2. HOTDQ - Lore, Clues and Secrets Reveal

2. HOTDQ – Lore, Clues and Secrets Reveal

LiquidAnalog

March 1, 2024

2. HOTDQ – Lore, Clues and Secrets Reveal

This is part 2 of my guide for Hoard of the Dragon’s Queen campaign. You can read all chapters of this guide here:

Missing Lore

The module features the Cult of the Dragon, Tiamat (not in person but ever present), and the Dragon Masks. It also prominently features Giants and Dragons (together on the same castle!) – but misses out completely on the lore that gives context to any of this, or calls it into question – a giant and dragon on the same castle?!

So, we need to add the following pieces of lore for the heroes to uncover:

The story of the 1000 Years War between the Giants and the Dragons, and Tiamat’s imprisonment
The story of how the Cult of the Dragon transitioned from its original purpose of creating Undead Dragons, to the current day of trying to raise Tiamat
Knowledge about the masks and why they are crucial to the ritual

Luckily we have the Internets! I found the following sections of the Forgotten Realms Fandom wiki to be highly valuable here:

So not only this is highly needed for shining light on the events as they happen, its also crucial as a fuel to the mystery and its slow reveal.

So for providing the lore to the players – the best way is to weave it into the story as discoveries. It would be best that the players start knowing as little as possible, and discover the lore through sages, books they find, and major NPCs revealing it piece by piece.

In case any of your players already knows the lore, it might be also nice – their player might be the one telling it to the rest of the rest of heroes.

Secrets Reveal

A major pitfall in the module is the hand-wavyness in which it handles the secrets reveal. If you follow the instructions, after meeting Leosin the heroes might have heard 95% of the back-story explained – which derives your heroes from most of their much needed fuel for sustaining enough mystery for the long campaign.

A great way to add many more mystery elements for the players, is to use the lore combined with the actual discoveries as more pieces of the puzzle for the players to reveal.

And having all the pieces in front of you, you need be very calculated on how you spread the clues and reveal secrets throughout the campaign, making it so that each reveal should be a major “aha” moment for the players.

Here is how I recommend to slice the lore and secrets reveal throughout the campaign.

Secret 1

At Greenest, the heroes are first confronted with the mystery they witnessed:

Why is a dragon and raiders looting villages? How is it a Dragon is involved at all?
Who are those black dressed people?
What are the scary looking Half Dragon leaders of this army?

During their night fighting and sneaking, they should uncover some facts:

This looks like the cult of the Dragon (Maybe even confirm it via a prisoner)
They have mercenaries and kobolds working for them
Half dragons in purple are leading this army

Secret 2

After freeing Leosin from the raiders camp, the heroes should learn that:

This is indeed the cult of the Dragon
Red wizards are involved (they should see Azbera Joss arrive)
This is not the only village looted – they are looting many villages and collecting a hoard

You can Leosin inject the Cult mystery here – the cult is known till now only for worshiping undead dragons – this is highly unusual and strange that they have a live dragon to help them. This highlights the question of why is the dragon there, and also sets-up for the later reveal of the shift in the cult’s purpose.

Secret 3

After the invasion of the caves, the heroes should learn that:

There is a dragon egg in the caves – but why?
Evidence of Rezmir owning some kind of a mask (they can find an empty crown stand with remnants of a strong magical aura) – what is it?
At the shrine of Tiamat the heroes find a mystery clue: A framed sentence that reads:
“Naught will be left save shattered thrones, with no rulers but the dead. Dragons shall rule the world entire” – Severin

Secret 4

Only at Baldur’s Gate the party finds the next piece of the puzzle. A good way to inject it is by them visiting a sage (which Ontharr Frume refers them to), that pulls an old lore book – “The Chronicle of Years to Come”, a book in four volumes which contained cryptic prophecies translated by Sammaster, the creator of the Cult of the Dragon.

In this book the sage finds the original sentence by Sammaster: “Naught will be left save shattered thrones with no rulers, but the dead dragons shall rule the world entire”.

Comparing this original to the framed sentence they found at the shrine of Tiamat, astute players should note the difference in the comma placement that changes the sentece completely. The heroes should conclude that Sammaster interpreted these prophecies to predict that Faerûn would eventually be ruled by undead dragons, and formed the Cult of the Dragon with the aspiration of creating dracoliches for this purpose. However Severin, a present-day cult leader, read it differently which led him to change the cult into worshiping live dragons, and to persue dragon domination.

Secret 5

For the next secret lore reveal, the sage should send them on a quest to find a lost book called “The Flaming Dark”, a rare book about Tiamat. This book was last seen in a haunted house that no-one dares to enter in Baldur’s Gate. Once they find it, they can finally learn of the war between Giants and Dragons, Tiamat’s imprisonment, and the masks importance to the ritual.

In the book they learn that:

It seems to be written by Severin Silrajin the Red
Contains the story of Tiamat the goddess that came into existance along the rest of the draconic pantheon when the first dragons were born. Some debate if Tiamat is a deity – or maybe a devil or demon.
The story of the Thousand Year War between dragonkind and the evil Giants, and how the war ended as a result of a curse that struck Tiamat after she slew a giant deity.
Continues to explain she was doomed to become a prisoner in the Nine Hells – Avernus – and can only leave it when summmoned by a powerful ritual.

In the later sections of the book they will find that:

In the years past, Tiamat instructed her followers in the Cult of the Dragon to assemble the Mask of the Dragon Queen.
The Mask of the Dragon Queen had 5 parts – models of five roaring chromatic dragon heads – White, Green, Blue, Black and Red dragon masks.
The Mask is arranged like a crown. Its dragon-like visage covered the wearer’s face, neck, and shoulders.
Each mask conferred upon its wearer a variety of magical powers – maybe even influence dragons
Hinted that when combined, the masks will form the Mask of the Dragon queen – and its a critical piece of the ritual to free Tiamat.

Notably, this injection of lore fixes a glaring omission in the module, that is avoid of of any mention of the enimosity between Giants and Dragons, that is crucial to the tension in the concluding chapter at Skyreach Castle.

This should also be the first time they get the full story of the Tiamat’s imprisonment, but more importantly, it is the first time they get proof that the Masks are connected to the wish to the ritual to free Tiamat. This should give the needed fuel for the urgent need to get hold of the mask and stop the hoard from reaching its destination.

Secret 6

There is one more piece to the puzzle, which is the involvement of the Red Wizards of Thay in this. I think the module does a good job of keeping this light. On my run the players actually met Azbera Jos in Castle Naerytar as the mutiny was happening – a very powerful and tense scene where both sides were exchanging information while clearly being on opposite sides.

This will arrive to conclusion on Skyreach, where the heroes should find the documents that connect some Red Wizards to the cult.

Next: 3. HOTDQ – Before you begin