Ehren winces when he hears Xanderghul cry out, only to find that the wizard has suddenly appeared right next to him. Seeing that Ary and Hinagiku are engaging the dragon within the fog, he decides that it is best to disperse it as soon as possible. Fortunately, his spell was not yet complete. Continuing his chant, the movements of his starlights change slightly, the motes taking on a slightly different hue.
The wyrm's head twists back and forth, snarling as it realizes it has lost its grasp on its original prey. It screams out as Unafe seizes the opportunity to catch the wyrm on the side of the head, dazing it somewhat just as Hinagiku emerges close enough to the wyrm to finally behold it. The wyrm keeps one step away from her in the heavy fog, evading much of Hinagiku's onslaught until she finally gains enough momentum to approach it from its vulnerable flank. Her strikes are blessed with Iomedaen magic, anathema to a creature spawned of corruption and chaos.
It wheels around to face her, but seeing that Ary wouldn't let it past her guard, it diverts itself at the last moment away from the monk to try and catch her in its enormous, drooling jaws, only for Hinagiku to come flying it at its neck, heel-first, striking its enormous head away and saving Ary from harm.
The Heroes Are Up!
Ehren's swarm of ley lights spin around him at dizzying speeds before suddenly darting forward, each every mote tracing a silvery line through the air. They coalesce into a large, vaguely humanoid storm, its body a vortex of roaring wind, its eyes dark hollows that constantly shift amid the vexing rotations. The air elemental floats near the thick, acidic fog, awaiting its master's command.
But even as his summoning spell culminates, the archdruid is already in the process of weaving another. While he prefers having a direct connection to the earth when drawing on the ley, he is more than capable of making do with its ambient energies. As he motions with his hands, barely perceptible streams of ley energy are drawn out of the ground, the stone, the air itself, and folded into the druid's spellcasting. With an idle gesture, Ehren evokes a pillar of searing white flame that erupts from the acidic fog, brought to its maximum potential by the mystical incense he used the previous night. He could not tell for certain that he is aiming at the right spot, but as large as Scoriszar is, he likes his chances.
"Bí ar an stoirm agus cuir deireadh leis an gceo fabhtach seo," he commands as the fire's glow dies down, the words carrying with them an unseen power. The elemental obeys, its body suddenly losing all semblance of a humanoid form. The howl of its winds intensifies as it becomes a sentient tornado that proceeds to plow right into the fog.
The wyrm shrieks, caught completely off-guard by the powerful magic unleashed by the archdruid. A searing pillar of flame engulfs it, and its flesh crackles, blisters, oozes, and burns.
Isilme, Xanderghul, Ary, Hinagiku and Unafe are up!
Emboldened by the success of Ehren's spell, Xanderghul shuffles forward at great speed, intoning the words to a spell of his own. His hands crackle with purple negative energy, and a mere gesture sends death in a wave towards the demonic wyrm. Twisting, vibrating energy extends across the chamber from Xander's hand to the creature. Hopefully, it would cripple the dragon and draw it ever closer to its imminent demise.
Hinagiku presses on with her attacks. Perfectly blending flight and her flowing style, she graciously moves between her foe's weak points striking up at its head and down at its knees and resembling the ocean waves crashing upon a cliff.
As the acidic fog sizzles and pops against Ehren's spell, Ary looks to the looming shadow of dragon before her, the brilliant flash of light that illuminated even the depths of the fog giving a vibrant outline just long enough to obscure its shape further once it fades. Its cry of pain does nothing to disguise its location, however.
She slams Faith forward attempting to dig the cold iron spikes into its flesh but instead feeling her shield skitter along its hide uselessly without biting into anything. "Keep fighting!" she calls out, even as... her brows furrow. Was that a tornado she was hearing?
No time to worry about that just now, instead she brings Radiance around in a corraling motion as she redoubles her efforts with her shield slams - though, ultimately, the fog was simply too thick for her to succeed, but not too thick for Faith, who guides her hand once more, dragging her a few inches forward finally feeling Faith catch. While her spikes are still dug into hide, she brings Radiance around again and with a thrust tears the shield free.
Never one to resist taunting a foe, Isilme begins reciting, her bardic magic simultaneously bolstering her allies. "Scorizcar the Terrible, Scorizcar the Mighty, // returned to her lair not expecting to fight, see. //Her foes were prepared for all'o'er fiendish tricks, // and their blows hammered home, shattering bones like sticks. // Battered and wounded she cowers in fear in her fog, // scared little wyrm contemplating hiding under a log. // Perhaps burrow away and lick your wounds at your leisure,
we won't mind, just help ourselves to your treasure."
Xanderghul and Unafe are up!
Without the ability to see the creature, Xanderghul calls on his illusory powers as usual. This time, he casts a false version of a spell that enchants his allies' minds with a sense of confidence and greatness. Presuming that they have faith in the effect, his friends could call on the spell to enhance their prowess at their moment of greatest need.
Unafe exhales heavily as she notices with relief that she hasn't been sucked into the abyss--and from the sounds of it, her allies in the cloud haven't been either.
Unless the mist addled their brains so much that they didn't even scream...
Shaking off her dark rumination, Unafe again launches herself for the same spot. She throws all the tension building within her into a series of quick jabs through the strange, burning fog, before pulling back again.
Ehren's elemental fully disperses the noxious fog as the heroes press the assault. The woundwyrm roars, digging its teeth into Unafe once and and seeming to jerk to drag her down to the ground rather than letting her fly back up to the ceiling. However moments later the creature spits her out, diving face first into the ground and cutting a hasty retreat into the ground below.
The Heroes are up!
The retreat of the woundwyrm comes as no surprise to Isilme, suspecting the creature had not been pressured so hard before. "Not today, little wyrm, " Isilme says aloud before beginning to intone a spell. "Song of Spheres, guide our steps that we might finish the task laid before us."
She drifts down to just above ground-level and puts the finishing touches on her spell, forging a mystical connection between her and the woundwyrm that she might follow it.
"If we stay off the ground, we should be able to follow it until it surfaces again," she says to the others. "As long as it cannot hear our footsteps it will be blind to our presence."
Directed by the magic, Isilme begins to drift down the cavern. "It feels like she is heading for her trove," she calls to the others.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Calma do ghaoth, a chara," Ehren commands the living tornado once it has cleared the fog. The howling gusts die down as the air elemental reverts to its previous form. It stares down at the ground where the dragon burrowed down, now beyond its reach.
"There are chaotic forces at work beyond the rift," the druid warns, looking back at the tiny hole he shaped through the cavern wall. Even if they managed to bypass the rift without being stripped of their magical protections, there is no telling what strange magic might affect them closer to the treasure hoard. "We will be at a disadvantage if we engage her in there."
Not that we have much of a choice. Unless...
Eyeing the area indicated by Isilme, Ehren extends a finger and points down at the ground. He could not be certain of how precisely her spell was able to pinpoint the woundwyrm, but the dragon does make for a rather large target. And with the amount of augmented offensive magic he prepared for this battle, he could afford to spearfish once or twice. White lightning crackles around the druid's hand before suddenly, a brilliant bolt of ley energy erupts from his fingertip and streaks through the air, before lancing into the earth.
A sour look passes over Ary's face as the thing vanishes into the ground just as the vapors clear. For a moment, she has no idea how to end the thing - and if they didn't it was all but certain to find them, later. Her eyes scan the ground for any sign of its movements, but find none.
Then, Isilme calls out for aid from Desna, and unsurprisingly, is answered. Have faith in them, indeed. As Isilme directs the group, Ary flutters up and off of the ground, her stance widening once more. She looks focused as she maneuvers, but otherwise unperturbed as she moves in beside the Aasimar to help guard her should the beast resurface for some swift vengeance.
"It's not as though we have any realistic choice if you guys can't bring her down from afar. Any way in besides through the veil?" Ary wonders aloud, knowing that if anyone had an idea, it would either be in the form of 'magic' or 'badger'.
Unafe takes a moment to ready herself, in case the the wyrm reappears and tries to drag her down. Then she moves closer to the area Isilme is pointing toward.
To Ary's question, Unafe shrugs. "Perhaps the Archdruid can make his hole large enough for us all? If nothing else, I'm sure I could break through it, given time. These handwraps really help in busting through hard substances."
Hinagiku relaxes her stance somewhat as she sees the wyrm dig its way away from the fight. Wiping droplets of the acidic fog from her face, she gracefully flies toward the lair of the dragon by where her companions are standing.
"Mr. Xanderghul, you have teleported us before, could you do so now, through this hole?" Hinagiku soflty asks, pointing toward the aperture that Ehren created a few hours ago.
Nodding to Hinagiku, Xanderghul flies over towards the ethereal veil. If Isilme was right, then the party would need to enter the dragon's lair in order to finish her off. "Come stand next to me," he says. "I can try to bring us into the lair, but I'm not sure it will work correctly. Based on what I understand about this veil, we may not be able to teleport in an expected fashion."
Ehren's ley bolt bores a narrow hole straight into the ground. Ary and Ehren and Isilme can catch a glimpse of the creature burrowing away in the darkness, her glistening violet scales glinting in the golden light of Radiance, before she vanishes from sight entirely, the earth shifting and caving back in where she once was. Isilme's divination keeps its lock on the creature, alerting her as she burrows deeper into her own lair.
The Heroes Are Up!
"Teleporting would be too risky, I believe, but what if we burrowed after it? It would not be able to escape us while we were bolstered by Xanderghul's haste magic," she offers as a way around the problem of the wyrm escaping.
Thinking about it for a few moments, Xanderghul adds, "I don't think I have the power to passwall safely through the wall, but I'm not sure that my own teleportation interacts with this rift in the way that you're expecting. It's not conjuration, after all, it's illusion magic."
Ehren narrows his eyes when the dragon manages to slip away, his ley bolt having not quite finished the job. As the others contemplate the best way to reach her hiding place without passing through the rift, the druid opts for a more direct method.
Again moving with the mythical swiftness afforded to him by Xanderghul, in a blur he vanishes from where he was standing in midair, again immersing himself in the wall of solid rock. Having already slipped into the other cavern once before, he more or less has an idea of where he will end up on the other side. Indeed, as he erupts from the stone and regains his footing on the air, he quickly finds the grievously wounded woundwyrm.
"Let's try this again," Ehren utters, the air around him already crackling. Drawn to the latent mythic power dwelling within the archdruid's soul, silvery-white currents of ambient ley energy rush into his body. As the energy courses through him, veins of light spread across him, first across his body and then down his arm, all of them converging on a single extended fingertip. For a second, the bead of light swells like a drop of dew before being unleashed, a bolt of ley even mightier than the last.
Seeing Ehren move, Hinagiku takes a few steps to follow and protect him, but she quickly finds that her Ehren-kun as gone were she cannot follow. For an instant, her brow furrows in concern, forcing her to exhale slowly to regain her full focus. Knowing she must keep and eye on the druid in case he needs her to call on the other's help, she flies to the hole he made in the wall earlier to peak at the woundwyrm's lair.
Listening to the others discuss their option, Ary has little to add... until Ehren simply wades into the wall. That changed the math a bit.
Ary winces, and darts over to Xanderghul's side, ready for him to take them through the shadow realm to the other side... in theory at least. As she waits at his side, she runs her scale along Radiance to enhance it against the dragon's hide.
Ehren emerges through the wall, his gemstone eyes rendering the cave in harsh black and white. He turns, seeing the Woundwyrm resting on a pile of treasure. Her breathing is ragged, her chest rising and falling in tattered breaths - a hideous, cauterized wound that lacerates straight through her flank remains as a visual reminder of her last encounter with the archdruid. She raises her head, her eyes locking with Ehren's, and he feels her attempt to unmake his very being, like his body itself was being ripped apart....
Ehren becomes fatigued.
Ehren transforms into an inert silver statue, and falls to the ground on his side.
You understand that a sufficiently powerful wizard, magus, witch, or shaman could cast Stone to Flesh to undo this sort of transmutation magic. However Xanderghul is not a powerful enough wizard to perform that sort of magic.
The most powerful wizard of the Crusades is Crusader-Queen Galfrey's Court Wizard, Chevalier Kiarah Saint-Germaine, who lives in the Starrise Spire in Nerosyan.
Ehren's summoned air elemental comes around the corner, and seeing what has happened to the archdruid, attempts to fly straight to his side through the barrier. But as soon as the summon reaches the strange magical disturbance, it flickers for a moment, before unraveling like wispy thread and vanishing from existence.
The Heroes Are Up!
Xanderghul seizes hold of Hinagiku and Ary. He concentrates, not knowing for certain whether or not the ethereal rift would actually affect his teleportation spell. Still, they needed to get in there now and take out that dragon. The trio is enveloped in shadow and (with any luck) re-appears within the dragon's lair.
The trip through the shadow plane goes well at first, until they hit the glimmering barrier, which shines with a brilliant light within the plane of Shadow. The trip through is excruciatingly painful, and when the three heroes emerge, blood is trickling down from their ears, nostrils, eyes and mouths.
You are staggered for rounds.
You take 2 STR damage.
You take cold damage.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Gods, I hate it when Isilme is right and we don't listen..." Ary says, wincing from pain rather than worry for Ehren for the moment. Faith hums as it comes into contact with the magic in a way that almost sounds annoyed - if that were even possible - but in the end, the magic simply washes over Ary, who struggles forward. "We should be able to get him healed by a higher up with the Crusades... when we get him back home."
As the magic flows off of her like water, golden motes fly from her form filling the room in a way utterly invisible to the blind dragon... but her allies - save perhaps Unafe - surely know what they mean by now. "I've got you covered, go!" she calls to Hinagiku.
Xanderghul emerges from the Shadow Plane gasping and staggering, his life and his energy sapped away by the trip through the Ethereal Plane. Blinking hard against the darkness, Xanderghul squints looking for the dragon, hoping that it doesn't snatch him up before his martially-inclined allies can put it down once and for all.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Isilme sighs as Xanderghul's shadow rises up and swallows him along with Hinagiku and Ary, only to hear them exclaim in pain moments later. Still an audible sound of pain was preferable to no sound at all. At least they were likely still alive.
She darts over to Unafe, drawing upon her wounded soul to draw divine power forth from it, channeling it into a rune "खोदना", encompassing the concepts of burrowing animals and the freedom to move through stone. With the rune woven before her, glowing in the air, she discharges its magic into Unafe, granting her the ability to dig through stone and rock as easily as any creature. Done, she pauses for a moment, visibly winded by the act before speaking. "Here, you should be able to dig a tunnel through the wall here and avoid the barrier," she says.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hinagiku's heart leaps as she sees her Ehren kun suddenly turns into a silvery statue. Feelings rise up inside of her, her own and those imparted by her mother, both somehow twisted by the still alien mind path of Hinagiku's vulpine body. The feelings clash together creating a remous which quickly rises as waves at the surface of Hinagiku's inner ocean. Her physical body sways ever so slightly. Her mind begins to race in circles, creating a spirally drain within the waters of her mind. And as her mind spins, the spiral deepens. It deepens until it reaches the very depth of her soul, unveiling its core: a perfect sphere of calm. Concern, fear, pain, apprehensions,they might form a never ending circle, but the essence of calm cannot be ripped from Hinagiku. The monk instinctively knows that this is the one thing that can save her from falling apart, that she needs to reach deeper than she ever has if she is to regain her focus. Among the inner storm, she searches for calm, peace, tranquillity. She sends spreads the wisps of her mind to all corners of her being. And, somehow, she reaches beyond her own self, into the wider world to draw strength from it. Hinagiku closes her eyes and the storm abates.
All this takes but a second, and she flies to Xanderghul's side, ready to put an end to this battle.
The sharp focus gained from her experience allows Hinagiku to battle the chaotic forces of the teleportation and, when she appears, she quickly moves to the woundwyrm's side, pelting it with a flurry of blows, each flowing so harmoniously as to be easily seen, yet difficult to escape as they are perfectly orchestrated.
Hinagiku flies straight at the Woundwyrm's head. It turns its eyeless face towards and bares its teeth at her, lunging once to snap at her but Ary vanishes and reappears at her side, striking the dragon's head away with Faith, wispy ethereal wings appearing just for a moment to hold her aloft before vanishing again. Seizing the opportunity as the wyrm recoils from Ary's blow, Hinagiku strikes the side of the Woundwyrm's head again and again until it finally falls unconscious.
It is still alive. Its injuries are not severe enough for it to die. If given enough time, it will eventually recover.
Combat Ends!
The Heroes are now Level 10!
Ehren, Ary, and Hinagiku are now Tier 4!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Xander jumps in the air, his fists upraised.
"Woohoo!" he shouts, before turning to the statue that was once the Archdruid. He puts a hand on his chin, pondering. Hmm... The Archdruid would make a wonderful centerpiece for his university... But that was a future problem. Not content with this victory, Xander already is considering the logistical problems coming for them next. They had to cart not only the head of this dragon that they had legendarily defeated, but a silver statue of their compatriot back to Drezen. Not to mention the dozens of morally ambiguous "Demetae" clansmen they had found. It was a tough situation, to be sure. And they had left Marhevok alive.
He begins with, "Who wants to behead the dragon?"
"Thank you!" Unafe says to Isilme before she dives underground.
The sensation down there is strange--wondrous and unsettling--but she has little time to consider it. When she bursts from the earth, ready to pummel the wyrm, she sees it fallen at Hinagiku's feet.
At the Witch's question, Unafe says, "I'm happy to make sure it won't arise again. Stand back." She punches clear through the side of it's skull, shaking iridescent ichor off, and watching it burn and sizzle in the dirt.
Her elation is short-lived when she glances to the side and sees the Archdruid's rocky form frozen into silver. "NO!! We were too late."
The fight drained out of her, Unafe shrinks back to her normal, human form. "What will we do now?"
Hinagiku slowly hovers down to the ground, eyes afixed upon the fallen creature as she ponders what she could possibly respond to Xanderghul's question. Perhaps Unafe should be the one responsible for this, as the dragon had been the one instigating fear into her people, Hinagiku thinks just as the woman tunnels her way into the room. Seeing as the Demetae warrior takes the grisly matter into her own hands, Hinagiku turns toward Ehren's silvery form. Approaching it, she gently caresses its face, her brow ever so slightly furrowed in concern.
"I believe Mr. Xanderghul and Mrs. Isilme are the best to answer your question Mrs. Unafe. This is much beyond what I know of magic. But, I have seen incredible things traveling with everyone here... such as the very heavens, and I believe that if there is a way to restore him, we will find it."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Recover the fallen, take what else we can." Ary responds, moving over to inspect the Crusader statues. "We can try to recover some of the dragon as well, possibly." Ary says, not nearly as inflated as Xanderghul. "In theory, we could return for the majority of the things here if we're quick enough. Would we have a good way here and back without Ehren, once we return to our bags? If not... we should prioritize Ehren and the Crusaders, then any weapons or magic that we can find."
"I wish I'd asked earlier... though it wouldn't have done much good. The rift into the ethereal is normally used by wizards as a shortcut between places. I doubt that we have the proper capabilities to use it for such, but it's still a possibility. I was also curious if we could maybe... ground the rift? Anchor it in place, like a ley line? Make our own little menhir in this side of the world?"
Isilme simply walks around to look through the barrier to get a feel for what had happened. Seeing Ehren now transformed into solid silver stops her from calling out in victory to the rest of the group, unlike Xander.
"Have some decorum, Xanderghul, we cannot count this as a win until we have saved Ehren from this fate," she says in response to his cheering. "I believe break enchantment might work on the magic he and the others have been subjected to, although it might be quite difficult to do so given the power of our foe. Alternatively we could get a stone to flesh scroll to undo the magic," she explains.
"Don't worry, Hinagiku, we will restore Ehren," she offers, unable to comfort the monk more directly due to the barrier. "The main problem is returning to Drezen with his frozen form. The second issue is how to return all this loot and the other bodies to Drezen, although if Ehren is restored I suspect that will be decidedly easier. As far as your question, Ary, I haven't any idea. I suspect Ehren is the only one who can answer what creating a new menhir entails."
"Unafe, while the magic is still active, could you burrow a way around the barrier again? We can make an effort to clear out the rubble so we need not deal with it anymore."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Xander frowns when his trophy -- perfect for the mantlepiece in the front room of his university -- is unceremoniously given an enormous hole. "I was being literal when I said behead, Unafe..." he says, a tinge of disappointment in his voice.
"As for carrying all of this out of here, we will need to be able to bypass the barrier with bags of holding in hand. That means we will need some sort of tunnel. Is Unafe able to dig a permanent tunnel using that spell you cast on her?"
Xander thinks for another few moments. Hmm. "If I can get out of here without going through that portal again and dying, I should be able to return to the Demetae village and fetch our bags. In fact, I think we should all go, and take what we can carry now. Then, once we've rested, we can return here to loot briefly before heading back to Crusader lands with haste."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Isilme may understand the limits of the enchantment better than I, but when I came here the hole crumbled behind me fairly quickly. I suppose a few people could follow behind if they were ready."
Unafe doesn't know how much gold the things in the pile are, but she's very interested in pulling aside Demetae artifacts. She keeps a somewhat suspicious eye on Xander as he sorts through the horde, letting him know when something is of Demetae origin...and feeling relieved when he nods and hands them to her.
As she works, she grits her teeth against the waives of magic. Often, she can resist...but more than once, she finds herself magically winded, slowed, or--once--briefly blinded.
"By the way, before we leave here, I also want to go further in. (Hopefully, once we get past here, we'll be away from this confounded disturbance.) We're still quite near the entrance, and while I don't know my way around the mines myself, I know they're enormous. I need to know how badly the Mountain's mithral heart has been scavenged--it's one of the Three Gifts of Goryon, and my life is pledged to protect it. I also...well, the stories tell that Goryon herself is buried here. I don't know where, but I'm hoping I could find her grave."
Ary is onto something here - if this sort of rift could be harnessed, reproduced, perhaps it could be used to transport people across short... or perhaps even long distances? To pull something like that off, however, a lot more research would need to be conducted...
All 6 of the statues in this room are of crusaders. Ary doesn't recognize their faces, but she does recognize their medals and badges which mark them all as dragon riders.
Unafe and Xanderghul root through the treasure pile, and find the following:
-> 12,300 copper coins
-> 17,450 silver coins
-> 4,800 gold coins
-> 260 platinum coins
-> 5 tourmaline gemstones
-> 12 garnets
-> 50 lb in mithral bars.
-> A belt that is composed of woven vines with a mithral buckle
-> Mithral scale mail, masterwork, with an intricate feather design worked into the pauldrons, gauntlets, and boots.
-> A handy haversack (made obvious by anyone who attempts to open it). Inside of it are: a hand-drawn map of the region, a climber’s kit, an elixir of swimming (labelled), an everburning torch, a survival guide to tracking demons (standard Crusader issue, grants a +2 circumstance bonus to tracking demons), a grappling hook, a hammer, eight pitons, four empty rations sacks, four empty canteens, and 100 feet of silk rope. There is also a Crusader's Cross, made of silver. On one side it states Trever Vaenic, and on the back it states Sosiel Vaenic. In the side pocket there is a small journal, written in very neat cursive. It seems to be the report of a Crusader scout, detailing various hazards and landmarks encountered along the northern border of the Worldwound. Whoever owned this journal was an accomplished artist, drawing detailed sketches of flora, fauna, and demons encountered along the way. The scout seemed to run into trouble in the Stonewilds, his squad overwhelmed by "so many nabasu that their wings could blot out the sun". The journal ends abruptly about half-way through.
Additionally there is a large amount of debris (that looks like it came from a caravan at one point) that for the pragmatic scavenger could serve as perfectly good raw materials for making tools. There's also a large, silvery, shed skin, like that of a snake. Finally, there are a large number of various Demetae artifacts, mostly small trinkets and artworks.
"Ironic." Ary says without mirth as she looks over the statues, examining their signs of rank. "These are Dragon Riders... which means that this." she says, motioning to the shed skin, "Likely came from one of their mounts. I'm uncertain of what they would be doing inside of this cave, though." she pauses for a moment, "Do you think maybe they're directly related to the riders who helped to slay the other woundwyrm?"
She looks over to Unafe, "I think it might be best to let the others go through most of this and separate it. If you're wanting to go deeper into the mines, I'll go with you... then we'll figure out how to get everyone home."
Isilme is surprised to hear Ary entertaining the thought of heading deeper into the mines at this moment. She could understand Unafe, her allegiance being first to her clan. Nevertheless, Ehren had been transformed into a statue, and it was hard for Isilme to justify risking any further altercations with the group so taxed and one of the members down.
Isilme holds up a hand towards Unafe and Ary, motioning for them to stop. "I believe we should wait. Let us deal with the statues and treasure and return to the village. We must secure the situation there immediately. Additionally, we should break down Scorizcar while we are still shielded from the acid and take anything that might be of use in crafting armor, weapons or as magical components for other items," she says, hoping to convince them to stay focused on the primary matters at hand: Informing the tribe of Scorizcar's fall, and securing Ehren for travel back to Drezen.
"If the mines are as large as you say they are, there is no telling what might have taken up residence deeper in. Heading in could expose us to danger we are not prepared for. I suppose I do have a divination available though, we could use it to determine the condition of this heart is, or at least whether traveling down to visit it would be risking your lives."
Xander nods. "I agree with Isilme. Gather up as much as you can carry, and then let's get out of here. I can carry some people on my new griffon, and we can get back to the Demetae village to share the news with our allies."
Taking his own advice, Xanderghul picks out as much platinum as he can find and puts it in his bag. Then he takes the haversack. After briefly looking through it, he throws it over his shoulder. Gesturing with body language, he heads out into the dust storm. Once there, he summons his griffon with his new magical figurine and waits for the others to get ready and go.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Letting her hand slowly fall off from the silvery yet rocky shape of Ehren, Hinagiku steps back, and with one last look turns toward the others and the task at hand. She first helps Unafe clear a route through the stone wall painstakingly removing the broken stone she leaves behind while enduring the disturbing effects of the cave.
Once she is done digging, Hinagiku takes her bag, with a faint smile at Ehren's tasteful choice of design, and she begins filling it with gemstones and the golden coins she can find. After these few years of adventuring, she knew that restorative magic could be quite expensive, and they needed to help Ehren-kun and all of the others that the beast had transformed.
"Ehren-kun would probably enjoy using this belt." Hinagiku says, when Xanderghul shares what he knows about it."Mrs. Unafe, do you know if it is a relic from your people?" Hinagiku then asks, prepared to take the belt if it is not.
"I have to agree with Mrs. Isilme and Mr. Xanderghul, we should bring as many of these statues as we can and bring your people to safety first. If there are spirits, they will wait for us." Hinagiku says to Unafe.
"We should not leave Scorizcar's body here intact. We cannot be sure our friend has not been scrying on us while we fought, and allowing them a chance to animate or bring Scorizcar back is too big a risk, even if it is unlikely. Ideally we break the body down now and preserve it using magic, normally that would fall on Ehren to determine how, but..." She sighs for a second, then looks tothe rest of the group. "Does anyone else know how to go about butchering the wyrm? If you have some idea, I can use my magic to help you accomplish it successfully."
"Also, I would like a chance to rest and regain my spells before travel," she adds, knowing her current spells would be fairly useless were they to encounter foes on their trip back. "And finally, I do not care to leave any of the statues here alone, for the same reason I would not leave Scorizcar's corpse alone. If the cultists come here in our absence, they will destroy them to ensure we cannot have the crusaders restored."
"I'm willing to carry anything I can after we take care of Ehren and the Crusaders." Ary says, listening to the conversation unfold. "I can try to take the dragon apart, but... If the anatomy of the thing will make any kind of sense, I'm sure I can help figure out what to take." Ary says, moving back across the room to look over the dragon's body. "It'd be a lot better for me to support the thing while someone else does the cutting, usually, but I'll have a whack at it if no one else feels comfortable with it." she says as she glances into the hole Unafe had punched and winces.