Between spoonfuls of Harlan's muktuk, Ameiko interjects. "The little I've read of dragons tells what most of us already know: they're powerful, cunning, and even the weakest breeds have magical abilities. White dragons, in particular, can't be harmed by cold, but are vulnerable to fire. Older ones radiate auras of intense cold from their body. Whites are not known to be especially intelligent, though... maybe we can use that to our advantage."
"Dragon hunting ... not in my bag o' tricks, but based on what Ame just said, I'm thinking Suishen is well-suited to tackling this beast. Any way we can disguise our approach? Better yet, any way to hasten it? 60 miles is a long trek to end with a fight ... far away from supplies and easy retreat locations. Don't suppose there's a map around here some where? Still think it's ill advised to go picking a fight with this thing, but seems like the consensus is to go, so ..." Parity shrugs and hunts about for something to drink.
Ameiko makes an annoyed sound and moves to follow Parity.
Malnival is seems strangely happy as they all talk about the dragon.
"Right, fire hurts it. I can make a lot of fire! When are we leaving? Never good to keep a dragon waiting you know. At least that is what I have heard. Is it a old dragon or a young one? Old ones should have bigger hoard...I mean homes. Bigger homes. Shalelu!"
The magus turns on his heels and walks away from the others, muttering colorful words in elven.
"It's actually two things, now. One I wanted to bring up from yesterday, and a new one for just now. Basically, you need to come to terms with the value of life. I realize you had a terrible youth, and such things cannot be survived without a certain... detachment. But Maeve told me of your intent to kill that possessed man, even after she recognized his condition and called everyone off. It's upset her greatly, and I can understand why. The adventuring life calls for some of that same 'detachment', but you've got to learn how to turn it off. Not everyone we come into conflict with will be an enemy." She takes a long inhale and lets it out.
"Second, you may not agree with confronting the dragon, but its we need to do. Making cavalier comments and walking off aren't helpful. We need your tactical mind and cunning!"
She waits anxiously for your response.
Shalelu arches an eyebrow and watches Malnival walk off with a strange look.
Parity doesn't answer for a long while, slow rage building as his neck strains and his jaw clenches. Through pursed lips and a terse words rising in volume he bites out, "Ameiko, you're the closest thing to my best friend ... ever. But you're walking a fine line telling me that I need to change my values based on a conversation you had with an over-emotional, hyper-reactive barmaid. She's going to tell you my intent? I don't know that anyone knows my intent, other than me. Would have been nice if she'd come to me, instead of you. Could've stopped this before it ever got to you."
He takes a long pull of his drink, visibly suppressing his rising anger and sits forward, and speaks, calmer. "You know how I grew up, you know what they did to me. I don't cry about it, I don't bemoan my lot in life. But what I did learn was to survive. Friends I made then, as a child, would be thrown in the pit with me to see who would live. Those that chose not to fight, were tortured and killed. Those that chose to fight, I was forced to kill quickly. Should I hesistate and not kill them out of some misplaced sense of morality, and I would have died. It's no different here. This man, attacking us not out of malice, but attacking us nonetheless, needed to be stopped. I was in a position where I was incapable of reaching him with my weapon. I had only one option available to me. He was a beast with his weapon, and was raging on Heng ... my friend and comrade in arms. My choice was to put him down or do nothing. Simple, really."
Parity collapses back, setting his drink down and pulling his cloak around him, comforted by the smell of oiled steel. Much softer now he says, "I won't comment on Maeve ... I'll take my issues up with her, should I need to. But both this event with the shaman and this upcoming dragon are dangerous distractions to why we're here. I'm committed to help this party do what it needs to, and I'll fight the only way I've ever know how to do it, but ..." the pit fighter swallows, and hesitates, but decides to soldier on, turning his head towards Ameiko, "... it pains me that in one breath you tell me to change what I'm doing to be less violent and in the very next you want me to get engaged and be more violent. Can you not see me and accept me for who I am and not who you'd rather I be?"
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Heng nods at Koya's wisdom still feeling terribly unprepared.
Heng considers Maeve's insight. "These wraps protect me somewhat from the iciest cold, but that does not help the others. Koya, could you make a warding potion for that. Do you have any other spells that might assist us. Say perhaps a flying draught?"
Heng turns to the chief, "How big is this dragon that threatens your village? Does anyone know anything more? How is the hunter that was possessed? Can he tell us any more of the dragon's lair?"
"I too was once an 'over-emotional, hyper-reactive barmaid', but this isn't about Maeve. She is scatter-brained, and impulsive, but those impulses bely a great intuition that you'd do well to trust. This is about you, and its a part of you that I've known and accepted for years. But in Sandpoint, things were tame. Out here, things have... changed."
After a moment of thought, she responds in a low voice. "Life is full of change, and people rarely change just because they want to. They do because life hits them, hard." She winces, recalling a moment from her past. "Change is painful, but we change, or we die. You were exposed to terrible things in the arena, but you adapted to survive. This is really no different, only the world around you has changed, and you again need to adapt."
"What we're doing, whether in Kalsgard, here in this waste, or in Minkai ahead, has ramifications that go beyond just surviving the next fight. We need to make sure we're doing the right thing. There are many foes in our path; some are implacable enemies that deserve the full brunt of your fury. But some will be so against their will, and the difference of a moment's insight and mercy can turn them into potential allies."
"Your skills and abilities are exceptional, and I've entrusted you with Suishen because I know you, and trust you explicitly. You're an intelligent human, not an attack dog. I'm not asking you to become a different Parity, I'm telling you to think before you act... to know when to turn it on, or turn it off."
"I don't expect you to be all sunshine and flowers, that's not my Parity. I need you to be concientious of your actions. Will you?"
Koya chuckles, "No, I can't make you fly. But I could brew some useful potions... protection from the cold, to augment Harlan's resistance, or some to make you stronger, hardier, more intuitive. Healing potions, obviously. And some other esoteric draughts, perhaps."
Some time after you begin your meeting, a figure bundled in furs emerges from Iqaliat and walks out to your caravan. He stops a dozen paces away from the fire circle and stops. When he removes his hood and balaclava, you see it is Qalvanaq. He quietly drops to his knees and kowtows, bringing his head to the snowy ground.
"Mighty travelers, I come to offer my miserable life to you. I am shamed by my weakness before the dragon, my fall to madness, my attack upon you. I offer my life and service to your noble cause, if you would have it."
Harlan regards the fallen hunter solemnly.
"Qalvanaq, if you wish to redeem yourself you must preform one of two tasks. You must either brave the wonder of my black bean chili and correctly identify all of the ingredients, or you must tell us all you know about the dragon and lead us too it."
Personally I think he should take the dragon but maybe he's really brave?
Qalvanaq stands, looking at Harlan as if unsure how to answer. "I don't know 'chi-lee', but I can tell you what I know of Vegsundvaag, and lead you to her lair."
Answering Heng's questions, he responds slowly, using paces on the ground to measure out the dimensions from memory. "The dragon is very large, but not the largest of her kind. Her wings span fourty or fifty feet, and is just as long from head to tail, though about half of that is her neck and tail. Her body is like a massive aurochs in size and weight, perhaps nine or ten feet high at the shoulders."
"Her lair is about two days' walk from here, up on the glacier. Our hunting party never made it into her lair. She ambushed us a hundred yards or so away, springing up from beneath the ice in ambush. She knew we were coming. As for the rest, what I told you before was true: I was left for dead, and managed to crawl away to escape." His face darkens recounting the shameful memory.
"No, Ameiko ... I don't need to change. You want me to change. You want to bin me in a place that you can understand, where your morals find it acceptable. The problem is ... I don't share everyone's morality. I don't perceive the world like everyone else does. Is it not OK to be different?"
"I am a killer. I am NOT a murderer. I don't wantonly walk through the streets slaying people for joy. I don't premedidate killing someone and I don't pick fights. I don't really like to fight ... I'm just good at it. How can you say I'm not conscientious because of decisions made in battle or in self-defense? Moreover, how can you tell me to trust Maeve's intuition no matter how spontaneous and impulsive, and then turn around and tell me to 'think before I act.' or to be able to 'turn it on or turn it off.' Where's the trust in my ability to decide what's best in a situation? If that man had killed Heng, because I chose not to act, who would you be second guessing then? It's easy for you all to look back and say this is how it all would have worked out, but there was no guarantee at the time."
Breathing in deeply, "Why don't you trust me? I've never shown myself to be malicious or careless. Most importantly, if I refuse to change, what then? Are you going to abandon me here, in the wastes, because I choose a different view than you all?"
"You need to trust your companions: Maeve, Heng, any of them, that when they say 'stop', you can stay your hand in good faith. You need to be able to discern if a current opponent is a true foe or coerced one, and make the right decision."
She lets out a big sigh, "None of us are perfect, and I've made my fair share of stupid decisions in life. I learn from them, or I don't and keep making them until I'm forced to change. We all have chances to improve ourselves. I'm not pretending to have all the answers, and you can't be so stubborn as to think your way is the only way. But we all need to be... more than we are today, or this thing will tear us apart."
"Don't twist my words, Ame. I trust them just fine", Parity growls. "I mean, don't expect me to value some mook's life over those of my friends. That said, I'll listen and follow since it makes every one else squeamish, but more importantly because you asked. When you take the throne, I think you'll be thankful to have men like me around, but until then, i'll play along."
"Ok, white dragon, ice breath, 2 days travel. Let's get our resources together and head out in the morning. We've taken care of Tunuak and we don't know if the dragon will know we're coming or not, but we have to assume she is."
With that Harlan makes his preparations and does his best not to worry about Maeve and Parity.
"Can we estimate the age of this dragon based on its size and perhaps determine any age-related skills or weaknesses?"
Ameiko lets out a long sigh, and you can almost hear her shaking her head. "By Shelyn's Song, I'm starting to think that you just don't understand the problem. The 'men like me' comment just highlights it. Minkai's a long way away, and if... if I end up as some kind of empress, or whatever, I'll make damn sure the people working for me have a strain of conscience, or we'll end up being no better than the villains we replace."
"I said this wouldn't be easy to hear, and apparently I don't have the right words to explain it to you. But you need to figure it out, or if we do succeed, sadly there won't be any place for you."
She walks back to the campfire meeting.
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Qalvanaq stands, looking at Harlan as if unsure how to answer. "I don't know 'chi-lee', but I can tell you what I know of Vegsundvaag, and lead you to her lair."
"Her lair is about two days' walk from here, up on the glacier. Our hunting party never made it into her lair. She ambushed us a hundred yards or so away, springing up from beneath the ice in ambush. She knew we were coming. As for the rest, what I told you before was true: I was left for dead, and managed to crawl away to escape." His face darkens recounting the shameful memory.
Heng bows to the humiliated warrior, "Qalvanaq, we gratefully accept your assistance. It is certainly no sign of weakness to have faced the dragon for your village and you are fortunate to have survived at all. Do not blame yourself for your actions afterwards, as I understand it, you were controlled by the little green demon we saw.
Do you remember how you came to be possessed? Is it possible the dragon is allied with this demon? The dragon seemed forewarned of your approach and unfortunately, the demon has disappeared again."
** spoiler omitted **
Parity mutters to himself once she's out of earshot, "I understand the problem well enough ... it's you all that don't understand me. I'm starting to get fed up with this if he's not like me then he must be wrong or worse ... he must be evil. The absolute hippocracy of this whole thing is amazing. I haven't asked anyone to change ... but they ask nay insist that I do. Who's the tyrant now?"
"Based on the size, likely resistant to normal weapons and some resistance to magic as well. Keep that in the planning jar. We can ill afford wasted attacks."
Maeve carefully considers the information thus far.
"The dragon is old enough, and has been present long enough, that we can expect traps or guardians in its' lair. Ironic as it is to hear me say it, we can't just go charging in. I also doubt we can keep our approach quiet enough to catch it off-guard." She pauses here, thinking again. "The best approach will be to catch it in its' lair. There will probably be a defensible area close enough that we can prepare right before the battle, while it's doing the same. The big thing is that catching it there affords us a few advantages. The big one is that its' flight will be severely impaired, if not just unusable outright. That lets us bring our abilities to bear on it as fully as we're going to be able to."
"So, take out the defenses, then tackle it head-on. Heng and I try to get around behind it, and hope that we can keep it from taking off. Best plan I have."
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Heng frowns at Maeve's 'plan', "I agree we should spread out as much as possible and attempt to take it from all sides. I do not know if we can catch it in its lair if it has indeed been warned and I certainly do not see how we could prevent it from flying."
"I still have this wand that bestows fire to ammunition, perhaps Malnival can make use of it. I can summon dragon fire to my fists and draw Ki to harm even magical creatures. Do we have other ways to attack its fire vulnerability?"
"As for defenses, I wish I still had some potions of mage armor. How about protection from evil or remove fear?"
"As for defenses, I wish I still had some potions of mage armor. How about protection from evil or remove fear?"
"I could do those, as well," Koya adds.
Heng bows to the humiliated warrior, "Do you remember how you came to be possessed? Is it possible the dragon is allied with this demon? The dragon seemed forewarned of your approach and unfortunately, the demon has disappeared again."
Qalvanaq nods in thanks to Heng's commiseration. In response to the questions, he replies "I do not think the dragon and demon are allied. On the way back to Iqaliat, I stumbled into Tunuak's secret lair, where he found me. It was he who exposed me to the demon. It was Tunuak's familiar, and Tunuak only cared that the dragon was enraged against the village. He did not say why."
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In response to the questions, he replies " Tunuak only cared that the dragon was enraged against the village. He did not say why."
Heng nods, relieved that possession seems to no longer be a threat. He then rubs his tattooed scalp in thought. "Is it possible that Tunuak has sown the seeds of the dragon's aggression? Perhaps we should be open to negotiation. I am not certain that leaving such a dangerous entity to prowl this region is a good idea, however we must keep in mind that our primary mission is to reach Tian alive."
** spoiler omitted **
Maeve sighs. "I really can't think of much better. We don't want to tackle it in the open, and I doubt any dragon is stupid enough to be lured into tunnels. Koya can't enable us to fly, so unless there's something in the village's trade stock, we have to hope its' home is confined enough to prevent extensive flight in its' lair. It's a large lizard, large enough that it probably needs some space to manevuer."
Malnival makes his way back into the group, his face red, perhaps from the cold. "Ok, we need to protect our selves from it's breath, have magical weapons to harm it, keep it from flying and make sure it dosen't ambush us from under the ice. Sounds easy enough. Has anyone made it into the dragon's lair and lived to tell about it, or are we going in there blind. No offense Parity."
"I can give melee weapons a small fire, it's not much but it will help. I can help us resist cold if Koya is going to be making other potions or doesn't have time to make the ones we need."
Harlan pats his crossbow.
"Becky here is magical but I don't do enough to make a difference yet."
Maeve nods to Harlan. "Heng and I know a trick to be able to use that spell with our bodies. At least, it should work, haven't tried it with being set on fire yet."
" Has anyone made it into the dragon's lair and lived to tell about it, or are we going in there blind. No offense Parity."
Qalvanaq shakes his head,"No, I was the only one who returned, and our party did not get inside."
Ameiko returns to the fire circle, looking somewhat perturbed. "I understand that I'll have to stay behind, for my 'protection', but who's staying with me? Who else are you taking?"
"Well we can try it now Maeve."
"Does anyone have the spell fly? We could make scrolls and use them to take the fight to the dragon.
Can we think of ways to prevent it from flying? Drawing it in to a tight area like Maeve said is a good idea. Do we have haste? Mobility will be key. Some extra healing pots since we will likely need to spread out making Harlans channels less effective.
I can cast haste.
After a day of planning and preparations, you wake the next morning to set off for Vegsundvaag's lair. In the pre-dawn twilight, Sonavut and Nanquut meet your group at the gates of Iqaliat. The hearthmistress sends you on with the hopes of the village at your back, and a more material gift in the form of claws of the ice bear, one pair for each of you. After the exchange, Qalvanaq leads you up through the ice tunnel to the top of the glacier.
From this high vantage, the dawn corona of multi-hued light to the south is breathtaking, but you only pause long enough to catch your breath before putting it at your backs. The morning air is cold and clear, and the constant wind pushes strong against you as you march north. The glacial terrain is even more featureless than the tundra, and once you are away from the edge, you're glad for Qalvanaq's guidance across this trackless sea of ice. The hunter is quiet, but confident of the path; you see him marking the distance with counting beads.
The first day passes slowly, if only because the terrain is so featureless, you have no sense of real progress. You encounter, nor even see, any other living things. The cold air freezes your breath to your scarves, but the steady movement keeps your blood warm. The sun reaches its zenith early, never climbing higher than about thirty degrees. Daylight leaves quickly, but twilight lasts for several hours - enough that you make good progress even after sunset. Even as it grows dark and Qalvanaq calls the stop, the sky overhead is illuminated by brilliant bands of aurora borealis.
You divide out watch and the night passes uneventfully.
In my tent I assume?
Harlan rises and prepares breakfast without his usual cheer. Once everybody is settled and before camp is broken, he clears his throat.
"We had a visitor in the night. The quasit is on my backpack. I haven't moved anything in case the scouts can figure out how it happened."
Harlan's hands are visible shaking as he says this.
"Is he possessed? Maeve, beat the demon out of him!"