A messenger arrives at the Witch and Cup Inn and brings word that Captain Selbane wishes to meet them at the Flying Gem to discuss business. The PCs agree to do so and then continued to discuss strategies for the upcoming dragon fight. Finder and Nash head off to find a place of knowledge to learn about dragons and learn of a place called the Starshine Academy which might have some answers.
They meet keeper Volstag and pay a steep price for the knowledge there and are told to come back later in the day. They meet up with the rest of the team at the White Dragon Market and enter the Flying Gem tavern for their meeting. As it turned out, it was a party put on in their name as a celebration of their good deeds in Neverwinter, and specifically for routing the wererats from the bell tower who had been tormenting them. The drink ran freely and both Farooq and Bronn squared off in a drinking contest that neither truly won (Or both, depending on how you look at it). They had to be dragged home at the end of the night.
During that time, Nash and Finder went to the academy to see what they had found out. What they learned was helpful, especially in understanding the nature of the beast's personality, tendencies and tactics. The creatures breath is a toxic cone of poison but beyond that they must watch the bite and claws as would be expected. Green dragons are proficient deceivers and should not be trusted.
The next day is spent gathering some gear and preparing for their journey. Farooq picked up his armor and all was made ready. The following morning, the day of their journey, was overcast and threatening rain, and they began their trip in earnest. The day was spent following the winding Neverwinter River east towards Thundertree. It poured rain for most of the afternoon and finally, at the end of the day, they reached the area around Thundertree. They could see the ruined town high upon a hill in the distance but decided to spend the night down by the river and assault the dragon in the morning.
A damp nights sleep was had with little problem except for what they assumed was the dragon flying overhead during n the middle watch. This put the PCs on edge believing that the dragon had discovered their being in the vicinity. No attacks came that night and they woke up in the morning without any problems.
The plan was hatched to use the spell "Pass without Trace" to allow them to sneak up to the dragons tower atop the hill. They crept forward until they were a few hundred feet away and Finder and Nash went forward to scout. The area was quiet and there was no sigh of the dragon noticeable from a short distance. The two scouts waved their less stealthy fellows forward to the back of the cottage adjoining the tower.
Bronn had prepared his protection from poison spells and cast them upon his friends and Finder cast Spider Climb upon himself with the spider staff and Nash activated his new footwear to do the same thing. Farooq opened the back door and he and Bronn snuck into the old abandoned cottage to find it empty of foes. They crossed the room and kicked in the door leading to the tower with Finder stepping in and Bronn following a moment later. Nash and Finder had climbed up the outer walls of the tower and were peering into the large hole in the roof.
The interior of the tower was crisscrossed with broken timbers and half floors of the various levels of the tower. It was dense with shadows from all of the obstructing framework, and no dragon could be seen. As soon as Bronn moved in to join Farooq, a bellowing cloud of acrid gas blasted down at the two of them from the shadows above. Bronn's protective magics proved as good as he said as they suffered only a little pain from the breath attack. They dragon swooped down at Bronn as he moved to find a position not so tightly packed with Farooq, but Bronn's shield deflected the physical attack.
But as the Dragon moved quickly back to his previous hiding spot Farooq stepped forth and attack with a series of expert blows that seemed to leave their mark. The dragon buffeted Farooq with it's wings and, knocking Farooq down, flew even higher into the tower's shadows.
Comments