Anthology 3: Dorf Inc.

It’s a busy night in the Blackstone Keep. A popular gathering spot for the local guard as well as mercenaries from the Hordes of the Hollow. The recent appearance of a secretive bounty has caused quite the stir amongst the patrons of the keep. Among these patrons are the archeologist Dorím Steelbone, the alchemist Grimdor Bittercloak, the pirate Hargrun Tellagun and the bounty hunter Burt. Dorím strikes up a conversation with Grimdor after seeing him take a copy of the bounty poster and they quickly decide to join forces. Hargrun and Burt are soon to follow and with them meeting the party size requirement, they head for the briefing. They’re instructed into the waiting room where they find a bottle with pink liquid. Grimdor, using his alchemical expertise, identifies it as being a potion that allows the maker of the potion to read the consumer’s mind. The party proceeds to drink it and, after about a minute the effect wears off. The dwarf that let them into the waiting room leads them into a bigger office where they are briefed on the assignment.

About a week ago, the dragonborn city of Yolgolzhof was overrun by the Orcish hordes. The mother dragon of the city, a brass dragon named Viintaasqah Britnaalklo Fodiiznaalgram Viinnaalgrah, promptly helped evacuate her people and has since taken up residence in the nearby city of Muntgard. The dwarves of the hollow are naturally unhappy with this massive influx of dragonborn warriors into their land and have taken it upon themselves to respond with the immediate and swift destruction of Muntgard and the residing dragonborn. The problem is the mother dragon, and the party is tasked with mapping out Muntgard’s strategic keypoints, the elimination of the dragon and the removal of her brood. The party is given three days to prepare before departing for Muntgard. They are instructed to get the job done as quickly as possible and to waste no time leaving the city once it has been completed as there are demolition crews in place to blow the city to kingdom come once the dragon has been removed.

After the briefing, the group spends some time gathering and preparing supplies. Dorím uses legend lore to find out more about the dragon, but the results are meager. He informs the group that there are five eggs in total. Grimdor produces a few potions the group can use while Hargrun and Dorím use their skills to prepare a map of Muntgard. Burt buys a few healing potions, and the group eventually leaves for Muntgard. They’re held up at the gate by a guard who senses that Dorím has more motives than he lets on, but they manage to talk their way in. They take up residence in one of the many taverns where they meet a black dragonborn named Suvu. They have a brief conversation with her before heading to bed. Dorím spends the night correcting his map of Muntgard. The next day, the group walks through the city to note down points of interest. They note that the entrances seem particularly understaffed and underequipped. The bridge connecting the two halves of the city is extremely sturdy. The dragon’s roost has no specific weaknesses, but Hargrun does spot the dragon pacing around one particular spot and concludes that it’s the location of the nest.

After completing their scouting, the group talks over the options. After some back-and-forth, they decide to attempt to kill the dragon that same night. They take an hour to prepare for Dorím, who casts death ward on everyone except Hargrun, citing his limited magical resources and trusting his capabilities to keep his distance. They proceed into the deeper parts of the city. Grimdor and Hargrun are stealthy enough to need no assistance, with Dorím making do with invisibility granted by Grimdor as his items and undead nature allow him to move silently. Burt is plainly visible, but is unassuming enough to pass through the non-guarded part of the city. After a while the group reaches three possible pathways guarded by three different groups. The first is a dragonborn with a massive hound-like beast, the second is a well-equipped dragonborn with a small band of followers, and the third is three decently equipped dragonborn. After some time, the group decides to try and ambush the three decently equipped dragonborn.

Grimdor takes the lead in the ambush, but his spell fails. The dragonborn, now on high alert, are hindered by Dorím’s darkness spell. Dorím then transforms into a dread form and, after his darkness is dispelled and everyone has taken their positions, slams the dragonborn that dispelled it with a massive skeletal hand. This causes another of the dragonborn to hack away at Dorím, but he is promptly burnt by hellish flames in return. Hargrun attempts to fire away at the dragonborn mage to finish him off but has his bullet reflected back at him instead. Burt and Grimdor attack the dragonborn that attacked Dorím who gets poisoned and taunted in the process. The two dragonborn harassing the group are eventually finished off with a few eldritch blasts and axe hits from Burt and Dorím while the last dragonborn attempts to escape. The dragonborn summons a magical sphere to protect him from the onslaught, but is held in place by inky tentacles summoned by Hargrun. The dragonborn, after a brief period of consideration, drops the sphere and manages to seemingly send a message before being grappled and killed.

After a short rest the group enters the roost of the mother dragon. It initially seems empty, but the mother dragon eventually descends when Burt attempts to reach the eggs and gets skewered by a wall of jagged metal. The dragon attempts to reason with the group without hiding its disappointment in the fact that these are the measures that are being taken against her people, despite their innocence. After a brief verbal back and forth between her and Dorím, the hostility shown by Grimdor ends the negotiations when a poisoned crossbow bolt passes through the illusion of the dragon that was speaking to them. When Burt attempts to reach her nest again, the illusion dissipates. The dragon’s head pops out from under the ground where it was buried and blasts all except Burt with dragonfire, and the battle begins.

The dragon takes the initiative and smacks Dorím around with a barrage of claw- and bite attacks. Dorím, heavily injured but still standing, assumes his skeletal form once again and uses his magical power to absorb some of the dragon’s life essence to heal himself. The dragon knocks everyone down with a beat of her wings in response and moves around the corner of her blade barrier, thus removing herself from the line of sight of Grimdor and Hargrun. They are forced to reposition while Burt fails to break through the wall protecting the dragon’s nest. The dragon uses the time this buys her to continue beating Dorím down who foolishly retaliates with another barrage of hellfire that proves to be entirely ineffective against the dragon. Dorím manages to remain standing for a little while longer and manages to wound the dragon a bit more with a blast of necrotic energy, but eventually goes down. The dragon moves next to her blade barrier once again while Burt engages with a pair of javelins, one of which manages to connect. Hargrun makes his way over to a boulder to set up his shots while Grimdor brings Dorím back to consciousness.

The dragon attempts to knock them both down, positioning herself next to Hargrun in the process. Hargrun, ever the warrior, makes a tactical retreat with the help of a smokescreen to prevent the dragon from swiping at him in the process. Burt manages to land another javelin before being knocked prone by the dragon’s wings along with the rest of the group. The dragon continues to keep Dorím out of the fight, but fails at taking down Grimdor due to Dorím’s death ward protecting him. This allows Grimdor to get Dorím back into the fight. This success, however, was short lived as he was promptly cut down again by the dragon’s tail. It buys enough time for Hargrun, now empowered by the elixirs of Grimdor, to fire devastating shots from his rifle. These carve a chunk out of the dragon’s side, redirecting her attention away from the now fully dead body of Dorím and the battered and bruised Grimdor. Hargrun’s nimbleness and smokescreen allow him to dodge the dragon’s onslaught while Grimdor revivifies Dorím, who along with Hargrun damages the dragon some more, with Hargrun in particular landing the more potent attacks. The dragon attempts to permanently remove both Dorím and Grimdor from the equation, killing the former and knocking the latter unconscious. She also knocks out Burt, who’d managed to land a few axe hits on her after finally being able to catch up to the dragon flying around. Just before she finishes off Hargrun, a last shot is fired and lands between the dragon’s eyes, finally putting her down.

Grimdor is helped back up with a healing potion and Dorím is revivified once more, and the group destroy the eggs before escaping. They make it to the northern gate which at this point only has two inexperienced guards. Dorím dispatches both of them with the help of his undeath and Grimdor opens the gate. The group is met by their briefer along with an entourage of evokers. They provide the information they managed to gather and confirm that their mission was a success. They’re asked who is the most hurt and upon answering are promptly killed by powerful magic. The last one standing is Hargrun, who tells them to go to hell. The last thing he sees is the evokers preparing their destructive magic as they enter the city from which screams of anger and pain erupt.