Having made your purchases and gathered as much information on Huyanwo as you could, you head towards the so-called "Ridge of Graves." Named not for any past service as a cemetery, this isthmus received its name for the long list of deaths attributed to the prey you now stalk. The noonday sun shines down from its zenith, and you hear the sound of the waves crashing against the wave line some sixty feet below. A steep path leads down to the rocky shoreline, and at the base you see a stone pagoda standing defiantly against the harsh elements.
In a cloud of smoke, Zak floats about, observing all above and below to keep his companions safe from ambush.
Poog, activates his ring of invisibility, making it even harder to spot the little goblin as he waits at the top of the cliff for his companions to descend.
Asha nods her thanks to Zarina, then draws out the potion of see invisibility and drinks it, saving her potion of fly for later. Murmuring a prayer to Shelyn, she summons a celestial spirit into her weapon , squares her shoulders, and steps up to the head of the trail. She takes the lead (as far as ground-based party members go, at least), her glaive at the ready, and begins descending the cliff.
Simon downs a potion of See invisibility, then stealthily moves down the cliff, senses alert for danger and his rapier already in his hand.
Zarina takes to the air, preparing to deal with the dragon the best waay she knew how...fire.
You carefully climb down the path towards the pagoda at shore's edge. A cool mist sprays you each time the water crashes against the cliff shore, spraying you and the stone with its salty spray. The walls of the pagoda itself are pock-marked and salt-encrusted on the side facing the ocean. As you approach, the water below you explodes outwards, showering you in the cold waters of Xielan Bay. A large form takes to the air, and massive wings unfurl to catch the wind.
""
"And the same to you, sirra," Simon says in a cool tone of voice. "Time for lights out. Tempestas gelidis!"
The old man makes a casual gesture -- and a storm of sleet and snow goes roaring out of his hand, emveloping Huyanwo!
Round 1, init 32
Still floating along in his cloud of smoke, the vigilant Zak unloads a full complement of arrows at the dragon.
Asha drinks her potion of fly, calling out to the dragon as she tosses the flask aside, "We are here to see you banished, mighty one! Leave now or face our wrath!"
A brisk wind suddenly whips through the air, and Huyanwo is suddenly engulfed by Simon's conjured storm. Moments later, a quartet of arrows fly out from the smoke towards the heart of the storm, and a defiant roar indicates that Zak's aim was true.
"[bigger]Banish me? That was a lucky strike, mortals! I will dine upon your flesh this day, and your bones will decorate my lair for years to come! Tremble before me!" Huyanwo dives out of the cloud, the water now frozen to his blue-green scales. A single arrow has pierced his belly, and a thin ribbon of blood dribbles from the wound. He rears back and breathes a line of acid towards Asha!
Will
Hoping to lure the dragon in, Zarina sends a fireball scorching toward the dragon. "Chew on this, won't you?"
Damage
Reflex DC 18 for half.
Caster check plus Spell Penetration
Huyanwo roars in pain as the fires engulf him. He's able to shield himself from the worst of the blast, but the flames have melted away the frost that had rimed his scales. His eyes burn with inhuman fury at the five of you. ""
Asha plants her glaive and vaults gracefully over the acid spray, "landing" a few inches off the ground to avoid the slightly smoking puddles. "We offered you peaceful departure," she says regretfully. "I wish you had taken it." Soaring up toward the dragon, she calls upon her righteous devotion to grant her strength against the evil and strikes out with her glaive.
Still invisible, Poog flies closer to the dragon, quaffing his potion of see invisibility as he goes.
The dragon chortles as Asha's glaive skitters off his thick scales. "" The dragon's mouth curls into a cruel sneer as he readies his razor sharp talons.
Round 2
Still floating along in his cloud of smoke, Zak sends a second barrage of arrows at Huyanwo.
Simon shrugs off the dragon's terrifying aura, crosses his arms in front of his chest and starts to chant. 'Keep him off of me just long enough, friends,' he thinks as his magic goes reaching, reaching... and touches something very far away.
Another quartet of arrows fly towards Huyanwo, and all but one bounce harmlessly off his thick scales. He roars in pain, and casts a hateful glance to the roiling cloud of smoke. "" He returns his fearsome gaze to Asha. ""
And with that, Huyanwo tears into the brave paladin.
And the paladin is savaged by his onslaught. Grievous bloody wounds are torn into her body as his vicious teeth and claws assault her. He licks his chops as his sea-green scales are splattered with her hot blood. "" A deep rasping sound comes from the dragon's throat. Asha cannot mistake it - a contemptuous laugh.
Simon concludes his summoning spell -- and the air close to Huyanwo turns in on itself. For a brief moment, an endless sky full of storm clouds can be seen, and then two lightning bolts come screaming out of the distance. In an instant, the living lightning closes on the airborne dragon, crackling and sizzling!
"Seize him from behind, hold him, fry him!" Simon shouts at the two small lightning elementals he just conjured.
If Zarina should fall down to the ground, Simon starts running towards her. He hurls a Smoke Bomb at the general area to cover Zarina and himself from the dragon's retaliation and gets ready to administer a healing potion.
If Zarina stays airborne and heals herself, or gets help from someone else, the old Conjurer starts chanting anew -- a weaker summoning spell, to summon more aid.
Zarina roars, summoning her claws and charges to take the fight to the dragon.
Claw attack
Damage plus
Fire
Huyanwo snaps his great frilled head around as he senses a new addition to the fight, but almost as swiftly discounts the lightning elementals as their electric fists strike his body and sparks fly harmlessly off of him. "" He turns just in time to see Zarina charging towards him, snapping at her as she approaches with his fearsome jaws.
He tears a chunk out of her side, and she repays the favor with her burning claws. ""
Poog flies closer, 30 feet from the dragon, and glares at him, an odd shimmer going through the air between them.
The goblin doesn't say a word as he concentrates.
Asha is indeed battered and beaten by the dragon, and her wounds are deep and heavy. For a moment she wonders if she should retreat, but she knows that to do so would only put her friends and allies at risk. Instead, she unleashes a furious assault of her own, glaive dancing through the sky like lightning from a clear summer sky.
The dragon's bravado soon fades as Asha spins through the air with her glaive as her partner. The first blow she lands is glancing, but the second is a solid strike to the dragon's chest. Huyanwo rears back from the strike, and a look of concern creeps across his brow. These ants have hurt him.
The third strike banishes concern from the dragon's mind, and is replaced by a new emotion, one utterly foreign to the ancient beast - desperation. His wings flap wide as he makes the decision to cut and run.
He doesn't get that far. Asha's glaive connects solidly to the dragon's thickly-scaled skull, and his great eyes roll back into his head. He pitches towards the ground and soon crashes into the Ridge of Graves.
"Now what we do with him? We wait until he wake up and tell him if he doesn't leave we kill him?"
"And where am his treasure?"
Poog looks around.
"Although I cannot be a part of that conversation, I think it is probably the best course of action," Asha nods slowly, hovering over the unconscious dragon. "Once he is restrained, at any rate, and the precariousness of his position is made clear to him. I do not believe he is truly evil, merely short-sighted. He understands now that there are those here who have the ability to oppose him, to threaten him. Like most bullies, he is likely a coward at heart, and will flee now that his vulnerability is exposed. That should be enough to spare the people of the island." As she speaks, Asha concentrates for a moment and places a hand on the deepest of her wounds, wincing in pain as she does so - the wound closes somewhat, but she remains badly hurt.
"Perhaps his lair is under the water?" she goes on. "When he regains consciousness, you should ask him."
"Nice job, Asha! Please everyone remember how powerful this thing is. I say we end him now."
"This wretch spoke of decorating his lair with our bones," Simon says, his voice flat and cold.
"This place is not known as the Ridge of Graves because there is a cemetery here, but because this scaly bastard has been murdering people for years; he is an unrepentant killer. If you wish to restrain him, you would need yards upon yards of mithral chains, wrapped around him from neck to tail, and even with those he might be able to slip away by using magic."
The old man holds his fist out, thumb down.
"You gave him ample chance to depart in peace," he says. "Instead, he kept boasting how he would trample us all like insects."
Simon raises his rapier, and the blade abruptly crackles with electricity. Overhead, the two lightning elementals come spiralling down, buzzing with hostile energy.
"I do not enjoy the prospect, but I vote for death. Zarina and I make two for death. Asha votes for life. Zak? Poog?"
Poog shrugs.
"Poog am having no trouble killing him. Poog just thought you would all whine again."
"Three for death, one for life," Simon says. "Zakarras. Your vote."
"I do want to see It wearing a Huyanwo suit in the arena, but that isn't my motivation for voting on his death. This creature is a beast that must be stopped, too many families have suffered at the loss of a loved one and I have not the jurisdiction, time, or faith that this creature will make a major moral shift to not hurting people. Other than killing him, the only solution I see is removing his threat." Zak eyes the claws, fangs, and wings of the mighty beast. "Even if we remove his natural attacks, the spells and breath weapon will remain. It seems death is the only responsible course of action."
"Then the sentence is passed," Simon says, his voice deadly. "May whatever powers of Good and justice view us forgive those who voted in favour of death that this must be a drumhead trial, but Huyanwo would not allow himself to be dragged into a proper court, I am certain. I do not expect I can slay such a mighty beast in one blow by myself. Come. It is time to end a life."
Simon strides up to Huyanwo's head and raises his rapier, ready to ram its lightning-wreathed blade into the dragon's brain. Above, the two lightning elementals rise, picking up speed as they rise higher; soon enough, they will plunge down with deadly force...
Asha - already drifting a little toward the surf, as if she were going to go diving to search for the dragon's lair - pauses when Zarina speaks, then slowly turns back around. She listens, her lips pressing into a straight line and her eyes narrowing, as Simon, Poog and Zak each have their say, although one hand lifts to press against her wounds again. Finally, as the lacerations fade to bruises, she drops back to the earth - directly in front of the unconscious dragon, between him and the rest of the group.
"Death. You all say death," she says slowly, gaze flicking from one to another of her fellows. "You want to kill this dragon, this thinking being, because he is 'too dangerous' - because he reacted with violence when five armed warriors arrived in his territory sent with the express purpose of driving him off. This despite the fact that he is clearly not more dangerous than we, or we would be the ones lying there, and not him. This despite the fact that we truly know nothing of him, or his supposed crimes, or anything except that we were sent here to make him leave or slay him. I accepted the quest on the word of a paladin because I trust Marthysan, but I am now quite thoroughly reminded that even we can be deceived, confused or simply wrong about things we do not fully understand. I thought driving him off was a righteous act. Since then, however, I have learned another thing, and it changes everything.
"When I first struck at Huyanwo, I called on Shelyn to guide my glaive to strike down evil, and it did nothing. Huyanwo is not an 'unrepentant killer.' He is arrogant, rude, and lashes out with lethal violence when provoked, but if you truly believe those are justifiable reasons for death, why then we did not need to leave New Harbor to find worthy victims to murder out of hand." Her flat glare leaves little question about who she might be referring to with that statement. "So yes, I say 'life.' In fact, I say more: if you want to slay an uncorrupted soul out of hand, while he lies unconscious and helpless, then I cannot continue to fight at your side, and if you plan to do it while I am standing right here, then I swear on my oaths to the Rose that I will do everything in my power to stop you."
"Hmph. Poog knew this would happen. Poog no care. Poog am going to get his treasure."
Poog leaves in search of the dragon's treasure.