Secrets in the Snow Report

General Summary

The dragon attacked and the party fought for their lives against it, bringing it down with Brian's Shatter. At first the fight seemed winable - while the dragon hit hard, the party hit hard back. However, the dragon took flight again and breathed a deadly stream of freezing cold wind that immediately knocked out Ryker, Brian, and Paul, although Paul hung on by a thread.   Everything seemed hopeless for a moment until there was a sudden light and a spear of energy shot from the forest and towards the dragon, knocking it clean out of the sky and incapacitating it while the party rained down blows, Silas healing those that had fallen.   The dragon, barely hanging on by the end, fled in a panic, leaving the party beat up and terrified. They headed back to the cabin to report to Aragonia's family, who were awake and franticly looking for them and the missing Melody. They took a distressed Crystal inside and explained what had happened. Aragonia and Roger decided that they'd hunt the dragon in the morning, as they'd only get lost now. The party settled down to sleep for the rest of the night.   However, Ryker went to Coulter in the middle of the night and the two talked outside - Ryker wants to run away from the party and asked Coulter to come with him. He was hesitant but agreed, deciding that they'd finish off the dragon first in the morning.   The next day the party as well as the two Shifters headed out, successfully tracking the dragon down to an entrance to the Tunnels, finding it cowering against the wall, still injured, barely healed. It was defensive and terrified and tried to run through them, but was stopped. In an effort to stop it from running, Coulter stabbed it, sending the dragon reeling back, steam filling the cave, before it cleared revealing the curled form of Melody against the wall, bleeding from the same wound as the dragon.   Brian rushed to heal her as she sobbed and revealed the truth - something strange had happened in the tunnels when she and Deion had entered. Like a rip in the air in front of her that was freezing cold. She protected her brother from something and the next thing she knew she was surrounded by Cultists with blood on her hands. They'd promised to help her control her new power, instructing her to visit them during the night, shining some kind of light around her and her memory would go blank.   Silas and Brian both came to the conclusion that they should investigate this - perhaps questioning Tylona, as she was an agent of the Guardian of Knowledge, or visiting the Library to find some information. They left the Tunnels to return Melody to her mother.

Rewards Granted

Level up - defeated the dragon that was supposed to be incredibly difficult/impossible

Missions/Quests Completed

The party has successfully uncovered the secret behind the dragon and brought it down, hopefully stopping the attacks from happening. The party has also found Melody and is bringing her home.

Character(s) interacted with

Aragonia, Roger, Crystal, Melody

Notes

New open threads:   1. Whatever threw the magic spear has not yet been discovered, nor investigated   2. The cultists were interested in Melody for some reason and put significant time and magic into some unknown purpose with her   3. The event that caused Melody to acquire this power is still unknown   4. Ryker and Coulter may soon be leaving the party