The Dragon's Curse

The party decides to camp and rest outside of Redgulch before venturing into it. Roach converses with Hachiman during this time, learning a bit about the man's origins and desires. At midnight, Taigus and Lau scout out the town, with Taigus's clumsiness accidentally drawing the attention of two bluish kobolds who begin searching for intruders.

Lau and Taigus slink away and return to camp safely, informing the party of what they saw. Hachiman and Twig decide to look after the riding lizards while Roach, Nadu, Lau and Taigus scout out the town further. They happen upon what appears to be a manor built within the gulch's side, discovering strange murals of screaming people along its walls.

Not soon after, a pack of six kobolds enter the town and split into two groups, one searching the manor and the other searching the town's eastern entrance. The party attacks the kobolds, quickly dispatching each of them and recovering magical sapphires from their bodies. One of the kobolds, Greklik, is kept alive for questioning. From him, the party learns that thieves from Redgulch had stolen sapphires from a nearby blue dragon named Elgaroth, and that there is a curse befalling the town that can only be lifted by returning the sapphires. Greklik notes that the the murals along the manor's walls are the townsfolk, trapped by the curse.

The kobold further explains that he and his band simply wanted to return the sapphires to impress Elgaroth and earn his favor. They had no direct quarrel with the townsfolk. Roach sends Greklik back to the blue dragon with an apology written on the town's behalf. The next day, the curse is lifted and Redgulch's townsfolk are restored to normality. Twig brings Lau to meet with her father Tanlek, who gives the elf a magical necklace as a reward for rescuing his daughter. He also meets with Nadu, imploring the cleric to seek out relics from dwarven vaults and return them to him.

Meanwhile, Taigus buys a rifle for a heavily discounted price after winning a bet by accurately shooting targets while blindfolded. Mayor Buckwallow also tasks him with punishing Narlor and Chazu, the two thieves who robbed Elgaroth and inadvertently cursed the town. Roach and Taigus find Narlor, but the young thief tells his two interrogators that he does not know Chazu's whereabouts. After some time, they learn that he has fled town.

Roach and Narlor search for the tiefling Chazu on lizardback, eventually finding him in a rocky clearing, unconscious and bleeding from a vicious animal wound. They bring him back to town, tending to the wound. Both Chazu and Narlor choose to be exiled from Redgulch as punishment, agreeing to go to Riverdrown with the party the next day. As night falls and the party travels north, Roach has a feverish vision of a man named Blood King. He names Roach his champion and demands him to seek out his tomb, where Valfigor's matching shield lies.