Into the Purple Plains of Dust. Report

General Summary

The Outsiders head out from Skalnaedyr, carrying a scale from the legendary city's namesake that has been enchanted to find a reported wyrmling in the Purple Plains of Dust. The party has been tasked with convincing this wyrmling to form an allegiance with the Order of Blue Thunderbolts, as they believe it to be a direct descendant of the mighty Skalnaedyr. Leaving the safety of the road and civilization behind them, our brave group of adventurers steadily proceeded South towards the deadly Plains of Purple Dust. They arrived at the edge of the desert late in the evening and wisely chose to make camp and depart fresh in the morning.   The beauty of the Plains of Purple Dust did not decrease the dangers of traveling through such a hot barren wasteland. Aronin checked the magical scale of the mighty dragon Skalnaedyr to ensure his party was traveling in the correct direction as the desert provided no convenient landmarks or other means of normal navigation. The party did not have long to wait before the desert began to challenge them of their intrusion. Three days into their southerly trek as they proceeded forward, Eldred and Osa noted the sands on the right of their path ahead shift and move in a way that seemed unnatural. The warning cry was made just in time as five massive scaled lizards erupted from the purple dust of the desert hungry for flesh! Eldred acted quickly standing up in the stirrups of his camel and with a mighty flap of his black wings leapt straight up into the sky to come down upon his attackers. His leaping attack allowed him to plunge his adamantine short sword deep into the flesh of one of the giant desert lizards while Eldred's deadly kicks swiftly broke the creature's neck. Osa was next, swiftly dismounting from her camel and stepping towards the group of attacking creatures, her longsword bit deeply into their flesh. The creatures snapped their tooth filled maws at Eldred, but he nimbly juked away from their clumsy attack. Aronin allowed the magics to fill him and sent forth a mighty bolt of fire into one of the beasts, scorching it heavily and causing it to hiss in pain. Another scaled monstrosity lunged forward towards Osa snapping at her legs, but her combat reflexes allowed her to nimbly step away from the vicious creatures bite. Eldred rapidly moved forward towards another lizard, his blade biting deep into the creature's side but failing to kill it outright. Fighting side-by-side with Eldred, Osa quickly reversed the direction of her longsword, fatally slashing open the throat of the beast in front of her. It was quickly becoming apparent that these beasts had chosen the wrong group of people to make a meal of! The giant lizard's attacks failed to connect with our heroes and one by one the scaled creatures fell to the combined might of the party. Aronin was even able to finally use his wizards blade in actual combat with great success!   The party continued to travel south, regularly checking with the scale carried by Aronin. It was but the very next day when the desert attempted to slow the progress of our heroes. At midday on the 9th of November, Eldred saw two distant figures far off towards the horizon. As the party prepared themselves to greet or fight these newcomers, the strange pair wandering through the purple plains of dust finally noticed our heroes' caravan, and began a shambling run towards their group. As they drew closer it became obvious that these were beings of undeath, ghouls who's natural lives had ended, and now we are filled with the hatred of all things living. Eldred once again leapt off the back of his camel and came raining down from the sky like a black bolt of death, his short-sword and deadly strikes with his fists and hooves returning the undead creature back into a state of actual death. Aronin not to be left out, let loose a barrage of magic missiles, the three green deadly bolts streaking unerringly to their target and heavily damaging the ravaging ghoul. Osa calmly drew her white elven longbow and with deadly accuracy placed an arrow directly through the ghoul's skull, ending it's state of undeath. The party filled with confidence at their successes decided to see if the undead beings had come from some type of lair, which could have held riches or items to benefit them. Eldred used his ability of flight to get a high look and follow the tracks from the direction that the ghouls had come from. Alas, the constant winds of the purple plains of dust had quickly erased their tracks and no such thing was found. On his way back to the group while flying 50 ft off the ground, Eldred noted a black tower far off in the west. When he landed, he informed his fellow travelers of what he has seen and stated that the tower seems to be a large and intact structure that might be worth investigating. The group discussed this at length, and in the end decided to take a detour from their search of the wyrmling to investigate the tower Eldred had seen.   With that the party turned west, to find out what this strange black tower was doing in the middle of the Plains of Purple Dust. Eldred wondered to himself if this diversion might cause issues with the primary purpose they had entered the desert for, and unfortunately he was soon to be proven correct. The party's first day traveling west was uneventful, and by the time they made camp they could already see the massive tower they were heading towards on the distant horizon just prior to sunset. On the morning of the 11th of November our brave trio continued to push their train of camels west.   Aronin saw the beasts first, shortly followed by Eldred. Skulking among the purple dunes, two fearsome creatures were rapidly closing with the party. Their appearance was that of two mighty mastiff sized dogs, but even in the distance the party could see that these things were not any type of natural dogs. Their chests were impossibly wide, and their skin flapped and folded over in disgusting excess. Between the folds of skin strings of rot and decay hung, and each one of these creatures had not one, but two enormous heads! As the two death dogs ran straight at our heroes, the party had just enough time to dismount from their camels and ready themselves for the fight of their lives! Aronin cast a trio of scorching rays at one of the oncoming monstrosities, causing heavy burn marks to appear on the side of the beast's foul flesh. As he finished his magical attacks, the second beast charged at him it's massive Jaws filled with black filth and decay. Aronin attempted to turn away, but the hate-filled creature managed to sink its teeth into his side with both of its foul heads. Aronin could feel the poisonous disease carried by this monstrosity coursing through his blood. Osa quickly moved forward to assist Aronin and perhaps draw the foul beast off of her less armored companion. Osa's adrenaline pumping she took a mighty swing at the beasts exposed flank and was rewarded by a satisfying hit slicing through the disgusting creatures flesh. She quickly turned her blade around and attempted a second thrust but was unable to penetrate the thick skin with her second attack. Eldred also saw his friend Aronin's plight, and leapt to his aid and quickly attacked, hewing massive chunks of flesh from the beast savaging his companion. The second creature, still maimed by the scorching rays of Aronin's spell, fell upon Osa's exposed flank, and one of the beast's massive jaws managed to penetrate through her armor. She too soon felt the poison and disease from these terrible creature's bite coursing through her body. Aronin with his back pressed against his camel desperately cast witch bolt at the dog savaging Osa, but the pain wracking through his body caused his aim to miss. The terrible beast in front of him took advantage of his distraction while spell casting and yet again savaged Aronin. It's attack left Aronin hovering inches from death and barely able to keep on his feet. Osa, seeing her companion was about to perish, grabbed her longsword with both her hands and put all of her rage and strength into her next blow, cleanly severing both heads from the beast attacking Aronin! Eldred, seeing the threat removed from his wizard friend, turned his righteous fury towards the remaining beast and in a hail of sword thrusts, fists, and kicks brought righteous ruin to the remaining death dog, ending its life. Eldred quickly rushed over to the seriously wounded wizard and helped bandage him. After an hour's rest, he seemed far more lucid and looked as if he would survive the night. Unfortunately, the two members of the party bitten by these beasts still had it's horrible disease coursing through their veins. Our weary party decided to stay at their current location and rest, but upon the next morning Osa's wounds showed distressing red lines extending into her flesh, and she found herself sapped from her normal strength. The party began a desperate conversation to devise a way for the survival of the two members fighting off disease left by these horrible beasts. Eldred decided to use his ability of flight to get a better look at the tower to the west, and see if it could offer the best chance of hope to save his suffering companions. Eldred's scouting efforts revealed that the tower was in fact some type of stronghold held by the Cult of the Dragon! He landed, and informed his them of what he had discovered. Desperate to deal with the potentially fatal disease coursing through two of our brave adventures, they wisely decided to move in a direction that would provide visual coverage from any patrols leaving the tower. Osa suggested to Aronin that he change out of his garb that marked him clearly as a member of the Order of Blue Thunderbolts, and into something innocuous. The advice and the timing turned out to be fortunate, for as the party completed the decided action and was readying to walk to this tower, fate decided to intervene and give them unexpected assistance.   Osa spotted the flying figure first, a man wearing armor seated upon a creature that looked much like a small dragon. This newcomer was a few hundred feet off the ground and had a clear line of sight to where the party had attempted to hide. As the flying armored figure veered towards the party's direction, Eldred rapidly came up with an improvised plan. The man landed a good 60ft away from our brave adventures and demanded that they identify themselves. Eldred bravely stepped forward and stated that they were mere adventurers who had been told there were riches to be found in the great Purple Plains of Dust. He went on to say they had gotten in over their heads, and that two of his companions had become poisoned by some foul beast which Eldred went on to describe to this newcomer. The man introduced himself as Sir Cronin, a proud member of the Cult of the Dragon, and scolded Eldred and his companions for being so foolish as to enter a place as dangerous as the Plains of Purple Dust without being prepared to deal with poison and disease. He asked if Eldred and his companions were pilgrims seeking out the wisdom of the Cult of the Dragon. Eldred replied that he and his companions were not pilgrims, but would be eager to hear of this cult, and why they were so mighty. As a result of Eldred’s convincing performance, Sir Cronin agreed to escort them to the tower so that they might receive medical assistance, all the while informing Eldred and the rest of the party of the might of the cult, and how only they truly understood the place in which all beings should take with regards to the mighty dragons of the realm. It did not take long with their new escort to reach the tower, and our heroes stood before a massive fortress that had been erected in the desert. Two fang shaped towers joined at the bottom rose up from the desert floor, easily 100 feet high. The needle-like tops of the two towers were connected by a series of perch like bridges, and as our party looked up they could see more winged creatures, similar to the one ridden by Sir Cronin. They had discovered that the cult had established a hidden military base of a substantial size not far from the edge of the Plains of Purple Dust Desert!   Sir Cronin led the party to the tower's temple area and passed them off to a cleric who he introduced as Father Lorst. They endured the priests admonition for their lack of preparedness in being in the desert, but once again after a convincing performance by Eldred they received healing for our two diseased heroes after the substantial “donation” of 250 gold. Eldred continued his facade of fascination with the cult and its purpose while expeditiously collecting the parties gear, camels, and a quick resupply of goods, before departing the tower. As soon as the party was no longer within view of the tower they pushed their camels as fast as they dared east to distance themselves from further encounters with the cult, and to resume their search for the wyrmling they had traveled into the desert for.   Rising up early on November 13th Aronin once again checked the scale of the mighty dragon Skalnaedyr, and noticed that the pull was now almost directly south, and much stronger than before. The party turned south checking if they were traveling in the correct direction hourly. On the morning of the 14th, the pull from the scale was almost strong enough to feel like it wanted to leave out of the hands of Aronin. By mid-afternoon as the party approached a series of rock formations and high dunes, they saw a bolt of lightning streak into the sky from behind the dune ahead. They spurred their camels quickly forward and could soon hear the sounds of two mighty beasts fighting desperately. Our heroes quickly road their camels around to witness an awesome sight! They had found the baby wyrmling they had been sent in the desert for! Unfortunately it was currently locked in battle with a massive worm-like creature that was at least 15 ft long! The mouth of this thing was an opening filled with jagged teeth pointing inwards, and it already had crushed and mangled the baby wyrmlings right wing. The back end of this creature was no less fearsome, being equipped with a sword sized stinger. Despite this savage being before our brave travelers, nothing was going to stop them from accomplishing what they had come here to do! They selflessly charged forward to come to the aid of this baby blue dragon, who was now locked in combat with this purple sand worm. Osa was the first to leap from her camel, and begin raining death via her fine white elven longbow, sinking two shots deep into the worm's body. Eldred was next, once again taking advantage of his wings and flying directly in front of the face of this monstrosity, unleashing a flurry of sword strikes and blows. But the foul beast's thick skin absorbed some of the damage of Eldred's strikes. The purple sand worm, still intent on it's meal continued it's attack upon the baby blue dragon, it's vicious and jagged teeth ripping chunks of flesh from the baby dragon's side. Meanwhile, the back end of the sandworm containing it's deadly stinger stabbed Aronin deeply in his chest. Aronin just barely being able to pull away from the vicious stinger before being injected with deadly venom. Aronin responded by drawing forth a draconic magical spell that allowed him to breathe out a mighty lightning bolt that scored a deep blackened channel along the side of the sandworms body. The baby blue dragon continued to attempt to defend itself snapping and biting at the purple worm's body but was unable to pierce it's thick skin. Osa seeing this monstrosity surrounded by her friends lay down her bow, and drew forth her longsword, hewing at its body, but being unable to find a vital point in which to strike. Eldred sensing that the baby dragons battered body could not take much more punishment, put all of his training and skill into his strikes and was rewarded with the satisfaction of seeing his blade penetrate deeply into the purple worms body and the magical power of his ki rupturing vital points on his foe. He was rewarded by drawing the attention of this massive beast, it's dim-witted response to a threat that was capable of damaging it. The purple worm lunged forward opening its massive maw, and swallowed Eldred whole, trapping our hero inside the confines of this horrible being's guts! Our heroes, realizing that their time to save their friend Eldred was extremely limited, redoubled their efforts in bringing down this foul creature. Aronin focused all of his will and unleashed another barrage of scorching rays onto the horrible creature's body, striking deeply into the burnt channel previously created by his lightning strike. The searing rays struck a vital organ deep within the purple worm and it's massive bulk went limp! It's foul toothed mouth sprung open, and Eldred was ejected prone. Amazingly, Eldred is still conscious and alive! As he stood up, the baby blue dragon rapidly retreaded a few feet away, its body and posture obviously still poised to continue to fight if needed. Sparks of electricity jumped between its teeth. Aronin quickly steped forward and spoke to it in draconic. “Calm yourself”, he said. “We are friends and mean you no harm.” Meanwhile Eldred took a knee to the ground to show he is no threat, and Osa put away her weapons. The parties concentrated effort is rewarded by eventually calming down the blue wyrmling, and after some discussion in draconic, it seems convinced that the party doesn't actually mean any harm. Aronin cannot help but notice during the course of the conversation that the famished looking baby blue dragon has been hungrily eyeballing the party's camels during their parlay. Aronin selflessly sacrifices his camel to satiate the starving baby dragon, and while it is a brutal thing to watch, the dragon kills the camel quickly and feasts upon its remains. After the dragon's hunger has been satiated he continues his conversation with Aronin. The dragon reveals that his name is Etephyr, and he is in fact the grandson of the mighty Skalnaedyr. The party shares the current situation with the Cult of the Dragon, and the Order of the Blue Thunderbolts. Etephyr does not seem interested in the affairs of what he calls the two legs but, he says that he is willing to accompany the party back to the city named after his grandfather.   And so our heroes, four remaining camels, and one baby blue dragon begin their trek back to the city of Skalnaedyr. Leaving behind the Plains of Purple Dust and arriving at the city's outer gates on the morning of the 21st of November. Upon their return they found that most of the city had apparently gotten word of their imminent return, and were waiting outside the walls of the city. The crowd obviously was divided in half. One half of the crowd was consisted of those who had aligned themselves the Order of the Blue Thunderbolts, and Aronin could see his master, Zjackam Sorabald, waiting for him and his group outside the walls to the right. To the left a slightly larger crowd had gathered, and by the appearance of the deep red robes with gold trim mingled among all of the other people it was very apparent that the Cult of the Dragon was also gathered outside the city walls. Our party stepped forward, and Aronin and his mighty companions were welcomed by the master of the Blue Thunderbolts with a hero's welcome. Aronin introduces Etephyr to his master, and briefly explains that Skalnaedyr’s heir has agreed to accompany him back to the city but has made no promises in regards to assisting either side without further thought of involving himself with the matters of the "two legs". After a brief of time had passed, Xaortanto, the leader of the Cult of the Dragons in the city of Skalnaedyr stepped forward and spoke to Etephyr in draconic, welcoming him to the city of his grandfather, and informing him that the cult was the only truly worthy members to appreciate his majesty. He further went on to elaborate that if Etephyr was willing to allow them the pleasure of his company that he had magic at his disposal that could repair Etephyr's ruined right wing. Etephyr seemed to think about this for quite a long moment, before inquiring to Aronin what his thoughts were of this matter. After careful consideration, Etephyr seemed to be enraged by the cult's offer, stating that he was not dependent upon nor did he need the aid of their pitiful group, and without committing to one cause or another, stated that he would stay with the people who had fought alongside him and proved their worth of his company. The leader of the Cult of the Dragon, humiliated in front of the masses, turned around and had his entourage return inside the city. Our heroes victorious, they and the remaining city members returned into the city of Skalnaedyr, to celebrate their success and to make welcome the grandson of the city's founder.

Rewards Granted

2233XP   50gp to each Character from Zajackam