- Two weeks after their last adventure, Morel and Bromin are working hard to restore Toadstool Hollow. They’ve made contact with a caravan of Wind Dwarves traveling here from Emankorrak, led by the hardy Fideba. They’ve agreed to trade with Toadstool Hollow and bring them additional supplies to help them rebuild.
- While gathering information for their heist in Yorlen Hold, the rest of the party travels through Guthram. There they encounter Jarrin and Orla, treasure hunters bragging about their latest adventure. They seek the Tomb of the Feathered Serpent, a fantastic beast whose venom can restore the dead. A grieving noble has offered a massive bounty, thousands of gold, for whoever can bring this venom to them.
- Nearby, the tavern girl Zyanya tends tables quietly. She has dark skin and green eyes, tattoos, and a lovely singing voice. She brings the Band of Iron food and drink while they listen to the adventures’ tale.
- Jarin and Orla gather a group of peasants, merchants and travelers, regaling them with the following details:
- The feathered serpent’s eggs are gems the size of a man’s head.
- Their wings are feathered in all colors of the rainbow
- They cannot tell a lie, so if you find one, you can force it to reveal its identity
- They ride rainbows and guard ancient secrets, watching over the destinies of the mighty. Apocryphal tales suggest that Blessed Child was guarded by a Feathered Serpent after their parents were slain.
- The hunters insisted they had no plans of harming such a creature, only of harvesting its venom.
- Intrigued, some of the Band of Iron meander over to their table, finding them pouring over an ancient map. It is written in an ancient and cryptic form of draconic and they cannot decipher it. Her interest piqued, Nashia wanders to the table. The Band cuts a deal with the treasure hunters to help them in exchange for a cut of the prize.
- Shortly thereafter, a group of mystical assassins strikes. Wielding spells of Stinking Cloud , Fear and Slow, they bust in and are barely fended off.
- Jarin and Orla fear the attack was to stop them in their quest, but the Band of Iron quickly discovers that Nashia is gone. It seems the group was sent to abduct her.
- They track her to the treasure hunters’ destination—the Tomb of the Feathered Serpent. Rhawunel notices that this is actually a Huldra pre-marchen burial ground, and wonders what connection it could possible have to the Feathered Serpent.
- Meanwhile, in the tomb, Nashia awakens bound and gagged. A stranger looms over her, and on seeing her awake, seizes her hand and casts a spell of revelation upon it. When nothing happens, they apply minor acid and a group of sorcerers combine their powers to search for something. Even this fails, and the stranger announces with relief “It’s not there. We still have time.”
- The stranger departs as her scouts report a disturbance. Nashia was being imprisoned in the very tomb her compatriots came to seek. Finding the entrance heavily warded by magic, the Band of Iron realizes they had fallen into an ambush when Jarin and Orla turn on them. A bloody battle ensues, with agents of Elam and their hired muscle attacking the Band of Iron from all sides. Our heroes push through into the tomb, rescue Nashia, and force the leader of the Elam agents to flee using her magic.
- As it turns out, the entire legend of the Feathered Serpent was a setup. The map was specially made so only a true scholar of Elam’s dragon magic could interpret it. Jarin and Orla were instructed to travel the land looking for help with the map, and whoever could help them was the target.
- The party returns to Guthram to lick their wounds. As they leave the tomb, a familiar face emerges from the forest—Zyanzya, the barmaid from the tavern. In her hands she bears a massive gem the size of a man’s head, which she grants to Nashia. She exchanges some short words with the sorceress, wherein they learn the following:
- The stars stand eternal vigil against the Hungry Dark.
- The Feathered Serpents serve Morwel, Queen of Stars. It is their sworn duty to find the Light Bearer.
- The Light Bearer appears each time the Prophecy of the New Day is set in motion.
- The Light Bearer’s purpose is to find the Four Dragons—the Dragon of the Brightest Noon, the Dragon of the Final Dusk, the Dragon of the Moonless night, and the Dragon of the Dawn—in order to choose and anoint the Dragon of the New Day.
- The first Light Bearer was a dragon. The second was an Alfar. The third will be both.
- As Zyanzya vanished, Nashia’s hand burned with a cold pain, and she found the faint impressions of a silver, five-pointed star on the back of her left hand.