"We are tasked with stopping a great evil in the world," Hildegard proclaims to the orcs, as she dismounts Perdita to join the conversation. "For this have the Seven Heroes given us their help and blessings. But there is yet so much work to be done. Great will be your blessings also, for assisting us with this stage of our task... and your people too, we are happy to have helped them to free themselves from the tyranny of the spiders and drow. Great also are your warriors' hearts!" She bows to the orc and his half-orc son. "My name is Hildegard Deepwalker, Keeper of Lore of the Seven Heroes and Humble Servant of Tali Windunner. I am pleased to have fought at your side in our common travail, Zodagh, and Gorash."

"Ahoy! I am Nickeline of the Clan Silversparkle. We spoke earlier," Nickeline says to Gorash.

About Cynurrarth, Nickeline says, "It might be hard to pass through the dragon's territory without his knowing, unless Ruby helped us that is. I don't think it would be a huge problem if we stop just to say hello and accept the task. Unless he wants us to do something like clean his cave, he's probably going to send us on our way right away. We could just head back to the island then, and do the task at our own convenience."

"That should do good, yes," Ruby says. "Ruby doesn't want to meet the evil mummy-lady again, though... so please do it fast..."

Gorash continues considering Jodie's suggestion for a few more moments.

"If you can truly get an audience with a dragon, perhaps now would be a good time to try to make an alliance," the half-orc mage says at last, with a hint of curiosity in his voice (as expected of a wizard). "Father, would you be opposed to letting me join our allies to meet their patron?"

Zodagh shakes his head.

"You are a man, my son," Zodagh replies with a smile. "I shall not forbid you from meet with the formidable dragon whom our friends serve."

So far, it doesn't seem that the orcs have realized that our heroes are actually in service of a being far more formidable than even the Great and Mighty Cynurrarth...

(Would everyone like me to skip ahead to meeting 2 with the Great and Mighty Cynurrarth? Your party will be down an Orog and two Orc Brutes, and pick up Gorash in exchange... he'll probably be more useful if Talice comes back before you get a chance to meet with Lord Akkron again)

((Tamphalic is happy for Gorash to join, and ready to move on))

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

(Would everyone like me to skip ahead to meeting 2 with the Great and Mighty Cynurrarth? Your party will be down an Orog and two Orc Brutes, and pick up Gorash in exchange... he'll probably be more useful if Talice comes back before you get a chance to meet with Lord Akkron again)

(OOC: Does our path take us past Cynurrarth?  I thought that we were going to go straight back through the teleportation circle to Lord Akkron first.  We'd give him the puzzle box to solve and maybe even leave the Luck Blade with him before heading back to the Underdark to meet with Cynurrarth.  Hewelathan definitely doesn't love the idea of taking the Luck Blade into Cynurrarth's lair: "If the dragon guesses what treasure we took from the Black Crypt, he might try to take it from us."  The party did well against Talice, but he's not confident that any of them would survive a fight with the dragon!  Not without using one of the sword's wishes.)

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

(Would everyone like me to skip ahead to meeting 2 with the Great and Mighty Cynurrarth? Your party will be down an Orog and two Orc Brutes, and pick up Gorash in exchange... he'll probably be more useful if Talice comes back before you get a chance to meet with Lord Akkron again)

(OOC: Does our path take us past Cynurrarth?  I thought that we were going to go straight back through the teleportation circle to Lord Akkron first.  We'd give him the puzzle box to solve and maybe even leave the Luck Blade with him before heading back to the Underdark to meet with Cynurrarth.  Hewelathan definitely doesn't love the idea of taking the Luck Blade into Cynurrarth's lair: "If the dragon guesses what treasure we took from the Black Crypt, he might try to take it from us."  The party did well against Talice, but he's not confident that any of them would survive a fight with the dragon!  Not without using one of the sword's wishes.)

(I was under the impression that the party had voted to to go see Cynurrarth first and then drop the box-o-heart off. But if I miscounted somehow then that's also fine and you can go see Lord Akkron again. You will need to go through, or at least past, the kobold village, though).

Hildegard wants to pay their dues to the dragon first, especially as they have the half-orc mage with them who wants to meet Cynurrarth. She isn't concerned with being robbed or betrayed... she prefers to keep her word and be a person of integrity herself, and assume that others will be, too, if treated as such, and if they haven't shown otherwise. She thinks Cynurrarth hasn't given them any evidence of treachery and expects them to keep their word, which to her indicates that the dragon has a sense of honor as well.

IIRC - Korba thought that dealing with the dragon in the first place was insane.  He's not eager to meet the dragon, but let's say that his vote is "might as well get it over with."  He'd prefer to see the dragon and hopefully finish the party's business before they return to the lich.  "Maybe we can satisfy Cynurrarth and won't have to leave behind any unfinished tasks from the dragon," he reasons.  "That way, once Lord Akkron tells us what we need to do next, we can get right to it and, hopefully, finish 'what we set out to do' in the beginning."

With the votes cast, our party continues to see Cynurrarth... now with Gorash in tow. It takes more than an hour to get there, so you all have time to take a short rest.



But as you approach the dragon's lair, you realize something is wrong... something is very, very wrong...

As you hit the shore, you see dozens of little kobold corpses, twisted and mutilated. But they don't look like they were killed by a dragon. And... the worst possibility is quickly confirmed as you spot one corpse that doesn't look like the others. A human body... dressed in the black robes of one of the dragon cultists... and unfortunately, it sounds like whatever they were doing here isn't finished.

Loud, low moans of agony echo from inside the cave... it couldn't be that the cultists have actually tracked you into the tunnels and then managed to DEFEAT the dragon, could it??

Ruby gasps in horror at the sight... and even Gorash, an orc warrior who is likely quite familiar with carnage, looks uneasy.

"What in the Nine Hells is this?" the half-orc mage whispers.

"How...?" Ruby whispers. "Who...?"

Ruby pauses, and suddenly a look of realization dawns on her face... followed by one of even more horror.

"Zolgu!" she exclaims breathlessly.

Hildegard pauses, her hand on Perdita's reins. "Zolgu?" she asks Ruby. "You think Zolgu is behind this? This seems like more of Firion's madness... we are in trouble... let us see to Cynurrarth. This evil cannot be allowed to spread!"

"But how could they have known... if someone didn't tell them to find you here?" Ruby reasons. "Zolgu never revered the dragons as other kobolds do... and he was very, very angry the last time that Ruby saw him..."

It's pretty clear she doesn't like Zolgu very much... maybe she just assumes the worst of him because he is both a bully to other kobolds and irreverent to dragons. Or maybe she's onto something...

"I don't know how, but they clearly found out we were here, because those robes are their trademark." Tamphalic says "Now the big question is, are we heading straight for the teleportation circle, or should we stay and fight and hope we can defeat the cultists before they have the dragon under their control?"

Nickeline looks at the scene in shock and shudders when she hears the low moans of what was probably the dragon. "He may not have done it for free, but Cynurrarth helped us out before when he didn't have to," Nickeline says. "And Hilly is right: we cannot allow this evil to spread! At the very least we should investigate and see if anything can be done. I could try to scry on the dragon, but it seems like every second counts. If someone wanted to sneak ahead I could make them invisible. Otherwise, I say we just approach with caution as a group."

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

It takes more than an hour to get there, so you all have time to take a short rest.

(OOC: @Mister_Whisker - could you mark off the Short Rest for Korba?

That probably means that Hewelathan has reverted out of his Wild Shape.  His opposable thumbs and strength were probably needed to help pilot the rafts back up the kobolds' canals, but it sounds like it's been > 2 hours since the start of the fight with Talice in any case.

Hewelathan is instantly on alert when the party sees the bodies, and his expression turns grim when they spot the black-robed cultist.

Loud, low moans of agony echo from inside the cave... it couldn't be that the cultists have actually tracked you into the tunnels and then managed to DEFEAT the dragon, could it??

Hewelathan is inclined to put a stop to the suffering of any creature, even this dragon whom he doesn't trust.  He's not foolhardy enough to charge forward into an unknown situation, but if Korba and/or Jodie is willing to scout ahead, he's ready to rush to their aid, if needed. 

Hewelathan could also help with Pass Without Trace or Enhance Ability.  For the former, he'd have to accompany the scout, of course.

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

"What in the Nine Hells is this?" the half-orc mage whispers.

Once the party figures out what they're going to do, Hewelathan will fill in Gorash on some of the details.  (For example, while someone sneaks forward to scout....)

Hewelathan says, "Our group recently crossed paths with a cult that's led by mad archmage, Firion.  There's no time to explain everything.  We seek to stop the cult's plans, which could spell the end of the world, both above and below.  The cult has been hounding us for weeks, but we didn't think that they even knew that we were in the Underdark.  It seems that we were wrong, and this attack is probably the result."

Ruby pauses, and suddenly a look of realization dawns on her face... followed by one of even more horror.  "Zolgu!" she exclaims breathlessly.

Hewelathan considers this guess.  He nods thoughtfully, saying, "From what you told us before, Ruby, it certainly sounded like Zolgu had secret, powerful allies.  And he's one of the few who knows that we came to meet Cynurrarth.  If Zolgu was already allied with Firion's cult, our arrival here would certainly be considered valuable information."   

Quote from Secretfool >>

or should we stay and fight and hope we can defeat the cultists before they have the dragon under their control?"

Hewelathan thinks that we should stay and figure out what's going on.  He says, "Even if the cultists who attacked here are too powerful for us to defeat, maybe we could at least create enough of a distraction for Cynurrarth get free.  If we successfully free the dragon and it comes to a fight, at least we'll have an adult dragon on our side!"  Hewelathan breaks into a sly smile at the thought, despite the danger of the current situation.

Quote from mamoduck >>

If someone wanted to sneak ahead I could make them invisible. Otherwise, I say we just approach with caution as a group."

(OOC: I forgot that Nickeline has that spell now. 👍)

Hewelathan thinks that it's too dangerous for the whole group to approach, eyeing Nickeline's scale mail and Hildegard's heavy armor in particular.  Better to find out first what they're dealing with so that they can make a plan before anyone hears them.  He thinks that invisibility is a great idea.  That way, even if the scout is heard, they may still avoid detection.

"Be quick about it though, we have no clue how long the dragon has, or what they are doing to him."

Tamphalic sends out Whiskers, still in his Bat form, to scout ahead.

Perception: 12, 16 + 1 = 17 for hearing

Bat-whiskers flies along unnoticed... there are tons of bats in here, after all. Why would anyone notice one particularly attentive bat?

As the bat flies along, it passes by a couple of cultists who are apparently on guard duty. One is a somewhat portly human man in his early 30's who looks like he's barely worked a day in his life, possibly of noble birth. The other is a younger woman who looks like she was probably from the opposite side of the social hierarchy. It's kind of fascinating to see these two united behind one insane goal.

"Why would that kobold want the dragon's heart anyway?" the portly man asks the girl nervously.

"I don't know... Firion said to give the little bastard whatever he wants if he will aid us in our glorious task of ushering in the eternal reign of Sserah..." the other answers, pausing a moment to glance into the cavern behind her.

Both of them look extremely nervous, more so every time the dragon moans in pain... perhaps they actually still have some humanity in them. Or maybe it's specifically the fact that the victim is a dragon which is causing members of a dragon cult a bit of cognitive dissonance to deal with.

Beyond them in the cavern, the familiar sees even more carnage... dozens more kobolds dead at the feet of the cultists. But it doesn't look like the battle was one-sided. About a dozen dead cultists lie with the kobolds in the dragon's lair. Then, the bat catches sight of the dragon...


(Picture for effect, not a 100% accurate representation)

The once proud Cynurrarth lies on the ground, bloodied and beaten, held down by chains. Five more cultists surround him.

"You dared to oppose the return of Sserah," one of the cultists hisses. "Now your only chance at salvation has been squandered. Tell us what the Accursed Ones sought in the Black Crypt, and we can still grant you a swift end."

A few feet away, another one of the five cultists is talking to... a white kobold. Ruby's intuition was right...

"I think that this foolish dragon really let them pass without knowing what they were here for," Zolgu snorts. "I say it's time to finish the unworthy worm and give me his heart... I'm sure the gnome and her companions will return here soon enough anyway. We shall have whatever it was they came for, and at long last the only dragon truly worthy of reverence shall rise again!"

(So, in total there are 7 cultists and Zolgu. It looks like a much larger force attacked, but most of them died before the dragon was eventually subdued. You may even have a chance to silently take down the two cultists standing guard to reduce their forces further before taking on the six in the lair)

((can Tamphalic see all this through the familiars eyes?))

((Yes))