At the barrier, they were approached by a Tomte named Gebo; a small, bearded creature who radiated an aggressive amount of cheer. Gebo offered guidance but insisted that they first accompany him to his village, a journey of half a day through the snow. Once there, the tomtes insisted on the customary exchange of gifts. They presented the party with magical sweets that did things like sharpen the mind and ward against poison. In return, the party, after some hesitation, traded several moderate magic items. Delighted, Gebo revealed the truth of his people: most Tomte had been excommunicated from Ded Moroz's factory for stealing. They now ran a black market, using a magic box to counterfeit the runestone keys needed to bypass the barrier's defenses. His village elder gave them a counterfeit key and the magic box, instructing them to collect eight more runes from the North Pole Guardians who were titanic monsters and constructs that would summon one another if the barrier was attacked.
As they left the tomte village, they witnessed a bizarre phenomenon: one of the standing runestones they had passed earlier cracked open, and a new Tomte sprang forth, fully grown and identical to the others, an endless cycle of magical generation. After arriving back at the barrier, Korloth stepped up to it. With a roar that shook the ice, he smashed his hammer against the field. The barrier was unaffected, but the consequences were immediate. "Grandfather Winter," a titanic snowman with a lethal frost breath, rose to meet them.
The battle was a gauntlet. As soon as one threat was engaged, another appeared. The colossal Tree-Ent, known as the "Evergreen Terror," unleashed volleys of razor-sharp pine needles and smashed them with its "Star-Mace," a heavy metallic bulb atop its crown. "Gingersnap," a giant animated Gingerbread Man, wielded a massive, sharpened candy cane spear and protected himself with gumdrop buttons. Finally, General Crack-Jaw, a Gargantuan Nutcracker, marched onto the field wielding a rifle the size of a cannon, his "Frost-Lock Gaze" paralyzing those who looked too closely. The party realized that Grandfather Winter would endlessly reform unless his magical brass top hat was destroyed. Once the hat was crushed and the guardians fell, the party collected the necessary runes.
The next several days were spent navigating a circle of six pedestals, each spaced five miles apart. At each location, they had to solve complex puzzles by arranging the runestones they had collected. They matched symbols in specific patterns to power down the final defenses. With the last puzzle solved, the path to Ded Moroz was open.
Father Frost was waiting for them. He stood at the head of a small army: Snow Elves mounted on reindeer, a Tomte bard beating a war drum, swarms of electric "Jangles" (red and green puffballs that latched onto the heroes), and the towering figure of Krampus. Before a single blow was struck, Moroz spoke. He delivered a chilling monologue with cold pragmatism, proclaiming that "Commercialism is the new gospel." He argued that the chaotic heroism of adventurers was an obsolete relic compared to the logistics and supply chains of his operation. "I am not merely a spirit of winter," he intoned. "I am the CEO of joy."
But words did not stop the GOATs. The battle was fierce. Moroz stayed behind a spherical personal barrier, suppressing all fire magic in the area and teleporting his troops for tactical advantage. Korloth found himself shrunk from Huge to Large by Krampus's switch, but the party turned the tables by using the Krampus Shackles—an item they had obtained long ago during their very first contract with the Pantheon in Session 3—to banish the demon back to the lower planes.
With his enforcer gone and his army dwindling, Ded Moroz called a halt. He declared the battle pointless; a clash of legendary forces that would yield no winner. He offered a truce: he would break his agreement with Ka and allow them entry to Mysterra, but on one condition. They could take only 42 magic items with them. Any more, he warned, would make them beacons to Ka, who was far too powerful for them to fight. To demonstrate the futility of forcing their way in, he raised his arms, and a miles-wide Elemental of earth and magma (whom he said was named “Blorb”) rose from the ice, revealing the gaping hole to the world below. As the party contemplated their inventory, Lenti realized that their path lay elsewhere. To restore their true form, they would have to find another way into Mysterra, leaving the Feinting GOATs to descend into the hole without their fungus companion.
Note: The following writings are from the character's perspective and are often private to the character. They are not considered "in-game" knowledge to the other characters, and any in-character reference to this information would be considered meta-gaming.
Letter to Master Kagemitsu at Tengai-no-mori Monastery
Dear Master,
We are preparing to descend into Mysterra. We have a difficult journey and task ahead of us, so I do not know when I will be able to write again. I hope it will be sooner than I expect. Our expedition to this point went about as well as predicted. We needed to reach the North Pole and negotiate with Ded Moroz for passage into Mysterra, and while we knew him as a good-natured entity and hoped to resolve the matter peacefully, we had been warned he likely would not approve of our plan. Indeed, as we neared our destination, we found the way blocked by a magical barrier – a dome covering an area many miles wide. Interspersed along the circumference of the barrier was a series of altars which appeared to hold the key to entry.
As we were examining one of the altars, we were approached by a small, gnome-like creature named Gebo. He explained that his people, the Tomte, had been expelled from the area by Ded Moroz for stealing from his factory and were also seeking a way back in. Before telling us more, he insisted that we accompany him to his village, and, thinking it would be a welcome reprieve from camping in the snow, we agreed. The hike to the village was circuitous and longer than expected, which made us a bit uneasy, but Korloth and I were confident we could fight our way out and lead the party back to the barrier, if necessary.
The Tomte are a very peculiar species. The first thing we noticed upon reaching the village was that all of the residents looked exactly the same, and not just in the way some species appear to unfamiliar eyes. Although they seemed to have no trouble differentiating one another, they were identical, each individual appearing to be the same small, aged, male humanoid with long white facial hair. The uncanniness of meeting a small army identical gazes increased our unease, but only briefly. If anything, the Tomte were overly friendly and enthusiastic to greet us. They were delighted to have visitors and immediately presented us with gifts of magical sweets. We had not come prepared with gifts to offer in return, but after some searching, we came up with some suitable items. The Tomte were pleased with the exchange and happily shared what they knew about Ded Moroz’s magical barrier.
The altars surrounding the barrier could be activated by placing a set of stone tablets into particular configurations, and activating four in a row should weaken a section of the barrier enough for us to pass through. The Tomte lent us two tablets they had managed to copy as well as the magical box they had used to create the forgeries. Eight other stones would need to be collected - two from each of four fearsome constructs charged with protecting the barrier. Assuming we succeeded, the Tomte asked that we place the stones in the magical box once we were finished with them, so that they would have copies of the entire set and the ability to enter Ded Moroz’s factory as they pleased. Although we knew their goal was additional theft, we accepted it as a necessary evil to secure their assistance and make progress toward our goal.
Before we returned to the barrier, we made one final discovery about our unusual hosts. The village was littered with standing stones, each one bearing a rune or series of runes. We had seen numerous similar standing stones on our trek toward the North Pole, but unable to identify their purpose or any danger they may represent, we had largely avoided them. Now, we witnessed one of the stones crack, and a new Tomte emerged from it like a larva from an egg, except apparently fully grown and already identical in appearance to the rest. Very odd indeed.
In order to obtain the stone tablets, we needed to find and defeat Ded Moroz’s four guardians, and the quickest way to accomplish that was to draw them to us. Back at the barrier, Korloth viciously attacked it. This did not appear to cause any damage, but as we hoped, it did attract attention. The first construct to challenge us was a gigantic snowman, and we took it down fairly quickly, but not before a second construct, a walking evergreen tree with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, approached from the opposite direction. Once the snowman was down, I intended to offer assistance against the tree creature, but before I could reach it, the third guardian, a giant animated gingerbread man began attacking with a pointed candy cane spear. Although the spear was brutal, the cookie soon crumbled after a barrage of well-placed blows. The final guardian was a giant, animated nutcracker with a huge rifle and a dangerous gaze attack. Then, just as we thought we were nearing the end of the battle, a mound of snow began to rise and shift as the giant snowman was resurrected. We realized that in order to destroy that particular construct, we needed to destroy its magical hat. Finally, all of the constructs were down and we were able to collect their stone tablets. From there, it was several days and more miles of hiking until we were able to crack the code and make our way through the barrier.
By then, Ded Moroz was well aware of our approach and had gathered a small army to meet us. There were several elves mounted on reindeer, a swarm of red and green burr-like creatures covered in sharp spines that attached themselves to anyone who got to close, a single Tomte who had apparently not fallen out of favor like those we met in the village, and Ded Moroz’s demon counterpart, Krampus. At first, Ded Moroz was very confident, declaring our mission futile. He claimed that commercialism, as perpetuated by entities like the Dowelloft Trading Company, is the future and the old ways we are trying to preserve are obsolete. Of course, the Feinting GOATs have never been deterred by a monologue, and we had one secret weapon Ded Moroz didn’t expect. If you’ll remember, very early in our adventuring career, we were given a pair of magical shackles and sent to banish Krampus, except that “Krampus” turned out to be just a crazy old man with a mask. For whatever reason, the shackles were never collected after the mission, and they have been sitting in my bag of holding ever since. So, I had exactly the tool to remove Krampus from the battle, if I could just get to him. I first had to contend with a reindeer and rider who charged me, but as soon as the path was clear, I sprinted across the field. Krampus was quick and difficult to hit, but I landed two solid blows, all that I needed. With the first blow, one shackle attached itself to one of his wrists, and with the second blow went the second shackle. Krampus had no time to react or attempt to free himself; he was promptly banished.
Seeing that the tide had turned, Ded Moroz declared the combat futile and called for a parley. Although he had sworn an oath to Ka, who rules Mysterra, to guard the entrance and still felt confident that we would never succeed in forcing our way in, he was not prepared for a prolonged battle. When he saw that we would not be quickly defeated or dissuaded, he offered to make a deal instead. To illustrate his point, he raised his hands, causing the ground to shake as an enormous section of it lifted away. The entrance to Mysterra lay in a gaping hole in the ice, and the thing that rose above it was an unfathomably large elemental Ded Moroz called “Blorb.” I have to admit, I don’t know if we would be a match for “Blorb” if we did not accept Ded Moroz’s offer, but, at the same time, there seemed to be something strangely familiar about the gargantuan creature. A mystery for another time, I suppose.
Ka does not take kindly to outsiders meddling in his world, so one important condition of our deal is that we should do our best to avoid his notice. To that end, we will need to limit the number of magic items we take with us. In the course of our adventures, we have amassed quite a collection of wondrous and useful items and grown rather accustomed to them, so it will take some time and thought to decide what to leave behind. Fortunately, my monk training has prepared me well, and I need very little. We have also learned that Lenti will not be entering Mysterra with us. She is still suffering from the after-effects of her misadventure in the Demiplane of Dread and needs to follow her own path. Hopefully, she will be able to heal and rejoin us soon. For now, we will have one more winter’s night before descending into Mysterra. Wish us luck!
Yours,
Cut-Cut