- As we return to the guild hall, Karissa and Steve are both present with Big Guy. All are startled by the appearance of the claw and the roar in the distance - just before the portal is destroyed - Ellette recounts our encounter with Zargathax - Jarlaxle coughs, causing Karissa distress. He appears to be infected - Jarlaxle leaves the guild hall, disappearing into the crowd outside - Ellette is now spiciest - The roaring in the distance continues - There is now a dark cloud above Luskan, with one faintly developing above Alexandria - A debate begins between Ellette and Lyra over remaining to defend Alexandria or leaving it at the mercy of Zargathax and the potential infected - A metallic scratching and screeching grows louder outside, with numerous reanimated Dwarven statues now shambling about the town - Ellette is adamant that we at least find a way to the Lucky Gryphon to check on the king - The town is now infested by the infected. They are attacking locals and amassing outside buildings - The large dark dragon appears to be moving towards Alexandria in the distance - We decide to head to the orphanage first, to attempt to save the children - The manholes covers are belching gaseous metal into the air - It appears the Kobolds beneath are now infected and are trying to escapes - Kobvids - at least 19 of them - At the orphanage, the door has been barred - Quincy's mother is sheltered inside with the children - She opens the door to allow us entry - She reports that a handful of children are now missing. Seven children ran and would not listen, six remaining - Having run out the door, they all scattered in different directions - Big Guy smashes his way through an external wall, creating a short cut to usher the remaining children to safety - HE'S THE BIG GUY, BITCH. SORRY. RESPECTFUL WOMAN. - There is a human girl (Cara) and boy (Jules), an elf boy (Dell), a tree ent (Bry), a Kobold boy and Zen. - The little human girl fetches a patchwork teddy named Bibby. The bear is missing an arm and appears to have been repaired many times - Scorpions carry all their babies on their backs it's so cool - Big Guy carries away the children, cradling Quincy's mother and charging through the newly created wall. - The infected seem to be becoming faster, as if becoming more comfortable with their metal limbs - As we move through the town, Karrisa coughs - showing signs of infection - One of the manhole covers bursts open, with infected Kobolds emerging - We carry on towards the tavern, with the large dark dragon now overhead. - Zargathax, in dragon form, obliterates the Lucky Gryphon before we can arrive - Ellette continues to charge towards the tavern. Lyra and Graxen attempt to stop her, Steve is trying to stop Lyra while Karissa tackles Graxen - In the ensuing chaos, Ellette charges towards the tavern. Zargathax continues his assault on Alexandria. - The fire burning the Lucky Dragon feels almost toxic against Ellette's skin as she stands before the burning wreckage. She can see a small figure surrounded by a barrier within the rubble. - Ellette Fey Steps inside, finding Quincy. She attempts to save him - Within the flames, Ellette is badly burned and feels her scales begin to burn away. - Using Fey Step, Ellette attempts to pull Quincy from the fire. He has been greviously wounded by the ordeal - He tries to say something but collapses before he can - The ground begins to tremble as a dragon's roar bellows from beneath us. Radigan bursts through the rubble - covered in a black, tar-like substance. He appears bigger then we remember, and barrels towards Zargathax. - Though bigger, he is dwarfed by Zargathax - Around us, the infected have become rapidly moving - jittering rather then shambling - As Steve moves to pick up Quincy, she notices the crystallised rash growing on his neck. Karrisa offers to carry him instead - Above us, Zargathax snatches Radigan by the neck. The king manages to blast a breath attack into the lich's face - revealing a draco-lich beneath the flesh. Zargathax responds by disemboweling Radigan before tearing him in half - Radigan's severed upper half lands beside us - With his dying breath, he refers to having "one". Peeling open his chest, he offers us a perfect dragon scale gem from within - Ellette reaches for it, finding it to be freezing to the touch. As she pulls it out, the brilliant pearlescence of his scales begins to fade - His final words are "with that...home". - As Radigan dies, Zargathax slams to the ground. Using the books, he seems to usher a portal into existence. The infected charge towards the portal, disappearing inside before it closes behind them. He proclaims his intention to return, having achieved what he wanted - He then flies away, to the south of Alexandria - In his wake, silence descends on the town - Having touched Ellette after she held the gem, Karissa is cured of the illness - Ellette senses a presence within her, wishing to commune with the dragon scale gem - Quincy, though badly ravaged by the fire, does not appear to be infected any more - Survivors begins to tentatively emerge from the wreckages around us. Fifteen in total - Lyra finds two of the missing children, both crushed by rubble - Most of the town has been leveled, with the guild hall being the only building that remains barely standing - We gather food, blankets and provisions with the intent of gathering survivors and bringing them back to the keep with us - None of the Dwarven refugees remain outside the city and the Myrkulites are nowhere to be found - A discarded Myrkulite pendant is on the ground, appearing to belong to the Bone Talker Graxen previously spoke with. He holds onto it - On the journey back to the keep, we find someone running from Alexandria. Half of their body has been charred to bone. It appears to be wearing the robes of the Myrkulites. As we approach the figure, it collapses - dead - Back at the keep, Big Guy has successfully rescued the orphans and Quincy's mother - Zoltan and Derrick have begun converting the stables to house the new arrivals - Evette has taken refuge at the keep, but is missing her right hand. There is no sign of Spick. - Ellette approaches Jess. - Jess is deeply upset. She begins to have a breakdown as she struggles to maintain control of the situation - Steve breaks the news of Radigan's death to Big Guy, but he laments having no time to grieve - Zoltan gives Evette a hastily made prosthetic hand - Rasp plays with the children - Erin attempts to grow a large amount of food to distribute among the dishevelled arrivals - Jarlaxle sits amongst the refugees - He joins us, claiming he did what he could to aid during the attack on Alexandria - He reaches towards Ellette, seeming to have been cured of the illness as his hand grazes against her shoulder - Both Qwimby and Ellette attempt to raise the morale in the room. Ellette vows to claim the dragon's head, while Qwimby deems the keep to be the surviving city of Alexandria - Zoltan approaches Graxen - with an offer of a blueprint of augments he can make to the arm, and a cost he will need to make them. Graxen needs to find more of the metal his arm is made from, and 2,000 GP - Ellette approaches Quincy during his recovery - He seems to already be aware of Radigan's death - Quincy says there is no coming back when a dragon gifts its heart. It is the purest energy that exists - He believes Radigan's family were the last of the pearlescent dragons - Quincy requests a door - Evette seems to know why he needs this, asking no questions when Ellette conveys this request to her - Qwimby attempts to train the refugees into a militia - While meditating in relation to his metal arm, Graxen sees flashes of Zargathax's eye and arm. There is a withered limb - and loud noises, followed by the sound of coins dropping. A shadowed figure appears to have horns. Hooded figures in purple robes (with red lining) all wear masks, with a single eye emblazoned on each one. - Fergal uses Restoration to heal Ellette's charred scales - Lyra communes with her patron - She asks if it was the patron, or someone acting in their name who assisted her in Luskan when she died - The Patron says no - She then asks is there any source of power on this plane that is obtainable by a mortal that can stop Zargathax - The Patron says yes - Will going to Waterdeep bring us closer to this power - Unclear - Lyra then receives a vision, seeing a dark figure clad in golden chains. The Patron claims this to be them - It wishes to be freed - It is unable to state where it is imprisoned, nor who holds them there - It is, however, a group of entities holding them - The Patron responds with "Queen" when asked their name. They are the queen of golden chains, according to the vision - Evette returns with the door, seeming to be aware that Quincy needs to use it outside. - He emerges from his room with a walking stick - He asks for it to be placed against a wall near the stables - He takes a key from around his neck, using it to open the door. It creates a new Lucky Grypon - with Bob emerging from inside. - Ellette brings Rasp to meet Bob - They seem to get along - Quincy explains that the Lucky Gryphon travels with him, as he is the Lucky Gryphon - We are the knights of the "square table" - There is a new, long table in the tavern - emblazoned with the insignia of Sordia Vignti - Jarlaxle arrives, having been stabbed by Nissa after a botched attempt to flirt with her - Jarlaxle speaks of a cursed book affecting Kalteo - Everyone looks at Qwimby - The week before the attack on Alexandria, there were sightings of a white dragon with a rider in Luskan taking shots at ships along the coast near Luskan - The rider appeared undead - Jarlaxle believes the wizards' tower may be abandoned and lost to undead - He asks that we aid what remains of Luskan - He asks about the death fog that claimed Menzobaranzen, claiming there are spirits within the fog - Jarlaxle mentions having seen the Myconids pass with several corpses. He speaks of them culminating and propagating with corpses. - He asks if we've noticed scorch marks along the ground, as if being burned with acid. - He claims there is an influx of gelatinous cubes - The cubes seem drawn towards the underdark - He thinks the Myconids have been taking far more corpses then usual, and are likely building an army - Jarlaxle disguises himself as a Myrkulite before leaving to return to Luskan - Fergal appears to be taking stones from the wizard's tower and carrying them towards the shore - Graxen mentions having heard him express wishes to build a shrine to Umberlee - We go to the beach to check on Squeeb - He is attempting to rally his ducks into a crew, of which he is the captain - Squeeb gets into an altercation with Qwimby regarding gun safety - he wishes to challenge Qwimby to a dual - One of Squeeb's ducks is his first mate and will one day be the quaptain - Karissa patronisingly pets Squeeb, he bites off half of her middle finger - She punches him in retaliation, killing him with the force of the blow - Ellette rushes to get Fergal, asking that he heal Squeeb. As the situation escalates, Graxen attempts to fetch the gun from his frantic first mate. It fires a shot, missing him - Fergal stabilises Squeeb - In the chaos, Steve pushes Karissa into the water - trying to keep her away from Squeeb - Qwimby attempts to save her, but is tangled by her struggling - Using Fly, Ellette scoops Karissa from the water and pulls her back to the shore - Karissa now has a fear of drowning. She also hates Kobolds - Squeeb attempts to shoot Karissa after regaining consciousness. Although he is convinced to drop the gun, she continues to antagonise him - causing him to stab her in the neck. - He admits that he poisoned the blade with a jelly fish, causing paralysis in Karissa - He reveals a glowing purple juice given to him by Fizzle - Fergal pulls the knife from Karissa's neck, attempting to tend to her injury. - Squeeb insists that Karissa drink the purple juice. It is poured into her mouth - Karissa shrinks, becoming a chicken egg - Steve vows to protect the egg with her life - We are required to wait four days for the egg to return to Karissa's form - In Ellette's head, Visidira and Radigan seem to be attempting to converse - Steve keeps the egg by her bedside, but the following morning a number of the kids are messing with it. They knock the podium she's placed it on, but she manages to save it - The next morning, she wakes up and the egg is missing - Big Guy has gathered a batch of eggs for his baking - Steve takes all the eggs and forbids him from eating any for the next two days - Jess comes in search of some eggs, sparking a confrontation with Steve as she fiercely defends her baskets - Jess later returns to ask why Steve didn't just ask someone to dispel magic on the egg - The next morning, Steve takes a nap on the floor - but wakes up in bed. Big Guy has moved her, she had left the eggs on a pillow in the middle of the floor. Upon entering, he tripped over her hammer and cracked a number of eggs - At midnight on the forth night, there is a crash as Karissa returns screaming to her Tiefling form