Session 20 - Blue Scales vs. Critmera

General Summary

We have a week of downtime. Kestor goes to talk to Bion about his research notes on the play, he says he doesn’t have a lot of info about it, just general knowledge and the circumstances of how he found the book. Bion went to a town, it was in ruins, lots of people missing, the rest stark raving mad, some burned, and the play. The book itself is fairly thick, there is a gold filigree on the edges of the pages, no title on the front, and he is unsure of the material it is bound within. Spells to detect magic did not show any, but he guessed this was inaccurate. Kestor transcribes it all and makes his own edits and footnotes with extra flowery language. The town where it was found is in Vas somewhere (I know exactly, it’s just not on the map yet). This all happened between 6-7 years ago.
Ionessa goes to spend time with Adelpha. She wants to help teach her about gardening! Unfortunately Adelpha is implicated in the assault and attempted murder of the king, and that is causing a lot of problems because nobody wants to talk to her. She tells Adelpha to hang back and goes to ask a farmer how to farm! He says he’s willing to lend his expertise in exchange for us taking care of the flying creature that’s been causing a bit of a panic in the town. She goes to recruit the others to help make it go away!
We go get Xanthos, Kestor teases Ionessa about him along the way. We ask a local hunter, Elpir, for information. She has already given the info to another mercenary company, and we convince her to give us the info in exchange for trying to find a way to resolve the situation peacefully. She gives us a location to the north-east, about a day’s journey away from Cherianto. On the path, we spot a figure silhouetted against the sky in the distance, big wings flapping as it dives between the clouds. The wings are leathery, like a bat, wyvern, or dragon.
We spot a fire from the other company, they have made camp for the night and are cooking and chatting. They’re an interesting bunch, one is wearing a sort of golden “crown” that looks like horns, golden armor, and a golden spear. His name is Basilides, they are the Blue Scales company. He reveals that the creatures we are after are chimeras! Living creatures melded together into horrific abominations by Iasponas, invariably one head is that of a dragon, known to breathe fire and lightning and all manner of elements. Awful, bickering creatures that are quite mad. It is a breeding pair.
We reveal we were trying to find a non-violent solution, and Basilides tells us it would be hard because they only speak draconic. But Ionessa speaks draconic! An elven woman called Aedoiphaecalus steps forward and is fascinated by Kovu, and she speaks draconic too! The third member of their company is Polya, who is armor-clad and pretty skeptical of our plans, and the fourth is Rhoda, a fire genasi not clad in armor who thinks Polya is a goober.
They come from all around, but most recently from the plains to the north. The Blue Scales come from that of a blue dragon. The dragon is far away to the north, he says, insight check! Neo doesn’t think that he’s telling them the truth. The dragon is their benefactor; Ionessa asks if she can meet them but they say it depends what she wants, and it depends how things go with the chimera problem. They’re still doubtful that speaking with the creature will be effective. It was likely spawned into the world by Iasponas or summoned by somebody who could not control them. They’ve been around for a short amount of time. The hunters said that beasts were attacking beasts in the forest, Aedoiphaecalus acts a bit suspicious about that, dismissing the reports as fanciful, but we can’t tell if she’s lying.
Kestor tells the Tale of the Renowned Duelist! Everyone is very impressed, Kestor is very cool. We decide to team up with the Blue Scales, and head to the lair of the chimeras in the morning. Ionessa calls out to them in draconic, and tries to seek a peaceful solution. The chimeras miraculously agree to stay in their cave and only attack people that come near, but that’s not good enough for the Blue Scales. We fail to convince them, though, and they conspire to betray us and kill the chimeras anyway. We question them and they deny their schemes, so eventually a fight breaks out!
Aedoiphaecalus turns out to be a blue dragon! The fight is tough but the chimeras come to our aid and we manage to take them out. Ionessa doesn’t want to harvest the dragon. We search the Blue Scales and find a component pouch, nice looking jewelry (fine and gold bracelets), a spear, two sets of golden plate armor, and five blue dragon scales! The chimeras return to their cave and we see a little baby chimera there too!
Kovu believes that the dragon’s hoard must be nearby, and that the Blue Scales were actually trying to keep the pass clear to protect the hoard. He wants us to go in search of the hoard, so after a short rest, that’s exactly what we’ll do!
The end.

Rewards Granted

A tiny life saved!
Component pouch
Nice looking jewelry (fine and gold bracelets)
A magical spear
Two sets of golden plate armor
Five blue dragon scales!

Missions/Quests Completed

Wing-Off - Solve the mystery of the winged beasts over Cherianto.

Character(s) interacted with

The Blue Scales:
Aedoiphaecalus the Blue Dragon
Basilidies
Polya
Rhoda
Chimera Squad!

Notes

: )

Report Date

14 Nov 2022