(S30) An Audience with a Queen

After taking the time to decide the best course of action, the group decided to try and speak with Silva, Claugiyliamatar's current apprentice, instead of crossing the precarious river of acid where they might have been spotted by the dragon before they were ready.  

Zorphus' token tucked into the note as evidence, and Siax firing the arrow with astounding accuracy, and it wasn't long until an invisible figure flew across the river and appeared in the feeding ground, one that soon spotted Siax after casting some manner of spell.  The apprentice was a girl, but unlike one they had seen before, for she seemed at least partially draconic in her wings and the delicate scales that were seen over parts of her skin.  Young too, possibly no more than 19, and never having been beyond the cave walls, the girl was wary, but soon became more than willing to aid the group so long as she had the opportunity to leave and see more of the world.

What the girl did know though, was that 'Chloe', the ancient green dragon she named mother, would respond well to the polite and gentrified manners of Waterdeep, and between her, Effie, and Tiaumil, they practiced the elaborate bowing, before taking their newfound skill to the dragon herself.

The dragon, when they got there, seemed relatively pleased with the bowing of the group, as well as the effusive and elaborate greeting by her apprentice, enough that she was willing to talk with them.  It quickly became apparent though that noble manners were not all that was required to quell her ire, but that, much like her fascination with female statuary, it was not men she was more pleasantly disposed towards. Effie took over the negotiation, and her skill in parlaying with the dragon soon bore fruit.  

The group learned that Ebonidris had indeed fought with Claugiyliamatar, much as had been suspected, before sending him violently into the shadow realm by way of a planar teleportation spell.  The battle had left her with a cursed wound that even so long after battle continued to smoulder and burn with black flames.  The wound would not be easy to heal, as Tiaumil realised that only the most powerful of healing spells would do any good, but the death of the caster would also suffice.

In an audacious move, Effie walked the verbal tightrope of inciting the dragon's ire just enough to make her lean towards revenge for the attack, and the group breathed a general sigh of relief when Claugiyliamatar decided that in order to best get that revenge, the group could work in her favour, with the right aid, of course.

As aid, she granted the group two boons:
-  An emerald soul cage in the shape of a scale, to trap Ebondeath within it.  Once the soul was in the cage, destroying the cage would destroy the soul.
-  She breathed magic into Arya's ring, so that she could transport the group to the shadowfell

Silva, however, was not allowed to go with the group, for her scheme to use the group as her exit was seen by the dragon, who did not judge her ready to leave just yet.  Likewise Grid, who had become fascinated by the possibility of creating some manner of device to allow her to fly again, at least until the wound could be healed, was told that he would be staying too.  He seemed befuddled by this, but too focused on the new technical problem given to him to be bothered by it.

The group decides that it would be best to prepare and rest before they head to the shadowfell, as much because rest was likely to be in short supply as anything while there.  Siax, having judged the fight that took place with Claugiyliamatar and Ebonidris was particularly worried about the difficulty of the fight, and asked the group to help him gather more resources for phase arrows.  In a harrowing but ultimately successful jaunt into the tunnels of the dragon's lair, three phase spiders and the matriarch were defeated, ready to be stripped of their resources for the journey ahead.