Session 94: Dark Winds Bear Dark Wings

General Summary

On the eve of battle, as a cadre of dragons approach the ancient mountain fortress of Pelenspayar, The Wildcards make their preparations to meet the oncoming foe...

Prologue

There are things that are known about dragons. They breathe fire. They covet gold and gems. Dragons dream of the future. They are born of the gods themselves and within each dragon soul burns a tiny measure of their power. Dragons cannot be killed. And the dragons have departed Dyrn forever.
Morthak, of the Wildcards, knows at least some of these fables to be false. The Goliath matron began her quest at the end of her life, driven from her tribe by a bitter rival in the aftermath of a dragon attack. Irazes, the Bitter End, black dragon escapee and pactbreaker, lays dead in the ashpeaks, thanks in part to her efforts. Her quest to discover why the dragons have returned led her to Phandalin, to the Wildcards, slayers of Venomfang. From Phandalin the Wildcards traversed half the continent l, fighting river demons and undead hordes and lizardfolk to protect the orphan girl Mylla, tangling with a third great wyrm - Zitonai, the Burnished Huntress, whose remains are presumably still interred deep below the desert within the Benthic Spire.
From the central basin of the Howling Sands, to Tor Sionis to face the Magistratum; from the Ashpeaks to the Realm of Jotingaard to reforge the ancient Giant dragonslaying spear Godgorger, and then across the elven lands to the ancient, foundering fortress of Pelenspayar, where in times past the dragons were bound.
Warning bells ring out though cold stone halls
Dragons are nigh.

Deep within the bowels of Pelenspayar, the wyvern rider Maelia led Sofia to the fortress library. Within an ancient chamber carved into the bedrock of the fortress itself, Sofia met the elven Scrollmistress Eledh, and the hulking Tabaxi healer Looks to Windward. Immediately entranced by the breadth of knowledge before her, Sofia settled in to read as much as possible in her quest to understand the nature of the threat that lay before the Wildcards, as well as her personal quest, to uncover clues regarding the ancient malady that afflicted her sister.
As Eledh and Looks to Windward completed their alchemical work on a batch of potions brewed using a single massive Roc feather, Sofia's familiar stumbled across a book with a familiar rune on its spine - a heart held between two hands, the symbol of Anoralis, a minor elven god of both healing, suffering, and the alleviation of pain. Sofia had seen this emblem before - inscribed into an artifact of ancient times known as an Amulet of Healing, an artifact she sought for her sister. Opening the book, she discovered little information of use, but did find an illustration of an assembly of dignitaries in ancient times meeting with wyvern riders. Within the image were two clues - a refernce to the year 4371, and a symbol of a scaled talon with seven outstretched claws. Eledh was able to confirm that the symbol was that of Baal-Ammuth, one of the draconic gods, and that the year most likely referred to the Low Elven Calendar, dating the illustation to circa. 1600 years ago, around the time of the founding of the Second Empire of Man.
As Sofia continued her research, she found a wealth of information about the dragons of Terrenos. Many of the tomes discussed draconic society and physiology. They confirmed that dragons were immensely powerful and functionally immortal. The creatures grew more powerful as they aged, and physical deterioration due to old age had never been documented. All dragons possessed a breath weapon, with some dragons known to possess more than one. Dragons were natural aerial predators and were at their most powerful in the air. During the period of time after the First War of the Dragonform Gods, when the Celestial Scale was newly formed, the dragons asserted dominance over the mortal races, leading to the time of The Dragon Kings, a period of history that ended shortly before The Dusk War when the mortal races rose up in revolt against despotic Chromatic rulers.
As Sofia continued to research the history of the dragons she found reference to the last of the Dragon Kings, Valatrix and her undead consort Skysunder. She ruled the area of central north Terrenos that once housed the Kingdom of Calladron, and Sofia was reminded that the Wildcards had mentioned they traversed this cursed land prior to meeting her.
Finally, a word caught Sofia's eye as she scanned through tomes. It was from a quite ancient treatise on the history of the dragons, and it explored their origins as creations and contemporaries of the gods. It compared them to other similarly descended creatures such as unicorns. The work also mentioned the monodon, the water dwelling celestial that Sofia and Skulk saw being removed from the fishing village within Feyr Caverill where thet first encountered the vile creations of the entity Skulk had met who called himself The Potter. The work discussed reasons why celestial creatures such as unicorns or their ilk would be attacked, concluding that most such attacks are motivated by fiendish influence, as the corruption of such a creature of innocence could be immensely empowering for creatures of the lower planes.
Eledh, curious about Sofia's appearance, questioned her about her elven characteristics, but as their conversation began, alarm bells began to ring within the fortress and the two hurried to return to the council chamber.
Within the chamber, Yesanith, the elderly Skymarshall, confirmed that reports of five dragons attacking an advance drake sound to the west had come in - and that the message had been cut off, indicating that the sound had fallen. Yesanith steeled the resolve of the gathered staff of the fortress, and preparations for the attack began. On dragon wing and with prevailing winds, the attack was anticipated to occur after highsun on the following day.
Hoping to help with preparations, Sofia took Phaes and the wyvern rider Maelia to a side room and attempted to contact an otherwordly entity. This time, however, the spell went horribly wrong, and unable to control the eldritch energies, Sofia collapsed. Returned to consciousness with the help of Looks to Windward, Phaes forced Sofia to return to quarters and rest, before briefing the rest of the Wildcards. As Galindann knelt in vigil for the coming battle after briefing his order, Skulk made his way to the battlements to see the sky and the lay of the land, making a few notes for a new map, before returning to Sofia's quarters to ensure she was alright. Gemris made her way the the highest point within the fortress, the Draketower Sound, saying a quiet prayer before spending the night with the grizzled drakewarder and his beast. Morthak slept soundly, in preparation for the culmination of her long journey, but during the night she experienced another dragon dream, seeing the moment of Evendwyn's death, the last Skymarshall and Cequis' last rider.
As the new day dawned and highsun approached, the staff of the fortress made their final preparations and took to their posts. The wyvern riders took to the battlements and Gemris gathered the wildcards, saying a powerful benediction that summoned for them a beacon of hope. As they separated to go their separate ways, Skulk and Gemris climbed aboard a wyvern with Finwe. Sofia made her way with Eledh to one of the fortress's massive arbalests, where a number of arcane bolts were prepared that would allow her to cast her spells a much greater distance. Phaes took up a position on the battlements, bow nocked and ready. Morthak remained nowhere to be found. Galindann felt a large head nudge him in the back and found Yoothok behind him, prompting him to climab aboard.
Deep beneath the fortress in the wyvern rooks, Morthak made her way alone. Seeking out the stricken wyvern Cequis, Morthak dove into her memories, hearing the doubts and fears that the changeling who had killed Evendwyn had sown in the wyvern queen's mind. Morthak granted the wyvern some harsh wisdom, and with the influence of the changelings stripped away, Morthak and Cequis took flight, hurtling out of the caves to join the upcoming battle, as five winged figures in the distance approached.
Wyvern riders took to the air, flying evasively and jockeying for position as the dragons approached, splitting into two groups. To the north, a black and a green flew together; to the south, two reds switled around each other, moving judiciously and skillfully through the air; and down the middle a massive white dragon slowly drifted closer. As the wyvern riders feinted and weaved, the first broke, dashing forward to clash with the black dragon. Morthak, atop cequis, stood and blew her horn, the discordant sound stunning the green dragon and sending it hurtling to the ground. The black struggled as a second wyvern rider crashed into it. A ballista bolt whistled through the air, missing the black and green as one of Sofia's spells erupted in the sky behind them. The black curled its neck, inhaling and blasting a gout of acid that washed over one wyvern and her rider, and the first casualty of the battle was felt as a wyvern screamed and struggled to stay aloft and Elegnis tumbled from wyvernback and fell lifelessly towards the ground.
Gemris once more called upon the power of the Stargazer as twilight emanted from her starry form and the wildcards felt again empowered. To the south one of the red dragons feinted at Osonia while the other rose up from below, breathing a gout of flames. Finwe's wyvern rose up and shot over the top of the black dragon, and Skulk made a skilful dagger throw with Zitonai's tooth that wounded the wyrm. As it struggled, Syr Galindann guided Yothtook beneath and then behind the creature, rising up, unsheating Gnomon and striking it with a massive smite that ended its life.
As the corpse of the black dragon was released by the wyverns and tumbled to the ground, following it's green companion, to the south the flames guttered leaving an obscuring cloud of cinder and smoke and an unconscious rider on wyvernback. And down the middle, a terrifying draconic visage of ice-white spines continued to approach inexorably...

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Session Commenced:
The 2nd day of Gyr, 1622 TER
(Day 591 of the campaign)
Session Concluded:
The 3rd day of Gyr, 1622 TER
(Day 592 of the campaign)

42 days since Departing Tor Sionis.

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Terrenos

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Report Date

22 Feb 2023