The sun was high in the sky by the time that Lukwind & Garyn had ridden back to meet with Liv Greataxe of The March, as well as the leaders of their mercenary force: Addric Atronan, Eirik Stonehammer and Sir Kenelm Digby. There was also a new addition to their army: Helena d'Mezzo, a priestess of Hermes.

The leaders were quickly briefed on the intelligence that had been gathered: a force of 1000 orcs had crossed the river Brallen in a flanking maneuver, while approximately 100 lizard riders circled around to the north. They knew that the black dragon would likely return after dusk to check on their position, but in the meantime there was a golden opportunity to steal a march on the orcs and turn the tables. They suggested a bold plan: that the Marchion cavalry should dismount and allow the dwarves to ride on horseback, so that the overall speed of the army would increase. However, that would still not be fast enough to reach Auldhame by nightfall. Gnod Yriah the warlord would almost certainly learn of the slaughtered orcs in the village by then. Therefore, Addric and the Atronan house guards rode hastily to the village to inform the rest of the party of the plan.

In the meantime, all of the peasants who had been enslaved by the orcs were set free and put to work cleaning up the aftermath of the battle. When Addric arrived, they quickly scavenged armor and weapons from the dead orcs and loaded them into wagons to supply the dwarven mercenaries. As soon as this was done, the village was abandoned and they traveled to meet up with the mercenaries.

After a full day's march, the mercenaries had set up camp 9 miles upriver from Auldhame (about 60 miles from Marchion). The peasants and adventurers arrived at the campsite shortly after dusk, just as Rohit and Garyn spotted the silhouette of a dragon in the distance. 95% of the peasants and mercenaries scattered in panic when the dragon showed up. The horses were all spooked as well, galloping off into the undergrowth.

Garyn cast true strike and then fired the arrow of dragon slaying. It struck true, but the dragon resisted its effects. While Lukwind began to inspire the party, Martok flew into the air and activated his entropic shield. Elsa and Rohit opened fire while Garyn worked his way through the other magic items that they had bought in Marchion: scrolls of assay spell resistance; earth bind and suppress breath weapon. However, these also failed to work. Martok aimed at the dragon rider, Yriah, with his eldritch spear.

After using all of his psionic power to massacre the orcs, Gerald was exhausted and had gone to sleep in the back of a wagon. He woke up just in time to witness the black dragon vomit a stream of acid all over Martok, then execute a wingover and begin flying away. While the others quickly drank their potions of acid resistance, Lukwind began heckling and insulting the dragon and its rider, "You're as soft as those orc women that we slaughtered in Auldhame!"

When the dragon turned around and began flying back, Garyn called out, "I've got one fly spell. The first one who gets over here can have it." Elsa and Gerald both rushed over, but Gerald was the one who received the spell and launched himself into the air. Lukwind cast dispel magic on Yriah, cancelling his protection from arrows, and Rohit and Martok inflicted enough damage to kill the orc general.

Gerald flew onto the dragon's back, unstrapping Yriah's body from the saddle and mounting the dragon himself, while Martok, Garyn, Elsa & Rohit continued to fire. Flying out of range, the dragon executed wild flying maneuvers and slapped at Gerald with its wings. Gripping the dragon with his thighs, Gerald drew his sword and plunged it into the back of the dragon's head, piercing its brain and killing it instantly. He had a brief moment to celebrate his victory before plunging to the ground and landing in a cloud of dust.