The Cauldron of Hope

The cauldron is... Freedom. Joy. Hope.

The hag was a fool. Draknar and his group might have left her alone, asking only for some small token to prove the death of the fishermen, and even perhaps paying her for that. Uncharacteristically, she chose to fight. Perhaps she felt overconfident, seeing as the little group is, well, so diminutive - and they were all injured from the fight with the skeleton.

Draknar is certain something good can be done with this cauldron. Some kind of commercial enterprise. The cauldron can make good money, day in and day out. It might wreck the economy of at least one of the town, but in exchange, Draknar is sure that a decent, regular income can be extracted, and with that income, healers and fighters can be hired, officials can be corrupted, problems can be solved.

He is halfway through imagining the small army which he'll be able to hire (perhaps several healers and at least 3 personal bodyguards - more reliable ones than the Kobold and the Fairy) when he slips while climbing down a frozen waterfall, and is immediately assaulted by a water weir.

The battle goes ill. Draknar is knocked out. The potions which he had taken from the other two for better management are both gone now. What a waste. These two bumbling idiots will probably mistake them for water and quaff them after a night's rest! They have no understanding of advanced battle tactics. Not like Draknar! He used to command armies! Now he is surrounded by fools, and they don't even obey his orders. He should have them strangled! But he has no one to command now...

But at least he still has the cauldron.

And once he has figured out how to turn the cauldron into regular income, then he will hire a battle master, who will teach these two fools how to manage resources better. And if the battle master fails to do his job, Draknar will hire a torturer and get him to pull the innards from the battle master until his feeble cries convince him to allow the worthless fool to die.

He's not letting the cauldron out of his sight. Not now, not ever.

Then he will use the innards from the battle master to strangle the Kobold and the Fairy. Or maybe just one of them. Make the other one watch. Or, if their behaviour has improved by them, just whip them. Hard. Long. That'll teach them. They will suffer. The fools.

He can do so much with this cauldron. All his dreams are within reach.

The cauldron is... Freedom. Joy. Hope.