The Road Divides

As evening approaches, Arno is performing the ritual to conjure Leomund's Tiny Hut so the group may sleep in safety. As Arno is drawing out the runic symbols upon the dirt, the group hears loud crashing noises coming from the forest. As the noises grow louder and nearer each of the group draws their weapons and readies their spells.

Wizards Come To Call
5, 050 XP

Two large hill giants emerge from the forest and begin to wield clubs against the valiant adventurers. Each of the group attacks with their spells, arrows and swords. T'an and Smallfang notice something odd about the giants. Arrows that hit them seem to pass right through them, only to reappear in their expected place. Sword swings that should yield resistance surprisingly do not. Smallfang at one point falls after swinging his sword, as he was expecting to hit the giants thick flesh only to find his sword passing effortlessly through and sending him sprawling.

Arno and Lithariels spells hit again and again but the giants do not slow and seem not to be weakened. Before they can puzzle over this too long, two robed figures emerge from the forest and speak to the group of friendship as they use some sort of spell or curse that sends the giants retreating through the forest. The group is wary of the strangers help and keep their weapons drawn, even though one of the robed figures tells them they have nothing to worry about.

The one who speaks is an old man, skin taught over a thin and aged face, tattoos covering most of his face. He says his name is Sobaras and his companion, a young female is Khaynya with similar . They only want the group to return something that was taken from one of their brethren, a book. Arno skulks quietly back away from the two robed figures. The book that Arno has was taken from one of the two Red Wizards of Thay back in the icy SkyCastle. The book, written in infernal, is unreadable to Arno but he knows that it contains horrible powers and is not going to give up the book easily.

The group answers Sobaras's demand with violence. The battle ensues but Arno and Lithariel find their magic unable to do much, as the two opposing wizards have surrounded themselves with a globe of invulnerability. As the group relies on physical attacks against the wizards, Arno finds himself caught and restrained by a figure which emerged from the woods behind him. Arno with a knife to his throat is unable to fend off the fowl smelling and greasy cultist.

The group moves to aid the gnome and the cleric, Bishop, a sometime companion of the group arrives to assist in the battle, lending his healing powers just in time. The group, in time is able to defeat the wizards with Arno still in possession of the infernal book. But as the group prepares to rest for the evening the forest silence is broken by loud screeching coming from a short distance away. After Arno finishes preparing Leomund's Tiny Hut the T'an and Lithariel head off to investigate.

A short ways off into the forest they find three wyverns, tied to trees. With little effort the two of them are able to handle the animals to the point where they can lead them back to their camp. Lithariel, in hopes of encouraging the wyverns to follow them, promises to let them go once they have carried the group to their destination. The next morning the group mounts the wyverns, while Lithariel transforms into a giant eagle. The take to the skies in the direction of Waterdeep.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: What?!? Really?!? I tried to hard to give you wyvens to ride. And you're just going to let them go free?!? Ok. You roled played it correctly I guess. Sorry for my outburst)

The Return To Waterdeep

Back in Waterdeep the group returns to the castle where the council had met. It is not long before the members of the council are alerted and a meeting is called, but not before the group disperses into the city, each to their own purpose.

Lithariel frees the wyverns, as was his promise, and heads off to try and confer with her king but is unable to find the king.
Smallfang and Bishop retire to lush rooms to rest and to eat.
T'an heads to the market square to try and trade some of his acquired gems for gold
Arno heads in the same direction but to try and find a bag of holding he's been desiring for some time.

The Bag of Holding Quest
2,000 XP

Arno finds an old woman who claims to have such a wonderous item. Arno just has to follow her to her residence. The woman leads Arno down small alleyways, which are dark and winding. Arno feeling more apprehensive with each step, follows the old woman into her dwelling, a dark and uninviting place. The room inside is dark and filled with so much piled junk or treasure, their are narrow pathways leading deeper into the room. Arno plucks up the courage to say he wants a bag of holding.

The woman returns with two bags, a small one and a larger one. She demands 2,500 gold pieces for the small one and 5,000 gold pieces for the larger one. Realizing that he doesn't have anywhere near this amount of gold, Arno apologizes and begins to back his way out of the hovel. The woman in incensed. She demands that the gnome buy something, now that he knows where she lives and that she has two bags of holding. She looks menacingly at the gnome and begins to walk to wards him. Arno stumbles out another apology, he simply didn't realize that the bags would be so much. Arno offers to buy something else, as he digs through his pockets checking to see how much gold he had.

The woman pauses. Buy something else? Of course. She digs through a nearby stack and produces two small glass potion bottles. Arno makes a brief attempt at haggling and purchases the two potions. Asking what they are they woman smiles and says one is a 'toxic bomb' (pronouncing the silent b at the end of 'bomb' as she clearly doesn't completely know how to read). The other? Well, the other is an elixir of MADNESS!!! The woman cackles as she says it lifting the potion aloft in front of her towards Arno.

Arno quickly pays the woman, takes his two potions and gets out. As soon as Arno is back among the market he climbs a nearby barrel and is able to spot T'an. Calling out to T'an he tells the monk about her encounter with the mad woman.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: It just started out as just an old weird woman, but when Arno started to act worried and apprehensive, I decided to quickly roll her up as an insane sorceress. It was way more fun that way. Thanks Arno.)

A page approaches Arno and T'an and informs them that the two of them are requested back at the castle at the request of the council of Waterdeep. Pages have also been busy gathering the others to the council meeting.

Second Meeting Of The Council Of Waterdeep
1,000 XP

At the council meeting, the Smallfang tells them what has transpired since they last spoke here at Waterdeep. King Melandrach is furious that the group has killed and name his son, Neronvain, as a leading member of the Cult Of the Dragon. He vows that he will not contribute his army of elves to the coming war and departs for the Misty Forest.

Lithariel, tries to convince the king that he is wrong, but the king hears nothing other than the shame his son has brought upon the elves of the Misty Forest. Lithariel persists only until the king banishes Lithariel and strips him of any name among his people, as he departs.

The group is also entreated again by Lady Dala Silmerhelve to seek the Draakhorn among the Sea of Moving Ice as well as the McCath The Crimson who is of the Arcane Brotherhood. She alone knows much of the workings of the Draakhorn.

Onthar Frume, of the Order Of The Obsidian Dagger, tells the adventurers that he has received word form one of his members that a cult leader has been spotted near Boareskyr Bridge. There is word that the cult leader may be in possession of a magical dragon mask which can help in the battle against the cultists.

As the group is pondering their next direction, the woman they briefly met before, here in Waterdeep, approaches them quietly. She again is dressed in a silvery dress with jewelry of delicate silver adorning her silver veiled face. She reintroduces herself to the group as, Elia. She begs them to follow her. They obligingly do.

The Council Of The Dragons
3,000 XP

She continues to walk and walk until they are well outside of Waterdeep. When Smallfang is frustrated enough to finally ask how long they're going to walk she stops. She turns and smiles and transforms into a silver dragon. She offers her back to convey the group to another meeting which will be some many miles away. The group excitedly climbs onto her massive form.

As they fly over the land, they notice that more and more villages and towns have fallen to the Cult of the Dragon. Homes burned and razed to the ground. Trails of refugees line the dirt roads leading back to the coast. They continue to fly until they enter and area untouched by the cult activity. Hidden in a caldera of an ancient volcano, the dragon lands.

There they are met by four other metallic dragons. Each has wanted to meet with the group empowered to investigate the cult's activities. They offer their assistance, but in return for either an apology from the elves for the horror that was the Dracorage Mythal, the magic which caused the dragons of the ancient land to go insane and caused massive amounts of dragon deaths, or their king's death. They also ask a similar apology or death of the dwarven ambassador Brawnavnvil for the killing of one of the dragons mates.

As they talk to the group, one of the dragons smells Smallfang and recognizes something of the dragonborn's scent. She asks if he happens to be related to a kobold in his ancestry. Smallfang tells of his parent, Fluffy, and the dragon is elated to hear this and looks to Elia. Elia exclaims that one of her parents was Fluffy, along with Osirian, Zaya and 'Boy'. She tells the group of being sung to by Osirian as a hatchling.

The dragon that recognizes Smallfang's scent, looks disappointingly at him. She notices Smallfang's necrotic sword. She says that the sword is not worthy of a paladin. She says that he must give it up. Smallfang is torn. He knows that it is the right thing to do. His paladin oaths are strong. But he has pursued this sword for so long and it was a hard won victory. Sighing he places the sword at the feet of the dragon.

The dragon smiles and looks at the dragonborn approvingly. She picks up the sword and performs an act of slight magic. She returns it to Smallfang and says that she has fixed it and improved it somewhat. Smallfang excitedly picks up the sword again, happy to have it back in his possession.

The group is returned back to Waterdeep upon the back of Elia once more and the group still faces the decision of where to go next. T'an is adamant. Severin must pay for the death of his mentor. Too much time has been wasted going after underlings. It is time Severin either payed for his crime or T'an will die in battle against him.

T'an says his farewells and the group is torn but they are sure they do not wish to follow T'an to his death.

Facing Severin
3.600 XP

T'an travels long and hard to finally come to a barren land. All the trees have been burned to the ground. The ground blackened by fire everywhere. Smoke still fills the air as T'an approaches a mountain, truly an ancient volcano. The Well Of Souls.

As he nears the Well Of Souls, he finds hundreds of people from all over the Faerun being marched into the ancient volcano via tunnels, each shackled and chained. As he nears, Several cultists, guard drakes and beared devils stop him. He simply states that he wishes to be brought to Severin.

He'll be brought to Severin all right. They bind him and force him to march among the other prisoners until he is inside the mountain and finally inside the caldera. The caldera is filled with thousands upon thousands of what seems to be dragon bones. A millennium's worth of dead dragons. He watches as each prisoner is lead past several more cultists, drakes, and bearded devils until they enter a horrible chapel made of dragon bones with five towers reaching hundreds of feet into the air.

As T'an enters the cathedral like structure he sees several red wizards performing the summoning ritual, each in a alcove of one of the spires. One for each head of Tiamat. Hundreds of feet above him he sees his quarry. Severin floats two hundred feet above him in the center of the cathedral and directly above a massive portal which circles and pulses above the prisoners heads. Within the summoning portal T'an sees a vision of one of the planes of Hell. Souls screaming in agony are deafening. As each prisoner is marched towards a pit, a wizard slices the neck of the sacrifice killing them while their energy, soul, is carried up into the portal, powering the infernal summoning.

As T'an is soon to be sacrificed he picks the locks on his shackles and runs to the nearest wall. He begins climbing as three beared devils give chase. Injured but not slowed he begins to climb. As he passes the height of the portal, he shouts a challenge to Severin. Severin, smiles and obliges.

Severin pulls from his belt a fiery chain which grows in length as he whips it around his head until it is unleashed at T'an. Hit after hit does not dissuade T'an from his mission to avenge his mentor's death. Continually on fire, T'an makes a jump towards Severin, only to be bound again by the evil wizards fiery chain until T'an falls over two hundred feet.

Dead before he even hits the ground. His death now only one among hundreds.

The sacrifices continue unabated.

Boareskyr Bridge

The rest of the group, unaware of the death of the companion, decides to carry on to Boardeskyr Bridge. They travel until they come across a small settlement made by the ancient black stone bridge. The settlement is little more than a collection of various sized tents. There is much traffic of people and wagons here.

The group is drawn to the most active and largest tent, a tentside inn. There they meet a female halfling, Bolo. She tells them of a dwarf passing through not more than a 10 day ago. He's become something of a hero in the stories these people tell. It would seem he was asking about information and an escort into the hills when a robed figure began to question and harass him. The dwarf calmly stabbed him in the head. It was then revealed that the hooded figure was one them "snake people".

The people of Boareskyr Bridge obviously didn't shed a tear over the death of one of these creatures that pretend to be people.

Overhearing the story, a tall wiry man in a long leather coat approaches the group and inquires if his services might be of need. When he is questioned about what sort of skills he may have he proceeds to pull out a weapon which, with a hellishly loud noise, smashes the shot glass out of the hands of a patron several yards away.

Convinced of his skills the group deliberates where to go next. They hear of the dwarf leaving quickly after the incident with the one of the "scaled folk", with a small entourage, into the hills. He has not gone quietly or gently. He has left a blazing trail for anyone crazy enough to follow such a dwarf.

These adventurers are just that kind of crazy.