Arauthator
Arauthator
Arauthator, known as Old White Death, was an ancient white dragon who laired at the massive iceberg Oyaviggaton in the Sea of Moving Ice. He was slain by Deez Nuts in Session 50.
Background
Arauthator was one of the oldest and most feared dragons in the northern reaches of Faerûn. He held an ice hunter clan hostage on his iceberg lair for generations, forcing them to hunt and fish for him. He was known to have a terrible temper and did not tolerate humans near his domain unless they served his purposes. Even other powerful creatures such as the bronze dragon Verithrax and the marid Mick refused to approach his territory.
Maccath the Crimson, a researcher from the Arcane Brotherhood, ventured to Oyaviggaton to study Arauthator and was held within his lair for months before Deez Nuts freed her.
Personality
Arauthator was described as ancient, cruel, and territorial. He kept an entire village of ice hunters as forced servants through fear and violence — killing half the village whenever they attempted to escape. He built up magical protections in his lair over decades. He was also openly contemptuous of metallic dragons — "our awful metallic brethren" — a bigotry the table cheerfully noted made the ancient wyrm "a racist." His larder ran to "fish popsicles": everything dropped down his feeding-hole was flash-frozen by the cold of the berg.
Motive: the Mad Mate and the Dead Wizard
Arauthator's interest in a tiefling wizard — first Maccath the Crimson, later Shade — was not idle. His mate, Arveiaturace, had for decades served alongside a wizard companion who rode her into the sky; that wizard (herself a female tiefling) was killed roughly thirty years ago, and the mate, unable to accept it, still flies with the rider's half-rotted corpse strapped to her saddle. Arauthator expected her grief to take "another fifty" years to pass. He intended to quietly swap a living tiefling wizard onto the saddle in the dead one's place — "as quick as we can so that she doesn't notice. You all kind of look the same" — which is precisely why he kept Maccath alive and why he eyed Shade. This is the reason the Cult of the Dragon could deal with him at all.
In Session 51, Maccath's debrief at the Host Tower of the Arcane confirmed the whole scheme from the captive's side: Arauthator carried her to his lair not to kill her, but to audition her as the replacement companion, and she stalled him with months of research until the party arrived. The revelation's sting is what it leaves behind: his mate survives — insane with grief, at large in the far north, and now with no one even trying to heal her. She is flagged as a live threat (see Arauthator's Mate).
When Arauthator met Shade he remarked on her unusually strong infernal blood: "I'm sensing a stronger infernal heritage in you than from that other tiefling. Do you have dealings with the devils as well?"
The Draconic Horn
Arauthator could resist the Draconic Horn's pull — "I can hear it and feel it, but I've been on this world for hundreds of years. I can shake its effects" — but he had his own reason to mistrust the Cult's plan: "Tiamat being back would knock me a step down the ladder." Roughly six months before the party arrived, chromatic-robed cultists had negotiated with him and left Oyaviggaton carrying the horn. At the parley before the battle, Shade and Karma nearly talked him into turning on the Cult outright — before the party opened fire instead.
Combat Capabilities
In the battle of Session 49, the party learned that Arauthator was no ordinary wyrm. He was a spellcaster, layering frost-magic over his breath — Wall of Ice, Freezing Sphere, Freezing Burst, Chill Touch, and Ray of Frost — and he drank potions of invisibility and healing from his hoard to vanish and recover mid-fight. His cold breath was a devastating cone (Constitution save), and his Frightful Presence could root the brave in place. He shrugged off magic with Legendary Resistance (five uses before they ran dry), acted out of turn with legendary actions, and warped his lair with walls of ice, blinding sleet, dense killing fog, and falling icicles. He could summon an ice elemental to fight beside him. His Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom saves were strong; his Intelligence and Dexterity were his weak points, which the party exploited with Hex to drain his defenses.
Death
Arauthator's reckoning came in Session 50. After the dragon killed the entire party in Session 49, the slain company struck an infernal bargain with Lady Calera and returned to the exact instant of the battle — the bloodied wyrm none the wiser that time had ever stopped. Reforged and at three-quarters strength, the party loosed a single coordinated volley the moment the fight resumed; with time frozen after the first strike, every blow — a trident, a guiding bolt, a blight, a chromatic orb, and an arrow, all under the cover of Gootcha's Silence — landed at once for roughly eighty-nine damage. Old White Death fell where he stood, killed in a single silent heartbeat before he could act.
The party harvested his corpse (heart, hide, scales, claws, teeth, horns, bones, and breath gland) and spent a full day excavating his hoard from the ice. Xanphina ate the dragon's heart and was permanently strengthened by it.
Relationships
- Oyaviggaton - His iceberg lair in the Sea of Moving Ice
- Arveiaturace - His grieving mate, who flies with her dead wizard-rider still strapped to her saddle; survives him, insane and at large
- Maccath the Crimson - A researcher who came to study him — abducted, per her S51 debrief, as a candidate replacement companion for his mate — and was freed by the party
- Verithrax - A bronze dragon who feared him and refused to approach his domain
- Mick - A marid who also avoided Arauthator's territory
- Barking Seal - Chieftain of the ice hunter clan he held hostage
- Bone Carver - Shaman of the ice hunter clan
- Orca Heart - Champion of the ice hunter clan
Current Status
Dead. Arauthator was slain by Deez Nuts in his lair at Oyaviggaton in Session 50, killed instantly by a time-frozen volley before he could draw another breath. His hoard was looted, his corpse harvested, and the ice hunters he had enslaved were freed. His legacy is not finished: with his deterring presence gone the Sea of Moving Ice has grown wilder, and his insane mate still flies somewhere in the north.
Appearances
- Session 47 - The Sea of Moving Ice (mentioned/referenced throughout)
- Session 48 - Inside Oyaviggaton (2026.04.12) - Party infiltrated his lair through Bone Carver's secret entrance
- Session 49 - Old White Death (2026-04-26) - battled the party to a total party kill in his lair
- Session 50 - Reforged in Hell, the Voyage Home (2026-06-14) - slain by the reforged party in a single silent volley
- Session 51 - The Red Gold Reckoning (2026-06-28) - posthumous: Maccath's debrief revealed the audition scheme and his surviving mate
Harvest Profile
Ancient white dragon, CR 20 — Artifact ceiling. Rules: Monster Harvesting.
| Component | Tool | Rarity | Effect | Primary for | Contributor to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arauthator's Soul-Ice Core | Alchemist's / Jeweler's | Artifact | The wyrm's frozen animus — supreme cold; a lair's worth of winter | Staff, Wondrous | Wand |
| Wyrm-Skull of Old White Death | Smith's | Legendary | Trophy-skull of an ancient wyrm — dread & dominion | Wondrous, Armor | Weapon |
| Greatwing Pinion Pair | Leatherworker's | Legendary | Ancient wing-pinions — true flight | Wondrous | Armor |
| Rimeforged Heart (signature) | Alchemist's | Very Rare | The dragon's heart — cold-forged vitality (a permanent boon, eaten) | Potion | Wondrous |
| Breath Gland (Frost Sac) | Alchemist's | Very Rare | Frost breath — cone of killing cold | Potion, Bomb, Wand, Staff | Wondrous, Weapon |
| Horn & Frill | Smith's | Very Rare | Frost staff-stock — channels cold | Wand, Staff | Wondrous, Weapon |
| Heartfrost Residue | Alchemist's | Rare | Arcane frost essence — cold & slowing magic | Potion, Bomb, Wand | Staff, Wondrous, Weapon |
| Glacial Eyes | Alchemist's | Rare | Cold-sight — see through snow & magical frost; divination | Wondrous | Wand |
| Cryogland Bile | Alchemist's | Rare | Cold bile — freezing catalyst | Potion, Bomb | Poison |
| Glacial Scales | Smith's | Rare | Cold resistance; rigid scale plating | Armor | Wondrous, Weapon |
| Talon Hooks | Smith's | Rare | Rending cold — cuts & chills(claws) | Weapon | Armor |
| Frost-Tanned Hide | Leatherworker's | Rare | Cold-warded leather; supple & insulating | Armor | Wondrous |
| Frostfang Teeth | Smith's | Uncommon | Biting cold (minor) | Weapon | Armor |
| Wing Membrane | Leatherworker's | Uncommon | Gliding membrane — light & wind-catching | Wondrous | Armor |
| Frost-Sheened Loose Scales | Smith's | Uncommon | Loose cold-warded scales | Armor | Weapon |
| Ice-Vein Sinew | Leatherworker's | Uncommon | Cold-supple sinew & straps | Armor | Wondrous, Weapon |
| Rime Crystals | Jeweler's / Glassblower's | Uncommon | Never-melting rime — gem & lens stock(body ice) | Wondrous | Wand, Staff |
| Sluggish Blood | Alchemist's | Common | Structure only | — | Potion, Poison, Bomb |
| Tail Vertebrae | Smith's | Common | Structure only | — | Armor, Weapon |
| Bone Shards | Smith's | Common | Structure only | — | Armor, Weapon |
| Dragon Meat | Cook's | Common | Structure only | — | Rations |
| Hide Scraps | Leatherworker's | Common | Structure only | — | Armor, Wondrous |
| Gizzard Stones | Scavenge | Common | Structure only'(swallowed stones — scavenge) | — | — |
(The Rare count runs over the standard 4 slots — the original harvest record listed more, and nothing established is removed.)
Harvest Record
Harvested in Session 50; quantities include the 2026-09 retro pass (margin bonuses). Banked totals: Harvested Materials.
| Component | Qty | Outcome | Recovered by (roll) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rimeforged Heart | 1 | Eaten— eaten by Xanphina — permanent boon; not banked | Karma(22) |
| Breath Gland (Frost Sac) | 1 | Recovered— 3–4 doses | Karma(23) |
| Horn & Frill | 1 | Recovered— 2 horns + frill | Baelgrum(22) |
| Heartfrost Residue | 1 | Recovered— 2–3 pinches | Karma(17) |
| Glacial Eyes | 3 | Recovered | Karma(23) |
| Cryogland Bile | 2 | Recovered— retro pass — column sweep | Karma |
| Glacial Scales | 1 | Recovered— 1 hide's worth | Baelgrum(22) |
| Talon Hooks | 8 | Recovered | Baelgrum(21) |
| Frost-Tanned Hide | 2 | Recovered | Keyleth(22) |
| Frostfang Teeth | 8 | Recovered | Baelgrum(23) |
| Wing Membrane | 3 | Recovered | Xanphina(19) |
| Frost-Sheened Loose Scales | 3 | Recovered— retro pass | Baelgrum |
| Ice-Vein Sinew | 3 | Recovered— retro pass | Keyleth |
| Sluggish Blood | 9 | Recovered | column sweeps |
| Tail Vertebrae | 9 | Recovered | column sweeps |
| Bone Shards | 4 | Recovered | column sweeps |
| Hide Scraps | 2 | Recovered | column sweeps |
| Dragon Meat | 1 | Recovered | column sweeps |
| Gizzard Stones | 3 | Recovered | scavenge |
| Arauthator's Soul-Ice Core | — | Left— no roll reached DC 30 | — |
| Wyrm-Skull of Old White Death | — | Left— Baelgrum's best was 23 vs DC 25 | — |
| Greatwing Pinion Pair | — | Left— Keyleth's best was 22 vs DC 25 | — |
| Rime Crystals | — | Left— no jeweler | — |
Only the Rimeforged Heart was consumed rather than banked.