The next morning, the party awakened to the sounds of village residents going about their business. When they emerged from their dwelling, one of the sentries hurried to the meeting hall to order the staff there to prepare a morning meal for them.
In the meeting hall they sat down to a breakfast of sausages made from wild boar, bread made from a local wild grain, sliced apples and mugs of ale. As they were eating, Prince Alagarthas entered the hall, accompanied by an elf dressed in deerskin clothing. His long hair was tied back into a ponytail, and he carried a longbow. His eyes widened in shock at seeing a dragon in the meeting hall.
"Good morning, my friends," said Alagarthas. "Let me introduce you to Varis, a ranger, who will be your guide on the journey to Altand. He knows every inch of the Misty Forest and is an expert in spotting trouble before it spots him."
The party greeted Varis, then Alagarthas introduced each party member to Varis, including Frostbite.
"These are the adventurers recruited by Delaan Winterhound to look for clues in the town of Altand about the dragon raids," Alagarthas continued.
"This party includes a white dragon! Are you sure we can trust them?" asked Varis, a little uncertainly.
"As I have already told you, the party is well known along the Sword Coast for their efforts to stop the ritual to summon Tiamat. And Delaan assures me that Frostbite has been actively aiding in this same fight. He also has the support of an elder silver dragon."
"Very well," Varis sighed. "I hope you can help us make headway in locating the dragon who has been attacking our people. A cousin of mine died in one of the attacks."
"We'll do our best. All of us have lost loved ones from attacks by dragons and the Cult of the Dragon," Borovik reassured Varis. "And we're honored to have you as our guide."
Alagarthas continued, "After you finish eating, prepare your packs and descend to the forest floor. Your horses will be waiting for you there."
"Mara, have you prepared your spells for the day?" asked Varis.
"No," Mara responded. "Why?"
Varis explained, "I request that you prepare the Pass Without a Trace spell. We may need it if we suspect that trouble is approaching us. Speak With Animals and Speak with Plants would also be useful spells to have prepared."
"Good ideas. I will do that."
The party returned to their quarters and prepared to leave. The morning mist was still heavy but was starting to lift. As they descended to the forest floor, they saw Varis standing next to the horses. He himself chose not to mount a horse, since the load he carried was light. He also felt that, without being distracted by riding a horse and with his feet in contact with the ground, he was better able to sense dangers before being surprised. They set off to the north in the direction of Altand, with Varis and Bree scouting at the front of the party.
They journeyed for a couple of hours when Varis cocked his head and held his hand up to stop the rest of the group. After a minute or so of carefully listening, he quietly turned to the group.
"Owlbear approaching," he whispered. "It should be crossing the road in about a half an hour. Mara, can you cast Pass Without a Trace now?"
Mara cast the spell, and a veil of shadows prevented any sight or sound of them from being detected.
Varis continued, now in a normal voice, "Let's continue down the road. The owlbear won't be able to see or hear us while we are under protection of the spell. And we'll be downwind of the owlbear, so it won't be able to smell us."
As they resumed the trek to Altand, Varis further cautioned, "Keep the horses under control. We don't want them panicking and running out of the shadow. The owlbear would surely eat them."
It wasn't long before they could hear it screeching.
"Normally they come out at night," said Varis. "Something must have disturbed it for it to be out at this hour."
"Well, let's be sure not to disturb any further," worried Bree.
A little after lunch, Varis called to the party, "Come over here, I want to show you one of our villages destroyed by a dragon raid."
A short distance off the main road, they came upon a clearing under a large spruce tree canopy. The buildings on the ground had been heavily damaged and looted, with discarded items lying outside on the ground. Debris from collapsed structures of the upper boughs littered the area. The lift had collapsed, as had many of the walkways and rope bridges. Buildings had been broken into and looted. No one from this village had survived and a mournful silence suffused the place. The party shuddered as they remembered the damage done to Phandalin during its own raid by the Cult of the Dragon.
"This is where my cousin lived," said Varis, wiping tears from his eyes. "He was killed, along with everyone else in town."
The rest of the group gathered around to console Varis. They solemnly left the devastated town and continued their journey to Altand.
The group arrived at their destination around dusk. The sentries on the ground jumped up and shouted in elvish as they approached, "Varis! What are you doing bringing a dragon here? Are you crazy?"
"Peace!" called Varis. "This is a friendly dragon. His name is Frostbite, and he is the companion of one of the group of adventures accompanying me."
The commanding officer of the sentries spoke up, "Stay right there and don't come any closer to town. We want to talk to these adventurers and see why they're here."
She approached the group and brusquely demanded in Common "What is your business here?"
Borovik acted as the groups speaker and explained, "We come at the request of Delaan Winterhound of the Emerald Enclave. He wants us to look for clues that will lead us to the dragon who attacked your town."
"And why didn't the Emerald Enclave themselves come?"
"They are spread thin throughout the Misty Forest, looking for clues and patrolling to prevent further attacks. Since we have faced off with Cult of the Dragon people on many occasions, he judged we would be well suited to help in this endeavor."
"These people comprise the Phandalin Heroes, who tracked down the path the cult took to transport treasure that was looted from towns of the Sword Coast. They disrupted a major shipment of treasure and killed a high-ranking officer in the cult," interjected Varis.
"The same ones who are participating in the Council of Waterdeep along with our King? The same ones who captured another high-ranking Cult of the Dragon officer and delivered him to authorities for questioning?" asked the sentry commander.
"Yes. We are that group of adventurers," responded Borovik.
"Very well," huffed the commander. "But that young white dragon had better behave himself. Otherwise, we'll kill him and skin him to make dragonhide blankets for our babies!"
Frostbite squeaked in fear, "I promise I will cause no trouble!"
She motioned for the party to follow her back to the main group of buildings on the ground. Turning to one of the sentries, she barked, "Go tell Galin that adventurers are here to search for clues about the dragon attack."
The sentry scuttled off, climbing up a rope ladder that had been installed while the ruined lift was being repaired. The party looked around and noticed that, while the buildings on the ground were damaged, the residents had already done a lot to clean up and repair the mess.
The sentry commander turned to them and said, "We will board your horses on the ground here while you stay in the city. Climb up those rope ladders to get to the tree level of the town."
"May I fly up to the tree level?" asked Frostbite.
"What? No!" exclaimed the commander. "Seeing another dragon flying around after the attack would scare everyone half to death!"
Frostbite nodded and waited his turn at the ladders to climb up. Galin met them at the top of the ladders.
"We welcome you," he greeted the party. "A meal is being prepared for you. Our meeting hall is damaged but has been repaired to the point of being usable. We will try to make arrangements for a sheltered place where you can sleep, but many of our dwellings aren't currently inhabitable. If we can't find a spot, you will need to sleep in the open."
Speaking for the group, Borovik said, "We have a spell that will create a sheltered sleeping spot, so that wouldn't be a problem."
Galin continued, "I will join you for the evening meal and apprise you of the situation. Tomorrow you can begin questioning the townsfolk about what they saw."
The party entered the meeting hall, set down their packs, weapons and armor, then sat down at the table to relax. A few town residents cautiously peeked in through the door to get a glimpse of the young white dragon who, for some odd reason, did not seem aggressive.
Food was served and not long after that Galin came in to debrief them on the events of the dragon raid.
"A few tendays ago, around midday, a green dragon swooped down and sprayed poison with its breath weapon on the part of the village up in the trees," he explained. "It then landed on the ground under the canopy and did another blast with its poison breath against the townsfolk there. Probably half the town was killed by those 2 actions. I was on the ground and helped the rest of the townsfolk battle the dragon. We also had to contend with Cult of the Dragon members who came in to help kill those not killed by the poison. For some reason, the dragon and the cult members suddenly left after a short while, without even taking any loot with them. I was distracted by the battle so I can't give you more details. However, other people probably saw things I didn't see."
"Do you have any idea why the cult abandoned their raid so suddenly?" asked Kellen.
"No, they just did," replied Galin looking weary and a little nervous.
Talis leaned over and whispered to Mara, "Something tells me he's not telling everything he knows."
She then turned to Galin and said, "Surely you must have more information than that! If you were in the thick of things, you must have seen something that might have caused the raiders to leave."
"No, I don't," Galin sighed. "I became distraught after I saw my own wife die during the battle, so I don't even remember much after that. All I know is that the raiders left very soon thereafter."
"Delaan Winterhound reports that the few survivors from other raided towns reported that the dragon had a rider. An elf, perhaps? Are you sure you didn't see a rider? Or anything else of note?"
"I saw no rider on the dragon, or anything else that I didn't tell you," claimed Galin stiffly. "Why do you keep asking me the same questions?"
Mara, Borovik, Talis and Preston weren't convinced that he was telling the whole truth. His face and body looked tense. However, because it appeared that he was growing defensive, they decided to stop questioning him and see what the townsfolk could tell them.
The next day they interviewed a large number of the townsfolk, seeking more information. Eyewitnesses to the assault confirmed that the dragon had used the breath weapon twice, first on the people up in the tree, then on those on the ground. The vast majority of the casualties happened very quickly. In addition to deaths from the poison, many people up in the trees fell to their deaths when walkways, rope bridges and the lifts collapsed from so many panicked people trying to flee to the ground all at once. They confirmed that Cult of the Dragon members in full regalia joined to help slay the townsfolk, and that the assault ended as abruptly as it began. Many townsfolk reported seeing a rider on the dragon, although there were differences of opinion about whether it was human or elf. The priest, the town leader, had been killed in the battle with the dragon. Townsfolk verified that Galin's wife was among the slain, and he had not been the same since. Galin was the highest ranking officer in town who survived, so he became the new leader and was overseeing the rebuilding of the village.
That night, Varis and the adventurers reviewed what had been learned and plotted what to do next. Varis suspected that Galin was up to no good, since the fate of the town had been so much different from that of other raided town, and he acted as if he might be hiding information.
"I agree that Galin is acting exceptionally nervous. But no one has pointed out anything specific that would indicate wrong doing on his part," pointed out Borovik.
"The trees of the village might have seen something," insisted Varis. "We could query them with Mara's Speak with Plants spell."
Mara protested, "The plants can only speak of things that have happened within the last 24 hours. The assault happened a number of tendays ago. Unless Galin is involved in ongoing malfeasance, the trees would no longer remember it."
"It's worth a try," said Kellen. "We might find out something."
Mara acquiesced and they went out to the tree on whose boughs Galin's dwelling was built. She cast the spell and for the full 10 minutes that it was active queried the trees about anything they might have seen. The trees sent her many images of activities, most of which were normal occurrences for a village rebuilding itself. But there was an image of Galin sneaking out of the village late the night before and heading into the woods, accompanied by his pet raven. Later that night, before the sun arose, he returned to the village.
They went back to their dwelling to discuss what they found.
"A pet raven, huh?' said Neega. "Maybe we can use Speak with Animals to see if the raven can tell us more."
"How are we going to that?" asked Bree, "If Galin really is up to something, then he isn't going to let us cast Speak with Animals around his raven!"
"I think we'll have to use subterfuge," said Preston. "What if Neega and Mara went to Galin's home to talk to him about the raven? They could claim that their devotion to Nature causes them to be curious about the pet raven. They could talk to Galin about where he found the raven and how he convinced it to become his pet. What is involved in caring for a raven? After they had engaged him long enough, perhaps they could disarm his suspicions enough to secretly cast Speak with Animals and see what the bird knows."
No one else came up with a better idea, so that was the plan they went with. Neega and Mara went to Galin's home and asked if they could talk to him about his pet raven. Neega expressed an interest in herself getting a pet raven, and wanted to find out what she should know about caring for them.
Galin at first was a little tense, but as the conversation went on, he relaxed a little. He was clearly enjoying talking about his pet and let his guard down. As Neega and Galin were laughing over humorous things the raven had done in the past, Mara cast Speak with Animals on herself. She softly called to the raven and it flew over to sit near her, cocking its head.
"Looks like the raven has taken a liking to Mara," laughed Galin.
"That's because Mara likes animals," Neega responded with a grin.
Mara spent a couple of minutes softly cooing to the bird to reassure it of her friendliness, then quietly asked it if Galin took it anywhere last night. Galin was too busy talking to Neega to realize what was happening. The raven sent her a mental picture of Galin carrying him in a small cage out of the village after everyone else had retired to their dwellings. They walked a good distance into the forest and came to a large clearing. Not long after that, a huge, flying green animal with a rider on its back landed in front of Galin. The raven became agitated at the frightening memory, and Mara had to utter some soothing, cooing sounds to quiet it. She didn't get a chance to question it about what Galin did once in the presence of the dragon.
"Oh, dear," fretted Galin, "The raven must be hungry. Let me give him some food."
With the raven distracted by the food, Galin and Neega finished up their conversation about raven pets. Mara and Neega left, returning to the rest of the party and relating what they had found.
"So, he was up to no good!" exclaimed Bree. "Just like we feared! He's in league with the green dragon!"
"Now, what do we do about it?" asked Neega.
"We have a couple of choices," said Kellen. "We can confront Galin right now with what we have found out. Or we can follow him when he next goes out late at night to see where he goes. We may actually see him meet with the dragon."
"What we have now may not be enough to get him to tell us the whole story," said Borovik. "If we see him go out to a meeting with the dragon, we'll have more leverage to pressure him to talk."
After some discussion, the party decided to follow Galin and see where he went. They planned to secretly watch his home every night until he went on his late-night jaunt and to follow him to wherever he had previously met the green dragon and its rider. That very night, Galin quietly left his house after everyone was in for the night and climbed down the rope ladders to the forest floor. Varis watched where he entered the forest and then the party quietly came down the rope ladders. Mara cast Darkvision on Bree, Borovik and Preston, then cast Pass Without a Trace on the whole group.
Varis led the group to the spot where he saw Galin enter the forest and used his ranger tracking abilities to follow his trail. They followed the trail for a mile or so and finally found Galin, sitting on the ground next to his raven, in a clearing that was large enough to accommodate an adult dragon. He appeared to be waiting for someone, although no one was there to meet him.
Inside the soundproof shadow, the party discussed what to do.
"I suggest we confront him now and ask what he's doing here," said Neega.
"If we wait a while, the dragon may show up and we will have seen him meeting with it," said Kellen.
"Yeah, but then we have to worry about riling up the dragon!" exclaimed Bree.
Mara sighed, "Why don't we just go and talk to him. Now that we have a little bit more evidence on him, he may be willing to be more open with us."
The party decided to come out of the shadowy disguise and confront Galin.
As they approached Galin, Varis called out, "Galin! What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"
Galin gasped and spun around, surprise and fear on his face. For a moment he was too stunned to speak.
Neega took the opportunity to utilize one of the spells that Hazirawn would allow her to cast, and cast Detect Thoughts on herself. She focused her attention on Galin, noticing that his current thoughts were on the green dragon and its rider, for whom he was waiting.
Finally, Galin was able to sputter indignantly, "Have you been following me? Why?"
Mara answered, "I cast Speak with Plants to ask the trees of your village to ask them if you had done anything unusual. I learned that late last night you left the village and entered the forest. Later, I questioned your raven using Speak with Animals and he told me you came out into the forest to meet a creature that matched the description of an adult green dragon with a rider."
"You questioned my raven? When?" cried Galin.
"When Neega and I came to talk to you about caring for a raven pet."
"Oh, no!" Galin sighed, looking crestfallen.
Neega concentrated once again on Galin to probe deeper into his thoughts. Galin's face registered shock when he realized there was an attempt to read his thoughts. He tried unsuccessfully to resist the attempt. Neega sensed deep grief at the death of his wife and shame at the betrayal of his people.
"Galin, you need to tell us the truth," Borovik said. "What is the whole story behind why the dragon and its rider called off the assault on Altand before the entire town was killed and all the wealth stolen?"
Galin stood erect and spat out, "I don't need to tell you anything! And if you don't stop pestering me, I will publicly accuse your entire group of working with the Cult of the Dragons to summon Tiamat! You even have a dragon in your midst, so it shouldn't be hard to get people to believe me!"
"Tell me how your wife died," said Neega gently.
Galin's entire demeanor changed. His shoulders sagged and he began to cry. Neega walked up to Galin and put her arm around his shoulders.
"I know it's really horrible to see someone you love hurt or killed," she said. "Every time I see my man get injured in battle, it hurts me just as much as if I had taken the injuries. And I have never had to watch him die."
Galin sobbed into Neega's shoulder and said, "She...she died defending the village. She was...surrounded by Cult of the Dragon members and...there were too many for her...to fight them all off."
Preston came up around the other side of Galin and joined Neega in comforting him.
Galin's sobs eventually began to subside and he resumed talking in a subdued voice, "Shortly after seeing my wife die, I found myself face-to-face with the dragon's rider. He had a bloody shortsword in his hand and he looked straight at me. I knew I would be his next victim. I was so frightened by then that I had no thought but to save myself and my village by any means possible.
"I begged him to call off the assault. I told him I would do anything he wanted in return. He accepted my offer. His conditions were that I would give him information about other villages in the Misty Forest so that he could plan the next round of raids by the cult. He then called back the dragon and the cultists. No more people were killed and none of our possessions were stolen.
"He told me that every night I should come out to this meeting place, prepared to give him information. He doesn't come every night, but he wants to make sure I am there when he does."
"That's pretty nasty!" exclaimed Preston. "He's holding your village hostage to make it easier to attack other villages!"
Galin fell silent as the enormity of his actions crushed down on his spirit. His head pounded and he felt faint. The group of adventurers allowed him a little time to recover before continuing the questioning.
"Did you recognize the dragon's rider?" Borovik finally asked.
"No. I could see that he was an elf, but I have never met him before," Galin sadly responded.
"The green dragon almost certainly has a lair nearby," Talis pointed out. "Do you know where it is?"
"No," said Galin, "All I know it that when they leave, the dragon flies off to the southeast. And I suspect there is water near or in the lair, because the rider's hair and clothes are nearly always wet."
"Very well," Kevin said. "We at least have a lead to help us find the lair."
"We need to go back to the village," said Varis, "Do the rest of you agree with me that we shouldn't reveal this to the other villagers? Galin had done a good job of helping Altand recover and rebuild, so it would be counterproductive to do something that reduces the town's trust in him."
Everyone nodded.
Varis continued, "If anyone sees us coming out of the forest at this hour, we should tell them we heard odd noises and went to investigate."
Again, everyone nodded. Galin picked up the small cage containing his raven and they began the trek back to town.