Thorne, dragon slayer!

Calistril 28, 4712

It has been two days since most of Fort Inevitable was destroyed in a magical fire. The town is still reeling with the lack of shelter and food, and plummeting temperatures. Emergency actions taken by Roscoe and his officers have managed to house most of the residents in the remaining housing stock, but many citizens have been sent to surrounding localities, including Dimsdale, and about three hundred people are camped in the fields outside the Fort.

Roscoe hosts a leadership meeting with his officers when the door to the Council Chamber opens. The Mistress of Thorns steps and advises Roscoe on what steps must be taken to rectify the situation following the fire in Fort Inevitable. Specifically, she is concerned with three issues: the lack of wood for rebuilding, the lack of food, and the critical shortage of housing stock. On the first, she recommends that Roscoe orders the harvesting of as much quality lumber as possible to speed up the rebuilding of the town. He agrees and orders that it be so. On the second issue, she tells the Hellknights that she has organized a caravan that will arrive within a month carrying much needed supplies to alleviate the worst of the famine. This caravan will be accompanied by a small party of devils to assure security. Roscoe agrees to this as well. Finally, on the third issue, the Mistress recommends that buildings should fit more dwellings to allow the relocation of all people who lost their lodgings during the fire. On this topic, Maralictor Wirt tells Roscoe that she has already begun working on a new urban plan that will redesign roads and services. Roscoe tells her to pursue this goal.

Finally, the Mistress of Thorns addresses Roscoe again. Mentioning that she has heard of his troubles dealing with the magma dragons, she offers him tools to deal with them. First, she presents him with four bolts of dragon slaying +10. These must be fired with a man portable ballista, which she offers to Roscoe as well. With this equipment, Roscoe and his siblings should be able to deal with the threats of the dragons.

When news filters down to Thorne about the food convoy, he begins to plan and organize a task force to defeat the devils and capture the food on its way to Fort Inevitable. On a completely unrelated issue to the fire, Thorne had acquired six months' worth of hard tack biscuits he meant to send to the front in the Mendev crusades. They arrived about a month ago, and have been stored in a farm owned by associates. He now sees an opportunity to save the town from starvation and make a tidy profit at the same time.

Due to the housing crisis, Gerald has been forced to welcome three large families to his house. This interrupts his studies, so he becomes very adept at writing scrolls of sleep. He also sends a message to Abernard through Cassandra requesting advice on possible magical remodeling of his house, much like the old wizard had done himself. He also locks up all of his magical supplies to ensure they don't inadvertently end up in a dish and consumed by the new residents.

Rowen, a wizard recently arrived in Fort Inevitable, offers his services to the Hellknights in the wake of the disaster. Roscoe interviews him and agrees to let him join the reconstruction effort on a interim basis.

Having discovered that Cassandra and Nissa have not in fact perished in the explosion that destroyed Abernard's house but were rather at an acquaintance's house in the countryside, Roscoe decides to meet with them to discuss the source of the explosion. The two have been relocated to the camp on the training fields, and Roscoe finds them there. He interrogates Cassandra on her whereabouts and determines that she is truthful when she mentions that both herself and her daughter were not involved in the house's destruction. When he asks her whether she might have been the target of the destruction, Cassandra appears to be genuinely puzzled. Who would want to harm her?

Thorne's arrests papers having disappeared, the thief decides to find his brother and become Fort Inevitable's hero by solving the food crisis with his warehoused merchandise. He looks up Roscoe in the tent city, and they negotiate a deal. Thorne is made quartermaster of Fort Inevitable. He is granted access to the treasury so he can secure quick payment for the food. There are about 125,000 crowns in the treasury at this time. Roscoe also mandates Thorne to hire masons, timber wrights, carpenters, and other builders to rebuild the town. Thorne says he can find these people but this will be costly. Thorne plans on heading to Daggermark and secure workers from their prisons and bring them back.

Daryle finds Maralictor Wirt and organizes a hunting party. Darelle joins the party, but they don't travel near the Fort. They are unable to find any prey, and the forest is filled with traps, most of which will not catch anything they are so poorly designed. It's only been two days since the catastrophe that wiped three fourths of the town, and already the people are hungry!

With the affairs of state now in order, the Coopers return to the Emerald Spire and descend to the Magma level equipped with the Mistress of Thorns's new gear. Their plan is simple. They will come down to the third level, then will use the spire transport to land on the tenth level. They will cross over the lava lake, set up the ballista, and lure the young magma dragons out to their demise.

Rowen and Thorne appear by the Spire first. Thorne checks the rope they had previously strung, and it is still standing. It appears to be secure. Thorne crawls the rope and makes it across. Rowen then teleports across. Daryle, Roscoe and Darelle then come in using the second transport token. Daryle crosses the magma lake using the cable. Darelle and Roscoe also make it. Thorne sets up a trip wire at the back of the room to prevent an ambush from the rear. They arrange themselves in a line. Rowen casts invisibility on each member of the party, then true strike. He will handle the firing of the weapon, while Thorne will reload between rounds.

The party throws stones into the lava lake, and makes a lot of noise. Nothing happens on the first or second attempt, but on the third attempt the female and dominant magma dragon emerges from the lava and climbs up in the air. The battle is on. Rowen looses the first bolt, which successfully hits the female, but not before she's able to breathe on the party, causing considerable damage. Her brother emerges from the lava as well, and he joins the attack. He also breathes on the party. Everyone successfully attack the dragons but the situation is dire. Rowen manages to fire the second bolt, hitting the female who crashes on the ground near them. The male sees where the bolts are coming from, so on his second pass he grabs Rowen and almost throws him in the lava.

Darelle summons a blue pegasus and heads up for the dragon. She lands a mighty blow on the beast, but he in turn inflicts enough damage to her magical construct to destroy it. Falling to the ground, Darelle barely manages to grab the cable. She climbs back to the Spire ledge.

As the magma dragon comes for one more pass, Rowen releases another bolt, hitting him square in the chest. Thorne also takes a shot with his small bow, and he is amazed that his arrow is true. The dragon is hit in his one functional eye, and arrow penetrating deep in his brain. He crashes into the lava, and quickly sinks out of view. The Coopers have defeated the magma dragons!