"Meat and rest would be welcome. Pushing the fetchlings back into Shadow Absalom was a great task in itself; we should recover from that before we attempt to go up against a true dragon."
Suspicious of the new possible enemy and threat to the group, Pethjun watches the creature with silted eyes waiting for it to try something. She does give a start as the things starts speaking in her head, but she doesn't do anything, not entirely sure how to proceed and decinding to let the aptly nicknamed 'talky minion' do her thing.
When it seems the group is going to trust the creature and, in retrospect, take the best course of action, Pethjun finally speaks up. "Lots of meat would be best and some rest might be needed. Now where do we go?"
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Vanarog stands resolute as the bigfeet are ushered off back to whatever place they came Good ridden, not good trusting more bigfeet!
As voices begin coming into his head, his majestic one begins to look around confused until he realizes it must be magic "Magic bug one! It is good to finally see you, I felt your magical presence from the beginning." He rubs his scaly hands together and smiles.
"This task is something we can do very easily! Besting another dragon will be something to behold. Defending our Tribe and its Lair is why we are here. Lets get some tasty meat and mushrooms to prepare for the battle tomorrow!" His eyes light up with the visions of climbing on top of the dragon's hoard himself.
Pethjun, still slightly suspicious lets the other true dragons eat for a minute or so, chatting with whoever is providing the food first, before deciding it is safe and digging in with a gusto. She sleeps soundly, feeling that if the light-weavers wanted them dead they'd already had plenty of opportunities and sleep was more important.
Y’zilik leads you to a hive of her people, a warm and cozy assortment of twisting tunnels that would feel like home if only there was not so much light. Even the darkest tunnels are lit by tiny swirling lights that look like shooting stars, and when they treat you to a meal in the banquet chamber, the light weavers set off flashing lights like eerily silent fireworks to honor your coming. Many of these “fireworks” are dragon-shaped.
We were not sure which kind of meat you liked best, so this one brought you some of everything from the nearby market. Y’zilk and her family sip sugary liquids from luminescent bulbs, while they lay out the feast for you. You see sausages, smoked fish, some sort of meat balls in a mushroom and cream sauce, little cooked birds with a garlic butter dip, and skewers filled with some sort of steak cubes cooked with a sweet and tangy glaze. Most of the meat is slightly grey-colored, as it hails from the Shadow Plane, but is quite delicious, even if you cannot identify it all.
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
The next morning after a full night’s rest (once you figured out how to set up a blanket tent to block out the constant twinkling lights) and a breakfast of sugary grey dumplings and bacon, you set off for the Dragon tower with Y’zilik as your guide. A soaring edifice of darkened violet stone looms in the city’s skyline, some four hundred feet above.
You all feel a wave of anguish, tinged dark purple like a fresh bruise, spill over from Y’zilik. This one can go no further, honorable dragons. Too many of the d’ziriak people died when the Onyx Alliance cleared our hive to build this tower of shame. This one will meditate on their lives while she awaits your return. The light weaver weaves a gossamer layer of light around herself, and disappears from view.
Jet-black dirt extends a hundred feet around the tower in a sizable mound that obscures the spire’s base. Engraved in the hills around the tower are strange symbols, each the size of a standing human.
There are no visible entrances to the tower, though a single tunnel descends into the hill surrounding the spire.
What do you do?
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Vanarog eats heartily at the feast in his honor, happily telling the other insect creatures of the battles in the sewers earlier in the day, focusing mostly on his terrific spells and traps, but not leaving out the others entirely.
"This meat is great, a feast fit for majesty!" He crows, as he eats yet another one of the 'meatballs' stuck to the end of his talon. "These are the best of them all."
After a long night with far too many bright lights Vanarog pokes his head out of his tent, squinting and cursing at the still present illumination Food good, but too much light. We go soon.
Once they arrive at the tower he stops to take a look at the sigils . He looks at them for a few moments before waving his hands at them. "Nothing to be concerned about for dragons such as us."
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Engashez is entranced by the lights. I see why they use this like a drug! Though it hurts her eyes, she knows that she could grow used to it in time. She remains uncharacteristically quiet, absorbing the experience so that she might somehow find a way to write it into song later.
She even appears to enjoy Vanarog's attempt at entertainment. So nice of him to see that I wanted to stay in the background tonight. Softer on the inside than he lets on.
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Her happy revelatory mood of the night before replaced with studiousness, Engashez stares at the enormous icons engraved in the hill.
"These are the markings of the d’ziriak. They would be glowing if the hive were still alive; they must have gone dark when the Onyx Alliance destroyed the hive."
"But you are right, Vanarog; that is neither here nor there for our mission. The dragon must be below."
She makes sure that her drum is in position, and checks the fit of her sword belt. Satisfied, she looks ready to head down.
You head down into the tunnel. The underground tunnel opens up into what was once a vast circular chamber. Portions of the northwest and southeastern sections of the room have collapsed. Three pillars rise up twenty feet to a stone ceiling above, each of their sides covered in black marble polished to a reflective sheen. A perfectly spherical mirror floats in the air at the northern end of the space, roughly two feet in diameter. An audible hum emanates from the orb and echoes throughout the room.
Around the collapsed dirt mounds of the chamber are dozens of insectile husks, each the long-decayed body of defending d'ziriak of the hive.
Fazgyn follows the rest into the banquet hall. He is uncomfortable under the bright lights, but he does enjoy the deep red of the illusionary dragons soaring through the hall. He eats everything in sight.. except of course the meat covered in the disgusting Fungi..
The next morning he wakes rested and ready to get this over with. He follows their guide until he stops abruptly and Fazgyn nearly bumps into him. He winces as the waves of anguish crash over him. "We will return the favor to the Onyx People as a favor for you hospitality, and in retribution for their invasion of our home!" Fazgyn tells the insectoid as it fades from view.
Turning to view their goal, his tongue flicks out between pointed teeth in anticipation as he assesses the tower. "No, thank you." he says as Vanarog offers a tap of the wand. As the rest of the group signals they are ready, he moves forward to take point and stays about 20 feet in front of the team as they descend. Reaching the odd room, he darts around the corner and dives for the shadows as he draws his blades.
Stomach still swollen from the previous nights feast Athrax huffs and puffs along following the group. Patting one of his many pouches that he stuff full of some of last nights dinner for later.
"Well isn't that an interesting thing to put here. So how are are we getting in?"
Bowing to Vanarog as he begins using his wand "Oh great Vanarog smartest of all Sewer Dragons. Would you bestow your magical gifts upon me?"
As they continue down into the tunnel Athrax does his best to stick to the deeper shadows and stay silent as he goes along.
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Vanarog smiles and 'knights' Athrax with pleasure "You are worthy of my gifts Athrax. You are one of my favorites for good reason."
As he sees the slimy Skyrahk casting spells he watches along with interest
He quickly loses interest after the first however. He does however get the hint to move quietly.
Engashez's attention is, predictably, drawn to the shiny sphere. Almost as fascinating as the lights from last night. But she lets others with stronger arcane skill do the investigating.
"What do you think that sphere is all about, Vanarog? Maybe we can bring it home to remind us of Shadow Absalom."
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"Oh that sphere? Hrm, that is a good question, let me take a look and I will share my wisdom!"
Due to the prompting, Vanarog will cast detect magic and have a look at the sphere and all is shininess. Poking at it while he walks around the outside of it, murmuring to himself while shushing the others.
"You were smart to ask Engashez. Smarter than the rest for sure. Let me tell you some things that they surely can't!"
Although Skyrahk came close, the sphere is so high level it is difficult to make out. Vanarog proves that he is truly a master of the arcane, for only he deciphers the true purpose of the mirror sphere. He realizes that some of its magic resonates with that of the portal that brought you here, the portal that you can all still feel tugging on you in a nebulous way.
This sphere is unusual though. It is not only a dedicated gate from one place to another, but also a communication device. If you touch it, it will frost over and after a minute your reflection will be replaced with a view of the room for the portal on the other side. From there, you can communicate with anyone on the other side of the portal, or you can step through.
What do you do?
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"We can certainly look through or we can walk through to the other side. But there is risk for sure. What are we stepping in to? Only one way to find out isn't there..." Vanarog takes a claw and picks a bit of meatball out of his fangs as he waits for the softscales to respond to his amazingness.
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Engashez approaches the mirrored sphere. She uses her hat of disguise to adopt the form of one of the long-legs she'd copied earlier today. They all look alike... Then, she reaches out a hand to tune it to their sewer tunnels, wondering what she might see.
The mirror ball frosts over, and then Engashez catches sight of what appears to be the very top of tower. Polished mirrored marble covers the circular floor, spreading out in a forty-foot radius. A pile of gleaming copper coins with a dragon-shaped indent rests on the northern end of the platform. The platform is ringed with a deep violet stone. Beyond the edges of the platform, the dim lights of the city below are visible, accented by multi-colored glyphs adorning the sides of what appear to be massive termite hives in the distance.
Then slowly, a small shadowy dragon comes into view, staring haughtily at Engashez and the team behind her. “Jegan, what are you doing here with these kobolds? Where is my army? Aren’t they ready yet?”
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"The army is fine; did you think I was going to march them all down here? The kobolds were a surprise. Crafty little buggers; caused a real problem at first."
"But everyone can be bought. They're your new advanced guard. You're not going to be disappointed."
She then "clumsily" lets her arm break contact with the sphere....
Shadrixis looks confused. “Advanced guard? What adv—” Whatever else the dragon would have said is lost as the mirror ball frosts over once more.
"Okay, let's be fast."
"First things, that's definitely an Umbral dragon. The biggest thing is that it's a negative energy suck. Cure spells would harm it."
She looks at all the assembled kobolds. "How do we do this? I think he was buying my ruse, so we could go in playing off that... or we could just go in blades out and drum ringing!"
"Either way, let's decide now. We've got him guessing; let's not give him time to think!"
Pethjun, knowing little about the magical arts caring even less, finally breaks her silence when Engashez asks the group what to do. Giving a snort of annoyance and a glare that speaks volumes to her lingering resentment of acting like a captured kobold, she rounds on the yapper. "If it turns out like last time, I say we don't even give the uppity thing the waste of breath that talking would be! Let's charge him and be done with it!"
After a second to think about it though, she slowly relents. "But holding the disguise to get close might not be the worst idea... But after that we should hold nothing back and prove the strength of the Sewer Dragons!!"
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"That isn't much of a plan... but we seem to be in a hurry. Let me do my preparations before we head in." THAT IS A TERRIBLE PLAN! If only I could think of a better one... I wonder what roasted dragon smells like?
Vanarog begins prepping himself for battle. He takes out his list and eyes everyone up nervously as he scratches something on it, while eating a stray mushroom he found in his backpack. You are all on the list for such a bad plan!
He puts his list away and draws out another scroll, clutching it tightly in his claws he nods "I am ready. When the attack begins I will conjure in the most powerful majiks you have ever seen. Do not be alarmed. You will move very fast and attack very fast. As you enjoy the dragon slaughter this will bring be sure to think of ME as your most important, Majestic Sewer Dragon, not anyone else in a grey hood."
He smiles coyly in Skyrahk's direction.
*Edit: Before going in, Vanarog will cast an alarm spell on the entrance to this room, just in case others come after we go through.
Fazgyn cowers back from the ball as the dragon comes into view. After contact is broken, he looks to his companions and says "Sneaky minion is not able to use any cure spells," he says, taking his new nickname to heart. "But I like the idea of sneaking in behind it. How long will your no-see-um spell work, Skyrhak?"
As the spell settles over him, he takes out the remaining vials of poison from his pack and covers his blades in Giant Wasp Poison. Once this is done, he slides the blades back into their sheaths and waits impatiently for the go. "What signal is the attack signal? Or do I just attack when everyone is close?" he asks of the group.
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"Attack when we get close... or when they stop believing us." Engashez grins. "Be alert... they may already know."
She pulls out her wand and casts heroism on Pethjun one last time. "Ready?" She looks around. When she's caught everyone's eye, she turns to the mirror and puts her hand back in place.
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"...I said 'Advance Guard,' not 'Bodyguard.'" Keeping up her appearance as Jegem, Engashez tries to make this seamless, as if her hand had simply slipped and she hadn't even noticed. She continues talking as if nothing's amiss.
"All due respect, of course; don't mean to speak contrary to your dragon-ness. But they're not here to protect you, no. These are your elite troops to go ahead of the main body. Scouts. Trap-setters. Shock troops, if you will." She leans in. "They worship dragons like you," she says in a whisper. "they'll kill <<cough>> for you"
"Take a look at what they can do." She waves the Sewer Dragons forward, hoping that the dragon is at least curious, if nothing else.
Not entirely certain what she should do to be a good advanced guard, Pethjun sniffs slightly a decides she should say something to help. In a tone she'd heard many an unwary adventurer use she tries to act the part of dumb bigfoot mercenary. "Ai, dawn't care much if we bawdygauardin' oar goin' in fairst as lon' as Ai gets to puts ups trawps and gets paid...s. Sain's which ya navar saids how much we gettin' paid!"
Keeping up the argument the white kobold steps through the portal.
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After some preparations, you all step through including the invisible Fazgyn.
Shadrixis is laying back on his pile of shiny copper coins, examining his claws. "I really should eat you, Jegan. You were most rude, hanging up on me like that." Then he rolls over with interest. "They worship me, you say? Really? Come here, kobolds!" he calls imperiously. "Tell me what you think about dragons. Your god demands it!"
“Dahak?” Shadrixis looks disappointed that you are not talking about him. “Name sounds familiar, I guess. Isn’t he one of those minor deities that meddles in the material plane?”
Bored that you are not praising him, his attention drifts off to the center of the platform. Crisp air swirls around the unguarded edges of the spire's apex. A floating mirror-like sphere rests in the southern edge of the platform, while a larger sphere floats in the center. The central sphere lacks the mirror-consistency of the gate and instead swallows the already dim light of the region like a black hole.
“So if you’re not going to entertain me, what are you lot doing here? I have better things to do than talk to minions. Or is this supposed to be some sort of inspection, Jegan? If so, consider them inspected. I am sure they will be fine as cannon fodder on the front lines.” Shadrixis then nervously turns a large gleaming scale over and over in his claws. “By the way, Jegan, when am I getting a better quality hoard? These copper pieces look pretty, but I hear that mundane merchants turn their noses up at them. If I am to be taken seriously as a challenger to my mother, I need to look the part.”
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"Ahh, what a nice hole in the world you have there, in the middle. Negative energy plane, that sounds very impressive! How did you do that? You must indeed be a truly magnificent dragon!" Vanarog smiles before continuing on.
"I am Vanarog, and I am a DIRECT descendant of dragons, my blood lines are pure. Far more so than the rest of these softscales. Some more so than others of course." He smiles again, looking at the others and shaking his head in slight pity.
Engashez's eyes lift briefly when she recognizes the sphere, but she doesn't say anything. I doubt this Jegen would be the kind to recognize that; I'll ignore it for now.
"My apologies; they were far more impressive when I recruited them." She lets herself appear to be lost in thought for a moment, then continues. "Their awe must be profound, to be in your presence. I know I, too, have had this problem. Your magnificence is too much to be believed." She is quite sincere on this last point. My whole life I've waited to meet a true dragon... and now I have to fight him!
"As for your hoard...." She hems and haws, allowing it to seem as if she's broaching a sensitive subject. "As you know, we need funding to accumulate the kind of coin needed for this." Her eyes drift to the scale the dragon plays across his claws. "That scale... I'm sorry if I've brought this up before... but it would fetch a pretty penny. If I could take it to sell..." She maintains her act of ignorance about the true nature of the scale.
"...we could turn that hoard into gold"
Shadrixis preens, still clutching the large scale. "Oh good. I knew that some of you must be intelligent. Fine work, is it not? I have been crafting that in my spare time. Why shouldn't I have my own pinprick portal to the negative energy plane? Mother was far too st--" He breaks off, perhaps deciding that whining about one's parents is not the action of a monarch. "At any rate, not just anyone can do this sort of high level work. You have to be a bonafide practitioner. Do you know that this is the only portal of this sort in Shadow Absalom?"
At Jegan's comment, Shadrixis rears up. "SELL my SCALE?" He looks horrified.
Shadrixis’s ego swells even further, his chest puffing out, and the frills along his muzzle perking up. “You would be amazed. Forget those trifling spells. I am a Master of Negative Energy!”
He turns his back on the troublesome Jegan, who would DARE suggest selling his scale.
Jegan happily allows himself to be forgotten as the dragon turns its attention to Vanarog.