Betrayal of the Dragon Queen.

The characters
Darowen, a level 2 female ranger.
Morwen, a level 2 mage, younger sister to Darowen.
Peran, a level 2 Rouge.
Hedrag, a level 2 fighter.

At Harwood Reach, Wed 11th Feb.

Weather. Warmer, Dryer. The thaw is beginning to speed up, with the snow melt increasing.

Morning. The party have spent a cold and uneasy night amongst the dead of Harwood Reach. Having search the General Store and the Tavern, the Loggers Rest, they have found one man, barely alive and with his last breath he told Derowen that bandits known as Krasimisra’s Raiders entered the outpost and massacred its inhabitants.
Although the characters had a difficult night, they did eat, sleep and rest so I allow Hedrag, Morwen and Peran to regain 1 HP each,

The party brought a body they had found buried in the snow to the outpost. They now believe the body to be one of Karsimira’s crew, dumping the body by the side of the livery, they share out his belonging between them.

Darowen who already has 53gp takes 3 copper, 6 silver and 1 gold piece as well as one of the gems worth 20sp.
Morwen takes 3copper, 6 silver, 2 gold pieces, she also bags the ornate dagger (1d4+2 damage).
Peran takes 3 copper, 3 silver and 2 gold pieces as well as the second gem worth 20sp.
Hedrag takes 3 copper, 3 silver and 1 gold piece. He also takes the finely crafted longsword (1d8+2). He offers his own longsword to the others but no one wants it so he leaves it behind in the Main Guard Post building.

Question, is everything as it seems in the outpost? 50/50. d100 = 55, Yes, but…

The four adventures decided not to spend anymore time in Harwood Reach, the crows have returned and, from looking out of one of the guard posts Hedrag sees the wolves, having entered the outpost overnight and feasted on the dead, are still in the area and a threat.
Having saddled up their horses, trying to keep clear of some wolves that gathering around the Guard Posts at the far end of the outpost, they quietly follow the path of a small stream leading northward ignoring the noise made by the crows but a shill bird noise makes them look to their left and they spot a Bandit Owl fly through a window in the mill, something glitters from its mouth.

Morwen stops her horse, “there is something in that mill, something of value to us, I can feel it, we have to go inside and look”.

The others tell Morwen not to, but she is adamant and dismounts from her horse.
“I’ll go with you”, Peran sighs, gets down of his horse and draws his short sword.

Oracle Question. Is everything inside the mill as described? Likely +20%. d100 = 43 + 20, 63. Yes, but…

This was the home of Harwood Orist, his wife and four grown up children. All have been slaughtered and left where they were killed. Harwood Orist himself has been left sitting in his chair behind a table, a candle still burns brightly on his desk, in his hand a quill and on the desk an open book which Morwen picks up. She flicks through the pages whilst Peran searches the rest of the room.

“Listen to this” Morwen speaks to Peran in an excited manner, she reads from Harwoods journal that hunters have spotted a white Dragon in the area on the far side of the mountain to the north. The creature was seen several times towards the end of the Harvest season but there have been no sightings since the coming of Winter.
Harwood indicates that he suspects the White Dragon to be lairing
in a large cavern chamber accessible from this side of the mountain via a series of caves and tunnels roughly halfway up the southern slope. He plans to send a group into the caves to investigate once the snow and ice has thawed.

Peran busily searches through the books and debris on the floor, He comes across a medium pine chest which he tries to open but its locked. “I wonder what is in here, maybe a map to that cave or maybe something even more valuable”. He uses his lock picking tools to try and open the chest.

Peran makes a Perc(Traps & Locks) check, needing 18 or less on d 20 he rolls 9, a great success.

Peran quickly opens the chest and notices it has a false bottom whuch he is able to remove. Underneath, wrapped in cloth is a stone about the size of a human hand and in the shape of an axe head. The stone is covered in strange engravings.

Peran makes an Int(Arcane Lore) check to see if he knows what the stone object is. Needing 17 or less on d20 he rolls 2, another great success.

He takes it over to Morwen, “Look, a rock key. Only one of these is known to exist. The story goes it belonged to the Black Duke, an evil and twisted ruler now many centuries dead”.

Morwen touches the rock key. She makes an Int(Arcane Lore) check to see if she can sense magic. Needing 19 or less she rolls 11. The item is magical. “I knew there was something magical, powerful and of help to us here, do you know how to use it”? she asks Peran.

Peran shakes his head, suddenly the pair hear a commotion from out side, Scraps barks and Derowen and Hedrag are shouting. Morwen and Peran quickly rush outside. Walking slowly towards the companions and blocking their route out out of the outpost are a woman in clerical garb and in front of her are 6 zombies.

“well, we are not going to easily get out that way, I for one am in no mind to fight those, mount up you two and back the way we came in” shouts Hedrag.

to be continued.