You boarded Skyreach Castle under the banner of Talis the White — hardly the most trustworth ally, but she got you aboard safely as promised, and led you to some guest quarters. She advised you strongly to stay put and not venture out, especially during night hours, and took her leave. You noted a stable of Wyvern’s on the way through, as well as plenty of Ogres guarding the towers.

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The Castle was obviously built for giants, with 30ft ceilings and 20ft doors carved out of solid opaque ice that is hard as stone. Your room included a wall through which you could see what looked like a landing platform. Stormwatch of course ignored Talis and set to investigating the surrounds. Marko confirmed that with the setting sun, the courtyard was emptying, and there seemed to be genuine fear on the faces of those hurrying indoors.

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The Red Wizards

The first room you came across, and stormed into, turned out to house two Red Wizards of Thay. Rath Modar and Azbara Jos (who you recognised from the caravan journey) were having a scholarly conversation regarding the summoning of dragons when you rudely interrupt.

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Much fighting ensued, and you managed to take down Jos, but Modar escaped in a wisp of smoke and exited through a wall portal similar to the one in your rooms.

In the detritus you found a fairly terrifying tome: Beyond the Iron Gates. Written in Infernal, Ash conveyed that it contains various devil summoning rituals, but most worryingly also the means to summon Tiamat out of the Nine Hells: sacrificing hundreds of souls and enormous expense and  preparation.

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Rezmir & Talis

After a brief rest, the next room turned out to house your nemesis from way back in the Greenest days (when Stormwatch was but a struggling startup): Rezmir.

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Sitting with her was Talis, and they turned to you with raised eyebrows and a look of exasperation. Eschewing conversation, you attacked. The battle was short but fierce, with swarms of insects and acid breath, but in the end Stormwatch triumphed.

You recovered a Wand of Winter from Talis, and more importantly the Black Dragon Mask from Rezmir. Oozing evil, this thing was clearly of great import to the Cult.

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A Dragon

Entering the stairs to the upper level, you realised they also led down into an icy catacomb. Exploring them seemed wise, until you came across a massive open chamber.

In this chamber was the treasure hoard the Cult had been amassing, and on that hoard was a enormous white dragon. A hungry white dragon. Who asked, pleasantly, to please be fed.

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You quickly agreed before leaving the scene asap. A DRAGON.

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The Kobold Slaughter

Realising you couldn’t fight a dragon, or hide Rezmir’s death long, you recovered your wits and health, and set out with one goal in mind — to wipe the lower Castle of any life.

You started in on a room full of lowly kitchen-hand kobolds (and a screeching griffon), making short work of the poor ‘innocent’ things, before being forced to deal with a handful of unhappy Dragonwings.

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All this fighting was draining your strength and resources, but before you could stop a mysterious undead figure floated down from above. Clearly this was why you were advised to stay indoors at night: it was a vampire.

She quickly scarred Bally, Ash, and Donald, with life-leaching bites to the neck. The fight started to turn against her however, and she summoned a (thankfully less powerful) ally to her side. Stormwatch eventually emerged triumphant, if exhausted.

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The Deal

One room remained unopened, but you needed rest. You retired to Rezmir’s room to briefly recuperate.

Unfortunately it was almost dawn, and before long two Stone Giants emerged from the last unexplored room. They saw the killing grounds nearby, and loped off to the upper level. Giving chase you realised they couldn’t be caught, and Ash soon reported a gathering of at least a score of Ogres upstairs.

Martmaal decided that the catacombs were the best place to make a stand against a phalanx of rampaging Ogres, and the scene was set for a last stand. But before that could happen, the Ogres sent down a clearly terrified messenger. Decked out in frankly very poor armour — but with a nice plumed helmet and some shiny trinkets — this poor fellow managed to haltingly convey that Blagothkus would like to talk to you. Blagothkus the cloud giant. Seems legit.

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So of course you took up that offer, and somewhat surprisingly discovered that the giant was anything but friends with the Cult, and he was mightily impressed with your efforts thus far (and he very much liked the name Stormwatch!).

He explained his motivation for allowing the use of the Castle as a means to gathering support amongst other giants against the  impending dragon empire. Blagothkus offered to take you where you wished, and your pick of the hoard treasure, if you could just do one small thing: deal with the dragon.

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The Dragon

Stormwatch naturally decided this was totally doable. With the help of the Stone Giants, Marko concocted a ‘sleeping sheep’, with the plan being to feed it to the dragon. Surely that will work.

By the time you made it down to his chamber, it was clear the dragon was unhappy with the lack of food service. After watching Marko fumbling around, Bally suddenly threw caution to the wind and descended into the dragon’s lair to deliver the food as demanded.

His terror was palpable, but he managed to do as instructed, and the dragon set about making short work of the offered carcasses. Except for one. Sensing the game was up, and with a rallying cry for the ages from Jorin, the attack commenced.

Almost immediately a terrifying fear gripped half the party, with Donald almost jumping to his doom, and Martmaal and Bally running for dear life. The dragon unleashed an unstoppable icy blast that almost killed everyone.

Sensing something special was needed, Jorin released the beast and landed an epic opening sequence, blowing all his cooldowns to give the dragon something to really think about. Ash followed with typical panache and brutal skills, while Marko started weaving destruction from below.

The battle shifted back and forth, dragon wings beating you down while bursts of focussed damage infuriated it even further. Its roaring bellows echoed around the chamber as the fight continued, Donald clambering up to start inflicting his infernal attacks and Maartmal bringing the party back from the verge of death.

Bally started weaving his web of steel and the battle slowly turned Stormwatch’s way. The constant barrage of damage finally caused the dragon to drop to its knees, and who should be waiting there for the killing blow but Marko. The smallest member of Stormwatch met the largest beast you’d ever encountered, and his trusty dagger was enough to finish the job.

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Dragonslayers

Stormwatch had done it. You’d defeated a major cult leader in Rezmir, dispatched a Red Wizard, befriended the Giants, and earned the extremely rare title of Dragonslayers. A white dragon scale could now rightfully sit upon your shoulder, a mark of just how far you’d come. Stormwatch was now a force to be reckoned with.

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Loot

As promised, the pick of the hoard is yours, along with the Black Dragon Mask and Talis’s wand. Mr Marko chose the pick of the hoard, which haunted you for the rest of your lives:

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Well played. Part Deux, The Rise of Tiamat, commences Feb 2017.

Sessions played: 1 September, 30 November, and 20 December 2016