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Session 21, Puppy Meets Roger

Paldegora 

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Session 21 – 2023-05-20

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==== Summary ====


==== Detail ====

This session started after the big spider fight and the search of the building above. The Company still had areas to search in the caverns below so they made their way back down and then to the north, through the tunnels. As they did, they stopped at spots that seemed likely to have a possible concealed door. Cal-El and Eryn searched multiple spots but found nothing. They made their way back to the first chamber. There was a path leading off to the east along the northeast wall. Eryn searched down the passage to the end, which she could see as soon as she rounded the corner. There was rubble scattered about from the collapse of the walls and the ceiling. It didn't seem unstable and there didn't appear to be anything captured by the falling rubble. She searched the rubble carefully and found nothing. They left that little cave and moved back to the area where they'd found Fredrick. 

The tunnel continued east from there and they went that way to see what they might have missed. The webs in the area were pretty thick and as they began making their way down the tunnel, they were attacked by three of the regular giant spiders. Xor, Cal-El, and Eryn formed a line, becoming a wall and blocking the tunnel. They waited for the charge to reach them. Xor was attacked and missed. Cal-El was attacked by another spider and missed. The third spider was unable to get close enough to attack. Eryn attacked the spider on Xor and hit it. Xor hit it as well. Cal-El attacked the spider facing him and hit it with his offhand weapon. Symon fired his slingshot and missed. Angelique fired a bow shot and missed. She and Xor also missed their second attacks. Finally, Xor took out one of the spiders. Cal-El took out the next one. Xor turned and took out the last one.

Eryn and Cal-El moved down to the end of the tunnel and found some more Svarts and some Web sacks with spider eggs. Xor moved up with the torch and burned the egg sacks. Eryn searched for any concealed doors and found none. The party returned to the tunnel that lead up to the house in the town. They climbed up into the back room of the house. They moved into the main room and before leaving the house, decided that they should take advantage of the privacy and rest there. They did that and nothing happened. When they woke, it was morning and they gathered themselves up and headed out into the town. They made their way to "Fred, Freddie, and Fredricks" to try to get the potions and possibly other things identified. They chose to go to the north side of the buildings and work their way around to the back of the hotel and then move south to their shop. Eryn tried to gauge where the underground tunnel leaving the hotel went. She tried to determine if it came up in the livery and decided that it didn't. It must be in the next house to the west of that. 

They reached the end of the hotel and turned south. They didn't see anything at first but as they approached the shop, Eryn saw four people standing around another one that was bound, gagged, and nealing. That one was Cassandra. They were just west of Fred, Freddie, and Fredrick's shop. Eryn put her hand behind her back and tried to motion to the rest of the party to stay back, and she moved out and into plain sight. She called out to them, "Hello! What are you guys doing here?". They motioned to Eryn to continue down toward them. Cal-El had moved into view already and also motioned behind his back to indicate that somethingf was up. Symon slowed down and moved close to the wall to stay out of sight. Xor moved more to the trees to the east of the hotel. Eryn kept talking, trying to keep their attention on her as she asked, loudly enough to be heard by the rest of the party, asking, "What are you doing with Cassandra there?". Angelique followed Xor as he headed to the outer wall of the town. 

The crew holding Cassandra said, "We're holding her for you!". Eryn asked, "So you've decided to give her back to us so you're setting her free, huh?". Cassandra shook her head to indicate to Eryn that she was wrong not recognizing her sarcasam. Symon cast invisibility on himself. Xor and Angelique moved to the wall and began making their way south, hoping to get behind them. Eryn said, "Well, you caught us at a bad time. I came down here to do a little shopping!". The leader of this little group called out, "Get the rest of your bunch down here! I'll kill her right now, it makes no difference to me, we don't care.". Eryn said, "Well, if you kill her, then you'll immediately die because we'll kill you!". Eryn continued, "If you don't kill her, you might survive, so you may want to hold off a little bit on that!". Xor spotted another one of the crew on the other side of Fred, Freddie, and Fredrick's who motioned to him and said, "You need to go over there and join your friends.". Eryn said, "We've already killed off a lot of Roger's people earlier and even killed them a second time after someone raised them from the dead and sent them after us.".

More people started showing up, carrying bows trained on Eryn and Cal-El saying, "Get all your friends out here!". Eryn shouts, "No, you are not our boss! You are not giving orders!". The leader said, "I'll kill her, I don't care!". Eryn pulled out her bow, notched an arrow, pointed it at him, and said, "Go ahead, you'll go next!". Symon moved up in front of the group and started to cast Color Spray. From behind the building, out stepped Roger. Followed by Zara. Zara waved and said, "Hi Symon!". At about that time, Symon finished casting Color Spray targeting all those around Cassandra. He managed to stun Cassandra into unconsciousness and blind three of the people around her for four rounds. 

One of the blind guards raised his sword and swung downward trying to hit Cassandra who had fallen over unconscious. He successfully hit her. Xor ran around the building and paused to see what was ahead. Xor charged through the blind men and headed straight for Roger. One of the blind men took a swing at the sound but missed. One of the other blind guards stepped towards where he last saw Symon and took a swing but missed. Zara jumped back to watch, clapping, and saying, "This is going to be fun!". The person behind the building moved up to attack Angelique. He hit her. One of the blinded men took a swing at Xor and hit him. Eryn moved to a location with a good view of Roger and fired, hitting him. Cal-El moved up and hit the guy that just hit Xor. Angelique drew out her mace and attempted to hit the man who hit her but missed. Roger adjusted his position with regards to Xor, took a swing at him, and missed. As he did that, he called out, "Kill them! Kill them all!", apparently expecting Zara to do something to help. Eryn called out, "Don't do it, Zara, we're the good guys!". Roger looked back at Zara and said, "You said you were watching our backs?". Zara said, "I am! I didn't say I would do anything but I'm watching your back!". 

Symon cast Web, covering a lot of the battle area. He backed away from the man in front of him and moved toward Fred, Freddie, and Fredrick's door and ran to it. The two archers beyond the main group fired on Xor but the webbing affected their shots causing them to miss. And so goes the first round of combat. Roger began fighting his way back and out of the Web. Symon cast the shield spell and then threw open the door to the shop and yelled, "Your friends are under attack, quickly, to arms!". One of the men managed to pull his way out of the webs. One of the men on Angelique took a swing at her and missed. Zara simply stepped free of the Web, laughing and saying, "That is so cool!". Angelique got a really good hit on her opponent. Roger moved his way out of the Web and shouted back at Zara saying, "You little bitch, you said you'd cover me!". He followed that with a hit that sent her flying backward landing flat on her ass. Apples went rolling around everywhere. 

Xor finished getting out of the Web and took a swing at Roger with his fist and hit him. The man attacking Angelique suddenly straightened up and began coughing and choking, and then fell flat in front of her. That's when Angelique noticed a tiny dart sticking out of his neck. She glanced around but saw nobody around who could have fired it. Symon moved to get a better angle on Roger and used the wand of Paralyzation against him but it had no effect. The archers behind the Web backed up a little looking concerned at Zara. Eryn moved to stand over and cover Cassandra and fired on one of the men hitting him, dropping him. Angelique moved around the building and fired on one of the men and hit him. Eryn and Angelique both fired on that one again and hit him.

Symon tried the paralyzation wand again and this time it worked. As Roger approached Zara with his sword drawn, prepared to do her harm, he suddenly froze in place. Eryn rolled Cassandra over, pulled the gag from her mouth, and poured in a dose of a potion of extra healing. Zara got up and appeared to be in a little pain. After a quick glance at Roger, she turned and looked east, like something caught her attention. Xor moved up to hit Roger Cal-El took two hits at the only man from the original three around Cassandra and killed him. Angelique fired at the one leaning up against the wall of the building to the west hitting it. It was at this time that an unnatural feeling of fear overcame some of those locked in battle. On the Company's side, Cal-El and Symon succumbed. On Roger's side, all of them succumbed. They trembled in fear but were frozen in place, unable to move. It was then that Puppy made an appearance. He was a huge dog-like abomination, unlike anything any of them had ever seen. He locked eyes with Roger, snarling and growling, and in one swift motion, leaped at him and ripped Roger's head from his body. As his head is ripped from his body, they heard Zara shout, "PUPPY!", apparently happy to see her companion.

The Company quickly finished off the remaining crew after that. Zara seemed happy watching the chaos as Puppy helped finish off the last of Roger's crew. Zara looked at Puppy and said, "Thank you Puppy!". Then she paused looking at him some more and said, "Puppy, I'm okay. You can go!". He moved up to her and stood by her while looking at everyone still standing. It's like he was daring them to do anything to her. Eryn smiled at Puppy and said, "Hello Puppy! Thank you very much for the help.". Then he turned east and trotted off and disappeared. As he moved off, the sense of terror that everyone had felt, faded. Zara said, "That was fun! That's the best thing that's happened so far this winter break!". Eryn began hacking off the heads of the bodies and tossing them into a pile towards the road, away from the bodies. Zara asked, "What are you doing that for?". Eryn replied, "The last time we had to kill a lot of people, somebody raised them up again and we had to fight them again!". Zara said, "I'm kind of sorry about that. I was just practicing. They were supposed to go out of town. Anyway, I got tied up. Sorry about that guys!". 

Angelique said, "Thanks for your help though!". The webs faded and they went about the task of looting and decapitating. Cal-El and Angelique tended to Cassandra. She regained consciousness and was better but still needed rest. She said, "I'm glad I found you guys, I've got something I need to tell you, but not now!". Angelioque said, "We need to find somewhere to go!". Zara stepped up and said, "Oh, hi Cassandra. I'm glad you got out from them. I told them they should have let you go a long time ago. I've got an apple, do you want an apple?". Eryn asked Cassandra if they'd captured Sergeant Harris. She replied that she hadn't seen him. Eryn told her he was around here somewhere or he was. Zara asked Symon if Persephone was okay. He told her that she was fine. She said that Persephone was like Puppy, "He's really not that bad!". Symon said, 'I'm a little taken aback by Puppy right now!". He continued, "I'm not used to puppies that rip people's heads off in a single bite!". Zara said, "Yeah, well he was just mad!". Symon replied, "I can assure you that Persephone can do no such thing!", as he stood there petting the cat! 

They searched Roger and found that he was wearing leather armor that looked very nice. He had a nice sword as well as 100 gold pieces and a potion. They search the other guys and found some nice armor. One had scale mail that looked really nice. There were some nice long swords. They also had about 50 gold each. The archers had 50 silver pieces between the two of them. Their equipment was just common armor and bows. Angelique collected it all into the bag of holding and said, "I'll be back!". She headed to Fred, Freddie, and Fredrick's and went inside. The shop looked as it did when they left. There appeared to be no one here. She went back out to join the others. She had hoped they could identify the items. Symon turned to Zara and asked if she could identify the stuff. She said she could identify two things for us. First, she cast a detect magic against everything. The items that glowed were the ring, dagger, bastard sword, staff, weapons from the big guys, Roger's leather armor, and his sword glowed. They asked her to identify the ring and the staff. The staff was a staff of striking and the ring was a ring of protection +1. 

Zara said, "I'm going to go lay down now!". They thanked her for helping them and she replied, "You're welcome. You guys have been fun! This is the most fun I've had on winter break in a long time!". Symon said, "If one of us died, what would you do?". Zara thought a moment and said, "Well, I couldn't really get involved.". Symon said, "But you would have killed us. You would be a murderer!". Zara replied, "No, I wasn't going to kill anybody!". Symon said, "If one of us had gotten killed, it would be because you instigated this conflict! If one of us had died during this conflict instigated by you then you would have been at least partially responsible!".  She replied, "This was all Roger's doing! He was an idiot! He wanted me to kill you all and I wouldn't do it!". Symon said, "But you brought him here, right?". Zara replied, "No! He brought himself here!". She added, "I have no intention of killing anybody! You know I wouldn't kill you guys and Persephone, you know?". She added, with a light yawn, "Well, I'm going to go now, and get some rest!". Symon thanked her for identifying those items for us. She asked if we were going to be in town for a while. He told her, "Yes!". Symon asked her if she knew where Fred, Freddie, and Fredrick might be. She didn't know, "Sometimes they disappear for a while! They are probably out doing gnome stuff. You know how crazy they are! Maybe they went to get some apples! With Fredrick back, I can't pull any more jokes on them!". She waved and headed off, back towards the old hotel. As she started to disappear, she turned around and said, "Oh, by the way, Jasper really liked you guys and it's a good thing that you didn't touch anything of moms!". She waved and left. Anvelique asked, "Jasper?". Symon suggested that the name must belong to her familiar or imp!".

They finished decapitating the bodies just to make sure they wouldn't be a problem again later. Symon said, "I can't think of any place much safer than Fred, Freddie, and Fredrick's shop right now. Should we take Cassandra there and rest?". Eryn suggested that the only people we had to worry about here were Roger and his crew and they were dead. She thought they'd be safe to go to the tavern, eat, and rest there. Symon didn't trust the tavern keeper. He also thought we needed to be able to talk somewhere private. Everyone agreed and they moved inside the potion shop. Cal-El and Eryn dragged the bodies into the wooded area and out of sight. They settled in at the shop and listened as Cassandra passed on the information that she had. 

Cassandra asked, "You heard what happened on Frosthaven, right?". Eryn answered, "Yes, Sergeant Harris came to town and told them what had happened. What did you see?". Cassandra asked, "What did he say?". Eryn answered, "Basically Frosthaven, well, Sir Evan was killed, the Warden was killed, Theo took over, proclaimed himself Baron...". Cassandra broke in and said, "No, it wasn't Theo. I thought so too. I went to the mansion cause I was going to kill him for what he and Mott did. Lo and behold, guess who was there? Warden Blackmoore. He's not dead, he's not in prison. I don't know about you guys, but Baron Beckmole, Ben Blackmoore, and the Broke Lance Mob, Do you see that connection?". Symon said, "The killer B's? Beckmole, Blackmoore, 'Broke' Lance Mob?". Symon thought a little more and realized that Baron Beckmole and Broke Lance Mob are anagrams for Ben Blackmore. Cassandra said, "Theo is not the Baron, Blackmore is!". She said, "I barely got away. I was looking for you guys and when I got here, I was jumped by this bunch. They had me tied up in the storage area down by the docks. My armor and stuff are down there.". Symon asked, "Is there anybody left down there or did he bring them all up here for this fight?". Cassandra said, "No, there is no one left in there now, just my stuff, and the place is full of stolen goods.". She felt she was too tired to make the journey to the docks. She had told them that they would recognize her stuff when they found it. Angelique looked at the potion they'd found on Riger and realized it was a potion of extra healing and gave it to Cassandra to drink. She drank the whole thing and felt much better. She said she felt fine to go with them now.

Eryn warned them of the traps at the entrance to the docks area. She had them stay back as she moved down there and disarmed them. They all moved to the main building, on its north side, to the metal door there. The door wasn't locked so they went in. It was piled up with boxes and barrels. They had labels, with some of them labeled "Prison" and some "Frosthaven". Some of them were written over with one saying "Drunken Dwarf, Winter Bend". There were all kinds of stuff. Cassandra pointed to the western side and said, "My stuff is probably over there! That's where they had me chained up behind the wall over there!". Symon asked Cassandra, "What was Harris's involvement in this, anything that she knews of?". She said all she knew was they were all fighting there and that he got away. That's about it. Symon said, "He gave us some bad information. We need to know if that was intentional or if he just didn't know!". Cassandra said, "No, he didn't see the Baron. The only reason I know is because saw him in the mansion!". Cassandra went over to her stuff and pulled out some chainmail and the rest of her equipment and rearmed. 

Eryn went to a desk and started looking through it. There were documents on top which were mostly inventory sheets and manifests. Roger's mob apparently robbed all of this stuff from the tavern down in Winter Bend. The rest of the stuff seemed to have come from the prison. She also found instructions from Theo. There was a letter with something like, "Job well done on the operation in Winter Bend! You guys will be rewarded!". Eryn looked for a strongbox or someplace where they kept their money but didn't find anything. They didn't find anything about Grish-ta-nak or the symbol of the wyvern. It appeared that these people are not related to the Wyvern group at all. Angelique thought they should get this stuff back to their rightful owners, Symon pointed out that those places are in Frosthaven and it's overrun. He said, "There's not much chance of being able to return it.". Cassandra said, "You probably shouldn't go back to Frosthaven, unless you want to go with me. I'm still going to kill him.".

Eryn said she was trying to think of some way to use the fact that Roger was no longer running the operation here and use it to their advantage. She said, "Can we send a note down to Theo, I don't know exactly how we would do it, but letting him know that Roger and his crew have been retired and that we are now running the operation up here and ask him what he would like us to do next.". Symon suggested that they could probably make an appearance in the tavern and that would be enough. Just let them know that Roger is dead and that would get back to them. Eryn thought they might be able to convince Theo that they were trying to join up when Roger attacked them. They defended themselves and Roger is gone. They still wanted to join up. That would be a way to get into the organization so they could work on them from the inside.

Symon said, "This still doesn't make sense. They were attacking us from the get-go. All the way up to Frosthaven, they were trying to kill people, for no reason. We hadn't done anything to cross them at that point that I know of. But they made attempts against us even back then and Morgan and Marlina had to intervene and stop them. Well, it actually started with them robbing Angelique! Then it became a revenge operation for them because they thought we killed their sneak. The irony was that they all got wiped out trying to get revenge on us for a killing we didn't do.". Symon continued, "And what they don't know is that there is another group, this wyvern patched army, that was headed down there to take it from them."

They continued discussing the situation when they heard rapid banging on the door. Symon asked Cassandra if they were expecting someone. She said she didn't know who that might be. Eryn called out, "May we help you!". The voice from the other side of the door was that of a woman. She said, "Please please, I need help!". Symon asked, "Who is it?". The woman answered, "I'm Susan, please, I need help! Can you help me?". Eryn moved to crack the door to see who it was. Xor moved to back her up. Eryn saw a peasant woman, not badly dressed, in her late 20's. She said, "Please can you help me, he's missing! My son, he's missing! I need someone to help!". Eryn asked, "Who is your son?". She answered, "Jacob, he's ten!". Eryn asked, "Where'd you last see him!". She answered, "Last night, he was supposed to have gone to bed but I think he went out to try and find who was taking the chickens! This morning I found where he was out there and I found some blood! Please, I need somebody to help!". Eryn. finished opening the door so everyone could see her. Eryn suggested that we go with her to help, with Cal-El being able to track. Symon interrupted and asked, "How did you know we were here.". She said, "I was trying to find anybody! I knew there were men here!". Eryn got the feeling she was being honest. Symon moved up closer and got in her face and said, "Zara?'. She answered, "Who?". Symon said, "Never mind!".

They decide to follow. Eryn directly with her and the rest spread out so they were not a single easy target. They headed north through the town to the nice farm just outside of the town to the north. As they reached the farm, she stopped and pointed saying, "Back there, by the chicken coup!". They looked in there and saw a pitchfork inside, a box, some torn cloth maybe from a shirt, and a lantern, but they also saw blood on the ground. Eryn looked in the well but didn't see Jacob in there. Cal-El looked over the fence and saw footprints. He found some! They weren't particularly hidden. They were definitely goblin footprints and also the footprints of a small boy. He began following the footprints. Everyone slowly piled in behind him. Eryn and Xor watched the treetops and looked further through the trees while Cal-El focused on the tracks.

The tracks went out the western side of the fence. Symon asked the mother how long he had been missing. She told him that she put him to bed last night and all he could talk about were adventures and the mystery of the chickens. She told him that there were other people to handle that but he apparently tried to go out and investigate it himself so. Cal-El had found where he had hidden in a crate and obviously, something happened to him. She said she got up this morning and went to wake him and found the bed empty. She eventually found the mess in the chicken coup. Eryn told her that in case she finds him before they do, we'd already solved the chicken mystery. She said that's good. The Company kept following the footprints west. Cal-El was able to follow the tracks easily. It eventually crossed the road at an angle headed slightly north. They followed it into the woods. Symon noted that they were spent on spells and if we ran into somebody out here, someone should be wearing the ring. It was decided that Cal-El should be wearing it. So he put it on.

They continued following the tracks. The tracks were not hard to follow and eventually came to a little clearing where there was evidence of a battle. Broken weapons and shields were laying around, and blood was everywhere. There were no bodies. Cal-El examined the footprints to see who besides the goblins might have been involved in the battle. He saw the goblin prints and intermixed in those were tiny bare feet. Based on the numbers, he determined that they were outnumbered three to one. They determined it was likely Xvarts. Cal-El went around the perimeter and found the Xvart footprints leading off to the northwest, then turn to go dead north. After some time, the tracks angled back toward the road and eventually reconnected with it. They determine that they were getting to be a good distance north of Stonebridge. They followed the tracks for about an hour or two when they started noticing a smell in the air. 

Xor and Eryn thought it smelled like bar-b-que, good bar-b-que. As they got closer, the others picked it up to. They continued on and began hearing some kind of commotion ahead. They decided they needed to get off the road so they did. They continue moving off the road to the north and started hearing these little voices chanting and carrying on. They eventually came to a clearing and looked out on it to see what looked like a huge camp of Xvarts. Actually, it appeared to be two large camps of Xvarts, one group on either side of the road. Xor identified the cooking smell as that of a horse. In the center of the road was a dias. One Xvart was sitting there and he appeared to be some sort of Shaman. There were two Xvarts on either side of him. They looked more important than the other Xvarts with bigger head-dressing than the others, like they were leaders or kings. One group on one side of the road had red paint on their faces and the other group had blue paint. 

Just past them, tied to a rock, there is a human. He was an older man stripped down to the waist. Tied up and gagged sitting next to him was a little boy. Off to the side, there was a horse that had been butchered and they were cooking parts of it all over the camps. From one side, a Xvart came out and yelled something that seemed to inspire a cheer from that side. He keeps shouting out something that nobody understands. He points to one side and a couple of other Xvarts run out carrying what looks like a shield. Maybe it was the man's shield. He holds the shield up while shouting something else they cannot understand. The Xvarts as a whole ooo'd over that. Then he points to the red leader and the blue leader and they both hollar something. A single red Xvart came out of that group and then a blue one came out of the other group. They had bows. The man in the middle shouted something else and then walked behind the red one and tapped him on the shoulder and a cheer went up. The red Xvart fired at the old man tied up just missing him. There was more cheering. Then the Xvart with the shield pointed to the blue Xvart and he fired at the old man. It nicked the guy. More cheering and shouting went up. He handed the shield to the blue guy who went running off with it into his camp.

The main guy started trying to calm both sides down and went to pick up and return with a pouch. He shouts out something and the two groups murmured amongst themselves. The main guy opens the pouch and pulls out some papers that were rolled up with a seal on it. He breaks that and throws it aside. Then he pulls out this box. Everyone got quiet carefully watching. The man opened it and pulled out this pouch. He reaches into that pouch and pulls out a huge diamond with a blueish tint to it. It almost glows. All of the Xvarts are stunned, gasping at it. Then they heard a deep bark from a Xvart that appeared to be very muscular and strong. He points at the diamond and it appeared to the group that he was indicating, "Give it to me!". The main guy drops it on the ground. This big guy danced around, showing his muscles and pointing at it. From somewhere in the group came a raspberry sound. An arrow flies out and hits the big guy in the ass. He dances around in pain as the other Xvarts laughed. Everyone paused and looked at the diamond and look at each other and all hell breaks out. They all pile onto the stone biting, scratching, gouging, stabbing, and ripping at each other. It was complete chaos as they fought over the diamond.

This went on for a while until finally they were either all dead or injured. Both the kings got swept up into it and they were dead. Some ran off. It quieted down to a few moans and groans from the ones that were still alive. Xor marched through the piles of people, headed to where he last saw the diamond. He didn't find it laying round there. It's all been trampled down and the area is very bloody. He couldn't find it. There had been the one Xvart that ran off north. Maybe he got it. Xor gathered up the papers. Eryn made her way around to the boy and the man and cut them free. The man was not long for this world. He was beaten, torchered, shot at, and near death. The child was basically fine, but scared. He just wanted to go home.

Thgey tried to communicate with the man but he was gone. Cal-El found the saddle and looked over it. It was kind of unusual and had an emblem on it. It's an emblem of a wolf, but it's diffferent looking. It was definitely the emblem of the wolf of the north but different than any they had seen.  Cal-El found his clothes and was able to determine that he was a courier. The normals wolf emblem of the north has a silver band around it with white and gray coloring. The emblem they saw there here had the wolf in it but with a background of green, gold, and like these rainbow colors. Angelique checked the man out and determined there was nothing they could do about it. Xor passed the papers to Symon. It read,

======

The Dragons Vale
Year of the Silver Dragon 2364
 
Allistar Finch, Esq.
Grand Guild Master Executor, Adventurers Guild of Paldegora
Seaspire, The Emerald Coast
 
Allistar,
 
I would say you did not expect to hear from me ever again, thinking as most that I and all my people were dead and forgotten. Something that I deserved and earned for my actions.
 
We are not. 
 
I regret what I had to do. Just know that I have suffered and paid for my questionable choices. Some things are far worse than death itself.
 
After the defeat of the dragons, I found and took the Dragons Vale as the spoils due me because of the destruction and war unjustly waged against my kingdom.
 
Yes, the Dragons Vale is not a myth. It does exist. It is where my people and I have settled these long years now past. 
 
For a long time, my people thrived in this magical land. However, a shadow did fall over us. I shan’t speak of that now. It is a tale too long to detail in this letter. Just know that a gilded cage is still just a cage. One in which we have all become trapped.
 
You may remember the young copper dragon Grizollo I captured and forced to my will and service. He has broken a treaty with me and returned in violation of the agreement. I have found I can no longer sense him or control him! The power I once wielded now seems to have faded away. 
 
Grizollo is gathering his kin in an attempt to retake the Dragons Vale. Once he has done it, he intends to release vengeance upon all the people of Philannan. There is now no kingdom to stand in his way. He and his brethren will storm down upon you out of the North like a gale. He will destroy all your cities, villages, crops, and people and leave nothing but ashes and desolation. 
 
I am now the only thing standing in his way. 
 
To succeed in this, he needs what I have hidden so he can unite all the scattered Dragon Spawn under his banner. He wants the vast horde of dragon gold I took from them upon my victory. The gold means nothing to me. It is all but useless. However, he has taken the one thing that is most precious to me. He has taken my daughter hostage and threatens to kill her unless I relent and leave the Vale. 
 
How could a Copper dragon be capable of such acts? 
 
I understand the mind of a dragon better than any. I remind my weak advisors of this, as I do with you now, a dragon is still a dragon. Its color does not matter. In this, he will ultimately succeed. We can not hold for much longer. 
 
Know this. I will not allow my daughter to die, no matter the cost to all of Philannan. 
 
I have only been given until the turn of the year to comply with his demands.
 
I ask not for myself or even for my people. I ask for my daughter, who is truly innocent in this.
 
Enclosed you will find two rare and priceless blue diamonds. One is yours to keep. The other is to compensate the Guild and the families of the ones I betrayed. Use it also to finance outfitting an expedition and send help to us once again.
 
The Dragons Vale is hidden and guarded. Inside a pillar in the throne room of Nordain Hold, you will find a hidden compartment. There I have placed a map. The map shows the way to the secret entrance to the Dragons Vale. Beware the Guardian!
 
I ask you to send me only your best.
 
Time is short. 
 
The dragon storm will soon break upon you all.
 
In all haste,
King Lundor Nordain,
Emperor of the Dragons Vale, Lord Regent of Coldspire, Master of the Wolves of the North, and King of all Nordunlun.

======

Thus ends chapter two "The Road North"!

Chapter 3 will be called, "Nordanlun"

Exp's - 500 General and 924 + 10% or 1016

50 gold
10 silver
2 copper

Eryn tried to assign a value to the blue diamond but rolled poorly.

The timeline is we are in late fall, moving toward the end of the year. It is middle of the 11th month. They are about a month and a half out from the deadline.

It was decided that if we avoided Frosthaven, it would take us about a week and a half to get back to Three Points Inn. 

Dragon's Vale is where he is and there is a map in his castle at Coldspire to show them how to get there.

They search some more and find the bag that held the box but there are no more boxes or diamonds in it.