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Next: Draugh Empire, Part 1: Finding Midnight

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Story

May 14, 1236 AD (Harvest Wharf)

After 3 uneventful days of travel, the adventurers return to Harvest Wharf. Jovias bids the group goodbye and returns to the alchemy guild. The group decides to speak to Captain Dakan first.

In the barracks, Fi describes the summary of the group’s adventures in the Krimson Forest and Redtooth Lands. Captain Dakan seems upset about the latest turn of events in the Forest and now in the Norrish Sea. It turns out there are many Black Dragons halting all ships that sail from the town. The Dragon Warriors said they were on it, but they are secretive as usual. Vegeta thinks he could talk to Eldrick and get an in with Captain Pankraz.

Fi mentions the note to “Only trust Midnight”, but Dakan doesn’t know the name. He figures that must be a codename. Reminds him of the “Night Guardian”, who seemed to hunt criminals and the Magmere Gang. That’s all he knows.

Claire and Hawk help Vegeta talk to Captain Pankraz at a bar where the Dragon Warriors are. With some help from Eldrick, Pankraz mentions their mission is to find a thief named Kandar, who fled to a remote island in the Norrish Sea. A fleet of Black Dragons of various ages have formed a blockade in the sea. Eldrick mentions Pankraz has a secret weapon: A dragon who patrols the seas who will help the Warriors fend off the dragons. Eldrick invites Vegeta and his friends along. The Dragon Warriors plan to leave in 3 days.

East Ferren Trading Company

The team heads to the Trading Company to combine the findings from Merki's shipments: The lens, the block of starmetal, and the instructions. Fi uses the lens on the starmetal and sees a message inside the block. Hawk helps him decode the message (See "Merki's Final Words" for the translation.)

The team meets Marjroie Mel and tell her about the Krimson Forest, CF, and the Filth Fever plague. They mention the broken weapons, but not the working ones they received from the master elven blacksmith. Fi manages to convince her to send them to the Draugh Empire, although she needs to speak to her father first. When she leaves, Abraxinal notes that the party has effective spurred the Mel Family to war, and they should be proud of their manipulative prowess.

May 15, 1236 AD

In the afternoon the team met East Ferren Trading Company leader Melvin Mel, along with his three daughters. He thanked them for all of their help in locating the crates, and mourned the loss of Merki. He asked the team to travel to the Draugh Empire. Officially they are checking on the contracts Merki set up with the royal family, but really he wants them to figure out what Merki discovered. Did that terrible secret lead to his death? He knows about the blockade and is thankful Vegeta has an in with the Dragon Warriors.

Melvin also thanks them for telling him about CF. While Melodie and Captain Dakan reinforce guards and patrols around the city, Marjorie will visit the Krimson Forest directly to provide assistance. Melanie has asked several clerics of Laniss to take a look at the diseased lands, as well. Melvin hands them a diamond lens . By focusing on the lens, the party can communicate with the Mel family across long distances.

Melanie leaves with the party and warns them to tell the Mels everything. Marjorie thinks they are hiding something from her, but she hasn't pried into it yet. Vegeta and Nidri deduce she seems concerned for their well being. Surprising, given the warning Merki gave.

In the evening, the team visits the tavern where the Dragon Warriors are gathering intelligence. Captain Pankraz and Eldrick are discussing their plans. The Captain won't give them a ride to the Draugh Empire because of the hostile territory he plans to enter, but Eldrick has an idea: Let the team join as honorary Dragon Warriors! Pankraz eventually allows it, provided they can pass a test. He'll set things up the next day.

May 16, 1236 AD

The party meets Captain Pankraz at the crack of dawn, ready to take his test.

He put a barrel with the Dragon Warrior logo somewhere in town. He wants the party to find the barrel, find what's inside it, and describe it to him by sundown.

Claire, Vegeta, and Nidri visit Willy's Magic Smoke Emporium, which specializes in trinkets smuggled from the Draugh Empire. The rich folk of Cliffside love it, especially how all the devices take thunder magic. Claire finds one that shoots fire. He also sells a variety of magical reagents and herbs, which Nidri notes are used for recreational purposes. Claire checks the barrel in the back. Pankraz visited him during the night.

During the afternoon, the team meets up again. They know the barrel may be at the barracks, or it may be in the Wreckage, a neighborhood in the Docks that was destroyed during the "earthquake" but never rebuilt. Locals say they saw a building collapse even further when a man entered the Wreckage that night.

Hawk and Claire go to the Barracks, where Claire tells everyone about her new job with the East Ferren Trading Company. Hawk tells everyone stories about the Dragon Warriors, and Claire uses this as a distraction to enter the Armory. She finds a barrel with a well crafted Longsword, but no marks on the barrel. At least Hawk got some silver pieces from his story telling.

Fi and Nidri enter one of the collapsing buildings. Fi scouts ahead and sees a barrel on the left with the Dragon Warrior logo. On the right is a hand and a childlike voice calling for help. As Fi investigates the hand, the building begins to collapse. Nidri and Fi barely drag the barrel out of the building as it collapses and realize it's empty.

As the sun sets, the party talks to Captain Pankraz. Fi explains the contents of the barrel to him, and the Captain thanks the party for their honesty and attempts to rescue what was ultimately an illusion. They are all honorary Dragon Warriors!

May 17, 1236 AD

Captain Pankraz and the Dragon Warriors plan to split the warriors among two ships. Eldrick will lead the Honorary Dragon Warriors along one ship, while the other Dragon Warriors board the other ship. Pankraz leads and the party bids Harvest Wharf goodbye.

Right after lunchtime, the two ships are sailing across the Norrish Sea when a large black dragon attacks the front ship! The party watches a group of black dragons attack the other ship and try to capsize it, just as a huge bronze dragon emerges from the sea and attacks the black dragon leader. A group of smaller dragons and harpies attack the party's ship. By the time the dust settles, one harpy survives and tries to flee only to be shot down a quarter of a mile away.

The bronze dragon and Captain Pankraz greet the party. Eldrick infers the dragon was Pankraz's secret weapon, which causes Pankraz to face palm out of embarrassment. The dragon, named Shengren, accidentally starts chatting with the party. He knows Captain Dakan, and promises to meet him once they are done.

Pankraz notes there is another flock of black dragons approaching, and fighting their way through it will give Kandar enough time to flee. Eldrick suggests instead that he take some of the strike teams and his ship assaults Kandar's fort. According to him, the fort used to be a pirate king's home base. As the ship approaches, Vegeta notices a huge amount of water spur out.

Pirate Fort!

As the party departs on the island and attacks the front guards, a loud dragon roar is heard from the castle. The dragon guards turn against the bandits and begin infighting. They party takes advantage of the chaos to break through.

Fi and Fleir quickly swim through the underwater walkways through the castle. Fleir quickly notices something in the water but isn't able to stop it. Vegeta quickly reaches the door to the throne room, just in time to hear a Black Dragon inside power up!

Fi and Fleir observe a dragon covered in acid pustules grow a second set of jaws and an acid-dripping tail. It howls for Kandar's blood, and gloats that he lost his trademark axe. He quickly cowers behind the pillars in the room. Fleir quickly retrieves the axe for Kandar, which is favorite axe- well designed for cutting down dragons. Everyone combines their efforts to defeat the dragon.

Claire quickly charms Kandar into giving himself up, and he's quite thankful. He points out a hidden exit, and Vegeta notices a hidden stash under the throne.

Captain Pankraz's ship catches up, and Pankraz thanks them personally for getting Eldrick back in one piece. The rest of the day is spent partying and celebrating, although a monk visits the party to learn more about the powered up dragon they fought. They are unsurprised by Shengren's disguise, and also wonder if the Dragonlord is linked to Frieza on the Great Plains. The monk isn't sure, but he does give Vegeta some help: his own dragon scale. He tells Vegeta to find a Copper Dragon who may aid him if her jokes don't kill him.

The monk mentions that outsiders have always existed in the Material Plane, even after interplanar travel was cut off. He does wonder why they became more active as of late, and does note the dragons have not been on top of this.

May 18, 1236 AD

After a day of partying, the Dragon Warriors board the ships and prepare to depart to the Draugh Kingdom.

Handouts

Chat Log(Text Only)

• Chat Log

Merki's Final Words

Dearest Friends.

I’m sorry for burdening you so much. If you feel it’s been too much, stop reading now. Seriously, I’m gonna drop some bad stuff on you. Make sure you sit down.

The Fifty Years War began because of the Mel family. The Draugh Empire has been looking into the origins of the war. I met with one person named Agent Midnight (she’s a stickler about her name.) She confirmed one of my prevailing theories about the war: There are five heroes of the war, and not four like Alexen Dakan claims. Not sure who it is, though.

She also confirmed a terrible theory, one I hoped had been false: The Mels are not what they seem. They -you’re sitting down, right?- I’m almost certain they are fiends or consorting with them. I’m pretty observant to this kind of stuff, but their behaviors seem off. It always piqued my interest. I don’t know what this means, though. My blood has taught me to not jump to conclusions.

What does this mean? Why did they protect Harvest Wharf? To protect the town? To save their own hides? So they could sacrifice us later? I will return to Harvest Wharf to find that answer. Even in the Draugh Empire there have been several attempts on my life. I fear they may succeed, so I’ll send these shipments and this message back immediately.

There is a large supply of these Black Sendrine rocks, hidden carefully in the Draugh Empire. Agent Midnight promised to keep it secret. I think it’s best for you to go to the Draugh Empire and talk to her. I feel like we can use it beneficially, but I’m not the best alchemist.

I hope my trick works out. If it does you’ll know. If it doesn’t, well it’s been swell. Now that you’ve read this, you know what I really discovered while in the Empire. Hope you’re one of the good guys.

- Merkinalious Urgh

Developer's Notes

Guess what? It's Dragon time. A lot of my notes are on dragons.

Mr. Secret Weapon!

You guys skipped Shengren's relation to Harvest Wharf, but I'm not going to mention it here. Shengren is trying to be more hip, but eh. The Shengren/Pankraz combo is awesome, by the way.

Eldrick's a bit tactless, but it gave Shengren a cool nickname.

Tiny Dragons are hard to draw on maps

So I wanted to throw lots of dragons at you. The CR for tiny black dragons is CR 3. I planned to throw a lot at you. However, the icon makes it look more like a medium-sized creature. I think people blew a lot of resources on the first battle defending against dragons where the harpies were the real threat.

Another Skill Challenge Room buffs the Black Dragon

I used the Swim check to present shortcuts and give an advantageous position for the final battle. Each round it took you to get to the room was another round the big guy got to power up. It took 3 rounds, but I managed to roll "no changes" twice (12% chance). Finally rolled to grow another bite attack.

Solo Boss Encounters are hard

D&D usually doesn't work well with solo boss encounters. Either it squishes everyone immediately, or it fails a save and is a pinata of Hit Points you beat the stuffing out of. I gave this monster a free ranged attack every round to harass Fi and Claire with, and Vegeta kept its crazy melee options in check. Melee attackers were supposed to be threatened with Acid Damage every time they hit, but Vegeta never hit and Kandar made his Reflex saves.

Overpowered NPC?

Kandar had a battleaxe of Dragon Slaying and he had 4 levels of Rogue, so he had tons of sneak attack damage, as well. I think he did almost 70% of damage to the final black dragon. Oops. Hopefully I made up for it with Kandar's Axe fetish.