Panic at Saltdale

Mister Gimdalf returned in the evening while Mister Macca Ni choose to spend the night at an inn within the city. It would have been a peaceful night if it weren't for the large orb at the city centre. It had started to glow brightly and emitted an ominous intent on anyone in and around the city. Mister Gimdalf suspects that this is the result of an experiment performed on it by a group of wizards. Judging by the recounting of his meeting with them the orb is some sort of ancient artefact and they have little idea of what it is or how to use it.
Once the orb stopped glowing nothing seemed to happen. So we assumed whatever was going on could wait until morning.
 
Early in the morning, the ground shook and the volcano off the coast of Saltdale blew its top. However, instead of spewing lave and ash a blue coloured dragon emerged from it. Presumably, it had been sleeping there for a long time.
The fact that it flew towards the city caused the people to panic and flee en masse to the city's gates. Luckily the dragon seemed to have no interest in anything happening in the city below (not even the guards unsuccessfully attempting to shoot it) while making a straight line for the orb and wizard tower at the centre.
Although mister Gimdalf and I wanted to go into the city to try and help the fortune-tellers get out and look for mister Macca Ni we were well aware that doing so would likely result in being squashed by the panicking crowd and missing the others completely. Therefore we decided to keep waiting at the wagon while I attempted to make my special recipe pies as quickly as possible just in case.
 
Fortunately, both mister Macca Ni and the fortune-tellers made it out with relatively little trouble. The two gentlemen had enough knowledge of the dragon, which had now landed on the tower holding the orb, to discern it as a Moonstone dragon. These creatures are relatively uninterested in harming or helping others, have abilities mostly related to dreams and illusions and there are accounts of them being willing to negotiate for the things it desires.
After discussing how to get into the city and close enough to figure out what the dragon was talking about with the wizards, as we dreaded the idea of it being recruited by the Opal empire in exchange for the orb it seemingly wanted, I heard someone shuffling around outside the wagon.
I threw on my disguise cape and threw open the windows, startling the man. As expected it was a bandit attempting to take advantage of the chaos and he apparently wanted my wagon. Mister Gimdalf disguised himself as an old man and the Thug clearly wasn't expecting two old people to put up a fight against him. Nor was he aware that mister Macca Ni, who was talking to the fortune-tellers, belonged to our group.
I have to admit that the bandit and his companion weren't the easiest to deal with. They had access to a strong poison and had clearly had combat training and experience. Once defeated and stripped of their belongings they were kind enough to answer our questions. They had been guards for the nobility of the Free cities but defected to banditry due to the bad attitudes of their employers. I gave them some food for the road and we sent them off.
 

What we learned about the Free cities:

-They have strict rules and rule-enforcers. Breaking the law isn't recommended.
-In the broad sense, everyone is welcome in the Free cities regardless of race and origin.
-There's a strip of no-man land between the Opal empire and the Free cities. Due to the absence of official law enforcers, it is mostly inhabited by bandits.