Gold

Discovery, Scientific

Leonus Justus reappears as the gold dragonborn and leads the Bonner Boys through Citadel Keep to reveal its secret; the castle is a giant musical instrument capable of lulling all of the dragons back to sleep.

All of Citadel crowds the streets, awaiting The Bonner Boys on the day of their ceremony. First comes Daryl Berry, racing down broadway upon his steed. Then a roar from the skies above. Braes and Cerulean dive down over the city. Indigo and Danger ride Braes while Mirian rides Cerulean. They fly circles around all of Citadel while Daryl continues his path towards Citadel Keep in the center of the city. People whisper, “that’s the dragon-man!” Excited that this new race is that of a hero. Daryl doesn’t let these comments go unnoticed. He’s become a symbol.   The dragons land at the front gate to Citadel Keep, and the party gathers to walk into the main hall together. They line up together at the doors and smile, nodding at each other. The doors open and they step through. Soldiers and diplomats and anybody else who got in stands at attention for the arriving heroes as their anthem plays. Queen Athena looks upon them with grateful eyes as they walk towards her. Indigo, Daryl, and Mirian all walk composed. Danger winks at some ladies. The audience turns toward Athena now. High Commander Renier comes up behind her with badges.   Athena addresses Danger. “Danger Grassyash, you came from the Outlands in search of family. When...you found it, your son was ripped away from you. In search of justice you traveled to the ends of the Earth and defeated the Dark Elf aggressors. Danger Grassyash, I proclaim you a Hero of Bonner.” She clips a badge to his outfit.   Athena addresses Mirian. “Mirian Fireraven, when the Black Dragon, a monster straight out of myth, scarred your face in the attack on Bard’s Haven you didn’t give in. You stood back up, donned your armor, and defeated your enemy. Mirian Fireraven, I proclaim you a Hero of Bonner.” She clips a badge to his outfit.   Athena addresses Indigo. “Indigo Fury, as a druid of the moon, the eclipse attacked your sanity and powers. You almost lost yourself, the evidence now written across your skin. But you freed yourself, and then freed the world from the eclipse. Indigo Fury, I proclaim you a Hero of Bonner.” She clips a badge to his outfit.   Athena addresses Daryl. “Daryl Berry, you’ve given up more to stop the Black Dragon and the Dark Elves than anybody else. You gave up your race. The Blue Dragon has made you something new, the Blue Dragonborn, and we wish you luck finding your new place in this world. Daryl Berry, I proclaim you a Hero of Bonner.” She clips a badge to his outfit.   The party turns around to face the audience. “I give you the Heroes of Bonner!” The audience applauds.   During the reception in the back garden Daryl gets down on the dance floor, Mirian decides to get some drinks with some soldiers, Danger tries to pick up some chicks, and Indigo makes a beeline for the greenhouse where Lawrence Aarden attacked him last time he was here. Most of the plants in the garden are dead, but inside the greenhouse many are alive. He meets a halfling gardener and makes some small talk. People are worried that Bonner may never recover from the damage the eclipse did to it.   Danger has trouble picking up girls. Maybe it’s the 30 foot brim of his sombrero. Maybe it’s all the diplomats vying for his attention. Another Half-Orc approaches Danger with a message from his father, Rank Grassyash. Something strange is happening in the Outlands. The Gloaming Crag, a new name for the dinosaur cave, has burst back to life but with many Werebears instead of dinosaurs. Rank believes conflict will soon arise and wants his son to return to the tribe to be ceremonially proclaimed a full Orc. Danger agrees to head north to help his father as soon as he checks with his homies. Family is everything after all.   Mirian overhears a soldier talking about his time on the battlefield. A fire Genasi saved his life but took a lance through the stomach to do it. He didn’t see Cole Mirari die. In fact, when he came back to find his body there was nothing there, but what else could have happened?   A bard approaches Daryl, excited that another bard has an in with Queen Athena. He wants Daryl to help approve the movement of the bards into the prefecture's Amphitheater to make a new Bard’s Haven. Daryl immediately jumps on board and agrees to pass the idea along to Athena. All he asks is that the bards make it clear the interest is there to make this move.   Indigo moves through the garden casting plant growth to return it to life. As he finishes, an Elf approaches him about the Green Dragon in their prefecture. He’s scared about what all that means and asks for the hero to help remove the dragon from his home. Indigo agrees, as soon as he checks with his homies he’ll help stop Virescent.   Mirian sees an old neighbor from Vaerand searching the party for him. Luka, the neighbor, tells him that his adoptive father Erik had a serious heart attack. He doesn’t have long for this world. Luka suggests Mirian visit home soon, and Mirian agrees to do just that.   Pages come for each member of the party on the behalf of High Commander Renier. He wants the party to help interrogate the leader of the Dark Elves, both to deduce if they have further plans and to see if Athena can broker peace between them. They speak with Bastion, who hates the religious insanity that took over his people with Palantir and Merielle in charge. All he wants for his people is to go home. The party tries to come up with a way for him to prove he will not be an aggressor when a page runs in with a message for them.   “There’s a Gold Dragonborn here to see you.” He says.   Out front Cerulean is seconds from attacking Gould, The Ancient Gold Dragon, with Braes trying to keep them off each other. Daryl tells Cerulean to back off and the Gold Dragonborn steps forward. He’s Leonis Justus, reborn by the gold dragon after killing his doppelganger. He apologizes to the party and asks them to help him with his new mission. He wants to seal all of the dragons away using the Canticle of Quell.   Indigo realizes that’s the title of the book he bought before the Battle for the Sky (popular nomenclature for the war from Chapter 18) and pulls it out to read. It tells the story of a magical song written to subdue the dragons using a Pure Heart, three keys, and a castle sized musical instrument called The Conductor. Leonis points out that The Conductor in the book looks uncannily like Citadel Keep.   The party goes to speak with Athena. Everybody attending their ceremony reacts to the arrival of a second Dragonborn. Athena points out that a statue in the gardens looks similar to the symbol on the cover of the book.   The party checks out the statue and finds a puzzle to place dragon names in the proper order. They follow the list as laid out in the book to move forward. They continue this way, finding solutions to puzzles hidden in the book and moving through the dungeon until they get to a massive cavern with a song carved into the walls themselves. Daryl copies down the song from the right position and they continue moving forward. They take an elevator that moves through Citadel Keep until it gets to the tallest tower’s peak.   Finally, the party arrives on the roof. Leonis places a hand against the gold keyhole and activates a portion of the Conductor. He’s the gold key. This means the silver and bronze keys are other bonds or Dragonborn out there somewhere.   The party heads back downstairs, the whole dungeon resetting behind them. They speak with Athena about the Conductor, and Daryl asks her for permission for the Bards to move into the Amphitheater. She approves.   Leonis wants to move straight into gathering the “keys” and finding the pure heart, but Danger and Mirian’s daddy issues take precedent first. The party will visit Mirian’s dad in Vaerand before moving on to the Outlands and the strange goings-on up there.