Dragon Hunters (levels 3-16)
Waterdeep has gained a new guild that is based out of the Yawning Portal. This guild was partially founded by Durnan and some of his old adventuring friends. The Dragon Hunter Guild doesn't have very high known membership, but the highest-ranking associates are very popular (because they are ancient dragons in disguise). The lack of numbers may be due to sending inexperienced nobodies out to kill dragons that end up killing/scaring them off. Regardless, you have decided or were persuaded into seeking membership and as a test they sent you on a surprisingly high stakes mission: Killing the children of Arveiaturace, the deadliest white dragon still alive!
The plan is this: A more experienced team has already been sent to the Icewind Dale, while they distract the dragon the party goes to Arvei's cave lair, in the cave they find the clutch of eggs and destroys them, they leave and everybody's happy except the dragons who they hate.
Plot
The party's already been stationed in the Dale and has the location of the cavern and some landmarks marked on their 1 map.
Encounters are rare but include people and animals fleeing the path of a hungry Arveiaturace and some bandits/thieves trying to take advantage of scared people
Eventually the party will follow the landmarks to an ice covered mountain with a cave hole 30 ft. up which requires DC 15 Athletic checks with snow gear to climb up to. The ice ramp is 70 ft. long and 40 ft. wide because it's meant for dragons
There is a White Dragon Wyrmling guarding "it's hoard" and 2 eggs nearby. The wyrmling tries to kill the intruders for trespassing.
After the fight the party can destroy the eggs and take what they can carry from the massive and ancient dragon hoard.
Just when they're ready to leave a massive shadow covers all of them. They turn and see Arveiaturace who drops a dead frost giant from her maw and roars at them.
After the very brief fight in which Arvei happily uses all of her actions and lair actions the party should mostly die but if some flee that's okay (but unlikely)
Level 8-9
Since the last party got demolished the leaders of the guild have decided to send a more powerful party member from the group that distracted Arveiaturace . The Champion escort is named Sir Landor Gwilith and is a slightly arrogant but heroic Sun Elf who spent 200 years training his skills in combat (that’s why he’s so good). Landor joined this Dragon Hunter Guild because his Elven forest-city was destroyed by a Red Dragon. This time the party gets to meet with the leader of the guild, Vanguard Helion, to receive the orders of this job (which is a super big deal) because he heard about a young red dragon trying to live in the Sword Mountains. No one knows much about the dragon as an individual, but members of the guild know how temperamental and egotistical, they are and how they engage in violence in order to increase their reputations.
Plot
The party and Sir Gwilith have to trek to the Sword Mountains near Thornhold without a map because there was no time to draft a map of the area. However, the warriors and survivors at the Thornhold outpost are happy to assist the party in their slaying of the dragon who attacked them.
It takes a day to get to the dragon’s most likely lair and it is noticeably quiet apart from the sounds of burning and screaming coming from far away. In the night the party is startled awake to the roars of the dragon who flies to Thornhold and back to his lair within the hour (Landor is extremely upset by this; it reminds him of home)
When the party eventually reaches the burrow on the base of the mountain, they will have to scale the inside of the mountain to reach the “platform” the dragon broods in and where it is ready with his 2 winged kobold soldiers
A Young Red Dragon may be tough, but Landor gives every party member a Potion of Fire Resistance and takes one himself. The dragon proclaims himself as “Ka’shardon the Drake” in an attempt to get his name out there (he doesn’t have much room to fly in his cavern, so he climbs on walls to get away).
After the battle the party gets to actually keep their loot (2d20+3*2 gold per person) and 1d4-1 magic items. Sir Landor is very proud of them and allows everyone to dig into the hoard. The Stoneshaft Dwarf clan of Thornhold congratulate them for getting rid of the problem before it gets worse and provide the whole party a free night at the inn, the Dancing Morningstar. (Level up)
Back in Waterdeep, the reputation of the party has increased drastically and Vanguard Helion himself is very impressed and he tells the party “The other leaders of the guild are watching to see you all improve”. The party is slightly famous in Waterdeep as upcoming heroes, so they get to stay in the guild house mansion with the other members. (They can also meet Landor’s regular party: Gilmore; a gnome archmage, Branor; a Dragonborn of Bahamut, and Sven; a human archdruid all of whom he cherishes dearly)
Level 10-12
The last party has continued living with and working for the Dragon Hunter Guild and has been able to learn and earn more by doing so (everyone gains 1 more magic item and 4d12+5*3 more gold). Life is good and all is mostly calm in Waterdeep… until attacks start on the newest guild members. These murders are violent and have no pattern but a very specific common trait, the bodies have dragon bites out of them despite the Dragonward protecting all of Waterdeep from dragon attacks! No one is quite sure what’s occurring, but Vanguard Helion has announced that he invited the other leaders to investigate what’s happening. Plus, he’s invited the party to take part since they’ve made a name for themselves and can probably handle themselves against this threat.
Plot
The first body is still in their crypt and can be inspected (or spoken to) for clues about what attacked them (DC 14 Medicine check can tell someone that they’ve been bitten and clawed by some acidic source). The wounds are similar to a small black dragon, but any dragon would have done more damage to a regular person.
While the investigation seems inconclusive, that night another Dragon Hunter (Guard) is ambushed while keeping watch to protect the rest of the members (if some party members are keeping watch, then they’ll most likely be ambushed to) by 2 Black Abishai. After dealing with the duo anyone can perform a DC 18 Religion or Arcana check to understand what these things are.
The survivors are encouraged to tell the guild leaders about this attack (now is a good time to introduce some of them) who can be found at a nearby but separate and smaller guild house that’s closer to the outskirts of the city (near a place to bypass the Dragonward). The leadership members all react differently to the news, but all maintain their disguises:
Tyresius: An Ancient Gold Dragon in the form of a human ranger who prefers his magical shortsword than a bow. He wants to lead the whole guild but he’s not smart enough, so he rivals with Helion and jumps at the chance to tear up the city to look for more devils.
Pop: The Adult Copper Dragon who has taken the form of his favorite race, a Kenku, and dresses like a rogue. A bit of a kleptomaniac, he wants the devils’ stuff more than justice.
Silencia: Adult Emerald Dragon who has shifted into an illusionist, Eladrin woman. She likes playing harmless tricks on people but even she knows the severity of Tiamat’s servants arriving. She’ll do what Helion wants with her spells and her dagger out of loyalty and a sense of protection over Waterdevians.
Skinner: This Adult Silver Dragon likes fighting evil but doesn’t want to bother with small people, so he decided to transform into Vanhelion’s pet husky. He also wants to help Vanghelion ascend to greatwyrm status because he believes in his path. He communicates his opinions to his “master” telepathically but only acts in secret.
Vanghelion: The leader and founder of the Dragon Hunter Guild along with a Masked Lord is an Ancient Sapphire Dragon who has learned and honed his combat skills by hunting dragons. He stays as a human knight who uses his psionics for an advantage. He really wants to battle Tiamat if he could, so finding the source of this infernal invasion is very important to him. Vanguard Helion is a nickname that stuck.
Vanghelion suggests that answers may be found in the criminal Xanathar’s Guild or with the Zhentarim. Silencia is willing to escort the party to her double agents in the Zhentarim but they’ll only be willing to meet at night. Later in the day people see a draconic humanoid shape fly out of the roof of one of the Zhentarim buildings and fly away (it goes to hide in the City of the Dead and regroup). That night Silencia finds the party and leads them to an alley in the Dock Ward where there are 3 Zhentarim agents who she bribed to spy for the guild.
The Zhents (3 Master Thieves) describe a new dragonborn man who rose through the ranks pretty quickly thanks to his ruthless pragmatism. He’s been heard “communing with Tiamat” and summoning monsters with his own personal ritual circle. Plus, he likes to go out to the City of the Dead late at night but returns before sunrise, more information could be found there. Suddenly the Dragonborn of Tiamat turns the corner and has a Green Abishai to block off the other side and the paladin shouts “You know too much now you have to die!” before fighting (Level up)
Silencia thanks the party for their help and departs to inform Vanguard Helion what’s going on. The next day a mass of panicked citizens bangs on the door of the guild house begging for help! A blue half-dragon has been spotted in the graveyard doing some infernal ritual and summoning an even nastier looking dragon creature! The party are the only ones who know enough to solve this so they go out to the City of the Dead and see a chilling sight, a Blue Abishai finally manifesting a Dracohydra into the Material Plane!
When the devil sees the party, it just spends the rounds flying away leaving the Dracohydra to deal with the party. If things look too deadly the Dragonborn of Bahamut from Sir Landor’s group will fly in to fight the “disgusting clone of Tiamat!” (Level up)
After the foul creation has been banished the Abishai has flown away without a trace, but the Bahamut paladin has a theory: the Tiamat worshiper was summoning devils to take out the guild in order to scare the biggest threats to Tiamat away. With fewer dragon hunters, more of her servants and maybe she would have emerged to conquer the realm. But now that their summoner has been killed the threat should be averted (he doesn’t know about the Blue Abishai)
Back at the guild house Vanguard Helion is ready to reward the party with more accolades for definitely ending this devil problem completely (not)! They get paid for technically dealing with a draconic creature in the form of platinum (5d20 of it) and even higher status amongst Waterdeep and the Sword Coast as a whole!
Level 15
The party has become very powerful and battle trained dragon slayers (allowing them to acquire 1 very rare magic item and 1 uncommon magic item along with 1 of every material component they need)! They are everything the guild stands for; they can take out ancient dragons, dracoliches, and even the elusive shadow dragon. This skill proves to the guild leaders that they’re ready to help Vanguard Helion on his quest of ascension and since they ended that devil problem months ago it should go off without a hitch. It does require him plane shifting to different material planes in order to meet his alternate selves or “echoes” and he may need the party to pull him back to his tether; a crystal ball with a part of his consciousness within (his draconic shard).
The players needn’t do much, Vanghelion promises, but he doesn’t inform them as to why he has to leave, just that “he has a job to do”. In that time however, enemies see the vulnerability of the guild and decide to ambush them. Specifically, the Blue Abishai summoner has fled to Arveiaturace’s cave so the pair can bring an aspect of their goddess to the realm so they can help her conquer it. This is a matter of revenge for Arvei who had her offspring slaughtered by people; she must make them pay the price. The devil wants to be promoted in order to be a red general, the strength of a red with the intelligence of a blue.
Plot
It’s a nice Summer day in Waterdeep with low crime after the death of the Xanathar and the Imprisonment of Manshoon. The party has heard about some ruckus going on in the Dale again involving Arveiaturace and the guild has decided to deal with her once and for all, allowing her to live was a grave mistake for the safe of people (Sir Landor Gwilith’s group has been sent to deal with it which won’t be too hard).
Vanguard Helion nor any of the leaders explain that they’re dragons but Skinner is very excited today to finally see the greatwyrm that his friend will be. Tyresius is jealous that he doesn’t get to rise like Vanghelion can but is begrudgingly accepting it.
In the middle of the day the player who’s been kindest to Gilmore receives a Sending from him exclaiming, “TIAMAT IS HERE!!! We are all dead! Get the guildmasters to Icewind Dale!! Everyone is dead! Tiamat has ris-” and gets cut off (by his death)
After this ominous message the party can go tell the guildmasters the message they received, and they all seem concerned by this information but fail at hiding it. They believe now is the best time to reveal their truth, but Skinner puts it best with “we’re all dragons kids. Now follow me, we’re going to Icewind Dale” he also reveals that his name is Skingrad.
Skinner runs them far outside of the city past the farms and up to the mountains dropping his changed form to reveal himself as an Adult Silver Dragon. He offers to fly party members to the Icewind Dale on his back. Silencia invisibly teleports up to them and offers to carry the rest of the party to Arvei’s lair. It is a tense and nervous 3 days of travel.
The mountain Arveiaturace lives in is now covered in blood and even from a distance the frozen chunks of the previous party can be seen with Gilmore’s lower half being the furthest away showing how he died
Landing in the middle of this snowy plain allows everybody to check out the gruesome ways the previous dragon hunters died. Silencia and Skinner keep their dragon forms and direct the party to investigate Arvei’s cave while they keep watch for the actual dragon (right after the party enters the cavern they hear the roars and cursing in draconic but can’t tell the difference of who’s who).
The party first sees the cavern coated in melting ice due to the flaming portal to Hell where all of the valuables and gold used to be (they were sacrificed to the goddess to summon her). Then they see the gargantuan body of a deity talking to a Red Abishai servant of hers (the Blue Abishai got promoted) who faces the party when she detects them and stops talking.
Tiamat is evil but she’s also cunning and is willing to bring these obviously powerful mortals into the fold and tries to use her charismatic nature to bring the party to her side. “Help me conquer the realm and all the power in the world will be yours!!” she loudly claims and waits for the characters to decide. Saying no begins combat with a goddess.
Whatever their choice, a portal to the Astral Sea opens and Vanghelion soars out as a Sapphire Greatwyrm bent to destroy this manifestation of the Queen of Chaos! With a rallying cry of “We shall send you back to Hell like we did your children!” (The Red Abishai does join the fight)
The fight will be long, difficult, and the party may require extra help from outside sources, but Vanghelion will focus on the Aspect of Tiamat, and she will do the same leaving her general to fight the party. When the Abishai is dealt with Tiamat will burst out the face of the mountain to possibly get back up from Arveiaturace but she turns out to be “too weak to live”. Vanghelion is willing to fly out 3 party members since Tiamat is trying to fly away.
Defeating this avatar is an epic effort and a once in a lifetime heroic feat and is properly rewarded! This reward comes in the form of an avatar of Bahamut coming from the sky and telling them “You have all rebalanced the cosmos in ways you may not be able to comprehend and for that I will guarantee your place on Mount Celestia and a divine gift” then he breathes out the winds of heaven and all of the characters feel much better (they gain the benefits of a long rest and the Boon of Perfect Health). Unfortunately, Silencia died from Arvei’s breath, the other party died due to Tiamat’s aspect and Arveiaturace, and Skingrad was badly injured by the older dragon.
All of the dragons are proud and amazed by the success of the party and promise wealth beyond their wildest dreams and a parade for them in Waterdeep every year on this day. They make do on this promise and the Dragon Hunter Guild gains unseen success from commissions and treasure! Then every character can reunite on Mount Celestia forever.
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