The party are looking to make their fortune in the lucrative arena of dragon hunting. Notables in the kingdom pay handsomely to dine on dragon tongue and dragon eggs at their fetes, and a whole subculture of professional dragon hunters has sprung up, although the life expectancy in that line of work is short to say the least.

The players arrive in a remote town which functions as one of the operation bases for dragon hunting, with three mountain ridges within a few days travel, each with healthy populations of dragons.

The party gain employment with Jacques Coup de Poing, an old-timer that some say has outlived his luck as a dragon hunter. At any rate, he's outlived his previous hunting party, and he's willing to take on the PCs as his new trainees. On their first outing, the dragon they've been tracking is poached by another group of hunters. On their second, they return the favor and turn the other group into their rivals.

On their third outing, they bring down a small dragon, but Jacques is injured. They bring him and the dragon salvage back to down. Then Jacques tells them that they're ready to learn his secret - an unknown mountain tunnel that leads to a dragon breeding ground. It's dangerous, but they'll all be truly rich men if they return with a half dozen or so eggs.

The party wanders out, they follow Jacques' instructions on how to safely raid a nest and everything is going splendidly - until a giant red female lands next to them and begins kicking their asses.

And then, most shocking of all - the dragon speaks to them.

The party are shocked to learn that dragons are intelligent. What will they do with that information - will they side with the dragons and try to put a stop to what they now know to be the hunting of an intelligent creature? Or will they renew their purpose and begin hunting with more fervor?