Upon explaining that we were seeking the prince, the shaman gave us permission to enter the Halls of Hel, the abandoned walled town thing which the prince was last spotted by and was the most likely place we would find him. We entered through a portcullis and found ourselves in a long, dark corridor. Travelling down it, we ran into some draugr (this demiplane is very norse themed, if you hadn’t guessed), which we killed with much aplomb. Further along, we emerged into the bottom of a ten foot deep pit, at the other side of which stood a gate.
Parvus, the gargoyle and I all climbed out, while Mercenary elected to remain at the bottom (on account of the difficulty of climbing with only one arm). Up above, we found a room with Ragnarok murals on the walls and levers to shift them around. We began shifting them (incidentally getting the order of lever pulls right on the first try) but as the second was pulled, a gate dropped down in the pit in the entrance we had come through – trapping Mercenary on the far side – and three more draugr emerged through the sandy floor.
We fought them, although collectively our attack rolls were terrible. Parvus jumped down into the pit, and Mercenary supported her until the we got the gates open and she could join the fight herself. As the draugr tried to climb out of the pit, I hit them with Thorn Whip or Thunderwave, knocking them back in (to occasionally land on the others, which was hilarious). Because of the poor rolling, it didn’t go as well as it could have, but we still managed it without too much trouble. In the aftermath of this fight and the last, I cast Healing Spirit, totally healing the party back up to full. It is quickly becoming my favourite spell.
Once we passed through the new gate, we emerged into the settlement. Most of the buildings were empty and devoid of any signs of what we were looking for, but there was one with no roof where there were clear signs of battle. I managed to spot various footprints in the snow, some humanoid-sized, some larger, and found a broken piece of horn belonging to the prince. As I began heading outside to search for more footprints, I walked into a large creature.
Big, hairy, warty, etc. It was a troll. There were trolls. I tried to converse with it and it recognised the prince’s name, but none of us spoke its language so we got no more than that. A second troll climbed into the building over one of the walls and then the first attacked us.
Parvus and the gargoyle attacked the second troll while Mercenary attacked the first before I cast Wall of Fire, pretty much the only fire damage any of us were capable of doing (torches and other non-magical flames immediately snuffed out in the freezing cold Halls – speaking of, we had been making Constitution saves because of the cold, and by this point we were all on one level of exhaustion). The fire wall hit both trolls and Parvus as well, because it was unavoidable.
As the fight continued, Mercenary locked the first troll down with Sentinel, preventing it from getting out of the wall of fire. Parvus came in to help finish it off and it died quickly. The other managed to get out of the wall, and no amount of my Thunderwaving and Thorn Whipping could get it back in. The others surrounded it, keeping its hit points low despite its regenerating, but we had no more fire or acid damage with which to finish it off.
Then I had an idea. While the others kept attacking it, I went over to my wall of fire and stuck my arm in, casting Absorb Elements to reduce the damage and capture some fire for my next melee attack. Unfortunately, that attack missed. Fortunately, my wall was still there, so I could try it again.
Unfortunately, in the meantime, the troll launched a devastating series of attacks against Mercenary, knocking her unconscious. Equally unfortunately, as I stuck my arm in my wall again, I failed my concentration check to keep it up, which meant my next attack was my last chance. Luckily, I hit, and did some fire damage among the rest. On the troll’s next turn, it died, and the fight was over.
We revived Mercenary and then found a place to bunker down for a long rest. Unfortunately, the cold was still draining us, so we had to cut it down into only a short rest before leaving the Halls of Hel. By the time we got out, the cold had notched Mercenary and Parvus up to three levels of exhaustion, though I was still only on one.
We returned to the shaman and rested by his fire, taking a bit of extra time to get fully healed up. He took the horn from us and used his magic to locate the prince, whom he saw in the east, where the trolls live. Luckily enough, I used the long rest to swap out some spells to get a bit more fire damage under my belt, so we should be a bit more prepared for trolls next time.
But that was where we finished, readying ourselves to embark on the journey east, to find the prince. It was a slightly shorter session than usual, but at least we are now prepared for what we will be facing next week. Hopefully we can find the prince and extra hopefully there won’t be too many trolls standing in the way. We shall see.