Of Dragons and Ants

A much more productive night tonight. We got out of the labyrinth, intending to take another long rest before confronting the blue dragon. This time we holed up in the secret room we found there and got through the long rest uneventfully. As it turned out, the blue dragon had recruited some rock monsters (not sure if that's the technical name or not; they can generate rocks and fling them, creating difficult terrain) and used them to dig its way out of its cave, and some goblin hexers to try and reverse the portal that had taken us to the cave in the first place.

So, we wake up from the long rest, poke our heads out, and discover the blue dragon, four hexers, four warrior bodyguards, and something like six rock monsters are now just outside the secret room. We send our thief to sneak around, and he sneaks the opposite way and finds Shenron's bag of holding (minus the gold and a mouse familiar that Shenron was very attached to), which negates most of the reason for confronting the dragon in the first place. Meanwhile, the hexers succeed in switching the portal, and we discover that the burrowing has collapsed the tunnel that led to the other three dragons, so we go back into the labyrinth to get back to that cave and switch portals with them. They had the "out" portal, and we traded them so that they now have the "in" portal, and can use it to get out if we open up our end of it. We're only likely to do this if we think we need them in the wizard's tower, as we're not entirely sure we trust them. Actually, no. We're entirely sure we don't trust them.

Anyway, by the time we get back through the labyrinth to where the blue dragon had been, all the rock monsters are gone, the dragon is asleep on the portal, and there's one hexer keeping watch. Shenron is still out for blood, and we have a bit of an advantage with the dragon asleep, so we, tentatively, try to attack. Dovra's sleep spell does not hit, so there's not much chance. The sentry rolls a natural twenty for perception when our avenger tries to stealth past and deliver a coup de gras. At that point, everyone but Shenron is ready to give up and head through the door to the tower, which is now open. Finally he gives in and comes with us, and, conveniently, that happens just as it's time to quit for the night anyway.

So next week, we get to find out what's in this mysterious Wizard's Tower. Meanwhile, I need to get my city map finished enough, and get enough random encounters set up, that the group can get started there. The city is called Ridol (ri-DAHL). I'm thinking "The Riddle of Ridol" would be a good name for the campaign. ^;^ Hmmm... I also need to work out the details that will lead to the final location. There are still a few snags in it.

Oh, one encounter involved giant ants, and wasn't otherwise interesting enough to describe, but they made for a good title.