Alice looks at Yulya's despair
Here!
Alice cuts of a sizable slice of meat and hands it to Yulya on her fork.
Trade me a few vegetables and potatoes!

Thank you Alice! At least you care...
Yulya responds with tears in her eyes and gives Alice few vegetables and potatoes in exchange for the meat

As your chatting away you fail to notice an extremely large man step up to the table.
"I heard you wanted to talk Dragons," His voice booms.

Yulya flinches in surprise expecting more trouble but relaxes as she recognizes Brutus
Good God I did not hear you coming Sir Brutus!

"How's my favorite adventurers? Off to fight a dragon already? And not even silver?" He laughs heartily, "I admire that adventurous spirit, the hubris, and gall of it. What makes you think you're ready to fight a dragon?"

Yulya is momentarily terrified by Brutus 'smile' that seems to convey: 'You are all going to die you fools!'
At least in her paranoid imagination...



Yulya covers her face in her hands and sighs
I do not think so at all but we were somehow dragged into this by Summer as Alice said...
Yulya does not mention Alice's ship as main reason as Alice did not bring up the topic herself

You are certainly right we must avoid its breath abd keep it grounded. Though I am not sure I can work with scrolls or if we can afford them.
My main fear literally it the dragons terrifying presence. I think we encountered it once at the rest stop. I was so terrified I could not move - not do anything. So I think we must also avoid its gaze. At least me I am not as fearless as Ashley.

Moreover we are fighting a White Dragon in its domain - a snow covered mountain. It will feel perfectly comfortable there while we will be struggling with the cold and the rough terrrain. I am not even sure we can reach this place in the current climate.

And I fear there is even more trouble!
I am sure you have heard the land east of the beginning if Triboar Trail is covered in ice and snow. Many people have remarked that such wide-area effect is beyond the capabilities of a Wite Dragon. Who knows who or what os really behind this big freeze?
Yulya gets dizzy herself listing the potential pitfalls in fighting this dragon and falls deeper and deeper in despair.

Another familiar face waddles around the massive barbarian.
The frog headed creature seemingly incapable of any sentient form of communication looks directly at Yulya, a flash of divine light shines in his eyes.

"Grœt"

He's cast some unknown spell, and in that moment, she was given a mind blast of the known weaknesses of dragons, the information was vast and varied and took no more than a half second to convey.
Yulya is momentarily stunned then rubs her eyes

What was that? Did I...
Yulya slowly realizes the effect of the spell and the information she has gained and bows to the frogman
Thank you sir Groet! You certainly are capable!
I feel this information will certainly help us a lot! I hope I can repay this kindness - if we make it back alive that is...
Yulya relaxes a little and regains a bit of morale.

Now I want to hear your dragon story as well Sir Brutus!

"Freya, can you reenact the encounter?" Quagg yells as his table full of drunken half-orc companions laugh heartily.
Seconds later he's drenched in alcohol and lit ablaze in a cool blue flame... as his table full of drunken half-orc companions laugh heartily.

Yulya looks at the savage behavior with a mixture of fear and disdain glad her party has nothing to do with such people

Freya glances to Alice then back to Yulya
"In all seriousness darling, I must insist you take that sort of thing elsewhere and only use these facilities for cooking edible things. However, once you're outside the city limits, there are no restrictions on what you do at your own campfire."

Yulya sighs
I am just glad I asked before those geniuses started making a fire in their room.

But I agree we have no time to waste. Who knows how peaceful our rest time will be and what hardships we may encounter. I like to check that everything works before we head out. So we can still buy additional items if needed. So please Alice and Cat head out and try to produce at least a few poisoned arrows!

"What's the rush? Aren't we killing a spider first?

Yulya scratches her head
There she goes again with the giant spider...
How and why do you know there will be a spider at the mine Ashley? Sir Gundrens brothers certainly did not. Only that something unnatural was going on there. I rather expected undead though I cannot say what would be worse.

Josephia weighs in, "you two should get along better if you expect to kill a dragon. Teamwork is a very powerful tool."

Yulya is glad about Josephias support but ashamed as this would be her job as Peace Cleric. She turns to Alice and Ashley in a somewhat helpless attempt touching them on their shoulders
Please dont fight! We have enough troubles already!

Ashley smirks and hums a little as she flips though her book, "Maybe a Rothè?" she shows it to Josephia.
She looks, "Mhm, very sturdy animals, they love to pull I hear."

A Rothe?
Yulya shudders
Will it also become enraged and go berserk over nothing?

He wasn't that bad Nya, gave us delicious cider Nya and Yulya a ring Nya. I didn't really listen to what he was saying Nya. Oh didn't he want to buy Alice Nya?

Yulya sighs
It was definitely an intense experience. I was lectured thoroughly.
But yes, he gave me this ring which greatly improves my stealth.

But apart from that there is something that worries me. As you know we are supposed to deal with a white dragon that freezes the land around Phandalin. Yet Sir Edermath was not concerned by this dragon at all. Some people say a white dragon could not cause such wide-area effect. But then what else?

Alice turns to the other party
Hey, do you even know about Summer, the girl we met?

Oh right. We met  strange little girl on the way back. Summer of Leilon, apparently an apprentice and attendant of Leilon royalty and talented magician. Yet eerily carefree. We picked her up injured on Triboar trail. Looks lik she just left her carriage on the high road and went on alone. Appartenty to search - us? She said she needed heroes to take down that dragon as it was destroying the land with that cold. Can you imagine that? Why she chose us is beyond me but even after we escorted her to Neverwinter she was adamant she needed to meet us in Phandalin so we could kill this dragon together. It feels so surreal...

You make your way to the Guild and find it bustling just before lunch. There's hardly a free table but one party sees you enter and welcomes you to sit.
"Hello again you all, well it feels like only a week ago that you were here getting your plates for the first time and rumor has it you're already level 3 and picking a fight with dragons." Herald the Archer says with a smirk, "Ashley, I'll buy your lunch if you would accept it."
"Sure whatever." She says and pulls out her book,

Yulya flinches as being stung by a wasp at the word 'book' and tries to hide under the table but is stopped by Cat.
Pale she sits a the table and tries to steer the converstaion away from the book.
Uhm thank you!
Indeed the last days were intense but we somehow made it to level 3! I am very much surprised myself.
...
By the way, we just encountered a strange man - no being - at the alchemist. Very unsettling. Tall and thin in a black cloak. I could not make up any facial details under the hood only darkness and the smell of - blood? The girl said this customer never talked. I am certain this wasnt a living breathing being. There was no soul in this - thing. An undead perhaps?? Have you ever encountered something like this?



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Faren, the wizard who so graciously cleaned the mess Alice made, welcomes the group with a wise old smile, "The least I can do is buy the rest of you lunch, and if you have any other spills, you know who to call." He laughs and you realize he has four empty tankards in front of him.

Ah yes if we do not trouble you I welcome this offer...
Yulya glances over at Freya and hopes there is no trouble

Yulya pays for breakfast as they leave.

Whoa, it's still cold outside, I wish I had my cloak...

Yulya routinely hands Alice her blanket before the cold-sensitive alien takes damage.

Alice puts on the cloak in front of a mirror and looks at herself from all sides. The wofl ears perk up yet are soft and flap a bit as Alice jumps around. The tail is also soft and sways back and forth with every move

Yulya smiles seeing Alice happy and applauds
I must say that does indeed look cute - youre our little wolf now!

Next stop, the alchemist, she's with a customer, counting his coin when you enter, he's a tall man, thin and sickly, with a long blue robe. His hood is up and she seems to be helping him nervously.
You can't make out his face, only darkness is seen under the hood.

Yulya tries to determine if he is even human using her perception skill

He stops momentarily in front of you all, then sweeps his cloak around himself and exits.

Yulya freezes then exhales in relief seeing the man leave without further trouble.

"Oh hi! Back so soon? I'm, afraid I couldn't sell your pest killer yet, wait, does this mean you already killed the dragon!?"

Good morning Miss Toad... bottom....
Uhm..
Not that I mean to pry into your customers but that man - was quite a frightening appearance!
As Alice said we need a few more ingredients before we depart for the dragon. I will leave this to her.

After shopping it is time to return to the Guild
Where will you be making this poison?
Yulya asks with slight concern

"I bet we wouldn't make it anyway, these mules aren't even used to pulling all day, are they?"

Well we have two so each would only have to pull half the time, right? What do you think, Cat?
We should still stop by at the stablemaster as we had intended to pick them up today.

"I just found a spell that could summon a bone dragon." Ashley looks satisfied with her response. "This book is so fun! Anyways, only Summer knows and I don't see her here, do you?"

Yulya rolls her eyes
I feel this book will bring us nothing but trouble...

Cat looks around and finds Brutus with his companions. Josephia's also at a table with her group. The half-orcs are there and the dragonewts too.

Yulya glances over unsure how to react as they aren't looking in her direction and quickly gives up.

I'll leave the beetle at her desk later or slip it into her pocket before we leave!

Yulya sighs at her troublesome companions antics.
I am sure she will be delighted. How did it even come to this? Make sure you don't have to pay another fee...

Normally I'd just spit out the final product but in this shape...
All we need is alcohol and some pot. We probably shouldn't do it in the ones Cat cooks with.
If you want the real deal we also need a small amount of acid like acetic acid and a base like quicklime.

I am not overly fond or poisons as my ability to cure you are limited but if poisoned arrows put us in a significant advantage I guess we must take that risk. Make a list of what you need and what we should buy then!

Yulya feels that this will be a long day

After an uneasy guilt-ridden night of pondering stolen books Yulya wakes up tired and decides to deny anything like that ever happened
Good morning everyone!



At breakfast Yulya gathers the party to prepare leaving for Phandalin.
Let us see if we have everything we need! This is the last chance to buy any goods before we head back.

Yulya also pays 1sp for dinner and watches the spectacle for a while until Cat returns to cooking



Give me your backpacks so I can hone blades and arrows while you cook!
Yulya carries everyones equipment up to the room and works on the weapons with Cats whetstone