Five miles from the city wall it is obvious that Brix is not the same city you left. Caravans line up for almost a league from the north gate. Banner stream from the watch towers and hopla and merriment can be heard from every inn and tavern.

Passing though the gate its hard not to notice the large ravens eyeing all commers into the gate. Unlike the mindless throngs of crows which flocked outside the city before these are larger and seem to watch passersbywith purpose.

Once in the gates its easy to forget the momentary dread instilled by a few birds. The smell of roast meats and fresh baked bread overpowers the ordinary foul smells of the city.
Almost any local you ask will reply that since Omas Bood got elected the caravans started spilling in. "Why he's done more to fix Brix in the last week than the cutter's guild has done in the last decade!" Bood's popularity seems almost universal, well among the common folks anyway.

In any case most shops are open and well stocked.

((I would be intrested to know which part of town you will be staying, also feel free to post in the post-drakespire thread to flesh out your travel home etc..)

Once the party gathers together, Dayereth shares with them his suspicions about the new mayor being an imposter and possibly a pawn of Mell su Detok.  He feels obligated to find out more, or at least return the ring of Bood to Trina Bood and let the chips fall where they may, since he took the ring and had the vision.  Eladrin are ancestor worshipers and ignoring a message from a spirit passing to the next world would be heresy.  However, he has had no ideas on his own of how to speak with Trina Bood alone.

If the others share thier experiences and what they learned with Dayereth, he'll respond like this,

"I think I see a possiblity, if you all will hear me out.  We already have some reputation as dragon slayers.  I suggest we investigate this dragon which Aerendis has heard tell of.  It sounds twice as big as the black dragon we last faced, but our skills have improved, so perhaps it is a problem which we can handle.

If we are successful, hopefully there will be some treasure of value in the dragon's hoard.  We use some of the treasure to have fancy armor made from it's skin and present the armor to the mayor as a gift in honor of his recent election, and we throw a celebration for it too.  If we have marched into the city with our second defeated dragon, he will be hard pressed not to come and gain some political fame from our recognition.  Perhaps then, at the party, circumstances will present themselves to isolate Trina Bood and inquire about her husband, whose death in a bridge several miles away has not impeded his ability to get elected mayor.

I think it's important for us to persue this because our adventures of the last few weeks seem to have been followed or influenced by the same power which I suspect has taken control of this city, and his name may be Mell su Detok.  We can't expose him without proof, and there may be reasons beyond his desire to control Brix which motivate him and it will be in our best interest to discover why."

Dayereth pauses, awaiting a reply.

"I wouldn't rush to kill a dragon that has done me no harm, though it would certainly be worthwhile to see what has caused it to be so far from its usual territory."

"As far as Mell su Detok is concerned, I have no wish to make more powerful enemies than we can handle.  It could be helpful to meet him as Luke says.  His influence on the city seems to be beneficial as far as I can tell."

Depending on what he can recall about Dragons of any size, (Nature trained +9) his common sense tells him that if indeed it is linked to something that could harm his friends or the city then it should at least be investigated.

“Dragons, true, we slayed one, a baby at the most, look at his head, Dayereth’s is bigger as is mine!  Now truly if this one threatens us…” he pauses, looking to the others.  “I must tell you though that my heart would not be in it at this time though.  I got word from that gnome, that my Brother Kell is most certainly dead.  I think also that the gnome may know more than he says and it could be that my brother might have been take advantage of and left somewhere where he met his demise…I am not sure so I will tell you what the gnome said to me…” He then retells what the gnome said…

((“So how is my favorite Lizardman eh? “ With a laugh the drunk gnome hits Nadarresh's back with a hearty slap.  “Shame about Kell then eh?” the gnome takes another swig of mead finishing the oversized flagon and throws 1about 10 beat up silver coins on the bar. “Another one for me and one for scaly here and I'll be pulling a coin back from the pile every second I wait!” The gnome lets out a belch fit for an ogre never mind a one-handed gnome. “That gets them hurrying. Like I said lets have a drink to err.....err... Kell that’s right.  You know we found it, yep Kell's map was right, just too bad that tunnel  sealed him in there or he's be drinking with us.”  A bottle of expensive looking wine is placed on the br. “Spidersilk eh? That’s good stuff!” the gnome takes a hearty gulp but doesn’t offer any to Nadarresh. A second drink never comes.

Nadarresh learns that Kell had an old map to a mine that was abandoned during some war and then forgotten. The gnome was part of an expedition to the mine and was one of only two who survived a cave in. He didn’t mention the name of the other survivor. Apparently the rest of the expedition was sealed inside the mine. Ropple assures Nadarresh that Kell is most certainly dead and is all to willing to fill in details though as the night progresses the story makes less and less sense. Still the braggart gnome tells more and more stories until at last he passes out. Nadarresh goes to move him hoping to learn more when the gnome sobers up only to find him stiff and cold to the touch.  A quick search of the gnomes belongings finds a small scribbled note “ Little boy mountain” with a  bit of math “8X 50 = 300 silver!”

"Well he wasn’t bright and he had a big mouth, still he seemed to know something of Kell and someone wanted him shut up."  Nadarresh decides he should probably relocate inns before someone does "buy him a drink" besides the watch will come soon and he'd likely get arrested for being big and scary.))