Isandril listens intently before continuing with his questions, his tone as friendly as ever.
"And who -or what- is the White Goddess?"
'white goddess'... I don't like the sound of that coming from a kobold- probably a dragon blocking our way...
With a look of displeasure on his face, Micah quietly continues to listen to Sand's interrogation.
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"Thank you for the translation, friend Sand." Kurza says quietly, leaning in to briefly grip the elf's shoulder warmly. "The little dragonkin here looks a bit worried that his fellows will notice the questioning. Let's bring him over here a ways, out of earshot, before we continue." Then Kurza leads the elf and the kobold a safe distance away, where perhaps the rushing river could serve as a bit of a sound barrier to conversation. I will keep guard with Flarghin on the trussed up remaining kobolds. It gives me a chance to pick the old dwarf's brain on a few things
Turning to see where Lavinia picked back up the trail, he moves to Flarghin before quietly saying, "Given the bitterness of the land of Vaasa, it seems a perfect place for the desolate souls of those that follow the Lady of Loss. From your experience with Kobolds, and that they look like little dragon folk to me, do you think they could be talking about a dragon when they mention the White Goddess? Or does the White Goddess mean anything else to you?"
"I notice Lavinia seems to have picked up the trail again. Were do you suppose that will lead us through...up there in the mountains I mean, before we might get to Vaasa...?"
"He is human, but sometimes he is not. Sometimes he has claws and fangs like a beast. He moves like a predator...he...could be watching and we wouldn't know..."
The kobold snakes his head around in a worried look.
"The White Goddess is just that. She is a goddess. She is white. She is surly when awake. She sleeps deep through summer. Winter she awakens hungry, and we need gifts to appease her...thus...your treasure the dark man promised..."
"Definitely a dragon. Probably a white one unless kobolds are fully colorblind."
"I think we've wrung all we can from this one. Let's follow the trail Lavinia found and kill us a 'man who is not a man'. Preferably while avoiding the dragon."
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Kurza takes out his pouch of coins and counts out 1 gold for each of the dead kobolds. He looks to Sand and says, "Pass this along to deal with the dead and their families. I promised we would be fair. Perhaps it will go toward future goodwill among the races here in this part of the world."
Expecting to let the kobolds take their own dead and go once his friends were done with questions, Kurza set to cleaning the trail of the bodies of the ogres, saying a prayer over each to Tyr as he did so. Knowing time is of the essence, he doesn't bother with burial or burning, figuring the bodies would be set upon by hungry scavengers soon enough.
I wonder what that kobold meant by eggs? Kurza pondered further as they travelled along following the trail of the dark man...
After having gotten a good feel for their prey's trail, Lavinia returns to the group. "Trail turns north, towards the Galena Mountains." She listens to the discussion regarding the kobolds' White Goddess. A dragon, eh? Never actually seen one of those... how fearsome could they really be?
As the party starts away from the battlefield, Micah listens intently to all that Lavina has to share. When she is finished he ventures to speculate, "a man who sometimes prowls with claws could be a lycanthrope... a werewolf, as it were... is anyone prepared to fight such a creature? I mean, that's only one possibility, of course... some sorcerers, and those called 'bloodragers', for example, can transform their hands into claws by calling upon draconic power in their blood... still, it might be wise to grab a few silver weapons in this town, if we can."
I wonder if we'll have enough time for me to ready a different spell...
"Lavinia, could you hazard a guess how long it will take us to reach the area in the mountains the kobold described?"
The one untied and conscious kobold gladly takes the blood money for their dead compatriots, and Flarghin hands him the rope. He asks Sand to translate that he's not to untie the others until you are beyond sight, or else. The kobold nods silently, as the others struggle against their bonds.
As you follow further along the trail, into the mountains, it occurs to Lavinia that "the half orc town" is likely Palischuk, a small town to the east of Castle Perilous, the former seat of the Witch-King of Vaasa. The town is peaceful, and trades with the both the humans of Damara and the dwarves in the nearby Ironspur mountains. It is almost entirely settled by half-orcs, though there are a handful of other races in the area.
The trail continues on, now heading straight into the mountains, and you begin to notice it's taking a strike upwards in direction, as the altitude begins to climb. As the party continues on, you have a choice to make - it will be getting dark soon, the wind is blowing from the north, and this heads up into the mountains.
The slightest flurry of snow begins to fall onto your faces. You are about four hours from the nearest settlement that you know of, the dwarven town of Ironspur in the mountains. You could notice a handful of small caves that seem like they could be safe from the elements pocketing the mountains. The trail itself seems to carefully avoid these caves, and presses on up the mountain side. Lavinia's geography knowledge tells her that a few of these caves lead to underdark passages that connect to the dwarven cities on the western end of the mountains, including Talagrab...but other dangers as well. Lavinia believes trailing the entirety of these mountains could take all night, depending on the path this quarry takes...or it could take only a few hours, if it's one of the caves nearby.
You feel the wind biting at you, and it is already cold as it was last night - though the sun has yet to set.
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"I know time is against us this night, as is the cold wind off The Great Glacier to the north. I prepared a spell to endure the cold, but I only have the ability to protect one of you and even with the new cold weather gear we brought along it will be difficult at best for anyone else. I am willing to do whatever the rest of you suggest, though, loath as I am to say this, perhaps it is best to take shelter soon and press on at first light. Lavinia would know best if the trail will still be viable after a snowfall. What say you all?"
"I have a scroll which would give us 5 hours of protection, split among multiple of us. If you protect yourself, Kurza, I can give the rest of us a little over an hour of protection if it becomes necessary."
"I could also attempt to remember such a spell. I feel as though I have cast it before, but it could have been another scroll."
"I have prepared a similar spell," Micah answers, "each casting will protect one person from the cold for a full day. I could cast it five times but that would deplete much of my magical resources and leave me precious little else to contribute if we find ourselves in trouble again before we rest..."
"I have a scroll which would give us
524 hours of protection, split among multiple of us. If you protect yourself, Kurza, I can give the rest of usa little over an hour6 hours of protection if it becomes necessary.""I could also attempt to remember such a spell. I feel as though I have cast it before, but it could have been another scroll."
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"Well then, we seem well protected against the elelements after all and should get to casting. Leave me out of the spell as I'm very resistant to temperature extremes. I'll cover Sand and you can get everyone else. Maybe we will make some ground on our quarry."
Kurza begins the encantation to endure elements, and once done he places his hand on the elf letting the protection magic wash over him.
After everyone is protected, the party sets back to the trail, looking for any sign that the man-not-man they are following took camp or encountered others during his travels.
"Bear with me for a moment. These spells are surprisingly tricky."
"Fourth time is the charm, it seems. Shall we be off?"
The party uses magic to ignore the overnight extreme cold and presses on through the night. By another hour in, party suspicions seem to be confirmed...the bootprints in the ground stop at one point, and great cat prints begin to move onward, taking leaps between difficult climbs, and merging back to human to climb up to one particular cave in the mountain side. It's a good thirty foot climb up the cliff side, and this time there are no pitons...merely a pile of rope at the base, and a dangling sliver where your quarry cut loose. Someone clearly knows they're being followed.
The rockside looks like it is not an easy climb for beginners, slippery with ice and few handholds.
Odds are he's trying to outdistance any pursuers, but he's already left one group of allies in his wake - and this'd be as good a place as any for an ambush. Lavinia nods to Flarghin and pats the coil of rope stowed on her belt, then moves fifteen feet farther down the cliffside from where their prey ascended. Carefully finding purchase on the rock wall with her left foot, she begins to climb, pressing herself as flat as possible against the cliff and trying not to disturb any loose rocks.
Lavinia slowly climbs up the mountainside in total silence. She makes it to the mouth of the cave unharrassed. A piton lies spiked in place where the rope was cut. Flarghin signals up to her that he's ready for the rope, and he hammers a piton into the ground below to securely loop the rope around so it doesn't blow in the breeze, offering a solid line and wall to brace against to make the climb easier for others
When Lavinia looks into the cave, she notes all of it is covered in a thick sheen of solid ice, and it slides downward as far as she can see without a light source. It is pitch black in the cave beyond the mouth, but you think the ice will reflect any sources, making it brighter. Large cat prints descend down into the darkness.
Confident that the rope will hold, Lavinia slides down it back to the ground and quietly relays the situation to the group. "Approach will be tricky on ice, and light will give us away to anything with eyes open to see it. Could be nothing's inside; could be there's something asleep. Could be." She gives her chin a rub and stares up at the ledge, then turns her gaze to her companions, briefly looking Kurza up and down.
"Even going in blind and slow with one to lead us, we are like to be heard. Sliding in fast we might take anything inside by surprise, but it will be a bumpy ride."
"We may as well slide. I am not a particularly stealthy man, and somehow I doubt Kurza is either. Let me cast a ward first, however. It might give us an edge if there are more undead inside. Only problem is, I can only catch 5 people, and if anyone attacks the spell is broken. Two courses of action I considered: Casting it on everyone but Kurza, and letting him attack the undead with his holy weaponry, or casting it on everyone but Lavinia and trusting in her own stealth."
"Or, option 3, I save my spell and we go in swords swinging and spells blazing."
"If there are undead inside I will need no magic to protect myself," the hin states flatly.
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"Plate armor isn't meant for skulking about, of that we can surely agree on." Chuckled the tiefling.
"We do have plenty of rope, plus this recovered amount. Should the slope prove too difficult with the ice you mentioned seeing there, at least we can keep from sliding over a pit. I say we slide in and I can go first since we will not be checking for traps, or worrying about stealth."
The big tiefling looks over his friends expressions before offering one more comment. "Cast your ward as you will. It can't hurt."
"If a battle cannot probably be avoided," Sand offers with a shrug, "then having the element of surprise on our side is certainly preferable to the opposite happening."
"I can make myself invisible, but I admit this particular spell's duration is short, around half a minute or so."
Flarghin listens to the group and raises an eyebrow. "I can plant myself here and brace this end of the rope, if that's what ya want to do. Aside from the tiefling, I think I'm the strongest of ya, no offense to any of ya."
He stops, and pauses for a moment, scratching his bearded chin. "If only a few of you can sneak, and a slide down will be quick...why not a few of you sneak, and if there's trouble, holler, and those of you what ain't quiet can slide down after?" The dwarf nods and smiles slightly. "I can keep m'self quiet if you need another pair of feet down there, or, if you need strong arms to hold rope to let the going easier, I have you there too. Whatever, lads. The paper may have me as a leader, but truth be told I always liked to listen to what you young folks had to say - fresh perspective is good perspective. I know that ain't usual dwarf thinkin, but I reckon' I ain't usual dwarf."
He stops and blinks. "'Course I do think only me n' Kurza can see in the dark, so...there's that..."
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"I think I can best be used inside near the front. If something is in there I can be a focus for any enemy and since I can see in the dark I will be at less of a disadvantage."
He gestures to the party, "Everyone else just go as quiet as you can so as not to draw attention to yourselves. If you prefer and are able to do so, cast a light spell upon something that you can stow easily or crack a sunrod and keep it in a pouch. Take it out when you need light quickly."
Looking to the dwarf he says,"You stay at the entrance holding that rope, for we may need your strength to pull us back out. I feel confident having you guard our backsides. If we need you we will give you a yell."
The old dwarf nods to Kurza and looks at the others. "If that sounds like a plan for the rest of you, I'm for it."
He begins to tie rope tightly to the piton below for support, and awaits confirmation.
"I am ill prepared for this kind of assault," Micah answers with concern, "but if this seems the best course of action to everyone else I'll do my best to keep up."
"We can go that route. Although, this is embarassing. I neglected to buy a light source."
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Flarghin raises a bushy white eyebrow at Majhul. "Ain't a couple of you folks mages? What use is a mage if'n ya can't magic some light? Tarnation, boy, a damn stick and some fire will work if you really are hurting. I can spark a fire, or the girl can. She lives practically in a giant ice cube. I think I saw her spit on a wet log and get the damn thing aflame once." He nods with pride at the halfling, and crosses his arms.
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"I have plenty of torches with flint and steel to light them as well that you are welcome to. Despite being able to see in the darkness, I know not everyone can. I apologize for my assumptions about your light sources."
And with that last comment, Kurza hands over a torch and the material to light it to Majhul, then steps forth, gripping the rope tightly, and begins the slide...
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Majhul looks crossly at Flarghin.
"My discipline deals with powers of the mind, not creation. I didn't hear you complaining when it's helped in the past..."
"Now, let's begin our descent."
Majhul promptly turns, and immediately stumbles, forgetting how close to the ledge he was. He rights himself, but kicks a small pile of loose rocks in the process.
"I do have a compass of sorts that can shed light on command, so there is that," the elven warrior mage says simply as he starts to move, although not quite as stealthily as he would have liked. Between that and the noise made by Majhul and Kurza he cannot help but sigh. Still, his apparent exasperation quickly gives its place to amusement and a soft chuckle.
'What a group we make,' he thinks to himself.
Flarghin would simply facepalm if he weren't busy holding the rope so the others can descend at their own speed instead of sliding down. As Majhul and Kurza start a clamor, the cave remains otherwise eerily quiet. Kurza, descending first with a few clangs as his plate echoes lightly through the darkness, notices the tunnel opens up as he gets deeper, and eventually, about a hundred feet from the others, the downward slope stops, and it opens up to a large, wide cavern...still covered with ice in almost every direction, but the northern wall seems to have a niche carved along it - a ramp that circles the walls, moves over the tunnel he came in through, and moves upward...though the limit of Kurza's darkvision prevents him from seeing exactly how far. It's slim...a halfling could walk with little difficulty, but a human would need to hug the wall carefully.
It's the main contents of the room, however, that stands out pretty exceptionally...easily, before him, is the largest pile of gold that the young tiefling has seen in his life! And before he can gasp at it, the rest of the party starts to arrive...and they see it as well.
And, sleeping on the pile is not a single, massive dragon, though there does seem to be a rather huge indentation where one would likely be. No, there, are, however, five sleeping wyrmling white dragons nestled in various locations in the pile of treasure...as well as a more recently laid clutch of four eggs, roughly three feet long, and half-buried in the ice of the floor of the cave.
It seems the rough noise provided by Kurza's armor, Majhul's rocks, and the light Sand is giving off were not enough to awaken them, but you can hear chuckling, high above you; someone else heard you...too far for even the light shining off the ice, which easily illuminates about a hundred feet, and Kurza's darkvision to pierce, a chuckling in the distance. "That is how you enter a dark, unknown cave? You're almost making it too easy..."
The words echo off the hallways, and the dragons stir a little bit, but don't quite awaken the dragons. It's a strong, baritone voice, full of confidence bordering bravado.
"It's unfortunate the mother is out hunting, but the babes will have to do...and you really shouldn't have left your dwarf friend alone."
Just then the rope goes slack...and a single rock begins to fall from the top of the cavern. Before you can realize what it is, the thunderstone hits the ground in the middle of your party, and the deafening sound echoes loudly throughout the entire cavern.
With that the dragons on the treasure awaken, and seem none too happy about it...
The riled dragons waste no time taking action - they awaken to see a group of humanoids before them, and the first thought that comes to their weak minds is food, as they begin to chirp, and yell the word out in draconic to those who understand. While dragons are intelligent, those of you with any arcane knowledge know that white ones are the most bestial, and their babies have precious little chance to be reasoned with when hungry...and it appears they are not waiting to give you the chance.
They all immediately take to the air. Two of the beasts fly over to the wall above you, gripping onto it's icy slickness in the way only white dragons can, and they open their mouths, spraying white frost down onto the party from above. You can feel a supernatural chill eminating from the blast, and it rips straight through the cold weather gear you purchased earlier.
The other three, meanwhile, each seek out a target to attack, rushing recklessly at their perceived breakfast. One's teeth scrape against Kurza's armor, unable to break through it's steel. Another has a much better purchase on the less armored Lavinia, and sinks it's teeth into her shoulder (2 damage). Finally, the third moves towards Majhul, but it's teeth are unable to penetrate the psychic's armor.
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Kurza realizes his foolishness as the voice taunts him from beyond his sight. How reckless of me! In my zeal to find this villain I have lead us against common sense!
As an explosive sound rattles the air, Kurza shakes his head to dismiss the ringing in his ears. Somehow the force of the thunderstone was turned aside.
Thank you Tyr for protecting me so that I can in turn protect the others.
Swiftly drawing his blade from his back to deal with the charging dragon in front of him, he catches some of the icy breath on his armor but Tyr protects him from the full effects of the bitter freeze, and his inherent resistance to cold protects him from the rest.
With a huge swing of his blade, full of power, he attempts to cleave the dragon in two!
He then steps closer to Lavinia in order to help her with the dragon currently harassing her.
Despite his agility and reflexes Isandril finds he cannot avoid both icy blasts. Thus, even though he twists and turns away from one he finds himself in the way of the other. The cold is enough to make him shake despite his heavy clothes, but it nevertheless does not prove enough to stop him and neither does the sudden deafness he finds himself afflicted with. Instead he wastes no time, rushing to Majhul's aid with sword in hand.
Majhul reels from the ice blasts and deafening stone, but tries to pull it together. He again searches his memories for any spell that might be superior to what he has, and the weaknesses fo white dragons.
Majhul steps back and sneers at the dragon that tried to bite him a little.
"Apparently Flarghin was right. I can start fires." he says and snaps his fingers at the dragon
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Seeing Majhul scorch the little dragon, Kurza yells,"Well done friend Majhul! We shall finish with this immediate threat quickly!"
Then noticing the wicked slash Sand struck on one of the dragons, he exclaims, "Not to leave you out Sand. You are far too swift for me as I almost missed it! Good job!"
With a single mighty swing, Kurza cuts down the baby dragon before him, while Sand rushes in to flank against the dragon on Majhul and cuts wickedly at the beast, slashing deep into it's neck, but the little dragon still fights on...
Majhul manages to easily duck out of the way as the dragon tries to snap at him again while he casts his spell. The little beast is a tough bastard, gritting it's teeth through the majority of the flame, but fire is in fact it's weakness, and it just can't stand up to the combination of Sand's cut and the inferno.
I told them it was a dragon... why didn't we sleep and come in the morning... I should have protested... somebody is, clearly, going to have to be the voice of reason for this company... what I wouldn't give for a scorching ray right now...
With few suitable options available to him, Micah takes advantage of the fact that there are no dragons on him to conjure some spellfire and shape a spell: he enchants one of the flying wyrmlings to be overcome with laughter...
The dragon targeted by Micah's spell suddenly starts chuckling...then laughing, harder, and harder, until he lets go of his grip on the icy wall to hold his belly with his claws, laughing hysterically. The dragon falls downward in the midst of the party, landing on the ground with a solid thud. The fall does not seem to stop the creature from it's revelry - as if it didn't even notice the fall.
Out prey! Lavinia rolls away from the dragon harrying her towards the ascending ledge and retrieves a sunrod from her pack. Damn dark!
Lavinia manages to avoid the dragon's snapping teeth as she backs away from it with her impressive acrobatic moves.
The small beast turns it's attention instead on Kurza, as the warrior stepped between him and his prey. Not knowing the tiefling is resistant to the cold, but simply knowing it can envelope the great fiendling and the smaller halfling in the same blast, it opens up it's mouth and unleashes a torrent of frozen air on the two of them.
The dragon caught in Micah's spell remains locked in it's hypnotic laughter, while the other small one on the wall manages another gust down towards Micah and Kurza.