Chapter 11: Into Gnomish Lands
11.1 His Reputation Precedes Him
After three relaxing days of flight, the airship descended to dock against a tall wooden tower atop a low grassy hill in the Gnomish trade town of Skytower. The party learned that their inn rooms had been taken care of already by the merchants' guild, so they settled in for an evening of food, drink, and merriment.
Before long, the party was approached by a young gnomish peasant, who humbly asked if Daergel was "Daergel the Dragonslayer". When Daergel proudly answered yes, the lad launched into the story of his home village, Shepherd's Cross, which of late had been under attack by what the villagers believed to be a dragon. Although no one had gotten a good look at the creature, something had been stealing sheep in the night for the last few weeks. He pleaded with the party to come save his village. When asked what the reward would be, he said "um... our undying gratitude?"
By now a crowd had gathered, and word began to spread that the adventurers were none other than Daergel the Dragonslayer and his companions. The party agreed to travel with the peasant to his village the next morning to investigate the matter.
The rest of the evening passed enjoyably for Daergel (and much less enjoyably for Morgrim and Magnus) as a bard on a small stage in the corner of the common room spun tales of the adventures of the mighty gnomish hero Daergel the Dragonslayer.
11.2 Dragonslayer's Mom
The next morning Daergel suggested to the party that they enlist a bard to travel with them to document their heroic deeds. Before the rest of the party had a chance to react to this suggestion, the bard from the inn sidled up next to Daergel, seemingly out of thin air, and congratulated him on his excellent idea. He introduced himself as Rubinius the Bard and said he'd be delighted to travel with Daergel the Dragonslayer and his friends.
The party spent the next few days traveling across the gnomish countryside. Wherever they went (partially due to Rubinius' knack for singing horribly exaggerated verses about Daergel's past deeds as they traveled), crowds of gnomish peasants gathered to watch them pass. Gnomish childred frolicked around them, attempting to put flowers in Morgrim's beard, and wherever they stayed for the night, young gnomish women competed for Daergel's attention. Magnus began drinking more heavily than usual, and Morgrim joined him.
On the third day, finally there was a silver lining to this trip for Morgrim and Magnus. As Rubinius awed the crowd with the saga of Daergel the Dragonslayer at the local inn, and as several young gnomish ladies vied for Daergel's attention, a hunched old gnomish woman burst into the inn.
It was Daergel's mom. She proceeded to beat aside the young women at Daergel's side and pulled him roughly by the earlobe towards the door of the inn, all the while berating him for abandoning his family to run the family store without him. Everyone in the common room stopped to watch while Daergel pleaded with his mom. The entertainment was worth the trip for Morgrim and Magnus. At one point Hork blurted out "He died, you know!" which only fueled Daergel's mother's anger.
After some time of yelling at him, beating him with her purse, and trying to guilt Daergel into coming home, she stormed off into the night. Eventually Daergel and the party went after her, and he convinced her to come back to the inn rather than wander the hills in the dark. She did, and they had a slightly more amicable parting the next morning. Before leaving Daergel gave her 100 gold and promised to visit before leaving the gnomish lands. She made Morgrim promise to take care of her little boy and bring him back from the dead again if he died. She also revealed a soft spot for the dwarven folk, and admitted Daergel's father had been one-quarter dwarven.
11.3 Trackers We Ain't
After another day of travel, the party arrived at the village of Shepherd's Cross. After interviewing a few townsfolk about the locations of the attacks, they settled in at one of the sheep farms bordering the rougher foothills which separated the gnomish hills from the towering mountains of the dwarven lands.
They spent the next two or three weeks resting during the day and watching the flocks at night, trying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious sheep thief. It seems the attacker was too stealthy and clever to be caught, as each plan failed in one way or another. When the whole party watched one flock, the thief struck another farm. When the party each watched a separate flock and made noise to drive the thief away, towards the farm where Daergel waited in hiding, the thief stole a thief from under Hork's nose, so stealthily she didn't notice at all. The next night the thief likewise stole a sheep from Morgrim's herd, and escaped before he could catch up. The thief also ignored the sacrificial sheep that the party tethered and separated from its flock, having given it a collar with Magnus's Locate Object spell prepared.
Daergel had shot the thief with an exploding bolt at one point, and caught the shortest of glimpses of the creature, the party wasn't having much luck catching it or tracking it to its lair.
A few forays into the foothills also proved fruitless, even when Magnus' used his Locate Object spell to look for gold pieces (an item guaranteed to be found in a dragon's lair, one would think.)
The shepherds quickly lost what little enthusiasm they had had for the adventurers, who seemed to be doing little but mooch off them and spend too much time with their sheep. There were rumors of Daergel's name changing from "the Dragonslayer" to "the Sheep-Romancer". Members of the party were tempted to give up and leave, but Daergel couldn't stand the idea of being known throughout the gnomish lands as "Daergel the Sheep-Romancer". And since they had brought Rubinius the Bard along, that seemed certain if they abandoned the villagers in their time of need. In their desperation, the party sent one of the villagers to recruit a gnomish hunter/tracker from the hunting settlements bordering on the elven wood half a week's journey to the west.
Fortunately, the party had some luck the night Morgrim's herd was struck. Morgrim chased the creature as fast as he could over the hills, and caught a glimpse of where it entered the foothills. Before joining the rest of the party, he left a marker pointing the way. Now, at least they had a hint of where in the foothills to start looking.
11.4 The Dragon's Lair
Once they were on the right track, the party found the entrance to a cave quickly enough. They had missed it before because it was a little further into the foothills than they had ventured originally.
Morgrim led the way into the sheep-thief's lair, followed by Daergel and Magnus. Hork stayed back initially to block the entrance, while Rubinius the Bard cautiously followed behind. As Morgrim barged around a bend in the tunnel, he was blasted by four streams of burning acid and a cloud of debilitating fumes. He found himself faced with five brownish dragons with a metallic tinge. Four were quite small, but the fifth was only slightly smaller than the white dragon Daergel was famous for slaying. Before anyone had much time to react, the four small dragons fled, and the large one moved to block the path.
After a quick clash, the larger dragon also fled. Several twists and turns later, the party rounded a bend to find the dragons waiting for them again. This time Hork suffered the brunt of the attack. Before she had a chance to retaliate, Daergel yelled for her to stop. He had realized that metallic dragons are good, and realized these were copper dragons. There was a lot of confusion due to their inability to communicate with the dragon, but eventually they convinced it they meant no harm, and Magnus healed the dragon's wounds. The dragon showed them the skeletal remains of a much larger dragon, the mother of this clutch of hatchlings. (The party later realized the mother had been slain by fellow adventurers.) Eventually (though Morgrim's miming and Hork's pictograms) they also managed to explain to the dragon they would return the next day, when Magnus had had a chance to pray for a spell that would allow the party to converse with the dragon in its native tongue.
11.5 Striking A Deal
The party returned to Shepherd's Cross and called a meeting with the village elders. They struck a deal in which the party would buy enough sheep from the villagers to provide the dragons with their own flock to feed on. The flock would be big enough to last at least a year. The villagers would tend the flock and not send any more adventurers after the dragons; in return, the dragons would protect the village from threats (a great benefit once the dragons grow older.) Some of the elders were not happy with letting the dragons live, but in the end they were overruled by the rest of the council. The party returned to the dragons' lair and explained the deal to the large dragon, who agreed to it and thanked them for their help. Hork got to spend a few moments with a cute young dragon hatchling (although she was a little disappointed she could not keep it as a pet), and the party headed on their way.
On their way out of town, they passed the villager they had sent away and the hunter he had recruited to help track the dragon. Hork said "Nevermind!" and they continued their travels.