As Grim sifted through the latest batch of accumulated letters back in port in Neketaka, he noted a particularly odd entry. Neither a complaint, a threat, nor an offer of work. An invitation to Star….
“Most Glorious Watcher,
I cordially invite you to a feast to be held in your honor. A community of like minds has congregated at Harbingers’ Watch, a small outpost located in the southern Deadfire Sea, to witness the Dead Floe’s rapid expansion.
Soon ice shall consume all, and Rymrgand’s dominion over dead Eora be unchallenged.
We eagerly anticipate hosting your magnificence.
With admiration for your many accomplishments,
Vatnir, High Harbinger of Dusk”
After the fatigue from their last few excursions, Grim felt a change-of-pace was in order for all of them, and so they geared up for colder climes and set sail. Upon arrival they found Harbinger’s Watch to be a small port community at the base of a huge glacial wall.
They were eagerly welcomed by robed villagers, and directed to a large central building.
While the villagers seemed friendly enough, some of their decor raised suspicions..
They were led to a large central building referred to as Harbinger’s Retreat, containing a small tavern and inn.
Inside they were directed to a large meeting area in the back to find their host Vatnir – who turned out to be an odd looking man preaching about the End Times. He excitedly pointed to Star and introduced her as “our honored guest the Duskspeaker”, and gave an oddly skewed account of their recent activities – making it seem as if they constantly left chaos and destruction in their wake. Not that that assessment was *entirely* unfounded, but it was an odd take greeted with even odder enthusiasm.
He seemed an amiable enough sort in person. They asked delicately about his appearance – as it was unlike any they had seen before. He was a godlike – a mortal with divine influences – but not of any of the usual varieties. He was an Endings godlike – born under the influence of Rymrgand the Beast of Winter.
Before they could question him more thoroughly about his invitation, the ground began to shake! And screams of…fear? Excitement? Both? Rang through the air from outside. Rushing outside they saw a gigantic dragon, with tattered wings and battered form, attacking the village from the air! And villagers gathering with cries of “The Messenger Returns!” seemingly oblivious to the fact that the beast was actively slaughtering them!
They did their best to battle the great beast, and eventually it fell – seeming far weaker than its size would indicate.
Horrifyingly it began to rise and reform after its fall, but appeared to be whisked away against its will, withdrawn like a puppet to somewhere beyond the glacial wall above.
They realized afterwards that Vatnir was nowhere to be found. They went looking for him back inside, and eventually found him hiding under a table… He claimed he was searching for something he could use to control the beast. Grim was *not* impressed. As it turned out, Vatnir was a flat-out fake.
Because of his appearance and heritage he had always been assumed to be a prophet of Rymrgand. So he just took the opening and ran with it, ending up as the High Harbinger of a group of cultists who came here believing the ever-expanding glacial floe was related to an ancient temple here. When the dragon had appeared and begun periodically attacking the village, Vatnir had spun the story of it being a Messenger of Rymyrgand to manage the panic. Dead icy dragon appearing out of the ice? Taking followers home to Oblivion? Why not a sign of the End Times?
He had invited them here in hopes that *they* would deal with the resulting mess before the dragon slaughtered everyone. To make matters worse, the Dragon wasn’t the even main reason he had invited them. The Dead Floe – the floating mass of ice on which they stood – had always been slowly growing. But the rate was accelerating… And if unchecked he believed it could freeze the entire world…
He suggested that they get to exploring at the earliest opportunity… Grim informed him that he would be accompanying them *personally* as a Guide. Participation non-optional.
The first challenge was scaling the massive ice wall to reach the glacier proper. Blur was the best combination of athletic, strong-for-her-size, but still comparatively light to make the ascent and let down a rope for the others.
Near the point of ascent was a large stone circle, with an encampment of previous pilgrims. Vatnir warned that they had been attacking anyone who approached – though he wasn’t sure why.
Exploring further, they came to a circle of wooden posts. With bodies tied to them that had clearly died of exposure to the cold. Intentionally frozen to death. Vatnir could offer no explanation.
But before they even left the area they were attacked by frozen spirits seeking to drain them of their warmth and life. Intentional guardians? Byproducts of whatever ritual was enacted here? They had no idea.
Exploring further they eventually rappelled down a steep face to an ancient temple complex partly frozen in the ice. Vatnir told them this had once been a large and well maintained temple to Rymrgand, but had been abandoned long ago for reasons lost to time.
They explored a number of ruined passages connecting to crumbled caves looking for a way to the main temple. And unfortunately discovered some *very* large and ornery inhabitants in some of them.
There were also remnants of some of temple’s original guardians. Rime Constructs – which Vatnir said were essentially once living flash frozen – willingly – into ice golems.
Eventually they found their way to the Temple of Decline, housing the Vydmath – an ancient portal to the White Void. Rymyrgand’s domain. It *also* appeared to currently house the deathly dragon they had fought earlier! But as it turned to attack again it was instead sucked back – quite against its will – into the portal beyond.
Vatnir appeared quite pale – even for him. But guessed that they would have to investigate the portal to learn what was happening. But if they portal truly led to Rymyrgand’s domain… then they would be annihilated on the other side. Souls and all. Sapphire began carefully analyzing the portal – trying to see if she could learn anything that could help.
But once again Grim felt himself pulled into the void. And once again he was facing the unsettling Rymyrgand himself. Rymyrgand warned that the White Void’s purpose was grinding souls into dust. It would consume them as surely as any other mortal who dared enter. However… it wanted something. The Dragon Neriscyrlas. It would allow them to access to White Void, and abstain from disintegrating them, if they agreed to eliminate the Dragon.
The Dragon was an accomplished wizard who had long ago assaulted the surrounding temple and forced his way through the portal in search of immortality. Nothing could stave off the White, but souls were not the only things which were cast off into the Void. Artifacts meant to be forgotten were also in its purview. And the Dragon had clasped onto an ancient phylactery enabling it to drain the souls consigned to the Void to keep itself “alive”. It could not escape. It was always dragged back in. It could not hold off Oblivion forever. But it was a constant irritant as it tried.
Grim was extremely wary of bargains with Gods. Even more-so of bargains with *this* God. But if he wanted to find a way to stop the Portal from sucking the life out of his entire world, it didn’t look like he had a choice. Rymyrgand warned that his servants in the White would be under no restrictions. It was up to them to deal with those.
Beyond the portal they found themselves in an endless field of ice, and were immediately set upon by what Vatnir identified as “Scourges” – beasts in Rymyrgand’s image tasked with patrolling the White and crushing any souls they found.
Further in they caught a glimpse of the Dragon, smashing its way down through the ice to…. somewhere down below. Nearby they found an odd spirit of a pale elven woman. She called herself Rynhaedr, and said she had once been one of the guardians of the Temple of Decline. She had been tasked with slaying the Dragon after the assault… and had failed. She now served as Rymyrgand’s agent in the White, monitoring the Dragon’s activities.
She told them that they would be unlikely to defeat the Dragon without aid. He had collected too much power here. But he was not the only powerful spirit which had managed to sustain itself here over the Eons. There were three others, which – through a combination of innate power and inability to let go – maintained an existence in dream-like sub-domains in the White. The ancient Drowned Kingdom, the even more ancient Endless Queries, and the relatively recent Bridge Ablaze. If they could restore enough sanity to the spirits at the center of any of these domains they could be strong enough to weaken the Dragon.
They searched the area looking for portals, and the first they discovered shone like the sun. Inside was an explosion frozen in time. A scene they all knew by reputation. The moment the Godhammer Bomb was used to kill St Waidwen, the Chosen of Eothas at the height of the Saints War. Waidwen had let what started as a peasant revolt, and ended as a fanatical Crusade burning “heretics” across the Dyrwood until priests of Magran – goddess of flame – conspired with the Crusade’s enemies to create the Godhammer.
Waidwen’s soul was fractured and confused. He constantly relived the moments before, during, and after the detonation – unable to understand what had happened to him and why. They explored his domain, gathering fragments of his soul, putting to rest the tortured souls/memories of those trapped with him – until he was whole enough for a proper conversation. At which point it was not difficult to convince him to help.
The next domain they found was the Endless Queries, which contained echoes of some sort of trial? ritual? punishment? for Heresy long, long ago in Engwithian times. The soul at the center had been there so long it no longer even remembered how much – if any – of what it was re-living had ever even actually happened. It constantly replayed fractured events – sometimes as Accuser, sometimes as Inquisitor, and sometimes as Accused. Torturer and Prisoner. Star had to follow it through its various points-of-view, carefully shepherding it until it realized it was but one fractured, confused soul rather than several eternal adversaries. Eventually it too gained enough cognizance to be willing to oppose the Dragon.
The Drowned Kingdom was the hardest to watch, as it was an echo of the moment the ancient city of Ukaizo was struck down by the Goddess Ondra. Betrayed by massive devices the Engwithians had told the ancient Huana would bring them power and glory, but which instead brought death and destruction.
The soul at the center of the Drowned Kingdom was the last King of Ukaizo himself – unable to grasp or accept that his own cooperation with the Engwithians had brought his civilization’s demise. When Star was able to get through to him – to get him to understand that his own lust for power had blinded him to warnings and contributed to his betrayal – then he was willing to leave his Domain and oppose the Dragon.
Having gathered as much support as they could, they prepared to face the Dragon. They found him deep within the Void, gathering power from an ancient Engwithian phylactery.
Their spirit allies did as they were asked, draining the great beast of much of its stolen power.
Grim and his companions took care of the rest.
When the Dragon was defeated, it was taken by the Void. Disintegrated as had always been its destiny. At which point the world vanished… and they found themselves deeper in the White Void. Assailed by deathly winds that tore at their very souls. It would seem Rymyrgand had withdrawn his protection! And voided their bargain!
They struggled through the icy wastes, battling hideous foes as Star tried desperately to counter the constant drain of the Void. Until they came to a clearing, and something very, very large appeared. Somewhat like the Scourges they had already fought many times by now, but much, much bigger. Vatnir was practically petrified, and could say only “The Beast of Winter”.
Rymyrgand spoke through the Beast, his voice booming down. He had chosen to alter the bargain. No soul who had entered the White Void was ever allowed to leave. So he made them an “offer”. If they swore fealty – dooming themselves to becoming his eternal servants upon death – then he would – for now – allow them to leave.
Grim had only one response to that.
After a fierce battle they finally managed to fell the massive foe…
At which point it got back up, shook itself off, and Rymyrgand once more appeared…
“Always amusing, hound of Berath. So defiant. So ambitious. Go. Shake the World. Follow Eothas… And we shall see where you venture when your end finally comes.”
And they found themselves once more in the land of the living, and watched as the portal to the White Void closed and went still. They were all ready for a stiff drink.
Author’s Notes:
That was one heck of a DLC. I’ve never actually played through Deadfire’s DLC before… It was hard to narrow everything down to decide how to cover it. Now I’m looking forward to the other two further down the road!
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