Chapter 1 - The Beginning of Things

It has been an eventful few months for our budding heroes. Though you have faced hardship, poverty, near certain death and Dustinby’s “capers”, your pockets now jangle with coin, your names are spoken across Phlan and you made contacts in places both high and low, if not a few enemies…. Though you have inkling of what’s happening in Phlan, you do know something is certainly amiss and the common link appears to be dragons. Where is the influx of dragon items coming from and to what end are they being used? Who was the man in the dragon mask? And what does all this have to do with the experiments on poly-morphed dragons? The street folk talk of cults and human sacrifices, of dark magic & hooded man that roam the night on ill business. Recent events threaten to tip the balance and you can feel the town hold it collective breath as to what will happen next. But most importantly; do you care?
Each hero has his own agenda, whether it be knowledge, coin, magic or prowess and all appears to be within reach if they can but get the required coin. No doubt, your knowledge of where a Black Dragon resides and your possession of a Dragon tooth will prove invaluable – either as tokens to be traded for riches and influence or weapons to be wielded in their own right. The only real question is: what do you do now?

Rumours & Tavern Talk

• The wilds outside Phlan are increasingly unsafe. A Tharian warband has been blamed for a recent spat of attacks and raids and creatures from the Quivering Forest have been ranging further abroad into civilisation
• Pirates are raiding ships and local villages. The Merchant's Alliance blame The Welcomers , whereas the Thieves’ guild claim it’s the Alliance’s goods & ships that remain untouched.
• Food prices are rising and there is tension in the local markets
• Common folk talk of a new band of adventurers in Phlan who are making a name for themselves.
• Lots of coin is being offered for bodies, armed or otherwise, to go up river on a mining expedition into the Dragonspine Mountains
• There's talk that the various factions of Faerun have been recruiting though no-one knows to what end
• Something stalks the sewers of Phlan & their are more than one faction offering coin for the bounty
• The Black Fist hunt a notorious criminal, Vickavourous Montifeth, for the death of several of their own. Over 600gp are offered for his return, dead or alive