Dragonwars

The Tales

The Gantry Problem (Summer 05, DM: Brett; Summer 06)

The assembled party, seeking adventure, enters the village of Gantry, a hundred miles or so inland from Kingsport. Learning of recent nightly disturbances, strange lights, and thefts, they investigate by following tracks into the forest of Gantry Deep. Discovering a lost elven temple to dragons, the party enters, fighting their way past goblins, bugbears, and occasional kobolds. The temple connects to lower levels and older caves. In the depths, after Gwulf is nearly lost to a deep chasm, the party dispatches a party of armed hobgoblins. Maps and letters found on the hobgoblins hint at some larger war effort involving portals, Wyrmlords, Elsir Vale, and a Triumvirate Keep. [clues]

Triumvirate Keep (Summer 06; lvl 4)

Heading towards the Keep marked on their pilfered map, the party stops in the city of Kingsport for supplies. At a local inn, Lacane meets a poor young serving girl named Susan and aids her in finding more suitable employment at a local glass-blower's store.

The heroes then set out to storm the Keep, encountering goblins, an ogre, trogs, zombies, and skeletons. They defeat two of the Triumvirate--a goblin necromancer and a draconic humanoid cleric of Hextor. Lacane is magically blinded during the battle. The third member--the enigmatic Alchemist, rumored to be so mad as to keep a shuggoth near him always--proves to be too well guarded by his flesh golem, Irving. However, the party does find the rumored portal and passes through it, in the hopes of warning those in the path of a coming war. [clues]

Through the Portal (Summer 06)

The portal leads to a small cave system, guarded by goblins, hobgoblins, and a medusa. A winding staircase leads up to the lair of a young red dragon. When queried from above concerning the disturbance below, Lacane manages to bluff the dragon by pretending to be the apologetic medusa.

The party sneaks out of the cave system and down the dusty hills. The hot, dry weather suggests that the portal has brought them many miles. On the road, they are ambushed by more hobgoblins--this time, accompanied by dark hellhounds and lead by more draconic humanoids bearing the holy symbol of Tiamat, the goddess of evil dragonkind. [clues]

Drellin's Ferry (Fall 06/Spring 07; lvl 5)

The heroes enter a small town named Drellin's Ferry and discover they have been transported far south to Elsir Vale. Meeting with the Town Speaker, Norro Wiston, they share their information that the town may be in danger. Worried also by recent small attacks and a lost scouting party, Wiston convinces the party to reconnoiter the surrounding area for him.

The heroes enter the Witchwood, survive an ambush by a shambling mound, and stop to pick up a recommended scout and guide named Jorr. Fending off a rogue hydra, the party pushes on to the supposedly-haunted Vraath Keep, mentioned in their purloined hobgoblin notes.

Vraath Keep (Spring 07)

After Calton invisibly scouts the Keep, the party decides to attack the goblin forces within. Two goblin worg riders fall relatively easily, but a room of hobgoblins lead by a minotaur proves more difficult. The battle takes a turn for the worse when an unseen manticore begins strafing the party from the rooftops and a small bugbear reveals himself to be a sorcerer. Though the manticore is hurt enough that it flies off, Calton and Lacane are both unconscious and near death. Though Johnathan and Gwulf manage to revive them and begin a retreat, Johnathan is slain by a lightning bolt from the sorcerer. The others grab his body and drag it out of the Keep under the cover of magical darkness, leaving the sorcerer and one hobgoblin behind.

With the cleric dead and the party near death, it seems the only option is to return to town. On the way, however, they encounter a wandering elf druid named Thea, who offers her aid. Though she cannot raise Johnathan, the healed party decides to at least return to Vraath Keep in the hopes of learning more about the rumored horde. They sneak up on the one remaining hobgoblin, but the sorcerer is nowhere to be found. Searching the ruined Keep reveals an ancient basement stash, which includes a Staff of Life. With Johnathan resurrected, the party follows the single clue they find in the looted Keep--a mention of Skull Gorge bridge. [clues]

Skull Gorge Bridge (Summer 07)

The bridge is guarded by hobgoblins in towers, hellhounds, and a large green dragon. Calton and Thea fly invisibly across the chasm to scout the far side to determine the nature of the horde that must be coming from there.

The rest of the party falls back into the woods and discovers an old forest giant. Aided by their gift of a giant's spiked gauntlet found in Vraath Keep, they befriend the giant Warklegnaw.

Calton and Thea return from their scouting with ill-tidings--the horde is massive and seemingly ready to move. The party carefully plans their strategy, and then attacks the bridge at dawn. Under the cover of mist and wind walls, Johnathan manages to magically weaken and hack at the stone bridge enough that it collapses. However, as the party begins to retreat, the dragon blows a great cloud of acid upon them. Despite their limited magical protections, Lacane, Johnathan, and Calton fall. Thea and Gwulf, barely alive, flee back into the woods and hide from the scouting dragon.

Returning an hour later, Thea and Gwulf are able to stage a retrieval of the bodies from the two hobgoblins still on the near side of the gorge. Johnathan and Calton are merely unconscious, but Lacane's soul must be recalled from the Sunless Lands with the Staff of Life.

The party hurries back to town, stopping only long enough to recover the treasure stashed in Vraath Keep. As they do so, Gwulf is attacked by a skulking cyst that burrowed into the basement from the nearby Vraath family graveyard.

Evacuation (Summer 07; lvl 6)

Meeting with the town council, the heroes relate their news and urge an evacuation of the town. A chimera attack at mid-day helps impress the townsfolk with the seriousness of the situation. A Lion of Brindol soldier enters town to report that the road north--to Aurelia and any reinforcements they might send--is currently closed. Strange lizardfolk occurrences have been reported for months in the nearby marshes, but now hobgoblins have built a palisade across the road.

Across the Vale (Summer 08)

The party departs with some of the first refugees to leave Drellin's Ferry. The wagon train is attacked by a band of worg-riders and a hellhound, followed quickly by a number of hobgoblins (including an adept) sweeping in from the trees.

They spend a day in Terrelton and are joined there by Delora Zann, ex-adventurer and member of Drellin's Ferry town council. She reports that a green dragon bearing a bugbear rider have been spotted combing the skies over the Witchwood. Scouts--including Jorr--report that horde has been greatly slowed as they have been forced to march around Skull Gorge under a barrage of boulders thrown from under forest cover in hit-and-run attacks by Warklegnaw and some of his extended family.

The party presses on as quickly as possible, taking 3 more days of hard ride to reach Brindol. Delora leaves the party to deal with Brindol politics and spread word of the coming horde. Speaking to the local Lions of Brindol reveals that the squad sent do clear the Rhest road was indeed waylaid. However, due to the sudden need to gather all information possible about the horde to the west, little more is yet known about Rhest to the north.

In the hopes of opening the road to allow for reinforcements from Aurelia, the heroes head north to Witchcross. Speaking with the local Lions sergeant they discovered that he had called off the attack on the road barricade. He had sent half of his men to circle around through the swamp in order to attack from both sides at once. However, only one of his men returned--something had hunted the soldiers through the woods, picking them off one by one in sudden, violent attacks.

The party heads up to check out the small fort barricade. It is not strongly defended, so, after some strategic planning, they attempt a fire distraction and an invisible entry into the fort. Despite bungling this somewhat, the heroes are victorious over the hobgoblin and ogre guards. They interrogate a captured hobgoblin sergeant and two of his underlings, then send them on their way, stripped of weapons. [clues]

Into the Blackfens (Spring 09)

The party then turns into the swamp, driven by news of some Red Hand secret weapon to be found there. Near the acid-seared corpse of a giant owl, they are attacked by a dragon-like beast that performs a series of leaping fly-by attacks from the murky swamp water. With a combination of gritty melee attacks and color sprays, they are able to defeat the beast and loot its pot of minor magical trinkets.

After the battle, a handful of elves, lead by Killiar Arrowswift, swoop down on giant owls, seeking any sign of Lanikar Nightshadow. Killiar questions the party, and his elves find the mostly digested remains of Lanikar in the gut of the harrowblade (as the elves call the infernal dragon-thing). Impressed by our heroes, especially after they offer to resurrect his fallen comrade, he requests they accompany him to Starsong Hill to meet the Speaker for the Tiri Kitor elves.

Borne to Starsong Hill upon the owls, the party discusses the situation with the Speaker. The harrowblades are a new development seeming to originate from the flooded ruins of the fallen human civilization of Rhest. The Tiri Kitor have chosen not to interfere with the black dragon, hobgoblins, or lizardfolk that dwell in the area. The elves accept the offered resurrection of Lanikar; his sister Trellara is particularly grateful. In recognition of the party's sacrifice on the part of a stranger, the Speaker offers them the right to visit the Pools of Memory. However, she explains she is unable to offer elven aid against the coming horde without consensus among the elves; it appears that sentiment is currently divided pretty evenly.

The evening is spent celebrating Lanikar's resurrection. At dawn, the party is flown upon owls for hours to the west to an a temple in a hidden valley. There, they drink the spring water from a white stone font, lie back, and dream. They dream of a possible pasts and myriad futures. Though waking exhausted and subdued, the experience garnered from the dreams hangs with them.

Lizardfolk (Summer 09; lvl 8)

After recovering for a day, the party is flown back to the Blackfens and the ruins of the city-nation of Rhest in the center of a swampy lake. The elves pull back, willing to offer evacuation services but not to participate in an attack that may direct the horde's animosity towards Starsong Hill.

The party reconnoiters the southern rim of the lake and discovers that the local lizardfolk clans are at odds with each other. The northern clan has aligned with the black dragon that moved into the Rhest keep. Due to some strange magic or alchemical process, they have been infused with some dark aspect of dragon or demon, making them larger and more feral of aspect. Led by their warlord, Yarshag, they have been terrorizing the southern clan.

The party offers their assistance in exchange for help assaulting the ruins. The southern chieftan refuses to lend such aid. However, he points out that Yarshag's clan would surely come to the dragon's defense in the case of an attack. Also, the southern chieftan would be willing to defy the dragon's call to defense if Yarshag were dead. Yet, the chieftan is skeptical that four adventurers can sufficiently turn the tides of battle, and Calton (the party's "smallest warrior") is called to best the clan's greatest warrior in unarmed combat. Calton's victory impresses the clan. After a night of discussion between the family heads, they agree to launch an attack on Yarshag's clan.

The party joins the dawn attack, slaying Yarshag and his druid shamans in the mornings mists. They rest through the morning, watching the old keep and the guarded bell tower in the center of the lake. They count the guards and hear the call of another harrowblade echo across the still water.