Author's Note: The is a sequel to my story "The Treasure of Phandalin." The previous story contains a lot of backstory that I have tried to summarize here without so much detail that it would bog down the new story. If you want the all the details, read the previous story. The reason I split the two stories up is that they are based on a pair of campaigns published by Wizards of the Coast that are expected to be played one after the other. I'm following their example. End Note.

Kellen of Clan Daergal, the gnome Bard, woke from his night's rest in the lair of the ancient white dragon, Ralazrad. He hummed the tune he had heard in a dream, in which he had been singing a ballad of fighting alongside valiant lizardfolk throwing off their oppression by a tribe of bullywugs. It was one of many ballads that he was inspired to write after he and his companions had finished their mission to track where the Cult of the Dragon was taking the loot stolen in countless raids on towns along the Sword Coast.

"I need to write this down, so I don't forget it," he said to himself, taking up his harp and gently plucking a few strings.

He sat up and looked around at his companions. Neega the Sword Bearer, the half-orc barbarian, lay next to her new man, Preston. They had met when the party had infiltrated the cult at an ancient castle in the Mere of Dead Men. Preston had been so enamored of Neega that he left the cult to be by her side. Borovik Stayanoga, the human wizard, had already awakened and was studying the spellbooks he had looted at the castle, trying to decide which spells to next inscribe into his own spellbook. Bree Thorngage, the halfling rogue, was smiling in her sleep. Kellen didn't know if she was dreaming about previous romantic trysts or about large piles of loot.

Mara Evenwood, their half-elf Druid, was not in the room with them. During their previous adventure she had reunited with her love from years ago, and the two of them had their own room in the lair. Talis Kasterel was a high-ranking member of the Cult of the Dragon and the conflict between the evil of the cult and Mara's Druidic dedication to balance in all things had eventually led to them breaking up. During the mission they just accomplished, Talis and Mara had once again come face-to-face. Despite their previous disagreements, their love for each other was still strong, and they decided to try to reconcile. They seemed to be so happy when together, but Kellen wondered how they were going to work out their differences.

Today the party was to return to Phandalin, their hometown. All except Mara, who was staying with Talis for a while, then going back to see her family in Waterdeep, whom she hadn't seen in 2 years. Kellen didn't know when she would finally return to Phandalin.

After breakfast Kellen, Borovik, Neega, Preston and Bree gathered their things. The trip would occupy the better part of a tenday. A couple of adult white dragons were waiting to carry them to a point far enough away from Phandalin so as not to be seen, but close enough so they could walk there within a day. Mara and Talis, who were going to tarry at the dragon's lair for a short while longer, waved them off as they left.

Upon returning home they received a heroes' welcome. They had been a key part of the defense of Phandalin when it was raided by the Cult of the Dragon, and the Lords' Alliance had chosen them to track where the loot was being taken. The entire town put on an exuberant party to celebrate the success of their mission.

Everyone they met asked "Where is Mara? Why didn't she return with the rest of you to Phandalin?" They told the townsfolk that Mara had decided to stay with her family outside of Waterdeep for a while. When people asked when Mara would come back, they said she would return when she was ready to.

Sildar Hallwinter, the Townmaster of Phandalin, was anxious to meet with the party and get debriefed on their mission so he could prepare a report for the Lords' Alliance. Although he was happy that the shipment of treasure to Tiamat's tribute had been sabotaged, his face grew grave to hear about the plans of the Cult of the Dragon to summon Tiamat to the material plane and institute a reign of dragons. He also winced to hear that some of the exiled Red Wizards of Thay were allied with the cult.

"The is a grave threat to all of Faerûn," he scowled. "A coalition of organizations is going to have to be assembled to address this on a massive scale. I'll contact the Lords' Alliance immediately.

"However, I also know you're anxious to get the treasure you left at the castle in the swamp that was too heavy for you to carry back. I'll have a party go out to the castle and retrieve your loot for you. We will also have scholars take a look at the astrological artifacts in the castle."

As soon as they had the opportunity, they met Sister Garaele, the elven Cleric of the goddess Tymora, and explained all they had learned. They revealed to Garaele that Mara had reconnected with Talis, her previous lover who was in the Cult of the Dragon.

"Has Mara switched sides? Did she join the Cult of the Dragon?" asked Garaele.

"No! She hopes that Talis will decide to leave the cult," cried Borovik.

"Garaele, promise us you won't tell anyone about Mara having a lover in the Cult of the Dragon!" pleaded Kellen. "I have never seen Mara so happy as she is when with Talis."

"I won't tell anyone," promised Garaele. "But I fear that Mara has potentially gotten herself into a lot of trouble. If the Lords' Alliance finds out about this..."

The rest of the party nodded solemnly.

Shortly after they got back to Phandalin, Preston and Neega went shopping to buy him new clothing. He chose a few elegantly styled robes in bright colors. Because he was quite a handsome young man, when he walked around town in his finery, he caught the eye of nearly every woman he passed. But Preston had eyes only for Neega, and Neega had eyes only for Preston. Seeing the two of them together, people would smile and think to themselves, "Hmm. It almost seems as if they were in love."

Preston had become the party's Mage and continued learning magic under the tutelage of Borovik. He was a fast learner and loved performing magic. Although he didn't have the academic training to be a true Wizard, he learned many arcane spells.

Kellen composed several new ballads to tell the story of the party's recent adventures tracking the loot recently stolen from Phandalin by the Cult of the Dragon, and of their successful attempt to disrupt the loot shipment to the vast treasure pile being assembled as a tribute to Tiamat. The story of the valiant lizardfolk throwing off their yoke of abuse by the bullywugs was a real crowd favorite. He performed at the Stonehill Inn in Phandalin, and people began coming from all the nearby towns to hear his stirring ballads.

Bree contemplated how she might make her looted money pile become bigger and began learning the art of investing. She was very a clever investor and soon saw her wealth grow. This, added to her wicked wit, made her quite a sensation in the circle of Phandalin singles. She soon had so many boyfriends that Kellen considered writing a ballad about it.

Borovik continued his scholarly pursuits. Of late he had become entranced by the history of the ancient castle in the swamp, Castle Naerytar. He scoured Sister Garaele's vast library and read everything he could find on the topic. He contacted all his Wizard friends and asked them for any information they had on the castle. So many secrets lay hidden there, and he wanted to discover them.

Mara had stayed behind at the dragon's lair to be with Talis and the two of them had many long talks about where she wanted to go from here. The Cult of the Dragon had rescued her and her mother from poverty, giving them food and shelter. They recognized her talents and treated her with a respect she had never before known. But, at the same time, they had led her down a path of evil that she was only now really acknowledging. Her actions resulted in harm and damage to innocent people, even when she was not the one to personally deliver the damaging blows. Her actions had also brought pain and danger to Mara, the person whom she loved more than anyone else in the world.

Talis was torn with indecision and Mara tried to be supportive and understanding of Talis' plight. Prior to their breakup, there had been many bitter arguments, which had accomplished nothing. Mara realized that she couldn't argue Talis into a specific course of action. Talis had to come to her own conclusion. At the same time, Mara knew that if Talis couldn't bring herself to leave the Cult of the Dragon, their relationship would certainly fail a second time. The evil Talis had become steeped in went against everything Mara believed in.

But their time together also had many happy moments. The time spent holding each other. The long reminiscences of the earlier days of their relationship. The laughter and conversation over meals. The nights of making sweet love. Despite Talis' current worry over whether she would stay with the Cult of the Dragon, some of the stress, anger and sadness besetting her in the last couple of years was dissipating.

They especially enjoyed watching as Frostbite, Talis' young white dragon companion, trained with Tirbac, an adult white dragon, to become a dragon mount. They also took rides together on Tirbac. Frostbite would fly alongside, singing joyful dragon songs and executing playful loops and barrel rolls.

On one such ride, Frostbite came up beside Tirbac, calling to Talis, "I want to be your dragon mount! When will that happen?''

Talis laughed. "Not yet. You aren't quite big enough. Keep training with the larger dragons and practice carrying small folk, like kobolds and halflings. In another year you should have gotten big enough to try carrying me."

"Hurray!" he called happily and flew in several circles to celebrate.

Mara felt exhilarated, with the wind blowing through her hair and a stunning panorama spreading out below them. She leaned closer against Talis and felt a wave of desire spread through her chest and belly. She gently nibbled Talis' ear.

"Not now, Honey," laughed Talis. "We need to wait until we land, so we don't have to worry about falling off the back of a dragon."

Tirbac's rumbling laughter shook the riders seated on his back. He, as well as any other white dragon, knew of the sorrow Talis had felt during Mara's absence. Talis has a special affinity for the white dragons, and they would do whatever they could to ensure their Wyrmspeaker recovered from her broken heart.

After landing they returned to their shared quarters. Talis looked slyly at Mara, saying, "During our ride on Tirbac you made me an offer. Is that offer still valid?"

"It certainly is," smiled Mara.

Talis leaned over and kissed Mara, lightly stroking her lips with her tongue. Mara moaned and parted her lips slightly to allow Talis' tongue to probe further. Talis leaned back onto their fur bedding, pulling Mara over on top of her. They continued their kiss for a few minutes. Then Mara pulled away and began undoing Talis' clothing. She felt her pulse pound in her ears as Talis' breasts were bared. In her turn, Talis rolled over on top of Mara and pulled Mara's clothing from her chest. The two of them embraced and the pleasure of skin against skin bonded them together in a dance of desire that spiraled ever higher until release came to both of them.

At last, they lay back, nearly exhausted. Talis looked at Mara with half closed eyes that still held embers of the fiery passion they had felt.

"Oh, Mara, Mara", she whispered.

Mara giggled. "We need to wrap up in the bedding before we freeze to death."

They crawled into the warm blankets and furs. Talis fell asleep almost immediately, a faint smile on her lips. Mara stroked her face and said softly, "Baby, I will never let you get away again."

As she herself fell asleep, she raised a prayer to the heavens, "Let it be so, Mother Moon. Let the two of us be together forever."

About a tenday later, Mara, Talia and Frostbite entered the portal in Ralazrad's lair that led back to the hunting lodge in the Greypeak Mountains. Trepsin the four-armed troll greeted them, a look of relief on his face after seeing that Talis had returned safely.

"Trepsin," ordered Talis, "set up an all-hands meeting of the lodge residents for tonight after the evening meal. We must discuss plans for abandoning the lodge, since it's no longer a secure spot."

"Yes, Ma'am," responded Trepsin.

After the evening meal, entire lodge met in the large gathering hall on the second floor. Talis explained the situation to them.

"Now that the Castle Naerytar has been revealed as a conduit point for the loot taken from Sword Coast towns, it's only a matter of time before the Lords' Alliance finds the lodge here. I deactivated the portal on this end so they can't enter the portal in the castle and find their way here. However, a wizard of sufficiently high arcane knowledge may be able to track where the other end would be, even if it's deactivated. This is no longer a secure safe house for us.

"I have been consulting with Cult of the Dragon Leadership and they are searching for an appropriate new safe house for me. Some, but not all of you here will accompany me to the new safehouse. The rest of you will be re-assigned to new duty stations. The majority of you will end up being sent to the Well of Dragons to assist with the ritual to summon Queen Tiamat.

"This whole process in on the fast track. I expect we will be leaving the lodge within the tenday. Gather together all you wish to take with you and be ready to leave on short notice."

As she came to the end of her explanation, there was quite an uproar from the assembled staff.

"Which of us will be going with you?" asked one.

"I don't yet know," responded Talis. "A lot depends on the size and location of the new safe house."

"What will we be doing at the Well of Dragons?" asked another.

"I don't know that, either. All I know is that the summoning ritual is massive and will require practically an army of cultists to properly execute it."

"What if the Lords' Alliance shows up sooner than we expected, before we have evacuated?" asked a trembling voice.

"Then, I promise you, all those of us who wield weapons and magic will fight to the death to keep you from being captured or killed."

"Will Mara help defend us?"

"Yes," replied Mara. "If the Lords' Alliance attacks the lodge, I will defend you with my blade and my magic."

The lodge staff retired to their quarters, tense with worry. As they left, Talis turned to Mara and asked, "Mara, aren't you afraid of the Lords' Alliance seeing you fight by my side? You will then become an enemy in their eyes."

"I know," sighed Mara. "But if I see you fighting for your life, I want to be by your side fighting for you. I won't hide in the corner like a coward and watch you die. I am willing to risk becoming an enemy of the State."

Talis kissed Mara's hand, then turned to her bodyguards. "Kusphia, Maelgot, Sovic. As my bodyguards, you will almost certainly be accompanying me to the new safe house."

"Trepsin," she said, turning to face the four-armed troll. "I don't know what they will want to assign to you. The cult leadership may decide that your strength and combat skill would be best used in security of the safehouse. Or they may decide you would be best deployed as security at the Well of Dragons."

"I understand, Ma'am," Trepsin replied, simultaneously saddened at leaving Talis' employ and excited at a new assignment at the site of Tiamat's summoning ritual.

Five days later, word came to the lodge that a new safehouse had been arranged. A suitable derelict ship had been located in the Mistshore of Waterdeep. The occupants had been evicted, on pain of death, by Cult of the Dragon operatives in order to make it available for Talis. Given that the City Watch steered clear of the Mistshore, there was little concern that the safe house would be accidently discovered by the authorities. Because the area was dangerous, the cult leadership decided that Trepsin, 2 additional trolls and 2 guard drakes would accompany Talis and her bodyguards at the safe house. Frostbite would come to the safe house at night when he would be less likely to be seen by the authorities. The entire rest of the lodge occupants were reassigned to assist with Tiamat's summoning ritual at the Well of Dragons.

Mara decided it would be best if she didn't stay at the safe house, and instead went back to her family farm outside of Waterdeep. Since by now she and the rest of her party were celebrities, a lot of attention would be paid to where she went, and that could lead the authorities to Talis. Talis reluctantly agreed. They drew up plans for Mara to secretly make visits to Talis aboard the derelict ship. One of Talis' bodyguards would escort her to the safe house, while she would wear a disguise to prevent recognition by anyone seeing her walk by.

Talis gathered her things to be transported to the safe house, and Mara gathered her things to return to her home village. Talis climbed on the back of a dragon who would take her to the safe house. Mara climbed on a dragon who would fly her to a spot just outside her home village. The flight to Waterdeep would take 4 or 5 days, so Talis and Mara would be camping together for most of the trip, only going their separate ways when close to Waterdeep.

The morning of the final day of the journey the two of them embraced, knowing they would be sleeping in separate places that night. As they were parting, Talis handed Mara a smooth stone, in the shape of a disc. A set of arcane runes were carved into the stone.

"Mara," she said. "This is a Sending Stone. I want you to take it. I have one that matches, and we can use it to communicate with each other. It allows you to cast the Sending spell once a day and send me a short message. I have that spell and will contact you on a daily basis. But that spell isn't available to Druids. If you need to contact me before I send you a message, use the stone."

"Thank you, Talis," said Mara, tears forming in her eyes. "These days with you have been so beautiful. I hate to see us go our separate ways even though we will be close enough to visit frequently."

"Kind of like the old days, before we broke up," Talis said sadly. "We didn't live together then, either."

The dragons took flight and for a good distance the two dragons flew side-by-side. Mara found herself frequently looking over at Talis. Talis was always looking back at Mara. After some time, they drew near Waterdeep and the dragons' flight paths separated. Mara sighed and looked straight ahead. Soon she would see her family again, after 2 years of absence.

Mara alighted from the dragon and waved to it as it flew away. She walked the final couple of miles to her home village. It was small, and primarily populated by half-elves. Although they had never formally chosen a name for the village, the people in the surrounding area referred to it as Helfton. Close to town she turned off on a small side road leading to her family's farm. It looked the same as it had when she left 2 years ago.

As she neared the farm, she saw her young brother, Harland, working in the field. He had been only 10 last time she saw him. In the intervening 2 years he had grown much taller, now looking more like a man than a boy.

"Harly!" she called to him.

Harland looked up and shrieked with joy, "Mara! You're home."

He ran over and gave her a big bear hug. "Come with me to the house. The rest of the family needs to see you."

They ran to the farmhouse, Harly shouting, "Momma! Poppa! Come quick! Mara is home!"

Helena and Riardon Evenwood ran out of the house and embraced her.

"Mara! Mara!" cried her mother. "I can't believe it's really you!"

"Momma! Poppa. I have missed you all so much."

"Why didn't you come home for 2 full years?"

"I couldn't, Momma!" Mara hung her head as she responded. "It was too painful to return to Waterdeep after Talis and I broke up. I did send birds bearing letters to you."

"Yes, you did," said Riardon. "But we still would have loved to have seen you. We missed you."

"Come inside and let me get you something to eat. Ria, call Key and Lia to the house. Tell them their sister has come home."

Riardon went outside and rang a signal bell, normally used to call the family in for a meal.

"Key! Lia! Come to the house! Mara is home!"

Keyleth and Lia Evenwood ran to the house, shrieking with delight. They threw themselves at Mara and hugged her as hard as they could, nearly squeezing the life out of her.

"Mara! Wow! You're home!" They danced around.

Mara could not stop the tears that fell from her eyes as she was once again with her family. She had missed them and the farm. Why had she delayed so long to come back and see them? They could have provided her with comfort in her time of grief. She had just been so obsessed with getting away from Waterdeep and from the memories of Talis.

"You're a real hero now!" said Lia, Mara's 14-year-old sister. "Tell us about your adventures! Did you really see dragons and giants?"

"Yes. I did," said Mara. "And we fought alongside lizardfolk in a battle with evil bullywugs. We found an ancient castle in the swamp and flew around in a flying castle."

Her sisters and brother sat wide eyed at her description. They wanted to hear every detail and were thrilled at the epic battles her party had fought. They cheered to hear that the delivery to Tiamat's tribute hoard of the stolen loot had been sabotaged.

After Mara was done with her story, Helena turned to her with a more serious look.

"Have you heard anything of Talis? We have not had contact with her or her mother since you left for Phandalin."

"Momma, I actually came face-to-face with Talis."

"What? Where was she?"

Mara took a deep breath and continued. "She was in the lodge I talked about in my story, one of the waypoints for the stolen loot as it was transported to a hoard being assembled as a tribute to the dragon goddess Tiamat."

"What did she say when she saw you?"

"She said she still loved me, and I told her that I still loved her. We have had many long discussions since then and we want to try to repair our relationship. Maybe we can make it work out."

"But if she's still with the Cult of the Dragon, don't the two of you still have the same fundamental conflict that caused your initial separation? How will you resolve that?"

"I don't know. She is debating leaving the Cult of the Dragon."

"What? Isn't that a dangerous move? Anyone I have known who left the cult was beaten up or killed. They're a vengeful lot."

Mara looked down. "It is dangerous. But she is starting to see some of the wider consequences of her support of the cult and how it brings about suffering, even if she's not directly responsible for the suffering. And she knows that her ties with a group that leads her further and further into evil goes against everything I believe in."

"Do you think she will leave the cult?"

"I hope so."

"What if she doesn't?"

"Mara looked sad. "Then it will probably mean the end of our relationship."

Mara couldn't say any more. Helena took Mara's hand in hers. "Honey, you know that your family will support you in whatever decision you have to make. You are our eldest child, and we are all so proud of what you have already done, both for Phandalin and for the entire Sword Coast. Our love for you will never waver."

"Thank you, Momma." Mara laid her head on Helena's shoulder and allowed her tears to fall, accepting the comfort that her family offered to her.

As it drew time for the evening meal, Helena and Lia began to prepare the food. Mara rose to join them.

"Sit down, Mara!" cried her mother. "You are our guest for tonight and you don't have to help prepare the meal."

"I want to, Momma," said Mara. "I want to feel like I'm really home and really back in the family."

The meal was typical farm fare: fresh vegetables from the garden and a pot of bean soup flavored with bits of salt pork, along with mugs of ale. During the meal Keyleth, Mara's 17-year-old sister, told Mara about how she had finally decided to marry a local boy. Keyleth, of all the Evenwood children, was the one who really wanted to continue running the farm, and her husband-to-be said he would run it with her.

After the evening meal, they readied a bed for Mara in Lia's and Keyleth's room. As Mara was preparing to retire, she received a message from Talis, relayed by the Sending spell.

"Settled into safe house ship in Mistshore. Not fancy but livable. Can't wait for your first visit here."

Mara answered, "Good to be back at home with my family. Miss you and will visit as soon as can be arranged."

The next morning, the family was awakened by the loud noise of village cattle lowing, village sheep bleating and village dogs barking. They arose and went out to see what was causing the unusual clamoring of the animals. Stepping outside, they felt a little queasy and there was a feeling of unease in the air. Birds chattered frantically and they even heard the distant howling of wolves. At the infrequent moments when everything went silent, it was almost possible to hear a low rumble.

Mara went to one of the farm dogs and cast the Beast Sense spell, allowing her to sense what was frightening the dogs. Experiencing the world through the dog's senses, she could hear the low rumble much more clearly than mere human ears could. She could also feel the anxiety this caused to the dog.

She returned to her own senses to tell her family what she had heard.

"There really is a very low rumble, which the dogs and other animals can hear quite clearly. I don't know what it is, and I don't have any idea where it's coming from."

The family shook their heads and went back to the farm chores.

Later that morning, Mara received a message from Talis through the Sending spell.

"The Draakhorn is being sounded. Dragons are being summoned to the Well of Dragons for Tiamat's summoning ritual."