"I'm going to kill every man, woman and child up there!"
Our heroes have located Maccath the Crimson - famed sage and she most knowledgable about the Draakhorn. Protected by trolls and surrounded by kobolds, what is she doing here, why hasn't she left and why is she so grumpy? All questions that will be answered tonight - it just depends on whether you're listening or not!
Starring, in order they sit around the table:
Sigurd, (played by Iain) a travelling swordsman, .
Venmir, (played by Brett) an elven clergyman, .
Nyvan, (played by Jason) a elven knight, .
Rodin Halfbeard, (played by Lorne) the dwarven axeman, .
Nandrin the Naughty, (played by Hilton), the elven mage, (absent this evening).
and The DM, (played by Alex), who loves to comment in blue. And writes this blog. He's also a bit of a git and likes to make life difficult for his players.
Once more the party are at less than full compliment - and this is likely to continue for at least a couple weeks due to various reasons. Anything more than two down and we don't play D&D that night. One man down, neck deep in a dragon cave and !
The heroes stood before Maccath, wondering at her strange attitude. Her most recent words echoed in their ears, "Are you here to save me, or to kill me? Either way is much the same to me."
They spent some time discussing the sage's position with her. She had been captured years before, and at first Aurantathor, Old White Death, decided to kill her, but when he found out she was a skilled mage, he took her captive, to train her as a rider for his partner, who lived in seclusion, hundreds of miles away, distraught at the death of it's human many years before.
She was also working on dozens of magical manuscripts that the dragon had taken from the Arcane Brotherhood and other mages many years ago - while he was a skilled mage, he still required assistance translating the tomes - and here Maccath excelled. Except that she was keeping the work deliberately slow, to keep the inevitable from happening - either her death, or her enslavement on a more permanent basis.
The dragon had even set up a number of wards, meaning Maccath could not leave the island or send any warnings or requests for help - and even if she could, what mage would travel a thousand miles to rescue her, a sage who dabbled in ages-old artifacts and whose magic was of no great merit.
They found out about the layout of the lands. The dragon's real lair was below, in caves running under those the heroes had already traversed. There was two entrances, and the dragon could use them as much as anyone else. However, he more often used some underwater tunnels to get in and out of his lair. He also had unknown servants down there.
She was surprised to hear that they were intending to fight the dragon. Many had tried, and all had failed - none had come close. The party told stories of their bravery and slowly won over Maccath. She agreed to help, as long as they promised to help her escape, and return the magical artifacts of the Arcane Brotherhood to Luskan. They agreed.
"I have something here to help you..." she said, and as she reached behind her, Venmir tensed, fearing betrayal at the hands of yet another human.
Yet the betrayal came from her kobold attendants - as they scarpered at high speed - one made it past the heroes, and one was tackled by Sigurd. Before the other could escape down the ramp, he staggered to his knees, both an axe and a javelin deep in his back. The other, when questioned, admitted he was just trying to warn his companions about the treachery of Maccath. The party tied him up.
She gave the party a magical ring, the better to defend agains the cold of the dragon's breath. Rodin took it.
To Venmir, she gave two arrows of dragon-slaying. Nyvan's eyes lit up when he heard what they were.
"So, how do these arrows of dragon-slaying work?" he asked. There was a moment of silence before Maccath spoke slowly.
"You shoot a dragon with them and it hurts very, very much." she smiled benignly. "With a bow!" she added, to get her point across.
Nyvan's face grew red ,"No, I know what an arrow is, I just wanted to know how they're different!"
The others laughed, and Nyvan fumed into his cup of watered down wine. "Stupid arrows..." he muttered.
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They mvoed through to the Scriptorium, to prepare to drop down into the dragon;s lair. They reseted for the night in MAccath's tent, protected by her spells from being found by the beasts of the ice caves.
Before they dropped down, they all drank their potions of cold-resistance, most straight away, although Nyvan took some convincing - having to be told three times by Venmir.
Down the rope they dropped (and by dropped, I mean that Venmir and Sigurd actually dropped off the end, taking a small amount of damage). they found themselves on an ice shelf with several large ice boulders blocking the view of a huge room. Nearby, the outline of a dragon lay on the ice - surely this was one of Auranthantor's resting spots! They decided that rather than spread themselves throughout the lair, they would wait for him here.
They split into two groups, elves on one side, Sigurd and Rodin on the other. They settled in to wait, prepared with more potions, just in case. They were lucky, however, and after nearly 45 minutes, they heard the sound of a massive beast moving towards them.
They heard heavy claws, scraping against the ice, and the sound of heavy footsteps. The sounds echoed from the walls all around, and it was impossible to tell where the beast might walk up onto the shelf. They each moved, some in one direction, others in another, and then back again, as the sounds reflected and disguised the beast's true movements. Sigurd had moved around his rock - but when Rodin tried to follow him, he found the human had disappeared from view - invisible! Nyvan and Venmir froze where they stood - so mistrusting of their own senses, that they could not bring themselves to move in any direction at all.
Aurantathor moved up to his usual sleeping spot, but as he stepped between the two large rocks not far from the edge of the shelf, something tickled his senses. He took a step forward, and his head snapped around to the right - two elves stood cowering behind the rock, their eyes wide in fear. Aurantathor raised himself back to rain ice and death down, but their fear was fake! The more slender of the two fired off two arrows, as quick as lightning, and they tore into gaps between the dragon's scales. He roared in pain - these were no normal arrows. Oh how they burned! He heard footsteps behind him, and glanced around to see a dwarf rushing for his flank, but he ignored him...and took a deep breath.
Venmir and Nyvan were moments later engulfed in a torrent of ice, snow and freezing air. Even with their magical resistance, they were chilled to the bone, and they struggled to stay standing.
Sigurd and Rodin struck at the beast from behind, opening wounds in his sides. Nyvan and Rodin, despite being nearly overwhelmed by the sheer size and sight of the beast, struck at him bravely. The great white dragon flung his wings outwards, sending Nyvan and Venmir flying backwards, knocking them to the floor. The creature lashed at the elves with his teeth and claws, intent on killing the one who had struck him with the evil arrows.
Sigurd and Rodin drove their blades through the beasts' armour. Venmir clambered to his feet and ran behind the rock, to hide from the beast. Sigurd stood, and the beast once more unfurled it's wings, bleeding from many wounds, knocking everyone in sight either to their back, or in Nyvan's case, further along the floor. All except Sigurd, who watched as the beast used the power of its wingbeats to launch itself into the air and fled up the tunnel they had come down.
As the beast left, it sent a chilling warning back down the passage.
"We will meet again!"
Sigurd raised his sword in triumph. Nyvan pulled himself to his feet. Rodin rolled over, so he could get to his feet easier. Venmir peeked around the side of the rock, hoping the dragon was gone. His hopes were met.
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They made their way back up the chute they'd descended from. The dragon had dragged their rope with it, and it took some bardic magics from Sigurd, turning himself into a snowy owl and flying up the chute, to get the rope ready.
At the top, Maccath waited. She congratulated them and confirmed that the dragon had left the island. She gathered the books of the Arcane Brotherhood and they stored them in Venmir's Bag of Holding. They made preparations for leaving and made their way back to the chutes in the ceiling which lead to the village above.
The main entrance, which they knew lead to a hole underneath the planks in the village hall above, was their first point of call.
They debated for some time on the best way to get up to the entrance - and after fighting the urge to set the village alight with a flaming arrow, Venmir chose a rope arrow, and then, after much struggling, he dragged himself up the tunnel. He had one hand free, the other clinging to a dagger barely dug into the ice, when his frantic banging on the planks was answered. An ice hunter stood above him, his bow ready and an arrow pointed at Venmir's face.
"Stop pointing your bow at me you savage, and fetch someone who can speak a proper language!" roared the patience-less cleric.
The hunter stared at him dumbly, and as he mumbled something in his own tongue, Bonecarver, the village Shaman walked into the room. She approached warily.
"Ahh, you escaped. Where is the dragon?"
"Gone." replied Venmir.
"Really? Where to? And for how long?"
"It will never return."
"Again, really? How do you know this?" enquired the shaman.
"We have an expert on dragons below. The woman we sought. She knows....."
"She knows nothing! She is a pedlar of antiquities! And you are lying to me! Always with the lies!"
"You're a fine one to talk!" cried the cleric, "you deceived us more than once! And you...." his voice faded away as the shaman ordered the ice hunters to block up the hole again. Venmir fumed, swearing to kill everyone in the village.
He returned downstairs and told the others what happened. Sigurd shook his head a lot.
They made their way to the other entrance they knew of. After much trouble, and an amazing outburst and subsequent sulking from Nyvan ("I'm sitting right here and I'm not moving!"), they eventually found themselves face to face with the shaman again.
There was a brief argument between her and Sigurd, before the heroes left the iceberg, never to return. Despite their offer to help move the villagers to the greenlands, the shaman refused. The lands of green meant nothing to the ice hunters - and this bleak landscape was their land. Venmir muttered all the way to the ship about murdering everyone in sight, but refrained from killing "every single ice hunter who lived here".
On the way back to Waterdeep, they stopped briefly at Luskan, dropping off the books and Maccath the Crimson. The Lords of the Hosttower promised their support for the return of their sister.
Their journey continued.
They soon found themselves back in Waterdeep - and on the dock waited Leosin Erlanthar. He listened patiently to their stories, then lead them to the Palace, where another Council meeting was planned.
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The Second Council Meeting was not as long as the first. Lord Dagult NEverember had been replaced by Lady Laeral Silverhand, and a new woman sat on the Lady's left - she was as beautiful as any they had ever met, and even the dwarf felt a twinge of desire, despite her lack of beard.
They debriefed the council on what had happened in the North and South, receiving both praise in some parts and damnation in others.
They heard of two new areas their assistance was required. In the Misty Forest, dragon raids had left scores of elves dead - and the new lady at the table was an envoy from the metallic dragons - the Council had decided that the heroes would be their envoy to the good dragon council.
As they left, they heard how the Harpers had located the children of Blagothkus - in Undermountain - a labyrinth of caves and monsters underneath Waterdeep.
This left them three options; Misty Forest, Dragon Council or Undermountain.
And they chose to visit the land of the elves....
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