======== Aftermath of Wyrmheart Mine ========
In the aftermath of the great battle whire everyone is catching their breath Croc speaks up to Celadon.
Croc: "You have far too muchss to carry why not make it an offering to the earthsss guardianssss? Where tzssindhar ssscorched the earth why not let itsss remainsss fertilizsse it? Call forth the ssspirit dogsss from above and let them partake in a feassst on itsss remainsss."
The party generally was in favor of this idea though Kylorin was suspicious of Crocodiles motives. Celadon even sent a message to the blink dogs. "Dragon is gone. You are invited to feast on its remains. Come to Wrymheart to celebrate freeing the land from a horrid menace. Bring friends." The party then proceeds to clean up and loot the lair. Kylorin, Freya, Undril, and Musharib make preparations for funeral rites for Rivermist and Hew Hackenstone.
Meanwhile Celadon, Lindal, and Eddie try to harvest components and materials from the dragon. And offering of the dragon's heart is made to the croc figurine whom practically thrums with power in response. Meanwhile Seraph and Kylorin keep finding themselves drawn to the warm slowly leaking blood of the red dragon that the others are butchering. Each catches the other pausing to lick splashes of blood now and again - feeling electric thrill of power each time they do so.
Croc : "Wait we must make a blessing before eating a meal of such power."
Croc wanders over to the pile of treasure circling it and sniffing at the treasure. It suggests putting the golden goblet with the feast. It then circles the treasure twice more poking at this or that before wandering over to the meat that is the dragon's carcass.
Croc wanders around the carcass dipping its nose in the blood of the dragon. Wanders around the carcass again nibbling at bit of meat. It then wanders around it one last time and chews on a bone. After that there is a flash of light where the little crocodile figurine disappears and moments later where the corpse was is now sorted and rendered bits of meat as well as a table set with a plates of cooked meat and glasses of red wine. The smell is mouthwatering and a voice Celadon recognizes as Croc's rings out. "Now it is suitable to eat"
People sit down to eat and enjoys Croc blessings
Lindal's blessing is that the croc will cast a couple clerical spell for you. Lindal can make offerings of money to croc god in return for the trickster guide remembering a spell and then later casting it at Lindal's bequest only requiring Lindal spend his action offering prayers to the trickster in return for it casting the spell.
Celadon gets one time use charm to give disadvantage on a save to the targets of a spell he casts.
Kylorin takes in so much dragon that they get ability to switch draconic ancestry to to red getting fire breath and fire resistance.
Eddie is told that as he sleeps croc will transfer two spells to your spell book but they must be transmutation illusion or charm spells that you have access to already.
Musharib is offered a seeing about his people and the current state of Hrakhamar.
Undril gets sick and can not keep the food down.
Seraph gains in draconic power and is told that she can stay here at Wyrmheart and be worshipped by the kobolds and become a true dragon in time by soaking in the draconic energies of this place and being God/king to the Kobold tribe.
Freya - is given the choice - she can either summon the spirit of Hugh Hackenstone to help her one more time. (Trickster apparently stole soul before it drifted away. It was not able to catch River Mist but Hugh fell later and Croc was prepared. Croc can only hold a single soul currently.
Croc also says he could do the same thing for Miles break bone trapping his soul. But it would require a mighty sacrifice something in the range of 50,000 gold... Just something to consider if the party wants to step their offerings up a bit.
Then the group settle down for a rest. During the rest Glamour comes down and surveys the wreckage of her people's god at the hands of outsiders that she has helped to instigate. Seraph flies out to consult with her on her plans and comes back thoughtful giving some members of teh group long thoughtful looks as she ponders where she fits into the future. Seraph is troubled. She is not tempted by power but the responsibility of the kobold tribe does call to her. It is a people in need of guidance and she is worried that she is not capable of helping the party anymore in their current state and here are some people in serious need of leadership.
As the party rests the audience balcony slowly fills with blink dogs as does the lower entry into the lair of the dragon.
Slowly the press of dogs lessens and lets through an old grey blink dog. With a grey white muzzle and limping the dog comes forward from the gathered pack and sniffs gently even daintily before its tail starts going enthusiastically. It mutters something and other blink dogs start wagging as well repeating what it said again and again. Eddie casts Comprehend languages and catches that they are saying, "The guardian of the rivers is back and has followers"
The dog walks right up to where lindal is standing sniffing and wagging. The younger puppy dogs are then led forward who each take a big sniff and sneeze before wandering off implanting the smell of Crocodile in their memories. As they wander off they go past and take a piece of dragon meat and go off to chew it elsewhere. The pile lasts until the last blink dog comes and seems to have just the right number of pieces. One last puppy wanders back in to sniff at teh bloodstained floor and then sneezes blowing flames all over the floor. Faintly the chuckling of crocodile can be heard.
Celadon makes a sending to Ortimay: "Dragon is dead. You may want to return to the bay where we recovered the Stirge for now."
======== Undead of Undermountain ========
Musharib convinces the group to cart their resources to Hrakhamar to exchange for goods as the Dwarves might still have access to adamantine and ability to craft goods. in exchange for money once the Forge is cleared of Firenewts. Eddie and Celadon conjure magic disks and servants to help cart the loot over to a mine cart that is filled with the treasure and then pulled along the cart tracks towards Hrakhamar. The first day of travel is dark and echoing but it is not until that evening when they come to a river crossing there is any excitement. The group is ambushed by a large number of undead left over from a fight between Kobolds and Dwarves sometime in the past.
The party spread out and fight. Kylorin uses her new fire breath and there are a few moments that are touch and go as the undead swarm over the group from unexpected angles. Finally after a long hard fight the group is victorious surrounded by literal piles of undead corpses.
======== Something crawling over their graves ========
The party spot some more corpses up on a ridge in the next chamber but Lindal manages to just barely see the threads of slime holding up the "corpses". forewarned the party is not caught by surprise as the swarm of Carrion crawlers attack from multiple direction. The party fall back into defensive positions and Kylorin and Freya keep the advanced Crawler from getting to the group. In time all the crawlers are defeated and the creatures lair is plumbed for treasure revealing an assortment of dwarven jewelry. Musharib is rather saddened by the confirmation that the dwarves have fallen down in the mines.
Inspiration
Eddie - using asthmatic kobold illusion to lure out the Crawler ambush.
Experience (challenge based) 900 Individual => 18581 cumulative
Undead - (medium) 600
Crawler Ambush - (medium) 600
Challenge based XP notes from - https://dmdavid.com/tag/using-experience-points-to-make-your-dd-game-more-compelling/
Allies
Undril Silvertusk
Musharib
At Wyrmheart
Seraph
Glamour
Blazing Dragon - at sea
Ortimay
Bonnie
Several pirates
5 Dwarven siege experts
Pirate Captain Laskier
Treasure
Assortment of semiprecious Dwarven jewelry