Secret Hatchery

Plot points/Scenes

• You have been riding this dragon for almost a day, and it has finally dipped down below the cloud layer, making a beeline for a giant, steaming volcano that is clearly active.  The temperature starts to rise rapidly as the dragon dives, quickly becoming uncomfortable.
• Just before the heat would become deadly, the air seems to shimmer, and the dragon breaks through the illusion barrier, banking past the lip of the volcano.  Where before the caldera looked like a volcano on the verge of eruption, now it is clear that this volcano has been dormant for many years.  The caldera forms a lumpy figure-eight shape, with one loop much larger than the other, and pockmarked caves lining the edges of the larger loop.  In the far end of the larger loop, there is a giant bubbling lake with an ornate building in the center.  Closer to the intersection, there is a huge pen with wandering shapes in it, and past that you get a scant glance into the other loop, and manage to catch sight of a dozen or so large lumps before the dragon has dived down into the larger loop, obscuring sight of the other one.  The dragon swoops down in an arc, and you can see the legionnaires jumping off one by one and landing in the open sandy space that appears to be a training ground.
• Dragon drops off Genhe (still secured to stake) on training ground in middle of legionnaires; People (minus the 13 on the dragon) are going to be less inclined to question the Viridian Rogue here; they've clearly been vetted by the Viridian Wing, and many people won't even have known the past Rogue.  The only dangers are the Chief General, who can't be encountered unless the group shoulders their way past the guard into his chambers, and the Aurum Sorcerer Malicaus Ferroun, who is coordinating everything for the hatching.
• The legionnaires from the dragon are inclined to be a bit skeptical of Viridian, but mostly want to know what to do with the prisoner, and why it was so urgent to bring her to the Hatchery.  If left to their own devices, they will bring her to the Viridian Rogues chambers for questioning (with one legionnaire assigned to guard her until Viridian shows up)
• Major discoveries that can be made: 
  • If the team investigates the Hatching Sands, they can see fourteen eggs (one gold, three bronze, four brown, three blue, and three green), all of the same maturity, being tended by humanoids.  There is no adult gold dragon in the area, which will immediately flag as weird for at least Minverix. If the attendants are questioned, they will gleefully admit that the eggs were stolen; the clutch had been shelled before the father made it back to the Western continent, and so they were undefended save for him.
  • If the team investigates the dragon's dens dotted along the cauldera walls, they will discover almost 50 dragons nests.  The occupied nests all have dragons wearing the same woven orange collars that were found in the army on the march plot.  If the team finds the weaver's workshop, they will find wizards weaving more of these collars, and working magic into each one.  Detect Magic will determine that the magic is similar to the 7th level Mind Control spell, but seems to be tied to artifacts rather than directly powered by the caster.
  • If the team investigates the Viridian Rogue's room, they will discover a large map tracking various locations, with no clarification.  Many of the places marked on the map are along coastlines, and the only one not crossed out is Dolaris.  Below that is a bunch of sketches of various creatures, annotated with bright green handwriting.  If Genhe was brought to the Viridian Rogue's chambers, the team can talk with her, and her level of cooperation depends on how much she thinks they are part of the Orange Legion
  • Various members of the Orange Legion can be encountered in the mess hall, infirmary, and barracks.  In each location, there is a 1/4th chance that someone there saw the Chief General retrieve the Tome of Ages from Viridian (the dragon) and take it to the Shrine in the center of the Direplacid Lake.
• The arc ends when the party ends up in the Shrine and discovers the large dragon statue carved entirely out of obsidian, with bright rubies sparkling for eyes.  The statue looks normal at first glance, but closer inspection shows that there are five places on the statue that appear to be missing; the left eyetooth in the mouth, the thumb talon on the right forepaw, the place on the head where a dragon's horns or antenna would ordinarily be, the middle claw on the back left foot, and a deep indent in the base of the statue that the dragon's tail is curled around. (If the team visited the hatchery, they will note that an egg would fit perfectly in the indent). Along the wall behind the statue, is an ornately carved poem labeled the Call Back Prophesy .  In a corner of the shrine, on a long table, the Tome of Ages is sitting open to a specific page.  The content of the Tome itself is completely unintelligible, but several handwritten pages on the table indicate that the page it's open to confirms the Callback Prophesy, and lays out the conditions for raising the mythical Tiamuth, the predecessor to all dragons, including the Goddesses.  A couple of aspects of the ritual have been translated, including the need for the completed Tiamuth statue to be imbued with the energy of a solar eclipse. (Further investigation of the shrine indicates that the roof is capable of opening)

Plot type

Arc