Into the Chasm - Episode 3

Escaping the Maze: in which living snow defends a white beast, the maze breaks, and the Ice Palace stirs

Featuring: Jrain Fanlish, Finnan Oakstride, Justas Rhostrin, Ekko, Eolo
In Taelgar: Jan 25, 1730 DR
On Earth: Tuesday, December 16th, 2025
Zeyfa’s Labyrinth and Melusa

The party finishes the brutal fight in the black‑stone chamber, kills the shaggy white beast, follows a new earthen tunnel out to the cliffside village of Melusa, and learns that an Ice Palace and its soldiers are watching.

Timeline

Jan 25, 1730 DR, late afternoon: The party defeats the white beast of snow and ice and emerges into Melusa, a village perched in endless fog on the edge of the Great Chasm.
Jan 25, 1730 DR, evening: The party takes refuge with Kalima’s family, learns what it can of Melusa’s rules and fears, and discovers the Ice Palace is stirring.

Cast of Characters

Jrain Fanlish – scout and archer, steady under pressure and quick to vanish into cover.
Finnan Oakstride – bard and storyteller, turning magic and memory into information and leverage.
Justas Rhostrin – veteran of the north, devoted to the Kestavo and unafraid to call monsters out.
Ekko – kenku druid, scouting as beast and calling up primal allies when steel fails.
Eolo – young kenku warrior, whose psionic strikes land even when mundane shots fail.
Kalima – Melusan woman and reluctant guide, hiding behind illusion during the fight and then leading the party to shelter.
Rala – Jrain’s avian companion, harrying the “living snow” in the fight.
Nura – Kalima’s sister in Melusa, sheltering the party.
Khaled - Nura’s husband
Samir – Nura and Khaled’s infant kin, unnervingly quiet.
Forquarion the Frostbinder – named as the master of the Ice Palace (in Finnan’s earlier magic and this session’s scouting).
Zeyfa – named as tied to the labyrinth and its sacrifices; feared in Zimkovan lore.

Places

Great Chasm – visible again from a cliffside switchback beyond the tunnel.
Melusa – cliff‑carved village in fog, surviving by endurance and sacrifice.
Ice Palace – a floating stronghold near Melusa, beating time with a gong and sending eyes and soldiers into the fog.

Narrative Summary

Our session begins with the party pinned in the black-stone chamber, fighting through the beast’s “Living Snow” echoes—shadows of ice and hunger that slow, harry, and confuse. As ordinary arrows and claws prove unreliable, they improvise: Ekko’s conjured pack tears through the melee, Justas’s Spirit Guardians defends him and keeps the enemies at bay, and Eolo’s psionic strikes punch through defenses when mundane damage fails. With Kalima hiding behind an illusory wall, and the beast’s chilling gaze repeatedly stared down, the group identifies that the echoes are tuned to each one of them, and actively defending their master. As they switch attacks - each one using their attacks against a beast that was summoned to fight another - they defeat the echoes and, finally bring the shaggy white monster crashing to the ground.

When the beast dies, the howling wind stops and the chamber itself changes: frost weeps away, granite shows through, and an earthy tunnel splits open in the floor. The party follows Kalima through the permafrost passage and emerges onto a cliffside switchback overlooking the Great Chasm, where an isolated Ice Palace floats near two bridged rocks—one lush with strange growth, one grazed by cattle. Guided to the cliff-carved village of Melusa, they take shelter with Kalima’s family and learn unsettling truths about a life defined by fog, endurance, and sacrifice. Finnan sends a conjured fey to speak with the master of the Ice Palace - known to be Forquarion the Frostbinder, from Finnan’s earlier magic. After the fey does not return, he uses Clairvoyance to discover a complex circular stone with writing in sylvan at the very top of the highest spire, and later to discover an ice bridge beginning to grow toward the village as soldiers search for a “trickster” spirit.

Ekko meanwhile, scouts as a cat, and discovers five magical gashes in the cliff face, guarded by a squad of human guards and a 40 foot tall ice status of a wolf. Each of the gashes looks into a different, hostile elsewhere (a lightning storm, metallic spikes shimmering, impossible flashing colors, swirling ash and ice, and a mirror-like chasm view without the village).

As the scouting winds down, the party decides to rest, after a augury of Justas’ to the kestavo reports a positive outcome.

Combat Summary

Shaggy white beast and Living Snow echoes: In the black-stone chamber, “Living Snow” echoes harry the party and shield their master from mundane attacks until summoned beasts, Spirit Guardians, and psionic strikes cut through the defense and bring the shaggy white beast down—opening a tunnel out of the maze.

Detailed Bullet Points

Zeyfa’s Beast

The party regains their footing in the dark chamber at the bottom of the slide; Jrain’s lighted arrow and Justas’s light provide the only illumination, while Finnan rides on Eolo’s back as Eolo flies.
Justas challenges the lurking creature; the shaggy white beast roars, and multiple “Living Snow” echoes rise from the icy ground near each of the party (and one near Kalima’s hiding place).
Initiative is set, but the table briefly detours into D&D Beyond logistics (e.g., Beyond20 interfering with the game log and needing to be disabled).
The first Living Snow lashes out at Eolo with an icy claw and shadowy tentacles, reducing Eolo’s speed by 10.
Eolo’s nonmagical crossbow bolts repeatedly fail to bite: shots either miss or strike an ice shield / vanish into thickening ice, and cold backlash (an icicle/bolt of cold) reflects damage back onto Eolo.
Even when bolts are negated, Eolo’s Psionic Strike still lands extra damage, making it clear that “something” can hurt these creatures even when ordinary weapon damage does not.
Finnan coaches the table on tactics and character kit (Ekko’s Wild Shape defenses and Conjure Animals play pattern; Justas’s ability to Channel Divinity Shield of Faith and still cast Spirit Guardians; Eolo’s multi-attack/Action Surge sequencing).
The Living Snow next to Jrain claws her (cold damage), slows her by 10, and howls; the howl leaves Jrain briefly limited to taking either an action or a bonus action on her next turn.
Jrain’s summoned bird (Beast of the Sky) attacks effectively (cutting through the “snow” body), but Jrain’s own longbow shots at the beast trigger the same defensive phenomenon and are knocked aside—sometimes with painful cold rebound.
Finnan telepathically warns Jrain and Eolo that arrows won’t solve this and urges focus-fire on the beast; he summons a mirthful fey spirit and tries (unsuccessfully) to charm a Living Snow, which seems “shielded” against the charm effect.
A Living Snow probes near Kalima’s position but can’t see through the illusion well enough to find her.
Ekko casts Conjure Animals and uses the moving “pack” to force Dex saves and spread damage across the battlefield; some Living Snows respond by stiffening with ice so the conjured claws “bounce off,” while others take damage normally.
The beast attempts an icy gaze on Ekko’s polar bear form, but Ekko stares it down and shrugs off the effect.
Justas takes cold damage from a Living Snow, then uses Channel Divinity to cast Shield of Faith (raising his AC) and follows with Spirit Guardians to catch multiple Living Snows plus the beast; some targets resist or save, but at least one Living Snow is burned by radiant damage.
As a Living Snow slips out of the Spirit Guardians emanation, Finnan’s fey spirit scores a devastating opportunity attack (a crit for heavy force damage), described as the ice “parting” before the blow explodes the target from within.
Finnan directs Eolo to reposition to keep distance, and Eolo unloads multiple attacks (including Psionic Strike) into the beast; when Eolo tries to press with Action Surge, later shots are deflected by a web-like swirl of snow drawn from the nearby Living Snows, showing they are actively protecting the beast.
Jrain casts Hunter’s Mark on the beast but still can’t land arrows through the Living Snow “defense,” then moves in toward Justas’s position as advised to try to exploit Spirit Guardians triggers.
Finnan uses Cutting Words to turn a near-hit against himself into a miss, then casts Command on two Living Snows to force them to flee (one resists, one fails), while the fey spirit continues to pressure the beast and attempt further charm effects.
The scene ends mid-round with Ekko being clawed by a Living Snow (cold damage halved in bear form) and forced into multiple concentration checks as the howl and attacks keep piling on.

The Battle Continues

Ekko drives the Conjure Animals pack through the remaining Living Snows, forcing multiple Dex saves; some dodge or stiffen into ice, and at least one seems to “slip away” so a claw strike finds no snow at all.
Ekko’s melee follow-up continues to whiff or bounce off as bodies alternately vanish, stiffen, or resist; the cold aura still bites at the end of his turn.
The beast’s chilling gaze targets Justas, but Justas stares it down again and shakes off the effect.
A fleeing Living Snow (from Finnan’s Command) scrambles to get away; the table wrestles with D&D Beyond token movement as it bolts across the map.
The party clarifies how the conjured pack’s damage triggers (start/end-of-turn positioning rather than “crossing” through), tightening their plan for controlling the battlefield.
A Living Snow hammers at Justas and follows with a distracting howl; Justas fails concentration, dropping Spirit Guardians at a critical moment.
On his turn, Justas re-casts Spirit Guardians and repositions to catch as many Living Snows as possible, aiming to combine the aura with a bonus-action battleaxe swing.
They compare notes on the Living Snows’ “rules”: the echoes resemble each party member; psionic damage and summoned attacks land more reliably; some targets appear immune to the radiant aura while others are not.
The renewed Spirit Guardians sweep kills at least one Living Snow outright; Justas then hacks into another with his battleaxe, confirming it does take mundane weapon damage in some circumstances.
Eolo is briefly away from the table; the party rolls his turn and has him focus fire, quickly dropping two Living Snows with a chain of accurate crossbow shots.
Jrain directs Rala into melee to slash a Living Snow, then keeps pressure on the beast with Hunter’s Mark and longbow shots (one missing, one landing with extra damage).
Finnan uses Fey Touched Dissonant Whispers to finish off the last nearby Living Snow, then follows up with Healing Word to pull Jrain back from the brink.
With the echoes mostly cleared, Ekko pushes the pack into the beast and pounces, landing two solid hits in quick succession.
The beast lashes out: Finnan uses Lucky to shrug off the gaze, but then takes a massive hit from hurled ice shards; another volley of shards slams into Eolo.
Justas steps up so the Spirit Guardians clip the beast (half damage on a save), then upcasts Guiding Bolt; after burning Bardic Inspiration to turn the attack into a hit, he leaves the beast visibly staggering and shedding ice.
Eolo (rolled by the table) follows up with a final volley and psionic damage that drops the beast; the combat ends with Kalima still alive and hidden.

The Beast Defeated

As the beast collapses, the lingering wind and howl stop abruptly; frost “weeps” from the walls as the chamber melts back toward granite and earth.
A crack in the floor splits open into a dirt-scented tunnel (manhole-sized) as the icy arena sublimates away; climbing back up into the labyrinth is possible, but everyone prefers the new route.
Kalima, who spent the fight curled and terrified against the wall, looks up at the tunnel and yelps with sudden hope—then runs for it, urging the party to hurry.
Justas insists on taking a trophy, and Finnan uses his magic item to pull “three true facts” from the moment: the beast was born of a Fae curse, its master is Forquarion the Frostbinder, and it cannot truly die while the labyrinth stands.
With time short, Justas cleaves off the beast’s head and carries it rather than trying to skin the fur (which would take far too long).
The party crawls through the permafrost tunnel for roughly ten minutes, navigating twists and a dead-end branch, before the passage almost “vanishes” into ice behind them.
They emerge onto a narrow cliffside switchback overlooking a vast chasm: three colossal floating rocks hang in the fog, and an Ice Palace sits alone on one of them.
The other two rocks are linked by rough rope bridges: one holds a partially frozen pond and a herd of cattle; the other is strangely lush, with trees, thick growth, and steam rising from its center.
A switchback path climbs about fifty feet to a wider ledge where bridges meet the cliff; along the way are chiseled “holes” in the rock (old quarry cuts) big enough to hide in.
Finnan proposes sending his summoned fey to scout the Ice Palace; Jrain can interpret Sylvan if needed, and the fey is instructed to pose as a messenger from “Gleamwater” seeking an audience.
Kalima warns them to stay hidden and not draw eyes from the Ice Palace; she names Xypher? as the one who lives there and urges them toward her village and her sister’s house.
To reduce suspicion, Eolo uses his masked form to take on a human disguise as they climb.

The Village

At the top of the switchback, Kalima pauses in alarm—“something’s changed”—and the party leans into stealth; Jrain renews Pass without Trace and everyone clears the approach quietly, with Ekko shifting into a gray tabby cat.
The ledge holds Melusa: a cold, gray, late-afternoon village clustered around a pond and a narrow river, fed by a trickle and a larger waterfall dropping from heights hidden in fog.
Kalima confirms the most ominous change: five jagged “gashes” have appeared in the cliff face; each looks into a different, hostile elsewhere (lightning storm, metallic spikes/shimmer, impossible flashing colors, swirling ash, and a mirror-like chasm view without the village).
An enormous ice statue of a wolf (about thirty feet tall) stands watch before the gashes, while a few villagers mill around at a cautious distance as if half-guarding, half-avoiding it.
Kalima brings the party into a small two-room stone house (barn with hay and goats; simple living space) belonging to her sister Nura and brother-in-law Khaled; their baby Samir is present and unnervingly quiet.
Kalima introduces the party as the “heroes” who saved her; she displays the glowing stone Justas enchanted and insists she felt a god—proof, to her, that the kestavo are real.
Although only Justas and Finnan speak the local language well, Finnan translates and the group settles into cautious conversation; the villagers crowd Justas for blessings as he names and describes different kestavo and their places.
Nura and Khaled treat religion as half-myth: they recall a few famous kestavo (including Romil the Glacier King and Besla), but believe there are no kestavo “here,” and the outside world is almost unknowable to them.
Finnan presses for folklore and origins; Khalid grows wary, glancing at his child, and describes a life defined by persistence and fog—no way up, down, or through—and the simple certainty that people are “born here, and therefore endure.”
Their only origin story is remote: ancestors’ ancestors were brought here by Zeyfa; even talk of “why” is discouraged, especially around children.
Death and burial are alien concepts: there is no “graveyard,” and their dead have “gone to the mists”; Nura quietly admits fear that children sometimes “remember too much,” which can end badly.
Sunset is a dim gray fading with no horizon; night does not end until someone is sacrificed into the labyrinth, after which the sun returns in an unnatural, irregular arc.
Time is marked by a gong from the Ice Palace roughly every twelve hours; the villagers sleep and wake by the gong, and the party realizes they are genuinely exhausted despite the warped sense of time.
While the party eats and plans, Ekko explores as a cat: Melusa is quiet and oddly narrow in its ecology—no birds or other animals, only people, goats, cattle, and a pond teeming with salmon; food and apples arrive via rope bridges from the lush floating rock.
Before resting, Finnan uses Clairvoyance to scout the Ice Palace: a high chamber holds a perfectly circular table-like disk etched with dense Sylvan writing and a fixed glowing point of light that occasionally shimmers along the text.
Listening reveals activity below in Old Zimkovan and faint names like Yasem? and Xypher?; a second Clairvoyance shows a courtyard with armed villagers in tabards and an ice bridge slowly growing from the palace toward Melusa.
Through the sensor, Finnan hears soldiers talking about hunting a “trickster” spirit who taunted their master and insisting that “survival is proof,” as if novelty itself is suspect.
The party opts to hide and attempt rest in the barn rather than confront the bridge; Augury comes back “good” for the intended course, even as the table jokes uneasily about Eolo’s tendency to sleep-fly toward flashing lights and colors.