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Outside Greenest, 1489 DR
You had heard much about Greenest in your travels. It was founded by the halfling Dharva Scatterheart, a rogue who fancied herself the queen of the Greenfields. Scatterheart passed away without ever achieving that level of eminence, but her town grew into a thriving community.
Its success isn’t surprising, since Greenest is the only town of any size astride the Uldoon Trail, the most direct road between the eastern cities of the Dragon Coast, Cormyr, and Sembia with the Coast Way running south to the great cities of Amn, Tethyr, and far Calimshan. The trade caravans that pass through Greenest bring gold to the town’s merchants and craftsfolk, and Governor Nighthill runs the town at the behest of the inhabitants.
Linan Swift and her husband, Cuth, have been more than accommodating since they agreed to take you in. The loving family provided room and board, treating you as if you were one of their own. Helping care for your four young stepbrothers and stepsisters kept you busy enough, but you still managed to find time to hunt.
You had been out at a nearby wooded area, hunting for rabbits, when the sun had begun to set.
For the past several days, you have been traveling a road that winds lazily across the rolling grasslands of the Greenfields. Your destination? Greenest. It seemed like the perfect next step in your travels, whether for adventuring or because you felt something call to you. Now, it lay just ahead. The sun had begun to set as you approached the top of a rise with the guard tower of Greenest Keep peeking above the town's many houses.
Vengeance was a mere few hundred feet away, if the cult's next designated target was true, and maybe it was. For the past several days, you have been traveling a road that winds lazily across the rolling grasslands of the Greenfields.
Ontharr was true to his word, and arranged for travel to Greenest, providing you with the necessarily wagon required to make such a trip. For the past several days, you have been traveling a road that winds lazily across the rolling grasslands of the Greenfields, and now, approaching the top of a rise, the town was in sight.
Talis. Where was she? And why was she kidnapped anyway? Wasn't she rumored to have been part of the very Cult that kidnapped her? You weren't sure. You had to seek answers for yourself and find her if it was the last thing you did. For the past several days, you have been traveling a road that winds lazily across the rolling grasslands of the Greenfields.
Sundown is approaching when you all look ahead and see the town of Greenest a few short miles away. But instead of the pleasant, welcoming town you expected or already know, you see columns of black smoke rising from burning buildings, running figures that are little more than dots at this distance, and a dark, winged shape wheeling low over the keep that rises above the center of the town. Greenest is being attacked by a dragon!
From a lightly wooded area only a few miles from town, you realize you are not alone here. The leaves crunch beneath the weight of several other figures shuffling nearby. You stop and survey the area: You notice a tall, armored Calishite man with gold-specked eyes watch the destruction in awe. A masked man who carries a freshly killed rabbit runs up beside him while a half-elven woman whose hair is the color of both day and night stops suddenly in shock. A stoutly dwarf who carries all the tools needed for days of travel across the wilderness approaches, as does a moon elf packing several musical instruments. Finally, another man with obvious elven features and hazel eyes fumbles, and drops his crowbar as the dragon roars, breathing a jet of pure fire onto the keep ahead.
If there was ever a time that Greenest needed heroes, it was now.
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Raakuzedu’lon’ros scanned the sky, 'None of my kin would do this. Lord Bahamut would cast them from them sky. Fire can only mean that spawn that hides in the skies was a chromatic and the worst of them all a red,' his eyes dropped to see who was close by. Five of the lesser races were near by.
He fought as he always did to maintain control of his body the tremors were always at the worst when he took a new form but this body was proving extremely hard to adjust to, "YOU!" his voice boomed albeit too loud at the masked one beside him, another side effect of the transformation, "to the...KEEP! get...THE...others. More of your... KIND...will be there." Drawing his blade awkwardly he pointed it towards the Greenest keep in hopes of rallying the individuals.
He then began to rush to the keep. He believed these creatures would run in fear. Chromatics were something these creatures feared. Over the three centuries that he had walked in the skin of the lesser races nothing caused them more fear than the presence of a chromatic. 'Let us see if any of these creatures has worth.'
Eska looks up in awe as the dragon wreaks havoc on the town. She came here to kill three MEN not slay a gods-cursed dragon. Her legs tremble at the sight of it. She stares dumbly at the burning town and it brings her back to "that night" a Memory of Fire and Ashes.
There is a man shouting beside her. His words are lost but it's enough to break Eska out of her reverie. Something feral rises inside of her (was it this man? or the dragon?). A thought for another time.
She rushes forward towards the town adding this to the top of the list of stupid fights she's picked. If nothing else hopefully there was time enough to save somebody.
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A dragon? What... why... the cult must have something to do with this. Talis might be in there. Surely it's not my destiny to die here... but maybe this is exactly what I was chosen for.
Navarre grabs his crowbar from the ground. How did it even fall out of my pack?
"It will be safer to stay out here, but I must go help. If any of you are brave enough to come with me, I am sure we can do more together than I can alone."
Without waiting for a response, he starts running towards the burning town.
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Road weary, Brax uses the reins in his hands to guide the horse pulling the wagon up over the crest of the hill. Greenest shouldn't be much farther, and with it, a tavern with a meal and drink to wash away the hunger and thirst of travel on the road as well as a comfortable bed to lie upon instead of the cold, hard, earth or the wooden boards of the wagon bed.
The moment the dwarf lays eyes upon Greenest, all creature comforts vanish from his mind as he surveys the chaos of battle a few miles distant. His eyes are quickly drawn to the large, flying form in the smoky sunset sky. Sweat breaks out on his forehead as his mind flashes back to Highcastle for an instant.
Not again! he thinks to himself as he urges the horse and wagon forward. Gimme orcs! Goblins! Or giants! I'd rather face a company of them tall overgrown mush-brained louts! Why, for Claggondin's sake, would it hafta be a drag'un?
Brax directs the horse and wagon into a wooded area and discovers that he's not alone. He takes what little time he can afford to size up the others and just shakes his head incredulously as the Calashite man and the two half-elves start running toward Greenest on foot. Idiotic milksops! he told himself, trying to fan his anger against his fear. Go runnin' off haf' cocked like that and yer not gonna have any energy left to fight a cold, let alone that big beastie!
"Oy!" he shouts toward the departing trio at as he stops near the masked man and female elf. "Why walk or run whennya kin ride? Get in!" he barks, waving a hand toward the back of the wagon.
Eska jumps into the back of the dwarf's wagon. "Onward! Stragglers aren't worth our time." she shouts with a fools grin masking her fear.
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Raakuzedu’lon’ros did not turn around, but could hear some of the others also running.
'So there are some among these lesser races that do not fear death.'
Shield and blade in hand he was like a beacon as the sun reflected off his newly forged chain mail. He tried to maintain his balance as his muscles and mind acted out of unison, but the desire to cut down the chromatic was enough to keep his focus.
'How long must I endure this?!'
A brief memory of him spreading his wings and taking flight cause him to trip up slightly on a jutting rock. He tried to determine how long it would take to reach the town or what was left of it when the yelling of a dwarf interrupted his thought.
Turning around he answers the dwarf's call with action and jumps on the wagon pulled by the nag. He can barely keep his hands from shaking and takes longer than he would like to grab the side panel and pull himself up.
As the dwarf's wagon catches up to him, Navarre leaps on.
"Well, I didn't want to assume you were coming."
I'm not sure if they are brave or crazy. I suppose they must be thinking the same about me, but I have a destiny - and something worth dying for.
"My name is Navarre, by the way."
It would be sad if they died and I didn't even know their names to put on a gravestone.
"Raakuze." He doubted these ones could properly pronounce his name without butchering it, "DWARF...can this cart...GO...faster?"
'Mundane travel. The nag is not even worth eating.'
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It had been a good day.
He'd bulls eyed a big fat 'un, gran-daddy of a hare. It'd go good in Linan's stew, along with the rest of the last night's present and some of those greens, just about ripe, in her garden. The thought of it made his mouth water so bad it hurt.
Orion was walking back, thinking of sharpening Cuth's ace--it certainly needed it and the man, while kind, had no knowledge of weaponcraft. He'd probab--
'Woodsmoke.'
Orion stopped, pulled from his reverie and looked around, the plump hare still swinging in his grasp, wondering if Lord Borak had returned, come to finish the job. Apparently he'd wandered into a thicket of strangers--not like him--and one was shouting about the keep.
Balls to that. It was a good day to die.
Most were.
Wrapping the rabbit in a leathern thong about his belt--no sense to waste it--he replied to the stranger, "Bub, the closest distance between two points is where I gotta run to put ol' OrcDoom here in range of that thing. You can cower in the keep if'n you wanna."
The rabbit secured, he started out at a dash, until a dwarf with a cart started to pass him.
Grabbing the cart with one hand and hoisting himself up, he landed easily in the back. "Greetings, friends. I'm Orion, and this town is under my protection.
Me an' that dragon--one of us ain't walking away from here. You can see to yourselves, but my path is set."
He loads his heavy crossbow.
Eska looks on to the City the wind whipping at her hair. As the wagon picks up the shouting knight she feels a knot tighten in her stomach. He moves with a strange graceless rhythm, she would mistake him for a cripple if he didn't have both arms and legs.
She looks over to one of the strangers a half-elf much like herself. "Usually the idea is to run AWAY from the dragon" She laughs with shaky wonderment. "Eska." She introduces herself. "Does anyone know? It is a good day to die right?"
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In response to Raakuze, Brax snaps the reins. "Hyaaaahhhhhh!!!!" he cries out and the horse begins to trot, albeit not a lot faster. "Is me laard satisfied with th' ride?" he asks with the slightest bit of biting sarcasm. "She's natta king's staalyon, but she's all ah got."
"Name's Brax," he responds to the others who've given their names. "'An I suppose it'd be a good day ta die if ya lived a life without regret 'cause that's exactly wha'll 'appan if ya charge that overgrown flyin' lizard with fool notions av bein' a hero. If ya don't piss yer pants first."
Raakuzedu’lon’ros nods as the dwarf snaps the reins pushing the cart faster down the road "Better. We...CAN...reach the town before the chromatic flees. As to death it is short-lived for...MANY...of you. This is a worthy death." his words echoed Lord Bahamut's.
"A good day to die? No. It is a good day to live - and I intend to."
He shakes his head.
"I'm more concerned with saving the townsfolk, and I can do a lot more alive than I can dead. If I have to fight the dragon I will - but if it decides to leave I won't stop it."
Arianna was looking forward to her arrival in Greenest. It had been too long since she'd been able to sing or spin tales about heroes of old. For that matter, it had been too long since she'd enjoyed a hot meal and a warm bed. Her belly grumbled as she thought of food and couldn't help but chuckle at herself. Memories of Mama Flora's stew over mashed potatoes made her mouth water. She could still taste it even after two years. Other memories surfaced, memories of shocked looks and dropped jaws as she ordered the Whispering Mare's hearty stew and a mug of stout ale. She grinned as a dwarf stammered while trying to tell her that fare wasn't very elven. Woodsmoke brought other memories of warm hearths and blankets while a winter storm blew around the eaves of the house. She hurried her pace, excited to see a new town and to meet new people and make new memories and add new sto–
She stopped as she crested the hill, frozen in place at the sight of Greenest burning, her smile evaporated by dragon's fire raining down.
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Small, yet swift, Arianna catches up to the cart before it can get to much further ahead of her after passing her at the top of the hill. In one fluid motion she leaps up into the cart and drops her pack and lute in an open space. Nimble as only an elf can be, she picks her way up to where Brax drives the wagon.
"Do we have a plan, or are we just improvising as we go," she asks the dwarf, the gleam of excitement in her eye behind the obvious fear about facing a dragon.
Brax caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head in time to see a female elf vault into the back of the cart with the others. Not easy ta pull off a maneuver like tha' he thought inwardly. Outwardly, the elf's move earned a grunt of approval.
'Th current plan is ta reach Greenest as quick as we can. Once we get there, we kin plan for whatta do next."
"Ah, so you aren't planning on dying today," Arianna says, grinning despite the grim situation. "Good to hear! First step of our plan is don't die. How do you feel about helping as many as we can with that one?"
Brax slowed his horse and wagon to allow everyone else to hop in, and everyone did, most glad to be off their feet. With five people in the wagon, the dwarf's horse protested, uttering a bray as Brax yanked on the reins. Its trot was sluggish, but the wheels soon picked up momentum along the field towards the rising smoke.
Greenest didn't look like a heavily defended town, bearing no real fortifications along its perimeter, save for a thick wooden fence. It looked meant more for keeping livestock in than for keeping invaders out. A few rudimentary wooden gates connect Greenest with the trade road. A shallow stream is visible in the southern part of Greenest with bush upon bush outlining the streambed.
When the horse and wagon reaches the gate, the sun has set, and the scene ahead is chaos: haystacks and barns acted as the perfect fuel for an intense blaze, but strangely, most homes and shops aren't aflame. Yet. Corpses, both of kobolds and of Greenest's residents dot the roads, and cries and screams from all directions send waves of fear through your bones. Burning buildings and a half moon dimly light up the streets, the dragon still circling over head. The Keep's tower is even more obvious from here, and looks to be roughly at the center of town.
You stand at the eastern entrance, still on your horse and wagon. Ahead, groups of kobolds fan out across the hamlet, accompanied by men and women in dark robes. Groups of townsfolk dash towards the Keep, with raiders hot on their heels.
"Step two of the plan, protect the townsfolk," Arianna says as she sees the groups of dark-robed humanoids and kobolds chasing the people fleeing for safety. "Today's a good day to make those sorry bastards die for their cause."
Before Brax's cart has come to a stop, Arianna hops out and draws her sword. Blue eyes pierce the gloom as she looks to see who needs the most help.
'Of course they brought their minions here.' Watching the dead kobolds scattered among the people of this village angered Raakuzedu'lon'ros even further. Loading his own crossbow "A plan? AID...any that live. Then find...THOSE...responsible."
Passing the east entrance Raakuzedu'lon'ros catches sight of a group of villagers fleeing the kobolds and robed men. "There dwarf!" AFTER...them!"
"Kobolds and... the robed ones are probably cultists. I had a feeling that the Cult of the Dragon might be behind this. I had expected them to be active here, but nothing this extreme."
He shakes his head.
"We need to stop the raiders so the townsfolk can get to the keep safely."
Maybe the Cult kidnapped Talis because she found out about the attack and was going to warn the townsfolk?
"Brax, can you drive the cart right through those raiders? We can jump out and keep them from following while get those townsfolk to the keep."
"Enough talky-talky. We need to make with the helpy-helpy and the stabby-stabby."
Eska aims her crossbow for a shot as soon as a cultist is within range as the team's wagon moves to rushdown the enemy.
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Orion was inwardly conflicted. Inner drives to slay the dragon were now over-ridden with the easier-to-get-to and probably more theretening bands of kobolds. Koboblds! So not orcs then.
"Cult of the Dragon? What's that?" Orion interjected as he tried to think about the best plan. Get to the Swifts'? Get to the dragon? Put out the fires? Get to the stream and sneak in?
The wagon passes the corpses of Charles and Courtney Narva.
KILL THEM ALL.
Quick as thought, Orion pops out of the cart and opens the gate into town, jumping quickly back in.
"Forward, dwarf. We're the only chance they have. We make an inviting target-to both friend and foe. If we drive down the main road, that's the best chance to see and be seen by most. We can pick up survivors, and fan out and eliminate these "cult of the dragon" people as we come upon them.
How's that sound?" he asks the group of strangers.
He feels a bit sheepish coming up with a Sweep-and-Clear plan with these people he didn't know but---
Liath would have wanted it that way.
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"HYYYAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"Brax yells out, snapping the reins as hard as he can to get the horse moving again. The horse lets out a frightful whinny as the wagon begins to pick up speed. Using the reins, he directs the horse and wagon in the direction of the closest group of raiders in pursuit of fleeing townsfolk.
'Ere, ya yellow-bellied snakes! Let's see how ye fare agin' folk who stand an' fight!" he yells out at the raiders.
Mebbe these people ridin' in th' wagon aren't as foolhardy as ah thought. Protectin' innocents is sumthin' we can do and is no less glorious than doin' battle with a draygn.
Raakuze watches the cultists as they march forward, noting that they don't seem to wear any sort of distinguishing regalia; just plain black robes.
Brax snaps on his reins and the wagon, now a little more empty, tears down the main road towards a group of kobolds running towards the keep. The kobolds turn back only in time to see the mighty dwarf above, mounted on his powerful steed. And then there's an awful Bump-bump-CRUNCH as the horse and wagon crushes two of them.
The horse brays deeply in surprise, coming to a startling halt as just after, without warning, five humans dash out from between two buildings on your left. A limping man and three young children race across the street into more shadows, and a woman carrying a round shield and a broken spear turns and faces back in the direction from which they came. Six more kobolds stream out of the alley on the family’s heels and fan out around the woman, who looks determined to delay the creatures for as long as possible.
Well, damn. That's Linan and Cuth.
"Linan, NO! DON'T!" The man panics as he limps ahead towards the woman. "They'll kill us all! We have to run! And make for the keep! It's safe there!" From behind him come the cries of several children.
Linan pays no mind to his complaints. "Stupid lizard freaks think they're gonna come into MY town with a bigger stupid flying lizard and kill MY family? Not today!" She spits, holding her spear out at the kobold nearest.
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"CUTH! Get going and get yer bairns to safety!" Orion shouts at the man. "I don't need to save your hide too! Linan knows what she's doing!"
While yelling, Orion tactical-steps a bit to the side, opening the lane of attack for a melee charge.
He targets the...thing...that is currently closest to Linan. "You look like an orc," he mumbles at the kobold, sighting down OrcDoom.
Navarre leaps out of the wagon.
"Run, we'll hold them off!"
He shouts to the woman, as he draws his hand back and shoves it forward, a blast of golden eldritch energy spring forth at the front-most kobold.
Eska adds to the barrage of fire coming from the wagon.
Orion gets the drop on the kobolds, and fires a crossbow bolt down the alleyway between the two burning buildings. The shot takes the kobold between the eyes, and the lizard creature slumps to the ground, choking on its blood.
Linan turns to Orion, her face lighting up. "I'm so glad you're safe! And you've made new friends. Will they help us too?"
Watching one of their own fall, the kobolds turn to face the party. "OoOoOOooOoh! I wonder what treasure they carry! Kill stupid lady first, then giant horse, then nosey people, then loot, loot, LOOT!"
Navarre conjures up pure energy in his palm and lobs it at the blue-skinned kobold, leaving a deep, ashy hole in its belly. Yet the creature stays up, and moves its head to avoid another crossbow bolt from Eska.
Green advances on Linan and shanks her in the thigh with his dagger. Linan grimaces as blood pours from her leg.
Despite the time since he'd borne the insignia of the Pegasus Archery Company, Brax's militia training kicked in. A quick glance served to take in the surroundings. Clustered group. Narrow confines. Two directions for the enemy to advance, one of which was toward the man and children in the alley.
"Form ah line with th' woman!" he bellowed out as he dropped the reins and reached down to picked up a light crossbow lying on the seat beside him. "Doan let them lizards get ta th' childurn!"
Gotta git th' odds in our favah quickly, he thought as he turned to aim his crossbow at the kobolds and set his sights on the one already injured by Navarre's blast of energy. He took aim and squeezed the trigger.
Right at that moment, the wagon rolls one foot forward, spoiling Brax's aim as he fires. As the bolt sails high over the kobold's head, Brax's vocal response is one that would please a long-severing military veteran.
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"Aye, I'm safe," Orion shouts back, nodding briefly in satisfaction as his target drops. "Now get yourself safe and get behind someone. You'll not be killing the whole cult of the dragon with a broken spear.
And yes, since these with me have run TOWARD a town being attacked by a dragon and not away from it, that's cause enough to call them all Brothers of STEEL! We shall make them pay, count on it."
No sooner has his words of confidence left his mouth then the dwarven teamster hits naught but sky. "Hm, I hope you are at least skilled with your battle ax, master dwarf?"
The kobold ducks his head down and grins a toothy smile up at Brax as the bolt sails overhead. "Leave the bows to the elves, dwarf man!"
The taunting kobold hobbles forward, and Linan finds herself distracted between two of the fiends. The kobold swings at her neck, and Linan screams in pain as the blade sinks in.
"Linan!" Cuth advances in an angry fury, swinging his club out at the kobold. The club catches the kobold's jaw, crushing it.
Two more kobolds come dashing towards Orion and Brax, though only one has time to attack. It hops up on a foot with its dagger up over its head, and slices down across Orion's chest, tearing open a wound.
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Raakuze roars a terrifying challenge as he throws aside the crossbow and grabs his shield and longblade.
He steps forward and swings his blade at the first kobold, however you watch as he struggles to complete the swing his body shaking violently.
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Arianna rolls her eyes as she finds herself too far from anything to do much good. She moves around the house and past the children to get into a better position to attack the kobolds and protect the little ones. Seeing Brax miss his shot, the elven bard recalls the words to a dwarven warsong she'd learned not too long ago.
Goblins think themselves so tall.
Kobolds think their stings so fell.
C'mon me boyo, make them fall,
And give them a hearty dwarven yell!
Orcses smell the worst of all.
And wizards do like their spells,
All of them will surely fall,
When you give them nine kinds of hell!
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The kids all look to Arianna with bated breath as she slips by them. A closer look at their size reveals she and the others should be able to carry them, if it came to it, but it might affect their ability to fend off the kobolds.
The blaze continues, and Rakuuze advances in an attempt to spear open a kobold, yet the creature annoyingly hops over the strike and taunts back.
"Rakuuze-क्या? तुम्हारे बारे में कभी नहीं सुना!"
"Rakuuze-what? Never heard of you!"
The slowest kobold to act marches forth, his little knife held out at Linan's side. The blade catches her hip and Linan cries out, slumping to her knees from the pain. To the horror of her husband and kids, she falls unconscious. "No! Linan!" Cuth turns to Arianna, tears forming in his eyes. "If... If I don't make it out alive, know that the invaders haven't breached the keep yet. The dragon rages through town, but our forces have protected the keep so far. Take our children there and find Governor Nighthill."
Cuth turns back to the kobolds with an angry scowl, firmly grasping his club.
Even if I heal her, those kobolds will tear them apart. They need to get away.
"Get her out of there! I'll block the alley behind you!"
With the streets crowded and chaotic Eska abandons her crossbow for daggers and sorcery. She sends an orb of acid at the backline kobolds
You hurl a bubble of acid. Choose one creature you can see within range, or choose two creatures you can see within range that are within 5 feet of each other. A target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 acid damage
With the streets crowded with people she looks for alternative routes. She thinks to scale the building beside her but it proves more difficult than anticipated. She curses impatiently trying to get closer into the fray.
Navarre readies the casting of an imaginary barrier, while Eska opts for a deadlier route, lobbing a splash of acid overhead of Brax in a smooth arc. Its destination? Two of the kobolds who took down Linan.
One of the kobolds hops away from the falling acid, but the other falls over in a heap as the acid lands and burns through its skull, instantly killing it. Orion points his crossbow at another kobold at point-blank range and fires a bolt through its heart. The creature falls to Orion's feet, blood pooling around him.
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The moments of self-doubt had returned quickly for Brax. Unbidden, the image of that terrible day in Highcastle sprung to the forefront of this unsettling turn of events. Momentarily distracted, he barely retained enough self-awareness to bring up his shield in time to block the lethal slash from the wicked blade wielded by a kobold that suddenly had its scaly snout right in front of his weathered face.
But in that blanketing haze of unsureness, the dulcet tones of a female voice cut through the fog of conflict like a lighthouse beacon. Brax had heard these words before, as he'd heard many songs of his heritage from his parents as a young dwarfling. Through the words, Brax's fears of days past and present slowly crumbled under a resolve of courage and within it, a sense of safety and calm.
The dwarven warrior was dimly aware of the hardwood battleaxe handle suddenly being in his hands. Having drawn it on instinct instead of thought, Brax let the devices of the former guide his hands, sweeping the axehead toward the kobold's unprotected neck.
(10+5=15)
Brax's axehead travels in a straight line. The kobold's neck finds no purchase against it. Its head topples off and goes rolling. Orion finds another scaly brown kobold slumped over at his feat, with its toothy face tumbling over and bloodying Raakuze's boots.
The other kobold looks on at its fallen comrades. Then it looks back at the carnage of Greenest: the razed buildings, the thick smoke billowing from the nearby homesteads, and the dragon still circling above, breathing jets of flames across town indiscriminately.
It turns back with a devilish grin, and charges forth towards Brax, its crude knife held with both hands. As it runs up, it shanks the dwarf through his calf muscle.
Cuth disengages, dropping his club. As the kids look on anxiously, Cuth leans over and picks up Linan, his bum leg nearly giving out from the added weight.
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Arianna grips her sword in both hands and continues her song. She gets low to the ground and runs the kobold through before ripping her sword out the side and splattering its blood over the cobbles in a graceful arc.
The scaly bastards do grin,
Broadly at deeds ever fell.
They do raise an awful din,
Before the bell rings their death knell.
See them trembling and pale,
Before the spear rightly tells,
Run through the heart, they do quail.
I send them on the deathly trail.
As the kobold falls off her sword, she moves up behind the last of the lot as she sings about sending it on its way down that deathly trail, and forcing it to consider the threat she and Brax offer it from either side.