Tony (aka Cedric Quezada, a zealous, chain-wielding male human cleric of Wee Jas);
Pat (aka "the Blade", a male human fighter/cleric of Kord of few words but decisive action);
Lurch (aka Roddy Amberglass, a husky-riding male halfling fighter prone to grumbling);
Chris (aka Kodak, a short-tempered female half-elven barbarian);
Joe (aka Kaya Fiddlebaum, a quiet female gnome sorcerer, friend and partner to Roddy);
Jim (aka Ash, a male human ranger with a strong hatred of orcs);
Victory at last! After several lesser encounters, the party reached a large underground lake, which served as the lair of Stonetooth's deadliest resident: a young adult black dragon! The dragon haughtily demanded the party's weapons & treasure in exchange for their lives; in a show of defiance Roddy flipped a single copper piece into the dragon's lake, and the fight was on. The dragon came in strong, leading with its breath weapon, but Wee Jas herself must have guided Cedric's arm, for with an amazing effort he actually tripped the dragon with his spiked chain! The dragon continued to fight from a prone position, dropping a magical darkness over the area to cover its actions. Cedric and Kaya summoned a shark, and octopus and a squid to battle it from the flanks while the others attacked from the front. Kodak misjudged the room's terrain in the darkness, fell into the lake, and was swept along by the powerful stream emptying out of it.
Meanwhile, the constant harrying by the party and their summoned creatures forced the dragon to dive back into the lake momentarily. It resurfaced on the opposite edge of the shoreline, where its breath weapon brought down both Kaya and Ash. While Blade tended to the fallen, Roddy and Cedric continued to battle the dragon, as they were the only ones with weapons long enough to reach the dragon from its current position. The dragon's blows were taking its toll on the party, however, and when it swam along the shoreline to achieve a footing where it could bring all of its attacks into play at once, things seemed grim indeed. Suddenly Kodak charged back into the fray, having extricated herself from the stream; in full barbarian rage, she attacked the dragon fiercely, turning the tide back in the party's favor. After several more agonizing minutes, during which the dragon felled Roddy, the party at last prevailed, slaying the fearsome beast with no fatalities on their side!
While the injured party members recovered, Cedric put his efforts to skinning & preserving as much of the dragon as possible while Kodak & Blade swam out to the dragon's island to retrieve its treasure. When they had been healed sufficiently, Kaya and Roddy were sent back to Safeton to purchase horses, supplies to preserve the dragon, and wagons to haul everything back to civilization. Kaya made an overly extravagent tithe (350 gold pieces!) to the local church of Pelor in exchange for the preserving wax; the normally money-hungry Roddy was too tired to offer any objections, though Cedric had several choice words for the pair when they returned. Nevertheless, the party loaded up all the treasure they could carry (including the dragon) and began the days-long journey back to Greyhawk.
The party is now back in the great city of Greyhawk where, after informing the Lord Mayor of their recent actions (and nearly losing all of their possessions in a near-disastrous encounter with the dwarven embassy), the party is untertaking a number of tasks including finding a buyer for the remaining dragon parts (the hide, skull, and claws were being kept for armor & souveniers), attempting to purchase land outside the city, and investigating the whereabouts of the evil book they had originally sought (& which was not among the treasure taken from Stonetooth)...
