Last night, the party met Charlie, a local Dragon Expert in Baldur’s Gate. He discerned that two of the three eggs they stole from the Cult of the Dragon had died in Zelena’s (elf wizard) bag of holding. The third egg was barely alive, and the group agreed to leave it with Charlie to raise. During the night, however, Phoebe (human paladin) took it upon herself to execute justice on this unborn baby black dragon. She was told black dragons are born evil, so she believed she was saving the world before the problem began. Vola (half-orc wizard) witnessed this betrayal from the shadows and called her out. After a brief fight, Nimby (gnome ranger) arrived on the scene very confused. Without hesitation, Phoebe blamed Vola for the death of the dragon. Vola fled the scene, and was subsequently captured by Rezmir, a high ranking cultist, who was seeking her after she deserted the Cult of the Dragon. Zelena and Issa (tiefling druid) rejoined the group to learn Vola had betrayed them and left. After a moment to mourn the dragon, the group decided to continue with the mission to follow the Cult of the Dragon up the Coast on a trade caravan.

Outside the North Gate to the city, the women find dozens of covered wagons that merchants use to travel between cities. A nearby barracks houses guards for hire. Along the city wall is a stable for the horses to stay while the merchants conduct business. Zelena is still distraught over the death of all three dragon eggs, so she wanders away from the group into the forest to meditate alone. 

Leosin the Monk had warned the group that in order to join the caravan, each person must prove herself useful to a merchant. There are carts full of alcohol, oils, wood carvings, furs, birds, silks, and more. Nimby enters the stables and chats with Sam the Hoper, a porcelain trader who is looking for a teamster to drive his wagon. Issa follows behind as a barn cat. Nimby has years of experience with animals and inquires if she can take her cat along. Sam loves animals and welcomes Issa the cat and Nimby to join his wagon for ten gold pieces a day for as long as it is convenient to both parties.

Phoebe heads to the barracks. A few guards are sparring with wooden swords outside, so she jumps right into the fray. However, a female elf with a wooden staff quickly disarms all the other guards until only Phoebe is standing. A circle forms around the two women who size each other up for a moment. A couple men whisper to each other and exchange a few coins. Phoebe notices a faded patch sewn into the shoulder of the elf’s robes. It is a crescent moon with a harp in the center. The symbol of the Harpers.

Phoebe strikes first, but the elf gracefully side-steps the attack and whacks Phoebe’s back with her staff. She moves with an elegance Phoebe has never seen before. Phoebe lunges around, but the elf ducks beneath her blow. The elf tries to sweep Phoebe’s legs with her staff, but Phoebe jumps up and slaps her own sword on the elf’s face with a loud “thunk”. The crowd exclaims and hollers and whistles at each move they make. They go back and forth a few more rounds, delivering a couple more blows to each other before Phoebe is able to knock the staff out of the mysterious elf’s hands. “You are an excellent fighter,” she says.“What’s your name?”

The elf is unfazed by losing her weapon and simply punches Phoebe in the face. “Thanks, you as well. I am Thia.”

As Phoebe stumbles back and holds her bloody nose, a half-orc walks into the scene with his hands up. “Ladies, no need to ruin yourselves for the crowd. I’d like to hire you both to guard my wagons. My name is Archer, and I am traveling North with a cart full of furs and another carrying a young couple. They asked for assurances we would be safe, and clearly you two are the best fighters out tonight. What do you say? Eight gold pieces a day.” He holds his hand out to Phoebe first. She spits on the ground and shakes the man’s hand. Thia takes his hand next. “Pleasure doing business. We leave at daybreak.” The crowd begins to disperse in disappointment.

After Archer walks away, Thia extends her hand to Phoebe. “Seems like we will be partners. I’ll be glad to fight alongside you and never against you again.” Phoebe shakes her hand. Thia picks up her stick and starts to walk away. 

“Wait,” Phoebe calls after her and steps closer, “I noticed your patch.” She points to the Harper symbol on Thia’s shoulder and leans in to whisper, “I am with a few other women traveling North. We should talk.” Thia looks down at the patch, nods, and follows. 

They end up near the stables where Nimby is getting acquainted with Sam the Hoper’s horses. Phoebe introduces Thia to Nimby and to Issa the barn cat, who is taking a nap in the sun. The group set up a small fire for themselves away from the wagons and other guards. They explain to Thia they know of the Harpers and have been sent on this caravan to track the Cult of the Dragon. Thia was raised by Harpers in a mountain monastery and was also sent to this caravan to watch the Cult. 

As evening falls, the women realize Zelena has not returned from the forest. The caravan is set to leave in the morning, and will certainly leave without her if she doesn’t come back in time. Issa’s cat form stretches lazily, and then runs off to find Zelena while the others settle under blankets to sleep by the fire.

Meanwhile among the trees, Zelena (elf wizard) wanders alone for hours to make sense of what happened with the dragon eggs. She grieves and meditates as she walks. Suddenly, a huge dark shadow passes over her. She instinctively ducks beneath a bush and looks up. A gigantic dragon flies overhead and blocks out the sun for just a moment. She squints and tries to make out any details of the beast, but even the color eludes her. Remembering the mission to follow the Cult of the Dragon, she pulls herself together and starts to head back toward town. She reaches the edge of the forest as the sun is setting. Waiting for her is cat-Issa. Issa purrs and rubs against Zelena’s legs. Zelena picks her up and says, “I am okay, just needed some alone time. Thanks for checking on me.” The two return to the camp after everyone else has fallen asleep.

Everyone except for Thia. “Greetings, friends.” She sits cross-legged with her hands on her knees. Cat-Issa leaps away from Zelena’s arms to curl up in Thia’s lap, who instinctively starts petting her ears. “They speak highly of you. I am Thia.” Zelena sees the Harper patch on Thia’s shoulder and sits next to her. Elves only require four hours of meditation each night for a proper rest, so these two elves take turns watching over the camp all night and chatting quietly about how they met the Harpers.

In the morning, Zelena makes coffee over the fire. Nimby heads over to Sam the Hoper’s wagon of porcelain to get the horses ready for departure. Thia and Phoebe eat a quick breakfast of eggs, and then set off in search of Archer’s cart of furs. Since Zelena did not get hired by a merchant the previous day, she takes her coffee to the nearest wagon. It contains boxes and crates of silk. A pale skinny man emerges and greets her, “Hello, can I help you?” 

Zelena replies, “Yes, hello. Beautiful fabrics you have here. Do you have room for an extra person? I am traveling north and would feel safer with a group like this.”

He looks her over and crosses his arms. “Maybe I do. What are you drinking?” 

She produces a second cup from her belt and pours some for him. “Here, try it. I call it coffee; it helps push away morning sleepiness. I could make you a cup every morning if you let me sit on your wagon.” 

He takes the cup and smells it suspiciously. Zelena takes a sip of her own cup. He then takes a sip of his. He smacks his lips a few times. “Alright you can sit in my wagon. But don’t spill anything. And I don’t have extra food so don’t expect that sort of treatment.” He takes another sip. “This coffee is good. Thank you.” He then steps aside and waves her into the back of the wagon. “I am Nyer Veren. These silks are the finest on the coast. They are going to fetch me a pretty penny when we get to Waterdeep. The best part is, I got them at a reduced price.” He sips the coffee again. “What’s your name, miss?” 

She climbs into the wagon, sets down her staff, and dangles her legs off the back. “Thank you, sir. I am Zelena and I promise not to cause any trouble.” He nods and heads to the front to prep his horse. 

While the party is getting settled into their different roles on this caravan, Issa wanders as a barn cat. All of the wagons are in a frenzy to finalize deals and start heading up the road. She sees one businessman run to the barracks to hire another guard last minute. Someone’s horse is refusing to cooperate. A woman is loading baskets of bread and fruit into the back of another. Only a few wagons seem to be ready and have begun moving north. Issa estimates about fifty merchants are not quite ready to head out. 

She skirts around the edge of the camp toward the opposite end and finds a very different group. Three wagons sit apart from the rest of the caravan. Lizardfolk are loading huge crates and chests. Lizardfolk are not common to be seen in or around Baldur’s Gate, and they are eerily quiet. A black dragonborn barks orders and inspects every box as it is loaded. She wears a long gold-trimmed purple robe and carries a sword on her hip. Issa instinctively hides in a bush after recognizing Rezmir, the cultist leader who led the attack on Greenest a couple weeks ago. 

Issa stays in the bush and watches for a couple hours. After the wagons are fully loaded, she hears Rezmir say to someone behind a tree, “Be discreet. We will meet you at the castle.” Then the lizardfolk and Rezmir seem to slink away as if they were never there at all. The wagons are led to the back of the caravan by a few humans and heavily-armored half-elves. Even the horses wear armor. Issa follows behind for another hour, but all has gone quiet. The entire caravan is now on the Coast Way road heading North, with these cultists taking the rear. 

After several hours of travel, the sun begins to set and the wagons at the front pull off to the side of the road. They are in a grassy field with plenty of room for the entire caravan to camp. Once the horses are settled and wagons hitched, the women find each other and make a fire some distance away. Issa ensures no one is close enough to evesdrop, then she shares what information she gathered in the morning. The cultists have indeed joined this caravan as Leosin the Monk said they would.

-Thia joins the group! When this player showed up to my group unannounced, I just handed her a few printed character sheets I had lying around that she could use temporarily. She had been playing Vola for a while (Vola was technically designed by my cousin for a family one shot), but now the time has come for her own creation: a badass elf monk.

-This game was fun to prep as a DM. I had many merchants written out that the party could have potentially worked for. Each merchant was looking for either a guard or a teamster (driver). The players had freedom to decide how to go about getting hired, or how to join as a guest of a merchant.

-This next stretch of the campaign will take 8-9 weeks of in game time. Each session was supposed to take up one week of travel time. The book Hoard of the Dragon Queen has numerous suggestions on how to take up this time. Some I used, and some I didn’t.

-Zelena assisted in the editing of this episode.