Our Thundertree expedition lasted for hours. Afterwards, my players (who haven't played D&D in about a decade) said it was one of the most memorable D&D experiences of their life (and we've been playing together since the mid 1980's). I used the "cultists stole a dragon egg" variant. They met the druid, who told them that the "strange folk" in the SE corner of the town must have taken something from Venomfang, perhaps an egg. He explained that he observed a group of them sneak into the tower when the Dragon was off hunting, and returning to their safe house with a large object. He tells them the way to Cragmaw Castle, and tells them he will personally escort them to Wave Echo Cave if they can either kill or drive off the dragon. The PCs know that Green dragons are lawful by nature, and I assumed they would approach the dragon first and see if they can cut a deal to get back the egg if the Dragon would leave for greener pastures.
Alas, as in life, the PCs never do what one expects. Instead, they went to the cultists first. They interacted with them in the northern room of the safehouse. The druid told them there were 8 left after they stole the egg. However, they only met 6 in the northern room. They figured the other room had the egg in it. They also, through questioning, knew that the cultists were liars. They said they never approached the dragon yet, and that they wanted to kill the dragon. They asked the players to accompany them to the tower to take on the beast. Of course, they wanted to use the PCs as a sacrifice to the Dragon to gain its favor. The PCs were thinking similarly... they wanted to have the cultists go with them and then use them as fodder for the dragon. They really didn't go into detail as to what exactly their plan was. They did have protection against poison prepared, to give themselves resistance to the dragons breath weapon.
So they all marched together up to the tower, and then the cultists yelled out, "Oh great Venomfang, we have brought you these sacrifices, will you NOW agree to join us in our endeavors?" A battle ensued between the cultists and the PCs. Then Venomfang appeared on top of the tower and
got real. After 5 rounds, all six of the cultists were dead, the party dwarven cleric was at 0hp (we were using the pre-gens), the rogue was invisible (from glasstaff's potion) and snuck into the tower and stole the 4 urns and the scrolls; the wizard was face to face with the dragon in the thicket and the folk hero was tending to the dwarf. The wizard, in an attempt to save his own ass, was able to persuade Venomfang not to kill him if he was able to get him back his egg. Meanwhile, the cleric, through the use of a healing potion, was able to get a few hit points, but continued to play dead. Venomfang agreed to the deal, but insisted on keeping the unconscious (or so he thought) dwarf as hostage until the egg was returned. The party agreed and the folk hero and the wizard took off to the cultist hideout to take care of what they assumed would be the last two cultists guarding the egg. The rogue, meanwhile, was heading back towards the cult house, invisible, with his ill gotten gains (including the scroll of lightening bolt!).
Imagine the consternation of Venomfang when he flew back into the tower, with the dwarf in his talon, and noticed that someone ran off with some of his precious treasure hoard. The roar of Venomfang was heard for miles. The players controlling the wizard and folk hero gave the player controlling the rogue a "what the
did you do?" look that was priceless! Venomfang, infuriated beyond rational thought, got a free claw against the dwarf to strike the killing blow as he still thought the dwarf was unconscious. Fortunately for the dwarf, he did go back to 0hp, but was not killed. Venomfang then took to wing to find the thief that took his treasure! Luckily, the druid, who was observing (as he always does) the whole thing as a grey squirrel, came to the aid of the cleric and gave him a cure wounds.
Meanwhile, back at the cultists house, the Wizard and the folk hero made quick work of the remaining two cultists in just about the time the Rogue showed up with his ill-gotten gains. They knew the dragon was coming back for them due to the thievery of the rogue, and they didn't know the status of the cleric. They hatched a quick plan (I gave them 120 seconds).. the rogue would roll the egg to the entrance of the house and hold his weapon above the egg, and parley with the dragon long enough to distract him from the hidden wizard who was going to cast the lightning bolt at the beast in surprise! The folk hero would provide support from the other side of the house with her arrows. Unbeknownst to them, the cleric managed to make his way to the vicinity of the cult house, but had to hide out in the brush a distance away as he could not go any further for fear of being seen.
So the dragon alights next to the house where the rogue starts to parley with him. The dragon sees the egg and becomes furious. He becomes even more enraged at the sight of some of his treasure on the rogue. In a fit of anger, he admits to killing the dwarf, and then explains, in great detail, how he is going to decorate his tower with the entrails of the halfling. Meanwhile, the halfling is getting quite nervous, as the wizard should have definitely attacked the Dragon with the lightning bolt by now. In fact, he starts saying out loud, "what weather we are having... looks like a STORM is coming!". Eventually, the wizard gets the hint and blasts the dragon. The halfling gets the jump on the dragon and is able to shut the door to the house and scamper away before the dragon looses his breath. After 3 rounds, the PCs were successful in almost killing Venomfang, and at that point I had him flee, at least for the time being.
That is where we ended last session. The rogue PC, who was recruited into the Zhentarim by Halia, want's to take the egg and sell it. I figure Venomfang will disappear into the forest for a long rest to heal up. He will then probably pursue the egg and try to kill the PCs. If they were smart, they'd book out of the Thundertree and head through the forest to Cragmaw Castle. If they attempt to travel across open ground with a 3' tall 250 lb dragon egg, it might spell their doom. They are talking about trying to make it to Neverwinter, less than 2 days away.
