The Burning Plains

General Summary

While journeying through the Velvet Plains, the Heroes come upon the burned ruins of a prosperous farmhouse swarming with two dozen or more Kobolds whose intent is obviously destruction - one was purposefully lighting the grain fields on fire! As they ready to enter the farm and fight, they are ambushed by more than a score of Kobolds that had split off and hidden in brush to either side of the country lane.

The fighting is furious but mercifully swift. Spells of lightning by Tim the Enchanter decimate the Kobolds, and well placed arrows and swiftly shot bolts from Asgeir and Dain take out others. Cursed tunes played by Adelaide made Kobolds stumble, and the Kovu cleaved many with his great axe. But the death-cries of the Kobold ambushers alerted the Kobolds in the farmyard and the slaughter began again. This time Kovu charged in with his axe bolstered by music while arrows, bolts, and lightning felled the outer ranks, causing them to mass in front of the catfolk's charge. The slaughter was glorious, as Kovu exclaimed.

At the farmhouse, after putting out the fires magically and checking for survivors, the Heroes looked for clues. Why this farmhouse? Why such destruction? How did all of this happen? Was it merely a massive horde of Kobolds? In the farmhouse itself, answers were forthcoming.

Within the ruined farmhouse the heroes found the charred corpses of a family, with one body nothing but dust and the others burned nearly to cinders themselves. Dain solved the mystery of what happened: A man, a short male at least, possibly a large child or a gnome or dwarf, stood in front of a human or elven woman and two children. Alchemical testing of the wall behind them revealed dragon phlegm, a residue left from a dragon's fiery breath. So someone or something spewed dragon-fire on them and immolated the lot, utterly destroying the male and killing and charring the other three. On the corpse of the female, on her left ring-finger is a gold ring that didn't melt, revealing its magical nature. The Heroes take the ring, unsure why it was left. Tim identifies it as a Ring of Power, but is unsure about what it does. Being so disparate in origin and newly banded together, the Heroes disagree about what to do about this entire mess and begin arguing when they the telltale sound of incoming wingbeats.

Tim and Kovu go out to meet whatever is coming and Tim begins charging a long-range lightning bolt. When he sees the thing approaching, Tim lets loose with a well aimed bolt that arcs around the creature and fries it a second time as it falls. The two are surprised to see a razorwing, and are immediately confronted by a gravelly voice from behind them asking why they killed his pet. Tim and Kovu turn and are confronted by a massive Dragon Hybrid.

Tim and Kovu make conversation with the ...thing... and learn that it is called the "Burninator" and it is here for it's "boss" named "Dramillion" that wants it to find a ring, a staff, and a book that are supposed to be here. Tim and Kovu pretend to be on its side and Tim questions it for information. Asgeir recklessly drops down from his hiding place in the rafters to snatch the Ring of Power from the cookpot it was tossed into to hide it when the wingbeats began. The Burninator makes good on his name and blasts the space Asgeir was because he thought someone was behind him but Asgeir manages to escape and hide unnoticed just before. Adelaide bluffs and lies to get the Dragon Hybrid to believe they are all on the same side. It works well until the Burninator spies Dain the dwarf "hiding" behind a beam far too small to shield him from sight and connects that dwarves hate dragons, and dragons eat dwarves, so he would never work for the boss! Dain runs, and the Burninator commands the party to kill the dwarf, and Kovu gives chase into the unburned section of the fields. As the two take off, Asgeir slips out the window onto the roof, and the Burninator sees Tim's book and demands Tim hand it over. Tim tries to use logic but the Dragon Hybrid is too dumb and keeps insisting on getting the book. Tim barely escapes the Hybrid's grasp with the book and both he and Adelaide flee to the door, where Tim blasts the Burninator with freezing ice as Dain fires a crossbow bolt through the ruined window striking the Burninator squarely. All of this distracts the Burninator from the real threat - Kovu slams his axe into the Dragonkin with all the force and momentum he can in his reckless charge, and the Hybrid flies backward through the back wall as Kovu kicks off him out the front door. Very wounded, the Burninator flees.