Scarlet pulls out the wooden chest from under the bed and smiles, "Jackpot!"
He then goes about to check for traps on the chest.
When he goes to investigate the rest of the room, Scarlet reads out the sign. “Bad dragon... acid... eats goblins... go away!”
Scarlet digs out the chest and tittles with the lock, pops it free, and opens up the chest. Within you find, 130 Gold, 40 SIlver, 20 Copper, you find a map of Barrow’s Edge and the surrounding area. Scribbled on the map looks like a few different plans of attack for looting and raiding the hamlet and the farms on the outskirts. You also find 2 potions.
Scarlet whistles at the haul found in the chest. "A lot of coins. Especially gold. Also a map of Barrow's Edge showing the goblin's raiding plans."
Scarlet takes out the two potions to be identified. "Maybe more healing potions or possibly some more acid resistance potions if we are lucky."
Seeing the arrow fly past him finding it's mark, he charges the armored hobgoblin, giving laugh as he feels the satisfying crunch of the hammer on the Goblins nose. "'at is whit ye gie fur messin' wi' uir burglar."
'Good, Scarlet remembered he had that potion, I don't know what we would do if we lost the lad.' As the hobgoblin falls, Brunner, relieved to see Scarlet was ok, put's his hammer away. Picking up the fallen helmet and axe, inspecting them, then the armor, to see if they are dwarven made.
As Scarlet asks about the potions, he waives a hand feeling that makes sennse. Then hearing a good idea, he nods in aggreement."We shoods pit aw thes mince in th' poke we foond, it will make it easier tae carry."
When the conversation turns to the door, dragons and potions, Brunners ears perk up. "Ah assume th' dragon is beyond. if we hae potions 'at prevent acid burns 'at woods wark. Ah probably shoods use th' potion ay 'bulls strength' noo 'at we mention it." He moves over to the door, resting his hammer hear him on it's head, he pulls out the potion of 'bulls strenth' ready to drink it, just before the door is opened.
"Before you drink the potion, lets see if the dragon is directly behind the door and not some distance beyond it. Would hate for the magic of the potion to wear off before we reach the dragon. Also before we get into the fight, I would like to coat my weapon with that magical oil and drink the shield potion."
"As for the acid resistance potion. Not sure who should get it. I can see an argument for the healers. But I can see an argument for Brunner too. Since he is likely to be nose to nose with the dragon."
While the group decides, Scarlet approaches the door and puts his ear up to it to listen for anything beyond.
Barnabus looks over the magic loot.
"I'll carry that battleaxe from the dragon-hobgoblin if nobody minds." he says hefting the masterwork axe.
"When we encounter this dragon, we should make sure to spread out so that the dragon's breath doesn't hit all of us at the same time."
Lanliss sighs. "I wish I had any spells left, but I have two healing bursts, my bow, and a magic sword. I can be ready."
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"Scarlett ,is there a way to quietly seal this door so only we on this side could open it? I was thinking of a chair under the door knob type of thing." whispers Dalron.
Walking Back to the rest of party
"It sounds like Lanliss could use a rest to regain his spells. Could we barricade ourselves in here for a rest so we are all at top form to deal with the dragon? If the goblins come and check on us we could just tell them that if we fail the dragon will become mad and eat everyone and the barricade is to give them time to run."
"And does everyone have some type of ranged weapon, in case the dragon does not land and is only flying?"
Turning to the doors saying under his breath"which would mean that the area behind those doors is huge for a huge dragon."
"Scarlett ,is there a way to quietly seal this door so only we on this side could open it? I was thinking of a chair under the door knob type of thing." whispers Dalron.
As Dalron is speaking he looks up to see that this is an ironbound door with a large iron bar blocking the way into this room. It seems fairly sturdy and it might take something significantly powerful to try to break through.
Barnabus Spellcraft the magical items. The magical shield is a +1 light wooden shield. The two potions are cure light wounds. The black dragon helmet is rather unique, it seems to have a fearful presence about it but not as strong to cause fear. The Black Dragon Helmet gives the wearer a +5 Competence Bonus to Intimidate.
"If the goblins find reinforcments or collect their nerve we will be trapped between them and whatever is behind that door."
"Barnabus is right. I am the only one who is down on spells. He and Evia have most or all of their daily spells still available.
"I will be ready." This last is said with more conviction than the last time he spoke. But then, "Besides, I don't really think it's a true dragon we'll face. The town of Barrow's Edge would not have sent us a request to handle a mere goblin problem if it was."
"Maybe it is a baby dragon. We might be able to handle that." Scarlet looks hopefully.
Standing beside the door, potion in hand, his hammer resting nearby, Brunner nods to the door. "True dragon, bairn dragon ur fake dragon, it matters nae. thes creature has leid these gobo's against a civilized village. it main be stopped. if we ur ready, let's open th' duir."
"True dragon, bairn dragon ur fake dragon, it matters nae."
"What's a 'barn dragon?'" Lanliss wonders to nobody in particular.
Dalron readies an arrow pointing at the door
"Lets get rid of this over grown lizard."
Just before the door is opened, Lanliss grants Dalron a use of his Bit of Luck ability.
"Also before we get into the fight, I would like to coat my weapon with that magical oil and drink the shield potion."
'Poor Scarlet has taken the brunt of the attacks opening the doors, maybe he should have the potion of resist acid just in case.' Brunner nods toward their burglar. "Mebbe Scarlit shoods hae th' anti acid potion, he seems tae be gettin' hurt th' most."
Scarlet shakes his head 'no', "I appreciate the offer Brunner. But I think you should have it. I'll rely on my agility to avoid any breath weapon."
Scarlet takes out the Oil of Magical Weapon and the Potion of Shield of Faith to use before they go through the dragon door.
"Lets check the door first and remove the iron bar before doing anything though."
Scarlet checks the door for any traps, but lets someone stronger then him try to remove the iron bar.
Scarlet places his ear against the door and hears nothing on the other side.He begins to check for traps and he finds that the only thing causing anything from coming through it the large iron bar. Dalron and Brunner scoop down and push the iron bar out of place using their shoulders. Even though they are being quiet, the iron bar drops with a heavy thunk.
Scarlet uses the oil of Magical Weapon and drinks the Potion of Shield of Faith. Lanliss prays Desna blessing over Dalron and grants him a Bit of Luck. Brunner drinks the resist Acid potion and the potion of bull strength.
Brunner shoulders the door and after a moment they push open. The doors themselves are just under a foot thick.
Stepping through the doors, it reveals a 10 foot wide staircase that gets wider ad you go down. At the bottom they are 15 ft wide staircase. As you are going down this staircase the ceiling goes up and this opens up into an expansive cavern.
This cavern is pitch black outside of the torchlight that is pouring out from the room from the above staircase. The air in here is dry with a definitely sharp, acidic tinge on the constant breeze that flows through the area. With the very small amount of light that is coming from the previous room you catch brief gleams of silver and gold just outside of your vision, and you have the distinct impression that something is moving in the shadows.
As Scarlet and Brunner reach the bottom of the stairs they take a step down and the once firm stone ground grinds she shifts under their feet, almost like rock gravel... but not. You look down and you find oddly shaped cream ivory colored gravel material.
"More architecture of dwarven make." Barnabus says as we pass through the door.
"Move forward and spread out he urges the others as we enter."
Scarlet is very nervous as they make their way down the stairs. When the step on the gravel and takes a closer look and gulps. "This gravel is bones. Bones that have been grounded down."
That being said, Scarlet recalls Barnabus suggestion of spreading out. Not wanting to be caught in a breath weapon attack, Scarlet slips off to the left side and starts to crouch as he moves. Trying to make himself smaller. He calms his mind and lets it go blank as he tries to hide his presence from whatever is in the room.
Evia thinks, staring at the creature. Are we truly doing this? Is this the life I want?
She moves to the side with Scarlet, trying to mimic his stealthy techniques, but failing spectacularly.
'Odd place for exterior doors. What's this then, bones those are bone.' Moving from the doorway, Brunner, holding his shield high moves forward. "Reit ye ur laddie, noo spreid it, thes doesnae bode weel." Staring out into the stygian darkness as his feet crunch on the macabre gravel, he moves forward, attempting to see into the darkness.
Barnabus peers about with his darkvision.
Dalron tosses his torch towards the gold and the party sees an interesting collection of goods, but to the right of the gold you see a large sized black dragon starting to stand up. Acid begins to drip from its fanged maw. Two large horns curl down and frame its face and evil eyes. The dragon begins to speak, as it speaks its deep and loud voice fills this carvers and seems like it is coming from everywhere.
The dragon stretches and its massive leathery wings are a sight to behold.
The dragon stretches and its massive leathery wings are a sight to behold.
"Oh. Oh my."
Scarlet, staying crouched, moves closer to the dragon. Looking to flank it with Brunner. Sweat is running down his face, as he is very nervous. First time seeing a real dragon and all.
He is ready to dive for cover behind a pile of gold if it looks like the dragon is going to breath fire.
As this large beast breathes you can hear the low rumble of the air exiting its body. As Dalron and Lanliss speaks its eyes focus on them, going between the two. Scarlet moving to the side brings the dragons eyes on him and is speaks;
The dragon gestures between the two dwarfs and begins to laugh a deep roaring laugh, acid dripping from its mouth.
Having no idea what the dragon is saying, Scarlet stops but continues to crouch down. He doesn't let his leg muscles relax though, ready to either spring out of the way or toward the dragon depending on what it does.
While staying put, Scarlet starts to scan the area for any possible thing that can be used against the dragon.
'What a relief, It's no bigger than a horse.' As the others spread out, Brunner moves slowly toward the dragon. Not understanding it's vile tongue, he uses the conversation time, to detect it's evil mature. When Barnabus speaks to it, he asks his fellow dwarf. "Na gabh truas ris an Barnabus, eadhon ged a tha e òg tha e na chunnart dha na daoine sin air ais sa bhaile."
The dragon becomes visibly interested when Barnabus speaks up in Draconic.
I see nothing ....
Scarlet hears Dalron release his bow and readies to spring into action.
That'll be Altin, he must be as tired of the talking as I am.' Hearing the gentle thrum of a released bow string, Brunner calls out, "Th' time fur talkin' is ower! defend yerself Dragon!" He then charges the dragon, swinging at it with his dwarven Warhammer.
"Okay. Okay. Okay," Lanliss says breathlessly as he tries to position himself so he's not in a line of effect from the dragon with anyone else before loosing an arrow.
Dalron lets an arrow fly and Brunner charges in. It might have been hard to see with Dalrons arrow but its not when Brunner attacks. Brunner swings full force and falls through the dragon and crashes into the scattered coins. The dragon that was before you dissipates to reveal Brunner on the floor.
Brunner looking farther into the cavern and sees a robed figure towards the back turn and run deeper within.
As the same time the remaining party members hear a screech from behind. The group turns to look and see a black flying figure coming towards them ready to attack. In a fly by attack is screeches by and bites Evia in the shoulder causing her to stumble forward. Evia takes 3 damage.
The dragon flys into position opens it maw and flys by as it releases a line of acid that begins to scorch everything within its line.
Dalron, Barnabus, and Lanliss are covered in acid.
Initiative
Round 1
Everyone
Round 2
Dragon
Everyone
Scarlet can't help but crack a smile when he sees Brunner fall through the illusionary dragon and then give a sigh of relief as the dragon wasn't real.
Spotting the robed figure, he gets ready to make chase until he hears Evia's scream of pain behind him. He turns to see the much smaller dragon flying away.
He drops his sword and then pulls out his bow, taking aim at the dragon, he lets loose an arrow.
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Dalron sees the dragon at the last moment to spin away from most of the dragons breath. Acid singeing his left arm where his armor was not protecting him. with gritted teeth"Son of A !"He moves closer to his torch to increase his vision.
Fighting through the pain, Dalron draws another arrow in a swift motion and lets it fly at the dragon.
"AArrrggghhh, Gantin Bludy damn dobber fake Lizard." Realizing what he yelled out as he fell through the imaginary Dragon, Brunner pushes himself up with his hammer, turning toward the others "Oaps, sorry abit th' leid." He sees the fleeing figure, "Guid day ye! come back haur, waur nae dain wi' ye!" he then sprints after the robbed figure.
As the dragon flies overhead you see that it is about the size of a cat. This is a creature that is evil and vile, yet because of its size, somehow cute.
"Ack!!!! It's burning my eyes!" Barnabus calls out in pain.
"Take this ye' little worm!" Barnabus calls out and then throws a globe of force at the little beastie.
What about Lanliss' attack? Did he not fire once he realized that the dragon was illusory? if so, can that attack be used for the flying thing or the robed figure?
Evia draws out her rapier and holds it high into the air.
"Now this tiny dragon,
We're here to halt its plot.
Blade, spell, dagger,
Send it to the ground
To rot, rot, rot!"