Chapter 5 - The Hearthstar Conspiracy

General Summary

Heading out from the city of Feller's Rock and travelling to Anfeld, the party was met by a figure named Ethis Montaran, a white-clad knight who was interested in the destruction of demons. He joined the party on their quest, believing the Knights of Black Dragon threat was worth investigating. As they travelled out from Anfeld, they were met by two Hill Giants, a male and female, along the road, who wanted a "delicious breakfast" and tried to kill the party. The adventurers defeated the giants and hurried toward the city.
In town, the party found the Hearthstar Base. Cade Krueger went inside, looking for information, and he had a good talk with William Wyvern. Cade was paid for his information gathered, and then left. He realized the base was heavily fortified. Thus they contemplated a few entrances. Ethis discovered two entrances: either the sewers, or entering through a local Casino called the House of Eurgos. The party obligated to go into the House of Eurgos, as they felt it would be easier without dealing with workers.
So the House of Eurgos was entered. It was a busy casino. The party, looking for the entrance, split up. They heard a scream, and when they recollected, Thelberg was gone. The party thus hurried in haste and found a doorway. Then they went down the doorway and discovered some Knights of Black Dragon working underground. The party made it past some blade traps (which Cade froze) and fought their way through the Knights of Black Dragon. Evidently they came to a floor trap which electrocuted them. They turned around and went down more of a maze way, and slew some guards.
The second floor they encountered a druid, who threw giant bats and rats toward them, and the party obligated to throw a fireball at her. Then, past the fireball, they found a strange, magic floor maze which they navigated. They found some magic items, potions, etc. along the way as well. Out of the maze, another druid caught them, but Cecil convinced her to not attack them, as they had no quarrel with her. Thus she agreed, and let the party through.
On the third floor down, the party was caught by another guard with some Red Drakes as his pets, but Ethis convinced him, as well, not to mess with them. The party came into a laboratory, where they found Thelberg unconscious in a cage, and a female elf wizard, a master of Transmutation. "Well!" she said, “If it is not those nuisance mercenaries the boss hired. Frankly, I am surprised you have gotten this far. No matter. The Dragon Queen shall be reborn, and nobody will stop us! Kill them!” Thus the Transmuter and the Black Knights attacked.
The party was shot by a fireball, weakening many of them, and the Black Knights charged them. The party tried their hardest to reach the Transmuter, who was slowly backing away from them getting attacked. Aethelflaed charged the transmuter but was nearly killed. Then, the ice magic of Cade, the healing of Cecil, and the smiting of Ethis turned the tide in their favor as they killed the Black Knights and eventually the Transmuter, as she could not use an escape spell in time. Thelberg was awakened, and Cade learned that the Knights of Black Dragon were extracting her blood. They brought her out of the cage and rested from such a difficult rescue mission.

Aftermath by Heroforge, DungeonDraft

Then the party went down the stairs, as Ethis detected a fiend coming from there. As they came down the stairs, they found William Wyvern in his office, along with a White Abishai and two Knights of Black Dragon. He greeted them, saying, “I am mighty impressed. My eye for employment has not failed me yet, but perhaps in this case it has turned against me. No matter, I have retrieved what I desired. Farewell, and enjoy the company!” Then, William Wyvern teleported out of the room, while the devil Abishai attacked the party.
It proved immune to Cade's ice attacks, and immune to the fire of Thelberg's blasts. Ethis charged the devil, and laid down a powerful smite toward the devil. Aethelflaed fought some of the Knights of Black Dragon to help the party focus on the devil. Stabbed and wounded in several places, the party was on their last legs until a final attack from Ethis slew the devil, and the devil was teleported back to the Hells whence it came. The party then investigated the room, finding gold, an Immovable Rod, and a note:

“We must restore our great and glorious queen, Qenlynn, no matter the cost. We shall find her bones and reawaken her if the clone Thelberg will not side with us. All we need is the clone’s blood and the crown of the dragon’s stone and then she will be re-awakened.”

The party was startled to hear this information: William Wyvern already had Thelberg's blood. Now he was searching for a strange crown? Cade went upstairs and searched through the Hearthstars' databanks and learned of the location of the sword Dragonbane (being sought after by Wyvern to destroy) and the Crown of the Dragon's Stone being lost. This re-jogged the memory of Thelberg, who realized Qenlynn used such a crown in her previous life, and remembered that it was found in Beton. The party thus decided to travel there, but first needed to warn the Knights of Dragonbane about the Black Dragons wishing to destroy their prized weapon.
In the city, they came into contact with Reuel the Bard again, who offered to help them send a message to Slytoff Han about the crown and the targeting of Dragonbane. Ethis, curious about the nature of the bard, used his Divine Sense to see if he was some otherworldly being. He learned Reuel was a type of celestial, and thus ignored him. After working with Reuel, the party went to the Witch's Scroll Inn for some much needed rest before departing.

Date (in world)

August 14th-15th, 5750.

Report Date

01 Mar 2021

Player Characters

Kade Krueger is a high elf artificer who hailed from the city of Avenve before moving to Lysandus. He served as a city guard in Wydon, but now he will see more life of adventure than he ever expected...

Ethis Montaran is a Paladin of the Watchers, a loyal knight devoted to keeping demons and devils away from the material plane. He is brave yet uninterested in the affairs outside of his oath to demon slaying.

Cecil Kurtz is also from Gothai and a human cleric of the light. Who he follows remains a mystery, but he has been granted divine power to protect his allies and cut into the darkness of his enemies.

Aethelfaed Dragonbane is a half-orc Monster Slayer Ranger. She current works for the Knights of Dragonbane and proclaims that Wulfric Dragonbane was her grandfather. Though not as ferocious as he once was, her sense of justice and prowess remains ever true.

Thelberg was once a normal woman of Gothai, a merchant passing through, until stricken with the curse of Lycanthropy. Now cured, she is stricken with another strange transformation: the awakening of draconic blood within her, which has given her access to powerful magic spells.