“Wow, that was so cool Elgan!” enthuses Beldan, coming over and prodding at the turtle (gently) with his rapier. “You could have done more Altai, all you did was piss it off. Wizards.” Beldan rolls his eyes. Obviously he can’t tell the difference, at a glance, between an extremely intelligent, cunning and magic using dragon, and one that is too stupid to even know how to run away.
The young thief turns to Hnoss. “We probably should keep it ... the dragon took your dad, right, we might need to find a way to ask it where he is. It can be our mascot. We’ll call it Pokey.”
“Turtle soup!” says Stig, calculating how hard he’d have to hit it with the earthbreaker to crack its shell without pulverising it.
Pokey jumps at Beldan, maybe two inches in the air, biting at his rapier angrily.
that's not me just some random mullethead on the interweb.
"Pokey,....where's my father?" she questions the thing.
It says nothing.
The otter by her leg looks at her, then the group, then the turtle.....
“Hey!” Beldan jumps back, startled, then wags his finger at the turtle. “Bad Pokey! No more of that if you want to be our mascot.”
"Erm, T'anks. Ah t'ink." Replies Elgan to Beldan, looking at Altai a bit befuddled. The little druid shrugs.
Elgan leans over closer to Pokey, and waves his finger in a 'no-no' gesture when it snaps at him.
'Kindly answer the lady Pokey. WHere is her father?' Elgan asks in turtle-speak.
that's not me just some random mullethead on the interweb.
“Psst, Elgan, I think that beaver wants something,” mutters Beldan, gesturing to the otter.
"Hm? Whazzat Bedlam?" Elgan asks, absent mindedly smacking the turtle on the nose as it snaps at him.
'Hello small friend. How are you? May I help you?' Elgan smiles at the otter.
"He can't talk, Hnoss - both because he's a turtle, and because I turned his brain into mush. Let's see if we can find his lair."
Pip surveys the carnage
"Now that's how you make turtle soup!"
“Hey!” Beldan jumps back, startled, then wags his finger at the turtle. “Bad Pokey! No more of that if you want to be our mascot.”
He hisses....
"Erm, T'anks. Ah t'ink." Replies Elgan to Beldan, looking at Altai a bit befuddled. The little druid shrugs.
Elgan leans over closer to Pokey, and waves his finger in a 'no-no' gesture when it snaps at him.
'Kindly answer the lady Pokey. WHere is her father?' Elgan asks in turtle-speak.
He doesn't say much other than "kill! bite! maim! kill! f&~@!" on accounta the 1 int.
"Hm? Whazzat Bedlam?" Elgan asks, absent mindedly smacking the turtle on the nose as it snaps at him.
'Hello small friend. How are you? May I help you?' Elgan smiles at the otter.
"You gonna kill that f!$!in thing or what?"
says the otter.Everybody, not just Elgan, can understand the otter.
"He can't talk, Hnoss - both because he's a turtle, and because I turned his brain into mush. Let's see if we can find his lair."
She points at the tower; "I suppose it's in there....."
Beldan looks about to make sure everyone else heard that too. Then, "Well he can't do much harm now can he? How come you can talk?"
"*pffft* what the hel kind of question is that? I....I got a mouth, I got a tongue,......I don't know how to answer that..."
says the Otter.
“Yeah? Well I’ve got teeth but I can’t chew down trees and make dams with them, or whatever you lot do. Point is, I’ve never seen a beaver or a water rat or whatever you are that could talk ... well, as far as I know ...”
"Are you s**%ting me, dude? I'm an otter. Do I have buck teeth? No? I'm not a rodent. You're gonna get it if you call me a rodent again. I'm a member of the weasel family, and although I'm not a wolverine, I'm nonetheless nobody you want to reckon with, much less call a rat."
“Uh ... sorry. I’m not from this plane, so I’ve never met an otter before, and I didn’t realise you guys could talk. My apologies.” Beldan executes a brief bow, hoping that this will mollify the ‘strange beast’ (he’s not stupid, he’s just a real city boy, is Beldan).
"I did see a ferret once, that was pretty bad ass."
"I don't like them. They always smell like they're screwing."
Elgan facepalms himself at Beldan's last attempt at mollifying the Otter.
"Soree 'bout dat chere'." He says in Common.
"But whut hee sez iz tru. Whar we'z frum it aint 'zactly common fer deh critters teh speak,... Common." He explains politely to the ferret.
"Az fer as killin', ah t'ink we'z kinda agreed dat he aint zactly no danger tah anywun any moah. Unless yeh's dum enough teh stick yer fingers too close." He looks at Beldan.
"May ah asks whut brings yeh to us? Ah 'taught dat deh dragon had dun skeered off everwun who lived heahabouts?"
"I don't like them. They always smell like they're screwing."
"Um."
Elgan facepalms himself at Beldan's last attempt at mollifying the Otter.
"Soree 'bout dat chere'." He says in Common.
"But whut hee sez iz tru. Whar we'z frum it aint 'zactly common fer deh critters teh speak,... Common." He explains politely to the ferret.
"Az fer as killin', ah t'ink we'z kinda agreed dat he aint zactly no danger tah anywun any moah. Unless yeh's dum enough teh stick yer fingers too close." He looks at Beldan.
"May ah asks whut brings yeh to us? Ah 'taught dat deh dragon had dun skeered off everwun who lived heahabouts?"
"I kinda go wherever I want. I ain't to afraid of too much; not dragons anyway. Plus the clams are really good hereabouts. Kinda......sulfury."
Elgan nods appreciatively.
"Deh nat'rul seesonin's iz deh bestest. Yew gots guud taste. And Ironwood Kahunas if'n yew ain't skeeret of a dragon. Ah lahks yew." The little druid grins.
"Let's head for the tower. The turtle is harmless for now - both the mind-shattering spell and transformative effect are permanent, but we do not want anyone targeting it with a dispelling formula." Altai shivers involuntarily. "Now, that would be extraordinarily bad. I'm all for keeping him as a mascot, but he needs to be kept safe. Claw can carry him for now."
"You know," he adds with a grin, "maybe Hnoss' old man wants him? He can keep him in a terrarium, feed him lettuce, that sort of thing."
You're able to head up through the tugley wood a ways; at the highest point of the island is the tower, three hundred feet tall. A massive doorway on the side; easily approachable, looms open.
"I think he lived in there," says the otter. "It used to be a giant's steading, the dragon killed him a long time ago."
"Any traps?"
Beldan checks the doorway and approach out for traps anyway.
Beldan doesn't see any. He looks in the doorway; it leads into a massive bowl; the tower is hollow. He sees a hollow where the dragon slept presumably.
Near where Beldan stands, he sees some bodies; geared out as adventurers. Their gear is totaled by heinous acid breath.
Except for one thing.
The most beautiful rapier he's ever seen in his life, clutched in the fist of a strangely armored individual.....armor which was annhilated unto uselessness.
"Whoa ...."
It has a thin, silvery blade, a grip of finest silvery chain, and a guard like a stylized rose blossom, bedecked with red gold and rubies.
"Mine!"
There's a chest over by where the dragon sleeps.
And a big book on a stand.
It's written on dragon wing skin....
Altai: feel free to pick 3 new spells from levels 6, 7, and 8 in this dragon's spellbook.
Hnoss sighs; "I.....I don't see where my father could be,...." and begins searching around.
The chest is locked.
"Shiny." Elgan agrees with Beldan.
He nods understandingly as Altai buries himself in the large tome, and then wanders off to find something interesting to get into,...
"W'ah'll, he mus' be roun' heah sumwhar." Elgan tells Hnoss comfortingly. He helps her search, turning into a bird and getting a 'dragon's eye' view of the place.
Pip grins at the talking otter
"Otter otter snarking bright.."
He looks around the steading for anything out of sorts
Perception:
Pip grins at the talking otter
"Otter otter snarking bright.."
He looks around the steading for anything out of sorts
Perception: 1d20+27
Pip starts finding a lot of bones here.....human, dwarf, elven,....even hobbit.
Many have strove against Svipdag.Giant femur.
Gnome phalanges.
"Shiny." Elgan agrees with Beldan.
He nods understandingly as Altai buries himself in the large tome, and then wanders off to find something interesting to get into,...
"W'ah'll, he mus' be roun' heah sumwhar." Elgan tells Hnoss comfortingly. He helps her search, turning into a bird and getting a 'dragon's eye' view of the place.
Elgan's able to fly 300 feet up the shaft of the tower; the roof is in tatters. There's a battlement at the top ringing the wall; the stairs that spiraled the great tower are in disrepair, and unclimbable. They were wooden and all the floors that were within the great tower are no more.
He sees nothing interesting.
“Oh yeah, sorry, your Dad,” Beldan mumbles. He pulls his eyes away from the magnificent rapier with an effort and begins searching round in the tower floor and the hollow for any hidden or secret compartments, doorways and the like.
He finds a door down to a cellar; it's roughly the same width as the tower, about 10 feet tall, and about 50 feet wide.
There's a wall of wine racks within.
Elgan returns from his tower flight, and returns to elf form to facilitate communication.
"He ain't up de're. Whut'cha foun' dere Beldin?"
Stiggy's angle of the treasure,......
"Huh? Wha?"
Stig is slumped against the wall in a drunken stupor after his private celebration with his hip flask following the dragon's defeat ... but he somehow senses the presence of alchohol, and waddles down the stairs after Beldan. His eyes light up at the sight of the wine racks.
Meanwhile Beldan searches around the racks.
No traps. But it's all elven wine.
Nothing but the best. Nothing human (or dwarven for that matter) can compare.
"Hmmmm...." Altai helps himself to a bottle of wine. After neatly vapourising the cork with a Magic missile, he takes a good chug before sitting down against the tower wall. "Svipdag doesn't seem to have held prisoners in any conventional way. But there are other ways, too - shrinking people and holding them in glass globes, changing their shape into harmless animals, that sorta thing. So - could someone get me that otter again?"
Three spells per level.
The otter appears; "yeah? What do you want?"
The chest doesn't detect as magical.
Elgan shrugs, and selects a bottle at random. He causes a tiny seed, buried in the cork, to sprout. And when it's large enough, deftly pulls out the cork with his living corkscrew.
The druid takes a speculative sip, then a swig big enough to make Stig almost respect the little druid. He wanders over to Altai and the otter.
"Sew? Yew t'ink dat deh dragun iz keepin' priz'ners inna snowglobe sumwhars? Er dat our lil' fren heah is who weze lookin' fer?"