Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Episode #16 – Oloril and the White Stag

Once inside the lodge, the party made it's way through several traps and setbacks. They soon discovered a large painting of a white stag on the far wall of one of the rooms. Upon closer inspection, it was quickly identified as a magical painting. However, it was too late for Oloril. The poor dwarf had already been charmed by the insidious work of art. He became convinced that this “white stag” was out in the mountains somewhere and needed to be destroyed. Lucien attempted to dissuade him by demonstrating that last time they encountered a stag it was (or at least lead the way to) a dragon of the same color. A white stag could mean a white dragon. Unfortunately, this only fueled the fighter's resolve. If it was a white dragon then it certainly had to go!



Without much ado, Oloril waltzed right out of the lodge and towards the alleged mountainous home of the white dragon. The party followed the dwarf, worried for his safety. Lost and worn, they wandered on and on towards the mountains. At one point Dain, in frustration, insulted Oloril's character. Oloril's response, of course, was to stubbornly refuse to converse with his mentor until an acceptable apology was offered (which would not happen during this part of the story). Finally, having enough of the nonsense, Mullyn began creating illusory “stag footprints” leading back to the general direction of the lodge so that Oloril would turn around. This worked as intended!

During a rest on the return trip, Nulara encountered a group of elves as she was gathering berries. They offered to serve as an escort back to the lodge if the party agreed to assist them in conquering a group of local gnolls. The party did so without hesitation, killing several dozen of the creatures. Thankful, and bound by their agreement, the elves escorted the party back to the lodge.

And so there they were, back at the beginning.