Games Sixty-Six through Seventy-Two: Lizard Men, Dalton, Goblin Tanks, Gratuitous Nudity, Forsaken, and Even an Election!

It has been an eventful few months in Dragonreach, since the near destruction of the city by an ancient red dragon!  A quick recap to catch up our fellow adventurers...

In the Sixty-Sixth foray into Dragonreach ("Evil Swamp"), a band of heroes boarded a boat to explore a deadly swamp and hunt down a fearsome tribe of lizard men who had been attacking merchants.  A short stop at a cursed swamp island was ill-advised, and led to the party's ship almost being sunk by a horde of skeletons...

And, the lizard-men island was only cleared through a deadly battle...

In the Sixty-Seventh foray into Dragonreach ("Roadhouse"), a band of heroes took a job to clean up a remote tavern plagued by Duergar bandits, extortionist kung-fu monks from the Jade Wasps, and other troubles...

In the Sixty-Eighth foray into Dragonreach ("Dirty Business"), a band plunged into the ancient sewers beneath Dragonreach, facing off against ratmen and vampires, racing against rivals to find the lost Temple of Swords...

In the Sixty-Ninth foray into Dragonreach ("The Great Goblin Machine"), a band was hired by the Overlord to track down some goblins who had absconded with a terrible war machine... 

In the Seventieth foray into Dragonreach ("Naked and Afraid"), a band woke on a strange island drugged and bereft of their equipment, and hunted for sport by an evil adventurer...

In the Seventy-First  foray into Dragonreach ("Only Murderers in the Fort"), a band of heroes were hired to hold a remote fort against an army of Forsaken barbarians -- even while a devious murderer was picking off the defenders...

In the Seventy-Second foray into Dragonreach ("The Conclave"), a band hired on as security for the Arcane Conclave, which was holding an election for the new High Archmagus.  Things did not go as planned...

Fortunately, a reputable wizard won the election...

Game Forty-Four: Veego's Quest

 In the Forty-Fourth foray into Dragonreach, Veego, the aspiring leader of the Nightfingers thieves' guild (Joe) offered a bounty of ten thousand gold and several magic items for a band to accompany him and slay the current Nightlord (guildmaster), known as Grey Worm, so Veego could ascend into that role...

Fearing that an assault on Grey Worm's subterranean guild hall would be too dangerous, the party negotiated with Khorvax, an agent of the Six-Fingered Hand (demon-worshipping cabal) to retrieve a lich's phylactery in exchange for some additional help.  This resulted in the entire dungeon being overrun by rampaging, minor demons - distracting many of the defenders...

Veego's party was able to bribe one of the gangs (the clown-themed Midnight Jesters) into switching sides and turning on Grey Worm...

But after battling their way through the dungeon, the party found that Grey Worm was quite well defended.  Indeed, he had hired the Third Sword as one of his bodyguards... 

Desperate, one of the heroes resorted to demonic magic, although it proved insufficient to allow him to defeat the Third Sword in the final, climactic battle...

But, ultimately, Grey Worm was slain and Veego ascended to the role of leadership of the Night Fingers!

Game Nineteen: The Orc Debates

In game eighteen, a select group of "elite" adventurers were summoned by the Overlord to deal with a problem - a gathering orc horde!  

This, apparently, was not uncommon, and the orcs of Dragonreach mustered into a horde each summer.  Over the last twelve years, the city's great archmage Omroth "the Fire of Pyre" had ventured forth alone (with a wagon of trade goods) to each gathering orc horde and negotiated a peaceful settlement.  With Omroth's recent death (at the hands of several PC adventurers, see Game Thirteen), new heroes were needed to handle the negotiations and avert a war.

The heroes journeyed to Tog'Garog, an orc trading ground in the Red Waste and found the horde.  They quickly deduced that three major tribes were competing in a series of "debates" to decide whether the horde should attack or not.  

The Ironback Tribe were the strongest and most numerous.  While King Gorgur "Bonebreaker" was ambivalent on whether to attack the City of Pyre, his son Prince Khorag "Orog-Blood" was vigorously competing in the debates to push for war.  

Queen Gorgonna "Tusk-Breaker" of the Greenskin Tribe was also "debating" in favor of war, along with her half-troll son Prince Ragnok...

The third great orc tribe, the Savage Tusk Tribe, led by Chief Rehghar "Gray Tusk," was ambivalent on the question, but his sons were said to favor war as well...

The orc "debates" were actually a series of random-seeming trials devised by the inscrutable cabal of orc shamans.  When a group won a "debate," it was awarded a yellowed skull to place beneath that tribe's standard.  The first to win five skulls would decide the question put to the shaman council:  "war," or "no war."

Our heroes found the debates were already underway, with the Ironback Tribe already having won three skulls, and the Greenskin and Savage Tusk tribes having won two skulls each.  The heroes planted their own flag and entered the debates - but were soon joined by a strange wizard, Maledictus "the Metal Mage," who was pushing the horde to war...

Our heroes' skill was tested in many "debates," including:  a cockatrice-eating contest against a stone giant; combat against a Greenskin warrior with torches while both sides were soaked in oil; facing an angry mother owlbear; a "wetbreaches" debate to tell the scariest tale; and the "manysnake" debate fighting various other champions while being chased around by a hydra. 

They were aided by Heddrak "the Howler", a Savage Tusk warrior, whose friendship they earned through their bravery...

But, in the end, the prevailed, saving the City of Pyre from war - but not before slaying Prince Ragnok, and earning the wrath of the Greenskin Tribe!  

Along the way, they learned that two of the legendary Seven Swords are orcs!   Queen Gorgonna being the Fifth Sword, and the genial Grotnob "Axe Burner" being the Second Sword.

For now, the city is safe, but we have surely not heard the last from the orcs of Dragonreach!