Chapter 7 - The Dragon's Fury

General Summary

The party made their way out of the cavern, noticing that there was a faster way to Ebenwald: a portal remained in the forests. The party thus fought their way through the Knights of Black Dragon to re-activate the portal. Three pedestals held the stones to power the portal. The first pedestal was simple enough; the group slew some of the Knights of Black Dragon and grabbed the first stone. The second was trickier; it was guarded by black knights and a Half-Dragon warrior, who tried to blow his fiery breath at the group. He was slain, and the party found the stone behind a magical barrier. Using a *dispell* however, they retrieved the second stone.
The third stone was guarded by a conjurer, who summoned an Earth Elemental to distract the party while he tried to flee. The party was vigilant, however, and killed the conjurer in time to make the stone elemental collapse and take out the rest of the Black Knights. The group found the stone behind a puzzle: For thousands of years, seen only in tale, the wind as a sail, for one thunderous gale, shiny stores rich in the earth, the burning temper like the Earth's core. The answer, as Kade proclaimed, was "A dragon" and thus the final stone was unleashed.
But as the party arrived toward the portal, they were intercepted by a voice in the air, riding on a wyvern.

“Halt! I, Sir Matildhe, will not let thee pass! May instead the will of Tiamat be fulfilled upon this day! Lysandus shall be enslaved again by the power of the dragons. May we beeth ever grateful servants of her power!”

The Blackguard then swooped down to attack the adventurers. Ethis and Cecil, not fond of fighting a fallen Paladin, opted to knock her down. The party managed to separate the knight from the wyvern. Ignus the Iron Dragon was destroyed in the battle. A gruelling, hard fight with the Blackguard's smites led the party to being severely injured, but a swift blow from Ethis brought an end to the traitorous paladin. Then, the party rested for an hour, tired from the battle they encountered.
They then went through the portal, getting a one-way stop to Ebenwald. Arriving in the portal, however, they were ambushed by Black Knights. The party did not take kindly to this, as they beat the Black Knights to a pulp. Then, injured, the party burst open the doors of the Portal Fortress and came into the main city. They stayed the night in the Pirate's Sway Inn, where Kade rebuilt his construct Ignus.
The next morning, the party heard shouting. Somehow, the black dragon William Wyvern descended from the center of town and flew toward the castle. The party chased him, but were stopped a few times by the guards. Getting past those guards, the party hurried into the palace, coming into the main courtyard and slamming into the king's throne room. It was too late: William Wyvern killed King Adran and his queen, and had Prince Aethel cornered with Black Knights.
The party tried to reason with the dragon, and for a moment William Wyvern allowed Aethel to leave. But the party caught the dragon's deception, and in the same moment, as William Wyvern spurted his acidic breath, knocking down the prince and hurting Kade. In desperation, Kade enlarged Ethis who started to slam his morningstar at the black knights. Thelberg cast a fire shield on herself, and Aethelflaed engaged some of the knights. But even when Aethel was healed, the dragon spewed another terrible acidic breath, vaporizing the prince instantly.
The prince was dead! The party scrambled to fight off William Wyvern, taking off the knights. Ethic cast a moonbeam as the dragon tried to run from his advancement. But the dragon tricked the party, holding back his attacks from them, until he wiped down Ethis, Kade, and Aethelflaed. Cecil travelled around the wreckage, hiding from the dragon, and healed his friends. But no matter how much he healed them, the dragon kept knocking them down. Eventually, Ethis was pummeled down despite landing a single smite on William, Aethelflaed, who got back up due to her Orcish resilience, was on her last legs, and Thelberg was thrashed around by the dragon's claw.
William Wyvern turned to Kade. The dragon raised his claw against Kade, but the beaten artificer shielded himself with his magic ray. Then, the dragon turned around and spewed acid at Cecil, who became badly injured. The dragon turned, and smiled at Kade, declaring, "you have lost!" But in the dragon's arrogance, he left a scale exposed in his turning. Kade then plunged his sword Frostbrand, piercing the heart of the dragon. William Wyvern roared, and his heart, as well as his blood, suddenly froze over. Then, the dragon toppled backwards, and fell.

Palace Aftermath

The party proved victorious, and the guards ran in to see the situation. They noticed the heir and the king was dead, and proclaimed it would be the end of Lysandus. But in their mourning, a spectral eye appeared, and then so did a gnome wizard. Slytoff clapped, and proclaimed, "hey that was pretty good! I, of course, did something similar and way better. Oh, but what's this? The prince died? If only there was a spell I could cast to fix all this..."
Then, the wizard cast *wish*, and for a brief moment the fabric of reality tore. Aethel came back to life, and looked around. "What happened?" he cried. He noticed the dragon vanquished, but as well as his father King Adran II. Aethel, distraught, looked to the party and thanked them for their bravery and proclaimed them as dragonlords. But for the time being, he decided to rest and mourn.
Then, Slytoff turned to the party. "Well, the real reason I didn't show up was that those annoying black dragons tried to attack my tower. Sorry for the delay. I wanted to tell you guys, with the info I retrieved from spying on you (is that ok with you guys?), learning Riley was in the Nine Hells really helped me make a decision. I have discovered how to make a portal. So meet me in Feller's Rock. We're gonna go demon hunting and get my friend!"

Date (in world)

August 15th-18th, 5750.

Report Date

17 Apr 2021

Primary Location

Ebenwald

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.