- We depart the keep, heading for Luskan - There have been reports of a singular survivor who witnessed one of the dragon's attacks - This man is resting within the tavern in Luskan - we make our way there to speak with him - The man trembles, appearing exhausted - Orlan and Anora approach the man, with Anora skittering uncomfortably close - Anora insists that the man's friends have "gone home" and must now be blessed. This causes him to break down and sob hysterically - Steve attempts to comfort the man. He lashes out, striking both Steve and Anora - Orlan casts Lesser Restoration on the man - returning him to his senses. A look of dread descends across his face as sobriety returns - The man saw the lich, it looked him in the eyes - He and his friends believed the dragon was friendly, but it attacked when one of them picked up a book - The book was a leather bound tome - The area was covered in deep mist at the time, and he saw the shadow of a large dragon. The dragon merely observed them, and did not attack until one of his colleagues touched the book - The man produces a crumbled piece of paper that he claims to be from the book - Entry One - Early Admiration, circa centuries past. “Her scales gleam like glaciers under starlight, each one a mirror of moonlight on snow. Arveiaturace, they call her, the White Wyrm. Sailors curse her name, tribes fear her flight — but I see in her not only destruction, but possibility. A terror, yes, but a terror I might bind. And in binding, transcend the frailty of mortality. She is more than a beast of hunger — she is majesty incarnate. I will not let her greatness waste upon solitude.” - The paper appears to be ancient - The man mentions to Graxen that he found a second piece of paper but sold it to an old crone on the road - Kyo, Qwimby and Orlan all step outside towards the local apothecary - while Steve, Graxen and Anora head to the graveyard to see if the crone may be found there - Kyo asks the apothecarist for Black Lotus - She has none in stock, but knows of a wild man in the mountains who may have some. This man is only seen in the town once every season. - This hermit - known as "The Wild Man" is due to return within the next month - Kyo also asks for a White Ghost Orchid. The apothecarist agrees to put this and the Black Lotus aside should the Wild Man have some during his next visit. Kyo leaves his name as "Mossvale", with the woman asking for a 25GP deposit - Kyo offers a platinum coin for information about a wild woman in the mountains - She takes this coin, offering a piece of paper with information about a grove of witches deep within the mountains - who are apparently friendly by nature - Qwimby asks after a potion that will grant him improved accuracy. The woman offers him a pink aphrodisiac potion. - This bottle costs 130GP, and urges that the drinker finish the potion in one gulp - Qwimby reiterates that the accuracy he seeks is for his pistols. She offers him an orange potion worth 150GP. - Qwimby buys both for 280GP - Orlan asks for a potion that would make him more sneaky. She instead offers him a green potion that will improve his speech - Kyo next asks for a bottle of Liquid Shadow - She can sell this and the speech potion for 65GP each. Kyo buys both for Orlan - In the graveyard, Anora, Steve and Graxen enter in search of the crone - The graveyard is empty. Anora cleans and blesses the oldest grave, which had been covered in ivy - There is also a freshly dug crave - A mournful cry carries on the wind, appearing to be coming from the nearby mountains - It sounds like a dragon's cry - We take the cart, travelling north towards the mountains - The fog grows thick as we travel into the Spine of the World, a thick chill rolling through the air - The cart rocks violently as we suddenly hit a frozen corpse - The area is badly disturbed, covered in trails of blood and claw marks - strewn with other body parts - Kyo casts Locate Object, looking for paper. A corpse Anora is attending to begins to glow - In its frozen hand, Anora finds a clasped piece of paper. - Entry II The Pact (years later) _“The ritual is done. Pain beyond reckoning, but worth every drop of blood. She bears me upon her back now, and I upon her will. The ice sang with power as we sealed the covenant — dragon and rider, bound by fate and sorcery. The mortals of Ten-Towns and Icewind Dale cower, and well they should. For we are eternal together. I her master, she my steed. Yet… there is more. In her frost, I feel a warmth I cannot name. She turns her head to listen when I speak. She growls when others approach. Perhaps… no, I dare not write it.”_ - In the near distance, we hear the billowing of wings - Steve casts Enlarge on our cow - There is a faint whisper on the wind, a woman's voice saying "mine forever" - Kyo claws at the cow's hind quarters, sending it barrelling up the hill in a blind panic - "Not gods, not death", whispers upon the wind - The dragon swoops down from the clouds, the sound of a crunch as the cow is carried away - The massive cow falls from the sky, landing on Anora and Orlan - Its body has been shredded by deep claw marks - A form breaks through the gale of the snow, the dragon descending from the sky as flakes of ice and snow swirl around her - The dragon slams to the ground before us, her lich rider grasping reigns upon her back - The dragon observes us, speaking to the lich - calling him Meltharond - The bindings on her back appear to be reinforced and preserved - Weak enchantments cling to her body, not enough to raise her but enough to preserve it - Qwimby attempts to speak to the lich, but this enrages the dragon - who snaps at him and demands he not sully Meltharond's ears with his words - Qwimby speaks directly to the dragon instead. She appears impressed that he does not flinch from her - Anora can tell the "lich" on her back is a literal corpse, and has no way been reanimated - Anora comments on this, which greatly angers the dragon. She speaks of the corpse as being "hers" - She lunges at Anora - there appears to be a journal attached to the corpse on her back - Kyo casts Moment to Think, snatching this journal away - Entry III – Mad Obsession (decades later) _“The years slip like snowmelt through my hands. Mortality creeps near. My flesh thins, my bones ache, but her power does not fade. Still she flies, still she tears ships from the sea, still her roar splits the heavens. She is timeless. I am not. I must cling to her, beyond breath, beyond death itself. If I fall, she will carry me still. She must. She must never forget me. Never. I will weave enchantments into her mind, her heart, her very soul, so that my presence never leaves her. Let her hear my voice in every storm, see my face in every moon. My death will be her grief, and her grief will be my immortality - Entry IV – Final Words (incomplete, ink frozen mid-flow) _“…the cold deepens in my marrow. I cannot rise. My breath fails. She carries me still, faithful, protective, furious at my weakness. She roars, and I know she would rend gods themselves if they sought to take me. If I fall… she will carry me still. For I am hers, and she is mine. Let none part us, not gods, not time, not death. I go to the veil, but she… she must never be alone. Never - Kyo addresses the dragon by name - He asks what has brought her so far south - This appears to please the dragon, as she speaks about travelling with "her love" - Breifly revealing a vulnerability, she speaks of how light the corpse's bones have grown - The dragon dares Steve to speak the name of Meltharond. Steve declines - The dragon appears to have a moment of clarity, realising Meltharond is gone - She says Meltharond and Arauthator - "The only two that ever loved" - Orlan attempts to convince the dragon that she is cursed, this causes her great confusion - She speaks of a mate, who is no longer in this world - and the next she fell in love with being currently strapped to her back - She roars, bellowing and flaring out her wings - Graxen tells the dragon the story of his lost brother, this appears to bring her to her senses as they share the pain of loss of a loved one - Kyo also speaks of losing the Mossvale - The dragon attempts to comfort him, claiming the Mossvale waits for him in the Beyond - Anora speaks up, about those who have struggled to move on from the past - The dragon is again angered, believing Anora disrespected her love - The dragon's rage grows as she demands to know if we pity her - She wishes to hear Meltharond's voice one last time - Orlan casts Greater Restoration to remove the link between the corpse and the dragon's thoughts, he attempts to use his Weavebound Aegis to cast the spell twice to also rid the enchantment on her heart - The Weavebound Aegis instead unintentionally teleports Orlan 30 feet away - The dragon clutches her heart and roars in response, unusure of what Orlan has done to her - Orlan casts Dispell Magic, removing the chains binding the corpse to her back. It slumps to the ground - The dragon appears to be growing overwhelmed - Anora rushes towards the corpse but is tackled to the ground by Steve - Kyo uses Command to make the dragon wait while Orlan sprints back towards her, grasping a diamond and casting Greater Restoration on her chest - The storm billowing around us subsides, the dragon now appearing to be calm - She seems to come to terms with having lost two of her loved ones, thanking us for bestowing peace upon her - She rockets into the sky, flying north-west as the storm dies away completely