Book I - A Song of Shadows
Chapter 3 - The Vethboro Dragon
It took nearly three days of travelling before they reached the hamlet of Vethboro. As they approached the hamlet, they noticed that the town seemed almost deserted, as families locked themselves up in their houses. The gang strode into the local tavern to learn of the recent events and to possibly find the sage, Handrio Bennesett. The bartender was a rude woman by the name of Triel Rift, and she told the gang that the town was scared of the alleged dragon sighting that Old Man Fairweather, and that the sage had been missing for a few days. After staying the night, and a heated debate the next morning over what their next goal should be, the crew finally decided to head to the mountains and solve the problem for the town about the dragon, and hope to find the sage in the process. The heroes would happen to find the two together deep within the cave. As it would turn out, the dragons name was Haspaar, and he at one time had been the familiar of the sage Handrio, and had now returned after many years apart. It would seem that the sage had already known they would be coming, and already knew who they were. He answered some of their questions, such as the location of Elminster, and who Ashardalon was. Before they could get more answers, the dragon asked of them the favor of clearing out the warrens below, which had become infested with goblins. The heroes then set off for the goblin warrens, where they would hack and hew their way through 66 goblins, before their chieftain pleaded for mercy. The Old Badger walked up to the goblin to offer it peace, and the chieftain told the party about how the village of Vethboro was already doomed, as his son was riding at that moment to the village to destroy it/ As the spry old goblin finished telling them this, he walked up to the Old Badger, and quickly plunged a finely crafted short sword into his barrel-sized gut. Before the chieftain could make another move, it was pounced on my the others, who quickly took to fleeing up the passages back to the town, in hopes of saving it. As the adreneline rushed through the party, as they made a mad dash for the entrance, the Old Badger was left forgotten in the goblin warrens, as he stumbled around shortly after being stabbed. Things began to go block for the Old Badger, then all of a sudden he found himself on Doans back, being brought down the mountain. Doan told the Old Badger that he had gone back to get him, as the others pressed on, as they crawled out of the cave, into the choking clouds of smoke from the burning houses and fields of Vethboro. As Doan finished his descend down the hill with the Old Badger on his back, they came to see what had transpared since Doan had left to get the Old Badger. Since Doan left, the party raced down the summit, to join the militia as it fought off an invasion force nearly a hundred strong.(you kill 97 goblins) Near the end of the battle, the dragon Haspaar flew down to help fight off the rest of the invaders; securing victory. After the last of the goblin forces were destroyed, the sage teleported down, to help with the aftermath. The battle was costly to the villagers as nearly 40 people were killed in the invasion of the towns 198 residents. About 4 houses razed, 5 badly damaged, 7 damaged. It is a sad day in Vethboro, but it is not without its heroes, for if it was not for the band, the town would have stood little chance against the onslaught of the goblin forces. Well until next week, True Believers -Nuff Said
