A diversion

Year: 1491, Month: Tarsakh, Date: 28th

The Caravan

The night passes without incident.  We decide to walk back along the road up into the mountains towards where we came from in the hope of finding Harshnag's cave again.  

As we walk along the road we see a carriage coming towards us .  It stops in the road, and a Dwarf and an Elf dismount, and wait for us to get closer.  

I notice three other guards with the carriage.  Celery starts to wave and shouts "Hello!" even though they are a long way off.  

The Dwarf and Elf introduce themselves as Burkin and Elthana.  As we get closer I see there are large large nets in the back of the coach. As we reach the carriage, Elthana says they would like to hire us as guards.  They use this wagon as bait to draw out a flying misfortune who has been attacking trade caravans along the road.

"Flying Misfortune?", we ask.

They offer us 100 gold coins each to aid them in catching this flying misfortune, without actually explaining what it is.  Could it be a Roc, or other flying predator?  Elthana senses Leo and Celery's reluctance, and she increases the offer to 100 gold upfront and 75 gold on our performance to help them to trap this flying misfortune.  We agree cautiously as trade routes and innocent traders must be protected.

The Dragon

As we stand trying to encourage them to tell us more, a bronze dragon comes bumping down the side of the mountain, crashing into rocks as it makes its' way towards us.

Celery says, "We don't think you tell the truth ..." Leo is muttering something about this seeming wrong ... bronze dragons are normally good.  I though am confused ...


Leo moves to the side, speaking softly under his breath and tracing patterns with his hands. Celery moves back and yells something in her native language which I don't understand. 

The Dragon swoops down to 60' above us.  Celery suddenly looks frightened, as do the two guards closest to Burkin and Elthana.

One guard unleashes a bolt at the Dragon from his crossbow, but he is shaking so much that it flies well wide of the mark.  A second bolt is fired in the direction of the Dragon, but it also fails to strike.  Who trained these guards?  Although the crossbow is a cowards weapon, they should at least be able to hit a target as large as this Dragon.

I've fought a Dragon before when we were searching for Gundrun around Phandalin, albeit a young Green one, not an adult like this beast.  I recall how its acid breath almost killed all of my companions as it tricked them into coming close to it.  I draw my sword and move away from my companions so the Dragon can't target us all in the cone of its deadly breath.  I yell, "Why you attacking us?", as I reach out to Tyr to protect me, and a shimmering field appears and surrounds me.

Burkin takes a flask hanging from his belt and drinks the contents in a couple of gulps, before flinging the flask to the ground and springing into the air, shooting straight up.  Elthana just vanishes.

A guard fires another crossbow bolt at the Dragon.  This one finds the target, but rebounds from the Dragon's tough hide and falls harmlessly to the ground.

"Why are you attacking these caravans?", shouts Leo.  Celery glances in my direction, still looking frightened as she closes the distance between us.  As she gets to me, she relaxes noticeably, my calm and soothing presence helping her to overcome her panic.

The Dragon banks down, but somehow "trips" in midair (if you can imagine a Dragon doing so and lands unceremoniously on top of poor Leo in a cloud of dust, burying him completely.  The Dragon rights itself, trying to look as if it meant to land in that manner, looks around, and then takes a huge intake of air, before releasing it's lightning breath at the two guards. They obviously haven't fought a Dragon before, as they are standing close together, and the Dragon's lightning engulfs both of them.  They won't be taking any further part in this skirmish, or any future skirmish, they're charred and smouldering corpses lying immobile on the dirt highway.  Leo remains lying on the ground under one of the Dragon's wings.

Burkin returns to the ground, and engages the Dragon, swinging his Battle Axe in a two-handed overhead attack, but it just glances off the Dragon's scaly hide.

Elthana reappears next to a boulder by the side of the road.  She raises her arm, points at the Dragon, and four darts streak from her fingers to strike the Dragon.  The Dragon though makes no sign that it even felt or noticed the magic missiles.

"Leo are you ok?"   I beseech Tyr to help me work out whats going on - who is in the right, but I get no feeling from him, I will have to decide on my own.

The remaining guard manages to reload his crossbow, and fires another bolt.  He is more composed now, and the bolt strikes the Dragon squarely, quivering as it remains lodged in the Dragon's side.  The Dragon again appears to be oblivious to the hit it has taken.  The guard has a look of abject terror on his face, he drops his crossbow, turns on his heel, and begins sprinting as fast as he can in the opposite direction from the Dragon.

Leo stands up underneath dragons wing, vanishes and reappears 30' behind the Dragon. "Why are you attacking these people and their wagon?"

The Dragon bellows, "Why are you all zipping about, help me attack these Zhentarim scum.", and then lunges at Burkin with his gaping maw.  The Dragon grabs hold of Burkin with his jaws tight, shakes him violently from side to side, and then tosses him into the air.  With a squelch, Burkin lands on the ground in-front of the dragon.  He's motionless, but just to make sure the Dragon swipes him with both front legs, clawing his body and riping poor Burkin apart.  The Dragon stops, looks at his handy work and says "HaHa" before looking up for his next enemy.

Celery moves closer to the dragon and Elthana, "What is going on?  Why is this happening?"  Elthana just vanishes again.

The guard continues to flee down the road, but Leo again vanishes and reappears closer to the fleeing guard.  He whispers an incantation, and conjures a mass of thick, sticky webbing centre on the fleeing guard.  The guard is struggling to free himself.

Celery moves closer to the carriage and speaks unintelligibly to the Dragon.  The Dragon ignores her, leaping into the air and flying at the guard thrashing in the webs.  As he flies past Celery it says, "Come on Dragonling, help me defeat these evil Zhentarim!'  Then it inhales sharply and breaths lightning once again, this time engulfing the struggling guard.  The lightning causes the webbing to catch fire, and the poor guard is scorched and burnt, and stops thrashing.  Pleased with his work, the Dragon turns and looks at Celery and I.

The Zhentarim Scoundrels 

I say, "Err, ... hello Mr Dragon, why are you killing these people, what were they doing that required such justice?"

Leo pipes up, "And how do you know they are Zhentarim, oh, and by the way, you missed one that's playing at being invisible."

The Dragon says, "I've being confiscating things from the Zhentarim for months.  They all leave from a place called the Bargewright Inn in Womford.  I dislike Thieves.  I'm disappointed you didn't help me, especially as matters got hairy at one stage."  As he says this. he picks the crossbow bolt that is protruding from his side.

"I webbed the one running away for you to finish off."  

"That is true, young magic user.", and then he says, "Here's a thing.  You look like your fairly wily and sneaky..."

"Sorry, let me introduce myself, I am Leosin Todd"

The Dragon bows low, "My name is Felgolos."

"Well met Sir Felgolos. I am Erlic Strongblade of the ....", but Celery finishes my sentence " ...Order of Tyr".  I look at her askance, "No, not the Order of Tyr, The Temple of Tyr in Neverwinter".

"And you small Dragonling, what is your name?", as he peers intently at Celery, but continues without waiting for any response, "As i was saying, I have a problem which I think you might be able to help me with if you are willing.  It may be ever so slightly perilous."

"I don't mind peril, as long as it was for a good reason."

Bargaining with a Dragon

"A few years ago my lair was raided by two blue dragons coming from the desert of Anauroch.  They stole many things for their own hoards, although much of my own hoard I don't care much for, apart from a silver pouch of exquisite pipe tobacco called Yondalla's Delight."

"Can't you just buy some to replace it?"


"No, it was a gift from the Goddess Yondalla to my father."

"We would like to help you good Felgolas, but we are currently on a mission to locate Harshnag from Waterdeep.  There's currently a lot of curfuffle with the Giants"

"Curfuffle indeed!"

"Do you know anything about this?"

"I've not heard anything, but the captain whose ships i usually escort from the coast hasn't been in touch for a while.  I wonder if that has anything to do with it.", and then he continues on, much more interested in his own offer rather than any problems we might have, "I know where they are in Anauroch, but I can't go into their lair, but small sneaky types like you might find a way in to get my belongings.  Anything else you find would of course be yours."

"How quickly would you need this aid?"

"There's no time scale at all", but he gestures towards the carriage, "I can fly you there and back in that".

"Is there anything that could draw them out?"

"I would suggest during the day that they often go out to hunt and play."

"How long would it take to fly there and back?" 

"If things take a turn for the worse would you aid us?" 

"Yes", he says fervently.

"Have you confiscated anything that may aid us?"

"Well, no, as I give it all to the humans in the nearest settlement."

"Where is that?"

"I'm not going to tell you where my lair is!", then he turns to me and in a Dragon whisper that all can hear he says, "Waterdeep".

"Well", say I, "They are thieves.  Justice needs to be done".

A deal is struck

"We have a deal."

"Marvellous" he says, a smile beaming across his face.  

Before we leave we investigate the carriage, the dead guards, and Burkin.  Leo looks for the presence of magic, and says the ring Burkin is wearing is radiating magic aura, as well as a flask, hanging still intact, from his belt.  The flask is unlabelled, but contains a clear liquid with sparks of blue within it.  We also find a few garnets and tourmolines and some gold and silver in a pouch, but nowhere near enough to meet the bargain they had tried to make with us.  In the carriage there are net launchers for catching Dragons, some spears, short swords, and crossbow bolts.

Whilst we are investigating the other bodies and the rest of the carriage, Leo takes the ring, and starts chalking out symbols on the ground and muttering incantations.  After about 10 minutes, he finishes his incantation, "This Ring imbues resistance to lightning to its wearer".  Leo then gingerly opens the flask and licks around the top.  He rises slightly and says this is a Potion of Fly.

Felgolos gestures impatiently towards the carriage, "Climb in, we need to get going."  

We all make ourselves comfortable in the carriage, before we feel it grabbed from both sides, and we lurch into the air.