Lost Mines of Phandelver: 11 – Venomfang
Our heroes:
Euphemia “Mia” Tosscobble, the Halfling Rogue,
Count Erspell, the Elvish Mage,
Kui-Kui, the Human Noble Fighter,
Viggo, the Human Druid,
Dave, the Human Folk Hero Fighter,
& Eorlund Granitefella, the Dwarvish Cleric
Erspell, Mia, Dave, and Eorlund mourn the loss of Hotdog. Eorlund offers a prayer for the owl, wishing it well on the next life.
Viggo and Kui-Kui are unaware of the fate of their fallen comrade as they stumbled across an empty and barely standing herbalists shop. The shelves were bare with nothing worth taking. The brothers were about to leave when they remembered that the prisoners from the rebrand hideout said they had left a family heirloom in a herbalist store In Thundertree. Kui-Kui had one last rummage around the store, and found a small unassuming box, inside was a beautiful gold and emerald necklace.
The party regroups and chooses the next building they want to check. Just across the road, they see a surprisingly intact building, with all the shutters closed and a heavily secured looking door. Kui-Kui walks up to the door and knocks. A voice on the other side tells them to go away. Kui-Kui and Viggo try to convince the voice to let them in, but their efforts are met with a simple “Go. Away.“ Mia and Eorlund snuck around to the back of the building to see if there was another way in, finding a locked door, Mia unlocked it and started to push open the door. She hadn’t got very far before someone slammed the door shut and Mia heard a deadbolt being shunted into place. Kui-Kui was having just as much luck with the front door, having decided to try and force his way in, but the door seemed to have been built for such an occasion as Kui-Kui’s attacks just bounced off the door.
Hearing some murmurings behind the door in what Erspell recognised as draconian. The elf remembered that there was supposed to be a sect of dragon cultists in the area. Speaking in draconian, Erspell tried to convince the voice behind the door, that he too was a member of the cult and his underlings were trying to find him a place to recoup after a bandit attack. After some more murmuring the door opened and the group were met by two figures in black cloaks and dragonesque masks. They invited the group into the building where they were introduced to the sects leader Fav-ric. Who welcomed a fellow member and told Erspell he was in luck, as the dragon that had taken residence in the tower to the north of town was expected to be returning soon, and that Erspell and his underlings could give offerings to the dragon.
Everyone in the party was put at ease by the surprisingly friendly nature of Fav-ric, all except Viggo, who felt that something was off.
The party and the cultists made their way towards the tower. During the walk, Viggo managed to convince Mia that maybe they are in danger with these fellows. Mia remembers that the Cult of the Dragon is not above gifting live sacrifices to dragons, and begins to plot.
Once in the tower, Fav-ric asks who would like to be the first to offer their gifts to Venomfang the dragon. Mia raises her hand and steps forward, the cultists lead her into the main room of the tower and close the door behind them, locking the rest of the group in the hallway.
The six cultist make a semi-circle on one side of the room with Mia standing in the middle. After a short while, there is a sound of rushing wind, as a small, but still very large green dragon descends into the ruined tower. Venomfang lands on its modest hoard pile and looks towards the cultists. Fav-ric raises his hands and speaks “Oh Venomfang, we give you our gold, we give you our precious stones, we give you our valuable belongings and we offer you this willing sacrifice, in your name.” The dragon lowers its head towards the halfing and asks if she has any last words, Mia smirks, holds up her hands and says “Oh Venomfang, I give you my gold, I give you my precious stones, I give you my valuable belongings and I offer you these 6 sacrifices, in your name.”
These cultists were too dumbfounded to respond before the dragon could smile at the halfing, saying “I like you…Duck” as he sprayed his poison breath at them, killing them all.
Hearing the commotion and screaming the rest of the party broke down the door coming face to face with Venomfang. The dragon took a ready stance at the intruders, but Mia was able to calm him down saying they were with her. Erspell greeted the dragon in draconic, further diffusing the situation.
The group started to have a civil conversation with Venomfang, until an arrow hit the chest of the dragon. Everyone looked towards Viggo, with hints of disdain on their faces, as the dragon attacked.
Viggo and Erspell retreated into the hallway to safely cast spells, while Kui-Kui and Dave took up position in front of the dragon, Mia and Eorlund ran around the room trying to find a position to flank him.
Venomfang swipes at the party with one claw sinking into Kui-Kui, who’s sword starts to glow again as the red mist starts to descend in the noble’s mind. Slashing furiously at the dragon, he fails to notice when it takes a quick jump back, nearly crushing Mia, and roars letting out another stream of poison breath. Kui-Kui manages to withstand the attack, but Dave falls to the ground, just at the brink of death (seriously, 3 points more damage from a 12d6 (47) attack would have insta-killed Dave). With most of the party on there last legs, Kui-Kui manages to land a solid hit on the dragon. Feeling that the battle may not go his way, Venomfang spreads his wings and starts to fly out of the tower. Still enraged Kui-Kui runs up the tower to what is left of the roof cursing the dragon and demanding it come back and finish the fight. The dragon ignores the shouting and flies over the horizon, looking for a new location to keep his horde. Viggo managed to calm down his brother before he could fall off the tower roof.
Viggo tended to Dave, as the rest of the group started dividing up the dragon’s horde.
Stronger & significantly richer, the party rests in the tower.
The Adventure Continues…
