somewhat with some information if they will prove themselves true allies and earn his trust by helping out with a small task. It seems there is a tribe of frost giants that is growing in strength. They may or may not be in league with the white dragons and their city to the west. He gives the party directions and asks them to deal with the leader of the frost giants to break the tribe apart. They agree to this and set out. They find the valley of the frost giants easily but must camp and prepare before entering.
Entering the valley the next morning they spot a well fortified defensive cliff where the giants are holed up. They also spot a flying white shape, another dragon most likely. They sneak up and Wilhelm uses earthquake to ruin the giant's ambush and defenses. It works well, but Osric is trapped too by accident. The giants try to hurl boulders but magic defeats them. The giants retreat inside. The party uses invisibility to sneak in past the waiting giants to surprise them inside. They succeed and attack the giants at choke points within their lair. The fighting gets a bit more difficult as their resources are used up and the tougher leaders start making appearances. Finally, the leader Kuracon himself joins the fight and things get really tough. He comes with a sorcerer giant minion and that also causes lots of trouble. A few well timed spells manage to slow them down but eventually Kuracon destroys Osric with several blows of his frosty axe. Starkad is able to finish him off and the rest of the giants flee.
The party loots the sorcerer and Kuracon. Starkad removes the leader's head and ties it around his neck by its hair. They go to the leader's headquarters and find an escape tunnel. They also find a chest with some loot in it and some papers that mention the name Scalabis. They mourn over the passing of Osric, remembering his vow that his previous return to the living was going to be his last. They believe that he will not respond to such magics now. They look over the magic items and try to decide how Osric might want to be buried.