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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 1510718" data-attributes="member: 463">DragonA month had passed since the momentous events of the Congress of Scornel and the final defeat of Heracules and his allies. Leo had kept himself busy. His spell research and the exploration into his newly acquired knowledge of the magical flux on Ea kept him occupied . Every so often he would hear from some of his companions. They were just as busy. Kanor would consult him about arcane matters every so often and of course there was a great deal of preparation dealing with the imminent move back to Imarr. Leo still wasn’t sure about that idea. He really didn’t want to be in a city where he was still “wanted for questioning”. Tarkane’s secret police did not have a reputation for civility when they wanted answers. His main hopes were that Tarkane would adopt an out of sight out of mind attitude. Unfortunately, the White Way would certainly be invited to help in the conflict and Leo was a known member. Well, they do say that travel broadens the mind. Leo’s mind could always use broadening. There was a lot on Ea he wanted to see. If things got really sticky then Dovistar knew how to reach him. The summons came from Kanor. Probably another conversation about Mongali hakomen and their powers. Leo made his way to the palace. He was rapidly shown through as usual. The guards were so familiar with him by now that all they had to do was to recognise his distinctive sandy hat and they didn’t even question him. This time however he wasn’t shown to Kanor’s small study but into his audience chamber. There he found some of his fellow companions, Raven the holy knight, Tarquin the priest, Red Ivy the warrior and Fjorent the witch. There was also a delegation of four Goldhammer dwarves. These were stalwart allies who had come to the aid of the Borderlands in the Battle of Jarrakig, where they had suffered. Kanor nodded and introduced one of the dwarves as Queen Tori Oakshield. Greetings were exchanged and then the Queen spoke: “My scouts have located the lair of a large Red Dragon. I am told that you have trouble with this creature, which destroyed one of your forts. We could help each other. This is Hled one of my best scouts. He will guide you to the creature’s lair. In return for this information, I would ask for your help. We have problems with raids by creatures from the Underdark. I would like you to come to aid us in preventing these atrocities against our people. Our military has been depleted since the Battle of Jarrakig”.“A not-so-subtle reminder that we owe them” thought Leo. The dragon could be a nuisance. Leo knew it had been allied with Heracules. A creature like that wouldn’t be able to do much against a military force but it could terrorise whole communities and threaten the all-important Southern trade routes. It was also an important step in mopping up the rest of Heracules’s force from the Dosk Heights. The others looked keen. The expedition also had Kanor’s support. No doubt he saw a possibility of enlisting dwarven help against the Mongali. Everyone was invited to a banquet that evening although only Raven, Red Ivy and Tarquin attended. Leo was already calculating various aspects of the coming trip and Fjorent was busy with her affairs. The banquet was a great success by all accounts with the Queen being particularly taken by Raven and his intellectual conversation. The group then met to discuss various aspects of the coming trip. Fjorent had made a spirit journey, which had located the approximate location of the lair of the beast and she said she also felt a presence from another plane; this presence was not friendly. Leo also related his first meeting with the Heroes of Gaxmoor, which had taken place just after they had defeated another Red Dragon. It was decided that it would be good to meet with Xyzzy, the sorcerer of Dulleaburg and ask him how they managed to secure this victory.Fjorent transported Raven, Leo and herself by her “tree stepping” ability. Luckily Xyzzy was home and he greeted Leo warmly. He was promptly introduced to the others. His information was interesting. Their dragon was smaller than this one. It could cast spells. It used them mainly to make itself stronger in combat.  It was a fearsome fighter that had ripped Thrinnian knights into shreds. Then it had been turned into a frog. The caster of this awesome feat unfortunately had perished on the glacier. As Xyzzy retold this story Leo could see that some of it he told rather wistfully, as if he missed those days filled with adventure. Leo didn’t want to tell him that he would probably get more adventure than he bargained for with the advent of the Mongali invasion. Then Xyzzy said: “Why do you want to know all this anyway?”Leo answered: “We have the location of another red dragon. We plan to go after it tomorrow.”Xyzzy became animated: “Do you want some help?”Leo was slightly taken aback. He friend was retired. His adventuring days were over. Still he was a powerful sorcerer and if he wanted to join his contribution would be considerable. “Very much so if you are willing.”So arrangements were made. Xyzzy rapidly collected his belongings and Leo, he and Raven teleported back to Gaxmoor while Fjorent “tree stepped” back. Just before they went back, Leo had a private word with Xyzzy about latest developments with the Overkingdom. Xyzzy was one of the few individuals left who had direct involvement in the attempt against Tarkane’s life. Xyzzy didn’t seem unduly worried. Leo hoped his confidence was justified. Tarkane was a bitter, vindictive man with huge resources.   The next morning everyone gathered. Hled the dwarven scout would be guiding them to the exact location of the lair. Leo conjured his Phantom Steeds. These could now fly so the journey there would take only a few hours. Fjorent took the shape of a bat and was carried by Raven. The monotony of the journey was broken by the attack of a foolish wyvern, which hoped for an easy meal. A lightning bolt followed by a column of fire sent the creature spiraling downwards, trailing smoke. Then the group followed a river, which led to a mountain with a large opening in its side. According to Hled, this was the lair of the beast. The group then had various protective spells cast on themselves.  A few seconds later they flew into the cave. Leo could immediately see something was wrong. The cave was icy! There was a pool of water in the back of it. There were icicles on the ceiling. This was not the lair of a fire creature. Leo could see that Fjorent was as aware of the situation as he was and the witch cast a spell on herself. At the same time, Raven had advanced to the edge of the pool. Suddenly a massive head erupted from the water and grabbed him in its maw. The dwarf struggled but to no avail. The head of the dragon was red. Leo didn’t understand. His experience with dragons was limited but he was pretty sure that a red dragon was not aquatic. Be that as it may, he had other worries now. Red Ivy charged the creature but with a negligent flick of its paw it gave her a blow that staggered her. Luckily, that seemed to distract it from holding Raven and the dwarf was able to free himself. Xyzzy and Tarquin were casting spells at the creature but it was proving to be resistant. One of Leo’s little spells made it weaker while Xyzzy cast a powerful life-draining spell on it. A call for retreat was made now that Raven was free. Everyone left the cave. Outside everyone regrouped and now that the nature of the threat was known, Fjorent was able to cast protective spells against cold. Then the group advanced again. Suddenly the air was filled with a freezing blast. The creature had breathed. It was painful but survivable. Its muzzle was just above the surface of the pool. Luckily Fjorent had learned a spell which could lower the level of water for a period of time. This she did, revealing the body of the dragon. The dragon screeched in surprise as Red Ivy and Raven flew towards it. They both struck, dealing it serious blows. Xyzzy struck again with his life draining spells and a lightning bolt sizzled in the air, causing a large wound in the creature’s side. The dragon grabbed Red Ivy in its maw and was about to drag her to deeper water when with a mighty last effort, Raven, dedicating this blow to Moradin, cut the dragon down. The whole creature then turned white.Everyone looked at each other, unsure if the dragon was really dead. The fight had been intense but very short. Raven approached it and hit it a couple of times just to make sure. The beast didn’t stir. Its head was taken to prove its death. Kanor was providing a five thousand gold piece bounty for its head. On searching it, two large bracers were also found on its limbs. Then the group approached the deeper water to see if they could track down the lair of the creature. Suddenly four watery shapes rose up and attacked the front members of the group. Luckily they were very slow. Leo cast an effect and three of them disappeared. One final elemental was left. Fjorent started talking to it in its language. It was very unhappy at being bound here and once it found out that it would be sent back it became very cooperative, telling the group where the dragon used to go and how it “traveled between dimensions” to get to her main lair. The creature was then banished and Fjorent lowered the water again. The group then came to a tunnel intersection, one branch of which was sealed with a wall of force. However, at this point, the water behind them was starting to fill up and the group had to leave. The group decided to make their way to Goldworthy Hall and rest there for a day before going back to find the dragon’s treasure. Hled led them to the hidden entrance to the Hall and they were let through. Inside, they found that a battle had taken place. There were many wounded dwarves some of whom looked at the group with hostility. Upon reaching the ruler of the Hall, Raven was also reunited with Tori Oakshield the Queen. The King, Dumor Ironbeard, a dignified older dwarf, related what had happened. There had been a massive raid by a race called duergar, a tribe of dwarves who warred upon Goldhammer dwarves. These duergar were the descendants of followers of a mighty dwarven magician  who millenia ago had enslaved the whole race. When his yoke was thrown off, he fled with many of his followers into the depths of the Underdark. From there they emerged to war upon the surface dwarves whom they hate above all. They were feared for their cunning, ruthlessness and spell-like abilities, which they had inherited from their ancestors. For the first time though, these duergar had taken prisoners. No one knew why but they thought it was a bad sign. Everyone was aware that they had promised to help the dwarves once they had dealt with the dragon. They also knew that if they had any chance to follow this raiding party they had to leave as quickly as possible. However, everyone was exhausted and the spell casters had few spells left, so the decision was to follow the next day. That evening, Fillum, the court sage of the dwarves was able to tell the group what they knew. A lot of this information was rumour and conjecture and had been provided by friendly earth elemental type creatures called Pech. It was rumoured that the duergar had found the mythical lost First Hall of the Dwarves. There they sought to awaken a Lost God, a servant of Grom the King of the Earth. Fillum thought this servant was likely to be a very powerful spirit associated with Heat and Stone and Forging. Leo also felt he needed a conversation with Xyzzy. An expedition against a dragon was one thing. A long journey into the Underdark was another. A silver lining also was that one of the few places where Tarkane would be unlikely to reach either of them would be here.</blockquote>

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