As the party makes their way down the mountain path towards the village of Parnast, Farraine glances back and notices Finn is lagging behind the rest of the group. It takes more than one attempt to get the young halfling out of his apparent daydream before offering him a ride on his companion's shoulders for the remainder of the journey. Finn accepts his kind offer and leaps up Farraine's back and settles on his wide shoulders. The party continues and the snow slowly turns from crispy white to brown sludge and the trees begin to clear as they get closer and closer to the village.
Upon entering Parnast the party notice that all is not well and that despite it being a hive of activity there is a strange absence of the usual noises associated with comings and goings of village life, it's as if all the joy and laughter has been sucked out of everyone. Finn immediately spots the local tavern and suggests the group head inside to find out what is going on.
As they enter the Tavern it is clear that the mood outside has taken over the patrons within and despite half the tables being occupied there is no hum of conversation, no drunken bellows, to hearty chuckles. Finn makes his way over to the Barman and in opposition to all actions thus far, orders a water, much to the chagrin of the mutton chopped barman. Beef and Farraine place more acceptable orders with the barkeep and the party sits at a spare table to sip at their beverages and observe the sullen clientele. Finn notices a strange figure in the shadows looking at the party but his eyes quickly dart away as Finn makes eye contact, he then notices a stunningly beautiful halfling (Belle Goodfellow), sat alone at a table, as their eyes meet she smiles. Finn immediately tells Farraine of the gentleman in the darkened corner and advises that he should go and speak with him to see if they might glean further information about the current state of the village, as Farraine gets up, Finn quickly makes his way over to the halfling woman and sits down at her table.
Farraine, with his conversation chaperone, Beef, in hot pursuit walks over to the man and begins to question him about the atmosphere within Parnast. The man introduces himself as Gundalin and rather loudly gives details of his business should they wish to seek repairs and with that he finishes his drink and makes a swift exit from the establishment.
Beef and Farraine make their way back to the party's table and notice that they are starting to attract the attention of the regulars, Farraine, with all the tact and social awareness of a damp sponge, smiles back and then proceeds to try to engage one of them in conversation, when this fails he proceeds to show the gentleman the severed hand in his possession. Needless to say this behaviour draws the attention of the Barman who asks him to leave his customers alone or never return to this establishment. Beef, Byron, Lucian and Farraine leave the bar and head across town to the General Store to stock up on supplies, Byron takes the opportunity to wander off as he tends to do, to scope out the flying castle (Skyreach Castle) looming over the village.
At the general store, Beef notices that it is remarkably well stocked for such a small village and asks the owner what wares he may purchase and even shows him his often wayward blade, "Midnight" to see if the shop keeper had some more potent weapons in stock. Alas, potions were the owners most useful item in stock and after slightly too long spent considering the budget, the transaction was completed and the Party left the store.
It was at this point that Finn made his way back to his compatriots and they made their way to meet up with the mysterious figure, Gundalin, from the tavern. After attracting the attention of some of the locals during his solo scouting mission of the castle gateway, Byron spots the footprints of his friends and follows them into Gundalin's workshop.
The Party probe the man, asking about the state of the village and the arrival of the flying castle. He tells them of Rezmir and how some of the local residents have joined Rezmir's cult whilst the remainder wallow in fear of persecution. Being the remarkable rogue that he is, Finn asks if there may be any secret entrances to the castle but is told that there have been rumours but would require the gift of flight in order to use them. Finn curses his relationship with gravity as the party thank Gundalin for his time and leave the workshop. Finn and Farraine notice that the severed hands in their possession are starting to get more than a little ripe and share one last high five with the crumbling appendages before leaving them on the doorstep of the tavern for no real reason whatsoever. The party make their way over to the checkpoint in front of the floating castle. Whilst the party discusses their next steps a number of possible options for which are put up for debate, a small Paper Bird is spied overhead and lands in Beef's palm. The magical note is from Renaer and mentions that Sister Garaele has been sentenced to death and that the party should seek out Blagothokus in Skyreach Castle in order to stop the Dragon Cult from bringing together the five Dragon masks in a ritual to summon the Queen of Dragons from Avernus.
The party makes their way to the checkpoint and Beef calmly walks straight up to the guards holding the flag of the cult and uttering the words. "Tiamat, our Mother and strength!" and is immediately granted access. The rest of the party follow in mild surprise at their ease of entrance, Farraine looks especially annoyed that their usual key of combat has not been required on this occasion. A woman at the checkpoint seems to recognise Byron who suddenly seems to want to underplay his importance for the first time and he utters that she must be mistaken and she retreats across the draw bridge and into the castle before them. As the adventurers make their way across the chasm they are greeted at the large gates by a pair of stone sentinels towering above them, carved in the likeness of Frost Giants. Once again Beef seems to have been memorised his book of passwords and with the words "Hail Tiamat" their passage is approved and they enter a large, open and suspiciously empty courtyard. A number of doors present themselves as the party begin their search for Sister Garaele and unlike their previous experience with castles they actually manage to find her relatively quickly. Beef uses his healing skills on the injured prisoner and Finn releases her from her binds. As they speak to Garaele, the party accepts the wisdom of an NPC for once and allow her to remain behind as they seek out the next person on their to-do list, Blagothkus, a person each of them is having difficulty pronouncing.
Making their way up a stairwell our group of intrepid adventurers emerge into yet another courtyard where once more they seem to be heading in the right direction. Beef notices a couple of Giants up ahead and once again consults his book of passwords and shouts "Hail Blagothkus". The Giants seem content with this and Beef asks to be taken to speak with their master. The giants lead the party into a room where they are asked to leave their weapons behind by Blagothkus' Ogre guards. Finn immediately is suspicious and notices Farraine also balks at such a request. Thinking that Farraine will not submit to such a request Finn prepares to stay back with Farraine and the rest of the party's weapons should anything untoward happen. Imagine his shock when Farraine willingly relinquishes his weapons and casts them on the growing pile. Finn decides he doesn't really want to be left alone with the Ogres and surrenders his rapier and crossbow but secretly keeps his daggers hidden from view. As it turns out Farraine was similarly deceptive when depositing his weapons.
The group are led up the stairs where they meet with the Frost Giant, Blagothkus. It is made clear that the Cult of the Dragon needs to be stopped and he is not at all happy with the cult's residence in his castle. He has learned that the Cult intends to take the castle from him. He has a cunning plan to destroy one of the Dragon masks, currently in the possession of Rezmir. It is a complicated and highly intelligent plan to turn the castle around and fly it as fast as possible into the side of a mountain. Blagothkus asks the party to assist in his diabolical scheme by running interference and prevent the young white dragon from joining the inevitable battle he will face once Rezmir notices the change in the floating castle's course. Farraine, as always is eager to jump into the fray and offers to assist in the fight with Rezmir but is eventually persuaded that his fate is to delay the dragon long enough for the plan to succeed. Tossing a backpack filled with gold bars to the party, Blagothkus bids them good luck and upon the signal, to make their way to the waiting Wyverns who will transport them to safety. The Party accepts his payment and without asking what the signal may be head back down the stairway and retrieve their weapons before returning once more to the lower levels of the floating fortress.
Sister Garaele is advised of the brilliant plan and dashes off to start preparing the Wyverns in the nearby stables, Byron, never one to miss a fight, offers to help in her quest but is dragged off by the rest of the party as they are directed down a passageway to the vault and the awaiting Dragon.
As the intrepid troop of miscreants enter the vault they see before them a dazzlingly white Dragon hanging from the ceiling above. It roars at them and asks where it's food is. Finn, cleverly realises that the plan is centered around them delaying the dragon long enough for Blagothkus to complete his side of things tries to engage the Dragon in conversation whilst Farraine and Beef drop ever decreasingly subtle hints to Lucian to throw a fireball at the damn thing. Alas Finn's gift of the gab and Beef's patience with Lucian run out and the Bard casts Shatter and all hell breaks loose.
Following Beef's attack Lucian finally realises what to do and hurls a fireball at the White Beast who manages to deftly dodge, catching a glancing blow. It reels back and opens it's mouth and produces a chilling blast of ice at Finn and Farraine. They both manage to dodge the blast, taking some minor damage in the process but once more poor Binky is the first to fall. Farraine, takes the attack personally and quickly retaliates and lands two magnificent attacks that do a surprisingly small amount of damage to the winged creature. Beef attacks with Shatter once more and is as surprised as everyone else when he manages to hit his target. Lucian attacks once more and proves as useful as a chocolate teapot and being more of a mild annoyance to the magnificent beast than a threat. But it seems this abject failure distracts the dragon from his next attack which also fails to hit its target. Farraine, slightly hampered by the ranged nature of the battle manages to land a hit with his throwing axe and whilst it hits it's target the Dragon merely shrugs it off. Finn pops out from cover, aims down the sight of his crossbow and fires a bolt at the creature, he sees it plunge deep into the beast's belly as he slinks back into the shadows.
As the Dragon recoils in pain, Beef sends a blast of energy towards it, unsurprisingly missing with the first but to everyone's astonishment, especially the Dragon's, striking it's head with the second. Lucian begins his attack and hurls his magic missile at the wounded foe, it hits with a ferocity that takes even the wizard by surprise as he looks at his hands in amazement. The Dragon staggers and unleashes an attack on the party before being hellishly rebuked by a now furious Beef. It as at this point Byron decides to make a contribution to the foray and he deftly flings a dart at the crippled creature, the blade plunging deep into it's eye. Farraine see's the Dragon is greatly wounded and takes his opportunity to land a ferocious killing blow and the beast falls to the floor, it's blood pouring over the hoard of gold and jewels piled on the ice. Byron, moving faster than light itself, springs into loot mode and starts shoveling treasure into the backpack as Finn and Farraine search the nearby treasure chests.
As the party fill their pockets they all hear words in their heads, which was strange because it seemed like they had got there without all of the usual travelling through the ears and such. It was time to flee and do so quickly. They quickly spring into action and dash down the passageway, as Farraine passes the tiny legged Finn he sweeps him up and onto his shoulders. They emerge from the tunnels at a sprint, into the courtyard, they see Sister Garaele has been true to her task and is leading a saddled Wyvern from the stables. Byron leads the heroes across the courtyard but despite it being relatively free from obstacles manages to run directly into an innocent Giant that he somehow completely failed to see. Getting to his feet as Beef catches and passes him, Byron attempts to push his way onto the nearest Wyvern but Beef is already astride the creature and bids him to find another ride. Beef digs his heels into the Wyvern's sides, urging it to move. The beast ignores him and he passes the reins to Garaele.
The party make their way into the stables and quickly board their only means of escape, Lucian and Finn (with Farraine holding the halfling's waist tightly) deftly calm their rides and take to the skies. Byron, with a shout of "I'm very proficient in handling animals" immediately fails to get the beast under control as it jerks into the sky leaving him dangling precariously from the creature's harness. As the Party soar into the clouds, Finn and Farraine are completely oblivious to the Monk's predicament. Beef and Lucian decide to assist their flapping friend and he finally manages to get into the saddle just as the Wyverns start descending to the ground and safety.
Somewhere behind and below them, there is a dull thud as the flying castle slams into the mountains and disintegrates.
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