Betrayal at the Dragon Temple

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Campaigns: Slaadi Invasion | Northern Strife | Heroes & Traitors | Hollows | Black as Pitch | Air Islands of Nack | BUFD Wars

Air Islands of Nack: Flight of the ElectroZephyr | Malevolence in Pursuit | Rousing the Dragon | Betrayal at the Dragon Temple Betrayal at the Dragon Temple (DMed by David W.) This one-shot session was played on November 26, 2016 and was set a few years before the events of the primary storyline of the Air Islands of Nack campaign. In the story detailed below, a group of treasure hunters treks into the mysterious island of Locq in search of the Dragon Temple and the supposed riches that lay within.

If you would like to read about the primary story arc of this campaign, visit the Flight of the ElectroZephyr page, the Malevolence in Pursuit page and the Rousing the Dragon page.

For character information, go here.

Date: SH 662, April 25 - 28

Played by Elendar Cloudspell, Natasha, Rugor Ghemas, Steve Holyfield, and Vesper Sybilla

Several years before the outbreak of what is now called the Dragon War, the existence of dragons had all but been snuffed out by the dominance of the Nack Empire. However, rumors still leaked of a mysterious island where the War of Ascendancy had ended with the fall of Locqwerthalyn. Thought to be the birthplace of dragons, the island of Locq was almost intentionally forgotten by the humans of Nack, and only a few elves of the Svar-tu and Svar-enna could still remember its location.

The crafty and opportunistic dwarf known simply as Gruber got his hands of a map detailing the location of Locq and a Dragon Temple set deep within its borders that was believed to have untold riches. Gruber gave these plans to his distant cousin Rugor Ghemas to go seek out the island and retrieve the treasure in exchange for a cut of said treasure. Rugor eagerly gathered up his crew and sped off toward Locq aboard his ship called the Mace.

After a few uneventful weeks of magnificent airship flight atop the Cloud Canopy, the Mace landed within the valley where Locqwerthalyn had fallen and the crew began their trek inland in search of the Dragon Temple. Despite Steve's insistence on following the path laid out by Gruber's map (fueled by the prominence of the vision he had earlier of the Dragon Temple), Vesper stood by his decision to cut through the island to save time.

After a full day of trekking through the rough jungle-mountain-like terrain with Vesper as their guide, the group set up camp. That night, both Steve and Natasha were attacked by a swarm of centipedes, both of whom nearly lost their lives because of it as they were paralyzed before they could act. But Vesper and the others were able to take care of the swarm. Steve expressed his frustration with the situation afterward since they ended up having to find a spot in a cliffside to hide out from the rain and recover from the fight before for an entire day, effectively slowing them down more than if they had take the original path set before them. That night, however, Vesper spotted a group of kobolds trekking through the jungle and the next morning he used his tracking skills to seek out the kobolds.

As the group followed the kobold tracks, Natasha happened upon a ring upon which was inscribed in Nrukianak the word "Locquian." She quickly pocketed the ring. About eight hours later, the group came upon a clearing and a dead body covered in scales and had a draconic face. From the body a trail of blood led to a not-so-hidden hidden entrance to a dark lair. There was also the ruined entrance to the Dragon Temple in the same clearing, but only Natasha was able to get through the crevasses within.

The group decided to set a trap for the kobolds which included a bear trap and a wire. Rugor opted to be the bait and call for the kobolds to come out. And out they came in screechy fashion. As the first kobold stepped onto the bear trap, he was completely bifurcated, and the kobold behind him yelped in terror and began to run back into the lair, but he was knocked down by the wire that Natasha pulled up. From there it was a sad slaughter. But before the group killed all the kobolds, Vesper managed to disable one of them who screamed in pain as an arrow went through his little leg, "Achuaka, they're gonna kill me!" After falling to the ground, Elendar began to interrogate the poor kobold named Nishu, who quickly gave up the fact that they were caring for a wyrmling dragon named Achuaka and that the wetnurses were in charge. After giving up the information, Elendar mercifully had him tied to a tree for further questioning as they went into the lair.

Despite being outnumbered, the tactical manner in which the treasure hunters invaded the lair led them to systematically slaughter the kobolds before they had a chance to fight or run. Natasha managed to dodge every trap since they were fashioned to accommodate creatures of kobold size, which was convenient for her but decidedly inconvenient for her larger companions. Nonetheless, the crew managed to get through most of the rooms of the lair relatively unscathed. However, they came across a few kobolds absolutely dedicated to defending their wyrmling dragon queen Achuaka. With poison-tipped spears, they fought valiantly against the crew but yet again were systematically slaughtered, save for one. The remaining kobold wetnurse, as her kind were called, was magically charmed by Elendar. The wetnurse, Barbat, explained that they had found the egg in the forest a few weeks ago with no mother in sight. Since it was the first dragon egg they had ever seen and would become the first dragon for centuries to be known to exist, the kobolds leapt at the opportunity to become the masters of a dragon instead of being slaves to the dragons that they knew through countless generations of a shared oral history. And it would be through love and caring that the new dragon, Achuaka, would grow and begin the new era of dragonkind and a new place of power for kobolds everywhere.

Barbat was persuaded to awaken Achuaka in the next room and attempt to bring her back with the treasure hunters onto the Mace. After brushing the soothing butter of wakefulness onto Achuaka, Barbat initiated in a calm discussion of where they were going. With some trepidation Achuaka was slow to react and in his impatience Steve jumped into the front, fists blazing, and slammed Barbat in the back of the neck, effectively breaking it and killer her instantly. Immediately after he shoved a knee right into Achuaka herself. Feeling forced into the situation, Elendar threw an eldritch blast at the dragon and moved into a more tactical position. Seeing all of this go down nearly simultaneously, Vesper drew two swords, moved behind Elendar, and mercilessly struck down his own companion, leaving him bleeding to death on the ground. In a fit of rage, Achuaka herself expelled a cloud of poisonous gas that threw Steve unconscious and ultimately killed Elendar where he lay. She jumped into a pool of water behind her right afterward, swimming out of sight. Natasha moved above ground, quickly grabbing some treasure and jumped into the water beyond which happened to be connected underneath to an underground river. As she jumped in, she saw the green dragon swimming furiously toward her. In an effort to show her allegiance to the dragon, she took out the Locquian ring and displayed it as an offering of friendship. Unfortunately that failed and Achuaka bit off her entire arm, leaving Natasha to quickly bleed out to death while simultaneously drowning. As a reaction to all of this, Rugor struck Vesper in the back and Steve miraculously regained consciousness on the brink of death and in a revenant-like fashion brought down swift vengeance upon Vesper for betraying his own crew.

As the battle quickly ended, Rugor and Steve were the only ones left standing and Achuaku had gotten away through a secret underground river...

Notes: Quote: "We don't need Barbat to put butter on a dragon..." -- Rugor, while discussing the reasons to keep Barbat the kobold alive and potentially capture the dragon. With Natasha dead, the Lil'uns Respite in Namara may have trouble staying open. Its theorized that Vesper's actions and ultimate betrayal run deeper and more complicated than what it may seem on the surface. Despite his hidden intentions, they may have been more honorable and just compared to how Elendar, Steve, and Rugor saw it. But in their minds, dragons are something new, perhaps some ancient evil now being resurrected... Definitely puts some depth into this ongoing dragon issue... Nonetheless, Rugor and Steve are the sole survivors of this ill-fated expedition. Perhaps they'll run into the Blue Bandits several years in the future...

Sections: Main | Campaigns | Characters | NPCs | Locales | Culture | History | Artifacts | Maps

Campaigns: Slaadi Invasion | Northern Strife | Heroes & Traitors | Hollows | Black as Pitch | Air Islands of Nack | BUFD Wars

Air Islands of Nack: Flight of the ElectroZephyr | Malevolence in Pursuit | Rousing the Dragon | Betrayal at the Dragon Temple