(If there was an alarm clock, Droknin would hit the snooze button a couple of times)

The Leonin comes down from the tree he chose to sleep on. He remembers that he used to do that all the time as a cub, but things are definitely different now. As he comes down, he feels his body slower to react. One on the ground, she shakes his mane off some ice crystals. He walks back to the inn, he needs something strong to wake up.

(BTW, Dragonbarrow sounds good to me. Maybe bring the brave, tough guy, the bard along.)

T'laren, having been up for a few hours, has some hot tea ready for Droknin when he arrives.

Droknin stumbles into the Inn, and shakes the remaining ice crystals from his mane. He see T'laren with some hot tea. "Ahhh, that is just what I needed. Good morning my friend." The Leonin sits on the chair with a thud.

T'laren pours from the pot into one of several waiting teacups and slides it over to Droknin.

"Shall I ask for a towel? You seem to be... melting."

Quote from Spiderwrangler >>

"Shall I ask for a towel? You seem to be... melting."

"Bah! Nonsense! I..." Droknin opens his maw wide. "Achoo!" The table shakes from his sneeze. "I am perfectly bine... Sniff."

Barkas takes a drink of some strong coffee that has been brewing, he looks up at Droknin, a half grin on his face.  “Well look what the cat drug in.  You look colder than balls.  Your mane is all, crystally like.  Gonna get frostbite ya hard headed oaf!  Why didn’t ya come in here for a sleep in a bed?  Sheesh!”  Barkas chuckles and turns his hand over, palm up and casts produce flame in his palm, holding it extending up from the table, trying to warm up the Leonin.  He takes another slug of coffee.  

Eventually, Barkas would spread out his star map on the table, taking further measurements and scribbling notes in the margins, he tries to make sense of it all.  “You fellers know where to next?  The map is a fickle *****, opening up so many possibilities… I can’t quite see which way we are meant to go.”  He takes a deep slurp of coffee and squints his eyes at the map, for all the good it will do.

T'laren peers over the dwarf's shoulder, shaking his head. If the one who made it can't make sense of the map, there's no way he's going to be able to.

"I think it might be good to check in with the Townmaster again, see if recent developments have shifted anything forward in importance."

(Sorry for the delay guys, my notifications are not working.)

The big Leonin takes in the warmth. "Hummm... That's much better." He gives himself sometime to warm up. "Just let me finish this wonderful... Ahh what did you call this? Coffee, ahh yes. I will go with you to visit the Townmaster."

Barkas nods and says “Ah, yeah, I suppose that’d be the right thing to do.  Much more direct.  I’ll keep workin on this map and figuring out where the hell it is pointing us.  I’m just not smart enough to see it at times.  Too much beer going through my noggin I spose.    Hah!”  Barkas laughs and claps the big Leonin on the back, then takes his hand away, looking at the morning dew that came off.  “You’re gonna catch a cold if you sleep out there again ya big doofus!  We can make room and share inside tonight ya hardhead!”  

Aranea is the last to come downstairs to the common area, having slept in longer than she normally would. She's a bit embarrassed to be the last one awake, but she does her best to keep her face impassive as usual, although her lips twitch in amusement when she sees Droknin's icy mane.

"Looks like you need to defrost a bit," she remarks. "I'll take a mug of that coffee as well before we go to the townmaster's."

"Tea.", T'laren says, nodding at the pot in front of him.

He'll flag down a server though, asking for a carafe of coffee and a platter of bread, meat, eggs and porridge for the table.

After a heaping breakfast, the party is stuffed but warm.  

[The feast ordered by T'laren is a bit more than the 'continental' style breakfast included with the room.  They proprietors let him know that for four people, that spread will be an additional 8sp.]

Heading back across town in the chill morning air, they visit the townmaster, Harbin Wester.  He is in the process of wrapping up a morning breakfast meeting with the local priest of Tymora but he allows you to wait inside while they finish.  From what you overhear, she is sheltering some miners who have fled to the town for fear of the dragon, and she is soliciting a donation from the townmaster to provide more food and blankets for them at the shrine.  He reluctantly agrees.

After the priestess departs, he speaks with you over a cup of tea.  He doesn't have any opinion on your next course of action.  "We'll have to wait and see if your sortie against the Orcs will make a difference out on the Triboar.  I'm optimistic that it will.  As far as the dragon, that's really out of my league.  We are just trying to keep our heads down and hope for the best while preparing for the worst.  The only other thing I have on my plate is a supply run.  While I was... indisposed thanks to those Redbrand mercenaries, we failed to send resupply shipments to a lumber camp up in the Neverwinter Wood.  I'm sure they're cold, hungry, and righteously pissed off at us now.  So, I'm getting a shipment organized and getting it on its way.  It could use an escort, but by now I think that your time is probably better used elsewhere.  I was just planning to give the job to some of the young men training with the town militia... give them a chance to build up a little confidence.  But if you think you'll be heading that way anyway, I suppose I wouldn't mind if you kept an eye on that shipment, too."

The dour elf hands the server a gold. He's found if you overpay a bit when you can afford it, you don't have to put as much effort into meeting civilized standards for being polite.

"The supply run take it close to where that fellow said the white was digging in the hills west of the High Road, or it heading through the south part of the Wood?", T'laren inquires, having a seat and pulling out some retrieved arrows and working on removing the points and salvageable fletching.

((On the map on the last page, there's an X between the Sword Mountains and Kryptgarden Forest that doesn't have a label. Is that the dwarven ruin or forge? Which is noted by the [Dwarven Excavation] tag?))

*Edit: Found it on an older map, Broken Hill Mineshaft.

Droknin just listens to the conversation. He has no issues in working as an escort. He thinks that perhaps some of the town's militia could tag along.

Aranea nods politely as she listens to the town master. "Do you know of anyone in the area who might know more about the white dragon or how to fight it? What its weaknesses might be or anything like that? I know it's a long shot, but any more information we can find about the dragon would be helpful."

She turns to her companions. "We may as well tag along. Didn't those halflings mention zombies in the woods somewhere? We might be able to take care of those while we're searching for ways to defeat the dragon."

[The zombies spotted by the halflings were much further east... east of the Butterskull Ranch along the Triboar trail.]

"Aye," Harbin nods at T'laren's question.  "The route we send the supplies follows the outskirts of Neverwinter wood, but the dragon was seen digging just a few miles west of that route.  It wouldn't be much of a detour for you to break off and investigate it, on the way to the lumber camp."

At Aranea's question, he just shakes his head.  "Sorry.  If there were anyone around who knew about hunting dragons, we would have already looked them up."  A funny look crosses his face, as if he has just thought of something.  "You know, though... there might be someone.  Falcon.  He's a hunter and gamekeeper up in the Neverwinter Wood.  He caters to fancy city nobles who dream of hunting a manticore or a cockatrice or some other nonsense.  He keeps a lodge deep in the wood and charges a pretty penny to guide the would-be heroes on managed hunts.  I've never heard of him hunting dragons, but if there's anyone with around with even the slightest chance of having the info you're after, it might be him."

"I only know him by reputation, so I can't give you an introduction or tell you what to expect from him, but I can show you where his lodge is on your map if you like."

"That sounds like plenty of work to do!! When does this shipment is scheduled to leave?" Says Droknin to the Townmaster. "Perhaps you could send some of the folks from the militia. They can bring the wagons back after it's delivered, and we go our way."

"So escort the shipment, peal off to check out the dragon dig site, and see if we can make contact with Falcon? Sounds reasonable to me."