The party continued their fight against Artus and Dragonbait. Just when they thought they had Artus defeated, Dragonbait reached out to him and absorbed his damage, healing Artus fully. They had to switch gears and focus instead on dropping Dragonbait himself if they were going to protect their cure. Moonlit Shadow and A’aron focused on Dragonbait, eventually taking him down to the ground and freeing up the group to focus on Artus.
Artus used his ring to create an icy spike growth throughout the room, making movement treacherous and slow. He used the opportunity to escape the group that was pinning him into the corner, and unleashed another cone of cold that was able to hit everyone. This time, many of the party fell and began doing death saves, while Hunter and Bob stayed alive by their teeth, and A’aron was able to use his Barbarian abilities to stay alive.
Artus began searching bodies of the unconscious party members for the cure vials, but he began his search with A’aron, unaware that only 10 feet behind him the unconscious Wiz had all 5 remaining vials.
The group scrambled to figure out how to heal the team, specifically the paladin Buff who could cast a group heal if he could be made conscious again. Hunter could not make it to The Wiz in time to take his healing potions, but he was able to make it to Buff and drop down from the ceiling to revive him back to 1 hit point, before succumbing to the effect of the icy spikes himself.
Artus took a moment to search the next closest body: The Wiz. Though the Wiz had all of the vials, Artus’s attempted frantic search was unable to locate them, and just as the party was getting back on his feet, he announced that the group was more formidable than he expected, and warned them not to allow the cure to spread, as it may fall into the hands of the Omuan army he wishes to defeat. He took his vials of Frigid Woe, put a hand on his slain partner Dragonbait, and used his dagger to Dimension Door away, not to be seen again.
The party considered long resting at Salsvault, but worried that it would give Artus time to long rest as well and attack them once more. Despite every party member having single-digits of HP remaining, they headed out and began the trek back to Syrinlya. With no assistance from any griffons, the trek back took 21 days.
Once in the village, they found an icy welcome. Rumors spread of their treatment of Blorf the Dwarf, but they were able to nonetheless hail a ride back to Palebank Village on the Remorhaz.
With only hours to spare, they were able to arrive at the Jolly Dwarf Inn just in time to administer the cure to Bob’s father and two sisters. Their frigid woe vanished, leaving the group with only two vials remaining.
After a great deal of discussion, they decided they would heal Hulil Lutan, the thief who had gotten them into this mess back in Croaker Cave by destroying a vial in front of them, sending the cloud of cold into their lungs in the first place. Though angry at Hulil, they recognized that she only did this to force their hand, and it wound up working as they returned with the cure in the nick of time.
With one vial remaining, The Wiz tossed it into the air and Hunter destroyed it with an arrow, dramatically aerosolizing cure droplets so as to ensure Artus would not return to them seeking the cure.
With that, the party split their treasure, pulled up chairs at the bar of the Jolly Dwarf Inn, and had a round of root beers and other libations before turning in for the night. Frigid Woe had been eradicated from their land, those afflicted who still lived were cured, and the cure kept from falling into the hands of the Omuan army.
The team was successful, their adventure at an end, they all turned in for the evening for a well-earned long rest.