A7

Attack of the Wyvern

As the party (Avan, Ignatius, Jack, and Nemo with Jilt) left Amberton, Rigg decided to remain behind to help battle the goblins. The caravan moved through rocky terrain for the next two days until they reached the battered citadel of Silverhold.
     Silverhold sat atop a crag surrounded by barren wastes. Its walls had been battered by some tremendous force and there were numerous smoldering bonfires around it. As the party approached they could see massive bones sticking out of the ashes and hear the clang of metal on metal. Once inside the massive iron gates, they found themselves in the last dwarven settlement in the ruined land of Umbria. Many dwarves had been injured or killed fighting the giants and their lackeys and just as many killed. But even as the party stood there a venerable priest of Moradin began chanting in unison with the sounds of the dwarves� work and the crumpled dwarf before him breathed again.
     As the party shopped, they learned that a large force of goblins, ogres, trolls and a few giants attacked a few days before they arrived. The giants used cannon on the dwarven fortifications to no avail. But many dwarves were hurt or killed in the fighting. More importantly they learned an entire tribe of giants possessed these cannon and had declared themselves rulers of the mountains and the lowlands. Some dwarves talked about finding a legendary weapon of their clan, a giant slaying axe lost in the land of the frost giants. After a day of rest the party moved on.
     The caravan soon reached the thorp of Taverndale. Nestled in a quiet valley all seem peaceful if not for the lack of people. The town itself was newly walled, the gate closed. After calling for someone to open the gate for a while, the party used their newly acquired rope of climbing to climb inside. There they found the whole town had been destroyed, smashed apart by some huge creature. Despite worries about what type of creature had killed the inhabitants, it was near nightfall and they decided to camp inside. While investigating though they determined it had come over the wall, taken everything edible (including people), and stolen all the thorp�s valuables.
     That night as the party was resting, a vast scaly creature swooped down into the midst of the camp killing a horse before flying swiftly away. The party quickly mobilized and awaited its return. But after a half hour, they realized it wasn�t coming back and dragged the dead horse away. The riding lizard, that Jack had taken from the desert orcs though was hungry and went off to feed on the carrion. That was when the creature returned and killed the lizard before again fleeing. The party lost a lot of sleep that night waiting for its return.
     The caravan struck out east for the desert and Dalmara to avoid the land ruled by the brother of the orc they killed (Detch). Each night the beast, now known to be a wyvern, would attack once or twice killing the mounts. Then having been thwarted for one night it attacked the camp with the intention of killing or disabling as many as it could. After taking an amazing amount of punishment and revealing the ability to cast the shield spell (to Ignatius�s dismay), it fled. Avan�s warhorse died that night, the guard Bob almost bled to death, and Jilt�s cart was upended. But the party though weakened had won this battle.
     That day as the party traveled through the desert, a band of orcs seeking vengeance caught up to them. The halfling bounty hunter the met in Casey�s Settlement was helping the orcs track them. As they approached, the halfling hung back his job done. The ranged battle that then took place went badly for the orcs. Jack killed one with an arrow to the eye and Nemo forced the leader to use up his restorative potions. Avan dealt the most telling blow using sound burst to stun the leader so Nemo could finish him. With the orcs defeated, the bounty hunter rode off into the west, warning the party not to anger him, it was only business.
     The next night was uneventful, but on the following night as they stopped to rest they saw a battered windmill on the edge of the desert. With the party�s urging, Jilt pushed on the structure and they set up camp beside it.   Avan, Nemo and Jack investigated the windmill. Avan became obsessed with freeing the giant gear in the center of the structure, while the others noticed a large pit at the back of the building.
     It was at this point that 3 baby wyverns came pouring out of the hole and attack Avan and the others. One of the orcs� riding lizards was tied to the huge gear and preceded to pull it out and over Avan (who then used it as cover). The other PCs then left the shaking structure, while the monsters followed them to the door. Avan using the distraction to his advantage fled to the pit and used shatter to take out a critical support beam. The building crashed down crushing the wyverns and burying the pit entrance. The lizard continued to drag the cog away.
     It was then that Ignatius noticed Mommy was coming. Taking positions and preparing to attack as it closed, the party saw it prepare to kill them. Jack was busy digging out Avan, when the beast charged him. Nemo sent an arrow into the beast�s vitals while Ignatius�s acid balls inflicted major damage. As Jack fled the beast�s area it charged one last time scoring a hit with its poison sting before collapsing. Jack survived though and aided the party in digging out Avan and the creatures� treasure horde. As the finished, the final effects of the poison took hold and Jack fell unconscious. With Avan�s help all recovered during their long peaceful journey to Verta.