4th September 2022 - Session 50 - The Entrance of the Ancient Blue Dragon - Eoin

The party leaves Neverwinter by dragon cult blimp to bring the giant artefacts back to the Eye of the All-Father. On the way back Dipple studies Kastan's spelly book and decyphers one of his spells, Dimension Door. Very handy. Gustnabus stares out over the edge of the ship and sees a dragon flying in the distance carrying one of the giant's relics, a relic related to Voindod, the dragon-slaying machine. The dragon says it is under the leadership of an ancient white dragon from the north.

Graupel checks her notes and finds a reference to white dragons in the following notes:

https://stormkingsthunderdublin.blogspot.com/2021/12/12th-december-2021-session-31-gathering.html

Once we arrive at the Eye of the All-Father, we meet Harshnag. He has been defending the temple since we left and was roughly brushing the corpses into a mound to the side. He's pretty happy we are here and have come with the artefacts. We proceed to gift the artefacts to the oracle and gain knowledge of where the conchs are. A relief appears on the wall behind depicting the 4 giant rulers one by one as the oracle speaks. 

the fire giant ruler appears:

“Travel east, o’er mountains and snow, to distant spires. There, on a cold mountainside, you’ll find a village of yakfolk and below that, Ironslag—the forge of the fire giant duke. The conch you seek is in his quarters.”

the frost giant ruler appears:

“Travel west, o’er mountains, to the Sea of Moving Ice. There, among the glaciers, you’ll find Svardborg—the berg of the frost giant jarl. The conch you seek rests on his icy throne.”

the cloud giant ruler appears:

“Travel southeast to the untamed moors, and look to the sky for Lyn Armaal—the castle of the cloud giant countess. The conch you seek is in a secret chest. Search the highest spire!”

the hill giant ruler appears:

“Travel south over tree, hill, and vale. Let the great river be your guide. There, on one of its eastern arms, you’ll find Grudd Haug—the den of the hill giant chief. The conch you seek is close to her.”

Kin begins to smell toast, has a stroke and figures out the fastest way to reach each of the giants as GPS coordinates are downloaded into his brain.

The party invents a preferential voting system so everyone can decide which giant to visit. It seems split between ice and cloud with Dunbarrs 3rd preference being the deciding vote. A great day for democracy even if Harshnag hasn't a clue what's going on.  The cloud giantess wins.  

As the party attempts to leave the temple we are stopped by an ancient blue dragon. She is ultra pissed and is heading to speak with the oracle. Harshnag is not having this and begins to stop her. The intimidating presence of the dragon strikes fear into all. The dragon states that Harshnag does not even know the true form of the oracle and that dragons should be allowed to speak with it.

Bearnabus begins the long casting of her new spell Gaes but seeing the fight turn bad quickly decides against it, no dice, no Gaes. In mere seconds Kin has already made it to the other side of the temple and is rushing to the door bypassing the dragon and Harshnag using elvish parkour. Dipple tries to explain the concept of peace to the dragon using diplomacy and after a single failed attempt then casts fireball at the dragon. Graupel flies into a rage and feels offended that this dragon thinks it should be feared. It is Graupel who should be feared which almost works but the dragon holds onto its anger. Dunbarr throws a jar of mucus and a handful of gold coins to distract the dragon and then covers the dragon in darkness which together does nothing.

The dragon breathes lightning out of the darkness and courses into Harshnag. Harshnag, in a last-ditch attempt, smashes the statue of the All-Father causing the temple to begin to fall. The party barely makes it out alive hoping that Harshnag will survive this fight.