Background
The Cult of the Dragon has been active in Faerûn for centuries. It has focused on making undead
dragons to fulfill a prophecy most of that time, but that’s changing.
Dragon Masks
The new leader of the cult is a
Calishite named
Severin Silrajin, who believes that real knowledge and power belongs to living
dragons, not undead ones. Severin’s ambition amused
Tiamat, so she revealed the existence of five dragon masks to him - one for each chromatic dragon color. Individually, these ancient masks allow wearers to communicate with dragons. More importantly, a person who is erudite in draconic lore becomes a wyrmspeaker while wearing the mask, which allows the wearer to think like a dragon, gain favor among dragons, and subtly influence their behavior. When all five are brought together, they magically merge into a single
Mask of the Dragon Queen. With the assembled mask, the cult can release Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells.
After Severin (subtly guided by Tiamat) discovered that secret, he bent all the cult’s resources to finding the long-lost dragon masks in their secret hiding places. When he recovered the
Red Dragon Mask, Severin became the first of the wyrmspeakers, but others soon followed.
Secrets
The Cult of the Dragon has kept secret its goal to bring
Tiamat into the world thus far. Many know of the cult’s increased activity along the
Sword Coast, especially in the north, but the reasons behind the resurgence are unknown.
Besides his cultists,
Severin has forged an alliance with a splinter faction of the Red Wizards of Thay. This small and secretive group, led by an outcast named
Rath Modar, plots to unseat the
lich Szass Tam from his position over the Red Wizards. Rath believes that in exchange for his help in releasing Tiamat, she will grant him the power he needs to overthrow Szass Tam.
Cult Organization
The Cult of the Dragon is organized in cells, which vary in size from just a handful of members to scores. Leaders in the cult are known as Wearers of Purple, and they outrank normal cultists, but no formal grades exist within the ranks of the Wearers of Purple.
Although the cult uses regalia in its rituals and its distant camps, members who operate in public places dress and act no differently from anyone else.
The cult is not above hiring mercenaries when it has special jobs to fulfill. Indeed, many of the “cultists” that characters encounter in the first parts of this adventure are working for pay.
Overview
During the time covered by the first half of this adventure, the cult already has several of the five
dragon masks. While the cult works to gain more,
Severin initiates the second part of his plan to release
Tiamat: recruiting dragons and assembling a treasure hoard worthy of the queen of evil dragons. These efforts draw the characters’ attention to the cult.
The action begins when a town comes under attack by a dragon and its allies. Characters can intervene to save townsfolk, but not before attackers carry away an important scholar. While rescuing that captive from the raiders’ camp, characters learn they are up against the Cult of the Dragon, and they have the chance to destroy the subterranean
Dragon Hatchery that the cult guards.
The hatchery provides clues to the cult’s operation and sends the characters on a long journey northward. During that trip, they face threats from the cult and gain some unexpected allies within the
Zhentarim, a shadowy organization with an unsavory history. North of
Waterdeep, the cult’s contraband is offloaded at a smuggler’s den for shipment to a castle long ago abandoned.
A portal beneath the temple connects to the stronghold of one of the cult’s most powerful and most disgruntled members,
Talis the White, who can become either a deadly enemy or a crucial collaborator to the characters. With or without Talis’s help, the characters must get into a flying citadel that a
cloud giant placed at the cult’s disposal and prevent it from reaching its destination at the
Well of Dragons.
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