Part One - Dragon's Fall:
As dusk fell on an unusually clear day in Sharn on Aryth 27, the Wandering Wolves, decked out in finer clothes than their usual adventuring gear, made their way to the docking towers of Lyrandar Tower to attend the christening gala for the Golden Dragon, the largest airship ever built.
As they started to see the crowds of people, they got their first glimpse of the impressive airship. Floating 200 feet off the ground alongside the tower, it was near 200 feet long and 60 feet across at its thickest. Enormous enough to require two elemental rings, one of them was burning with flame while the other was dormant and dark. The Wolves made their way up the gangplank, ascending to the front deck and marveling at the immense and elaborately crafted ship.
The crowd was fairly large; Lysander estimated just over 50 guests, including themselves but not including the House Medani sentries that stood watch or the crew, who were mostly mingling with the crowds themselves. Amongst the crowd, Pel and Lysander spotted Kessler the famous gnome bard, Ravvan Mollac the maitre 'd of the fine Azure Gateway restaurant, a half-dozen of Sharn's city councilors and even the lord mayor himself.The food onboard the ship was exquisite, prepared by Golden Dragon chef Jaeden Kovane, and the wine and spirits were provided by the fine restaurant Sannid's. Waiters from Sannid's and several other restaurants, moonlighting as the Golden Dragon's service staff, walked amidst the crowds making sure everyone had their fill of fine food and drink. From belowdecks, the singing of talented female bards could be heard, and the starry sky provided a breathtaking view for the open deck, especially for those who stood at the stern of the ship and took advantage of its observation deck.
While they mingled, the Wolves were greeted by a jovial half-orc named Velgram Linntorm, who introduced himself as the ship's bosun. He gave them a quick tour of the ship, showing them the locked area that served as the bridge as well as telling them that there was an artificer's laboratory onboard. As he showed them, the Wolves watched Manten Dramgin, the dwarvish ship's artificer, arguing with a halfling until both stalked into the lab. Velgram explained that the halfling, Torren Blackfingers, was currently renting the luxury suite and was an artificer who had been granted access to the laboratory as a result, which didn't sit well with Manten.
Velgram continued the tour by taking them down to the second level so they could see the staterooms, the dining area and the House of Chance. The House of Chance was the source of the music they had heard, and they could also hear the shouts of excitement and disappointment from patrons engaging in games of Three Dragon Ante, dragonwheel and other games of fortune. As they entered the House of Chance, Lysander saw that the three women singing were elves, sisters who were former members of House Phiarlan named Tarla, Desrida and Nicolette. Lyrander had encountered the sisters some thirty years previous, and had enjoyed a brief romantic relationship with Tarla. A halfling came around from behind the bar and introduced himself as Kalibar Jenks, owner of the casino. He tried to invite the Wolves to play some Three Dragon Ante, but they begged off and, minding the earlier words of Velgram, watched their purses when Kalibar was around.
After that, the Wolves split up to mingle and enjoy the party for a few hours. Pel sought out Sava Kharisa, the councilor for Lower Central Sharn, and engaged her in conversation about the corruption of the Watch, the dangers of the Boromar clan and other such matters. Sava's idealistic and fiery rhetoric struck Pel as something that might be of use later. Luggoth, meanwhile, mostly kept to himself and glared at the others, until he was approached by Josilian Kan d'Tiarlan, a gnome who worked for House Sivis in Clifftop. Josilian introduced himself as the finest barrister in Sharn and explained that his enclave specialized in helping adventurers in legal trouble and translating text and other materials from Xen'drik. He gave Luggoth his card, believing due to the Wolves' reputation that they might have need of one or both services in the future.
Tworock was amazed by all of the spectacle, as he had never seen anything like it in Xen'drik. He spent a great deal of time in the reception hall, talking to everyone he could and enjoying a great deal of Jaeden Kovane's food. Lysander made a point of speaking to the captain, an elf named Alastair d'Lyrander, who seemed nervous, but presented a brave face. His nervousness made Lysander suspicious, and he resolved to keep an eye on the captain.
Just after midnight, as the party was peaking and about to start winding down, Tworock was witness to the beginning of a hijacking. The hobgoblin work crews emerged from the steam room and began eating from the servant's meal table. One of the hobgoblins threw a thunderstone against the wall to get everyone's attention. The other hobgoblins drew weapons and grabbed the few other people remaining belowdecks, then moved with them up to the top deck. Tworock was too big for them to risk trying to take him hostage, but they threatened the hostages to get him to move above decks with them. Three minotaurs rushed out of the steam room, sealed it behind them and followed up onto the deck.
The lead hobgoblin announced himself as Brakkar and revealed his hostages, as a pair of harpies flew in and provided air cover. He announced that there was a bomb capable of destroying the ship onboard, and demanded a ransom of 200,000 gold. "For people such as yourselves, this is a minor issue! I'll need it in untraceable gold bars."
The Wolves kept an eye on what was going on, waiting for an opportunity. Pel and Luggoth both noticed Brakkar speaking into a circle of sound, seemingly agitated with whoever was on the other end of the line. Lysander, who had swallowed a potion of invisibility at the first sign of trouble, slipped down the stairs to see if he could find the bomb. He found the sealed steam room, and heard someone working inside, but couldn't easily get in, and so he made his way back up onto the deck before his potion wore off.
The Medani sentries and private security encouraged everyone to remain calm, and seemed predisposed towards paying the ransom rather than getting anyone killed. The dignitaries arranged messages to be sent out to get them the money quietly, and while the situation was tense, it didn't seem particularly dangerous.
Until a half hour had passed, and a desperate looking hobgoblin ran up and started talking to Brakkar. Pel's trained senses and Luggoth's bestial hearing picked up on what was being said, which was "He don't care about no ransom. Says you'll be spendin' it in Dolurrh."
The hobgoblins released their hostages to go up to the observation deck with the rest of the crew and attending dignitaries, clearly in preparation for heading to the escape skiffs, and this was all the Wolves needed to spring into action. Tworock manifested his force screen and charged down the stairs toward the first group of hobgoblins and the minotaur with them.
Luggoth shifted, leaped down and killed one of the hobgoblins with his sword. Lysander summoned his bow from his glove of storing and began firing arrows at the hobgoblins and minotaurs, as Pel moved in front of Kava to protect her and opened fire with his crossbow.
Brakkar cast mage armor on himself and lit the noxious smokesticks wound into his beard to give himself a cloud of choking smoke, as his minotaurs and hobgoblins moved in to engage and his harpies began flying down, trying to strike the Wolves. The Medani sentries pulled out their crossbows and began firing at the harpies as well.
The hobgoblins were pretty much ineffective except as nuisances, and Luggoth would kill them casually on his way to attacking the minotaurs. The minotaurs were another story, swinging their deadly axes at the Wolves' two front-line fighters, Luggoth and Tworock. In fact, Tworock went down early in the fight, almost mortally wounded by an axe strike, although his psionic discipline allowed him to stabilize himself.
Luggoth killed one of the minotaurs attacking him and then focused on the other, which landed an axe blow of its own. Lysander continued to provide crossbow support, firing at the minotaur, Brakkar and the hobgoblins, and Pel provided back-up in the form of a Bless spell and a Command spell, which caused one of the minotaurs to temporarily retreat.
As Brakkar gave up on spellcasting and went into a rage, swinging his adamantine warhammer, a somewhat foppish looking man appeared from the stairs with a young woman in tow. "You see, dear, I told you that wasn't just you screaming!" He announced himself as Diarmand d'Deneith, challenged the hobgoblins and then sprung forward and attacked Brakkar with a rapier before moving deftly to another position.
The harpies continued to fly by and attack, exchanging attacks with the Medani sentries, Diarmand engaged in melee with Brakkar. Luggoth killed the minotaur he was facing, just in time for the other minotaur to shake off Pel's command and come charging back.
Luggoth moved in to help Diarmand with Brakkar, and the minotaur went up onto the deck after Pel, killing the sentry standing nearest him. Lysander moved over to the captain and got the key for the steam chamber, and the harpies, wounded, withdrew to the side of the ship and began screeching out their song, hypnotizing most of the crew, guest and even the remaining hobgoblins.
Diarmand was also under the spell of the harpies, and he walked off the side of the ship and began plummeting. The hobgoblins, Brakkar, Luggoth and the remaining minotaur likewise walked toward the edge. Pel killed the screeching harpy with his crossbow as he ran towards the bridge, but the other one immediately began screeching, causing two of the hobgoblins to fling themselves to their doom.
Free of the screeching, Diarmand saved himself by casting a feather fall spell and began drifting the long 200 feet down towards the ground. Luggoth, seeing an opportunity with Brakkar so near the railing, tried to bull rush him off the side, but Brakkar resisted and swung an unsuccessful attack at Luggoth in return. After Lysander sang to stop the harpy's screeching effect and Pel fired another bolt into it, the creature realized the battle was lost and flew away at top speed.
Unhappy with his lot but realizing it was time to engage, Lysander fired his bow at the remaining minotaur. Pel tried to draw off its attention by firing his wand of magic missiles, but the minotaur went for the closer target. Fortunately, Lysander was able to protect himself with mirror image long enough for Brakkar to fall out of his rage and succumb to the wounds Luggoth had inflicted. This freed Luggoth up to run up and engage the minotaur, as Pel moved to Tworock and healed him, waking him up. The half-giant took his revenge, charging the minotaur that had nearly killed him and running it through with his large greatsword.
Lysander, still worried that the captain was in on it somehow, asked Luggoth to stay up and keep an eye on him while the rest of the Wolves went downstairs to find the bomb. When they got downstairs and got to the steam room, they found a minotaur in the corridor guarding it. They yelled for Luggoth and took up positions, and Luggoth came down the other stairs to flank the beast.
Tworock, still wounded, drank his potion of cure serious wounds and then psionically enlarged himself, growing even larger than the minotaur as a result. However, after Luggoth charged in, the minotaur turned and attacked him, burying his horns in Luggoth's side. Luggoth responded by stabbing the minotaur with his greatsword, and Tworock charged in and attacked with his greatsword as well. The beast was reeling, and Luggoth finished it off with another deadly sword stroke.
Lysander used the key he had gotten from the captain and opened the door to the steam room. Though the pipes and mesh blocked a clear view, he could see that there were several hobgoblins in there, and he cast a sleep spell to deal with most of them. Pel moved in and saw a scarred, whip-thin human along with two more hobgoblins, standing near a mithril disk that he identified as the bomb.
The human drank a potion and turned into a mist, fleeing along the pipes, and the Wolves had no trouble killing the remaining hobgobllins. However, they were still faced with the bomb, a mithril disk with multicolored gemstones counting down in a spiral pattern. Pel, using his trapmaking and disarming skills, managed to slow the countdown to give them a little over a minute, and Tworock, based on his knowledge of arcana and psionic effects, realized that if they moved the bomb, it would detonate sooner, perhaps as soon as six second later. Lysander reasoned that if they moved the bomb to the elemental water chamber in the room, the bomb would be absorbed rather than destroying the elemental ring and causing the ship to plummet.
Nervous about their chances but not seeing any other choice, Pel moved the bomb over to the chamber. There was a flash of white light, and then superheated steam began pouring out of the pipes, which creaked and groaned ominously. The Wolves rushed out of the chamber to avoid being further burned and held their breath, but the ship didn't tumble out of the sky.
Back atop the ship, Captain Alastair thanked the Wolves for saving the ship. When prodded by Lysander, he admitted that his nervousness had been due to previous accidents in his career. The Golden Dragon, he explained, was his last chance at a big commission, and the Wolves had just saved it. "The Wandering Wolves will always be welcome on the Golden Dragon, as long as I'm captain."
The first mate, an elven woman named Mazzia, ran up to the captain and told him that one of the skiffs had disembarked. Pel wasn't surprised, saying "It was probably the human we chased out of the steam chamber." Captain Alastair grinned and explained that the human was in for a surprise... they could recall the lifeboats using a control on the bridge. The Wolves went down to the lifeboat bay to prepare for the return of the would-be saboteur, resolving to take him alive if they could so they could interrogate him. While they waited, Tworock prepared by engaging most of his psionic powers.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one preparing for the combat. The human was not alone in the skiff, he was accompanied by Kray, a warforged with a wicked battleclaw for one hand. And the human was an artificer, so he provided a few enhancements for the warforged before they landed. When they arrived back in the Golden Dragon's belly, the battle was joined.
Lysander tried to charm the human, who resisted, and Tworock and Luggoth both moved in to battle Kray, who snapped his battleclaw and slashed at Tworock, trying to grab him in the process but failing to hold on.
Lysander and Pel both tried using spells on the human, trying to wrap him in animated rope or stop him with hold person, but he resisted, and both noted that he was moving at supernatural speed as a result of a haste spell. He also infused his crossbow with flaming bolts, revealing his artificer abilities wihtout a doubt. Tworock landed a blow against Kray, but Kray responded with another wicked slash of his battleclaw, and this time he was successful in grabbing the half-giant and lifting him about a foot off the floor, revealing the level of enhanced strength he currently had.Luggoth flew into a barbarian rage as Lysander drew his longsword and began a battle song. Pel jumped onto the skiff behind the human and slashed him with his scimitar, scoring a flesh wound on the villain's arm. Tworock continued to struggle, keeping Kray from crushing him but failing to break the grip until Luggoth scored a hit on the warforged, distracting him long enough for Tworock to break free.
Dropping his crossbow, the human drew his rapier and stabbed at Pel, who dodged and said "I suggest you surrender." The human sneered and growled "I'll die first." Pel responded with "Very well" and stabbed with his rapier, but the human parried him, and the two were joined in battle.
Pel needled the human verbally, wanting to know who he was "before he died," but the human would not give up his identity. "You'll die not knowing" he snarled.
Seeing his human master in trouble, Kray rushed over and snapped twice with the battleclaw, cutting across Pel's chest and face. Luggoth followed the warforged and continued attacking, as did Tworock, who was landing several punishing blows on the warforged. As Pel moved into position with Lysander to flank the human, Kray tried to withdraw to drink a potion, but Tworock slashed again with his greatsword and the warforged fell, his potion of repair spilling out onto the floor.
Luggoth, well and truly angry by now, tried to bite the human, who dodged thanks to his supernatural speed, but it was clear that his speed was wearing off. Lysander moved in, and now the human was surrounded by the Wandering Wolves, and suffered several wounds. Then he abandoned his defensive posture and rushed through their line, causing all of the Wolves to strike with full force. They killed him easily, but as their battle lust faded, they realized that the human had tricked them into killing him rather than capturing him.
On his person, they found some silver spheres, and when they cast detect magic to examine everything that their opponents had, they determined that they had an arcane mark on them. Unfortunately, even with the wealth of knowledge among them, they weren't sure what the marks meant.
As they recovered from their injuries and the battle, they were approached by Manten Dramgrin, chief artificer of the Golden Dragon. He expressed his thanks for their actions, commended them for their bravery and said that his professional opinion is that their actions in the steam room without a doubt saved the ship from doom. He then told them that he feared that due to the sophistication of the attack, it had to have been an inside job. His suspicion was that Torren Blackfingers, the halfling artificer, was the one involved, but he didn't have any proof. He asked if the Wolves would be willing to accompany the Golden Dragon on its maiden voyage to Xen'drik and help ferret out the traitor. He wouldn't tell anyone else why they were there, save the captain, because he wasn't sure who he could trust.
Manten could only promise 1,000 gold, the extent of his savings, as payment, but when he went and talked to the captain, Alastair said that Lyrandar could do better than that. In addition to giving them free staterooms for the journey, he said that he would pay them 1,000 gold each. Not ones to turn down money or adventure, the Wolves agreed.
XP: 2975 (EL 7)/4163 (EL 5)
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