The Well of Dragons

November 13, 2007

The group got a lot bigger as some new friends show up. 

An elven ranger, Arindal, caught up to the group in Ladydove.  He heard about them and was tracking them because his village was destroyed and some of its sacred items taken.  He knows it was done by a dragon but isn't sure if it was Figment or not.  In any case, the group is fighting dragons and he wants to help them.  They talk a bit and the rest of the group agrees to let Arindal come along for a while.  Soon after, they leave and head for the Well of Dragons. 

As they are traveling, a human appears next to them and greets the group and Notch.  His name is Jaden, a follower of Lathander who knows Notch, and he was told by those higher than him that Notch would need his help.  So, he literally appeared next to them as they were on the road.  They greet him and welcome him to the group and keep traveling.  The group is now seven people big! 

Arindal, scouting ahead, crests a hill and sees a good sized log cabin and a massive doorway.  The log cabin is only a few hundred yards from the hill and he sees movement around it.  The door is still miles distant and must be several hundred feet high, with a large door.  He goes back to warn the others.  It is decided he will scout the cabin and come back.  The movement he saw turns out to be a young boy and girl playing outside.  He smells food from inside and sees a woman, probably the children's mother, fixing a meal.  Once again, he goes back and reports what he has seen.  The group decides to approach them, with Arindal keeping back to watch. 

The kids are quite talkative and ask if they are going to the dragon place.  They ask Deuce a lot of questions, but when Jaden sees that he is uncomfortable, he starts entertaining them with some magic tricks.  Their mother, who introduces herself as Iselda, says that she has a meal if they are interested, before going on to the place of the dragons.  They talk (read: interrogate) her about why she is there and why her cabin is twice as big on the inside.  She said she came here a decade ago with her husband, who has since died, and they realized they could make money catering to the adventurers who go to the dragon place. 

The group is suspicious at first but then ready for themselves for the wall.  Iselda has some scary stories about people not coming back and even being killed in such a way that she could see it from her Inn!  They make sure they have their tokens and then head toward it. 

The gate is huge, with lots of carvings of dragon heads and draconic all over it.  As they approach, the heads turn and look at them.  Reece pulled out his token and watched as all of the heads turned away.  They figured that was how they get in, so they use them and are in.  On the other side, they see more plains!  (However, later investigation reveals there is a Wall of Force, in a cube effect, around the area.)  They also see the ruins of a tower.  As they get closer, the ring of the tower has what looks like draconic script but is actually just designs, and it is an open pit, going down several hundred feet before it is too dark to see more.  A dancing lights spell, as far as Deuce could manifest it, doesn't show the floor.  However, Jaden casts Mass Fly and they fly to the bottom of the well, five hundred feet down, which opens into some caves. 

As they explore the caves, they are warm, rather than cold.  They find evidence of a fight and keep searching.  It's a very large cave system.  They eventually see some ogres and wonder what this means and what they should do.  The ogres have very crude equipment but do seem to be guarding something to the south, so they wonder if they are close.  They are still wondering what to do when the ogres are attacked by hobgoblins!  Deuce is content to watch and defeat the winners. 

At first, it looks like the hobgoblins might win but ogre reinforcements show up and turn the tide.  Then, many more hobgoblins show up, again turning the tide.  However, there are so many, Julia is noticed and attacks, which sets the nearby hobgoblins on them.  Deuce drops a fireball into the area and fries most of the creatures of both sides.  The few survivors are soon dealt with as well.  More scouting shows that a clan of ogres was to the south and these were guards for that.  They are running, obviously terrified of the group.  The group lets them go, unwilling to slaughter more ogres. 

They search to the east and are ambushed by some hobgoblins.  It was not effective and before the ambushers can react, they are dead or captured.  Jaden talks with them to find out that they haven't seen a dragon in generations.  Through threats, Jaden convinces the hobgoblin to lead him to his shaman.  The hobgoblin does after they promise they won't hurt any more hobgoblins.  The party agrees as long as his people do the same. 

When they find and talk to the shaman, it's obvious they have never seen or interacted with the dragon.  There is no portal or sacred area.  The hobgoblins and the ogres fight to prove themselves and the strongest are selected by the dragon.  They worship the dragon and the dragon gives them food and supplies.  The shaman says there is a place where the dragon gives them these things and the group wants to see it.  The same hobgoblin who brought them here will lead them there. 

The hobgoblin takes them back to the entry well!  As they figured, this was a dead end.  Jaden casts a divination to find out where they need to go.  Lathander responds thus:  "You have met the guardian of the Dragon's Graveyard.  She fed you." 

The party groans as they realized what happened and head back to the cabin.  Iselda tries to play dumb but when Deuce uses his Gem of True Seeing, she relents.  Reece tells her the whole story, hoping for some sympathy but the black dragon welcomes being a ruler again and attacks, moving to protect the revealed true well of dragons. 

The fight is not pretty.  They are barely hitting the dragon and not doing much damage.  After several rounds, the dragon is scratched up but the group is winded and some are hurt.  Jaden heals who he can but the dragon can do a lot of damage.  After a viscious round of attacks, the dragon, who was still on top of the well of dragons, stopped and looked north.  She didn't say anything, she just looked north.  The group reacted right away and jumped into the well, tokens ready. 

Notes

• Jaden's player, Tony, is actually remote and it worked well.  The translations were all done via Yahoo!  The translations over IM worked quite well! 
• The space was a bit tight with five of us, total, in the room but hopefully I can free up a little room and make it easier. 
• The gaming was fun!  It was great when the group realized what they had missed.  Actually, to some extent, they hadn't.  They commented on how strange it was this cabin was there with this woman and children.  However, they got distracted by the big wall and so never fully investigated.  I did think Deuce was going to use his Gem then but didn't.
• One of the players, probably in character, said the fights with the hobgoblins and ogres made him feel like a dragon and the groups the village.  Except for Deuce, who's player was rather bloodthirsty, most of them stopped attacking unless they had to defend themselves.