Tess nods and moves to assist Kahtia.
Charles, using life sense, does not seem to find any additional life beyond what is obvious. There are no hidden life forms within the egg shaped objects or within the prisoners.
Both ideas to freeze the goop off and melt the goop off will work. Freezing it will take longer, but melting it comes with a risk of injuring the prisoners.
Kahtia and Tesswyn move to investigate the other huts. The next hut they look at has three more people all gooped up. These all look like miners. So does the next. It seems as if the four outer huts contain miners, while the inner huts contain some other group of people, dressed similarly to one of the prisoners you rescued earlier. The first inner hut you open shows the three people, with the purple ooze considerably more brittle. The faces on the people seem to have scales, much like the reptilians you fought earlier.
Suddenly, one of the prisoners breaks free from the brittle goop, the purple substance falling away in shards and flakes. It looks fully reptilian, dressed in tattered deer hides. It looks at you with confusion and vomits forth a stream of acid.
The other two prisoners are starting to stir.
"Kahtia!" Tesswyn shrieks as the creature spews acid at the wizard. Her scimitar flashes, slicing the thing's head clean off!
Seeing the others starting to stir, the rogue doesn't hesitate, moving to strike down a second one.
Desperately turning away as acid sprays at her, Kahtia yelps in pain as the vile fluid eats through her clothing, sizzling and burning her skin. "Augh!" she shouts to the others as she falls out of the hut. "They are being transformed into the lizardfolk, and beware, some have already turned!"
Drot pauses when Kahtia speaks. He turns to her with a puzzled look on his face.
"Sorry? Did I miss something?"
As expected, before she answers he goes back to what he was doing, assuring her that he is still listening, and not at all distracted by what he was doing.
Inside is mind, he could feel The Berserker fussing about and pull this way and that. This wasn't completely usual when there were strange things about, but the fussings were directed toward Kahtia, this was unusual. Shrugging it off to the time apart and the touch, though he didn't mind it, The Berserker may have.
He pressed his idea again.
"If we can clear them of this... adhesive... at least from the head to below the shoulders, and arms, we might be able to pull them out without doing any lasting damage. Any ideas?"
Drot begins to make a fire to heat whatever metal rods he can find, his hammer, or one of Mouse's appendages if it won't hurt him very much.
When the scream from Tesswyn is herd, he rushes to help!
As Drot rushes to help, Tesswyn immediately puts down two of the emerging new born reptilians.
Meanwhile, Kahtia escapes away to protect herself.
Charles looks over to the other hut to see Kahtia stumbling back, acid searing her face. He shakes his head, cursing their luck.
"You," he notices some of the people they've rescued so far and realizes they are rushing away. "Damn. Phil, I need you to get the people we're able to rescue and gather them into a group, alright? We need information, especially from the ones who have been here for a while."
It was obvious to Charles that Phil was done being on the front lines, but giving him an easier and safer job to do might be exactly what he needed to do at the moment.
He ran over to the hut where Kahtia was retreating from and looked inside to see the others.
"We need a plan. A way to save those who haven't transformed.
Kahtia, Mouse, come here. I'll heal us."
"By the grace of the New God, heal our wounds."
The vampire had somehow stitched together Mouse's wounds. Magic washed over him, and he could feel his energy returning. Perhaps the dour-looking man was not as vicious as his appearance belied. A speaker flared to life, speaking in a strange tongue.
Mouse follows Charles to each of the huts weapons at the ready. He fires into the hostile lizards as soon as Charles gives the signal. It was disturbing to see just how many people had been transformed. The automaton consoled itself with the thought they were better off dead.
With quick succession and teamwork, you're able to dispatch the remaining reptilians - even if they were poor bastards who were kidnapped and forced to change by some sickening process.
Next, you hear up a metal rod to try and melt the goo away from the current survivors. Between everyone, it only takes a short time. Maybe half an hour at most to free the remaining people.
Phillip and Kenneth work together to bring them all about and keep them organized.
Prisoners still captured: 24/60.
Prisoners Rescued: 18
Prisoners lost: 18
Once as many of the captured people were cleared from the goo as could be done Charles had them gather together.
"Everyone, listen up. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Charles. This situation is not ideal but know we are here to help. We came here with our own group, some of which are still captured by those lizard men. We are going to try and rescue as many of you as possible.
For the moment, I'd suggest staying in a group until we return. Is there anything anyone can tell us about these lizard men? How they are organized? What they are doing here? How were you all brought here? What they plan to do? Anything might be helpful."
Kenneth speaks up, You bloody well know as much as we do! We've only been here a few hours!
But Philip pulls him back, Calm down, Ken. We're just here to help.
Help! If you're here to help, why the f~$% are we still here? We need to get out of here as soon as possible! Get out of this damn forest! F!%% the rest of them! We need to run!
Several others grumble agreement.
"Alright. Alright! Calm down, I'm not asking you all to come risk your lives with us and help us rescue the others. What I am asking you to do is not be a bunch of selfish pricks and help those we have rescued so far, whether they're from our village or not. Don't just go rushing off into the forest, that's idiotic and how you likely get lost and find yourself in more trouble. If you need a place to retreat to, our mining camp is in shambles but not completely destroyed. Go back, pack whatever supplies there are, and be ready to move if we don't come back within 2 hours."
Fine, my liege, Ken retorts, the last part under his breath. A few miners chuckle at it, but Philip just shakes his head and walks away.
The Miner's start to head off back towards the camp, leaving behind two people you do not recognize. These two are dressed in the same deer hide clothing you have seen previously. They cling to each other in fear; the older of the two looks no older than fourteen years old.
The vampire had somehow stitched together Mouse's wounds. Magic washed over him, and he could feel his energy returning. Perhaps the dour-looking man was not as vicious as his appearance belied. A speaker flared to life, speaking in a strange tongue.
Elvish(Goblin):"Thank you, o wise one."
Charles looked over at the clockwork in its odd voice. It took him a moment to recognize what he'd been hearing as Goblin.
Charles shrugs off the comments from the other miners and turns to face the two children who remained. His other sight swept along the tree lines, hoping to spot some of the other strangely dressed folk they had rescued hiding nearby. Though they had been busy assaulting the encampment, he was berating himself now for not speaking to them and offering words of assurance when they had first arrived.
"Don't worry," he says in a gentler tone, kneeling down. "we will find and rescue the others who are still captured. Now tell me, what are your names?"
...Micah, says the older boy. The younger girl with him does not respond.
As Charles' steps away from giving his "pep talk", Drot catches his attention and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Uncharacteristic of you, but perhaps they needed that. We are approaching the most dangerous leg of our expedition, stress levels are very high. We'll pull through. We should rest for a while, unless Tesswyn thinks we may still save a few from the depths of the cave. I will let you know what's decided."
Tesswyn kneels beside the children, trying to appear friendly. "Micah. I'm Tesswyn. Can you tell us about yourselves? How were you captured? Are there more of your people here?"
Charles nodded to Drot'ook. This caused him to be momentarily distracted from the conversation with the children as he stood up and walked back with him for a minute.
"I don't care what they think of me right now. We haven't had much time to think since you and I first left the mining camp, Drot'ook. We have a lot more things to worry about now.
I understand their concerns. We brought these men here with us on a mining expedition, they didn't sign up for getting captured and having to fight for their lives against... lizardmen slavers. Some have died, others are still captured, and now we have a whole other group of people to worry about!
Right now we have to make several decisions. The miners are here planning to leave in just a few hours, these children are here and alone now because the other people dressed like them we rescued have already run off.
Then there is the matter of those we haven't saved yet. Not to mention..." at this point his vision caught Tesswyn stepping in to fill the gap he left with the children. He didn't turn around, he didn't have to, and he sighed heavily.
"We need more time but we don't have because every minute we waste is a minute that other things are happening. Do we continue to chase after the retreating lizardfolk? We've already given them a half hour. So do we chase after them right now and deal with whatever trials await us after what we've already dealt with? Do we do as you suggest and rest in order to go after them at full strength, but leave those people at the mercy of the lizardfolk longer?
Do we try to find the people other group who were already captives but managed to escape into the wilderness? So yes, there's a lot to consider right now, I'm stressed because of it all!" he let out another heavy sigh.
"But to be honest, Drot, I don't want to let those people suffer anymore than they have to. It might be more dangerous but I think we need to go save them."
The boy responds, My family lives in these forests. We have for as long as we can remember. But then these lizard things captured us. At first, they just took a few of us, but after a few weeks more and more came. We've been here for weeks. They build those huts and then take people inside, we hear screams and then nothing. And we hear the loud roar from the caves. My grandfather says it is the road of a dragon.
Tesswyn blanches when the boy mentions the word 'dragon.' "Oh, f@#% me," she mutters.
"You're safe now. Stay with these other people and get clear of this area. We're going down there to rescue who we can and--gods help us--fight a bloody dragon, I guess." The rogue rejoins her companions and relays what the boy said. "We shouldn't delay any longer. Let's get this over with."
Kahtia spends time cleaning herself up, and using a healing salve, before she rejoins the group. She watches with a slight smile as Tess looks after the children and rejoins the group as they discuss their next steps.
"I agree with Charles, and with Tesswin," she voices from behind the paladin, approaching quietly. "We need to save as many of those people as we can. The fate that awaits them is horrific... death would be preferable. And the longer we wait, the more difficult that task will become."
The machine responded to Charles in a universal sign. Shrugging his shoulders, Mouse's speaker flared up once again.
Though his belongings were few, the automaton produced a dagger from somewhere and motioned towards the cave entrance. They'd spent their time well, but now they must face the beast's challenge. The swarthy voice of an unsavory character reverberated from the clockwork's innards.
"After yew cap'n, time's a wasting..." with an ominous chuckle, Mouse once again falls silent.
Not wasting any more time, you make your way into the cave, and find the steps descending into the darkness as you once. The first dozen steps or so are covered with blood and gore from when the fleeing reptilians were slaughtered with magical explosions. It makes the top steps slippery.
Once you are past that, it's an easier climb down. The stairway is long and narrow, spiraling down deep into the earth.
After an hour, you finally start to see the glow of the lava river from when some of you fought the salamander cult worshiping some demonic brood mother. Peering around the corner, you see the old river. Nothing seems out of place at first - there's the altar (damaged and not even used as an altar anymore), there's the bridge over the river, there are plenty of reptilians about moving the prisoners towards the back of the cave. A new place of worship is set up close to the river of lava - It seems as if these reptilians have been worshipping whatever made that terror inducing roar.
And then you see it. Something shifts within the lava. Something is swimming with in. The lava bulges up as if something was emerging. A head. A lizard head. A giant lizard head, attached to a longer neck.
You recall the old stories - stories of wild beasts barely more intelligent than animals that used to roam the wilds, flying through the skies and consuming anything they want to. They are attracted to gold like a dwarf, but are as mean and vicious as a wolverine. They are the dragons. And right here in this very cave was one.
The dragon has had it's wings violently removed, the scarred stumps still stick out of its back. It also has a large scar across its throat. The scales, however, contrast vibrantly - each has a rune carved into them, which shimmer in the intense heat. Its tail ends in a strange scoop shape, which seems to be an attachment to its real tail.
An aura of fear washes over you.
Despite having mentally prepared herself to see something terrible, nothing Tesswyn had imagined compared to the horrible sight of the massive, scarred, runecarved dragon. Eyes wide, she whimpers and involuntarily takes a step back. Her hand reaches out--
--and grabs a hold of Charles's. She squeezes it tightly, taking comfort in the familiar warmth of his grasp, as she waits for the fear to subside.
Charles had remained largely quiet while heading down the stairwell. His memories of the time they had barely escaped this place were coming forth in his mind. When the glow from the lava below became visible, his stride became much more cautious.
Charles glanced around the familiar room, taking in the sights and seeing where the rest of the captured people were being kept. Then he saw it, and watched in awe as the dragon rise from within the lava.
He manages to hold himself strong against the sight, perhaps it was that his fear was tempered by his empathy for the obvious pain and strange ritualization the dragon must have endured.
Then Tesswyn grabbed his hand and he turned to look at her. It was the one thing he hadn't been expecting. There was a moment of apprehension, tension in his shoulders, and things he wanted to say, but then it all melted away in that moment and he relaxed. Instead he gripped her hand and said nothing, he simply waited there with her until the fear had subsided.
Mouse steps back at the sight of the massive creature before him, his fingers clutching the grip of his gun. Standing completely still, the automaton slowly released the firearm from his iron grip. Perhaps announcing their arrival to the entire cave network was a bad idea. With a low crackle, the goblinoid tongue reverberated from within the clockwork.
Eventually, the fear subsides and Tess realizes whose hand she is holding. She gives Charles an enigmatic look before slowly releasing her grip and turning back to the scene below.
"Not sure what Mouse said, but I'll bet he's thinking the same thing. We take out the dragon, the rest of the lizards will flee or surrender. It's a f#&~ing dumb idea, but also likely the best chance we have of saving the other prisoners."
Crouching down, the rogue rummages through her pack. "I've got a potion that will grant me fire resistance, and another that will allow me to fly. If Kahtia makes me invisible, I can get close to the dragon and launch a surprise attack to get its attention. If we focus all of our might on the thing, we might be able to take it down without anybody dying."
Charles glanced at Mouse as the Clockwork spoke. "You have managed to suss out his meaning. But unless that thing comes up on land, I won't be able to do much other than support your assault.
I suppose I could try to keep the lizardmen from interfering."
Kahtia retreats at the sight of the dragon -- she's never seen one before! Her heart pounds in her chest and in her ears as she watches the thing from cover...
"Do we have any way to lure the dragon out of the lava? Perhaps some sort of magic, Kahtia?" Tess asks.
On the way down the steps, Drot feels the magic lay lines coursing through himself and the area. He takes advantage of this and inhales deeply, the magic concentrating and flowing into his lungs, making his eyes briefly glow with power.
Drot sees the dragon, he watches it with a keen eye. Nervous for what is to come, but not afraid of the beast. He knew that they could out smart the thing, there was always a way...
"I'm afraid we may not be ready for this fight either. Though I was wrong last time as well... Might we take a moment to make a plan at the very least?"
As the minutes pass by, the dragon swims in the lava river, occasionally giving out a "small" roar - loud enough to feel the deep rumble in your muscles and bones, but not so loud as to echo out of the cave.
The reptilians - those who aren't prostrate at the prayer altar - finish putting the prisoners in a back corner. There's no real cage or pen down here to keep them contained, so instead they leave handful of reptilians to keep guard over them.
"Aye," Kahtia says from her crouched position. "We're as good as dead if we don't, Drot'ook -- we don't stand a chance against an ancient beast like that in a straight fight." Her eyes scan the cavern, soaking in details -- the position of the stalactites overhead, outcroppings of rock that might be used as cover, the paths the lizard-men would take if they were to join the fight.
Then, looking at Tesswyn, the mage nods. "I think I can get it out of the lava, yes. What are you thinking?" Looking back at the creature, fear wells in the woman's breast again. "Have we any hope of reasoning with it? Have any of you encountered a wyrm before?"
"I doubt it will be willing to talk. Get it somewhere we can surround it. Attack from all angles to keep it off-guard and so it can't breathe fire on everybody at once. Strike hard and fast and take it down as quickly as we can."
Charles frowns in thought. "I've heard stories but I don't know any that have someone trying to reason with a dragon before. Your guess is as good as mine. It has old injuries, I'm fairly certain I could heal it but I don't know what good that would do. If we try to speak with it we give up any sort of initiative we have with it."
Kahtia shakes her shake, just slightly. "Dangerous, Tesswyn. The lava, it's fire breath, other lizardmen who might be lurking... what about trying to distract the monster while we move the captives to safety?"
Gesturing at the nearby lava flow separating the group from the prisoners cowering near the portal, the black-haired sorceress continues. "I may be able to push most of those guards into the flows. If someone else stays with me, they can finish them off while I make a stone bridge of sorts. That will take me some time -- perhaps the rest of you can distract the creature and keep it busy until we have the prisoners across the bridge and traipsing up the stairs."
From her crouch, the mage looks at the others for a moment, from one face to the next as orange light reflects in her green eyes, and shadows play in the folds of her clothing, and in her cleavage.
"Our deaths will be here, in this cave, if we step wrong. We must all be sure of our plan."
Charles looked at the woman and back out toward the cave where most of their group had once fought for their lives in order to escape. Things were different in some respects now, but the situation was largely unchanged. It was where he had first become a Paladin, pledging himself to fighting the evils in the world. Where he'd had his first interaction with Astrid. And where he'd destroyed his first altar to the Demon Lord. So much had changed, but now he was back of his own volition. He decided that if he lived through today, he would renew his connection with The New God and Astrid. He would return to hunting down the evils in the world.
But first... we just have to rescue those people, and survive the day.
"Our first priority needs to be rescuing the captives. But in order to do that we practically have to fight our way through the lizardfolk and that will likely prompt the dragon to act, even if we don't attack it first. That jump across the lava is too much for anyone.
Kahtia, if you can create a stone bridge and allow everyone to try and escape immediately back here to the tunnel stair entrance, let's try that first. If you can go invisible and sneak your way over there, we might be able to let the captive group know about our plan and that we're there to help. You may be able to convince them move around a little bit and obscure the bridge forming from immediate sight. Or maybe you could wait for the dragon to roar a few times to cover the sound... if we're lucky we might be able to do this and have everyone escape without them noticing until it's too late.
Tesswyn, you still have your ring that does that, right?" Charles seemed decently confident about his plan. For a moment, the Paladin felt like his old self. His personal matters set aside, he could focus on what needed to be done.
"If things don't go well, we'll be just around the corner and ready to start drawing their attention."
Tesswyn slips the ring off her finger and hands it to Kahtia. "Be safe. We've got your back."
Kaht takes the ring and holds it delicately. "We need to keep that dragon far from the captives. It will kill every one of them if it comes this way. And if we don't distract it, it's certain to do just that. My speaking while invisible, or appearing in the midst of the captives is sure to spook some of them and cause a commotion. Remember -- some of them cannot understand us. I think it better to just form the bridge and show them the way once it's in place."
Looking at the five guards that will be her immediate problem, Kahtia ponders her options. "Rather than starting with wind magic to attempt to send them into the lava, I could distract them with a glamour, a din that would sound like yelling and fighting. If they moved to investigate it, I could slip behind them while invisible. But that would surely attract the wyrm, as well. I believe it makes more sense to attack the guards and the dragon from a distance at the same time. If you all fight defensively, I should be able to create the bridge and begin moving people to safety in less than half a minute."
Round 1:
Everyone huddles together and starts to plan. You're at the base of the stairs, barely hidden behind the curve of the cave before entering the enormous cavern where the dragon is bathing in praise from the reptilians.
Mouse carefully walks amongst the stalagmites down towards the Demonic Altar. A low whirr is the only sound as he descends. The altar, destroyed some time ago, is no longer used for sacrifices but perhaps its foul stone may be put to some good after all. Ducking behind its sturdy surface, the mechanical waits for a signal to act.
"If I may, my book here details many aspects of architecture and the importance of a stable and well maintained foundation for any structure..."
Drot pulls out a well read tome, seemingly mundane, and flips through some of the pages. Perhaps the orc has finally lost his mind, and has decided that the time for show-n-tell was now, in the presence of a dragon...
"A spectacular idea that I've been able to apply to time dilation, allowing me to alter the passage of time in a small area."
He turns to a variegated page near the end of the tome that shimmers with pulsating, quicksilver light.
"I can trap the dragon once it's alerted of our presence and hold it for a short while, about a minute, frozen in time. That should hopefully give us the time we need to dispatch the lizard-folk and get those people to safety. We must be out of the cave before the minute is up or we may have to face the all of the actions the dragon would take in half the time it needs to do them..."
Drot follows Mouse, he whispers his incantation for magical armor and readies himself to intercept the dragon or one of its kin.
As the group makes their final preparations, Tesswyn whispers a spell to protect herself with oak skin. She drinks one bright red potion that has an acrid smell, warding herself against fire. She follows it up with a second potion, this one a runny brown that smells musty and tastes worse. The rogue gags a bit as feathery wings sprout from her back. She flaps them experimentally before nodding to indicate her readiness.
***
Shield in one hand, Tesswyn grips a talisman of a one-eyed face in the other. "Alright, Grimnir, you bastard. I'm going to let you in."
Once Charles casts his blessing, she leaps off of the stairs, wings flapping and propelling her through the air. She flies towards the lizards guarding the captives, swooping over their heads. The auspex opens herself up to the signs around her as she intones gruff syllables in a strange tongue. Then she screams as one of her eyes turns into a black raven that wriggles out from her face and flies around her head, where it is joined by a flock of screeching ravens! The brids beat, peck, and claw at the lizards as Tesswyn's empty eye socket becomes a black crater filled with starlight, and a long beard tumbles from her chin. "The One-Eyed God hath come!" she exclaims as she stows the talisman and draws her scimitar!
"These things are going to be even more dangerous now without my invigorating spell to help. We shouldn't take any more chances than we have to to. May the New God heal all wounds."
"May the blessings of the New God grant us the strength to overcome this challenge."
"Astrid, guide my shot."
"Risky, Drot'ook. The creatures attacks would be devastating if we're not able to get clear in time, and remember such ancient things often have magical immunity. But it might be worth a try if things get desperate..."
When Charles performs his blessing, laying his hands on everyone, Kahtia smiles briefly, holding his hand close to her rapidly beating heart. "I did not know you cared, Charles," she says with a wistful smirk.
As Drot'ook and Mouse sneak off, and as Tesswyn takes flight and Charles draws his bow, Kahtia casts Fling, trying to knock the lizardmen guards into the flowing lava...
Round 0:
Charles blesses everyone with the divine aura of the New God, granting everyone a boon on pretty much everything.
Round 1
Drot and Mouse head off to hide behind the old destroyed demonic altar - one in which Charles, Drot, and Tesswyn destroyed so log ago.
Kahtia brings forth the power of wind to try and knock off all the guards while Charles fires an arrow at one of the genuflecting reptilians.
The arrow pierces the reptilian's skull at the same moment that there of the guards are flung into the lava. Their screams echo in the cave as they burn.
None.
Tesswyn rises up into the air, making her declarations.
She brings forth ravens to attack the remaining two guards. One is nearly fully consumed by the ravens, the other heavily bleeding but still alive.
The four remaining reptilians all stand up and roar, but the roar is overshadowed by the dragon, who dives into the river of lava and starts swimming towards Tesswyn. It surges out of the lava, causing waves to splash onto the shoreline. As it surges out, it reaches up to snap its jaws at the flying woman. The maw slams shut on air several yards shy of where Tesswyn is flying, and the dragon falls back into the red glowing river.
Crouching by the side of the lava that separates the human captives from freedom, Kahtia wastes no time in raising a scroll and reading from it, unleashing the parchment's powerful magics with the power of her voice.
Unfazed by the dragon's snapping jaws, Tesswyn descends on the nearest guard and dispatches him with a strike of her blade. "It is time to meet your wyrd," Tesswyn intones, leveling her weapon at the dragon.
Drot didn't anticipate the dragon rushing to the other side of the cave so quickly. He mutters his reliable spell of haste and rushes to Tesswyn's side, hammer and tome at the ready.
"Velox; Ventus!"
Once he can see the dragon's eyes, he stares at them, never looking away. He speaks to it, loud enough for it to hear him, with grunts and guttural noises you may recognize as the Dark Tongue Drot seldom utters.
"Mae'r rhain yn perthyn i ni! Yn ôl i lawr nawr neu fforffedu'r hyn sydd ar ôl o'ch bywyd!"