Chapter 7: Plans Foiled
After leaving the temple of Bahamut, the group returned to Dragonwatch to stop the Draconian plot. After purchasing potions of healing, they visited Brom The Thinker to translate the draconian runes on the map (which read "For the glory of Tiamat, true ruler of Avernus"). After leaving there, they visited the Barrow Boys to ask if they had seen anything strange. The boys had nothing, and so the group descended into the sewers. They visited the location marked on the map beneath the slums and found large quantities of gun powder and fertilizer packed around support collumns. Thrain noticed runes etched into the ground in a line along the corridors of the sewers leading into the chamber, where the runes expanded to cover the ground beneath the explosives. He spent some time studying the runes while the rest of the group dismantled the explosives, and deduced that they would transfer soul energy to a different location along the ley lines formed by the runes. It seemed the Draconians planned to kill as many people as possible and trap their souls, diverting them to a different location in the sewers.
They disarmed explosives at two more locations, fighting Draconians at one (where a mage turned invisible and escaped). By the time they disarmed the 3rd location, the ground shook and they heard a large blast from the west. Though they had stopped the bombs beneath the slums, manufactorium and merchant district, they had failed to stop the bombing of the noble district. The group then followed the ley lines to an underground passage that led them into a dwarfhold built beneath Dragonwatch in ages past. Thrain remembered tales about a dwarfhold built here before Kal'Ein, but it was thought lost long before the coming of man. Rumours spoke of a black dragon that had driven the dwarves out, but all communication ceased and no one dared enter the possibly dragon-cursed hold.
After fighting Draconians and a white dragon wyrmling at the entrance to the hold, Dox scouted ahead with a telepathic link to the group. While trying to stealthily open a door, he accidentally slammed it open and alerted a massive Draconian and his green dragon wyrmling. Battle ensued, and the Draconian Mastermind proved a match for the group, using a noxious breath, eye beams and other magical attacks against them (combined with formidable defenses). After a protracted battle that consumed much of their resources, the Draconian was slain. Exhausted, they pushed on towards a large chamber from behind which they heard a booming voice saying "not enough! not enough!" Dox managed to open the door quietly, and they peered into the room to find a massive black dragon (likely the "Zarlandris" mentioned by the cultists as their leader) and a draconian mage in the midst of a ritual. They steeled themselves and pushed in, surprising the dragon and witnessing their communication with Avernus through a scrying mirror on the wall. They saw the undead elven mage commanding an army of undead battling armies of devils, while a Dragonborn warrior with a withered black arm commanded legions of dragons and abishai devils against them. The devil host was commanded by a pit fiend sitting in a floating throne high above the battlefield. As the dragonborn commanded the black dragon to deal with the interlopers, the scrying ended and communication was cut off.
A view of the Battle of Avernus from the scrying mirror
Rasper and Torbjorn unleashed their magic upon the dragon and mage, quickly killing the mage as Thrain and Dox began their assault on the dragon. The dragon retaliated by breathing a line of acid at Torbjorn and Dox, mortally wounding both. Thrain managed to bring Torbjorn back to consciousness before launching himself at the Dragon, and Torbjorn healed Dox's wounds. The dragon unleashed his breath again at Torbjorn, badly burning him with acid. Rasper used their magic to incapacitate the dragon (forcing him to laugh controllably), allowing the rest of the group to focus their attacks against the Dragon. Thrain beat the dragon down with his thunder gauntlets, while Torbjorn assaulted him with magical thunder and lightning. Finally, following a brutal beatdown from thrain (delivering vengeance for the lost dwarves), Torbjorn smashed his hammer down upon the ground and released a wave of thunder and lightning that ripped the dragon apart. With the dragon dead, the group took a moment to compose themselves before searching the room.
Thrain discovered a mechanism to open the vault door wherein the dragon's hoard was kept. Excited to see treasure, Dox and Rasper rushed in and were badly cut as swinging axes flung down from the walls. Thrain made sure no other pressure plates could be triggered, and they entered the dragon vault. Inside, they found a hoard of coins and gems, along with a magical gilded drinking horn (magic earned from sitting atop a dragon hoard for so long). As they explored the rest of the dwarfhold, they found the draconians had returned to human form. They killed some, captured others and looted the rest of the dwarfhold (finding a magical dwarven war bow allowing Namira to enhance her archery using her natural strength). Thrain found an ancient set of Dwarven plate armor which allowed him to complete his arcane armor.
As they surfaced, they found the city in chaos. Smoke clung to the air along with the sound of bells and screaming. Suddenly, Sydonian soldiers surrounded them with muskets pointed at them. One of them appeared to be one of the dockworkers' union thugs they had let go, apparently a constable captain....
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