The Grand Quest (working title until players learn more)
The Saga Begins
It all started when Grimjack convinced Pol, Arynda, and Quill to loot some ruins he knew about. Having nothing better to do, they agreed. So off they traipsed to the north via ship to the city of Larkendale. The ruins were located several days to the north of the city, in a swamp. Along the way they encountered a group of Goblins whom they dispatched with ease.
When they arrived at the swamp, they began to get the impression that the area may not be quite so uninhabited as they thought as a scouting trip by Pol spotted a large, organized group of humanoids (indeterminate type) leaving the swamp. Undaunted, they left their horses and excess equipment in what they hoped was a hidden spot and set out into the swamp. Not too far in, they were ambushed by six lizard-like men (since named dragon men). They gave the party a pretty tough fight but the party finally managed to overcome 4 of them and the other two fled. The dragon men they had killed had turned to stone and then, shortly after, crumbled to dust. Pol suddenly realized where they were going and accused Grimjack of tricking them to try and kill the dragon. Arynda and Quill were surprised by these revelations (that there was a dragon and that they were going to try and kill it). Due to the revelation of the dragon and the damage they had already taken (which was not as bad as it seemed), the group nearly turned around and left. After a sometimes heated discussion, Grimjack managed to convince them to continue with the promise of lots of loot.
After trudging through the swamp some more, avoiding some dragon-men guards, and crossing various vine bridges, they came upon the ruins of Xak Tsaroth. They approached a plaza with a big well with caution as Grimjack had relayed a story of how the dragon had previously come up out of the well and had slaughtered several previous party members. However, nothing attacked them this time and they proceeded to enter the only intact building, one with large gold doors. Entering, they discovered what appeared to be a temple with a statue of a woman holding a staff. Quill recognized the statue as being Mishakel, a very old (unknown nowadays) goddess of magic with good leanings. The statue spoke to them, explaining that a dark time was coming and that it was time to restore the balance. Below them, she said, in the dragons lair, they would find a great gift for the world; the disks of Mishakel (circular platinum plates held together on a ring). They were to take her staff and, if they presented it boldly, they would prevail. At this point the staff became a blue crystal staff and disappeared from the statue to appear in Quill's hands.
They found some stairs down to a set of chambers with large holes in the floor. Looking down them they only saw mists and heard the sound of falling water. A little further on, they discovered a line of gully dwarves (disgusting, stupid creatures that only vaguely resemble dwarves). Charming one of them, they learned that the gully dwarves were slaves of the dragon men and dragon and that they were currently in line to "go down". After much discussion, they finally managed to get the gully dwarf (named Bupu) to tell them that there was another way down where the "bosses" (dragon men) weren't; essentially, the way they "came up" after "going down". They followed Bupu to a tube that had broken through part of a room and angled down. It was slimy inside and they had to carefully go down but eventually managed to come out in another room further down. Upon leaving the room, they realized they were on a small section of street, with buildings, all on the side of a rock wall. Following Bupu, they came to a waterfall (water was flowing down the street). Apparently, their small section of street was actually on the side of a cliff. Looking down, they saw a whole section of city on the bottom of a huge cavern. A dim, filtered light was coming through what they decided must be the large well from above. They also observed a pair of chains rising from the city below to an area above. After waiting and watching, they realized it was a primitive elevator (with a large pot on each end of the chain) with gully dwarves going down to provide weight for dragon men going up.
They carefully climbed down some vines growing along side the waterfall to the city below. Following the river/street, they came to a plaza with several large buildings surrounding it. Before they went any further, a very large, sleek, black dragon emerged from one of the buildings and ordered a dragon man, along with some gully dwarves, to find an escaped prisoner. The dragon then went back into the building while the dragon man and the gully dwarves scattered. The party backed up to avoid discovery and wandered around the city some which seemed pretty deserted. Along the way they discovered where the elevator was. After some additional wandering (and an encounter with a Choker), they decided to confront the dragon.
Carefully creeping into the large building, they chose to follow a smaller corridor, rather then go through large double doors, in the hopes of finding a less obvious way in to wherever the dragon was. After finding what were obviously some empty barracks, they freed a prisoner (human warrior named Raveneye) and captured a dragon man. The dragon man told them the back way to the dragon's lair was heavily trapped and that the front way was the only safe way in. After chaining him up in the former prisoner's cell, they went through the double doors. Part way down the hall, Pol spotted some pressure plates (obviously some sort of trap) and they carefully walked around them. At this point, Quill decided to cast invisibility on herself. They reached the end of the hall and came to more, large double doors. They assumed the dragon was on the other side. Summoning their courage, they went in.
It was a huge, circular room with a crystal dome for a roof. In the very center was the dragon, perched on a pile of coins, gems, and weapons. The dragon screamed while Arynda, Grimjack, and Raveneye charged and Pol stepped to the side to get a clear shot with her crossbow. Quill heard the soft voice of Mishakel whisper "Grab the disks, strike the dragon with my staff, and all will be well." The party was clearly outclassed as they quickly realized they were not skilled enough to penetrate the beast's scaley hide though Pol managed to get a lucky shot through a chink. Even this was partially overcome by the dragon's awesome metabolism. Quill quickly shouted for someone to find the disks. Arynda somehow managed to spot them in the pile, grabbed them, and quickly ran to the area where Quill was. They needed to hurry as the dragon's claws were wreaking havoc every time they struck someone. Fortunately, the dragon seemed too enraged to fight coherently and was lashing out at whomever had dared try to strike it most recently. Quill grabbed the disks from Arynda (who still could not see her) and then swung the crystal staff onto the dragon. The staff shattered.
But the blue light from the crystal staff did not go out. Instead, it slowly grew and encompassed the dragon who seemed frozen and unable to move. A ringing sound grew as well and, as the light enveloped the dragon, one last ear-piercing scream came from it's frozen jaws. The blue light exploded and there was silence. When the party was able to see again, they saw that the dragon was gone. And so was Quill!
They didn't have long to wonder because the ground started to shake and, looking up, they saw that the crystal dome was beginning to crack. They all grabbed from the dragon's hoard and then ran back out the corridor as the ceiling began to collapse. Before they were out of the building, part of the ceiling fell and crushed Raveneye while injuring several other party members. Outside the building, parts of the cavern ceiling were collapsing while more water was rushing in. They decided their only hope was to make for the elevator. After dodging more falling rocks and nearly losing Pol while crossing the growing river in the street, they made it to the elevator. A lone dragon man was there who promptly hit a gong and leaped into the pot which began to rise slowly. Leaping into the pot (Grimjack didn't quite make it but held onto the outer rim until someone helped him in), a confused fight occurred as the pot tipped around wildly. Just as they reached the top, they killed the dragon man (who turned to stone). Leaping out, the elevator collapsed behind them. They managed to find Quill, with the disks, in the temple. They also discovered that her eyes were now those of a dragon's.
While making their way out of the swamp, they came across an abandoned village. Gathering up their horses and gear, nothing further happened until they reached Larkendale. There they heard stories of a wall of blue light sweeping through from the north. Taking a ship back home to Lodestone, they continued to hear stories of the wall of blue light. After getting home, they also began to hear stories of outbreaks of magic. People casting spells and mundane items with magical properties. All seemed to originate after the blue light. Studying the disks, Quill discovered that they're instructions on the use of magic as well as descriptions of spells (though not useable like a spell book). After showing the disks to an acquaintance of hers (a magic user from before the blue light who also now sports dragon eyes), Quill gave the disks to him so he could open a school for magic users in an attempt to put some order to the chaos the outbreak of magic was causing.
First Step on a Long Road
A couple months later, Arynda, Quill, Jozan, and Nadira were hauled into a building of the City Watch (of Lodestone). There they met Capt Landen (Arynda and Quill know him from way back) and Sgt Krayquar. Landen explained that the war with the invaders from the north wasn't going well. The current issue was merchants had stopped traveling the river road. This was creating supply problems with the city of Willip and the army stationed there. Landen was arranging to have a merchant caravan travel to Willip and back. It couldn't be guarded by the military because he wanted to show everyone that private guards were sufficient in order to encourage future merchant caravans. He offered to pay the party in gold if they took the job. They accepted.
They would escort three merchants and their wagons. The party was given a rough map of where they would travel. They could expect Hobgoblin raiding parties and were to beware of and kill any lizard men they spotted. The journey would take about 32 days round trip. The next morning they met the three merchants at the gates and set out.
As they were approaching the halfway point (a fort) around day 10, they came across a burning caravan of three wagons. No bodies were in sight and before they could investigate, they were attacked by about 12 hobgoblins. After killing most of them and chasing away the few remaining, they continued to investigate the attacked wagons. Hidden away from the wagons, they discovered the bodies of the owners including one that looked very much like one of the merchants (Jasmalus) they were currently guarding. They did not say anything to the merchants but started to keep an eye on Jasmalus. That's when they noticed he seemed to be keeping notes on something near (or across) the river though trying not to be obvious about it.
They finally arrived at the fort. During the night, it came under flaming catapult attack by the enemy army on the north side of the river. During the confusion of the attack, while most of the party was helping (or just trying to avoid getting hit by a catapult shot), Nadira spotted Jasmalus having some sort of heated discussion with the captain of the fort. When the captain spotted Nadira, he confronted Nadira while Jasmalus slipped away.
The next morning, they set out, continuing to keep an eye on Jasmalus. He continued to make notes over the next few days. On a rainy evening, as they were approaching the next town, which was a little ways beyond a ford they had to cross, they came across a group of hobgoblins struggling with a pair of wagons in the swollen stream. The party attempted to ambush the hobgoblins and, although they were spotted before they were all in position, they did manage to kill all the hobgoblins. Upon searching the wagons they found all sorts of supplies of various types including things that a raiding party wouldn't need (such as ingots of gold and two suits of full platemail) as well as lots of weapons and food.
Upon arrival at the town (Barduk), Jasmalus revealed to the party that his real name was Jetero and he was an agent of Capt Landen disguised as his brother (who is a real merchant in the area). The party told Jetero that they had found his brother's body earlier. This news devastated Jetero but confirmed his decision. He wanted the party to deliver his notebook to an agent nearby (named Jeremiah) so that it can get back to Capt Landen. Inside were his notes that indicated, in his opinion, the enemy had established a secret supply base inside friendly territory. He wouldn't deliver it himself because he believed he had been targeted and wanted to separate the notebook from himself immediately to ensure that the critical information got to his superiors. After the party returns, they'ld continue to Willip and Jetero would inform General North in person. After giving the party directions to the rendezvous, they set out.
When they got near the spot where they were to meet Jeremiah, they were surprised by a small girl in the woods. Almost immediately after, a large Lizardman with a bow emerged from the brush. Shots were exchanged but before things got too heated, it was discovered (thanks to the girl) that the Lizardman is Jeremiah. This caused confusion with the party as they were told to kill Lizardmen on sight. Jeremiah took them back to his hidden cabin (where there were several other orphans as well as a Druid) and they discussed what was happening. They all came to the conclusion that Sgt Krayquar was a traitor and this information and the notebook needed to get to Capt Landen immediately. Jeremiah would take the notebook and swim down the river to Capt Landen. The party was to return to Jetero and make sure he got to General North.
However, when they returned to Barduk, they found that it had been attacked by another Hobgoblin raid. Worse, they discovered that under cover of the raid, Jetero was murdered and another merchant (Malin) was injured. Because they were away during the raid, and therefore not under suspicion, the captain of the fort put them in charge of the murder investigation. After some investigation and questioning of people, they confronted a man staying in the inn. The man attempted to flee but was captured. Questioning revealed he was indeed the murderer, hired by Sgt Krayquar. To avoid execution, he revealed the location of the secret base as being the old abandoned Cragson mines about 10 miles south. The captain of the fort urged the party to strike the base quickly and sent two soldiers (all he can spare) to go with them to guard their horses.
Observation of the site gave the appearance of an abandoned mining camp. But searching through the buildings revealed an ogre, a few hobgoblins, some wagons and horses, and other indications that the mining camp was being used. However, no real base was discovered so the party concluded it must be in the mines proper. The main entrance was collapsed but a shaft was found in one of the buildings.
Climbing down the shaft revealed a warren of tunnels and caves. About 60 hobgoblins were housed along with extensive amounts of arms, armor, food supplies, etc. The group proceeded to kill all the hobgoblins, an ogre, and some kind of magic using dragon man. The dragon man exploded when it was killed. Going through a bunch of papers they found, it appeared some sort of massive invasion would be occurring soon. They proceeded to load up as many of the weapons and armor as they could on the wagons they found, set the rest on fire, and headed back to Barduk (after first stopping by to get the nearby Druid to deal with some penned up wolves that they had found).
After returning to Barduk, they proceeded to inform the captain of what they found. They also offered him the weapons they brought with them. Due to his garrison being so small (12 soldiers), he only accepted a few but suggested the rest be taken to General North in Willip. The captain also confirmed what Arynda had determined from the papers. They did indicate an invasion apparently ordered by a Lord Verminaard. After getting a good night's sleep, the group set off on the last leg for Willip with what was now a five wagon caravan.
On the way to Willip, the caravan was ambushed by 18 Hobgoblins. The ambush was easily defeated.
A couple days later, they encountered 7 human refugees attempting to flee their way to Lodestone. The refugees turned out to be dragon men in disguise. After a tough fight, which included a brief conversational exchange between Quill and one of the dragon men (Quill: "What are you doing here?" Dragon Man: "Why do you fight for _them_?"), the dragon men were all killed. They turned to stone when they died.
Finally they arrived at Willip (after passing through a burned out Hamlet a day away from Willip). After some initial confusion due to the soldiers expecting to be contacted by an agent (Jetero), some officers debriefed the group. They seemed to be particularly interested in what the group observed across the river near Molag and the papers they found in the mines. They then escorted the group to a nearby inn. The merchants planned to stay for about a week's time before heading back towards Lodestone.
Into the Teeth of the Storm
Early, the next morning, an officer came to escort the group to a briefing. The briefing included General North, Major Brackenbury, and about 10 other staff officers. The group was included because they supplied a significant portion of the information and it was obvious Capt Landen trusted them so the General felt they should be included. All the officers looked very tired as if they'd been up all night.
The situation laid out by Major Brackenbury was grim. Based on information supplied by the group plus the army's own intelligence efforts, it appeared the enemy was set to launch a massive, two pronged invasion in about a week's time. One prong would come across the river in the Molag region. The other would come out of a mountain fortress/pass about 16 miles north of Willip. This mountain fortress (named Pax Tharkas) was where the first invasion originated from a year ago. Either force would be large enough to defeat Willip.
After much deliberation of the bad options available, General North had decided that the best course of action would be to evacuate Willip and pinch the forces coming out of Molag between them and forces coming out of Lodestone. However, the Willip force would be unable to leave for about a week. While this would still keep them slightly ahead of the force coming from Pax Tharkas, they would get stopped when they engaged the Molag forces and would likely get crushed from behind. While some discussion of trying to delay the mountain force occurred, no workable ideas were forthcoming and the briefing was adjourned.
After the group returned to the inn, they held a long discussion debating their options. The group's feeling was that if they didn't try and do something, the whole Lodestone region would probably be conquered by the invasion. After determining that they didn't want to try and live under those conditions (or flee from those conditions), they decided to try to delay the mountain force. They would attempt to start a slave revolt using the several hundred slaves (learned about during the briefing) that were being used to mine iron at Pax Tharkas.
They went to General North with their decision. He and Major Brackenbury proceeded to give all the detailed information they had to help the group. The plainsmen (which made up most of the slaves) were a fierce people and were only being kept in check because the enemy had their families captive in the fortress itself. The group would need to wait until right after the enemy army left Pax Tharkas before entering to start the revolt. They recommended trying to locate a secret entrance that has long been rumored to exist but nobody knew for sure because it was in a nearby small valley that was haunted by a resident beast-man. They also mentioned that there was a defensive mechanism in the fortress itself that could be used to block the gates to create additional delay and problems. Due to the various timings, the group was told they needed to leave Willip no later than pre-dawn of November 27 (6 days away).
The group spent the rest of the week in preparation for the trip. Jozan gathered information as well as bought and sold some high cost items. Quill and Nadira enchanted some scrolls, wands, etc. Arynda ran errands and kept watch to make sure Quill and Nadira weren't disturbed. Early one morning a town guard attacked Jozan in his room at the inn. After a tough fight, the guard was defeated. During the fight he mentioned something to Quill about "betraying the Queen". When the guard was killed, he changed into an exact duplicate of Quill. This was particularly disturbing to the group because everything they knew about Shapechange was that the creature would return to its original form upon death. They hid the body in one of their rooms. Just before leaving Willip, they checked the body and found only a little bit of soot and 5 gems.
At the appointed time, some troops of Major Brackenbury sneaked them across the river and gave them directions to the valley where, hopefully, the secret entrance existed. They set out and made decent time. Around noon they reached a crossroads. At the crossroads was a grisly display of 3 burned hobgoblins hanging by their feet from a crude scaffold. A rough sign indicated Lord Verminaard had made an example of them for taking prisoners against his will. The group then turned left towards the direction of the valley. Along the way they ran into a dire bear. After exchanging a few blows, they quickly fled from it. Eventually, as the light was falling, they found the valley near to Pax Tharkas. Before they could find a place to camp, the group was attacked by two Trolls. After a fight, the Trolls were killed (and burned). They then camped for the night after sending Nadira as an owl to spy on the fortress.
Early the next morning, the group was awakened by the sound of many trumpets and drums. The large army that Nadira had spotted the previous evening was marching from Pax Tharkas down the road. The group spent a good part of the morning looking for any sign of a secret tunnel. Eventually, after talking to various squirrels and rabbits, they discovered that there was indeed a secret tunnel. After some effort, they figured out where it was and how to get in.
They traveled through the tunnel for a ways before it split in two directions. They discovered more split offs as they went. Eventually, the tunnel broke into a long room with many doors. Opening one awakened a zombie that was in a small chamber behind the door. Zombies came out of all the other doors as well and the party made a hasty retreat.
Wandering around some more, they came across another room. This was a large throne room though partially collapsed along one side. On one end was a large stone throne with a skeleton holding a great sword. Flanking the skeleton were two 18 foot stone statues of warriors. After detecting magic on the sword (which emanated a very strong magic) but nowhere else, Jozan carefully took the sword from the skeleton. Close examination of the sword didn't reveal much except that it was very, very old. Archaic writing on the blade was unreadable except for the word "Wyrmslayer".
Going through the door on the other side of the throne room, they entered a long hall that was collapsed at the other end. There was also a giant slug. The party attacked the slug, all the while Arynda wondering why they didn't just leave. After eventually killing the slug (and Jozan nearly dieing in the process), they realized there was no way through the collapsed rubble.
After further wanderings, the party decided the only way through was the zombie chamber (though there was one tunnel they didn't go down after the wolves became very agitated about something "unnatural" up ahead). Fortunately, the zombies seemed to have gone back to their rooms. At the far end of the chamber was another door. After going through this door and wandering several other halls, on the other side of a secret door they entered what appeared to be a storage chamber for the fortress. At last, they were in.
The first thing they did was kill 4 dragon men who were dragging a slave girl to Lord Verminaard. These dragon men turned to small pools of acid upon their death. The girl was able to lead them to near by prison rooms where about 140 women were held in squalid conditions. There the party learned the situation of the prisoners. This group of women was in the bottom of one tower. Another large group of women were in the first floor of the other tower. The children were in the first floor of this tower but guarded by an old and possessive dragon named Flamestrike (the party was very startled to learn there was a dragon). The men were kept near the mines. Once a day a small group of women were allowed to care for the children and take food to the men. The impression the women gave the party was that the guards were very lax because they knew the women weren't going anywhere without the children and the men weren't going anywhere without their families. After much discussion, a plan was determined to get everyone out.
Quill, Jozan, and two volunteer ladies snuck out towards where the women were kept in the other tower. Under cover of invisibility magic, and through the use of a Knock spell, the women in the other tower were freed without the notice of any guards (the women were kept in a room adjacent to the outside where no guards were). One of the volunteers stayed with the rest of the women and explained they were to stay where they were until they heard the signal (a wolf howl) but to prepare to leave. Next, Quill, Jozan, and the other volunteer, still under the effect of the invisibility, snuck to where the men were. Jozan and the women explained the situation to the men. There were at most two dozen guards watching over 200 men. The guards would be no problem but the men would not make a move until they saw their families coming out of the fortress. Jozan stayed behind to make sure there would be no problem with the guards when the time came while Quill started to work her way back to the fortress.
Meanwhile, after what they hoped was a suitable wait, Arynda and Nadira started to lead the women up stairs to where the children were. Along the way, they ran into two dragon men but Arynda quickly dispatched them. They then all filed into the outer room from where the children were kept. This room also led outside via a large double door which could have a large beam placed across it. Most of the women started gathering clothes for the children while a small group went into the next room to get the children. Shortly, the children started to file into the room where women quickly bundled them up against the outside cold and started filing out with them. At this point, a loud, inhuman voice could be heard from the room where the children were coming from. Arynda started to get nervous and began trying to hurry everyone outside. As the last of the children came filing in, they were followed by the head, shoulders, and eventually entire body of a huge red dragon. The sheer size of the thing was overwhelming as it was much larger than the black dragon Arynda had encountered before. Closer examination revealed this was an old dragon with many scars, broken teeth, and one clouded eye. It was obviously confused at what was happening and kept asking "Where are you taking my children?" Then it seemed to realize. Both eyes started to glow red (including the cloudy one) as it screamed, "You will not take my children!!" A palpable wave of terror came from the dragon causing the wolves and the remaining women and children to panic and run. Even Nadira and Arynda had to fight to keep from being paralyzed in fear. The dragon began to advance towards the door, shrieking, as Arynda and Nadira ran and shut it. They tried to lift the heavy beam and, in an adrenaline aided burst of strength, managed to get the beam in place as the dragon smashed into the door. It held but the dragon continued to bang away at it.
When large numbers of women and children had exited the fortress, the men revolted against their guards and quickly dispatched them under the blows from their picks and shovels. Jozan also killed one of the guards and was pleasantly surprised when his new great sword didn't stick in the now stone dragon man. The men filed down the mountainside and joined up with the women and children. Unfortunately, chaos ensued as everyone started milling around trying to find their families in spite of entreaties from various members of the party to get moving up the pass. Dragon men were also starting to glide down from the tower tops though Arynda and Nadira took care of the first two that came down.
Suddenly, the doors holding the dragon burst outward in a splintering crash. Flamestrike shrieked, "Give me back my children!" Though temporarily confused by an obscuring mist spell, she proceeded to move quickly towards the mass of people in front of her. This, like nothing else, got the people moving in a panicked mob up the pass. Jozan was washed away in a sea tide of people. The rest of the party fled too but realized that the mob was not moving quickly enough to outrun the dragon. Glancing back, they were horrified to see a large red streak come shooting up out of the top of one of the towers and land on the wall of the fortress; another huge red dragon! (At some point, somebody asked "How many of these things are there?") This one looked much healthier than Flamestrike and had a figure astride its back (which they all assumed was Verminaard). His voice boomed out that they would pay for their insolence by being destroyed completely. The new dragon took off and started to fly towards the former prisoners. But Flamestrike had stopped at the appearance of the new dragon and now, seeing death gliding towards her children, leaped up in a burst of flame and hurled herself at the other dragon. The two smashed into one of the towers and became locked in a fierce combat. Under the sounds of alarm horns blaring (hopefully recalling the army.....) and dragons shrieking, the party and the refugees continued to flee. With the starting of a snowfall, they quickly lost sight of the fortress and the battling dragons.
After a couple of hours, nightfall came, the snow continued to fall and the refugees had to stop. Earlier, they had come across a supply train and, after overwhelming the few and surprised hobgoblin guards, had a number of hand wagons with some food, blankets, and other minor supplies. But none of it would last long and, with the coming winter and effectively being behind enemy lines, it was painfully obvious the refugees were in serious trouble. The party determined at this point that they may as well attempt to help the refugees as they were stuck behind enemy lines themselves anyway. During the night, leaders from the refugees came forth, organized all roughly 800 of them into four camps, and created the Council of Freedom. One leader from each of the camps and one member of the party (they designated Quill) would have a vote and all camps would abide by the decisions of the Council. The four camps were divided roughly along regional lines though one of the camps, dubbing themselves "The Believers", was a mixture of people who held that they must embrace magic, that the appearance of Dragons and demons was a "sign", etc. The party quickly decided that their leader, Elistan, was a bit of a nut.
More practical information was gained primarily from Briar, leader of a camp that consisted primarily of people that used to live in the Abanasynian Plains. He explained that the road they were following would lead to the plains where he and his people used to live. Knowing this was where the enemy army had originally come from, no one relished the idea of marching the refugees back that way. There was also a maze of canyons that would be north of the road along the mountain's edges prior to reaching the plains. After much debate, it was decided to take the refugees into the canyons and attempt to scrape out a living there or in the mountains. This didn't sound like a hopeful idea but it beat all the alternatives. Elistan mentioned a legendary Dwarven city that was supposed to be north of the canyons and maybe they could find it and live there. Briar didn't know anything about a Dwarf city but did mention that there was a desolate area between the canyons and the plains that was created when a sorcerer's fortress blew up. All that was left of the fortress was a cursed mound now referred to as Skull Cap. Some time during the night, it stopped snowing.
The next morning, under threat of more snow, the refugees moved out. Arynda and Nadira (as an Eagle) scouted ahead. They found a side canyon and, following it for a number of miles, located a small dwarf town (about 100) in a small valley. After a preliminary encounter with some dwarf woodcutters in which Arynda subdued them in combat (the dwarves had attacked first) and they were suitably impressed, Arynda met with the local head dwarf Zirkan. Arynda explained their situation to the Zirkan and asked for help. The dwarf, while dismissing the threat of an army, seemed sympathetic to the plight of the refugees. He explained that while this valley could not contain that large of a group of people, there were more canyons further north that may be suitable for their needs. They had some supplies they could sell and furthermore, knew of some giant honeybee hives nearby where they may be able to harvest some honey for food. Arynda wrote all this down and gave the note for Nadira to fly back to Jozan and Quill while she would spend the night with the dwarves. The Council, upon hearing the news, agreed to follow that route.
The following morning, the refugees headed out. Arynda went back to meet them and help direct the route they should take. By late afternoon, they passed the dwarf town and continued out the other end of the valley. In the meanwhile, Nadira had scouted further ahead and found a valley that, in her expert opinion, would suit the refugees quite well. It was about another two days ahead and, if they could buy some supplies from the dwarves and gather a decent amount of honey, would be just within range before the refugees began to starve (already some were starting to die from the cold). While traveling with the refugees, Jozan learned through casual conversation that a large army of hobgoblins, with many small and large demons had wiped out all the communities of the plains people. While purchasing supplies from the dwarves, he learned quite a bit about the lost Dwarf city and Skull Cap and how they're all connected. These dwarves apparently were Nadar dwarves. The Hylar dwarves were the clan that ruled the Dwarf City. Long ago, there was a war between the clans over the city. Humans and a powerful sorcerer were also involved on the side of the Nadar. Apparently the Hylar were winning and, in their moment of victory, the sorcerer blew his fortress (and presumably himself) up in a massive blast that wiped out everyone and changed the landscape so that no one knew where the gates to the city were any more. The dwarves believed there was probably clues to its location in what was left of the fortress but those dwarves who had gone to look had never returned and so previous chiefs, and now Zirkan as well, had forbidden any further attempts.
After another night, the refugees headed through the canyons towards the valley Nadira had found. In the meanwhile, the party attempted to gather some honey from the giant bees. Their hives were located in the side of some cliffs. After setting up a large amount of brush at the foot of the cliffs and setting it on fire, the party climbed up into the smoke filled caves. They managed to gather a fair amount of honey before the smoke (and the occasional bee) became too much and they had to leave. Fortunately, between Jozan's purchases and the honey gathered, they had just enough food to make it to the valley.
Late the next day, the refugees arrived at the valley. It contained a lake as well as woods with what appeared to be plenty of game. Over the following day, the party explored the valley and the immediate surroundings. They determined that the valley might support the refugees for about a month or so before they exhausted the resources within it. They also saw no immediate sign of the army. The valley could not support the refugees indefinitely and it seemed unlikely Verminaard would ignore their survival indefinitely either. After some internal debate within the party, and lacking any other palatable ideas, it was decided to explore the sorcerer's fortress. Maybe it would contain information on where the Dwarven city was. If they could find the city, that might give the refugees an option for a place to live as well as protection from the enemy.
The next morning, the party set out for the fortress. They had to traverse some swamps that contained ghostly images of armies perpetually battling in the fog. The fortress itself (or what was left of it) now looked like a massive evil skull made of black shiny rock. The only openings appeared to be the eyes and mouth of the skull. After clambering up the ruined sides of the slope, they entered the mouth (complete with stalactite and stalagmite teeth). Inside they found the remains of building interiors with stone flagged corridors, iron banded wooden doors, etc. They fled from a spirit that manifested in one room and stayed away from a glowing grey hemisphere in another room that seemed to contain a frozen (stasis?) dragon (!) about to pounce on a fleeing goblin.
Exploring other areas they came across some grisly humanish creatures that attacked them. The party sent the creatures to a true death but not before a chilling touch from one sucked some of the life right out of Nadira. In another area, they were approaching what appeared to be a large cavern with dripping water and a pool in it. However, before they got too close, the sword that Jozan was carrying began to buzz like a swarm of angry bees. Suspecting that it may be warning them of a dragon up ahead, they chose to go a different route. Eventually, the party found the remains of a map of the fortress (from a former explorer of the ruins?) that seemed to indicate that the sorcerer's quarters would be found deep below the level they were currently exploring.
Going back to the large stairwell they had discovered earlier, they went down deeper into the fortress. Part way down, the only thing remaining of the stairs was a twisted metal framework. Climbing down that got them a bit further before that too ended in a rough shaft going down beyond sight. Climbing skills, rope, and use of a Spider Climb spell got them the rest of the way down the shaft to a rubble filled bottom. The rubble filled bottom was actually the top of a domed chamber with an opening into the chamber. Out of the opening came several skeletal warriors. While moaning and begging the party to free them by recovering some circlets further below, they hacked at the party with large swords. Eventually, the party realized that they could not win a battle against these creatures and rushed past them out of the chamber. Fortunately, the warriors didn't seem able to leave the chamber.
The next challenge was a multi-level maze with many of the walls and floors invisible. In the center of the maze was an iron, fire-breathing multi-headed hydra that could breathe fire into most areas of the maze. Judicious use of small rocks (from the previous rubble area) allowed them to navigate the maze without too much difficulty though half way through they had to fight some sort of invisible creature that eventually disappeared in a gust of air.
Once through the maze, they had to bypass a stone golem, and go past several creepy statues of an ancient evil god of magic (which also turned all their metal weapons into wood though going the other direction restored them to normal). Beyond the statues was a large circular chamber that appeared to be the point from which the catastrophic blast had originated. A single skull rose up and briefly became part of a ghostly apparition of a sorcerer before it settled back down amidst the dust again. Carefully grabbing the circlets they needed, they stayed as far away from the skull as possible and went into the chambers beyond.
Beyond, they discovered treasure chambers. But first they had to contend with archways that teleported them to other places including teleporting Jozan into a small iron cell. After figuring out the secrets of the archways, they were free to rummage through the vast wealth piled up. In addition to numerous coins, gems, and jewelry, they discovered two other items of interest. One item was THIS scrap of paper placed on a desk heavily inscribed with magical runes indicating the desk was used in some sort of divination ritual. The scrap of paper had some words written on it that weren't original so perhaps the owner was attempting to use the desk to learn something from the scrap and had scribbled some notes in the process.
The other item was a bejeweled helmet. Jozan decided to place it on his head. He was immediately possessed by the spirit of Grallen, a long dead dwarven hero of the Hylar. Grallen had been in the vanguard of the about-to-be victorious forces when the sorcerer unleashed his mighty blast. He begged that his spirit be returned to his homeland. Between his knowledge and what he gleaned from Jozan's memories of the current landscape, he was able to provide sufficient information for the party to figure out where the gates to the dwarven city must be.
Armed with this knowledge, and pockets stuffed with as much treasure as they could carry, they left the fortress (along the way giving the circlets to the skeletal warriors who then crumbled to dust). Tired and exhausted, they returned to the refugee camp, told the leaders of the news, and went promptly to sleep trying to ignore Elistan's proclamations to the rest of the camp of him being right and that it's another "sign".
The next morning, as the sun was rising and the party was getting ready to search for the lost Dwarven city, a dark spec, flying, approached from the direction of the rising sun. Their fears were quickly realized when it became apparent that it was a large red dragon with Verminaard on it. The dragon swooped over the refugees, sending them scattering in panic and fear. The dragon then hovered while Verminaard, in his platemail, midnight blue cape, and hideous helmet/mask bellowed out "Fools!! Cease this foolish struggle, it is useless to resist! I could crush you all now!" (the dragon gave an evil smile at that) "But I will let you live!" (the dragon stopped smiling) "For there are some things worse than death!" The dragon and Verminaard then flew away. But not before Quill noticed that she had seen flesh and bone arms on Verminaard. Was he not then a lich like the rumors had said? Were the rumors wrong? Or had they not really met the commander of the army yet?
Pondering these questions, the party decided to head for the gates at once. While the group headed there on foot, they sent Nadira, transformed as a bird, back towards Pax Tharkas to see what the army was up to. It was just beginning to group up and would likely be several days before it reached the refugees. There was no sign of Verminaard or the dragon.
Nadira returned to the rest of the group about the time they reached a long narrow ledge on a cliff face that should be where the gates were. Unable to find any sign of a gate, Quill cast a Knock spell in case it was just well hidden. Sure enough, a large piece of the cliff face began to move outward. Arynda jumped out of the way to avoid being pushed off the ledge as the door continued to move outward. As more and more of the door swung over the ledge, the party heard loud grinding sounds from inside the mountain. Shortly after, the door broke free from cliff and went crashing down the cliff into the ravine below. The way into the Dwarven City was open.
After waiting a little while to see if anything would come out of the large opening, the party plunged into the darkness. On the other side of the gate were numerous skeletons, broken wagons, and other debris. Along with lots of dust and dirt. As their eyes adjusted, they realized they were in the beginnings of a large hall, more than 100' wide (though "only" 30 feet high), with a double row of large pillars leading into the darkness. They slowly moved forward. Very shortly they started seeing small doors on either side. Checking these, along with signs next to some of the doors, they discovered what would be the equivalent buildings in a human city (customs houses, barracks, etc). All long ago abandoned. As they continued further, more doors and signs were passed appearing to have been businesses of various sorts. They decided they must be on what would have been a main street. Several hundred feet later, they came across some side tunnels (side streets?) that were lower and narrower (though still 20 feet wide). There was still no sign or sound of anything. They started to follow a side tunnel but after it started branching, they realized they would just be wandering what was apparently an abandoned city and that if there was anything interesting, they were more likely to find it on the main road.
They continued going, and going, and going. The darkness, silence, and the familiar yet alien feel of the city (especially the ever present roof) began to weigh on the party's spirits. Finally, they came across a war party of dwarves. The leader of the dwarven party was Arman Kharas. After a discussion in dwarven and common (in which Arynda, thinking the dwarf couldn't understand her, blurted out about the missing front door), the group learned several things. These were Hylar dwarves on some sort of scouting missing. They considered this area to be enemy territory held by another group of dwarves called the Theiwar (Arman seemed to be amused about what the Theiwar would do when they discovered the missing front door). Arman was suitably impressed by them having the helm of Grallen and promised to bring them before the Thanes so they could present their plea to find a place to live for the refugees. After giving the rest of his war party directions about continuing their mission (he wouldn't say what it was), Arman led the party deeper into the abandoned city.
After about 1200 feet from the front door, they came to a bridge leading out into darkness. They could see neither ceiling, floor, nor the far side of the vast cavern. Even the smallest of sounds set off echoing whispers. The party began to cross the bridge. They quickly lost sight of the beginning of the bridge with no sign of the far side. The oppressive feeling of the city was replaced by the emptiness surrounding the bridge. If not for the frequent echoes indicating that walls existed somewhere, they could have been walking through an outer plane of emptiness for all they could tell.
About 700 feet along the bridge, the party noticed a large lump of rock next to the 3 foot high railing. As they stood there trying to figure out what it was, suddenly several long strands several inches thick shot out and attempted to grab Jozan. The lump was some sort of creature! As they charged forward to kill the thing, they realized there was another one a little further beyond. The things had a single eye and a large, tooth filled mouth. After a very long battle (the creatures had tough, thick hides), both things were finally killed. The chewed up remains of a dwarf were found behind one of the creatures but the party decided to leave it and move on.
After crossing nearly 1500 feet of bridge, they finally reached the other end of it. More abandoned city was located there and Arman led them deeper into it. As they were trudging along, at one point crossbow bolts came flying out of the darkness at them. Arman declared it was a Theiwar ambush. A flaming sphere in one direction from Nadira showed he was right. Arynda charged off in another direction towards where another group of crossbow bolts came from. Jozan came along too which allowed them to see another group of Theiwar. Jozan and Arynda quickly dispatched their group while Nadira's wolves, flaming sphere, and a spectral image of a troll from Quill dispatched the other group. But the biggest difficulty came from a patch of magical darkness out of which energy bolts of some kind kept striking members of the party. Arynda, Jozan, and Arman charged while Nadira dispelled the darkness. The darkness was only gone for a moment but it was enough to spot the Theiwar Savant. In spite of the darkness's return, they quickly killed the Theiwar.
Arman warned that it was likely a patrol of some kind that they encountered and had best be careful. Sure enough, a little further on as they reached a major intersection, large numbers of voices were heard and many crossbow bolts came out of the darkness in front of them as well as to the left. Arman yelled for everyone to follow him as he dashed to the right. They came to a large shaft with chains coming from above and going below. Arman leaped on the chain and slid down. The others likewise leaped into the darkness (except the wolves who used spider climbs supplied by Quill). At the bottom of the shaft, the group saw machinery underneath a net through which the chains went. They didn't have time to check it out as Arman quickly led them through another layer of the abandoned city. There were several turns this time and the party soon realized they'd never find their own way out again. Eventually, the city ended in a long, wide, straight tunnel and Arman informed them they were now leaving South Gate and were on the First Road.
The road/tunnel was very smooth and had obviously once seen much traffic. But now it was abandoned with small bits of rubble from the ceiling or walls scattered about. The road went on and on and on for several miles without any break. Eventually they came to an area that Arman called the South Hall of Justice. It was a formerly a small outpost of buildings before the main dwarven kingdoms were reached. It had been abandoned a long time ago though it turned out a group of Theiwar had taken residence in the central buildings. Arman was able to sneak them past without too many crossbow bolts being fired in their direction. Once past the South Hall of Justice, they continued on the First Road.
About a mile down, the left side of the tunnel suddenly exploded open and a large, beetle like creature (Umber Hulk) came out at them and attacked. Everyone in the group except Nadira and Arman were immediately confused. The wolves wandered off, Jozan and Quill just stood there while Arynda actually attacked Quill. Nadira cast a Dispel Magic and though only Jozan had his confusion removed, it was enough. He and Arman quickly dispatched the Umber Hulk while Nadira spent her time trying to keep Arynda from killing Quill (who was busy trying to stab Arynda in return). They were eventually separated long enough for the confusion to wear off. After much apologies between Arynda and Quill, they gathered up the wolves and checked out the alcove that the Umber Hulk had burst from. They found a number of remains of dwarves as well as a small amount of treasure.
After a couple more miles on the First Road, they entered a huge cavern lit by a very dim greenish glow. The height was difficult to tell but the length of the cavern could easily be a couple miles. The floor of the cavern was filled with giant fungi of various types many of which towered over the party. The glow seemed to be coming from some of the fungus itself. After making their way a little bit through this wilderness, they were stopped by a dwarven patrol. Fortunately, they were Hylar and after a quick conversation with Arman (whom they referred to as "my Prince"), they were escorted along. The fungus wilderness gradually gave way to more ordered rows of fungus and they noted what appeared to be stunted herds of cattle grazing on some of the fungi fields. Arman explained that this was one of their farm areas that supplied food to the dwarves. There were additional farm caverns as well as some fields on the outside. But since those were in the mountains, they were not as reliable or productive as these caverns.
After making their way through the cavern via well trodden paths, and dealing with scenery that was an odd combination of very familiar and very alien, they approached another major tunnel. This tunnel had a lot of traffic in it. If not for the roof 10 to 20 feet overhead, it could have been any other major road in a civilized area with groups of wagons and foot traffic traveling both ways. The party hitched a ride on a wagon and continued forward.
They got to the main Hylar city and met with the Thanes (leaders of the various dwarf groups). Some were sympathetic while others were down right hostile. Lacking a High Thane to lead them, it was apparent the dwarves were divided. Eventually the Thanes decided that if the party could recover the Hammer of Kharas, then their petition would be granted and the humans allowed to pass and live in a valley on the north side of the dwarf kingdom. If they failed and returned alive, then the party would be thrown into the dungeon. The party agreed to these terms. In addition, Arman cast his lot with the party and was going with them.
The Hammer was in a huge floating tomb in a valley that could only be accessed via tunnel. Eventually, they found their way into the tomb. Inside, they found the tomb's guardian shaped in the likeness of the original Kharas. Also in the tomb, the following inscription was found:
Lances did great Huma seek
To forge upon the dragon's peak
With silver arm and silver pool
And Hammer would he forge wyrms' doom
Eventually, after overcoming several obstacles, they found and recovered the Hammer (as well as found the remains of the original Kharas; though they did not find the remains of Derkin for whom the tomb was for). As they emerged from a building at the top of the tomb, Ember (the large Red Dragon) was waiting for them though without rider. The tomb's guardian was also there and the following conversation occurred:
Ember: "So Old One, you consort with my enemies! More, you hide behind their puny form! Step aside, they are mine! No man holds back my hand now!:
Kharas smiling: "Begone child! Do not tempt my anger. Do you desire death so?"
Ember with lips curled in a cruel snarl: "No, Old One! It is you who tempt fate! I know the Oath; by the power of your word are you bound! Not even the terror of the dragonlance could bind one so well. Come, Evenstar, show these puny mortals what company they keep, or has the Council stripped you of your pride too?"
Anger clouded the dwarf's face. Then his form swelled, taking on a golden hue, until there before the party stood a beautiful, golden dragon even larger than Ember. Ember laughed in derision.
Evenstar looked grimly at the party and said: "Ember is right. I may not interfere."
With that, the Red Dragon roared and attacked the party. Eventually the party killed Ember (and in spite of claiming non-interference, Evenstar used a couple judicious and discreet heals at key points). After Ember was dead, Evenstar collapsed and changed back into Kharas (though one that was aging before their very eyes). He stated "I have completed at last my fateful mission, and now the end is upon me. Take the Hammer - let it not fall into enemy hands!" He then gave them 5 magic horses and the tomb began to shudder and slowly sink back towards earth. Looking south, an army of Theiwar was flooding out of one of the tunnels (Arman stating this indicated the civil war had begun) and 6 (!) red dragons were flying their direction.
Using the horses, they escaped from the tomb but were forced into the northern tunnels. Daergar (another clan of dwarves that would be hostile) territory. At one point they were surrounded by Daergar and confronted by Verminaard. But the Hammer of Kharas intervened causing the hundreds of Daergar to stand in awe chanting "Kharas". The party then killed Verminaard's guard including a creepy greenish dragon spirit thing that was summoned by Verminaard with the words "Come, oh mighty Queen! Send me your servant so that your child may be avenged!" Verminaard himself, sensing his imminent defeat, dropped into a bottomless pit stating "My brothers and sisters will avenge me!"
{Due to lack of time, only highly compressed summaries are included from hereon}
With the Hammer firmly in charge, the civil war was quickly stopped. Arman was made High Thane and the party's petition was granted. They are now in the Hylar city.
Icewall
After spending a couple months in the city researching, buying, and investing (and fighting off a Theiwar hit squad), they set out for a remote human village that the dwarves told them about that was in the mountains known to the dwarves as the Ice Wall (a word scrawled on the scrap of paper found in skull mountain). Trudging many days through the snow and icy mountains (winter was probably not the best time to be doing this; fortunately between Arynda and Nadira they managed to survive the harsh environment) they eventually came across the village. The fairly primitive and very suspicious villagers directed them to another place across an icy plain where they would find the Ice Wall and a "place of power". The name Ice Wall seems to have been used by different groups of people for different places.
So the party trudged through some more mountains and then across the snowy/icy plain. Somewhere along the way, Luna (one of Nadira's wolves) started acting strangely, seemed to be in a constant state of agitation and fear, and wouldn't leave Nadira's side. No amount of asking or cajoling would get her to explain what the issue was. Eventually, the party reached a glacial wall of ice and could make out a ruined castle perched on the top of it. It took them two days to climb the face of the cracked and ravined wall. When they reached the top they saw that the ruined castle was partially covered in snow and ice. Scouting also indicated that there were saber-tooth tigers present as well as Thanoi (walrus men that the village had warned them about). They entered the courtyard and fought the tigers, half a dozen Thanoi, and a Wizard of Winter (a magic user who seemed to have a lot of cold related spells). They managed to defeat them all but not without significant damage.
They quickly went inside the building from which the wizard had come from and recovered from the battle. They discovered several papers, presumably written by the wizard to his superior, about various topics including mention of a silver arm, a mountain, a hammer, and an orb. The papers also seemed to indicate that at least one dragon was nearby. They decided that after they finished searching out these ruins, that they would probably need to go to the place where one of the papers indicated the silver arm was located. They then searched the lower ice caverns where they fought off one large white dragon (who fled) and killed two much smaller ones (obviously very young) and destroyed a number of dragon eggs. They then returned to the wizard's room to rest and examine the various items they discovered with the dragon and with the wizard.
Not too long after, the white dragon smashed through one of the doors to the room they were in and, in a rage, tried to get at the party in the room. Fortunately, the dragon was not able to actually fit through the doorway and, in short order, was killed. After that, Quill was able to tell the rest of the party about the various items they'd found including one which appeared to be a dragon orb. Though they were not sure exactly what that meant, they were confident it was something important as it showed up in two separate pieces of information that they had discovered during their adventures. Information they'd picked up also indicated that the silver arm (something apparently important to the Dragon armies) was also somewhat nearby in a city or town named Brindol and that an attack would be launched in the future to secure the item. So the party decided to head across the snow plains and through more mountains to get to Brindol first.
Dragon Mountain
Through the abilities of Arynda, Fluffy, and Nadira (when Luna would let her go; she was still acting agitated and refused to move whenever Nadira tried to scout ahead), the party slowly but surely blazed a trail through the snowy mountains. Many days later, while in the middle of the mountains, they came across a small hidden vale shrouded in fog. Exploring this vale, they discovered some very old ruins of a small keep, a very large cave underneath the ruins that due to various clues the party believed was the lair of a dragon, a lake fed by hot springs (source of all the fog), a small empty tomb with decorations of warriors fighting dragons, and a very large statue of a dragon carved out of a mountainside.
After exploring the base of the dragon mountain, they discovered the fresh remains of a camp. The next day, they climbed the mountain and, in the evening entered through a broken down door near the neck of the mountain that Nadira had discovered while scouting as a bird. There was also the fresh remains of a camp near the door. Inside they found a chapel with a large tapestry of a dragon and a man at its front. After getting past some guardian statues, they discovered several dead bodies of an old man and one live old man. The old man seemed confused and surprised to see the party there and asked what they were doing there and how did they get there. At some point the party asked the old man about the dead bodies and his response was something about slaying some intruders though it's not really his job. After some further conversation he seemed to realize something and confronted Fluffy with "You, you did this [brought the party here]. Why have you violated your Oath?" Whereupon Fluffy replied, in Common (!), "Any oath given under duress is not binding". "You endanger a great deal by breaking the Oath." was the old man's response, in a rather sad tone. At this point, the party started trying to get a word in but Fluffy and the old man ignored them. Fluffy started getting angry and yelling "Look, don't try to threaten me with the oath. I don't want to hurt you but if you think I was going to sit by in this place while....." while simultaneously, the old man turned to the party, sighed, and said "Excuse us, this is a private matter. And the less said in public about oath-breakers, the better. You know how it is." And both disappeared with a loud crack.
After a moment of stunned silence, the party started discussing what had just happened. Luna broke down and admitted that Fluffy had been replaced by a dragon quite a while back but had been terrified into silence because the dragon had threatened to eat her if she said anything. The party also realized that it had not been by accident that they had found this vale because at key points it had been Fluffy who had determined the direction the party went while in the mountains. And that it had been Fluffy who had seemed rather agitated about finding a camp in the vale and by the broken down doors.
Realizing there was nothing else much to do, the party explored the rest of the innards of the mountain. They found a huge mural on a wall in three parts. The first part showed dragons raging and destroying civilization. The second part showed good dragons fighting back along with men armed with silvery lances (some of them even mounted on the dragons). The third part showed victory over the evil dragons but at great cost; a prominent part showed a dragon cradling the dead body of a knight. Yet further in the mountain, after getting past another magical guardian, they found two racks of silvery lances. One rack holding footman's lances and one holding lances for mounted combat. Using magical means and the knowledge they'd gained elsewhere, they decided these must be the fabled Dragon Lances! Arynda took a footman's lance. After delving deep into the mountain, they came upon a forge including a large anvil around which was written the same cryptic verse about forging "Wyrm's doom". They also found a liquid silver pool. Believing they had found the silver pool from the verse and also believing that the hammer mentioned was the Hammer of Kharas they'd left with the dwarves, they realized that the last piece to forging lances would be to find the Silver Arm which, according to the information they'd found at Icewall, was apparently in Brindol. Which was going to be attacked soon.
The Battle for Brindol
Leaving the stone dragon, they continued their trek through the mountains in an attempt to find Brindol. After many more days of struggling through snow and icy mountains, they made their way into a vale wherein they found the city of Brindol. They promptly began surreptitiously searching for the Silver Arm as well as checking out the general defensive capability of the city. The city, while walled, was not well defended and the overall attitude of the city was that wars happened elsewhere. Their search for the Arm led to a surprising result as they discovered that it was some sort of magical arm that was currently attached to the ruler of the city, Lord Jarmath. Attempts to see him or warn of an impending invasion however were fruitless. After several frustrating attempts, they realized no one was going to listen to some random unknown adventurers about something they didn't want to believe. So the party bought some horses and decided to head south (the direction the attack was supposed to come from) to see what they could find out or do. Perhaps they could gain the trust of some local leaders who would convey the threat to Brindol. They just hoped there would be time for any of it to be of use to save Brindol from what they felt was imminent destruction.
Four days later, as they approached the town of Drellin's Ferry, the party was attacked by a group of Hobgoblins and Hellhounds. The enemy was quickly defeated and one was even captured. Questioning didn't reveal much other than that a day of destruction was at hand when the entire vale would be wiped clean. About this time a mysterious horseman named Kahlif from a far off land (across a western sea) arrived looking for someone named Quill. His homeland had been destroyed by an ancient enemy of his people who had suddenly arisen again in power and violence. In response he was following the prophecy of a Sphinx and a magical token which had led him across the sea to Quill. The prophecy never stated what he was supposed to do once he found Quill so he decided to join the party and aid them until the connection could be determined.
Taking the prisoner to Drellin's Ferry, they handed him over to the local constable. While they were unable to convince the leaders that there was an army coming, the town council had admitted to increasing raids by groups of hobgoblins and asked if the party could investigate and perhaps put a stop to it. The council had suggested they seek out a local woodsman named Jor and investigate an old nearby ruin as a possible base the hobgoblins were using. After finding Jor, the party went to the ruins. At this time, Jozan went off on ahead to see if he could find out if the army was getting close and try to figure out how much time they had. Investigation of the ruins by the rest of the group uncovered a small group of hobgoblins as well as a couple Goblin/Worg raiders, a Manticore, and a couple dragon men. After killing all the enemy, they uncovered a map of the vale with annotations on it that appeared to be an invasion timeline. It did not say when the invasion would start but did point out the mustering place for the forces. It also had markings that indicated there may be another group of enemy forces already based within the vale. A final item of interest was what appeared to be a bridge between their current location and the muster point of the army. Jor explained that there was a deep gorge with an old dwarf bridge crossing it. While it would still be possible to get across the river even without the bridge, the party decided to investigate and see if they could take down the choke point to at least slow the enemy down. They also sent Jor back to Drellin's Ferry with information on what they'd found.
Arriving at the bridge, they discovered a small group of hobgoblins, a couple hell hounds and a small (young?) red dragon guarding the bridge. While the hobgoblins and the hellhounds were pretty easy to eliminate, the dragon was much tougher as it stayed in the air and kept flying back and forth breathing fire on them every time it passed. While they were able to inflict small amounts of damage to it, it wasn't until it landed (against what it thought was an isolated party member) that the party was able to bring greater force against it and finally finish it. They then used considerable magic to destroy the bridge and headed back to Drellin's Ferry bringing the head of the dragon with them to use as evidence.
Shortly after their return, Jozan also showed up. He confirmed that there was indeed another way across the gorge but it will be more difficult for an army to cross. He also confirmed the existence of the army at the location on the map they had discovered in the ruins. This army was many thousands strong and including many giants and flying monsters and at least one dragon. He did not know when they would march. The party also discovered that the prisoner and it's guard had both been killed by an unknown assailant. All the information gained the last couple days was conveyed to the town council of Drellin's Ferry. After some hesitation, the council decided to evacuate the town and, if necessary, go all the way to Brindol where they would be safe. They would also inform the rulers of Brindol of what they had learned.
Later that same day, as the party was resting, studying their information, and determining their next move, a horsewoman arrived in town. She was from the guard of Brindol and was warning the smaller towns that the road from Brindol to nearby Dennovar (another city) was being blockaded by a small force of hobgoblins and giants. All people were being warned away from the road until a large enough force could be mustered to deal with it. When the party heard this, they gave the guard all the information they had and she immediately left to warn Brindol of the apparent coming invasion from the south. The party also decided that the blockade must be part of the enemy forces indicated on the map already in the vale and decided to investigate and see if they could remove the blockade.
The next day, they left Drellin's Ferry and rode towards the blockade. As they passed through small towns, the party warned them of the coming invasion but didn't stay around long enough to see what they did about it. After several days of riding (and after killing a pair of Chimera), they arrived at the blockade which was some sort of small fort built right across the road. After some scouting they came up with a plan of attack. Which, like all good plans, became obsolete upon contact with the enemy when they encountered some sort of magical minefield around the fort. In spite of this setback, they were able to defeat the pair of giants and handful of hobgoblins in the fort.