(Circa March-August 2018)
The Party gained a new member, with Martigan away at his Hobgoblin village; Balbito, Cleric of Pelor. They did some research on what sort of adventure they could undertake to gain capital to fund the Army in Ysgard, necessary to defeat the Black Lotus. They decided on the slaying of a Black Dragon who lived in Semuanya's Bog in the Outlands, near the gate-town of Curst (which leads to Carceri). They heard that she had been terrorizing the locals of the area and acting erratically recently.
Dash-A was given some general information about Black Dragons from his contact Draylore in the Palace of Bahumat. Other Party members founds out the following information about this Dragon in particular.
The Party also learned more details about a mysterious disappearing island in the lake relatively nearby the Dragon's lair.
There was a moral discussion on whether or not it was OK to kill the Black Dragon, and the reasons for killing it. In the end all Party members accepted the quest, but agreed to let Balbito have a chance to talk to it if possible, to try to reform it.
The Planeswalkers entered the portal to Curst. They walked through the bog until they got near the Wild Elf Village. Cal went and talked to the Gollor, Shaman of the village, secretly. The Elves did not want to attack the dragon, or help others to do it, for fear of retribution.
The Shaman showed the Party secretly to a cave where they could rest, and also gain information. There were ancient drawings on the wall of the cave, showing the following pictures:
-Figures fighting lobster men with tentacled stomachs in their mouths (Chuls) at the Dragon's tower
- The same figures, each holding a rune that looked like a branch, in a circle, surrounding the tower
-All but one of the figures in graves, and the remaining one still holding a rune
-The last figure crossing over onto the Island
The next day, before dawn, the Party headed towards the lake. On the way there, they were attacked by a band of Lizardmen. They handled them without much difficulty, although the Lizardmen knew how to use the terrain to their advantage. However, one or two of them managed to escape the party, and rushed off to inform the Dragon.
The Bishop charmed one of the Lizardmen who we captured. His name was Ssendik, and he told us a lot more about the Dragon, the Lizardmen, and the Misty Island. Of particular interest to the Party was how the Dragon seemed afraid or angry of something on the island (since she killed a Druid who had managed to escape from there). It also seemed related to her by the cave drawings they had seen near the Elven Village.
2018/05
After dealing with the Lizardmen, The Planeswalkers went to The Misty Island - most of them went by raft, Dash-A flew, and Bishop, Skippy and Reinhalt Dimension Doored ahead. They discovered (and took) four Amulets of Protection from Abberations (with the branched glyph on them) near the centre of the island, beside a standing stone that had the same glyph on it, on a hillock. The entire area was covered with hillocks with sticks coming out of them, and items on the sticks. Nearby, at the very centre of the island, was a gated area where we heard music.
They met the Piper at the Gates of Dawn (an insane Satyr), with some Blink Dogs and two invisible Fey. They were dancing in front of a gate which appeared dedicated to Pelor, since his holy symbol was inscribed on the ground in that area. He charmed Skippy and Dash-A to dance. Some of the other Party members had put wax in their ears, so were immune to the music. Cal created water above the Satyr's head, to get him to stop playing music, which enraged him, so he and his friends attacked. Dash-A and Skippy were able to snap out of it due to the music stopping.
The Bishop ran ahead and jumped through the gate. Helga threw the Satyr to the ground with the idea of questioning him, but after a couple of rounds of her and Toby, in particular, getting hurt by the invisible fey, she reverted to her usual tactics and killed the enemy, helped by Dash-A, Cal, and a Wyvern which may or may not have been made of blood.
Balbito also decided to jump through the gate; as a Cleric of Pelor he felt it might lead to somewhere important for him. They were both spit back out unconscious a couple of rounds later. Skippy ran over with the idea of reviving them and accidentally flew through the gate.
After finishing the fight, we dragged the unconscious party members (who were changed in small ways) back to the raft, and were poling our way back when we noticed the Dragon flying towards us.
Reinhalt cast Fly on Toby and Helga, and he and Cal cast some spells to help the Party, before Teleporting the unconscious members to safety back at the cave. The remaining Party members ran and attempted to hide in the swamp, but the Dragon found Helga. She demanded that Helga hand over the amulet she had found at the island, which she did. The Dragon immediately destroyed it. After a brief conversation where she demanded Helga tell her where the party members were, with Helga refusing and trying to question her about things in return, she decided to bring Helga back to her lair.
As the Dragon started to fly away, Helga used her anklet of translocation to escape the Dragon's grasp and ran away. The Dragon was slow to follow due to Cal the Eagle casting Entangle. She was heading in Cal's direction when she was distracted by a Shriek Rock Helga threw, and headed off towards that instead. Helga hid better after she escaped, and everyone finally returned to the cave to plan their next actions. The Party decided to make some imitation Amulets in case the Dragon managed to capture other members in the future.
2018/06
The cave not being big enough for the Party and the Elves, Reinhalt Stone Shaped another, hidden cave for the Party to sleep in. Cal and Skippy went to warn the Elves. Reinhalt scried on the Dragon, and saw her giving orders to the Lizardmen to search the area for the Party. She said she was going to the Elven village.
Toby and Balibito climbed a tree and searched for the Dragon, which Balbito spotted pretty soon. Bishop ran off from the cave using Expeditious Retreat, climbed a tree, and made a Tarterian dragon illusion in the sky. The dragon hid from it. During this time, the Bishop got captured by Lizardmen, and taken to the Dragon. The Lizardmen took his sword to their village. The Bishop gave the Dragon a fake amulet when she demanded it. He told her he was here with his master, the Tarterian Dragon, and he had gotten separated. Later he said actually he was going to meet the Dragon at dawn near the island, in order to get something from the mad Satyr. The Dragon didn't really believe him, but told him she would kill him right away if it was a trap.
The Elves escaped to the real cave (there wasn't enough room for all of them, but the Party was unaware of that). The party went to talk to them. Although they were angry, they agreed to help clear out the Lizardmen scouts so that the Planeswalkers could get to the lake easily, in order to fight the Dragon.
The Planeswalkers went down to the water, and when they knew the Dragon was coming (from the rings, communicating with the Bishop) prepared by casting spells. The Dragon was wounded seriously in the first couple of rounds. She flew away, but Reinhalt teleported Helga and Dash-A up beside her, and Helga managed to finish her off.
The party then retrieved the Dragon corpse from the water with the help of a summoned Giant Octopus, cut off its head and took its skin (in a portable hole), and gave a claw to Chief Galisdeer of the Wild Elves.
2018/07
We asked the Elves to butcher the Dragon for us, and headed off to the Dragon's lair. It was guarded by Lizardmen. They were nervous because three of them had gotten dragged under by the Chuls. The Bishop made an illusion of the Black Dragon telling them to clear off, which they did willingly. Cal and Skippy went ahead to the Lizardman village while Reinhart scried on the inside of the Dragon's lair. He saw the Lizardmen tied up and getting sacrificed to an altar in front of a gate to a strange place inside. At the Lizardman village, Cal created a distraction by summoning a bird which attacked the villagers, while Skippy sneaked into the chieftain's hut and retrieved the Bishop's sword.
As soon as they got back, the entire Party headed into the lair, Helga and Balbito wading across the lake (and swimming part of the way), and the rest following. Unfortunately, the lair was underwater, but the spell-casters had already used their Swim and Freedom of Movements spells. Most of the Planeswalkers still had Waterbreathing on, but Bishop and Skippy hadn't been covered by that because the Bishop had been with the Dragon at that time.
The lair was also supernaturally unnerving and dark - Toby couldn't handle it, so stayed up-top with the Bishop. Balbito was too weighed down by his heavy armor to be of much use. Helga also had trouble moving quickly. Luckily Dash-A and Cal could navigate easily underwater, and Dash-A's firepower plus Cal's summoned creatures managed to defeat the Chuls and the Tentacle monster we discovered within without too much trouble, although Cal was seriously wounded in the process.
Reinhalt couldn't do much, not being able to cast underwater, so he figured out how to use the amulets we had found to close the gate again. The Planeswalkers decided to rest overnight, then seal off the entrances to the lair with Stone Shape, so no-one would open it again without great effort.
The Dragon's horde included heaps of gold, a +4 ring of protection, and a few other small things. The ring was sold to fund the Army, and also get Black Dragon armour and other things made for them.
2018/08
The Planeswalkers returned home by Teleporting over two days (missing an ambush, apparently). They spend some time attending to personal business in Sigil. Reinhalt filed a report at the Fated HQ on the Dragon,the glyphs, and the spell scroll found there. Cal visits his father and his girlfriend.
Helga sold the magic items, then went to Ysgard to level up the [army in ysgard#army]] to second level. Abraxis the Battle Dragon, who Helga had met at Densel's Challenge, had decided to join the Army. Sigurd, also in Ysgard training the army, was happy that his arm was growing back, slowly. He told Helga we needed someone who could keep track of the money and supplies, and also that they needed something to do, or they would get bored.
Dash-A, in addition to working at the Great Foundry, went to collect the money from Giovanni in Torch. Giovanni told him that he was having trouble because he was having to pay money to Tiamat's Chosen, a rival gang (26). He wondered if the Party could do something about it. Balbito worked at the forge, and found out about a mission from Perry, his Halfling Bard friend (25).
Skippy spent fifty gold pieces to hire a bard friend to write the epic of the Bishop and herself taking on the Dragon, with friends, and to perform and spread the tale. The Bishop sold a crown from the treasure to the Tiger's Claw, discovered he had made a neat little profit in the last month with his tavern, and also that he was being shaken down for money; He also sold the dragon viscera through Tobers at the University of Planar Studies, and received a message from Savrin regarding a mission from Enial (27).