"Like, no way, man. I wanna, like, punch one of these dragon things real hard, but they, like, fly and stuff. Plus, like, they spit that snot stuff from far away. If they come, like, zooming in and don't see me, I can, like, jump out and POW, bash it right in the dragon head!"
"Alright. This sounds like a decent issue you have, and we'd really like to help out. But our boss is expecting us back, and if we show up late and empty handed, they might not be our boss anymore.
How much would this company be willing to pay to get this issue dealt with, today.
It'd need to be enough to have us keep our jobs. You get to go back to your jobs, safely, and we keep our boss happy.
Win/win, right.
And trust me, we'll win."
Taryn scratches his head as he considers your proposal. "I can offer you 500 gold pieces if you can deal with this issue permanently, no more dragons. You only get 100 if you scare them off but don't finish the job." He sticks out his hand to you, "Do we have a deal."
"Sounds fair enough. What do you guys think? 500 gold to kill a few drakes?
"I think that's a good price." he says as he brushes out a stray tuft of fur. And getting paid to do what we already needed to is nice. he thinks as well.
"Like, yeah, man. I mean, yeah, we get paid for helping out and punching dragon things in the nose, right? That sounds, like, plenty good to me."
Zeex nods... "Sound good as long as not die. Then it not be enuff." He says matter-of=factly.
As you stick your hand out it is crushed by a calloused grip of a man who has swung an axe for much of his life, he walks off to confer with a group of people as you turn and move to the group heading out. As you introduce yourself to Garent he seems relieved to have you along. The group sets out at a decent pace following Garent who consults a map to ensure you are on course. They stop to get water three times before reaching a small logging site deep within the woods. Garent begins shouting out orders as packs are dropped to the ground and men get to work. He lumbers over to you after his instructions have been delivered. "Well, the men are working, those little devils always find us though no matter how we change up our routes. You guys have any plan on how to take them out."
"How about Zeex and K'wai up front on either side scouting on either side. Then we'll have the loggers in the middle with Morgana. Cael and I have range, so we'll watch from the back."
"Since we don't know what direction they're coming from, maybe the range attackers should position themselves in a tree that isn't being logged. Then you should have the advantage, or at least be safe should they come up behind you"
As time slowly passes the humidity in the air and the blazing sun cause sweat to roll down your skin. You swat at bugs and other pests as they buzz by, while you patiently wait for something, anything to happen. Your wishes are soon met as three small dragons zip from the sky towards the loggers in the center of your group. These are clearly the river drakes that have been causing so many problems for the loggers. They quickly beset a few of the loggers not realizing that they have brought some extra defense with them. One of the loggers falls under the onslaught of claws and teeth, another is badly wounded.
Zeex
Morgana
K'wai
Cael
Rikkivar
Drake
Slowly getting bored with the guarding task, Cael hopes that something happens soon. Just as if someone heard his though, the small drakes finally showed up. He aims for the closest one and releases a bolt of pure lightning from his hand. The bolt hit the drake directly in the chest.
"Here they are! You men grab your wounded and hide somewhere."
Zeex slings one of the drakes.
Then he draws his blade and readies to confront a drake.
K'Wai launches a shuriken at the closest dragon.
to hit; for
He then takes up a defensive position until the beasts get near.
Rikki hurls a vial into the air as he nocks an arrow. The arrow flies, splitting the vial and carrying the blast to the nearest drake.
The drakes seem startled as they are quickly assaulted by your onslaught of explosives lightning bolts and various projectiles.
Zeex stands his ground, readied action to attack defensively when a drake gets near enough to him.
If the drake attacks him and misses, he will take a step into the drake's space,
Rikki rubs an arrow across his then dips the fletching into another vial. He launches it into the same drake.
Rikki's arrow leaps from the bow crossing the distance to his target in the blink of an eye. The vial explodes as the arrow lodges deep into a chink of the Drakes scales. It stands still for a second before toppling to the ground as Rikkivar's poison overcomes the drakes resistances.
As the drakes go after the workers, Morgana lunges at one that flies past her not noticing her presence.
What followed was a flurry of attacks made by the rest of the party. One drake goes down and Morgana moves towards the closest drake to attack again.
Now overflowing with elemental energy, Cael moves slightly forward. He focuses for a second, surrounding himself within a dome of lightning that quickly shrink around his hand. He then looks at the nearest drake and releases it towards it. It takes only a fraction of a second for the lightning to go of his hand to the drake.
Caels lightning streaks across lighting up the world as it punches a hole through the drakes tough armor, it falls to the ground smoke rising from it's charred innards. Only one drake remains left, he quickly glances around trying to identify his threats, he moves swiftly towards K'wai and Zeex as he spits a ball of mucus at K'wai.
Zeex dances forward, using acrobatic maneuvers to avoid any aoos
reflex
K'Wai dodges straight into the path of the projectile, getting covered in burning sticky goo.
Cael continues to slowly get closer. Again, he gathers energy from all around him. The smell of ozone gets more pronounced as he built up the small ball in his hand of electric energy. Looking over to the drake, he smiles with a wicked way. "You are next!" In a flash, the ball of energy becomes a long and jagged bolt of lightning, hitting the creature.
K'Wai changes his stance, trying to flow and move, despite the dripping green goo sticking his limbs together unnaturally.
Rikki fires another arrow, wiped with another dose of poison.
Morgana moves in to help with the last drake, more for back up than anything else.
The arrow pierces deep into the Drakes skin but the poison fails to take hold. As the bolt of lightning slams into the drake it rears back taking it just out of range of Morgana's spear. The Drake is smoking and looks badly beat up but it steps towards Morgana and attempts to tear her limb from limb but the pain of his wounds severely affects it's accuracy. It stands there smoking waiting for what only could be inevitable.
Zeex moves to flank with Morgana, if not already doing so, and strikes...
He barely avoids hitting himself...
Holding his spear at the ready, K'Wai steps up and unleashes a flurry of kicks against the injured dragon creature.
"Let's see how you like getting smacked around, you spitting goo dripping dragon beasty!"
Entangled, Flanking, Flurry Unarmed Strike:
to hit; for bludgeoning damage
to hit; for bludgeoning damage
Aiming at the last drake, Cael sends another bolt of lightning. Again, the bolt hit the drake, leaving burnt mark on its scales.
Rikki will wait a moment to see if the others bring it down.
If it survives, he'll add another shot.
The final drake falls under your onslaught as his hide is pierced and battered by all means of attacks. The wood workers come out off their hiding place realizing you have slain the final drake. Garent strides out from the brush with a stunned look on his face, "You've done it, you actually killed them, what kind of people are you. I could hardly believe my eyes, lightning, arrows, blades, and fists. By the gods, we are finally free of the beasts," he gazes over to his fallen men with a hard look on his face, We are going to carry our dead back to town but you are free to do as you wish with the beasts. We are all in your debt."
"Me wants drake hide armor! We skin?" Zeex looks hopefully at the others, hoping someone knows basic survival skills, like skinning a dead creature.
"Waste not, want not." he says as he begins skinning and prepping the hides.
"Ooh, these are good skins to work with. Nice and pliable."
K'Wai spends some time wiping the viscous goo off his body and equipment.
"Like, that was really nasty, man. I don't want to, like, do that again any time soon. But, like, we can get the stuff for the woodcarver now, right?"
Brushing himself, Cael joins the rest of the group next to the dead drakes. "So, shall we get the wood and head back to the carving woman?" He is willing to help carry anything back if needed.
"I'm more interested in getting paid. It's a shame we couldn't save everyone, but that'll be the last death from this guys, so we did our job. I'm sure there'll be people to help deliver the wood back at the yard."
I just want to get out on the ocean already. At least I know what I'm doing out there.
As soo as he's done with the skinning, he'll pack up the hides for further work later. "Let's get moving."