Goblin Quest - Bounty and Bones
General Summary
Belhaim was filled with the stench of smoke and the rumors of death.
The Bayside Stranglers—Gakk, Gooch, and Xmoek (disguised as a rasp-voiced halfling named Sam)—barely finished their ale and pickles before the law arrived. Sir Benhovy, sheriff of Belhaim, stormed into the Wise Piper Inn with guards in tow. Accusations flew: death at the auction, chaos in the streets, and a threat from a gigantic undead black dragon. Xmoek, hidden beneath his illusion, told the truth—they’d been with Talia all day. Whether Benhovy believed him didn’t matter. The Baroness did.
Baroness Devy invited them to her manor to discuss possible plans and alternatives. The dining room was thick with tension. Around her table: nobles, priests, guards. A dragon—undead, ancient, demanding—had come calling. Its name was Aeteperax. Its ransom: 776,000 gold and the tomes of Hunclay. Belhaim had nothing near it. Suggestions were made. Most were insults in disguise. Evacuate. Appeal. Sacrifice. Die slowly.
Then Bassy, the gnomish town historian, posed the question no one dared to voice aloud: “Why don’t we just kill it?”
Silence.
The baroness leaned forward, her voice level as she addressed the Bayside Stranglers. “No coin. No reward. But if you succeed, I will make you Knights.” Benhovy choked. Longshankes wrinkled. Their distress just eked out the desire to see the town turned to ash. Barely. "Deal."
Bassy had more. She’d seen through the dragon illusion. No breath. No talon scrape. No wind from the wings. She knew of Aeteperax—the real one, whose bones coiled around a tomb deep in the Dragonfen. If the bones were there, the monster wasn’t what it seemed.
She handed them an old brass key—a relic passed down from Lady Tula Belhaim herself—a key to the crypt, a key for dragonslayers.
Lezara, a retired adventurer, gave them her medallion for luck.
The Bayside Stranglers crossed into the Dragonfen, the bog swallowing sound and light. There it was. The skeletal remains of Aeteperax, half-sunken into the earth. Beneath the carcass: the stone door, the lock, and the promise of dragon-slaying loot. A gibbering mouther made its lair in the skull, its voice like bubbling madness and regret. They cut it down using their newly rewarded weapons.
Bassy’s key turned.
They descended into the Crypt of Tula, passing dust, traps, and hidden doors. They encountered illusions and distractions, magical traps intended to mislead the unworthy. As they stood before a spiral staircase winding into deeper darkness, the weight of what lay below hung thick in the air.
Dragonslayer loot? Perhaps. Or something far worse. Either way, they’d drawn swords not to polish them, but to use them.
And somewhere above, a lie wearing the face of a dragon waited for its tribute.
Rewards Granted
XP
- Each character earned 734 XP for this session.
- Current total: 13,686 of 15,000 XP
Notes
Bassy's Story of Tula Belhaim.
The Dragon Plague years were quite eventful for northern Taldor. During the years between 3660 and 3672 AR, the region endured an explosion of violent and bloody depredations by no fewer than three dozen different dragons. Among those affected by the attacks was a young woman named Tula Belhaim, who lost her family when a black dragon named Aeteperax destroyed her hometown of Nazilli on the southern edge of the Verduran Forest. She would go on to become a great hero, and the mercenary company she founded—the Slayers of Nazilli—defeated more dragons than any other group in those days. Her final triumph was slaying Aeteperax in the heart of a swampland deep in the part of the Verduran Forest known today as Dragonfen. For her service, the Taldan emperor awarded Tula the title of Baroness and the stewardship of the Verduran Fork region, including all of Dragonfen. Her legions of admirers soon founded a town bearing her name, its buildings built of limestone quarried nearby. In 3676 AR, as Belhaim was still finding its place in the world, a band of Iroran priests presented themselves before the Baroness of Belhaim and asked her permission to build a monastery east of the town, overlooking Dragonfen. Lady Tula graciously granted their wish, and soon thereafter, the monks built a fine monastery on the far side of the swamp. The Iroran sect grew and prospered in this setting along with Belhaim, and over the years developed strong ties to the town. Lady Tula eventually married one of her fellow Slayers, Arturic Canteclure, and built a castle atop one of the town’s hills. The couple had four children, but each one died of accident or misadventure before the age of 9, leaving the new barony with no heirs. Tula and Arturic’s relationship grew strained as the baroness grew morbid and obsessed with building a grand tomb for herself and her family. As she and her husband grew apart, Tula amended her will to have Arturic buried in a separate part of the tomb, rather than alongside her. Both died mysteriously. The bodies were found by servants soon thereafter, and Belhaim mourned a tragedy they couldn’t understand or comprehend. The bodies were quickly taken to Tula’s crypt and buried according to her wishes, and the site was sealed. Rule of Belhaim fell to distant relations of Arturic’s, the Canteclures. In 4500 AR, Baron Sarvo Canteclure, a vicious lord who imprisoned subjects for the slightest infraction, joined an ill-advised rebellion against the Grand Prince, and his family and the castle were destroyed in retaliation. Upheaval was not limited to the town of Belhaim that year, though. A month prior to the razing of Castle Tula, afterward referred to superstitiously as the Witch Tower, the monks of the Monastery of Saint Kyerixus vanished mysteriously and their home fell into ruin. Back in Belhaim, a man named Sir Arkold Devy was awarded the Barony of Belhaim for his role in helping to put down the seditious Canteclures. His descendants have ruled for the past two centuries. During this time, a few memorable events touched the region—most notably the earthquake that left the town relatively unharmed, but caused the town’s quarry to flood. With access to the quarry’s fine limestone lost, Belhaim’s fortunes slowly receded.
Report Date
04 May 2025
