Mac says, [color=brown]"Shiny!"[/color] and begins rooting around in the privy for the shiny objects.
Mac digs through the muck, somehow avoiding the diseases and afflictions that surely lurk inside. He finds a surprising amount of stuff!
- 121gp
- +1 returning dart
- Potion of sanctuary
- Scroll of black tentacles
- Scroll of fly
Mac comes up from the crap, triumphantly holding the filthy items in arms coated up to the biceps in brown. He offers them to Grevayne. [color=brown]"Shinies!"[/color]
Grevayne gingerly takes the items. "Uh. Thank you." He washes the items off as best he can in the murky water in the center of the room, figuring it's got to be better than whatever the Hells was in that privy.
"I almost do not want it, but... Would you mind if I took the dart? I have no ranged weaponry at the moment. It has never been my forte but I think it is time I start carrying one."
The barred door is also locked, but Grevayne finds the key on the keyring that was on Eygara. This short hall leads to another barred door with a small inset window. Beyond is a mildew-stained barren room. Grevayne uses the same key to open this door and is immediately hit with an overpowering stench of human waste and filth. Inside he finds the source of the smell: fourteen Chernasardo prisoners! The prisoners are malnourished and filthy, and there are several corpses piled up in the back of the room.
One of the stronger-looking prisoners steps forward. "Oh, thank Gozreh. My name is Cobb Greenleaf. Who are you?"
If he hadn't just dealt with Mac diving elbow-deep in choice nugs, Grevayne might actually be horrified by the smell. As it stands, it's simply more awfulness in a crap sandwich (a more literal statement than he cares for).
"You are a friendly sight, Cobb. We thought all the Chernesardo dead! I am Grevayne. These are my allies, McAnally and Freyja, an her companion Trjega. We--well. I should say, they are survivors of Phaendar. I came to their acquaintance when thy rescued me from the hobgoblins' clutches. I am pleased I could pay it forward. I must admit, though, that I am surprised to see prisoners at all. Aside from myself, we have seen no evidence they keep prisoners--and I was something of a special case. I suspect they mostly kept me alive to torture me for what I did to one of their own."
He doesn't go into anymore detail than that, simply waits to see what Cobb and the others have to say.
Mac perks up when he hears his name, but he can't understand any of the rest of it so he quickly loses interest in the conversation, scanning the room for anything of interest.
Cobb looks at the others, then nods sadly. "Then it is as we feared: the other keeps have fallen as well. I do not know why we have been kept alive, though the dragon devoured anyone of higher rank than me." He blinks and a look of fear crosses his face. "The dragon... did you kill the dragon too?"
Mac finds nothing but malnourished prisoners, corpses, and sadness.
Grevayne grunts. "Not yet. Though I think we killed just about every hob in this place during that fight. We tried to stealth in, made it to the southwest building, and got into a fight with a barghest and a basilisk. The barghest ran--I have no idea where it went--but it did not raise the alarm. After we killed the basilisk, we tried to sneak into the northwest building, but luck was against us. We must have been swarmed by nearly a dozen hobgoblins and a few giant birds. That is when Ibzairiak showed up."
He shakes his head wonderingly. "He did not engage us. He just flew overhead and boasted, then returned to his... roost? Lair? Whatever. He returned to it and did not engage us. We ran in here to get into cover."
He looks around. "We do not have much for food, but we will gladly share what we have."
"His 'roost' is at the top of this tower. You must be quite skilled to have survived all of those hobs, but we will never retake the keep as long as the dragon lives." He looks to the other prisoners, in various states of able-bodiedness. "If you've cleared most of the guards, there should be enough weapons for us to re-arm and hold the courtyard while you ascend the tower and take care of Ibzairiak. I wish we could be more help, but we are in no condition to face a dragon."
Grevayne refrains from voicing his thought: neither are we.
But he and the others are definitely in better shape to take him on than any of these poor sods. "Very good. But if we all fall, you will be in terrible danger. Make your way to the survivors of Phaendar, in a place called Hearthstone. You will be safe there, or as safe as you can be in the Fangwood these days. Freyja can give you directions."
Once the Rangers have been informed, fed, and armed, Grevayne turns to Mac and Freyja. "It is time. We ascend. If we do not make it out of there, I want you to know it has been a pleasure fighting with you both." He glances down at Trjega and smirks. "All three, that is." He claps Mac on the bigger man's arm as he repeats it in Hallit.
Mac looks unusually somber. He takes Grevayne and Freyja both by the hand and squeezes with surprising gentleness. "Friend," he says in heavily accented and clearly broken Common. "Friend."
Freyja describes Hearthstone's location to Cobb and the others; they are all Rangers and their intimate familiarity with the Fangwood helps them pinpoint exactly where it is. They will not get lost should the worst happen.
Cobb admires Freyja's bow and takes note of the many magical arrows in her magical quiver. "You are quite well-armed, and judging by the number of arrows I see in hobs' eyesockets out there," -- he gestures to the courtyard, which he and his more healthy men had just quickly scoured for weapons -- "you know how to use that thing." He gives her an admiring look. "We have suffered great losses in the Rangers; perhaps you should join our ranks." He glances at the ceiling. "After you kill him, anyway."
Freyja is barely holding it together, nearly quivering with terror at what they are about to face, and this guy wants to talk about joining the Rangers. She doesn't trust herself to speak, so she simply nods and approaches Grevayne and Mac.
"Now might be the time to protect ourselves. I still can't believe he hasn't attacked us, but we shouldn't trust that that will last."
Grevayne nods, tapping himself with his wand once more to get a little closer to full hit points.
He casts a spell over himself, and more Grevaynes show up, all moving in the same close proximity and mirroring each other; it's somewhat disorienting to the uninitiated.
He then concentrates for a few moments, channeling his emergency reservoirs of arcana back into his mind to reverse the use of two of his spells.
He pulls out the potion of fly. He doesn't drink it yet; he wants to wait until they're just outside the thing's lair.
He waves his hands over himself and a shimmering disc of force appears before him before quickly fading from view.
He looks at the others, swallows hard, and nods. "Let us end this."
For his part, Mac also pulls out his potion of fly, but mimicking his friend, doesn't drink it yet. He simply follows behind Mac and Freyja to the stairwell leading up to the dragon's lair.
Grevayne walks slowly up the stairs, until it seems like they are nearly at the top. Once it seems like they're close to Ibzairiak's lair, he nods to Mac to follow his lead and drinks the potion of fly. He then steels himself as best he can before moving the rest of the way up the stairs.
Mac sniffs the potion. It smells like rain. That is a funny smell for a thing to have that is not rain. But Mal-Skend drank it and he was okay, so he should do the same.
He gulps it down and immediately feels funny. Like he's lighter than air. He forces himself not to panic as his feet slowly creep off the steps and he floats upward, making himself float back down through sheer force of will. That was almost as scary as a dragon! At least the dragon he can bite, tear, and gnash. He cannot bite floating.
Feeling uncomfortably light, Mac follows Grevayne into the room beyond.
Before they ascend the stairs, Freyja gathers the party. One at a time, she imbues Mac, Grevayne, and herself with protection from the dragon's acid breath. She looks sadly at Trjega. "Sorry, I only have three of those. Grevayne, don't we have a scroll or potion that can protect her? I plan to send her away to hide because she won't be useful against a flying dragon anyway, but I still want to give her what we can."
She also recasts gravity bow.
Grevayne draws out the rest of the scrolls of protection from energy. "We have more, if you need one. I would suggest it and the potion of resist energy. The potion will blunt the blow of the acid, but it will not stop all--or even most--of it. The protection spell is more potent, but coming from a scroll, the amount of acid it will absorb is somewhat limited. Using both will help keep her alive."
You ascend the stairs, hearts in your throats but bolstered somewhat by the magical protections that surround your bodies. You reach the second floor of the tower and peek around the corner.
Most of the interior walls on this level have been knocked out and the resulting debris has been hauled away, leaving only a small room to the north. A stream of water pours steadily from the ascending staircase in the south end of the room to the descending stairs to the west. The only items here now are a few stools, an open chest containing raw meat, and a few coiled whips and spiked collars hanging on wall hooks.
A troll and two extremely large weasels occupy this level. The troll looks at you stupidly and speaks.
These are dire weasels. They rage when damaged and get a free grapple attempt on a successful bite.
They drain blood when successfully grappling, dealing con damage.
Grevayne sighs. "Dire weasels. They will drain your blood if they manage to attach to you. Beware."
He addresses the troll (in Common, since he does not speak Giant). "We are going to kill that dragon, troll. You can stand in our way and die, or leave this place now. The choice is yours."
The troll cocks its head as Grevayne speaks. It doesn't understand the words, but it understands Grevayne's (laughably unsuccessful) attempt at scaring it. It shrugs and speaks a command to its weasels, who begin to advance.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [47 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [47 rounds], 7 images [87 rounds], shield +4 [87 rounds])
Parthuk (0 damage)
Weasel #1 (0 damage)
Weasel #2 (0 damage)
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [57 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Mac, relieved to have something to kill, leaps into the air and morphs into a giant wolf partway there, charging his fangs directly into the righthand dire weasel.
Grevayne settles into Dragon Stance and bolts toward the lefthand weasel. He tumbles over the railing of the staircase, does a hands-free somersault over the small river of filthy water, and brings a spinning waterwheel kick down on the weasel.
It's not exhausted; it's eviscerated.
Grevayne has a bit of bifurcation envy as he hits, but only manages to inflict major injury on the weasel.
Only a bit fazed by the one-shot kill on his second favorite weasel, the troll steps forward and touches the other one. Its skin grows thick and bark-like.
The weasel, having taken damage from Grevayne, goes into a salival rage, fangs dripping. Lightning quick, it lunges a bite at him. The attempt is so uncontrolled and reckless that it doesn't even pop one of Grevayne's images.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [47 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [47 rounds], 7 images [87 rounds], shield +4 [87 rounds])
Parthuk (0 damage)
Weasel #1 (10 damage, raging)
Weasel #2 (so dead)
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [57 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Freyja steps into the room. She points at the weasel and commands Trjega to attack, then launches threefour arrows at the troll.
Trjega leaps over the tiny stream (indoor stream? weird!) and engages the weasel.
Three of Freyja's arrows slam into the troll, who reels, but looks like it'll take much more damage before it falls. Worse, the wounds immediately begin to push the arrows out.
Trjega's bite can't quite pierce the weasel's now substantially thicker skin.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [46 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [46 rounds], 7 images [86 rounds], shield +4 [86 rounds])
Parthuk (47 damage, regenerating)
Weasel #1 (10 damage, raging)
Weasel #2 (so dead)
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [56 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Mac doesn't waste time, dropping the weasel guts from his blood-soaked maw to savage the other mustelid.
Grevayne, unable to reach the troll while the other dire weasel lives, so he has little choice in the matter but to unleash his fists against it.
Thankfully, Freyja seems to have the troll well in hand for the moment.
Mac drops another weasel, and troll howls in sadness and fury. Grevayne steps over the weasel's freshly fallen body and lands an uppercut under the troll's chin.
The troll's eyes narrow at Grevayne and it reaches out to touch its unconscious weasel friend. A tendril of black energy begins to flow from the weasel to the troll, but stops after a second, and flows back into the weasel. The troll howls in frustration.
It was trying to cast death knell, but the weasel passed its will save.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [46 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [46 rounds], 7 images [86 rounds], shield +4 [86 rounds])
Parthuk (64 damage, regenerating)
Weasel #1 (39 damage, unconscious and dying)
Weasel #2 (so dead)
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [56 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Freyja takes a step forward, grinning at the large, easy target she has.
Freyja's third and fourth arrows hit the troll and it falls, but you know from previous experience with trolls that it is going to heal if you don't stop the regeneration.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [45 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [45 rounds], 7 images [85 rounds], shield +4 [85 rounds])
Parthuk (102 damage, regenerating)
Weasel #1 (39 damage, unconscious and dying)
Weasel #2 (so dead)
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [55 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Grevayne steps back, fishes out an alchemist's fire from his belt pouch, and tosses it disdainfully on the troll.
The troll burns into a fine ash in surprisingly quick fashion.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [44 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [44 rounds], 7 images [84 rounds], shield +4 [84 rounds])
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [54 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Mac quickly looks over the troll's corpse for anything of use, nudging whatever he finds with his snout.
He then pads over to the stairwell.
Grevayne double moves up the stairwell.
Freyja sprints up the stairs after Grevayne, calling to Trjega to follow.
Scattered amongst the troll's ashes, Mac sees large padded armor, a headband, and a wand.
Grevayne doesn't quite reach the third floor of the tower. Freyja and Trjega are close behind.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [43 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [43 rounds], 7 images [83 rounds], shield +4 [83 rounds])
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [53 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Grevayne moves to the closest door and opens it.
Mac moves up the stairs and just past Grevayne, keeping an eye out for trouble.
Freyja continues to follow, bow at the ready.
Grevayne opens the door. This chamber looks more like a forest cave than a room. Piles of large stones heaped against the walls break up the straight lines and angles of the room, and pots and bowls sprout ferns and ivy. A large, badly torn pallet lies atop the stones up against the southwest wall, resembling a nest more than a bed. A double door leads out to the southeast and a small window in the northwest wall looks out over the forest beyond.
Mac hears hurried scuffling on the other side of the eastern doors.
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [42 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [42 rounds], 7 images [82 rounds], shield +4 [82 rounds])
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [52 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Bold may act.
Mac chuffs quietly at the eastern doors and swings his head toward them.
Stepping out of the west room, Grevayne nods and moves to them, opening them up.
Freyja and Trjega move up behind the others, ready for trouble.
Grevayne swings the door open and finds two unarmed but tough-looking hobgoblins. They look ready to rumble.
Freyja (88/93, gravity bow [51 rounds])
Trjega (63/66 hp)
Hessal (0 damage)
Kensa (0 damage)
Mac (94/94 hp, fly [41 rounds])
Grevayne (81/81 hp, fly [41 rounds], 7 images [81 rounds], shield +4 [81 rounds])
Bold may act.
Freyja laughs. Two hobs? What a waste of arrows.