📘 Session 26 – The Voice of the Ravines and the Frozen Guardian

🎵 Music

[Session 26 music / cover-art thumbnail placeholder]

Title, cover art and audio/video embed to be added after the factual recap is approved.

🖼️ Images

• [Image 01 – Leydrick faces the Mummy Lord]
• [Image 02 – High Jinks and Tick Tock’s last moments]
• [Image 03 – High Jinks bargains with the blue dragon]
• [Image 04 – Valen’s Fireball in the frozen temple]

Replace these placeholder links with approved BookStack gallery images.

🪐 Campaign Arc

• Campaign: Spelljammer
• Session: 26 – The Voice of the Ravines and the Frozen Guardian
• Date: 10 October 2026
• Dungeon Master: James / Jamie / Sicareus
• Setting: Sand-choked serpent temple in Carceri → ruined temple in a high mountain valley → portal to an icy temple and its frozen guardian
• Next Session: 24 October 2026 (agreed at the table)

🎬 Previously On...

Session 25 ended in the sand-buried counterpart of the serpent ziggurat. The portal back to Cathrys had disappeared, a storm raged outside, and the party had been discovered by a Mummy Lord and three Mummies. Dino had already suffered repeated paralysis and heavy punishment; Leydrick had turned some of the lesser undead, while Valen, Rigg and High Jinks had committed powerful attacks. The battle was still in progress when play stopped.

Beyond that immediate fight, the party remained compelled by Primus’ command to pursue the Illithids through Carceri toward the Red Prison and the imprisoned Tharizdun. Roughly twenty Illithids had preceded them through the serpent temple, and one badly wounded Alhoon had escaped their previous ambush by planar travel. Rigg continued to question the wisdom of the task even as the others felt its supernatural pull.

🧭 Overview

The party resumed the struggle in the sand temple with dangerous conditions still hanging over them. The Mummy Lord’s lair magic hindered lower-level spellcasting, its gaze had already cost Dino precious turns, and its undead allies kept pressing the wounded party. The fight shifted decisively when Leydrick, himself struck by Mummy Rot and saved from a potentially disastrous blow by Dino’s Protective Field, burned the Mummy Lord away with Sear Undead. The remaining Mummies were brought down in turn, but one killed High Jinks’ Sprite familiar, Tick Tock, before the last undead fell.

After the fight, the group recovered an ornate but nonmagical staff, rested in the sealed chamber and found transportation magic carved into a sarcophagus. Leydrick used Remove Curse to deal with the Mummy Rot, High Jinks called forth a new Sphinx of Wonder familiar, and Valen activated the forward route with his Wand of Translocation. The portal opened into another ruined version of the temple, this time set amid impossibly high mountain peaks. There, the party found an invisible adult blue dragon bound to guard the passage. High Jinks negotiated their way past it by surrendering a magical wand rather than starting a fight they were under no obligation to win.

The dragon uncovered a hidden portal and warned that the next guardian would be less inclined to talk—and that venturing onto the frozen sea beyond would be extremely dangerous. The warning proved timely. Through the portal, the party entered a bitterly cold temple occupied by a stationary Ice Devil and Ice Mephits lurking among the high icy formations overhead. Rigg launched a surprise attack, prompting a new battle; the Ice Devil badly injured and slowed Dino, while melee attacks and successive Fireballs caused the mephits to burst into clouds of deadly ice. The session ended at the top of a new round, with the Ice Devil encounter still unresolved.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Party Members

Character	Player	Class/Subclass	Race	Notable Actions
Garrick “Rigg” Dalhart	Moose / Ben / Elemunk	Rogue (Swashbuckler)	Human	Pressed the remaining Mummies with ranged Sneak Attack; found portal inscriptions while keeping watch on the sarcophagus; offered beer and a bell during the dragon standoff; opened the frozen-temple ambush with a stealthy wrench strike and Fire Strike; killed a mephit at close quarters.
Leydrick Gefinhal	Jared / Galindis	Cleric (Life Domain)	Dwarf	Risked attacks and the Mummy Rot curse; Sear Undead destroyed the Mummy Lord; cast Remove Curse before the party pressed on; later restored 32 HP to Dino with Cure Wounds and reapplied Shield of Faith during the ice fight.
High Jinks	Kate / Keitachan	Warlock (Great Old One)	Tabaxi	Lost Tick Tock during the undead battle and struck back with Eldritch Blast; summoned Tiv v2, a Sphinx of Wonder; noticed the concealed dragon and secured passage by offering the Wand of Winter; used her Ring of Spell Storing to cast Fireball and directed the Sphinx’s Rend against an ice foe.
Dynoth “Dino Roar” Rokos	Robb / Baconbuff	Artificer (Battle Smith) / Fighter	Githyanki	Used Second Wind, Moon-Touched and Dancing Longswords, and Psionic Strike; reduced a near-fatal hit on Leydrick by 9 damage with Protective Field; later endured the Ice Devil’s punishing strikes and slowing effect, used Absorb Elements and continued attacking.
Valen Pyre	Justin / Slitzer	Wizard (Evoker)	Human	Discovered the Mummy Lord was immune to his Rod of Rulership; finished the final Mummy with Fire Bolt; recovered the 500 gp serpent staff; studied the sarcophagus’s transport magic and activated the forward portal; detonated a 4th-level Sculpted Fireball in the ice chamber.

Active companions: Dino’s Steel Defender continued with the party; Valen’s weasel familiar was called Ember; Tick Tock was destroyed, while Tiv v2 (Sphinx of Wonder) was active in the later encounters. 

📍 Key Locations

• Sand-Choked Temple / Mummy Chamber: The continuation of Session 25’s battle, with pillars for cover, a sarcophagus, no second conventional exit, and a sandstorm sounding outside.
• Runed Sarcophagus: Discovered during the long rest; its lid carried two transportation spells, one apparently pointing back and the other further along the route.
• Ruined Mountain Temple: A counterpart of the serpent temple within a valley encircled by extraordinarily high stone peaks. This was the blue dragon’s magically enforced post.
• Dragon’s Hidden Portal: Concealed beneath debris beside a statue and exposed by the dragon after the party paid tribute.
• Frozen Temple: A frigid chamber with approximately 60-foot-high ceilings, hanging ice formations, hidden mephits, and the Ice Devil at its centre.

📑 Session Highlights

• Undead pressure: The Mummy Lord’s lair action imposed a DC 16 Constitution save on attempts to cast spells of 4th level or lower, risking necrotic damage and wasted spells. Its Channel Negative Energy had also interfered with healing.
• Protection under pressure: Dino recovered 9 HP using Second Wind and Leydrick supplied major healing. When Leydrick faced a punishing blow, Dino’s Protective Field removed 9 damage, leaving the cleric standing with the fight still in doubt.
• The lord falls: After Rod of Rulership failed against the charm-immune Mummy Lord and Rigg suffered fear and paralysis, Leydrick used Channel Divinity: Sear Undead. A modest 9 radiant damage was enough to reduce the lord to dust.
• Tick Tock’s last battle: High Jinks’ Sprite attacked with its shortbow and attempted to use invisibility, but a Mummy ultimately struck it down. High Jinks retaliated against the offending undead; Valen finished the last remaining Mummy with Fire Bolt. All four undead were defeated.
• The treasure was not a cursed artifact: Valen recovered an ornate, snake-carved staff from the Mummy Lord’s remains. The DM identified it as nonmagical, worth 500 gp; further searching did not reveal another significant prize.
• Rest, repair and preparation: The party completed a long rest despite the storm outside. Rigg spotted the transportation inscriptions; Valen studied them and later used Wand of Translocation. Leydrick’s logged Remove Curse addressed his Mummy Rot. High Jinks summoned a replacement familiar and arranged for healing spells to be placed in her spell-storing ring.
• A dragon that could be reasoned with: High Jinks’ enhanced sight revealed the initially invisible adult blue dragon. It called itself the “Voice of the Ravines” and explained that an unidentified figure had tricked it and bound its soul to guard the passage. It acknowledged the previous Illithids had passed while it was incapacitated by strange music.
• Magic, not beer: The dragon rejected or showed little interest in Rigg’s beer, the recovered Alhoon crystal, gold and the ornate staff. It sought an item of power; High Jinks offered the Wand of Winter, and the dragon accepted, granting passage but warning that the group would not return through its territory.
• Warning before descent: The dragon exposed the next portal and told the party to avoid the great frozen sea. Another guardian and portal lay further in, but the next guardian was unlikely to be as conversational.
• Ice ambush and explosive magic: Rigg opened with a 29-damage wrench/Sneak Attack strike plus 3 fire damage. The Ice Devil retaliated against Dino with severe piercing, bludgeoning and cold damage, limiting his movement and actions. Rigg destroyed one mephit in melee; High Jinks’ ring-powered 3rd-level Fireball killed two; Valen’s 4th-level Sculpted Fireball produced a cascade of further icy death bursts without directly burning protected allies.

Table moment: After the loss of Tick Tock, High Jinks asked whether “crying is a free action.” The answer, thankfully, was yes.

⚔️ Encounter Resolution

Creature / Companion	Final Status	Notes
Mummy Lord	Destroyed	Disintegrated after Leydrick’s Sear Undead.
Three Mummies	Destroyed	Fought through Turn Undead, sword strikes, blasts and Fire Bolt; none survived the tomb encounter.
Tick Tock (Sprite)	Destroyed	Killed by a Mummy in the sand temple.
Tiv v2 (Sphinx of Wonder)	Active	Summoned after the long rest; contributed Rend in the ice battle.
Blue Dragon, “Voice of the Ravines”	Alive / Bound	Did not fight. Accepted magical tribute and remained as guardian of its temple.
Ice Mephits	Seven bursts logged; one apparently still active	Roll20 lists eight Mephits in initiative and seven Death Burst triggers. Immediately before pausing, the DM referred to “the last remaining” creature moving in; this appears to be the surviving Mephit. Retain it on the initiative tracker until the exact token state is confirmed.
Ice Devil (Gelugon)	Alive / Combat ongoing	Took attacks and fire damage; its final hit points and conditions were not established before the session stopped.
Dino’s Steel Defender	Active; HP unconfirmed	Took part in the undead battle and was still referred to as present before the ice encounter.

🎭 Key Scenes

1. The Last Nine Points — Leydrick and the Mummy Lord

Already hurt and carrying the threat of Mummy Rot, Leydrick faced the Mummy Lord inside the sand-filled chamber. His answer was another use of divine power: Sear Undead. The result was hardly the overwhelming roll anyone might have imagined—just nine radiant damage—but it was enough. The lord shrieked and turned to dust, leaving its lesser servants to face the party without it.

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2. “Crying Is a Free Action” — High Jinks and Tick Tock

Tick Tock had already risked an ineffectual poisoned arrow against creatures that could not be poisoned, and had tried to slip away under invisibility. The effort was not enough. A Mummy landed the blow that destroyed the little Sprite. High Jinks answered with force magic against the attacker, then asked the table whether crying counted as a free action. It did. The remains of the familiar lay among the ruined wrappings and debris after the fighting.

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3. The Most Reluctant Customer — High Jinks and the Blue Dragon

In the ruined mountain temple, High Jinks was among the first to discern the massive dragon concealed from the others. Rather than attack, she spoke to the bound guardian, learning that it could neither abandon its post nor simply allow travellers to use its portals. Beer, gold and curious trophies were not the price it wanted. A Wand of Winter, however, held its attention. High Jinks presented it with the confidence of a merchant offering a warranty; the dragon accepted, revealed the way onward and expressed no desire to see its visitors again.

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4. Fire Under the Ice — Valen and the Ice Devil

Within the freezing chamber, the Ice Devil stood amid the last stages of a chaotic fight. Valen measured out a 4th-level Fireball—with a brief reminder that the spell reaches twenty feet in radius, not diameter—and shaped the blast to spare nearby allies. The fire detonated across the icy creatures. Mephits erupted in cold fragments as they died, forcing fresh Constitution saves from those close enough to catch the bursting ice. When the resulting damage was settled, the encounter had not ended: the Ice Devil remained standing and one last mephit appeared to move in before the pause.

🧵 Ongoing Threads & Plot Hooks

• Primus’ mandate and Tharizdun: The party is still following the command to reach the Red Prison, stop the Illithids and release the imprisoned “Resident.” Whether that command serves anyone’s interests but Primus’ remains a serious concern.
• The Illithids ahead: The group that passed through the serpent ziggurat remains unaccounted for in these newer temples. No new Illithid bodies or traces were confirmed in the frozen chamber on arrival.
• The escaped Alhoon and other pursuers: The badly wounded Alhoon from Session 25 escaped to an unidentified plane; the rival expedition noted in earlier sessions has not been resolved.
• The dragon’s binding: The blue dragon claimed that an unidentified figure tricked it and bound its soul to the ruined mountain temple. It remained imprisoned after the bargain. Its personal name was spoken unclearly in the transcription; “Voice of the Ravines” is the reliable designation.
• Frozen temple route: The dragon described another portal further down, but none had yet been located inside the ice chamber. Its warning about the frozen sea still stands; the Ice Devil must be dealt with or bypassed.
• Alhoon crystals: The properties of the crystal recovered in Session 25 remain unknown. One was presented to the blue dragon as prospective tribute but did not interest it; the record does not establish that the dragon kept it.

💰 Loot & Discoveries

Item / Discovery	Finder / Holder	Description / Status
Ornate Snake-Carved Staff	Valen	Recovered from the Mummy Lord. Nonmagical; appraised at 500 gp by the DM. Offered to the dragon without success; no confirmed transfer.
Sarcophagus Portal Inscriptions	Rigg discovered; Valen identified	Two transportation effects carved into the lid: a possible return route and a deeper route. Valen’s Wand of Translocation powered the forward portal, and the party travelled onward.
Wand of Winter	High Jinks → Blue Dragon	Surrendered as magical tribute. A previously acquired wand; it is no longer a confirmed party-held item after this exchange.
Ring of Spell Storing	High Jinks	At the table, the intended loadout was Fireball, a 3rd-level Healing Word, and a 1st-level Cure Wounds. The Fireball was cast from the ring in the ice encounter. Inventory check: if the Fireball was 3rd level, those three stored spells total seven spell levels, exceeding the ring’s usual five-level capacity; confirm the DM’s accepted loadout and remaining spells.
Tick Tock / Tiv v2	High Jinks	Tick Tock, the Sprite from Session 25, was destroyed. During the subsequent long rest High Jinks summoned Tiv v2, a Sphinx of Wonder. This is a companion replacement, not treasure.
Information from the Blue Dragon	High Jinks / Party	The guardian had been soul-bound by a mysterious figure; strange music had overcome it when the Illithids passed. It revealed a hidden portal and warned of the frozen sea and the next guardian.

The serpent staff: A worked staff ornamented with a carved snake at its head. The Mummy Lord’s apparent symbol of office proved valuable for its craftsmanship, not its magic.

The Wand of Winter: A previously recovered magical wand whose value in this session was not a spell cast, but the fact that it could persuade a captive, dangerous dragon to let the party pass.

No new coin, additional magical loot or reward from the ice encounter was confirmed before the session ended.

⏳ Cliffhanger

• The party is still in the frozen temple, partway through the fight begun after Rigg’s surprise attack.
• The Ice Devil remains alive as combat turns back toward the top of the initiative order. Seven Mephit death bursts are logged, but the DM described one last creature moving in; the guardian has not been defeated.
• Dino has been badly struck and affected by the devil’s slowing attack; Leydrick’s healing and Shield of Faith have helped keep him fighting. Exact remaining HP and duration of conditions should be carried forward from the table state.
• The way deeper toward the Illithids and the Red Prison has not yet been found. The blue dragon’s route behind them is not promised as a way back.
• Next Session: 24 October 2026.