Easthaven ho!

 

Walking through the cold - stumbling his way towards Easthaven along with his companions, Alerayas discovered that Derrick Cain managed to somehow slip a note into his pocket without him knowing. The note mentioned a Bartaban in Easthaven at the White Lady Inn... but before he could finish reading it the group was attacked by a Yeti - who swept up Xyrmoira with fearsome furry fingers and then attempted to flee with its prospective meal. Luckily, the combined power of magic, steel, and Zojo's encouragement felled the beast before it could escape into the snow.

They continued on and reached Easthaven, where Xyrmoira took stock of the city using detect magic and noted some dwarf-sized footprints with a tinge of illusion magic - and the group decided to split up to view the city, with Alerayas and Dirk seeking out a church and the rest looking for the White Lady Inn that Elder Cain had mentioned.

What they found was more than they bargained for - on their way to the inn they bore witness to a fiery public execution where a man dressed in red was burned at the stake. Tish shmoozed it up with Imdra, the captain of the guard who dispassionately informed her that the man was D'zaan a wizard who was caught after killing a group of ten-towners and was executed to deter others. She mentioned that she may be in need of some help and that she could be reached at the town hall. The party left the bonfire and made their way to the inn.

Alerayas and Dirk made their way to the church to listen to the impassioned (if somewhat repetitive) preaching of the pastor. After the service he introduced himself as Nildor, a priest of Auril and gave some information about the eternal winter or 'Everlasting Rime'. He mentioned that it was magical in origin, and that at night around midnight an aurora of green could be seen in the sky; as well as occasionally a giant white bird flying through the sky. He also mentioned that Icewind Dale had been closed off to all but the hardiest of travelers with the glaciers moving and seas having turned perilous by Auril's magic.

Over at the White lady inn, the group arrived and was greeted stiffly by Bartaban, while a bard sang songs off in the corner. As they spoke about Derrick Cain Saffi and Zojo quickly realized that Bartaban was also speaking in thieves cant, and shortly after Saffi recognized that the note Cain had passed on contained a hidden message - indicating there was something under the Wet Trout, a local rowdy pub. They decided to investigate right there and then.

Over at the Wet Trout, a White Dragonkin tended to the bar and our heroes spied an inconspicuous cellar door that absolutely had to be snuck into. While Dirk averted the attention of the barkeeper and Zojo wooed the crowd with his woeful tale about his past, Xyrmoira cast a minor illusion over the cellar door which somehow lasted much longer than the typical one minute duration, Helvetica provided additional line-of-sight blocking,  while Saffi and Tish opened the cellar door and crept downwards.

Inside they found a dirty cellar, and searched for anything out of place. They settled eventually on three large wine barrels and used a trusty crowbar to pop open the first one. Tish was greeted by a hail of darts shooting out of the barrel - and while she managed to dodge out of the way with barely a scratch, she felt a numbing sensation slowly creeping up her body... Saffi quickly broke into the middle barrel with some quick deductive thinking and plumbed from its depths a sack.

The party quickly departed from the bar, Dirk thoroughly intoxicated from firebrand whiskey. Zojo was waiting outside with fishsticks for all. A thundering cry of rage came from within the bar and the party made the only logical choice - it was time to sneak/run their way back to the inn. 

Back at the White Lady Inn, the contents of the sack were dumped out. Inside they found three health potions, a white-out suit, some elegant gloves, some lovely (if slightly damaged) goggles, and a box. The box was empty, but the gloves and goggles turned out to be magical items.

With that everyone promptly went to sleep, and as they dreamt - they became level two adventurers. But will that be enough to face what tomorrow has in store for them?