An Unusual Benefactor

Friday 24th December 356 AC

After another of Brother Ithariel's hearty breakfasts (I may suggest to Father that he hires a priest of Kiri-Jolith to run the castle kitchens) we ventured into the pass proper. Roughly two miles into our advance, approximately halfway through the pass if the kender's maps are to be believed, we discovered a wide, carved out open space. This artificial basin houses a military encampment protected on both sides by a stout wall. As the buildings within came into view we regarded a scene of furious activity, soldiers of the dragon armies going to and fro between a cave opening and their various tasks. Tasks which included the wanton mass execution of prisoners - clearly we had to intervene. 

Without warning our band of intrepid warriors was gripped by a gut-wrenching terror, a horror that has not embraced my soul since the end of the Dragon Wars. Many of our number were struck low by the Fear, even the noble and dauntless Sir Dominic, but more intriguing was the number of enemy combatants exhibiting the same terrified symptoms. Looking up (those of us still able) we noticed a great black dragon watching us from its perch atop the mountain - an adult black if I am any judge of such things. 

This certainly explained the fear of the troops in the camp but at once increased my perplexity as we were advancing through an area controlled by the red dragon armies, and black dragons are not the most 'socially inclined' beasts. Indeed, there was a running jest in my company during the wars that blacks were slaughtering as many of their 'allies' as the Knights. To add to my confusion the dragon then dropped a pack in our midst, containing breaching explosives and a spell book bound in red leather. To date I am still unclear on the motives of our reptilian benefactor but as a soldier I could overlook no advantage, we prepared a plan to breach the wall using the provided explosive and entrusted the Lady Azshauna with care of the tome. Many of the troops in the encampment belonged to the green dragon armies (main rival of the blacks) so perhaps the beast wanted us to disrupt the plans of a rival?

At some point Nedlog escaped our notice and scampered up the sheer cliff towards the dragon and disappeared into a crevice. The guards on the wall took notice of this and their number soon increased to at least ten, though we saw little other new activity. Suddenly all in the valley heard a gargantuan roar from the dragon above, those of us close enough also heard a distinctly kender voice shout "And you'd better do what I say - or else!"