Legends of Old Urthe - Hell on Urthe  (D&D v3.5)
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Fifth Age - Hell on Urthe: In the Lair of the White Wyrm

Guided by the Wild Men, the party travelled through the misery of snowstorms and freezing cold of the Ice Wastes for seven days. By the time they reached the Uinrandor graveyard, deep snow had given way to treacherous ice, and the driving winds cut like a knife. Two great ribs, set tip to tip formed an arch beyond which the ice was littered with the skeletal remains of hundreds of Uinrandor.

The graveyard was taboo to the Wild Men, and they would not trespass upon it, but one came forward, named Carak, who in his youth had dared break that law, and who presented Hamin with a foot long yellow fang he had found before he fled in fear. The Speaker for the Wild Men condemned Carak's cowardice and ordered him to prove himself by guiding the party to the place where he found the tooth.

The icy winds of the Wyrm's breath was cruelly cold, but the party endured it, Carak guiding them through the tunnels he had trod so long ago, but when the path of the Wild Man's memory was found to be blocked by a rock fall, the party were forced to find another way.

Avoiding the unseen beasts that dwelt in the dark waters of an underground lake, the party encountered the shades of men in the halls of worked stone beyond. Given voice by Amhairghin's music, the shades told that in the last days of the Fourth Age, charged by a Voice of Oghma, they had fled from the walls of Wizard's Keep with a relic of their faith, the Book of Foretelling. Betrayed by one of their own, even in death their vows bound them, but they were released by the Bard's promise and surrendered the Book to him.

The last of the shades guided the party to a stone gallery, from which a frozen lake could be seen, and in the centre an island, upon which twin crystal spires thrust skywards.

The party made their way down to the lake and across to those crystal spires, finding an archway set between them and beyond wide steps leading down into the dark. Neither Dwarf-sight nor conjured light could penetrate that darkness, but the Pearl given by Dinear not only provided illumination, but also penetrated glamours, revealing the Elven Saffaris beneath her wolf-form, and the half-man, half-snake that was Melzakre, though the party chose to accept his denials and protestations. As a token of his good faith, Melzakre handed Amhairghin a metal rod which Dinear had bid him use to capture a fragment of the power of the god she believed trapped behind the portal.

Passing through a circular chamber, rounding a deep ragged-edged shaft, the party continued downwards, assailed by the mad utterances of men and women frozen as statues, until their voices united in a dreadful harmony that brought a madness that was only kept at bay by Luthien's desperate song, though those voices somehow restored Melzakre's memory and reverting to his Snakeman form he turned against the party, covering his escape by throwing a bead from his necklace which erupted in flame, killing Viemon and badly injuring Saffaris and Amhairghin.

Continuing on, Alashan'an disabled a deadly blade trap as the party reached another circular chamber with a hole in the ceiling and most of the floor given way to a jagged-edged pit, into which the party descended, finding the corpse of a true giant and the Wyrm's nest, where Brugar and Hamin disposed of the creature's eggs.

Returning to the chamber, the party used the Pearl, now borne by Teagan, to pass through a mirror which revealed dark reflections of themselves that proved all too real, though contact with the Pearl seemed to keep them at bay.

Passing through a curtain of light, the party found were once more gripped by madness that stemmed from a glowing Orb, lying in a shallow pool, that set friend against friend, and were assailed by a huge creature formed from the waters, but eventually triumphed as Amhairghin's song freed Luthien to master the Orb.

And beyond that chamber ... the portal.

The plaster seal that bound the stone door was finally breached with Alasha'an's sword and Brugar's axe, and gave way to the final chamber, within which stood a great crystal globe filled with swirling clouds of green mist within which the coils of something serpentine writhed in agony. An opening in the roof led to a wide shaft into which shone the full moon, casting its pale radiance upon the globe.

Teagan touched the Pearl to the globe causing it to explode, sharp shards cutting her deep and forcing crystal dust into her skin. Now freed, the sinuous snake-like form which the party believed to be the Great Serpent erupted from the remains of the shattered globe, launching itself up the shaft, spitting defiance in the face of the moon before it vanished in a flash of blinding light that saw Rhiannon's moon replaced by the sun of Belenus. Hamin and Brugar collected the shards and remaining dust, thinking them of some value.

As the party attempted to retrace their steps, they found the curtain of light gone, as was their shadow-selves and the mirror. But as they re-entered the chamber beyond, they were pelted with the remains of the Wyrm's broken eggs, thrown by Melzakre as he reappeared, which lured the Wyrm, an immense, wingless, snake-like beast, forth from its pit, its trilling cry mesmerising Brugar, Luthien, Carak and Teagan, holding them unmoving before it.

Saffaris rained fire down upon the Wyrm, as Alasha'an leapt towards it, her magic boots preventing her from falling into the pit as her dark blade bit deep. Amhairghin raised his voice to counteract the Wyrm's song and freed his companions from its effect, even as the Wyrm's fangs tore at Saffaris' flesh, leaving her bleeding and barely clinging to life.

Hamin, unable to reach the beast with his polearm, attacked the Wyrm with a dark metal wand from his belt, wounding it, while Amhairghin raised a song of healing to mend the worst of the Daughter's hurts.

Teagan was first to regain use of her limbs, and followed Saffaris' example, hurling a ball of flame towards the Wyrm. Luck was with the wizard as the fire ignited all the remaining beads in Melzakre's necklace causing a huge explosion, further hurting the beast, and almost finishing the Snakeman.

Carak dragged Luthien to safety, as Saffaris threw yet more flame against the Wyrm, Hamin fired his wand once more, and Brugar's hammer crushed Melzakre's skull. Teagan attacked with another ball of fire, just as Alasha'an's sword pierced the creature's body, finally finding its vitals.

Dying, the Wyrm exploded, launching icy missiles that cut through armour and flesh alike. Closest, Alasha'an bore the brunt and her lifeless body plummeted into the pit. Carak and Saffaris too were slain, though Teagan, Amhairghin and Hamin still clung to life, if barely.

Doughty Brugar, though bloody and battered, weathered the storm, and Luthien emerged unscathed thanks to Carak. Though weary, the pair fought and won their battle to save the wounded and Alasha'an's body was recovered, and thence restored by her strange gift of healing.

Ten entered the Wyrm's lair ... but only six would survive to return, though they bore the bodies of Viemon, Carak and Saffaris with them.

The Wild Men rejoiced at the party's return, though mourned with them their fallen and swelled with pride as they heard of Carak's role in the success of the venture.

Without, the party learned, three weeks had passed, though it was only days for those who entered the Wyrm's lair. The Wild Men had suffered attacks by the servants of the Pale One, though other tribes rallied to their aid, and the tide was turned as the mists were banished and Belenus' sun shone down.

The many dead, including Galeryn, were laid to rest near the Uinrandor graveyard, and the party's fallen with them, accorded a place of honour.

As their foes regrouped, the Wild Men vowed to remain and keep the horde from the party's backs as they returned to Ice Hold, to continue a quest but barely begun.

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