The Dragon of Justford

We have to stay in Scarsdale a little longer, while Landroval's made-to-order staff is being made. On our journey back home, we do a bit of planning for our town-to-be. The upshot is, we decide to name it Cormanthdale, and the river shall be Cormanth River. We pass through Ashenbinford on our way, dropping off Sir Thomas's weapons and saying "hi." The rest of the trip passes uneventfully, until...

We ride closer to Justford to see where the smoke is coming from. Great sections of the town are in ruins, and there is a smoldering hole in the wall around the keep. We find a guard with his head apparently on straight and get the story out of him. "We were attacked by a dragon!" he says, looking around as if still a little nervous it would come again. Sharp looks are exchanged in our party, especially between those of us descended from dragons. "What color was the dragon?" Landroval demands of the guard. "Uh, I'm not really sure," he says. "Not sure?" asks Miranda incredulously. "It was dark!" the man says. "But it did breathe fire!" Hmm... "Where is Sir Jean?" Miranda asks. "Sir Jean left two weeks ago for the opening of WinterCourt in Shadowdale," he answers. "What about his second?" asks Dorn. The man points to the far left grave in a row of several. "And the next in command?" Another point to another grave.

"All right," says Landroval, "we really need to know more about the dragon. You said it breathed fire--did it fly?" "No, not at all," the man says, looking puzzled, "at least the group that followed it didn't say anything about it flying." "A group followed it?" Beren asks. "Yes," says the guard. "It was a good thing they happened to be in town! They agreed to go hunting it for a very reasonable price." Silence among our party. Then Miranda asks, very quietly, "How long were they here before the dragon appeared?" "Oh, not long at all, just a day," replies the guard. "That was the lucky part, you see." We all jump to the same conclusion almost immediately--it's one of the oldest cons in the book. Didn't you see the movie Dragonheart?? A group of people ride into town, then there's an "attack" by a "dragon" which is really some other animal with a wizard on top, more than likely, and the group agrees to "kill" the beast for a huge amount of money. But there is one man we need to talk to--one of the members of the group of villagers who followed it into the woods. This man is dying in the inn.

So we go over, Corbin heals him. I check out the poison on him--it's certainly not natural. From him we gather that the dragon appeared to be red, but looked like it spit lightning bolts. The tracks were reptilian and looked like they were made from a very heavy creature. He says there were minotaurs in the group that "drove it off." There is a cave about a day's ride into the woods, maybe an old dwarven mine. It sprang out of the cave and killed the rest of the villagers he was travelling with, but the strangers were nowhere in sight. And here's the most important thing we learn from the man: the dragon he saw at the cave had more than one head. Like, more than three.

That's it, we decide, we're going after this thing. The tracks are pretty easy to spot, as the thing that made them was really big. About six hours in, we see the hill. The hole in the side appears to be enlarged from whatever the natural opening might have been, and is now about 12 or 13 feet around. Landroval will be the bait, the rest of us flank the cavemouth. Landroval casts a fireball into the cave, and then uses his staff for a much more impressive fireball. Stuff is clearly burning inside. We take a glance in. No people, but we do see a big metal dragon mask, made out of copper with gilded edges. There are some tracks inside: large human boots, plus smaller, lighter tracks, maybe those of elves. Looks like they were hurting. We follow the tracks out to the woods and find a few hunting campfires, signs of gutted deer, etc. Maybe been there a couple of weeks. We go back and look around the front cave. There is a poorly-made mask shaped like a dragon's head. Remnants (now burned) of some kind of moveable platform. So that's how they made the "dragon." There is a shaft heading down into the mountain, so we go on. Phae and Gwaihir are leading the way, then Dorn and Miranda, then Beren, Corbin, Landroval, and Danarn (Miranda's drow squire).

The tunnel slopes downward pretty well for about 150 feet, then levels off. There is a natural opening to a cavern 30' across with a mineshaft on the other side. The tracks show all kinds of movement around here. There's a campfire in the corner fairly old, a pile of broken tools, etc. We head into the mineshaft. It veers to the right. Carl has the map . Talking about map directions makes for very bad reading, so take it as read and I'll skip to the good parts.

We find one room with very very old things in it: rags, tapestries, spinning wheels. Phae finds a cleverly concealed crevasse on the far side that we squeeze through. We get out to a tunnel, and find a door we can't open. It's iron-banded and locked very well, so we leave it for now and head around the corner. We find another door that was at one point covered in iron, though it has long since rusted. Dorn picks the lock and opens the door. Suddenly there is a bright flash and a burst of fire shoots out! Miranda pushes Dorn aside, taking his 16 points of damage. The door opens to racks of rusted weapons, mostly axes. We go back to the tunnel. It descends sharply, and opens to a gigantic natural cavern that we can't see the other side of. We can hear water rushing, somewhere. Landroval thinks we are probably in the Underdark. Miranda and I find some signs of a really old battle. Seeing as how the party doesn't really want to adventure in the Underdark (yet!) we head back up. We find some stairs, just off a passageway, and lead around and up to a locked door. Dorn manages to open the door. Inside is a long, thin room with about 10 bunks, dwarf sized. Searching, I find a section of the wall that rolls up, revealing a small cubby. Inside are three leather pouches, one with 160 old-style gold pieces, one with 7 pieces of "orc talcum" which is like a mix between platinum, mithril, and emerald, having a green metallic gemlike appearance, and 30 pieces of platinum. Miranda, meanwhile, finds a nice magic handaxe of some kind, with a double griffon crest.

The stairs go up to near the ceiling, onto a naturally ocurring ledge. The path wanders around to the first passage we started in. Continue on. It's starting to smell funny... like torches lit recently. Up ahead, we see torches flanking a set of double doors. I knock, no one answers, so Dorn goes ahead and opens it. On the other side is a large, 40'x60' with a carved ceiling. The room is lit by continual light torches. There are two rows of pillars going down the center of the room, and two other doors: one on the left hand wall and one on the opposite wall, down on the right. In the very center of the room is a pile of something--looks like bedding covering up a pile of stuff, maybe gold. We enter the room and spread down either side of the wall. Landroval has an unseen servant remove the bedding from the pile, revealing a stack of treasure! And with that, the fun begins...

It is at this point (isn't it always?) that our group must all make Reflex saves, because we foolishly lined up in a nice straight line along the back wall (except for Landroval, who is in the hallway looking in). Yes, a lightning bolt came flashing down the wall from the left-hand corner, catching many of us with its electric sting. At the same moment, a glowing sword suddenly sprouts out of Dorn's back. Ooh, that's gotta hurt. And, an instant later, Landroval gets stabbed from behind, and that's gotta hurt too. The glowing sword belongs to a rather large minotaur, and another minotaur is in the corner wearing black robes and wielding a rather large battleaxe. Combat ensues! I flank Dorn's minotaur and get a critical hit for 23! Landroval shoots a lighting bolt down the hall, followed quickly by a wall of fire, lighting the elf that attacked him (and then ran) in flames. Dorn takes the minotaur's head off. We turn on the other minotaur, attacking and shooting crossbow bolts. Landroval comes in and sets a wall of fire in a ring around him, pointing in. Just before the minotaur is consumed in flames, he utters a phrase in his harsh minotaur language (which Miranda understands to be a summons of some sort). After a moment, we hear great bellows of rage from multiple throats somewhere far away, and dust falls from the ceiling with the great noise.

To be continued...