As Marigold finishes her spell, JJ is covered by a magical barrier of pure faith.
Ryan summon's a spiritual weapon made of force, but it is not successful to pierce through the dragon's magical defenses.
Juraan creates some more energy resistance to protect JJ.
Kikinnin maneuvers around but he finds the dragon's neck is longer than he calculated.
The jaws clasp though by the metal of his armor causing no harm!
The dwarf tries to bite back with his axe, but he founds Dhorlot's scales are as thick and hard as his own armor! The dragon smiles with superiority while even more of Kikinnin's wounds heal up.
Dolgrin swims with ease grasping himself to the stone stairs.
Maxim swims without much difficulty, turning around the stairs in order to try climb up when he stumbles with something in the waters...
...whom JJ attacks, but his sword splashes on the water surface without hitting effectively...
...the assassin who jumps out of the waters propelled by his natural flippers while twisting in the air to attempt connect with his fist on the young boy!
But Marigold's faith shield deflects the punch and Saagogoi falls back to the waters where he floats with ease.
Dhorlot side-steps repositioning himself in the stairs, his voice thunders in Bhal-Hamatugn's entrance "Such a waste having to consume my rebellious spawn like that"
The dragon bites and flaps his wings in the air, cutting with his claws on the dwarf's body while surprising him with his tail.
"Stay back Marigold.." calls JJ, then remembers her affliction.
"bಅಂದರೆ, ಮಾರಿಗೋಲ್ಡ್ ಹಿಂತಿರುಗಿ"
With the fish man below him, JJ plies his swords, taking advantage of the higher ground from the steps.
While impressive, the flurry of blows is not the most effective, although one looks like it might have lightly injured the creature. It's hard to tell in the flickering light and amongst the dampness of the pool.
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AC = 27, Smite, PfE
HP = -22hp
Weapon Equipped = +1 Flaming Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Smite Evil, Fly, Resist Acid 10, Protection from Evil
Kikinnin takes the blows over and over, thanking the Luck of Abadar's Coinflips, the dragon missing more than it hit. "Keep talking, Black. You shove us aside, beat us down, hoping we'll roll over, but we know you ran from the Red, and we killed the Red. You'll regret coming out of hiding, but you saved us the trouble of having to come back to exterminate you like the black rat you are."
The black beard uses his gift of flight to circle the dragon, heedless of the opening to opportunistic attacks, so he can take the higher ground, and encourage others to engage the dragon in flank.
He spends a brief moment healing himself, and waits to see how the dragon responds to the new pain in his arse.
Juraan tries to do something direct against Dharlot:
« שאַקינג אָנכאַפּן » . .
0 - Detect Magic
1st - Disrupt Undead, Magic Missile, Magic Weapon & True Strike
2nd - Bull's Strength, Knock &
3rd -
:
Near the base of the stairs Maxim drags himself out of the waters
Ignoring the fish man nearby, the dwur wizard sets his eyes upon the Black higher up the stairs, shifting forward to stand with Ryan with a nod to the cleric...
"Water's a mite chilly for me... How's my bror doin'?"
The gun-mage draws his double-barreled pistol in readiness for engaging the drake...
"You dwarves pick the strangest timing to go for a swim. Is it a family thing? " Ryan quips as he studies the situation.
Seeing JJ engaging the Assassin and Kikinnin harassing the drake Ryan take a moment to call on Abadar's strength.
cast Bulls Strength +4 Str 6 minutes
With few other options, Marigold reaches out to mend a few of JJ's wounds before trying to hike up the stairs - she knew Kikinnin couldn't take a continued whomping like he just did for very long.
Weighing his options Ryan decides keeping the others in the fight is the best thing he can do if Kikinnin's earlier hit just glanced off the dragons scales.
"Grant your healing to those in your service against this black and his minions."
Ryan then steps forward mace and shield in hand to help Kikinnin.
Despite being in the water Saagogoi moves within with as much skill as a fish would do. Anyway, JJ connects with him with one attack of his swords.
Kikinnin slices with tremendous strength through the dragon's scales. It is difficult to tell if his roar of pain is more motivated by the axe of the dwarf's words.
Juraan starts casting a spell away from the dragon, but the wyrm's neck is long and takes the sorcerer by surprise!
Bur Ryan appears with his saving shield and blocks the dragon's jaws when everything seemed lost for the Professor! The cleric gives Juraan the much needed time to complete a sparkling ray that is born in his hand and scratches the dragon delivering the full power of a lighting bolt in the electrocuted wyrm!
Maxim ignores the assassin and climbs up into the stairs.
Saagogoi kicks at the dwarf's back as he is climbing up creating a large bruise but Maxim successfully reaches the stairs and gets his doubled-barreled gun, and starts cleaning it of water.
Ryan's muscles grow in size considerably as he finishes his spell.
Meanwhile, Marigold touches JJ and some more of his wounds disappear.
Dhorlot bleeds from almost everywhere. The father dragon looks worried at the warriors surrounding him and attempts to bite deep at Kikinnin.
And his jaws tear back and forth at the dwarf who fights to not be destroyed by the powerful beast. He then moves back and starts flapping his wings. The powerful appendixes elevate all dust and pebbles while Kikinnin and Ryan need to protect themselves to avoid being pushed. Dhorlot jumps and starts flying over the waters astonishingly fast approaching to the bank of mist in the center of the inner lake.
Saagogoi answers JJ with his own flurry of blows.
But JJ is able to easily see the punches coming from his advantageous position and dodges all the attacks.
Ryan swings as the wyrm decides to run
Kikinnin takes another swipe at the black, before closing his eyes against the massive swell of air that gathers under the dragon's wings. When he opens them, the dragon's already well beyond his immediate chase.
He stands on the stairs, watching his companions, assessing their circumstance, as he himself debates flying after the dragon by himself, over a lake of unknown depth...
"The spell will allow you to carry but one, perhaps JJ, I know the professor graced him with protection from acid same as you, damage is needed now and his swords are better prepared for that than my mace." Ryan says as the dragon leaves them behind.
Almost as if she knows what Kikinnin is contemplating, Marigold struggles up the stairs to offer her companion some restorative magics before he can move out of her reach again.
"You'll need to do better than that my fishy friend" says JJ.
His swords are a blur around him, as the lad, protected by his fellows magics strikes from left, from right, from right again and finally trickily with his ancestral shortsword in his left hand once again.
Luck seems with him, as more frog blood coats his mithril blade.
Again, taking +2 for higher ground.
Glad for JJ's intervention, Juraan casts another spell at Dharlot
« שאַקינג אָנכאַפּן » . .
Dhorlot's scales deflect Ryan's mace with ease, but they are useless against Kikinnin's faith in his axe. The flames twist around the blade and burn the dragon as he takes flight.
Ryan channels healing more of the group's wounds.
Marigold casts a spell further healing Kikinnin.
JJ stabs his first sword between the upper ribs of the assassin's chest, the kuo-toa quickly losing breath, then cuts with the second one the aquatic monster by neck. Saagogoi sinks lifeless into the waters of the lake.
Juraan's spell makes it short by far unable to reach the dragon, while Dolgrin climbs up into the stairs out of the water, breathing with difficulty.
Maxim takes aim and Kikinnin ponders his chances while Dhorlot flies into the mists of the lake.
JJ reaches down to the fish man and drags him up the stairs.
"If you have a moment, do you think this creature had any magic on him? He was certainly persistent enough. "
Ryan grounds his mace, handle laying upon his leg, reaching up to his key he murmurs to himself, while studying the fallen Assassin.
cast detect magic on Saagogoi
As the drake takes flight, Maxim loads an alchemical cartridge into his pistol , then draws a bead on their foe...
The gun-mage squints... as he invokes arcane magic into the pistol
Then calmly pulls the trigger;
:
:
Kikinnin looks off at the dragon, and the expanse, and gives up any idea of soaring off to engage the black in mid-air.
He snuffs his Fire, then sniffs his Axe for the black's blood, committing it to memory, before cleaning it all off.
Kikinnin turns to JJ. "If you're picking over pockets, you might not want to overlook Dhorlot's room back there..."
The black beard remains on the stairs, and waits to see if the dragon returns. More importantly, he looks across the waters for signs of a frog and a boat.
"H-holy..." Marigold gasps as Dhorlot flees into the mists and the battle ends, at least for the time being. "C-can we g-get somewhere l-less open and exposed n-now? D-dragons are s-such p-prideful c-creatures; he m-might t-try c-coming back w-with that acid b-breath of his!"
JJ drags the fallen frogman up toward the dragons room.
"Well, he attacked us first. I think Kikinnin is right in this. Let's see what he was sitting on."
Ryan will tell what he might see, waiting to see what JJ's answer to Kikinnin's prod might be. "We at least know where it is, within this complex. However unless we plan to spend the night or swim home then perhaps we should use your remaining time to ferry us across to the stairs. Doesn't appear the boatman plans to return." mulling it over a moment "Perhaps he has a flying carpet to speed our trip home."
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JJ manages to grasp the kuo-toa as he starts to sink in the lake.
Maxim stops breathing then pulls the trigger. The shot travels the long distance almost instantly, the dwarf's aim deadly. The bullet reaches the dragon on his left wing, the arcane magics enough to pierce through the wyrm's special resistance.
The wing's membrane tears and breaks at the point Maxim reached it; the extreme pressure of the air making the rest to break the surface that holds the dragon in the air. As the left wing totally shatters, Dhorlot fights to keep himself flying with his right one, but he heels over to his left quickly losing altitude.
The large black creature is lost in the darkness of the cavern but you do hear a loud splash sound followed by silence.
After some seconds, waves in the lake lick the stairs for a while, then they stop coming.
Dolgrin looks at Maxim fully impressed.
Kikinnin looks around for the ferryman and finds the canoe the group used to reach the city-temple lost in the middle of the lake, entangled with a group of stalagmites. With his flight magic it results an easy trip to reach it and bring it back to the stairs.
Ryan inspects the possessions of the kuo-toa assassin.
Magical slippers
5 daggers prepared to hold venom, but ruined by the water
Soaked loincloth
Slippers of spider climbing: When worn, a pair of these slippers enables movement on vertical surfaces or even upside down along ceilings, leaving the wearer's hands free. Her climb speed is 20 feet. Severely slippery surfaces—icy, oiled, or greased surfaces—make these slippers useless. The slippers can be used for 10 minutes per day, split up as the wearer chooses (minimum 1 minute per use).
Kikinnin watches in awe as Maxim finds the creature, and plucks it out of the air with a single, well-placed shot. "Well struck, Bror. Well struck."
The black beard stands still, and waits. He waits, as he listens to the pulse in his blood, given by his God. The pulse that instructs his vigilance of a possible return of the black. He waits, and listens. His Smite against Dhorlot... Kikinnin doesn't trust to the true death of the dragon, so looks across the waters, into the blackness, and lets Abadar assist him. If the dragon is truly dead, he waits for his blood to still, and release him from the oath against evil. If the dragon is still alive, he should still feel his oath, unreleased, as death has not permitted it.
Kikinnin will not rest until he's certain.
Maxim nods slowly at Kikinnin's praise;
"Only dropped it on account o' its wounds bror. That was down to you, the Prof an' Taskerhill..."
:
The gun-mage holsters his pistol, an catches the look from Dolgrin. He meets it with a scowl, then spits.
"Let's get to the drake's horde... Make some part o' this fool's errand worthwhile..."
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As Marigold moves to try and help identify the magic slippers she can't help but catch Dolgrin's look, though she decides to keep her thoughts to herself.
Butting into dwarven clan affairs is liable to get one of us a heck of a tongue-lashing...or maybe even a few loose teeth.
Still, she can't help but smile a bit sadly.
Even with the bad blood between them, he's still proud of Maxim. I guess maybe you never really stop being a parent, no matter how grown your children are.
The halfling's musings are interrupted when she realizes that she understands the nature of the enchantment on the soggy slippers. "H-Hey! These s-slippers let you w-walk on w-walls like a sp-spider. D-Don't you have s-something like that, JJ?"
Ryan notices something pass between Dolgrin and Maxim; but it's gone before he can make anything of it. Shrugging he turns back to Marigold's exclamation about the shoes....
"That's right JJ, you could have simply run up to the dragon's perch when Kikinnin flew up. I had forgotten you had those...." Ryan says, readily apparent that he is not holding JJ at fault for not using the shoes.
"Kikinnin??" He queries as the paladin continues to look out across the lake.
You do come back to Dhorlot's room and investigate the different clay pots lining the east and west walls.
You look for the loot and most of the pots are empty, but some hold the dragon's hoard: 60 pp, 800 gp, 1100 sp, 400 cp, finely wrought electrum bracers (500 gp), four sets of silver flatware (50 gp each), three rubies (300 gp each), two emeralds (200 gp each), 1 cut zirconium (10 gp), 3 magic scrolls, 1 wand and 4 potions.
Scroll of dismissal
Scroll of cloudkill
Scroll of wall of fire
Wand of see invisibility (with 11 charges remaining)
Potion of cure moderate wounds
Potion of darkvision
Potion of displacement
Oil of keen edge
JJs eyes go wide at the dragon hoarde.
"Wow, that was one rich lizard! I guess the frog men brought it their treasures.."
He sighs a little, remembering the slippers.
"Magical boots are always helpful..." he agrees "But I didn't take those in the end, I've been wearing these ones that help me go faster since that last underground lake..."
"And anyway, someone needed to stop the assassin."
Ryan studies the scrolls, wand and potions once they are found in the dragon's hoard.
Ryan recognizes the potions of CMW and Darkvision however the remainder of the items escape his initial understanding.
"Any ideas what the rest of these are, JJ's scouting duties would be well served with the darkvision potion."
Marigold also tries her hand at identifying the items that escaped Ryan's understanding and manages to discern the nature of a few of them.
"W-Wow...this is a s-scroll of Dismissal..." she whistles. "And th-this, it's a w-wand to s-see the invisible. It's g-got maybe 11 ch-charges left."
Once the horde is appropriately transfered to the Cauldron's pockets, the group begins his way back home by mounting in the lake canoe.
The journey through the lake waters is tense, as you look for the dragon's body without finding any certain clue of his sinking into the waters. After some minutes you reach the other side and find the lava tube you used to reach the gargantuan cavern.
You do see a small halfling hidden behind the shadows of the rocks.
"Time to head back for some well earned rest. I wonder how the faeries are doing?" says JJ, hoping for some words to help make the trip back more enjoyable.
"I g-guess..." Marigold mumbles as she stares into the inky waters of the lake. She knew she should feel relieved, ecstatic even, that they could now begin the journey back to Cauldron after having spent so long underground. But she felt uneasy. What would Celeste have to say about what had happened? And there was still the matter of the strange, hidden mark that she and Zenith apparently shared.
"I h-hope everything is okay b-back home..."
After Dharlot's death, Juraan looks at the magic items that Ryan and Marigold could not identify:
"Oh. These are a couple of powerful spell scrolls. One is cloudkill and the other is wall of fire
When they start the journey back...
... nothing seems amiss approaching the lava tube
Maxim also casts his eye over the items yet to be identified:
:
:
The gun-mage taps the bottle he can identify:
"Potion o' Displacement. Will make mighty difficult to tag in a scrap..."
Although tired by the intense events, the group advances through the lava tube surely lead by the now expert undergrounder JJ. After around ten miles moving through the stalactite-studded tube, you reach the vertical fissure that leaded you here.
The climb up is much more difficult now, specially with the dead bodies you carry and all the accumulated tiredness of not having a decent bed night for... a week now?
Once you make it out of the fissure, you emerge at the bottom of the Pit of Seven Jaws. The rotting body of the Seven-Headed Cryohydra still meets you at this point.
Now that you are away from the horrors of Bhal-Hamatugn, you take a respite while all others finish up climbing. The quite moment allows you to have a drink and a small snack.
"I'm all for not going back down there again in a hurry" says JJ, yawning with fatigue.
"How the dragon gets in and out is a mystery."
Staring around the darkness he gives a bit of a satisfied smile for himself.
"Still, I think I'm starting to get used to this place. The ways sounds echo off the walls. The steady drip of water. It's not Cauldron, but... I can almost see why you dwarves settled down here."
"I believe Dragons can shape-shift sometimes."
"That probably how they can get in and out of places like this."
"As well as mating with people leading, leading to dragon bloods. Like me."
"I'm [u]almost[/u] disappointed Dharlot's dead."
"He might have had interesting information about my lineage."
"But he was hardly forthcoming or accommodating."
"Just as well he's dead, I guess."
"He knew I was some distant offshoot from his line."
"Any idea why he thought you were too, Kikinnin?"
As they stop a moment for a rest Ryan notices the cryodrake's body lying nearby. Taking a moment he goes by to study and see if any usable items still remain.
"Kikinnin??"
"Dhorlot's not dead. I can still feel the Pulse within my veins, giving me strength against the black. If Abadar's able to see all, He hasn't released me yet, knowing that the dragon still lives."
...
Kikinnin watches as the others gather the goods, keeping watch at the doorway to Dhorlot's room.
"And th-this, it's a w-wand to s-see the invisible. It's g-got maybe 11 ch-charges left."
"So, you can give us all a chance to see these marks, on you, and on Zenith?" The black beard tilts his head, and raises an eyebrow slightly, curious.
...
Kikinnin watches the waters below the boat, tense the entire time they travel across the lake. He keeps his hands on his Axe, expecting trouble at any moment. He imagines a trench a mile deep, waiting for a hapless armored dwarf to fall from the canoe, and drift into the deadly deep, unable to resist the pull of his plated weight.
Arriving at the opposite shore, the black beard looks for a place to bury Zenith, allowing Dolgrin a less strenuous climb back up. Presuming the can find somewhere to do so, Kikinnin enlists Maxim's help to make sure that Splintershieldslag is buried appropriately, within the ground or laid down under stone. He considered disposing of Zenith over the side of the boat, but thought better of it.
"Still, I think I'm starting to get used to this place. The ways sounds echo off the walls. The steady drip of water. It's not Cauldron, but... I can almost see why you dwarves settled down here."
As Kikinnin continues to bear his father's body, he leaves a dwarven reply to either Dolgrin or Maxim to answer the boy.
"He knew I was some distant offshoot from his line. Any idea why he thought you were too, Kikinnin?"
"Why would I concern myself with what the dragon thought? Evil dragon, remember? Do you revere the black, Juraan? You seem to take pride in your drakblood. If that's true, why? Especially if it's black drakblood?"
"Just curious, Kikinnin. None of us can control our ancestry."
"Don't assume too much because I am curious about my unknown ancestry."
"Unlike you, some of us do not have the luxury of knowing our ancestry."
"Beyond my parents' names I know almost nothing of my lineage."
"How did you come to learn you had black blood, then?"
"My parents' will, which Gretchyn gave to me and Essodydd when we came of age."
"It said little more than Legau and Gwet Uthlatch both had black dragon and earth elemental in their blood."
"And that they knew, somehow, they were going to die soon after writing their will, when my sister and I were quite young."
"We couldn't tell from their will or letters if they didn't know much about their own bloodlines, or if it was best we knew as little as possible."
"What little we learnt explains our ... distinctive ... eyes, though. As well as our own individual arcane talents."
"It both curious and sad knowing almost nothing about your past, beyond being unusual."
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"I c-can't use the w-wand m-myself," Marigold responds, fidgeting uncomfortably under Kikinnin's stare. "It's m-magic is a-arcane...b-but M-Maxim or J-Juraan should b-be able to."
And what if the mark's the same? Are you going to kill me too?
Stop it. You and Kikinnin - and everyone else - have been through a lot together. He's not going to just start swinging that axe without a good cause, so...don't give him one.
_______
"M-maybe so...b-but m-maybe sometimes, s-some things are b-best left unknown," Marigold remarks as Juraan and Kikinnin discuss the merits of knowing where one came from - or not. "S-sometimes, wh-what you d-don't know really c-can't hurt you..."
"Fair points, Marigold."
"Maxim, would like that wand of See Invisibility?"
Ryan listens in to the conversation as he studies the cryohydra's body.
" Lineage, bloodline, nobility, orphan, all of these things may be a part of our past, and a part of who we are today. But, they are not who we are. Marigold, JJ, and Juraan all 3 of you come from the orphanage, by Cora Lathenmire, Todd Vanderboren or Annah Taskerhill's opinion nothing more than commoners. Birth can grant you access to the nobility as a classification, however I have seen the noble heart with which these three defend their friends and Cauldron their home; I would dare say they are more noble than any of the other three."
Ryan pauses a moment before continuing
"Knowing where you come from is a benefit some enjoy more than others but the knowing is only a benefit if you use it to better yourself and those around you. If you wear it as a shield to deflect blame for the actions you take to hurt others. then perhaps you are no better than a brigand yourself."
Ryan concludes wondering what has he become, when he meant only good....
Maxim nods at Juraan's offer of the wand;
"Makes sense. Can't shoot what I can't see..."
As talk turns to lineage the gun-mage also chips in;
"Taskerhill has the right o' it I reckon. Ain't none o' us the same as who we was born to be... Know I ain't for a hard fact..."
He lets the comment linger, shooting a stern look towards Dolgrin before continuing;
"Orphan, foundling or "beloved" scion - don't matter what you were before... just who ye are now."