Bas's acid sizzled on the drake's wings but didn't seem to hurt it too much.
The drake wheeled to its left and spat another ball of flame at the offending kobold who had surprised it out of its nap and hurt it so badly.
Kellen will swoop toward the Fire Drake and his friends on the ground. Nearing them he focuses a moment on the Fire Drake, funneling all the anger, hostility, and doubt in his mind into the creature's brain; leaving it open to assault from his friends.
Basdemars back were turned at just the wrong moment to see the fireball in time to dodge it.
"Apsu take you!" he swears in draconic even as he falls down burning up
Whilst thundering up the hill, Daymar finished casting his spell, and above him, 3 cloud-like creatures shimmered into view. "Slay mine enemy, the drake of fire, that dares to pollute the sky with its firey arrogance!" Daymar's words were in Auran - the language of creatures of air, so he knew they would be able to understand him. But still, he pointed at the target as well. Then he put his head down and concentrated on directing his horse.
The Green Knight ducked as well as he could as the wave of fire rolled over him.
But not in time, as he takes the whole damage face first.
"Yeaaarrrgggh!"
Alfric ground his teeth at the enemy that he could little affect while it was flying. Seeing Bas collapse, he stumbled over to him, fished out a potion of healing and fed it to him.
Kellen's anger and frustration wore away at the drake's natural resistance to damage but the flying foe clearly caught the winged lizard's attention and the drake refocused on him as its primary target.
A trio of wind elementals summoned zipped toward the drake, intent on taking the beast down so they could return to the elemental plane of air.
Atop his horse, Levn let fly a pair of arrows under Daymar's magical enhancement.
Unfortunately, unused to the unnatural speed granted by the magic he missed by a mile.
Basdemar nods at the knight.
"Thank you."
before he scuttles into cover and tries to hide far enough so that next potential blast at Sir Alfric doesn't catch him in the area. And vice versa.
Eyes on its flying foe, the drake swoops at Kellen to bite the meaty morsel out of the sky.
More experienced at aerial combat than the spirit talker, the drake closed on Kellen like a hawk on a sparrow and snapped a huge, bloody chunk out of the shaman's flank.
Kellen cries out in pain, trying to avoid the worst of the drake's bite and failing miserably. He pulls up short in flight, and attempts to cast behind the cover of the drake's flank as they swirl in flight.
He maintains his flight, but the spellcasting goes awry and he cannot get the healing spell off in time being so threatened by the drake.
A heartbeat after the drake savaged Kellen, it was beset by angry air elementals.
The cloud-beasts dove at the drake with the intent of slamming into its wings and head.
The first managed to clip the drake's wing, but in doing so, knocked the beast just far enough off course to cause its companions to whistle past, rather than slamming into it. Though the third one did its best to altar course mid-flight.
While his elemental allies were engaging, Daymar took a brief second to connect with his senses in an attempt to grab a momentary glimpse of the future.
Still astride his magically hasted steed, Daymar knew his most likely successful action would be to remove as many elements of chance as possible. Thus, he reached for his most dependable offensive spell.
Each of the green-white darts of energy slammed into the drake's wing, one after the other, in an attempt to send the beast tumbling to the ground.
If the combat maneuver succeeds, the target falls at a rate of up to 100 feet per round (assuming it is conscious and attempting to remain airborne; otherwise, it falls at a rate of 500 feet per round) until it hits the ground. Upon impact, it falls prone and takes falling damage (half the normal damage if it fell 100 feet per round; otherwise, normal damage for the distance fallen).
Daymar's elementals didn't do much damage but the elf's magical missiles slammed the beast out of the air. It slams to the ground near the edge of the hilltop, close to Levn.
The Green Knight again reloaded his crossbow and tried to lead the creature as it flew...
for a possible piercing damage.
Seeing the drake landed, The Green Knight drew his sword and charged!
for a possible slashing damage.
for a possible extra slashing damage.
Alfric and Avalanche made a brave charge across the open hilltop, smashing into the drake's flank as it tried to right itself from Daymar's punishing fusillade. The Green Knight and his mount tore through the beast's hide, leaving the monster's side a mess of blood and gore.
The drake was defeated. According to the fey, though, this was not the only one.
Kellen alights, releasing the magic keep him aloft, and breathing hard. He crosses to Basdemar, pulling out his wand, evaluating the wounded warrior for how badly hurt he was. He kicks the downed drake, Ouch, you dammed thing. That was a challenge, but now we have a sense for what they are capable of. Does anyone have a sense for how many there may be?
Basdemar comes out of hiding, holding the wound on his neck where the beast bit him.
"I thought I could kill it in its sleep. I'll be more careful in the future. Can we take it down into the cave? So it is not so obvious what happened here?"
He looks over the battlefield thinking how to hide the signs of struggle, but there really isn't much. Some blood on the sunning stone, trampled path...
"Do you think he is contagious? Could I turn into a dragon after the bite like this?"
Young kobold doesn't look so much alarmed as hopeful with that last idea.
Kellen looks over the kobold, assessing the serious injuries he's sustained and concentrates a moment, a pulse of divine energy washes over the group. Considering the effect that had on Bas, he chants to the spirits, and magical healing pulses from his hands into the kobold.
Still seeing the kobold not doing great, he withdraws a wand, tapping it four times on the kobold's head...
"Thanks."
Basdemar takes to pulling the corpse of drake toward the cave. And takes a memento in form of the red scale as he goes.
Daymar quirked an eyebrow - in that way only Elves can, and usually only do when witnessing behavior from the shorter-lived races that make no logical sense to an Elf - at Basdemar.
"Do you believe we need to bring the bodies back to prove to the King that we've fulfilled our part of the bargain?" Daymar asked.
Then he looked up, checking the sky, even as the three cloud-creature he'd summoned dissipated into harmless wind.
"Speaking of which, the king did suggest that there were more of them than this one, did he not?"
Alfric looked up from the body of the drake.
"Yes, Daymar is right. We need to check for others of its kind."
Said the Green Knight.
Looking more closely at the dead drake, the group found that the creature was wearing a golden collar studded with rubies that was probably worth a fortune. There was draconic script etched on the inside.
The Green Knight leaned down and looked closer at the Drake's collar.
"Can anyone read this script? I can't make heads or tails of it." He called out.
Looking around casually, his eyes lock onto some trace patterns on the ground.
"Hey, take a look." He said, pointing out the marks on the ground. "More Drake tracks. Multiple. They're all at least a couple weeks old though."
Kellen looks at the script from the removed collar, Daymar, Bas, back me up, but its something about "Best of her breed"? My draconic is a little rusty - it sort of reminds me of a dog collar you'd put on your favorite hunting hound or somesuch. he looks around with a concerned look on his face. The shaman peers at with Sir Alfric has pointed out, examining the tracks in the dirt...
Looks like only hers is leaving traces and marks for a few weeks, I agree, but others have been here within the month. So unlikely they are around at the moment, which, I don't know what that means.
Daymar quirked an eyebrow again.
Can an Elven wizard read Draconic? The very language of magic itself?
But he didn't say that. Instead, he held his hand out for the collar.
"Beautiful Baltoris, best of her breed." He read aloud.
"A master's 'gift,' he speculated, "or a lover's? The draconic breeds - even their lesser spawn, like these - do not bend well to those who would attempt to 'master' them. Flattery, on the other hand..."
Daymar quirked an eyebrow - in that way only Elves can, and usually only do when witnessing behavior from the shorter-lived races that make no logical sense to an Elf - at Basdemar.
"Do you believe we need to bring the bodies back to prove to the King that we've fulfilled our part of the bargain?" Daymar asked.
Then he looked up, checking the sky, even as the three cloud-creature he'd summoned dissipated into harmless wind.
"Speaking of which, the king did suggest that there were more of them than this one, did he not?"
Basdemar flares his crest for a moment.
"No, Daymar, I believe there are more of them around and we don't need a big carcass in the open to announce our presence here. Now if you could all please stop blathering and help me with hiding her, we could make sure the next one that flies over doesn't immediately alert the whole brood."He finishes up with trophy taking, a great scale from the back, set of claws and one of the fangs and cleans himself up from the blood, both hers and his own.
"I cannot do this by myself. But I can keep watch."
The Green Knight can call forth his mouth Avalanche to help with dragging the Drake's dead body out of easy sight.
Daymar nodded, once Basdemar had explained his logic.
"Perhaps if we tied the carcass to one or more of the horses?" The elf began pulling various lengths of rope from his pack.
"Of course, we'll need to also hide the drag marks, and cover any blood spillage."
Basdemar helps with the ropes, clambering over the body of the drake
"We may not have to. I mean, they hunt around here. I'll cover it with dust and maybe if you could clean the promontory where she sunned her self, with magic I mean, so it cannot be smelled easily I think that might help."
With Avalanche's help and a great deal of effort, the group was able to drag the dead drake off the hilltop and out of sight. Covering up the signs of a fight and the long, heavy track that resulted from dragging Baltoris off the hill took even longer.
Kellen helps to relocate the body of Baltoris off the hillside, lashing Clumsyfoot to help the mighty warhorse of Sir Alfric in moving the body. He then sets about brushing the drag marks with some pine, and kicking dirt and dust over the largest pools of blood in the area.
The he reexamines the original footprints in the area, given a fresh perspective on the drake's anatomy and foot size.
Standing up from the drake prints he muses out loud, Several, perhaps a half-dozen? But never together, always at different times, see this one is pretty old, and has a broken talon on the left rear claw. And this one, with the peculiar tail markings, only several weeks old, but no print of broken-talon is concurrent with strange-tail... So perhaps they rotate? Or it is more of a series of visitors to the space? Daymar, what do you know about the habits of drakes, this make sense to you?
Daymar frowned for a moment, then that half-unfocused look came over his face as he began wandering through his "memory palace" to find what he knew about the behavior patterns and social mores of drakes.
As his companions busied themselves with removing the traces of their kill, Basdemar found a good lookout space and hid himself among the rocks.
He chose a spot near the stone where the drake was attacked initially, it is a good and high space to look all around.
Daymar is quite sure this is not normal drake behavior, implying someone or something else is directing them.
Basedemar is nothing but a shadow amongst the rocks.
"Flame drakes," Daymar said after some thought, "are bullies. They do not work well together - not for long, at least - and when they do gather, they tend to separate by sex. Males and females only mix for mating, and that once per year at most." Daymar looked around at the battle site.
"This is unnatural behavior for them. The collar would not have been from a lover, so it must have come from a master, or some kind of sycophant. These kinds of drakes do terrorize any creatures in their territories - or kill those they cannot bully into submission. I do not know which is less likely - that someone a drake is demanding tribute from would put such care into the design and making of such a tribute, or that a fire drake would submit to any who would attempt to master them, much less willingly wear any such band - no matter how pretty, it is still a collar."
The elf's eyes narrowed for a moment, then he shrugged. "They are not very intelligent creatures, nor wise. I suppose it is possible that someone has tricked or magically influenced Baltoris and the other females of her rampage in some way, and that she saw and accepted the thing as flattery. In any case, someone or something is influencing these creatures. There is no other way multiple fire drakes would willingly share territory like this, using the sunning spot at different times. No, they would either be acting together as a rampage - and squabbling at any given opportunity - or they'd have fought one another for supremacy already. Drakes only work together well when actively hunting."
He gave the area one more look.
"If the last time anyone besides Baltoris was here was weeks ago, then I do not believe waiting here would prove fruitful. We should examine the place for any hidden items of value, or hidden cave entrance, and then be gone from here. The king said they come to collect ears once a month. Perhaps we can lay in wait for them at the next expected delivery time."
Alfric raised an eyebrow.
"That is... an impressive analysis." He said, looking around at the scene.
"Well then. If they're not here, where are they? They can cover a lot of ground in a couple of weeks flying." He mused aloud.
Levn has told the group about a couple of points of interest in the pass. Levn knew about Pointer's Rock as a sight to see when the group first arrived.
He also knows about Sick-Stomach Lake to the south of the fort, having been warned about a magically polluted lake up here in the valley he should avoid. The lake is bounded on the east by a swamp.
Levn has heard that at one point the great Taldor empire explored in this area, and of rumors that there was once a Taldan watchpost in the only navigable pass across the Tors of Levenies.
Whether any of these places would be of interest to drakes or the person or thing controlling the drakes is up for debate.