EB's Adventuring in the Days of Yore - Tyranny of Dragons - IC

[EarlyBird]

Tyranny of Dragons
by Wizards of the Coast
&
Kobold Press


Hoard of the Dragon Queen​

In an audacious bid for power, the Cult of the Dragon, along with its dragon allies and the Red Wizards of Thay, seeks to free Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells to bring her to the Forgotten Realms.


The cult’s forces are sweeping from town to town, laying waste to all who oppose them and gathering a hoard of riches for their dread queen.


The threat is so dire, factions as disparate as the Harpers and the Zhentarim are banding together to battle the cult. Never before has the need for heroes been as desperate.


Let's hope we have found those heroes.


[sblock=Party]
jmucchiello - Ethina 'Tina' Stillwater, human (on the path to becoming a Bard)
TallIan - William Hookton, human fighter
DueceTraveler - Rumdum the Small, halfling thief
hero4hire - Tyrial, human cleric
Khraos - Filmark the Guardsman, human fighter
Leif - Sebastian TenPennies, gnome illusionist/assassin[/sblock]


LINKS:
OOC
RG
.

 

[EarlyBird]

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[EarlyBird]

Meeting others along the road has helped shorten the long boring trip from Beregost, with companionship. Your feet are sore, but your adrenaline surges anew when Farmer Hammar tells everyone that Greenest is just over this rise. You make your way to the top of the hill...

​

For the past several days, you have been traveling a road that winds lazily across the rolling grasslands of the Greenfields. Sundown is approaching when you top a rise and see the town of Greenest just a few short miles away. But instead of the pleasant, welcoming town you expected, you see columns of black smoke rising from burning buildings, running figures that are little more than dots at this distance, and a dark, winged shape wheeling low over the keep that rises above the center of the town.

Greenest is being attacked by a dragon!

Gutter helps Farmer Hammar get his cart and mule out of the open. A small copse of trees sits not a hundred yards away from the road, and the ranger leads the mule towards it.

OOC: Welcome! And have fun.

 

[jmucchiello]

A dragon?!? What in the Nine Hells is a dragon doing here? Tina's mind races as her feet are also racing out of town. She had barely managed to grab her stuff and run from the inn. Hopefully it didn't burn down. It was a nice place but she knows she was going to be fired again from her barmaid job. Third time in a month. And Greenest is running out of taverns. There was a loud whomp as a nearby building was engulfed in flames. There goes another one.

Tina does not find a safe place to stop until she find a copse of tree at least half a mile from the edge of town. After catching her breath she start to put on her scale mail. Worst thing about bar tending is they don't want you wearing armor. She was adjust one of her leg straps when she hears a creaking sound behind. She turns with her weapon drawn as an old man leads a horse cart under the protection of the set of trees she was using for protection. Travelers. They seem to be looking toward the town. Dragon must still be visible.

She lowers her weapon and flips her hair from her face. "Hello! Welcome to the quiet town of Greenest. Perhaps this isn't the best time to arrive." She's a tall woman with a muscular build. She casually holds a sword nearly as long as she is tall in one hand. Her other hand is hooking a stray strap on her armor.

 

[EarlyBird]

Farmer Hammar gives a start at the greeting, but Gutter just pats the nose of the mule to keep it calm.

"What is happening? Greenest has nothing that would interest a dragon, unless this one has given over to eating hay," the farmer says standing in his cart and peering back towards the town.

"Unlikely its' a vegetarian," Gutter grunts in reply.

 

[jmucchiello]

"Didn't seem to be interested in eating just now," Tina says. "But I didn't really wait around to find out what it was up to."

 

[TallIan]

William followed his traveling companions to the copse, helping to hide the wagon and calm the mule.

Just as he turned his attention back to the town a tall woman, heading from the town, took shelter under the trees as well. William listened to the exchange, getting a little annoyed at the humour centered around other's suffering.

"I gather that the attack was a surprise then? How is the garrison coping? Because from here it looks like they could use a hand."

 

[EarlyBird]

"You want to go down there, William?" Farmer Hammar asks his eyes going wide. "You are a brave lad indeed."

Gutter checks his bow string by feel, his eyes still on the town. "Odd," he comments. But says nothing else.

<after some prods him to elaborate lol>

"Looks like another building caught fire, but the dragon was a good three hundred feet in the air when it did."

 

[jmucchiello]

"I never saw the town guard. I heard the screams and smelled the smoke. I grabbed my stuff and came out here to find somewhere safe I could get my armor on." She adds under her breath, "I hate having to work without armor."

Terry turns to look at the situation Gutter was talking about. "That is peculiar. Could the dragon somehow be a ruse? I didn't ever get a good look at it."

 

[TallIan]

"That is odd." William says with a frown on his face. "I'd say it could be looters, but that seems unlikely since the dragon is still about. It's even less likely it's saboteurs, the town is not fortified or under ground attack... is it?"

 

[jmucchiello]

"I fear it may be a dragon cult: crazy folk who work for dragons. My granddad told me about fighting them back when he was young." Tina says.

 

[TallIan]

"Hmph, I always fail to account for crazy people. A cult of the townsfolk summon the dragon maybe?"

 

[EarlyBird]

OOC: (Second Hand)History of the Realms: Stories come out of the east of powerful wizards and priests who worshiped evil dragons. They were thralls of these monsters working for them, worshiping them, and in some cases killing for them. It is said a small sect of these evil men were known as the Cult of the Dragon and they would go so far as to help their draconic masters reach lichdom. But as with most stories in the Realms they were stopped by a group of heroic individuals before they could unleash such horrors on the world.

 

[jmucchiello]

"In my experience, crazy townfolk can do more damage than a dragon. Perhaps we should go help out the town guard." Tina says, encouraging herself, mostly.

 

[TallIan]

"That's true." William replied to Tina, "I've found they are also easier to stop though, in this case there seems to be both. I doubt we can do much against the dragon, but we could at least help get people hidden in basements until the dragon leaves and then help deal with the aftermath."

William turns to watch the dragon, hoping to find an opportunity to get to the cover afforded by the buildings.

 

[jmucchiello]

"Probably cannot take that cart though. It would be targetted by the dragon, I'm sure." Tina adds.

 

[EarlyBird]

"If we start down now we could reach town by the time the sun has finally set." Gutter says as he to watches the wheeling dragon as it flies over the city. Occasionally it dives down and brushes the rooftops of a few building before once more taking to the safety of the skies.

"Famer Hammar and the elf should be safe here if they are staying."

OOC: Is your character staying [MENTION=6855204]tglassy[/MENTION] ?

 

[jmucchiello]

"Okay, if we hurry we might be able to get back here before it gets really dark, assuming it'll be safe in a few hours. Who knows with dragon?"

 

[EarlyBird]

"Not I," Gutter says testing his bow string. "But there are people down there looking like they need help."

With that the grizzily old ranger makes for the tall grass beside the road you were traveling on and moves quietly towards the town.
______________________________

Reaching town just as a quarter of the sun still peeks over the horizon was simple. The dragon seemed occupied on the far side of Greenest and with the keep in the center of town, never venturing out beyond into the outskirts. You saw people fleeing from town in small groups, but whenever you tried to approach anyone they fled in horror as if the dragon were right behind you.

The first buildings you come to are dark and quiet, the ones on fire just a few hundred yards to the north.

Without warning, five humans dash out from between two buildings on your left. A limping man and three young children race across the street into more shadows, and a woman carrying a round shield and a broken spear turns and faces back in the direction from which they came.

Six kobolds stream out of the alley on the family’s heels and fan out around the woman, who looks determined to delay the creatures for as long as possible.

OOC: Alright everyone we are going to take this slow at first. Till we get use to everything. First up: Surprise Group surprised on a 1: [roll0] Kobolds surprised on a 1-2: [roll1] Next is Distance: [roll2] +4 = 10"

 

[EarlyBird]

OOC: Now everyone will need to tell me what they wish to do before we roll INIT. Make your rolls and I'll narrate what happens in the round.

Gutter takes and nocks an arrow, ready to bring his bow to bear on the creatures. The kobolds seem intent on the family they have cornered and not interested in the group.