- The following morning, Lyra attempts to eat in her new body - but struggles to adapt to being a Warforged - Qwimby has returned from Mirabar, but is on edge as he cannot find a cigar - There is a Doorstreet in Kalteo - Qwimby mentions that a man died in his arms before his return - He mentions the attack by Zargathax on the city, he arrived in the aftermath - His contact in Mirabar was named Don Quay. Don died along with a large number of Dwarves when a large dark dragon attacked - He gained no information, having sought to learn about the books sought by Zargathax - He believes Zargathax was trying to take over the city - He remains angsty over his lack of cigar - A loud crackling noise interrupts us - coming from outside - We go to investigate - finding a blue ball of energy crackling within the grounds of the keep - It appears to be growing - Qwimby attempts to communicate with it, there does appear to be a response but it is distorted - Ellette attempts to use Dispel Magic on the orb - we can now see an image of Big Guy attempting to reach out of the ball. It dissipates, taking him with it. - Qwimby investigates Big Guy and Steve's house, but Big Guy is not there. He finds only Steve but doesn't tell her what happened. - Qwimby moves to where the orb was, but cannot find any trace of Big Guy - Ellette can sense that the orb may have been a test teleportation. - We decide to travel to Alexandria to check if this may be related to his attempts to rebuild the guild hall - Qwimby reminisces about he and Don Quay replacing all the vegetables of a man with a food cart with dynamite. - He also recalls a man named Savage Cabbage who seemed to be mildly psychotic - This leads him to mention Big Toni - his former boss. - He also mentions an entrapment scheme involving prostitution - On the way to Alexandria, we notice a number of tents - seeming to be Dwarven refugees - More tents and displaced Dwarves surround the walls of Alexandria - The Myrkulites mingle amongst the Dwarves, with numerous villagers also offering aid - Ellette speaks with the Myrkulites - they confirm the Dwarves to be from Mirabar. - There appear to be somewhere around 50 Dwarves, but none of the other species who may have survived the siege. - A Dwarven woman named Lidia approaches as Qwimby mentions humans living in Mirabar - she believes all humans died in the attack, whereas Dwarves evacuated through underground tunnels. - She saw undead everywhere, attacking the city - before the main keep within the city exploded and the dragon emerged from its ruins. - She mentions the mithril and adamantine that the city was known for dealing in. - She believes the majority of survivors fled to Alexandria, but they continued to be harried by undead during their exodus - Ellette gives the Myrkulites 50 GP to aid with the relief efforts. - One of the Myrkulites appears to be praying over a number of prone Dwarves - mentioning that they may not be long for this world. - Within the gates of Alexandria, there are even more Dwarven refugees. - We head to the Dragonheart Guild - finding Big Guy. - He was attempting to use a teleport spell - Ellette questions the lack of a focus to anchor it. He appears to have one in the guild, and claims to have been attempting to make another one in the keep - Ellette's counter spell broke his focus - He has a handful of remaining gems that match the colour of those inset in the focus - he was told that envisioning the place he wished to go would teleport him there - He gives Ellette the gems - He was trying to get in contact with us to tell us about the Dwarven refugees - Graxen and Qwimby notice a Kobold run among the crowd of Dwarves - Big Guy says the Kobolds came before the refugees - crawling out of the sewers. He has seen blue ones and white ones - A Dwarf approaches Lyra - coughing silvery powder. Before the Dwarf can speak, they collapse. - Ellette tries to think of somewhere to use as a makeshift infirmary but the city appears to be in a bad way and not many places are suitable - Graxen perceives a burst of a sandy, paint-stripper scent in the Dwarf's cough - Lidia, who is coughing, mentions that a few of her compatriots are also coughing. She has a silvery residue around her lips - As she speaks with Qwimby, she faints - several others around her also collapse. - The vast majority of the Dwarves appear to be coughing. - Ellette asks that Lyra - who is now immune to disease - wipe a sample of the silvery spittle from Lidia's lips - Lyra attempts to use Identify on the spittle but despite the spell failing, she does percieve a hum of magic - There are particles of metal within the silver powder - Seeing no other recourse, we head to the Lucky Gryphon to speak with Quincy - On the way there, Lyra recalls that some of the Dwarves appeared to have rashes on their skins - with a greenish, metallic sheen - The rashes appear to have crystallised within the skin - Lyra feels like she may have mined similar metals in her past. - Ellette wishes to speak with Quincy about a book. - The tavern is full of sickly Dwarves - with Quincy and Bob appearing to help them as best they can. - Ellette asks for a book on the experiment of mithril with biological beings. She believes the Dwarves may have been afflicted with some form of magical ailment created with the metal - As they speak, Quincy appears to be coughing - Ellette mentions the Eye of Vecna possibly having been involved. - Quincy states that the coughing started amongst the citizens of Alexandria the day before the Dwarves arrived - For Graxen, the smell appears to be growing stronger - A white Kobold enters the tavern - It complains of a tickle in its head. Qwimby notices the green sheen between the scales of its head - It says its friend has been afflicted even worse - leading us to this other Kobold - This Kobold seems to have been paralysed by the crystallised growths - The first Kobold now has solid legs. As we watch, its entire body is crystallised. ![[KoboldChild.jpg|300]] - A smaller Kobold appears from around a nearby corner. - Graxen speaks with the child, learning there are even more Kobolds nearby. We follow it to the rest, but it indicates that they are all below a nearby manhole cover - and shakes its head when we approach it - Ellette suggests bringing the child to the orphanage - Quincy's mother complains of feeling extremely tired lately. The orphans appear to share this complaint - She agrees to care for the Kobold child - As we leave the orphanage, the Myrkulite approaches us - giving us masks and saying it is important that we wear them. He identifies the plague as a powerful disease that is rapidly sweeping through the Dwarven population. - The majority of the Dwarves have succumbed to the illness - Ellette thinks our best hope may be to return to Luskan - Graxen appears to show interest in becoming a Myrkulite, asking the Bone Talker about the medallion he wears and expressing a desire to possess his own. - Riding out of Alexandria, we notice a large amount of petrified Dwarves - it seems to be the entire population of the refugees. - Glancing back, we see a large dark cloud above Alexandria - similar to the one that hovers above Mirabar. - We arrive at the gates of Luskin - finding them to be closed. - A guardsman responses when we hammer on the gate - We claim to want supplies, but he is suspicious of the masks we all wear - He recognises the masks - saying we "don't look like the same followers" - Ellette presses that we simply seek supplies - She admits that the aid is for Alexandria - The guardsman mentions that both humans and Dwarves from Mirabar have sought refuge in Luskin. A large number were permitted entry, but the gates are now closed to others. - Some of these refugees were coughing - and demonstrating symptoms of the illness - The guardsman becomes uneasy as he realises the illness may already be within Luskin - As we continue to speak, the guardsman reveals himself to be Jarlaxle - He is unaware of the priest impersonating a Myrkulite. - We share our findings regarding the illness. Jarlaxle mentions that the large, dark dragon flew passed Luskin - Luskin converted a dock house for the ill - keeping the human and Dwarven refugees confined within - Jarlaxle presses for the debt owed by Sorida Vignti - but agrees to a truce while the disease is dealt with - Jarlaxle coughs after ushering us inside - He brings us to the dock - but feels something is wrong, noting the silence within the dock house - Qwimby pushes open the door - hearing something shuffling inside - All of the refugees within have been petrified - There is a clicking noise, as the afflicted humans begin to hastily move towards us - Qwimby slams the door, hearing the scratching of metal on metal inside. A hand bursts through - appearing to no longer be human but a metallic claw - Jarlaxle says those afflicted were all over the town before being isolated in the dock house - Graxen notices a number of crystallised rats - Jarlaxle expresses concern about the undead already infesting the tunnel system in Luskin - and how the disease may affect them - Jarlaxle suggests that there may be a handful of clerics in Luskin who can help us. As we move to seek them out, we hear coughs and metallic screeches - Jarlaxle mentions having sent a contact through the tunnel to Menzobaranzen the day before. - Ellette asks about the tendency of Lloth-sworn to experiment with metallic augmentations to biological life - Jarlaxle does not deem this to be a liklihood - The apparent church to Myrkul has been reduced to rubble - The speed at which the disease affects different species appears to differ - 3 days for Dwarves and Humans, less then a day for Kobolds - Jarlaxle is concerned as the clerics are Gnomes and may be affected - He knocks a code upon the door to the clerics' santuary - but there is no response - This suggests 2 days for gnomes - Jarlaxle offers us supplies for Alexandria - requesting that it be known that Luskin came to its aid. - He also gestures out to sea, where the pirate captains have taken shelter. This is because of sightings of mulitple dragons - including a large white one with a rider on its back - This dragon was first spotted two days before Mirabar fell - After the large black dragon passed, the white dragon was no longer seen - He asks one more favour - resolving to enter the tunnels to Menzobaranzen but asking that we seal the door behind him. - Approaching the door to the tunnel, we hear the same metal screeches - Jarlaxle promises to look for us in Alexandria - As Jarlaxle opens the door, it swings wide and throws him aside. All the noise within ceases and darkness bathes the tunnel. - Lyra sees one humanoid figure within - Zargathax emerges, standing before us with the Eye of Vecna and two of the books of Vile Darkness - He denies knowledge of the disease - claiming he asked that the Dwarves of Mirabar spare their resources. They declined. - He has come to Luskin seeking a lead on the third book - He speaks of wishing to eradicat all dragons - appearing to hold an extremely hostile grudge against them. Ellette mentions how he lost his wife to one, which enrages him - Ellette calls him a hypocrite and a weak man - He begins to brandish the books of Vile Darkness - He refers to Ellette as an ally - as she has killed more dragons then he has - His body appears to be far more distressed since the last time we saw him - Zargathax says Mirabar was "unplanned" - Zargathax attacks Ellette after she provokes him - psychically twisting her body in the air - Lyra attempts to barter for Ellette's life, calling back to Zargathax's thought that she is a great dragon slayer - Zargathax speaks of a source of power that released five dragons upon the world. - He asks if we were involved - Lyra attempts to disuade Zargathax of this thought - Zargathax does not believe her, and appears to shift into his draconic form - As she hangs in the air, the gems given to her by Big Guy fall from her pocket - Qwimby sprints to grab them. He gives them to Jarlaxle and explains how to establish the portal - He fires a shot at the Eye of Vecna as Lyra attempts to tackle Ellette out of the air. Graxen attempts to restrain Zargathax with the Blood Curse of Binding. The blood curse has no effect, but Qwimby's shot causes the eye to blink - releasing Ellette - Jarlaxle creates the portal in the ground, we all jump through. Ellette casts Dispel Magic behind us - causing the gems to shatter. We hear a roar in the distance.