[Savage Worlds] Winter War Campaign, Session 9: Close The Door Lightly

A week or so after returning to the smugglers' cave, the whole area was hit by a raging blizzard, by far the worst in at least a century. The tunnels down to the beach and up to the plateau were blocked with snow and the secret exit in the ruined manor was frozen solid as the blizzard hammered relentlessly outside the cave.

The PCs took the opportunity to build some gatehouses across the tunnels and kept the villagers working. The cave itself was pretty snug, insulated by rock and snow, so no one was terribly cold.

During one of the work days, Sir Aerik, Jay and Nostro were directing the construction when they noticed a faint outline on the wall of the cave. It looked like a doorway and the more they looked at it, the more it revealed iself to them.

The rest of the party arrived soon after this discovery and they proceeded to make sense of the now-emerging door. Keldon recognized the runes from a book his warmaster mentor had shown him but could not read them. Nostro, taking this bit of information, was able to translate them, determining that they talked about several characters from the distant past and some confusion whether this was a vault or a prison or some sort of a storage or library area.

Big warrior Joe, with his surprising knowledge of the arts, provided more information - the lines look primitive but are very detailed and he guessed the door would go inward. Nostro also calculated that the door is cold-based, only opening in a cold environment.

After warning the villagers off, the PCs bundled up and Nostro cast a series of freeze bolts at the door. The temperature dropped under the onslaught of the wizard's eldritch powers and the door opened a little bit each times the magical power struck it.

Soon, an eerie light was seen through the crack in the door and Keldon and Joe used brute strength to press the door open all the way. Nostro also figured out that the door would only remain open as long as the temperature was freezing, so the party trooped into the revealed tunnel and Nostro cast another freeze bolt to jam it open, giving them about 3 hours to explore.

Venturing within, the party found themselves traveling down a stair and in an octogonal room, with seven doors, one on each side of the octogon. Four doors opened and strange creatures stepped forward - they looked like ice/machine golems. Swinging their huge swords, they attacked!

The battle was long and hard fought. Again and again, the golems were dealt damaging blows that should have brought them down and each time, they recovered and renewed their attacks on the party. Father Ashlyn sought the help of Iridia and performed a ritual, starting to glow in the same light as these golems. As the PCs brought one after the other of the golems down, Father Ashlyn's glow increased more and more. When the final golem was close to destruction, he channeled the glow towards it and time slowed as the powerful glow transferred from the golem to the priest.

As the party recovered from the fight, Nostro, Mort and Father Ashlyn determined that time had indeed passed. Nostro figured only 1 hour had past, while Mort thought 6 hours were gone. Father Ashlyn, however, had the correct number - 11 hours had past and the door, held by Nostro's magic, was long closed.

Examining the closed door, the party found no way to escape and were forced to brave the dangers of the hall once again.

Next time: Tests and Recriminations!