QUEST SOLUTION: | SLAY THE DRAGON
Optional: This quest is might not be required to advance in the game (then again, it might).
Summary: The innkeeper mentions that there aren't many dragons left in the world, but that if the adventurers are interested, he knows someone who knows where one is located, and directs the party to a friend of his in the inn at Thjorgard.
How to do: There are several steps and prerequisites to this quest, and rightly so:
First you must find the man at the tavern in Thjorgard. He instructs you to go to a location known as the "Training Hall" and come back when you've managed to survive going through it. While it's not really necessary to go through the Training Hall (he doesn't verify it; just assumes you've done it when you return), if you are unable to survive it, he's right, you will not be strong enough to kill the dragon.
When you come back, he tells you to see the Abbot at the Lindisfarne monestary, saying that he will know how to summon the dragon. But when you ask the Abbot, he will tell you the dragon can't be summoned without the holy relic which is currently missing. Seems a visiting mage stole it, so he asks the party to recover it for him from the Wizard's Lab in Yorwick.
Once the relic is recovered, you may proceed to the dragon; however there is no more dialogue with anyone. By looking at your quest notes, you should see that the dragon's cave is in Lindisfarne and that he should be in it now (if you visited it previously, he wouldn't have been there).
Go to the cave (it's accessible through the outdoor section with all the mages), and go inside. Make sure everyone is fully healed up, and preferably obtain Poison Cloud wands or scrolls for any non-spellcasters. Also make sure all your spellcasters have that spell, along with as many "divine restoration" potions as possible. Many "divine cure" potions are also recommended.
Be aware that anything other than "Poison Cloud" will not do much more than give the dragon a paper cut. I've read elsewhere that he has 39,000 hit points and regenerates about 200 hit points per turn (possibly in vampiric manner as that is about what a hit from him takes away), so you need to do more than 200 hit points damage per turn to make any headway. It takes about 20 minutes of real time to kill him, not including reloads because your party died. Do it in turn-based mode as that will keep the dragon from getting as many turns as he otherwise would.
Twice during the battle (maybe more if it takes you longer), Winged Mutants will appear from overhead and start fighting with the dragon. This allows you a slight breather to use a resurrection spell on party members who need it. They don't do much damage, though, just distract it a bit. I noticed in my game that if I was too close to the dragon during this part, the game would hang up and crash to desktop (yes, I had to start over - it happened twice). I suspect that my closeness interfered with the animation of the dragon "eating" the mutants and that's what caused it. So I recommend that when the dragon turns sideways to battle the mutants (you can hear them flapping when they appear), you back up a bit (leave turn-based just for a second), just enough so his whole body is in view (not too far or the Poison Cloud spell will get out of range).
Unlike other monsters in this game, the dragon doesn't moan when he's about to die; he just drops dead. When he dies, you will receive a letter called a "super guber award," which shows up in your list of quest items. This is what causes me to wonder if this quest might not be required later on. Otherwise, the only treasure and experience you receive for this quest is the treasure in the cave (and in the red sack beneath the dragon's body) and the experience for killing him as a monster.
It does no good to report back to anyone involved with the quest.
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