Expedition 120: We're Off to Meet the Dragon!

**Expedition 120:** *We're Off to Meet the Dragon, the Horrible Dragon of Doom!*

Report filed with the Ironwood Adventurer’s Guild of Port Vrall

Filed by: Valorie Vayer            *Annotations by Boris, who had to read this whole thing in half an hour because nobody told poor Boris this expedition was even happening until his shift was almost over.*

In association with: Gonerton Bergs, Ellie of Dualith, Fire Crackle (Compact candidate)

Report of an expedition into the Felwood, Blessed Savannah, Burning Hills, and Far Hills; undertaken on the 4th of Bloom, AoP 366; for the purpose of recovering Rhinoceros horns fulfilling a bounty from Amadeus Arbock, delivering Curry of Kiore to a mission teaching Enkidar shapeshifting, and retrieving Noonwraith specimens for Might of Kiore. *You wandered through the wilderness, gave treasure to a dragon, brought undead into a town, and you call this an expedition!? I have had better expeditions when I was walking home drunk!*

Information to be added to the Compact’s Eastern Regional Records:

* The Blessed Savanah contains a large pride of lions, numbering roughly one dozen. *‘Contains.’ Not ‘contained.’ Oh, I can’t wait to see how you figured that out.*
* The dragon Xovreme, ruler of the Burning Hills, has developed a large black scale patch on his chest, which may indicate he is developing a fourth head. Additionally, he stores his horde in the Elemental Plane of Fire, and has considerable control over the portal to this plane, being able to weave its shape and size. Xovreme has now twice implemented a head-by-head tax against the Compact; it is Valorie Vayer’s opinion that it is his habit to take treasure from each individual, rather than from groups. *Based on your profound knowledge of dragons?*
* Noonwraiths in the Far Hills contain exclusively Gnomish skeletons. However, each has a spiritual form comparable to a human. The skeleton is exploded to fill this larger shape. The reason for this is currently unclear. *Och, that is creepy. I am buying a grave bronze amulet.*

Summary of mission events:

The mission did not deviate substantially from its plan, which was:

* To proceed on mystical horseback through the Felwood Bypass into the Blessed Savannah, to the border of the Burning Hills.
* To split the party *what, why? are you stupid?* into a group to stay in the Savannah and guard valuables, Ellie and Fire Crackle, and a group to head into the Burning Hills to treat with Xovreme, Valorie and Gonerton.
* To pay Xovreme to allow Enkidar to learn from Curry.
* To reconvene.
* To head through the Far Hills, isolate a group of Noonwraiths, and charm them, as per Might’s instruction, to follow us into Kiore. *This is clearly a Vayer plan if I’ve ever heard one. Undead and people should not mix. It is not natural.*
* To return to Kiore.

We encountered no hazards in the Felwood nor the Savannah, and reached the border region without incident. Gonerton, Valorie, and Curry took Ellu and Phantom Steeds through the Hills, using magic to improve their wisdom and wayfinding. They encountered no hazards and found Xovreme’s Lair, interrupting a discussion between Xovreme and Enkidar about the powers of Evocation.

Valorie and Gonerton gave Xovreme the Adamantine Chainshirt *ahh, I was thinking of saving to buy that one! The dragon cannot even wear it!* and he consented to speak with us, though his blue head did almost fry Valorie in a show of power *Clearly did not show enough power to make you run away like a sane person.* Xovreme was remarkably tractable in negotiating, allowing us to buy Enkidar’s time with the Halberd of the False Guard and the promise of more treasure on our return in a week. Xovreme promised Curry’s safety, saying that she was ‘barely a morsel.’ The sole hiccup was Xovreme’s interest in Gonerton, who was a ‘proper meal,’ and who had brought no tribute; Valorie quickly provided him with the Potion of Kai Root to give. Xovreme’s phrasing was interesting; it is possible he referred not to the size of his meal physically—Gonerton is quite skinny and mildly underweight *please, like you are one to talk.* Xovreme may have been considering his ‘meal’s’ power instead, though this is not certain. If so, however, it has fascinating implications on Xovreme’s physiology and magic.

Valorie and Gonerton left quickly after assuring themselves of Curry’s safety; the return trip was uneventful until the two ran across Ellie and Fire Crackle in the Hills’ outskirts. *Oh, I called it.*

Fire Crackle and Ellie had made camp in the Savannah and discreetly guarded Valorie and Gonerton’s valuables, but they were lax in keeping watch *it’s going to be the lions* and they were unable to notice a large pride of lions *yup* until they were nearly among them. The lions, fortunately, were resting, not hunting. Ellie and Fire Crackle quickly gathered the valuables, mounted their Illusory Steeds, and ran for the Burning Hills. The lions gave chase but were outpaced.

However, because they could not attempt to navigate while moving, both Ellie and Fire Crackle ran off a cliff into a pool of lava, destroying their steeds and moderately injuring both party members, which was how Valorie and Gonerton found them. *This is what happens when you don’t talk to Boris. If you had run this plan by me, I would have told you, ‘do not split the party, classic mistake.’ Honestly, I have been an adventurer for as long as all these four put together, why does nobody ask Boris for his wisdom?*

The group camped, healed, and prepared for the next leg of their journey in the Savannah. Gonerton did, however, take the opportunity to fulfill a bounty from Amadeus Arbock on ivory, killing a rhinoceros. After an hour, we moved to the Far Hills and hunted for a pod of Noonwraiths. Valorie and Ellie spotted a cluster of five from a distance. We had time to prepare buffs and distribute Gonerton’s Joint Casting spell. We were well equipped before we encountered the Noonwraiths. They proved less than capable. *You got very lucky, you mean. Also, I am supposed to cite this to potential customers as a Service to Vrall? Because a Wizard incinerated a random beast for ivory as an afterthought while running around among lions? Ridiculous. This is what happens when adventurers own their own guilds. Poor Boris, you suffer so.*

The Noonwraiths resisted nonmagical weapons damage, which made combat a slog, but nobody was seriously wounded and Valorie incapacitated all but one wraith with a Hypnotic Pattern. Dispatching the last proved simple, even after it descended to make life-draining strikes. With the rest of the Noonwraiths incapacitated, they could be Charmed easily, once Gonerton expent a flight spell to reach them. With Gonerton’s Joint Casting, the charm was extended to last on three wraiths for seven hours, plenty of time to lure them back to Might. The last Wraith proved incredibly resistant to Charms, but in the end, it too was ensorcelled. *You befriended the undead. I think that makes you evil? I was not an excellent student of religion, but I think that’s how that works.*

The Noonwraiths could not speak nor write but could understand Valorie with Tongues. They were, indeed, disturbingly familiar towards her, in the odd way of undead. *That means they looked at you like they wanted to wear your skin, I’m guessing.* The fourth was persuaded to leave for the Tower, the rest followed us to Might, who trapped them, concluding the expedition. The wraiths caused quite a stir in Kiore as we passed through; for the better, once it was clear they were pacified *you say*. All in all, it was a fully successful expedition. *You certainly did faff about exactly as much as you planned to, so Boris will file this in the success folder, sure. Ahh, I would say adventurers were better when I was young, but frankly Tinstills and the murder-elf were worse.*

**Expedition Result: Expedition is considered a Success**

**Expedition Level:** 7 (Applied to Vrall Adventurer’s Guild)

**Expedition Loot:** 1 Rhinocerous Horn (delivered to Amadeus Arbock for 140gp bounty), 3 Noonwraiths (delivered to Might of Kiore for 1300gp bounty, paid as store credit)