The Lord of the Roast
The party knew what they needed to do next. They also fears that leaving the. Vaults again would lead to more complications so in spite of their fairly weakened state they went into the dragons den. Hazlo lead the way searching for traps at the great double doors. Finding none he opened the door and looked within.
The room beyond was huge, larger than any of the other rooms in the vaults for sure. Along the northern wall was a giant life size statue of the platinum god Bahamut with an alter placed right before it. In the southwestern corner of the room lie a large sleeping red dragon. There were nearly two dozen small dragon like humanoids milling about, most were busy at work excavating a stone tunnel on the western wall. One of the workers noticed the intruders right away and raised the alarm.
The dragons stung to action dropping heir tools and running to a wall and grabbing weapons. Four well armored dragonborn emerged from the tunnel brandishing long swords and shields, while a mage looking dragonborn emerged from the dragons laid barking orders to the rest. Before long the group was under a hail of spear throws and the had to dive for cover where they could. Ruhdon cast stinking cloud as soon as he could, targeting the center of the pack of enemies. This is great surprise he spells power was enough to kill most of the dragonborn instantly. Only the dragon knights, the mage and a few stragglers remained. Boom then cast his whirlwind spell trapping all but the mage within. The group then fanned out into the room attacking their foes with confindence.
Before long the group had eliminated all but the pesky dragon mage, who's powers of illusion allowed it to avoid many of the party's attacks. Seeing it self greatly out numbered the creature ran to the sleeping dragon, jumped upon it head and proceeded to pound its skull until it woke. Suddenly with a mighty roar the dragon awoke, grabbing the dragonborn mage and devouring it in one smooth motion. It then turned to he party and blasted them with its fire breath.
Ballimor charged the dragon head on followed by Adrick. The dragon responded by clawing and slashing them sigh its tail and claws. Boom cast a thunder spell that paralyzed the beast in place. Angry at this the dragon attacked Boom with the full force of another breath attack. The battle ragged on for quite some time, the party had to exhaust this abilities in a effort to bring the beast down. Finally Ruhdon detected of weakening and encouraged the others to keep up the fight. Boom chose this moment to cast his last remaining spell at the dragon bringing it very near death. Enraged the creature broke free of the slew binding it and made for Boom landing a series of devastating attacks on the mage, knocking him unconscious. It then turned back to the group and blasted then one last time with its fire breath before grabbing the now helpless mage and making for the tunnel. Without hesitation Hazlo stepped up and shot the dragon between the eyes bringing it down with a mighty thud.
Lucan and Adrick rushes to provided aid to Boom, while Hazlo climbed the dragons back and chopped off the head as a trophy. Soon Boom was back on his feet and the party explored the room in detail. They found the dragons horde full of treasure, including the dragons'a chalice. Satisfied with their efforts the group head back to the surface in search of the last sacred artifact.
Clearing the Barracks
On the surface the party elected to explore more buildings rather than returning to Sir Oakley. They headed for the second small building on the roost. Hazlo checked the door for traps, finding none he opened the door silently. This building was in bad shape, the roof was nearly completely gone and the entire floor was covered in dirt and debris. Hazlo picked his way through the rumble, followed by others.
Once inside the building they noticed several large insects clinging to the walls and ceiling. They reacted to the presence of the newcomers, scrambling into the shadows before emerging out to attack. The creatures resembled giant centipedes and they attacked in groups. The party reacted well to the intruders, fighting them off with ease. Just as the last of the centipedes were slain, the ground beneath them began to shake. Surely a large creature emerged for he ground with a flourish. Surprised the party was knocked back for the force of the attack.
When the dust cleared a large shark like creature stood before them bitting with its massive jaws. "It's a bulette, a land shark!" shouted Ballimor. The creature dove under ground again emerging several feet away right in front of Hazlo. He rouge was struck hard by the bulette's massive jaws. The creature continued to attack the party Ina similar fashion, burrowing from one person to another and avoiding attacks as best it can. Finally the group was able to catch the monster above ground long enough to finish it off.
With the great disposed of, the group searched the building for treasure. They determined that this was the former barracks of the order, but found nothing of value on this level. They did find a door way leading down yet another flight of stairs. They party headed down cautiously, but they emerged into a very familiar room at he bottom. It turned out the stairwell was medley a second access point to the vaults leading into the minotaurs outer hallway. Disappointed the group headed back up determined to find the last artifact in the gatehouse.
Taking the Gate House
The group made for the gatehouse as the day’s sunlight began to wane. Night would soon be upon them and they did not want to be caught in a fight in darkness. Of all the structures on the roost this was by far the best persevered. The entered the courtyard of the building and found it devoid of life. The portcullis that blocked the path was still down, but the days had rusted much of the structure so that it was little more than a frame of metal. Should the orcs come to attack, this would not hold their forces a bay. Everywhere the party looked they found rust out hunks of metal in piles around the courtyard. The party assumed that some massive fighting had occurred here and some animal or other force had assembled the piles many years ago. Still there was something odd about their appearance that none of them could quite vocalize.
As Ruhdon bent over to examine one of the piles more closely he was attacked by the claws of a large insect like creature. The monster emerged from the rust and snapped at Hazlo’s armor feverishly. Adrick came up to provide support, striking the monster square between its torso and neck. The creature reared backwards, but to Adrick’s surprise his warhammer began to rust instantly, becoming more brittle and corroded. “Rust monsters,” said Ballimor from the back, “they don’t have much bit, but they will destroy your equipment if you’re not careful.” More creatures began pouring out of the rust piles, snapping at the characters metal items when able.
While the party was busy fending off the rust monsters attacks, the commotion had drawn the attention of a pair of gargoyles resting on the parapets above the gatehouse courtyard. They decided to have some fun and swooped down making passing strikes on the party members from above. Hazlo saw these attacks and wheeled around firing several arrows in the direction of the gargoyles. He caught one of them several times, dropping it out of the sky in dismay. Its compatriot turned and landed near his fallen comrade and guarded its body as the injured creature turned to stone. Hazlo continued to fire at the gargoyles, and Ballimor turned and helped once he had defeated the rust monster he was fighting. The gargoyle proved to be a fierce opponent, flying around the group and swooping in to attack where it would make the most impact. After some time the stone gargoyle transformed back into his animated form, appearing to have recovered greatly from his earlier injuries. The two gargoyles then took flight and fled the area having lost the will to continue the fight.
With the gargoyles gone and the rust monsters dead, the part searched the area for the last remaining artifact for Sir Oakley’s ceremony. Unfortunately, they found the area to be quite empty of anything useful, they rust monsters having likely gathered all metal in the area up long ago. Disappointed the party headed back to the temple before nightfall to reassess their options.
The Next Move?
The group returned to Sir Oakley in the temple and presented him with the dragon's chalice. They retold him their adventures and their disappointment in having not located the final artifact. Sir Oakley was dismayed that the y had not located the brazier of sacred fire. All his knowledge said that it should have been stored here in the temple, and he anticipated as such when they set out on thier journey. He assumed perhaps that his information was wrong and concluded that each of the objects had its own special shrine on the dragons roost. This seemed to be confirmed by the parties adventures, but then were was the brazier?
Their only conclusion was that there must be a third building somewhere else on he grounds that housed it. The party went back over what they knew and had seen to try and determine the most likely place. The town was a likely place, their might be a shrine or other temple there dedicated for that purpose. However the orcs where thick there and the party was not really keen on alerting them to thier presence. Adrick pointed out that they could return to the Count of Winterhold and ask for support against the orcs. After all they were supposed to have reported back days ago anyway. Yet most everyone was little concerned about the Coun t and unconvinced that he would send more help.
Another location for the artifact could be the watchtower in the southwest. While less likely, there could be tunnels or some other structure near by built for such a purpose. Finally Lucan asked about the overgrown woods and thier specific nature? Sir Oakley informed them tht they originally housed a garden for he knights, feed by a sacred fout dedicated to Selune the god of nature. Ballimor was convinced they would find something there and even if they didn't it seemed as good of place as any to start.