Campaign Sessions Twenty One through Twenty Five

Session Twenty One

Talis gifted the group with a shield of arrow deflection and a scroll of firebolt before they retired for the evening. In the morning, rested and refreshed, the group were led to the wyvern stables and the grooms made two of the beasts ready to fly. After an initial breaking in period the characters got the wyverns under a semblance of control and pointed in the general direction of Parnast.

Landing in Parnast the characters met a wheelwright who seemed dissatisfied with the goings on in the village but did not want to talk in the open, he invited the group to meet in his workshop in an hour

To pass the time the party decided to check out the golden goblet tavern. Inside there were a couple of surly patrons and a singular barman. No one was in a talking mood. The dwarven ale that the barman charged an exorbitant sum for was excellent whilst the rest of the fare was not up to scratch. Whilst eating and drinking they noticed one of the patrons speak to the barman and then leave, looking at the party all the while.

Madam Zita followed the villager to the office of the town marshal where the words Othelstan and Castle were heard but not much else.

The appointed time for the meeting with the wheelwright came and the group got to the workshop without issue. There they found out that the entire town was infiltrated and largely owned by the Cult of the Dragon, they also got confirmation of the passwords that Talis gave them. They learned also that the Castle was owned by a Storm Giant that was working with the Cult for some unknown reason. As the spoke to the wheelwright massive tremors and a thrumming sound were felt. The castle was taking off from it’s mooring. The party was asked to leave from the rear window of the workshop so that they wouldn’t be seen leaving by the villagers that were gathering to look at the castle lift off.

Rushing to the wyvern stables they were met in the road by Othelstan and two guards who were set on detaining or forcing the group to leave town on foot. Thinking quickly Zoltan cast suggestion on Othelstan and suggested to him that the party was expected and allowed to take off in pursuit of the castle. This ruse worked and the party flew off to the castle catching up to it quickly.

The party landed in the upper courtyard in what appeared to be the proper place for receiving flying mounts, they were immediately approached by hulking ogres holding huge wooden cudgels menacingly. The party quickly gave the password “Hail Blagothkus” and the ogres relaxed. The party was ushered into Blagothkus’ rooms and the steering centre for the castle.

A short conversation with Blagothkus revealed that the Cloud Giant was under some sort of compulsion and Gianna tried to Dispel it, failing. This caused Blagothkus to react violently and he made to attack the party. Luckily because of his size he telegraphed the move and most of the party managed to move before he swung, allowing Gianna to try again. Zoltan used his portent to insure the outcome this time and the Compulsion was removed.

Blagothkus revealed that the Cult, with the help of a clan of Hill Giants, had killed his wife and captured his children and would only release them when he had finished doing the Cult’s bidding. He manoeuvred the castle through a series of sharp turns and banks ensuring that most of the cultist occupants, who were not forewarned, perished leaving only the principal players alive. The group decided to first attack the mages in an attempt to counteract some of the more dangerous remaining opponents first.

Arriving at the Mages’ quarters the party swarmed up the stairs and immediately engaged the mages in combat. After eating a fireball the party got their legs under themselves and went after the two mages Eloen used her great reach to cut down Azbara Jos in a round and hurt Rath Modar so badly that he had to use his emergency scrolls to escape the rooms and flee the castle. After the fight the party took a short breather and ransacked the quarters, finding nothing of intrinsic value but they did find a series of letters of correspondence between the Red Wizards and the Cult. They also found a tome of devil summoning of which the last chapter was a theoretical way of summoning Tiamat. Realising that their allies would like to see this the party pocketed the letters and the book.

Session Twenty Two

After a quick rest the party pressed on, they wanted to attend to the remaining cultists before they could rouse the dragon from the bowels of the flying castle. As such the sought out Rezmir and found her holed up in her quarters with a couple of drakes that had survived the erratic manoeuvres of the hour before.

Attacking quickly they managed to subdue Rezmir and her drakes in a swift action, Zoltan doing the most damage with two fireballs that dealt critical damage to all the enemies. Gianna’s spirit guardians finished the job as the last drake succumbed.

Deciding that the dragon was not roused by the cult the party decided to rest and recover over night before attacking. The next day they ventured to the dragon’s lair at the heart of the castle. They snuck into the cavern but ended up rousing the dragon. Quickly they talked themselves into a position that they were coming with a request from Rezmir, the white dragon not being the swiftest beckoned them closer to discuss the request. Once the group achieved the advantage of position, they acted.

All at once they struck the dragon. He barely had a chance to react before being slaughtered by heavy blows from Eloen and Gren. The party looted the dragon’s hoard to discover that, true to it’s less than stellar intellect, the lion’s share of the hoard was copper. Shiny appeasement for a not so smart ally.

Session Twenty Three

After killing Glazhael the group was led back to Blagokthus who asked them to go to retreive his children from the hill giants who had imprisoned them. In return he would give them a bag with some mystery contents.

The party agreed and were dropped off close to the hill giants’ grotto. Approaching the area the party spotted a giant throwing a boulder the size of a human head at a mountain goat staving in its ribs and killing it in a single blow.

The giant gathered his prey and ate half of the goat on the move, They followed him back to the grotto where the giants made their home. Two giants seemed to be standing some type of watch. The group tried to sneak in as close as they could to the giants before attacking, unfortunately three of the party members hit a scree patch and were sent tumbling noisily instantly alerting the guards. Zoltan fireballed the two giants twice and Eloen began firing her bow, Gianna ran for the cover of the cliffside as did Gren. The giants showered the party with rocks.

The giants advanced and one of them leapt down the cliff landing beside Gren. They traded swings before the giant was brought down by Eloen. Just then a third giant returned from hunting bringing the advantage back to them. Eloen was rocked by a boulder but the party managed to defeat the outside guard without too much drama.

Proceeding inside the grotto Zoltan cast Arcane Eye revealing that there were cultists in the grotto along with two more giants. There were some giant children in caged areas, two were obviously Storm Giant children and the others hill giant.

The party used the advanced knowledge of the arcane eye to lay out their plan with boiled down to sneak in and kill everyone as quickly as possible. Uncharacteristically the sneaking went well and they surprised and smashed into the cultist position killing one outright and surrounding the rest. Gianna cast spike growth to deter the giants from advancing, effectively cutting the battle field in half. The cultist wizard lobbed a fireball Gren and Eloen to lesser effect than he was expecting, suddenly his face was full of Gren and that was about the last thing he saw. The giants began throwing boulders and hit Eloen a couple of times, nearly crippling her. One giant pushed through the spike growth and met her end.

The final giant presented little issue and the party opened the door to the childrens’ area. The 5 children cowered in the corner until Zoltan explained that they were here at the behest of Blagokthus. The storm giant children seemed to have bonded with the others and they insisted that they be brought with.

All 5 children were taken to the castle where they were reunited with Blagokthus who gave them the bag in payment. Suddenly a raven appeared with a scroll case attached to its leg. Opening the case revealed a note inviting the party to attend a council session in Jendar City and a scroll of Teleportation that would only transport the caster and party to a specific point in Jendar City.

Zoltan read from the scroll and the party vanished in a flash of arcane energy.

Session Twenty Four

Appearing suddenly in a room with a teleportation circle (hopefully in Jendar City) the Dragon Poachers startle a lazy guard into action, calling his supervisor over she clears the party and sends the guard to guide the party to their hosts.

They come to a large room with high ceilings and large windows, some with stained glass motifs. Sitting at a long heavy wooden table laden with snack type food of a sort that won’t go bad quickly are Leosin Erlanthar and Ontharr Frume. They rise to greet the party after a long time of not seeing them. Leosin begins to explain that they have been keeping abreast of the Poachers movements and exploits and that most are pleased with the outcomes, although some may not be.

Why this is important becomes clear as Ontharr breaks in and tells them that the Council of Jendar and her allies has been called to an emergency meeting starting the next day and that the Dragon Poachers are to attend and to testify about their dealings with the Cult of the Dragon. Ontharr and Leosin have been given the unenviable task of helping the Poachers through the political minefields of the council meeting.

They lay out the members of the council (Rise of Tiamat NPCs) and their general stances. The only faction that is unhappy with the Poachers’ exploits are the Dwarven Kingdom of Horgardal. The dwarves, is seems, are unhappy that the dragon hatchery wasn’t torched to the ground and that the giants got to keep their castle. Most other factions seem to be happy with the outcome of the fight so far.

The Poachers spend the balance of the day shopping and studying where they learn by way of broadsheet that Arthagast Ulbrinter, Remallia Haventree’s husband, was assassinated by Cultists recently, which helps explain why the Harpers are so insistent that the Cult must come to an end.

The next day comes quickly and the opening ceremonies with all their pomp and circumstance begin. The poachers manage to grin and bear the formalities with a stiff faced, smiling, facade. Once the ceremonies conclude individual ambassadors come up to the Poachers and congratulate or harangue them depending on their overall feeling of the party’s exploits.

Just then a feeling of rumbling came over the city, a vibration felt more than heard, and suddenly a stillness, no birds called, no cats meowed, no dogs barked, indeed not one person made a noise, all nearly frozen in place by the odd sound. The stillness broken by a noblewoman’s cry, “THE DRAAKHORN!”.

The words seemed to restart the city and a rush of people went to Lady Dela Silmerhelve’s side to hear more of why she knew what the call was. She explained that the horn is a call to all dragons (chromatic mostly) to begin to gather to answer its call. She refused to tell anyone how she came by this information stating that how she knew wouldn’t change the outcome. The evening ended quickly after that.

The party retired to their rooms and testified about their exploits the next day. Combined with shopping and study the day passed quickly.

Leosin called the Dragon Poachers to a meeting with Remallia Haventree where they had the results of some research into the Draakhorn. The last known location was the Sea of Moving Ice and that two dragons were known to frequent that area Arauthator and Arveiaturace. The area was part of the former’s range and the latter was his mate and visited a strange growing iceberg called Oyaviggaton from time to time.

Arauthator was apparently a very nasty and particularly cruel and vicious white dragon. As it happened a mage called Maccath the Crimson was last known to have been near Oyaviggaton three years previously and had not been heard from since, scrying and other magics had failed to find her. The only thing that could be determined magically was that she was not dead.

Leosin and Remi contracted the Poachers to sail to the Sea of Moving Ice on the Frostskimmr captained by a man named Lerustah Half-Face, so named because half of his face had been scarred by frostbite. He was familiar with the area and was willing to search out Oyaviggaton. The Dragon Poachers used the time remaining to purchase goods they needed on the trip with the help of the Harpers’ information network.

The journey to the Sea of Moving Ice took twelve days, Gren used this time to forge a rapier, every day he carved a rune into the steel and every day he folded the steel over the rune until he had a magically imbued ingot with which to forge the weapon. He also added runes to his shield.

The first day on the Sea of Moving Ice saw the Frostskimmr meet some strangely un-talkative Ice Hunters whose only purpose it seemed was to hunt what looked like an inordinate number of seals before paddling away in the distance. That evening the crew found a likely spot on the floes of ice and dragged the ship up onto one for the evening. Some time just after midnight Gianna noticed movement at the edge of the floe. Several creatures had crept onto the ice, looking like they were going to murder the crew of the Frostskimmr, likely to drag the corpses off to eat. The Dragon Poachers prepared for combat

Session Twenty Five

The attackers were large and slow moving on the ice, they were much more suited to moving quickly in the water. Armed with claws teeth and harpoons the Merrow moved inland slowly, intent on killing and dragging crew members off to eat. Gren leapt out of bed in his night shirt preparing to fight. Zoltan had other ideas and cast a polymorph, turning Gren into a Giant Ape. Gianna cast a spike growth blocking the path of one merrow while Eloen peppered it with arrows, flying remarkably true in the night. The other Merrow advanced awkwardly across the floe readying their harpoons.

Gren leapt across the boxes of supplies and camping equipment and cannoned into one of the Merrow rending it. Zoltan laid a fireball into two of the Merrow to great effect, as neither could get out of the blast due to their strange and hobbled gait. Gianna hit the Merrow that Gren had mauled with a guiding bolt and dispatched it. Meanwhile the spike growth trapped Merrow moved it’s way, painfully, back to the water’s edge and dived in.

Eloen followed up with more arrows wounding one of the remaining enemy. Zoltan fireballed the remaining two fresh Merrow that were making their way from the other side of the Frostskimmr. Gren attached the merrow in front of him and hit it almost like a line drive into the ocean.

The Merrow tried valiantly to attack with their harpoons nicking Ape Gren in the process but having no further impact. They began moving their way slowly to the ocean looking to retreat but the Dragon Poachers were having none of it and Gren quickly drove the last two enemies into the ice, dead.

The following day the Frostskimmr came upon another group of Ice Hunters that were unusually terse, much like the first group that the party encountered. Ignoring all attempts at trade and hails they moved steadily South East. The party supposed that the dragon motif on the Frostskimmr may have put off the Ice Hunters, presuming that they had been subject to some Dragon’s predations.

Leaving the mystery to lie for the moment they continued the search for Oyaviggaton, the next two days passed without incident until the late evening of the second day. With the sun low on the horizon a lookout cried that the berg was in sight in the distance. The decision was made to approach the island in daylight.

Zoltan cast clairvoyance on the island, opting for a top down view. He saw that there was a small village on the berg, the Ice Hunters that they had seen earlier were evidently based on the island.

Approaching in full daylight the Frostskimmr beached itself on the part of the berg that was obviously used for that purpose and the Dragon Poachers along with a well paid translator made their way up to the village proper where they were met by the village leaders. the Poachers made their case that they wanted to trade and to find knowledge of the dragon called “Old White Death”. The shaman, Bonecarver, said that they could trade and leave and that the dragon had been slain some time ago by some frost giants and that his remains were the heap of bones that the poachers had passed by on their way to the village.

Not believing her Zoltan cast detect thoughts on the shaman and he found out that he was lying through her teeth, the heap of bones was actually from several whales that the dragon had eaten and that the villagers used for most of their structural, hunting and ornamental needs. Bonecarver resisted the spell however and immediately called for a duel between Zoltan and Orcaheart the tribe’s best warrior. Strength only, no magic was to be used.

There was much excitement and the villagers gathered for the spectacle. Eloen attempted to get Orcaheart to fight her to no avail. The interpreter left, this was well beyond what he had signed up for. The shaman was un-swayed however and preparations for the fight began.

Gren had other ideas and stepped into the ring and began to say that they had the power to fight the dragon and that they would fight the dragon for they had the power of giants behind them, activating one of his runes and swelling to twice his normal size. The villagers were taken aback by this display and, Bonecarver, sensing the winds of change, backed off of the duel, instead declaring the Dragon Poachers the ones that had been prophecised.

She lead the Poachers to her hut and told them that there were several ways down below, she gave them villager garb so that they might pass for ice hunters and be able to move carefully in the chasms below.

They went slowly down the treacherous chute that led to the caverns where the dragon kept himself. The climb was made easy by the magical boots that they had purchased in Jendar City. Down below they made their way with Zoltan’s arcane eye leading them through the very dimly lit ice caverns towards the area where they knew that Maccath the Crimson had taken residence.

On their way they passed a grisly trophy room with bodies of slain foes of Old White Death on display inside columns of transparent ice. Amongst these macabre trophies sat a complete longship with sail unfurled and oars extended, looking ready to sail at a moment’s notice. The ship had been taken apart and painstakingly reconstructed by the dragon’s kobold servants who had done an admirable job of the task, only getting some of the details of the rigging wrong.

On the deck of the ship sat an open treasure chest filled with coin and jewels. Gren hopped up on the ship and, not seeing any traps, scooped the treasure into the bag of holding and the poachers continued their way down the corridors, only to be met by two ice trolls charging from the other direction.

The trolls engaged the party and survived the initial onslaught and one said to the other in Giant to warn the Dragon that there were intruders on the island. Gren used most of his abilities to get to the fleeing troll and wrap it up with a grapple just as it was about to disappear to a second layer of icy cavern below. The trolls were dispatched very quickly and quietly after this and the Poachers gathered themselves to push onward to Maccath’s quarters.

Sessions Sixteen through Twenty

Sessions Twenty Six through Thirty

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