RoT 2: “Wyrmspeaker Rumors”
Expedition
“The Sea of Moving Ice was the last known location of the Draakhorn. No one can pinpoint its present location from the sound, or even verify with certainty that the relic is still in the northern sea, but the search must start there.
The one person who could tell us more is a tiefling sorcerer called Maccath the Crimson. No one alive knows more about the Draakhorn than her, but the Arcane Brotherhood, of which she is also a member, hasn’t seen her for three years. She was investigating the Sea of Moving Ice when she disappeared.
Maccath reported her progress to the Hosttower by way of sending spells. Her last report spoke of seeing Ice Hunters paddling their sealskin boats toward a huge iceberg, flattened like a plateau across its surface, but ringed by icy peaks. She had intended to follow the Ice Hunters and investigate the iceberg. After that, no more reports came.
Attempts to find Maccath using scrying and other magical means located only her ship, adrift and heavily damaged. Some of the ship’s crew were seen dead, but no sign of the tiefling sorcerer was ever found. However, the lair of a dragon as powerful as Arauthator is no doubt protected against scrying magic. If Maccath is alive, in addition to the lore she can share regarding the Draakhorn, the Arcane Brotherhood would be most grateful to get her back.”
You thank her for her information and after a brief discussion decide it still best to pursue the Wyrmspeaker first, especially since he may have the White Dragon Mask and the trip north would involve dealing with a White Dragon. However, since either expedition will take weeks of travel, you dispatch Chauncey to try to procure a scroll of teleportation for Icewind Dale so that once you have Varram you can easily teleport to the far north. He returns with a scroll and a note from Taern Hornblade which says “Sorry, the best I could do on such short notice was a teleport to Luskan. The council will arrange for there to be a boat and provisions there when you are ready”
And you set off to the south accompanied as far as Daggerford by Sir Isteval and his Purple Dragon Knights as they are returning there. You of course stop along the way at The Brass Wain where you are greeted as special guests (celebrities even) before continuing on. You stop in Dragonspear where you traded the recipe for Beef Jerky of Healing to stock up on some of the same (this time able to procure not just regular, but some greater and superior healing jerky as well). You say your goodbyes to Achreny at the Coast Way fork making your way finally to Boareskry Bridge and the way station tent settlement near there.
You enter Bolo’s Tentside Inn, where the owner Bolo (a female halfling) upon hearing your description of Varram says, “A dwarf in purple robes? Oh, I saw him. He was asking about escorts into the hills, when this hooded fellow starts asking him his business. The dwarf looked him straight in the eye, then pulled out his dagger and stabbed the tall fellow dead! He was one of the scaled folk of the Serpent Hills, come down to spy on us! That dwarf’s a hero, make no mistake. But he and his entourage took off straight away for the hills then, quick as cats!”
Clearly Varram left an impression on these folks, so much so that you have to pretend to be an acquaintance lest you anger them. They don’t give any indications of being Cult members or suspecting you are the Iron Company; they just seem to think highly of him for killing something they felt was a spy.
She points you in the direction he and his entourage were headed and you quite easily find his trail leading north-northeast into the Serpent Hills, a swath of badlands, mesas, and rocky plateaus sprinkled with trees and tall grass.