The Dragon Siege Of Waterdeep, Part 3

Kobold 3/9/19: 30th of Marpenoth

Written by Ophidimancer

General Summary

The thunder rumbling in the skies above Waterdeep reminded Utopia, the gruff paladin, of a day in her youth, much like this one.
The other children in the Starry Cradle Orphanage huddled around the caretaker and the story she was telling them, when a knock interrupted their evening. Utopia, still a child but with the beginnings of the pugnacious attitude that would be her defining feature in adulthood, approached the door, protective of her caretaker. When they opened the door to the stormy night, it was to the sound of a squalling baby in a makeshift cradle made of sticks and rags. When the caretaker picked up the bundle it fell open to reveal an elven infant, a baby Drips, and Utopia urged her to bring him inside out of the rain.
In present day Waterdeep Utopia and Adlynn, the graceful spellsword, both adherents of Selune, the goddess of the moon, were summoned to an audience with the Naneatha, High Priestess of the Church of Selune. When they arrived at the House of the Moon they were called into the Font of Selune, the inner sanctum and its most holy chamber. Its splendor touched them with its beauty, the limpid water of the Font lit from above by the Tear of Selune, a glowing crystal hovering in the middle of the chamber. Bent over the raised basin of the Font and peering into its depths was a figure in robes who pulled back her hood to reveal herself as Diviner Katir, the lady once rescued by our heroes from the undead. Murky shapes could be seen moving in the waters, but neither the paladin nor the wizard could decipher any meaning from them.
The High Priestess and the Diviner thanked Utopia and Adlynn for coming and told them there was a matter of some urgency that required their help. Diviner Katir had received a premonition of danger to the city of Waterdeep as a whole and to Open Lord Laeral Silverhand in particular. She did not know what shape this danger would take, but only that it required the help of Adlynn, Utopia, and some of their other compatriots to avert. Their instructions, to be followed precisely in order to avoid disaster, were to go to the Starry Cradle Orphanage at dawn and prevent some sort of attack, after which they were to find Laeral Silverhand and assist her in a moment when her powers failed. They were to meet a contingent of the Guard at the Starry Cradle, but reveal none of the prescient information lest they risk the integrity of the prophecy.
Meanwhile at the Starry Cradle Orphanage Drips, the sewer dwelling druid was making his way to his usual window, the one that the the caretaker left unlatched for him, and reminisced about his younger days at the orphanage.
Utopia, now in her teens, overheard the orphanage caretaker, Kathryn, speaking with a well to do noble couple. It seemed they were there to adopt a child, it sounded like they were talking about Drips. Long past the point when her hopes for herself would have been raised, she only wished that the boy would find a good home. Wishes that would not be granted, it seemed, as the couple gasped in horror at the sight of Drips covered in a swarm of rats that he he acquired from only the gods knew where.
Shaking himself from his reverie, Drips walked up the side of the orphanage easily, his spider webbed slippers granting him an arachnid’s ability to walk up walls. Approaching his customary window, the wood elf paused. It was not like Kathryn to leave his window locked, as she knew he liked to find entry surreptitiously. He worried about the caretaker, a worry that deepened when he noticed that all the windows were locked and shuttered, something unheard of as Kathryn would open them all before dawn to welcome the sunlight and wake the children. He hesitated, uncertain what to do, and then he heard the sound of voices approaching the orphanage.
Down on street level Sergeant Bettina Tobbleton, known as Birdy, soldier in the Arcane Division of the Waterdeep Guard, and Aoife Moontalon, rookie member and Agent of the Griffon Cavalry, approached the Starry Cradle Orphanage on a mission for the Guard. Accompanying them were a small contingent of four Guards men and women. They were told nothing of their mission except that they had been requested by High Priestess Naneatha and Diviner Katir, but as soldiers they were expected to but follow orders, and follow they did.
When they reached their destination they were met by Utopia and Adlynn, who said they were sent by Diviner Katir and the High Priestess Naneatha to aid them in their mission. Birdy interrogated them as to what the mission was they were unforthcoming as they were told not to reveal too much regarding the premonition. She then inquired if the Starry Cradle was the front for a criminal organization, but when informed that it was just a regular orphanage, she concluded that they must be on some sort of covert mission and the intelligence was on a need to know basis.
Following the sound of the marching guards, Drips saw his friends and descended the wall to speak to them. He informed them that the Starry Cradle was unusually dark and silent for the time of day. Utopia immediately moved to knock down the door and charge in, but Adlynn cautioned her and picked the lock handily and quietly. Out heroes entered the darkened orphanage and found it seemingly empty. Cooper, Birdy’s owl familiar, and Zephyr, Aoife’s young griffon companion, circled above to keep watch on the outside of the building.
Every room our heroes explored in the orphanage was empty of occupants, but seemed to have been hastily abandoned. The last room left to explore was the main dormitory and Adlynn opened the door cautiously, but neither her caution nor her hastily erected magical shield were enough to save her from a flight of javelins that knocked the bladesinger unconscious. A voice from inside the room bellowed out to them in broken Common that no one should enter. A quick peek into the room revealed a group of orcs and orogs, orc kin from the Underdark, holding all the orphans and Kathryn, their caretaker, hostage.
Birdy dragged Adlynn back out of the line of fire and administered a healing potion while Utopia, worried sick about the children, did some hard line negotiation. Drips summoned a pack of wolves outside the building and commanded them to flank the orcs by going around back and bursting in through the windows, which would take a few moments. Adlynn, recovered from the volley of javelins, outright threatened to incinerate them all with summoned fire. Birdy, using the eyes of her familiar to target a location, teleported herself into the room underneath a bed in order to gain a more advantageous position from which to rescue the children.
While the wolf pack circled the building, the negotiations were in a tense stalemate. The orcs held their ground while Adlynn and Utopia grew increasingly worried and increasingly threatening. The moment broke when eight wolves shattered the flimsy windows of the Starry Cradle Orphanage. Reacting to the intrusion the orcs attacked their hostages and took down Kathryn, who sacrificed herself by leaping in front of the children. Our heroes sprang into action: Adlynn displayed the grace and prowess of the traditional elven Bladesong and danced between the brutish attacks of the orcs and replying in kind with deft strikes from he rapier, Aoife entered the room and began peppering the orcs with arrows while directing Zephyr to clear a path for the children to escape through a window, Birdy performed an arcane transmutation that allowed her to breathe forth a cone of poisonous fumes from beneath the bed as Cooper harassed the orcs by flying in their faces, Drips commanded his wolf pack to great effect while throwing fire at the orcs himself, Utopia focused on getting to Kathryn, mowing down any orc who got in her way as she laid a healing hand upon the unconscious woman who had raised her. With the help of the wolves, our heroes made quick work of the orcs, saving one for interrogation. The battle was not without its casualties, though, as one of the Guard members was injured in the fray.
As the battle was coming to its conclusion a bellowing roar was heard from outside. The voice of the ancient blue dragon, Nas’turik, reverberated through the entire city. He demanded something called the Skull of Tarse and then flaunted his immunity to Waterdeep’s Dragon Ward by dipping his wing through it. The low thud of orcish war drums started sounding outside the city and Adlynn and Utopia looked at each other. They surmised that this was probably the event with which they were meant to assist Open Lord Laeral Silverhand, an attack of this magnitude would test even her puissant might. As Fate would have it, Drips could lead them through the sewers to the Palace where Laeral held court. A good thing, as the streets were filling with the dragon’s winged kobold forces.
Before they entered the sewers, Drips warned them that the stench that filled the tunnels would sicken them if they breathed it without some protection to counteract the miasma. One of the orphans volunteered that she had a bottle of perfume in her room and Utopia, who knew the layout of the orphanage, went to retrieve it. On her way back she was spotted by a winged kobold from the street and hurried back. Worried about the safety of Kathryn and the children, our heroes have them barricade themselves into the basement and Birdy ordered the Guards members to protect them with their lives. Then our heroes wrapped perfumed cloths around their faces and entered the sewers beneath Waterdeep.
In the darkness and stench of the sewers, our heroes made their way quietly and stealthily toward Piergeron’s Palace. The sounds of more orcish forces echoed through the tunnels and Drips was careful to avoid them. He was also careful to steer them clear of the den of wererats that made their home nearby. At one point Birdy, who was riding rearguard up on Utopia’s shoulders heard something following them and summoned Cooper who spotted red eyes glowing in the dark, following behind the group, with his superior night vision. Birdy whispered a Message to Drips, who murmured to the molds and fungi of the tunnel behind them and convinced them to grow rampant, blocking the tunnel and dissuading the owners of the red glowing eyes from following them any further. Finally, as they were nearing the Palace, Drips heard cackling down a corridor and surmised that it was a hag that reputedly haunted the sewers looking for an opportunity to strike against Laeral Silverhand.
When they finally made it to the subterranean entrance of the Palace, Birdy took the lead, using her Guard authority to clear the way to Open Lord Silverhand. On the way, she reported to a Guard officer that a small contingent of Guard were holed up in the Starry Cradle Orphanage, guarding the orphans and their caretaker. At the War Room, they found Open Lord Laeral Silverhand conferring with her generals and advisors, but our heroes were just in time to witness a devastating strike from Nas’turik. The ancient blue dragon baited a shot from the massive cannon of a flying whale of a war ship, disappearing at the last moment to allow the enormous energy projectile to swerve and slam into Aghairon’s Tower, destroying the Dragon Ward. Laeral was shocked, but even more so when a slightly smaller blue dragon breathed lightning into the War Room, injuring her and killing her generals.
This dragon announced herself as Zin’polo, daughter of Nas’turik, and swore to make her name by killing the famed Laeral Silverhand. Laeral responded defiantly, blazing with silver spellfire despite our heroes trying to convince her to retreat. During the fight, the dragon unleashed her fearsome presence, but the group remains unfazed, except for poor Zephyr who was terrified of the dragon the whole time. A handful of winged kobolds accompanied the blue and carried the nasty surprise of arcane bombs, though the group quickly capitalized on this. The wizards aimed their spells to detonate the bombs while they were still carrying them, managing to sting the dragon. Birdy hid herself behind an illusion of fog and took advantage of that to shoot down more kobolds. Aoife alternated between firing arrows and applying curative magics to Zephyr and Laeral. Drips summoned a flock of Giant Owls, half of whom were killed fairly quickly by an exploding kobold while the rest harassed the dragon. Utopia marched straight toward the dragon and began to insult her. When the dragon swatted her down, she bravely remained standing and continued to bait the dragon. This repeated a few times with the help of some healing from Drips. Utopia refused to stay down and was crass about it. Taking advantage of the distraction, Adlynn ran lightly up the dragon’s tail and stood on its scaly back, stabbing it repeatedly with her rapier.
It looked grimly like Zin’polo was going to succeed in killing the Open Lord when Laeral cried out to Mystra and obliterated the blue in a wash of silver flame. She then collapsed in exhaustion. The group wasted no time in dragging her to safety.

Character(s) interacted with

Adlynn, Aoife, Birdy, Drips, Utopia, Laeral Silverhand, Katir, Naneatha, Nas'turik

Report Date

09 Mar 2019

Primary Location

Palace of Waterdeep