"Unbelievable. A flame drake - stronger too. Who let this guy in here..." is what penny bursts out through the agony of the flames tearing at her skin.
She looks at Taylor, unhurt by the fire, and quickly casts a spell on him. She then looks around for a quick exit, attempting to get to cover.
Penny is at 20/27 HP
Yngvilda was in the process of going to get her shield, but cries in frustration when she is hit with the fire blast, more at not being able to get her shield than the pain. Her wounds are almost completely healed by Tykent's channel, and it fixes her headache.
"Get down here and fight us you coward!"
She then drops her greataxe, draws her shortbow, and fires.
Eldon hasn't even had chance to investigate the creatures that attacked them when the fire ball hits.
He is just fast enough to avoid the worst of the fire however and launches straight into a spell. Sending another ray of electricity at the drake.
With an astonish burst of speed the drake drops into a dive and comes hurtling towards the group, closing the gap so that it is now 30' away from you. It soars above you, circling and preparing for its next attack.
Yngvilda continues to shout at the drake, and continues to wish she'd done more practice with her bow.
"Come on Taylor. These folk cant take another one of those blasts. you know what to do!"
Taylor lets out a chirp before taking to the skies himself. Flying up above the giant drake.
Tykent takes the opportunity to glare at the creature. ”It was a mistake for you to come here,” he intones ominously, and a chill breeze suddenly pulls at his cloak. ”Begone!” From above, the translucent hammer falls like a shooting star after the drake, making one last strike before fading into nothing once more.
Cwm looks around for anyone that may have left a bow and some arrows lying about, seeking cover until the dragon gets close enough for him to do anything at all.
Cwm finds a bow with a quiver of arrows from the auction which sold but hasn't been claimed yet. He scoops them both up and prepares to attack next round.
Tykent's spiritual weapon strikes the drake, though it's damage is low enough that it doesn't seem to harm it too badly. His evil eyes affects the drake as well, reducing its defenses.
Eldon is still too far away to use his ray, so he dashes forward until he gets the drake in his range and blasts it with electricity.
Yngvilda misses with her bow as Taylor repositions.
The drake dives at Eldon and bites him before badly and scorching him with flame before continuing to fly onward back into the sky again.
Eldon squeals in pain clutching at the grievous wound. He hisses out the words to a spell and runs for cover.
Seeing the opportunity, Taylor flies by the much bigger drake, attempting to use his smaller size to his advantage. He reaches out with a wing as he flies by, attempting to touch the drake with his magic spell.
DC 15 fort saves
"Your wings will beat no more, your eyes will see nothing, and your fire will be extinguished forevermore," Tykent continues, the wind growing stronger with each syllable. "There is nothing for you here but your own death."
Cwm quickly examines the bow before loosing a shot.
for
Yngvilda drops her bow, and moves over to Eldon drawing her longspear.
Taylor delivers the spell, but the drake is too tough for it and shrugs off the blindness effect.
Cwm's arrow glances the dragons hide and Yngvilda prepares to strike at the first opportunity. Tykent reduces the willpower of the drake, even though it is only slightly.
The time the dragon targets the Ulfen warrior. Diving towards her, the female fighter swipes at it but mistimes her attack as it grabs a hold of her as it flies past, ripping her flesh and nearly critically injuring her before flying back into the air once more.
Clutching at his wound with one hand Eldon pulls a small bottle from a pouch, flicks off the cork and swallows the contents.
"Call that a bite? I barely felt anything! I didn't know drakes were such cowards!"
Despite her grievous wounds, she stands her ground and braces for another attack
"And now your doom is upon you!" Tykent slams his cane down on the ground, and a strange burst of light flashes from the impact before appearing again around the drake.
Cwm reloads and fires again, trying to stay hidden.
for
for
"Oy, Taylor. Get outta there. You are no good to me dead" Penny shouts as her tiny friend flies back. Instead she reaches out her hand, and tries to grip the fire drake from within.
"Your little friend did not like this. Lets see how you fair. Get over here!"
DC 16 fort for half damage, and negate the move
The drake is unable to resist both Tykent's and Penny's magic, becoming more susceptible to their magic and taking maximum damage from it. With a burst of speed and a roar, it soars towards the shaman as it clearly has had enough of his magic. He dives and chomps its large jaws around his shoulder before flying off again.
Cwm's attack lands as does Yngvilda's, and the multiple wounds are clearly beginning to take a toll on the beast as it flies back up into the air and prepares for its next attack.
"Do not worry, Hope - I will be fine." Tykent soothes his upset companion before turning his gaze once more to the creature in the sky. "You cannot stop the hands of fate by attacking the messenger," he intones, voice suddenly deeper again and echoing slightly as if from far away. "Nor can you stay death with violence. Now begone!"
Cwm grins as an arrow finally leaves a scratch. He reloads and sends another skyward.
for
Yngvilda is getting a bit sick of this thing attacking her allies when she can't defend them. She keeps her spear in one hand and puts her other on one of the throwing axes tucked into the back of her belt. She knows that range is a problem with these things, so she waits
Feeling a little better, Eldon begins casting another spell. The words of his incantation coming out in a more hurried fashion than usual.
"Stop Flying! Get down here you winged fiend!"
Penny grows agitated with the creature using its ability to fly to keep it safe from our attacks.
"I can't keep doing this all day..." she mutters to herself, as she switches to a lesser draining spell.
Eldron's missiles slam into the drake followed by Yngvilda's axe which hurtles through the air and embeds itself into the drakes skull. That attack does the trick and the large flying creature suddenly is no longer flying as it drops to the ground and crashes nearby.
When the screaming stops, the Baroness begins to step forward to congratulate the heroes for saving the day "Praise to the conquering heroe..."
From out of the sky, an enormous black dragon with hunks of its skin rotten off and large black pits where it's eyes should be. In a deep, yet hollow wheezy voice the creature beings to speak "I am Aeteperax, Lord of Dragonfen, and you have exhausted my patience. The wizard Hunclay promised me many things before his death, including five rare and ancient tomes. I made efforts to obtain these lawfully, but my representative, Clausyre, failed me. My forbearance is at an end. Now I require not only the books, including the tome entitled Secrets of the Dreaming Dark, but also an indemnity of 776,000 gold pieces-2,000 for each and every resident of this dunghill you call home.
I give you two weeks to deliver these to the place you know as the Monastery of Saint Kyerixus across the Dragonfen. None are permitted to leave Belhaim-my minions blanket the countryside, and all who dare leave this town shall suffer for it. Only those chosen to deliver my ransom may travel, and then only into Dragonfen. Should you defy me or fail to satisfy my demands, I shall lay waste to little Belhaim and kill every living inhabitant, down to the last mewling infant!"
The dragon then wave its hands and disappears in a puff of black smoke..
Silence reigns for a moment in disbelief, then crowd erupts into a frenzy of screams and shouts and people begin to run everywhere in panic.
Cwm comes out from beneath the awning he'd been hiding under. He moves over to check that the drake is dead, daggers in hand. Finding it to no longer be a threat, he turns back to the others, "what the hell was that?"
Penny throws her arms up in the air and shouts "Well f-this."
She looks to the Baroness. "What did you and Hunclay get yourselves involved in? Spill it honey."
The Barroness whirls on Penny, about ready to scream at her for addressing her in such an inappropriate manner. She holds a finger out at her and says "One more comment like that...." she leaves the rest unspoken as she tries to regain control of the situation.
The Baroness then turns away and yells She then beings pointing frantically at several people. "YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!" and then she points at all of you "YOU! Follow me to the manor. NOW!"
Having taken control of the situation, you and Sheriff Benhovy, local stabler and former adventurer Lezara Dodgion, Abadaran priestess Eupaphenia Targas, and Bassy the historian, return with her to her manor home for a meeting.
The Baroness bursts into her own house startling the footmen. She leads you to a cozy dining room at Devy Manor. The baroness doesn't waste time, and begins asking Eupaphenia what Belhaim could scrape together by pooling all its resources. The priestess thinks for a few moments before saying sadly "20,000 gp."
The Baroness then says "Even if every sale for the auction were immediately settled, it would be unlikely to bring the total up to even 100,000 gp. There's just no way Belhaim can pay the dragon's demand of 776,000 gp. Fine. Options-NOW! We have limited time and limited resources, how do we save the people of this town?"
Sheriff Benhovy mutters send out a few of those Shelyn layabouts to distract the dragon for the good of the town, maybe he'll lower the ransom This is met with icy silence...
Next the Sheriff more loudly says, "Ravens! Send ravens and sendings to larger towns for help. If we do it now, help might get here just in time!"
Lezara then suggests "Evacuation. We need to evacuate Belhaim."
Eupaphenia suggests "We send a delegate to speak to the dragon about paying in installments." All three begin to squabble under the watchful eye of the Baroness.
Bassy finally asks, "Uhm. Why don't we just kill it? You've hired adventurers and they are right here. Surely they are talented enough?"
The room goes absolutely silent again. All eyes turn to your group, and the Baroness speaks up again, "I can't offer a monetary reward sufficient to lure you into undertaking so deadly a mission. However, I must ask: Will you slay this dragon for Belhaim? If you succeed, I shall raise each of you to the rank of Knight of Taldor. Little Belhaim and its inhabitants are lost if you don't prevail. What say you?"
Yngvilda had been so dumbfounded by the evil dragon demanding this and that that she let the meeting get to this point without saying anything. As the Baroness turns to their group and asks them to slay the dragon, she remembers herself.
"Will Yngvilda Grimsdottir, Daughter of Asbjorn, meekly lay down to the demands of a draconic tyrant? Never! I will give my dying breath to prevent this monster from terrorizing Belhaim my Lady"
She kneels down, and then furtively turns her head to look if any of the others are doing so as well.
When the room falls silent Eldon looks up from his examination of his recently acquired wounds to see Yngvilda kneeling. "What? You want us to go kill that thing?" Eldon looks to the others and catches Yngvilda looking expectantly at him. "Well it does sound like an interesting adventure and Sir Eldon Cade does have a nice ring to it."
Cwm scoffs, "Sir Cwm, less so. But do we really have any other options? Are dragons known for keeping their word not to harm people? I confess I don't have much experience dealing with them." He looks around for a map, "How far do we think it is to the Monastery of Saint Kyerixus? Can we even make it there in two weeks?"
"You hired me to help this rag tag crew clear Hunclay's manor for your auction. You never said a thing about fighting dragons" Penny throws her hands up in the air in frustration.
As she sees everyone else offer up to help fight the beast, she sighs, loudly, and says "Fine. I suppose they DOOOO need me. But if I get knighted, so does Taylor."
The Barnnoess gives Penny a quizzical expression, "You want me to knight a that thing? Fine. Yes. Whatever it takes. Just get rid of it!" she pleads.
The Sheriff, begrudgingly it appears, pulls a ring off of his finger. "This'll aid ye in yer fights. Make sure ye give it back once ye have won."
The mighty, but wizened Lezara Dodgion smiles warmly as she hands the group a fiery longsword. "This should be of some aid to you. My glorious Sunstriker."
The solemn priest of Abadar, Eupaphenia Targas, steps forward and bows. "The Church of Abadar will aid you, free of charge for any spellcasting you may require."
And finally, Bassy grabs Yngvilda's hand and places a small metal item in it. Bassy's gift is an ancient brass key-something Lady Tula herself gave Bassy's grandmother over a thousand years ago.
"Lady Tula also made a strange request: 'Keep this key safe until the need for dragonslayers rises again.' This key will open the crypt of Tula Belhaim, but it's been centuries since anyone has entered the tomb, and there are doubtless guardians and traps within to keep all but righteous and true dragonslayers away." she tells you.
Bassy continues on. “I’ve been around for a long, long time, and one thing I’ve learned is that inexperienced illusionists tend to rely on overwhelming one’s eyes and ears, but often forget the details. I was there. I saw the dragon. I heard it speak and roar.
“But I didn’t hear it breathe. I didn’t hear its talons scraping stone. I didn’t feel the air stir when its wings unfurled. Certainly whoever or whatever we face has great power—if that truly was just an illusion, it was still a powerful magical effect. For all we know, it could even be a dragon—that certainly fits with what you learned from the kobolds. The name Aeteperax is an old one, and the original Aeteperax’s bones should still be out there in Dragonfen, coiled around the Crypt of Tula Belhaim. At the very least, if you can confirm those bones are still there, then it seems obvious that what you all saw tonight wasn’t really Aeteperax risen from the dead."
Tykent nods solemnly. "If it is not the dead returned to haunt the living, that would make me feel better at least," he answers. "But I've not heard of this crypt, nor seen it in town. Where might it be?"
Yngvilda is struggling to contain her emotions. A legendary longsword with a name! She's hopping from foot to foot with excitement. The suggestion that it might not be a real dragon has her confused and disappointed, but then it might be a real dragon after all, so she's excited again.
"Perhaps it's a linnorm pretending to be a black dragon! They don't have wings to beat! It all adds up."
"Let us go first to this tomb as it sounds like it's on the way, to confirm the dragon is really dead. Then we shall venture forth to meet the linnorm, or whatever it might be, and slay it for the town of Belhaim!"
"Sounds like a plan Yngvilda, though I have no idea what a linnorm is. I have a feeling I'd rather fight a dragon!"
"Very well, let's go find this tomb." Eldon says. He goes to start leaving but as he stands he looks pained for a moment. Looking at Eupaphenia he says "Free spell casting you say? Any chance you could heal this?" he gestures at the open bite wound from the drake.
"With pleasure." she says, healing Eldon's wounds along with any other injuries that the party may have before they depart.
The most direct route to the ruined monastery is via the Old Quarry Road. Tula's crypt can be reached by taking that Road partway into the Dragonfen, then following Eskander Creek into the hills.
When the mission is accepted, those present clearly seem relieved and a few cheers go up.
Lady Origena also shares that there a few specific items she knows to be available in town for purchase, that might interest the party. There might be others at each locale.
* Delbin's Devices has a +1 frost shortsword and a ring of minor acid resistance for sale.
* Sensina Hides has a suit of +1 studded leather armor sor sale.
* The Shrine of the Seven Roses has a wand of lesser restoration for sale.
* Chance Smithy has a +1 bashing heavy steel shield for sale. The Smith can also consign any masterwork weapon or armor/shield in about a week's time.
Not being able to afford any of those wonderful items Yngvilda contents herself with buying alchemical items to put in her breakaway shield boss.