CHAMPIONS OF KRYNN: IN PURSUIT OF DRAGON EGGS

Personal Note:
I would like to thank those of you who inspired me to keep going on this blog.  For a while, I was so buried under work, I didn't think I'd ever see the other side of the tunnel.  I think I learned an important lesson about not giving myself a deadline.  Or something.  Either way, it helped.

When we last left the party, they were hot on the trail of a group Baaz Draconians and Hobgoblins that had fled into the catacombs of Throtl.  The party, intent on stopping the forces of evil from escaping with the collection of bronze dragon eggs, had uncovered information about a mysterious entity called Myrtani.

The party continued through the crumbling catacombs, despite Wil Dhargon's insistence that he was hungry and should stop to eat.  The other members of the party told the kender that some things were more important than eating.  Begrudgingly, the kender agreed, but not without making a few comments about starving to death and withering away into dust.

As the pursuit continued, the party entered a room and were surprised to find a column of swirling multicolored lights!  Never in their lives had they seen something so beautiful.  The way the lights danced kept their attention drawn to it.

Perhaps it was the hunger tearing at his stomach, but Wil Dhargon began to realize that something wasn't quite right.  Using his hoopak, he poked at the column of lights, but found that his weapon passed right through.  "It's an illusion!" he shouted.  He jumped up and down, waving his hands in front of the faces of the party members, hoping they might snap out of their state of enthrallment.

Annoyed at first, the party began to come back to their senses.  Something was definitely off.  It felt like...a trap...

It's always a trap.

Enemy forces jumped to the attack as the lights disappeared. The party only barely had time to ready their weapons, as draconians fell upon them, hissing in rage. The enemy fought with ferocity, dealing damage to a few members of the party.  Thaddeus Durin was incapacitated.  He laid, bleeding on the floor until Tamera Beldon used her clerical abilities to seal his wounds.

The party, knowing that they could not continue without some quick resting, stopped long enough to patch themselves up.  Wil Dhargon took those few minutes to munch on some carrots he had stored in his backpack, offering them to anyone who would take them.

Once the party was in slightly better shape, they continued onward.  Eventually, they went down a flight of stairs and found a cave opening.  From within the cave opening, they could hear Hobgoblins talking.

One of them mentioned that a group of adventurers had infiltrated the catacombs and were after the eggs.  Another one confidently suggested that the party would be stopped by dragons.  He also mentioned that these same dragons made him uncomfortable because they were upset to be trapped in the heat.  After that, the voices faded into the distance.

The party entered the cave behind the voices...

Cheering...that can't be good.  Can it?

The sound of running footsteps in the distance caught the party's attention.  This was followed almost immediately by the sound of something roaring.  The party stopped in their tracks.  So, the Hobgoblins weren't boasting about the dragons, then?  This might not be an easy task after all.

The party knew they had to press onward.  Heroes weren't born of inaction.

As they headed toward the sound of the footsteps, a room full of brass dragon eggshells came into view.  Janessa Waylan hurried ahead, fearing that the draconians might have destroyed the dragon eggs.  But, as it turned out, these eggs were far older.  And, perhaps, the draconians the party chased at this very moment might have been originally created from them.  It was as much a relief as it was disturbing.

"We need to keep moving," someone said, pulling Janessa away from the eggs.

The party rounded the corner...and found something they didn't expect...

Ummm....have the tables turned?

A large group of humans and hobgoblins stood in the corridor, weapons ready.  They laughed at the party, as draconians moved behind them and headed away with the stolen dragon eggs.

The enemy had decided to make a stand.  The party, aware that this was likely a ploy by the enemy to slow them down, charged straight into combat.

They brought out the big guns for this fight.

The enemy had come prepared.  The party found that breaking their ranks wasn't as easy as they hoped.  Toward the back, evil wizards threw spells.  In the front, Hobgoblin leaders rushed forward in a line, backed by human soldiers.

Janessa Waylan suddenly remembered a wand she had found in Throtl.  She pulled it out and looked at the inscription on the side, carved in the language of the elves.  She spoke the words aloud.

Chaos ensued, as the Hobgoblins and warriors were pelted by shards of sharp ice and rock.  They fell quickly as the sharp pieces ripped them to shreds.  Janessa stood in stunned silence.  Only once before had she seen this spell used, and she remembered that the elder mages called it Ice Storm.  An appropriate name.

The party cut quickly through the ranks of the enemy after that.  The survivors began to flee as the party moved in on them, fleeing around a corner.  The party gave chase and rounded the corner...

Oops!

The enemy had lead the party straight into the mouth of danger!  Two dragons, covered in scales of snowy white, rushed toward the party.  Each was larger than a full-size wagon!

One of the dragon's opened his mouth and spewed forth breath made of snow and ice.  Lord Benjamin felt the cold hit him and grunted in pain.  A second later, the dragons fell upon the party.

The dragons were hard to hit.  Their large claws and teeth raked at the party with accuracy as they easily sidestepped the novice swings of the inexperienced party.  But, somehow, luck prevailed.  By surrounding the dragons, the party was able to eventually wear them down.  Lord Benjamin, still reeling from the terrible freezing breath, struck with a definite blow and brought the first dragon down.  The other quickly fell to the Wil Dhargon's hoopak.

The kender was beside himself with joy.  "I've never killed a dragon before!  This will make quite the story back home!  Yessir!  Killed a dragon by myself.  Two dragons really.  I mean, I weakened that other one, of course.  So, thanks for finishing it up when it was on its last leg, so that I could deal with the stronger one."

With the dragons dead, the Baaz Draconians and Hobgoblins had nowhere left to flee.  The party approached them with their weapons drawn, still stained in dragon blood.  The enemy quickly surrendered to the party, and handed over the bronze dragon eggs.

If they had done this to start with, this would have gone a lot easier.

At last!  The eggs were safely in the hands of the forces of good.

The party made haste back to the outpost to see Sir Karl Gaardsen, and report what had happened.  He told them to go and rest, and he would see them in the morning.

The party spent a little time in the local training halls and found that much of what they had experienced had made them better adventurers.  Several new spells were learned and the warriors felt as though they understood their weapons a little more intimately than before.

In the morning, Sir Karl told the party that he was happy with their work.

Dark plots, indeed.

He ordered the party to head to another outpost between Gargath and Jalek.  He told them, once he met them there, he would have them investigate the Tower of Gargath.

Gargath.  The place where the mysterious Myrtani was supposed to be.  The party knew, at that moment, that the adventure had only just begun...

UP NEXT: The party heads toward Gargath.