The Keys of Telku / The Temple of the Apocalypse pt. 2 / 3592 CE / 11-17-19

Travelling through the Northern Wastes of Pell with the half-orc Uli as their guide, the Adventurers have entered a stretch of woodland. From the path ahead of them, an owlbear charges and a battle ensues. Moments later, the owlbear's master, a mighty cyclops, breaks forth from the trees and slashes furiously at the party with his axe. Moss uses his druidic powers to enlarge Henry to the same size as the cyclops, and they battle toe to toe. Having slain the owlbear, Adrienne rushes the cyclops and lays him low. Finding little of worth on the body, Henry dispatches the downed opponent. After Moss and Roisyll harvest the corpse of the owlbear for its beak and meat, the party follows the trail of the cyclops back to its stone hut. Fearing the coming of the black moon, Adrienne asks to be locked inside, though ultimately she is able to resist the pull of the invisible moon and the curse of her lycanthropy. While inside the hut, she comes across a wand hidden among the detritus. The next day Moss is able to identify it as a wand of invisibility. Uli informs the party that the last known settlement in Pell is Artolan, five days to the west. Setting off again into the freezing tundra, the weather begins to take its toll on Uli, so Adrienne breaks out her heat stones for the remainder of the journey to Artolan to protect the party against the frigid temperatures. When they reach small trading village of Artolan, the Adventurers attract the attention of the locals, who seem interested in their abilities and pass secretive whispers among each other. Finally the truth is revealed when the party is pulled into a secret conference with the mayor of the town, who tells them that Artolan is under assault by none other than Normiliss herself. The party recalls that Normiliss is the legendary white dragon worshipped by many denizens of Pell. The people of Artolan fear for the lives and their livelihood, but also their reputation if word gets out that they have somehow provoked Normiliss's ire, and so the mayor is relieved to see a party of Adventurers from distant nations who may be willing to help. He offers them 5,000 gold, which he claims is all of the town's coffers, as either a tribute to appease the dragon or as payment to the party for ending the beast's threat to the town. When questioned further, the mayor can think of no reason why the dragon would attack their town, but does recall that she was seen with an iron band around her neck, leading the Adventurers to conjecture that perhaps it is being controlled. The party agrees to the quest, leaving several magic items with the mayor as collateral for the chest of gold, and travel north to the dragon's lair, a cave high up on a cliff at the end of a wide valley. After climbing up to the cave, they cautiously approach the enormous form of the dragon, lying atop a great mound of treasure, but, noting that the beast wears no collar, Moss senses something is amiss, and summons a rat, who runs over the body of the dragon without incident before bringing the druid one of the coins. Just as Moss realizes the coin is nothing more then a wooden disc painted gold, another, smaller white dragon, this one wearing a collar, attacks from a hidden ledge within the cave, blasting the party with her icy breath and viciously biting Adrienne and Roisyll before Moss touches the creature with his fragment of the Rod of Law, paralyzing it. Using the brief moments that it is unable to act, the Adventurers quickly explain their intentions are peaceful, even offering to remove the iron collar from around the dragon's neck. When the paralysis wears off seconds later, the dragon agrees to the parlay if they remove the collar.