Dragons and bears and bards, oh my!

Finally the party got underway and on the trail again once Linora stopped fooling around by trying to deface the forest.

As Ghost was scouting on ahead, she was almost bowled over by a wood elf running flat out like the devil was after her. Not a devil, but close. The great Goro-Sabaht, massive green dragon, had been surprised by Fiaro's hunting and was chasing her. Ghost saw the dragon, grabbed the elf, and dove for cover. Ayman and Cyneric made the rest of the party silent and invisible, whilst Goro-Sabaht taunted all of them, leaving them with the disturbing thought that he had better things to do than catch himself some crispy elf for lunch.

Since he had overflown the party twice on the way into Woodland and this was now the third encounter with him, they corrected their course towards Montvale, near where Shining Scale, the silver dragon, lived. It was the general opinion of the group that Shining Scale would like to know that a green dragon was in his territory and all were hoping to ask his help in defending the area. Ghost had been eager to meet with the party coming down from Joven and was looking forward to speaking with Dorian, but since they were correcting their course to head for Montvale, it was less likely that they would run into the Joven heir and his soldiers.

While scouting, Ghost and Dallas went ahead to check out campfire light through the trees. As luck would have it, Dorian had taken a detour through Montvale and met the group on the trail anyway. Ghost stepped from her hiding place and went forward to shake hands with Dwight's brother. He had brought about thirty men with him and they too had seen the green dragon.

The word that Dorian had redeemed himself was true, he had adventured in the north (Cyneric's journal should have more information) and gained back his Paladin status. He was calm and confident, and Fiaro took a liking to him, though she seemed even more interested at the mention of Dorian's wealthy and well placed brother, the Duke. Ghost, for a rare event, wisely kept her tongue still and let the comment pass. Wood elves of the Eastern Frontier, after all, are a bit more impetuous than the more cultured elves of the great western city of Are'thane.

Word of Dwight was that he was busy with his obligations, which Dorian could rightly claim to know full well the depth of responsibility, though he no longer carried the burden, and happy to be rid of it. Darik's condition had not improved, much to Ghost's disappointment. She asked whether the priests trying to aid him had considered allowing him to retake the Paladin trials, Ghost suggesting that perhaps Hammehauk would take pity on Her follower and show him a way to correct his wrong as She had done with Dorian. Dorian encouraged Ghost to pose the idea to Dwight, because it had not been brought up as a possibility. The rest of the night passed with most of the party catching up on sleep lost over Linora's last few nights of adventure, with Ghost and Shocko (Linora's henchman) sharing guard duty with Dorian's men.

Morning brought both groups heading off in opposite directions, but not without Ghost parting with a very valuable treasure. Most of her companions had dismissed the small innocent looking ring that Ghost had claimed as part of her treasure from their discoveries in the stronghold of Thoro Bel Telos, but she hoped it would do something even the great elven mages could not. Ghost quietly explained to Dorian the properties of the Ring of Regeneration, and how it was possible that it might regrow the leg he lost. She did not wish the qualities of the ring made common knowledge, not even to the rest of her party or his, but hoped it would help him. Though she did warn him it might not work. All she asked was that he leave it with Armand at the Mosque in Woodland if he could not give it to her himself. He thanked her profusely and said that if it did work, that he would owe her a debt of gratitude. Ghost, embarrassed of course, politely tried to dismiss it as only a small gesture on her part and not worth such fuss.

Dorian and his men left, Ghost never airing her concerns to him for what awaited her when she next met his youngest brother. That it had been over six months since she had last seen Dwight and she had no other inkling of his feelings for her except a single kiss. Six months was a blink to an elf, but sometimes seeming an eternity to a human. Had his feelings changed? Affairs of state could consume him, his affection gone elsewhere, or worse: the fate that awaited her back home should she ever return - a contracted engagement or arranged marriage.

Had Cyneric not insisted the trail north, Ghost would still be trying to choose between her Guild's need for her to combat goblins in the south and her feelings calling her north to Joven. But as Armand had unhelpfully Divined, "True trouble lies in the south, real responsibility awaits in the north..." The trail to Joven was stretching ahead; Ghost's steps both eager and hesitant.

In Montvale, SwampFox, Cyneric's orc henchman, was flatly turned out by the tavern owner. Ghost stalked out and was soon followed by an irate Cyneric, who spent a few minutes somewhat speechless in astonished indignation. Ghost pledged vehemently to spread the word through Joven and Woodland that a member of the Mercenaries' Guild was turned away in Montvale. Words like that will most certainly affect his custom for the next few months as Guild members begin avoiding the town.

But duty called, and purposes needed to be fulfilled.

Ghost stopped a nearby busker, a piper, and questioned him about the old man Calvin, the mountain hermit. With a little...then a little more sliver to loosen his tongue, he claimed that he had seen him about a week previous, but that he was not doing well. When Ghost expressed a need to get to him, the piper offered to get the group past the guards and through the gate and onto the path up the mountain. With Ayman looking for answers with Ghost's coin, Ghost liberated Ayman's purse and paid the piper his final few silvers with the wizard's coins. Meet him at eleven of the clock, the piper claimed, and he would get them past. All agreed, setting up camp by the treeline outside of town.

Ghost asked Dallas to do some reconnaissance and seek information about Shining Scale, revealing Calvin's true nature to her, and asked that she use her form changing hat to see if she could do so quietly and without too much notice. Dallas reported that attitudes in the town were becoming seriously anti-dragon, regardless of color.

With Luigi and Fiaro guarding camp, their new piper friend, The Breeze (which Ghost now suspects is a Bard) used his music to scare off the guards on the mountain gate. Dallas quickly dispatched the lock and at the insistence of Ghost, damaging it enough to need serious repair.

To be continued...(at the next adventure)