The minstrel asks if Tittlin has prepared an offering, and he quickly replies with one of his typical snarky retorts. Not having anything prepared, the priest accompanying him comes to his assistance and hands over a bag of gold to the minstrel. The minstrel plays a little ditty and calls for the Lady of the Blue. We hear the beating of wings as she approaches and enters, landing atop the corpse in the center of the volcano. She is a massive and incredibly impressive blue dragon, decked out in jewelry and with a bolt of lightning shooting from her horn before she begins conversing with Tittlin. Tittlin metaphorically sticks his foot in his mouth while speaking at length with her about an assortment of topics including him dying to a dragon, the slain titan, and failed attempts to find a common ground. She seems to be relatively indifferent towards the cult. Tittlin, interestingly, also offers his services in helping with retrieving artifacts that the dragon might want. She does actually consider this, and tells him that she’ll send one of her men if she has any need for him. Tittlin runs out of things to say and bids farewell to the Lady of the Blue, who flies off. Tittlin then walks out to check out the gallery to the north.
I ask the priest escorting me if she heard the Lady of the Blue mention the word “mate”, to which she plugs her ears and ignores me. I enter the chamber just as Tittlin did, and the minstrel calls in the Voiceless One. He, on the other hand, does not appear blue, but brown. I point this out immediately and he explains that he is the same type of dragon as his mate. I inquire about similar topics as Tittlin, until we begin discussing the Fire Giant in the other room. The Voiceless One smiles a giant, terrifying, toothy smile, and he states his pleasure over having subjugated a mortal enemy. We then get to the quintessence - he admits to having contained the quintessence of a Storm Giant in an orb and handed it off to Folduin in order for him and the Lady of the Blue to not need to be present for the conjuring of storms. Folduin is indebted to the dragons as a result of them sparing his life when they razed his village. The Lady admired his looks and suggested that they keep him alive, and he has been useful in gathering gold and treasure for the dragons ever since. I propose that we might be able to help Folduin find alternative methods for obtaining this treasure rather than sinking ships, and the Voiceless One sees no issues with this, even offering their accountant to confirm the income of treasure that Folduin brings in. The conversation dries up and the Voiceless One leaves the same way he came in.
I shake the priestess awake who passed out swooning over the Voiceless One who heads off after I tell her that Tittlin and I want to chat with some of the other folks in the volcano. I find a shortcut out by shoving a rock aside in the outer wall of the volcano, and we give Momen and rundown of what happened. We debate for a while on whether to steal and free the quintessence or to instead find an alternative source of income for Folduin to appease the dragons. Momen proposes a tricky third option - Folduin defecting with the quintessence to the Giants and seeking refuge in their protection.
We decide to check out a purple glow that Momen spotted on the slope on the east side of the island. Climbing up to the platform, we see a large magical circle. It appears to be a large-scale, two-way teleportation circle. Momen recognizes a number of the symbols, noting that it’s most likely connected to somewhere in Elkenalden (or close to it). We decide to hop onto the teleportation circle and indeed find ourselves in a building in Elkenalden. I step outside to confirm our position, and as I do the door shuts suddenly behind me. As I turn around, the building simply vanishes. I walk back towards where the building was and don’t run into anything, and begin calling out for Momen and Tittlin. Momens head pokes out from the opening door as the building reappears… magic. I pop back inside while Tittlin and Momen stare out the window, eventually noticing a volcanic rock that seems to be from the island that we were just on. Momen walks out to the rock and takes a rubbing of the etchings on the stone, which appear to be draconic. We agree to inform the Duke of the magically hidden house after we finish with our business on the island, and we teleport back.
We head into a hole in the wall by the teleportation circle and encounter a couple cooks whipping up some food. They inform us that they aren’t with either of the weirdo cults, and are in fact just servants of the dragons who prepare food for the other guards and servants. We make our way towards Folduin’s office while Momen admires the corpse of the beast in the center of the volcano, looking mildly horrified when I ask him if he’s doing alright. I flip through the maps on Folduin’s desk, finding one that confirms the location of the storm that separated my father and I, and another near Wurmrise which corresponds with the recent storm. Tittlin doodles some glasses on a wanted poster of him that’s also on the desk. We find other markings, most of which are unlabeled but one of which corresponds with the teleportation circle in Elkenalden.
Momen is once again looking into the center column, and he informs us that the magical sword in the lava is speaking to him, mostly insulting him. He gets quite frustrated by his predicament, and we decide to move on before he takes any more psychic damage… We head up one more level and notice a pattern amongst the treasure piles - each pile has an ivory box atop it containing a different chess piece. This must be the similar item that links the hordes to the dragons.