"The Brotherhood of the Wyrm, Part 2"
A Dragon War Event
Istari tower had not seen this many people cloistered in the main entry hall for some time. A large group of Weave Masters (Elias Goodmane, Foggy McGee, Siomir Danneren, and several scouts), as well as Dallenthel Wyndsoul, Anie D'lyn, Zelene Galuisurr, Jade Redford, Valaria, and Mutharin assembled to join together to go after the white wyrms of the Cloudpeak mountains. Exarch Elias gave the Portal Stone he and Foggy had fashioned to two of the scouts, and the pair set off immediately. Pushing themselves hard, the two arrived at the Cloudpeaks in record time and began to look for a good spot to open the portal back to the tower. Before long they found a great location near the blocked passage to Amn and activated the Stone. A shimmering portal came to life, and they jumped through to home.
Back at Istari, some of the gathered force heard the portal upstairs come to life and went to investigate. Foggy quickly realized it was unstable and send for the Exarch. As the portal crackled and discharged energies, the entire assault group gathered round and most of them seem reluctant to go in. Elias urged them on, and they filed through the open portal even as it began to collapse. Hurriedly they continued, until at last Elias went through himself. Up in the Cloudpeaks Elias emerged from the portal just as it collapsed for good.
Deciding to continue prepared, all members present who could cast spells began to cast enchantments and wards. In doing this they seemed to forget about the huge amount of noise such casting creates, and before long one of the white dragons heard them and began to assault them from above with its dragon breath. The dragon landed to attack them, but the wyrm did not last long against the small army assembled. Realizing they were too tempting a target out in the open, Elias urged them all to the Crystal Frost Keep. Upon reaching the Keep however, they encountered something they were not expecting: Dragonaries. These part man/part dragon beings unleashed their spells on the unsuspecting adventurers and caught many unprepared. It took some time for Sister Anie to tend to the wounded.
From here the bulk of the force remained outside to keep watch, and the Weave Scouts were sent in to investigate using their stealth tactics. Five went in. so two went left, two went right, and their leader went down the center. All passed many guarding giants as well as more Dragonaries. The left team encountered a large force guarding some doors. The leader encountered another force guarding the huge doors of the throne room. The right team found something curious though: the room with crystals that normally provide light for the Keep was different. The crystals were brighter and pulsing and humming with power. One of the Scouts made the mistake of touching a crystal, and was killed instantly by a discharge of energy. The member was found by the leader.
Eventually the scouts made it back outside, and the entire questing party entered the Keep. They headed to the crystal room first, as Foggy and Elias especially were interested in them. As most of the force set up a perimeter, Foggy and Elias focused on the crystals. They were able to discover that the power from the crystals was being focused and sent elsewhere. After one mishap and no luck, the group almost continued on when Elias remembered he had some blood of the good dragon Plantagonox, and Dallenthel remembered part of the giant conversation from the scouting expedition the week before mentioning Laximyrkcion is invincible by an outside source. With nothing to lose, Elias poured a bit of dragon blood on a crystal. It immediately began to smoke and crack, so everyone who had taken some of the bronze dragon's blood the week before now poured their vials out on the crystals. With bright energy discharges, the crystals went dim, their power released.
The next stop for the party was the heavily guarded room with the smaller doors. Again a great many of the group took heavy injuries in the battle. Once inside, and much to the relief of many present but most especially Elias and Dallenthel, they discovered the lost treasure of Plantagonox. Elias immediately teleported back to Istari tower with it and left it safely there. With his return to the Keep, the group made for the guarded room with the huge doors. Inside was another of the younger white dragons with several Dragonaries. This group went down, and so the adventurers made to exit the Keep.
Another dragon met them outside the Keep, using its ice breath on them from above. This time however they took the offensive and attacked it while it was in the air. A blast of energy and a well shot arrow brought the beast down to the ground where it put up a fight but could not defeat the party. The group started up the mountain to Mount Speartop, fighting a numerous amount of giants, Dragonaries, and even kobolds along the way. The injuries were numerous as the cold began to slow joints and hamper breathing. Once at the top, the fourth and final white wyrm child of Laximyrkcion was fought. This time the dragon had enough Dragonary guards, as well as the high ground, to really cause the adventurers problems. Still, in the end, they made it. They took some time to rest and recuperate before entering the cave of Laximyrkcion.
Entering the cave fully warded and enchanted, the party met the expected group of Dragonaries inside. They caused quite a bit of damage to the group, but Laximyrkcion herself was the primary target. The fight was long and difficult, but the adventurers pulled through. The ancient white wyrm fell, and the group began to celebrate. No sooner had they begun, however, than a portal opened and a demilich came through, laughing manically. He thanked them for killing the wyrm for him, and proceeded to raise it, or so Zelene identified. Instead he only raised the bones, as a dracolich rose from the corpse of Laximyrkcion. The demilich ushered the dracolich into the portal, and then mentioned that the Twisted Rune had two with three to go. Someone mentioned they would not speak with the lich, so he laughed and told them to enjoy his gift as he went back through the portal. His "gift" was five balors who reaped destruction on the party. Many fell in the battle, and if it were not for the ministrations and prayers of Sister Anie it could have been far worse.
With the dragon dead, balors banished, and portal closed, the party took stock of their quest. The scouts noticed the treasure was considerably smaller than they remembered, and several people remembered that dragons tend to eat their hoards when they know death is near. Baffled by the turn of events, the group pillaged the remainder of the dragon hoard and broke up to go their separate ways. Elias, for one, was more interested in the treasure at the tower than the ones in the caves.
(( XP rewards given to all fifteen participants. as well as one item each, level dependent, from the dragon's "hoard". ))
