Cold Determination

The group heads out(6:48) toward the dwarven settlement of Craig Hearth after Ronnie and his friends, as fast as they can. The weather is unnaturally bitter cold, and the horses seem to not be cooperating. Kesra manages to convince Red to speed up, and Leona uses Animal Friendship on Alexander’s horse to get it to speed up too.

They come into Craig Hearth(17:26) to find it snowing heavily, and see tracks heading north toward High Strike mine. They confirm with a dwarf in town that kids were seen heading that way, and press on in that direction. Alexander recalls that this area has seen heavy conflict between Dwarves and Orcs. They all continue to look for ways to move along faster.

As they head along(33:06), a massive white dragon appears and attacks them. It’s a short brutal fight, as they manage to deal some significant damage to the dragon, but it blasts them several times with its cold breath as well, before it flies off in the direction of the mine.

The group gets their mounts together(1:21:48) and heads after the beast. Leona sends Ronnie a message to see where he is, and gets an excited response - they’ve just found the gold in the dragon’s lair! The message then cuts off and the group redoubles their efforts to get there quickly. Leona casts fly on Red, and she and Kesra take off on her.

As they fly(1:30:20), they notice Red has sprouted incorporeal wings. They land at the frozen mine’s entrance and sneak in, finding dwarven miners frozen solid. They hear the dragon roar as they enter, finding a cavern with dozens of bodies, a ship, a massive pile of gold, and a number of carcasses of large animals, as well as the dragon, who is just finishing devouring someone.

As they survey the scene(1:45:30), Leona messages Ronnie again, learning that he’s hiding in the ship, but the dragon is between Kesra and Leona and the ship. They stay there watching, waiting for the others to catch up. Leona continues to message Ronnie, assuring him that help is on the way, to stay hidden.

Elden, Alexander, and Atlas arrive(1:50:55), learning from Red that they are still alive. They don’t hear combat, and head in stealthily, with Atlas taking the lead. However, the dragon hears Atlas enter, and combat breaks out. The dragon gets off one more breath weapon attack before the party swarms it, with Kesra chopping off its head to finish it off. As she does so, a twin dragon appears, also dying, but managing a vicious bite on Kesra as it falls.

The walls light up with draconic runes(2:24:03) - prayers of the Dragon Cult, with iconography of Tiamat. The dragons seem to have been created by cultists - there is a tale of two brothers who strive to rise within the ranks of the Dragon Cult. Leona finds Ronnie passed out from fear in the ship. She heals him up, but he remains unconscious. Kesra crawls out of the dragon’s mouth, Alexander and Atlas discuss the guilt that Ronnie is likely to experience from losing his friends, and the foolishness that he displayed.

Elden and Kesra begin sorting through the treasure(2:40:15), getting Alexander’s aid in melting it out of the ice. They find a set of shackles, 5,000 gold pieces, and a white, flower-shaped gem on a necklace. Kesra picks up the gem and gets a vision of a man who looks like Aureo, giving the gem to a halfling. A younger halfling takes the gem off on adventure, walking into the dragon’s lair. Then she sees the gem in its rightful place on the Veldahar - this is Echo’s Lament. Kesra telepathically tells Red that she found it and hears someone else’s voice in her head say “Well done, my champion”. Leona also finds two bottles, half frozen in the ice. When Kesra goes to check on Red, she says “I had forgotten how it felt to fly”.