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Kinet watched in awe as Sabah unleashed a horrible end to the unholy creature. Once the giant fell, he cautiously walked over to rejoin the others. When Darzus asked if it was dead, Kinet replied "It soon will be."
When Darzus mentions seeking out Aureliax, Kinet nodded his head in agreement. And after a quick search of the caves to not avail, he was ready to go and escort the kids back to town.
After you have defeated the ettin and recovered the golden pendant, you emerge from the cave to find yourselves ... face to face with Aurelliax in her true form .
She is a magnificent mature adult gold dragon whose presence dwarfs your own.
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Malluma gives a grunt of satisfaction when the giant falls, then in an uncharacteristic display of emotion gives Sabah a hug when she heals Kudrilo. "Thank you for keeping my friend alive. "
Upon leaving the cave, the nagaji's mouth drops open. Not one for words, she simply drops to a knee and bows her head.
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Sabahs eyes widen as she sees the dragon. She pauses for a moment before striding stiffly forward, her eyes never leaving the dragons gaze.
Sabah pulls the amulet from her pack and presents it to Aurelliax. She takes a knee and message appears in front of her.
"I am returning this item to you, the children, while not innocent of taking the pendant, did help us retrieve the item and warn us of the real criminals intent."
Sabah places the amulet on the ground in front of her and pulls the other relics from her pouch to place beside it.
"the real criminals had devised a plan to combine the effects of these relics and the pendant inorder to render the Ettin immune to your power. Indeed without the help of Tolwin and Richelle, we might not have found the Ettin in time and many lives may have been lost. I would hope their crimes might be expunged, or at the very least lessened for the help they have supplied us today. If not that we may take them with us and see to their care."
She keeps her gaze locked on Aurelliax, waiting rigidly on one knee and waits for their response.
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Once the Ettin took its last breath and the golden pendant recovered, Kinet followed the others out of the cave only to be confronted with a giant dragon. Kinet thought to himself, "Great. First a giant, now a dragon. What's next, a giant rock falling out of the sky?"
Seeing how the others were dropping to their knees before the beast, Kinet remained standing, thinking to himself, "If it is my time to die, I will do it with my head held high."
The dragon raises an eyebrow after hearing your story a d reaction ... silence follows for several seconds.
”Thank you, travelers, for protecting the people of Highdelve, and for recovering my amulet. Truly, you are the heroes these people needed. Let me commend you, as well, for sparing the lives of those children that belong to this town ... I will take care that they are loved and brought back to this community!“ she says with a rumbling voice.
The dragon nods with respect.
“I was surprised to see that the cultists really were so eager to harm the one thing that means so much to me … Highdelve. The blood sacrifice combined with the depletion of all magic in these items was necessary to make the giant invulnerable to my attacks. But … you were here!“ the dragon says and it’s golden scales move as it raises its head in thought.
You see the golden pendant levitate in the golden dragon’s direction and it vanishes when touching her scales.
She looks at you for a while.
”Please accept these as a token of my appreciation.“
Four statuettes of gold dragons with diamonds for eyes appear out of thin air and levitate to your hands.
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Seeing that the dragon was not going to attack them, Kinet realized just how close he came to starting a fight he probably would not have survived and let’s out a long breath he did not realize he was holding. When the dragon produced a golden dragon statue for each of them and presented it to them, Kinet reached out and took the closest one and examined it. He thought that the statue bore a striking resemblance to the dragon and maybe that was intentional.
“[b]Thank you.[b]” was all that the little gnome could say.
You can see that she is content to see you appreciate the presents which truly look identical to her perfect form.
”Now,” she says, unfurling her magnificent wings. ”would you care to ride in the cart as I carry the cart of brightblooms, along with the children, back to Highdelve?”
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The thought of flying was almost too much. Kinet has spent a lot of time at sea as well as on dry land, but this would be a first to fly through the sky. "Can we? That would be truly amazing." slipped out of his mouth before thinking. Then again, how could he pass up such an opportunity. Even if the others decided to walk back, Kinet would not pass up the chance of a life time to see the world from the clouds.
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Sabah climbs into the cart as well pulling her Oud to rest comfortably in her lap. She turns to Kinet, adjusting the strings as she does.
A message appears across the the seat between them.
"I believe before I promised to play you a sea shanty? Do you know "Port Crawl in Cassomir?" If I play the song, would you sing the song for our humble skyward crew?"
She finishes tuning her Oud and lays a message of the lyrics on the seat, poised and ready for Kinet to start the song.
After the ride of your life you land in Highdelve and can finally enjoy the jubilee!
You also see the dragon in human form when the town welcomes you all!
What you do with the rest of your time ... only you can tell!
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Seeing that Darzus was struggling with the thought of being so far off the ground, it was good timing when Sabah finally came through and played some music while Kinet began to sing some Sea Shanties. Hopefully the music and fun would help keep his mind off his fear of falling.
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Sabah sits with Tolwin and Richelle, enjoying some local brew and watching them talk. She scrawls out a few messages on slips parchment and sets them in the center of the table. Each marked with a name of one of her companions.
After finishing her letters she puts up a message on the wall to join. Her in a drinking contest.
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When they get off of the cart, Darzus clings to the ground for several moments, huddled in a squatting position. Finally he stands up and dusts himself off before looking around self-consciously to see who noticed.
Ahem
He finds his message from Sabah. Reading it, he is touched by her request. As he approaches her he can feel enthusiasm welling up in him.
After Darzus' stomach-turning flight experience, he politely declines the drinking game...
He makes the rounds, sitting with Kinet and Malluma, asking them if they think they'll stick with this line of work having tried it out.
We make a very different-looking team, I think. Maybe that will be our strength.