Gameplay - The Dragon Who Asked Too Much

"I'm not eating a rock. And what's a dollar?" Ruby is starting to get the feeling her teammates aren't taking her new title very seriously.

The children follow you back to town reluctantly. The closer you get, the more anxious they become. While they are grateful, and aware of the passage of time, the uncertainty of their futures weighs heavily.

The town is entirely astonished by their return. Once the situation is explained, each of them is greeted by name by adults and elders. Relatives sweep them up into tear stained embraces, and even a pair of children with no living relatives are likewise immediately offered adoption by multiple families.

As to the five of you, rough hugs tug you in all directions. A thousand questions fly at you, including the fate of the children who did not return, until the town leader, Burgh Nolan, asks for a spokesman to tell the tale.

Who speaks and what do you say?

Mavis looks at Garth, waiting for him to recount the tragic tale.

Garth steps forward.

It might be best of the children aren't here for this.

Once they have been led off Garth continues.

There was a creature living in the woods by an old altar. It was an evil unlike anything I have ever encountered.

It attacked us and it took everything we had to defeat it. The first notice we had was a feeling of overwhelming sorrow mixed with guilt and uselessness.

It was powerful magic, I have no doubt that if we had been a group of scared children, it would have been a grim outcome.

The best I can figure is that it probably snuck into town in the middle of the night and convinced the children that they were unworthy and unloved. Then, it either killed them or they killed themselves.

You may not believe me, but that is not even the most vile part of the story. The souls of these innocent children were captured in gems which the creature carried with it.

Garth looks around and takes a deep breath. This is the hard part.

We smashed the gems and freed the souls, which returned them to life. The reason we could not recover all the children is because the creature...used some of the souls in a ritual to create a magic item.

Their souls are lost. The item created, although by the most heinous of means, is in itself not evil. It is a stone which heals disease.

I leave this decision up to you. If you think it would be too painful a reminder of your loss, we will take the stone with us. Maybe a healing house in the next city would want it.
If you want to have it here to use, so that some small good will come of this, then that is fine as well. Just know that destroying it would not bring them back and would really make it all in vain.

Garth looks at the town leaders.

Know this...those children are not responsible for their death and neither are the people in the town at the time. Only the creature is responsible.

If this town was once called Port Dawn, maybe it should be again. No more mourning.

Gareth’s words stir Mavis’s memories of the events into a stew of emotions.
Sorrow, anger, empathy, melancholia, and dispassionate vengeance all compete within her - until the catharsis of Gareth’s final address.
No more mourning.

They’d changed this small part of the world. They’d done that. Them. Us.

This tiny band stood against the deepest of evils. They put their lives in front of the innocents and snarled defiance at the darkness.

Mavis had experience of death, she’d flitted between the shadows of the near underdark to deal silent death to monsters - and what for? For their hides. For her guild. For profit. She’d come to the surface and her sights had been raised. She’d left the dark, and entered the light.

With this realisation, a new ingredient was added to Mavis’s stew of emotions- purpose.

The story reduces the town folk to fresh tears, but also hope shines from their wet faces. An age old curse had been lifted and you are the undisputed heroes of this tale. Countless invitations to dine with the locals are extended, but the chaos is resolved by the proclamation of a town feast that evening.

The decision of what to do with the black gem is complicated by competing views. The Mourning Stone, as it quickly becomes known, is powerful and in the end the mayor settles it by describing a temple dedicated to the memory of the lost, and shepherded by a charitable priest who will offer its healing power services for free. This seems utterly sensable that even the most jaded are left without further argument.

Your rooms and stabling for your mounts are of course covered for the next day, and for any time you happen to pass through the area.

You are offered clothing and new cloaks, all to be tailored to fit that day, of the finest cut and cloth they have, which isn't terribly opulent being a simple harbour town but will be a step up from whatever you're wearing.

During the festivities Mavis approaches Hehsh.
It’s reet smashin’ do, eh Hehsh?
But we best mek early start on morrow if we’re t’ get thee t’ tha’ ferther. ‘ow’s tha’ feelin’ ‘bout meetin’ ‘im? Nervous?

Garth is appreciative of the food and new clothes. He has a couple of drinks, but saves his over indulgences for the food.

I know I shouldn't eat any more, but years as a soldier has taught me that the next hot meal might not be for a long time.

Ruby makes a note to find Garth during the celebrations, patting him on the back. "That was a real swell speech you gave Garth, you sure know how to inspire people. I hope they can move on." There is a hint of sadness with that last statement, but Ruby doesn't show it on her face.

Thank you Ruby. That means a lot to me.

Garth looks around at the people at the feast. he already sees more people smiling. There is a sense of hope now. There is still some hesitancy, but it will change.

I think they are through the worst of it.

Hasan participates in the festivities when the townies confront him he seems to be up-spirited but while eating and other moments he seems to be lost in either sorrow, thought or something else.
He'll take the offerings wearing them for the time being.

The villagers know how to throw a feast; with excessive amounts of food. A golden bird, roasted to perfection, mashed potatoes, yams slathered in butter and cinnamon, dozens pies, fluffy bread. And whoever thought of shoving nuts, berries and stale bread up the dead birds ass before roasting it was a genius. Hehsh has never been so thankful to finish a quest.
Hehsh puts down the massive bird leg he was devouring. His scaly features look down on Mavis with reptilian impassiveness. "Mavis. I haven't understood a word you've said this entire time."

Mavis opens her mouth to thank Hehsh for his plain speaking, realises the futility, and closes it again.
Smiling and miming a big shrug that she hopes the dragonborn will be able to interpret, Mavis rejoins the party.

The party passes eventually as the night.

Again, dreams come, but this time they are unremembered, other than the sensations of warmth, love, bliss, peace; the fluffy dreams of angels.

You awake in your rooms before dark has given up it's grasp. You hear movement downstairs, pack your things, and find the innkeep setting a breakfast for you. A quick meal, while your faithful hippogriffs are saddled and fed. As dawn becomes a bright sliver on the horizon, you are aloft, headed north for the next stop.

The flight along the coast takes you past jungle, hills, small rivers full of life, the dark smears of smoke marking small villages and towns.

Further north, the great desert moves closer and by early afternoon, after a stop to rest, feed, and water your beasts, the hear begins to grow alarmingly. Scrub grasses become scarce other than near the water. You fly lower, over the water and only then find relief.

Skimming over the wave tops, you spot an underwater city. Circling above you imagine it to be a surface city, lost to rising tides in some ancient epoch, visible now only by the square cut of its walls.

North, shipping becomes more frequent, fisherman wave tentatively, shallow trade barges shield their eyes as you pass overhead.

Soon, you see the city ahead. Perched on two huge islands of a dry river delta, a shanty tent town perched precariously in the river bottom. A great pier complex stretches into the inland sea, with shallow bottom skiffs, rafts and barges ferrying traffic to the shore.

One island houses wealth, great sandstone walls guarding its inhabitants, and tragic flowing both from the site and inland highways.

The other island is poorer, less well protected with a dingier crowd, more laborers and trades folk, rougher nere-do-wells and mercenaries, sailors and the destitute.

This time your hippogriffs do not lead you to an easy inn, but must be guided.

Welcome, to Great Delta.

"Interesting. I've never seen so many people in one place. What do they do so close to eachother?" Hehsh calls over the wind.