A moment of quiet was needed after last week’s desperate battles – and with the discovery that all the known passes out of the area had been blocked with avalanches or rock falls the opportunity had to be seized. The promised airdock for House Lyrandar airships had yet to start construction, but the gnomes of House Sivis were able to at least get news from the outside world.

Caeluma spent a good portion of the week in meditation and contemplation of their path. When they emerged, it was to announce that they were setting aside the path of trickery and chance but embracing the protection of nature and growth – still within the pantheon of the Sovereign Host, just following a different focus.

This led to a need to get some new equipment, as well as wanting to see Coal and Odif again, and so the slumbering portal linked back to Windhaven was cajoled back into life – and the DDC went home.

Here, there was still snow, but it was more of a dusting than the magnificent glaciers they had grown used to. The streets were bustling and full of life, and there was shopping to be done! Caeluma headed for the beauticians – specialist magewrights as it turned out, with abilities to make unusual tattoos and alterations at a very reasonable set of prices alongside more traditional cutting of hair and application of makeup elements.

Kerne dragged Karkanna to the university and the library stacks to research the badges and signs picked off the trolls recently. They found names for the Circle of Rot and hints of links back to the Winter’s Knight. The lore drop recently in these pages essentially rounded out what was revealed. It gave some sense of the scale of what they might be facing.

Arwan went to find the local Jorasco storefront in the area and in between helping out assembled care packages and first aid kits for the Hold and its people. Valenia went in search of better equipment, and was eventually able to get an improved enchantment for her bow, as well as a mithral chain shirt.

Thorin relaxed and had a quiet read.

Introducing Arwan to the peculiarities of the DDC’s house led to some interesting moments – from the mimics making themselves known, to Tanglefinger sabotaging the sink in their bathroom, and the discovery of small flying dinosaurs nesting in the eaves of the roof.

Then, the night before they were due to go home, the DDC dragged Arwan to The Brazen Hydra for a night of drinking. Well, aside from Caeluma and Coal, who opted for a quiet evening at a restaurant together. Arwan didn’t have time to grab his mug of sobriety on the way out the door, and so for the first time had to try to keep up. He did rather well. He only fell out of his seat once, and there weren’t many spillages – unlike Thorin who got very drunk very quickly. Kerne and Karkanna seemed by contrast to handle their drinks well.

An extended game of darts didn’t cause any issues, though Valenia ended up sleeping under the table for half of it as the beer got the better of her. A raucous night was had by all – as witnessed by Caeluma and Coal, who saw the group streaking naked through the streets carrying Valenia. Rather than enquire, and largely to remove the memory of various flapping appendages, Caeluma and Coal went to the Clubhouse instead to have hot chocolate. There they found Odif asleep among his toys and tools, cuddling depictions of the DDC. They tucked him in, kissed him goodnight, and retired for the night.

Kerne and Karkanna were the only ones who woke in the DDC household in the morning without a hangover. The portal home awaited…