We left the banquet early since we’d pretty much accomplished what we set out to do - got a handful of disgruntled servants pointed toward Wyrmwood’s contact. Now it was just a waiting game to see if any of them actually showed up with useful intel about where they’re keeping Katya.
Back in Trondkan, Spesof had the bright idea to check out the Raksuu Derby while we waited. The tailor at the banquet had mentioned it - apparently they race monsters up north and you can bet on them. Since I’m rich and like betting, seemed like a good time. Plus, there was still that whole situation with the white dragon. Or black dragon. The melanistic white dragon? Whatever it is.
We headed to the Goblin Goblin Inn - the only inn in town, because Trondkan isn’t exactly a happening place - and asked the half-orc woman running it about both the Derby and the dragon. She confirmed the Derby’s a real spectacle in Raksuu, lots of betting, can be dangerous with monsters and general bad behavior. My kind of event, honestly.
As for the dragon, she’d heard about a black dragon - the weird-looking melanistic one everyone’s been talking about. It’s been heading west, avoiding Norhold but definitely on the move. Apparently it skinned something and made a scarf, which is pretty radical. People have been spotting it all over the place lately.
Then she mentioned something that caught our attention - there was a quest posting up. And it was from none other than Hadrian the Disgruntled. Spesof’s grandfather. The posting said a tome had been stolen from the library at the Spire of Dizif, suspected dragon involvement, needed to be retrieved.
That changed things pretty quickly. Spesof used his magical card to call Hadrian right then and there, got more details about the theft. They shared information back and forth - we told him what we’d learned about the white dragon moving west, he filled us in on the specifics of what was stolen. Suddenly this wasn’t just some random dragon hunt or a fun trip to the Derby. This was personal.
We’d gotten a telepathic message way back - someone claiming to be Nidhogg, all dramatic about “Mortal, heed my call. In the northern reaches of Yggdrasil there is a dragon who attempts to usurp my title. Kill her and I shall reward you handsomely.” At the time Momen had wanted to make sure we weren’t all just tripping on something, but nope - just our usual shenanigans, which notably do not involve drugs.
The problem is, from what everyone’s been saying, this white dragon doesn’t actually seem to be causing trouble. It hunts other big monsters and mostly ignores humans. Meanwhile, Nidhogg is basically the worst possible being for humanity in Norse mythology. So killing a relatively harmless dragon to help the apocalypse-bringer? Not exactly an obvious choice.
With Hadrian’s quest now in the mix though, we shifted priorities. The Raksuu Derby could wait - tracking down this white dragon and recovering the stolen tome became the main objective. We decided to head to Norhold to talk to someone who might actually know what we’re dealing with theologically speaking.
On the way, we got ambushed by some stone giants and ogres. It got more intense than we expected - Momen wasn’t prepared for combat at all, and the stone giants managed to get the jump on us. I was fine though, took up position on top of a large rock outcropping and just stayed invisible taking pot shots with my bow. Let the others handle the close-quarters work while I picked them off from safety.
After we dealt with them, Momen harvested parts from the stone giants - got one toenail, zero molars (which was disappointing), and five vials of blood. The man’s a professor and this is basically his day job, so we let him handle it.
At Norhold, we went straight to the Hall of the Twin Axes - big dwarven temple, well-funded, packed with dwarves. We asked for Administrator Kaldar Redhammer, who directed us to speak with one of their theologians. A woman named Nombra in the library.
Momen gave her the whole spiel about the dragon claiming to be Nidhogg and stealing magical tomes. She basically said that from a theological standpoint, Nidhogg is about the worst thing that could happen to humanity. If there’s a white dragon that’s not evil trying to stop him? Maybe we should just see where that goes. There are other conditions that could trigger Ragnarok anyway, so it’s not like stopping this one dragon would prevent the apocalypse entirely.
I may have caused some confusion among the library staff. The elves there didn’t quite know what to make of me either, which honestly seems to be a running theme. Even other elves don’t know what to do with me half the time.
We’re still trying to figure out the right move here. On one hand, we got this quest from what might be an actual deity. On the other hand, helping Nidhogg seems like a terrible idea. The white dragon is apparently looking for stolen tomes - if we find those and return them, maybe that solves the problem without us having to pick a side in some cosmic dragon drama?
Momen was getting stressed about it all. I pointed out that people are looking for these tomes anyway, so we’re just giving them a heads up and helping them. Plus, I’m good at lying - remember how I convinced that guard at the banquet that I was just drunk and needed to pee when I was actually scouting around invisible? I wasn’t even drinking.
We decided to call it there for the night. I’m probably going to sleep outside - keeps me humble. Plus, after all that noble banquet nonsense, feels good to be back doing regular adventuring stuff. Monster races, theological debates, potentially preventing the apocalypse… this is more my speed than trying to recruit servants at fancy parties.