Nubnonk watches carefully as his comrades try to undo Kannijo's numerous defensive illusions, looking for weak points. Finding none inherent, he huffs and gets ready to counterattack.
"Kannijo spirit naga gone wrong!" he says. "No weakness, but use darkwood if you gots it!"
"Slick got your fulu, smelly bad snake! Now we make you super dead!"
It wasn't his best taunt, but he uses the moment to hurl his boomerang at the corrupted spirit naga.
(Concentrate, Divination, Esoterica, Magic)
Prerequisites Exploit Vulnerability Frequency once per round Requirements You're benefiting from Exploit Vulnerability, you can see the subject, and you haven't used Exploit Vulnerability this round. You present your implement and esoterica again, intensifying their effects on the target in a way unique to your implement. You gain the intensified vulnerability benefit from one of the implements you're holding, which lasts until the beginning of your next turn.Your regalia implement makes you seem more confident and inspiring with each success. Whenever you successfully Strike the target of your Exploit Vulnerability, choose an ally that you can see. That ally gains a +1 circumstance bonus to its attack rolls against the creature until the beginning of your next turn. If the attack roll was a critical hit, the circumstance bonus increases to +2.
Billy shatters Kannijo's Blur magic while Nubnonk tries to demoralise the hideous monster. Sneering Kannijo turns to him, You I will kill last feeble minion so you can watch your friends die.
The taunt is somewhat disrupted as Nubnonk hits in the face with his boomerang.
Furious, Kannijo bears down on Slick with his fangs but they deflect off his armour. Kannijo then leaps away from Slick and flies into the air!
Turn Order
Inspire 3/3
Slick
Dramiil
Nubnonk
Billy
------------------------------------------------
Kannijo
Combat status
Slick 158/188, +2 vs mental effects, crushing despair (1 minute)
Dramiil 116/116
Nubnonk 166/166
Billy 135/138
Kannijo, 68 damage, FF end of Slciks turn on turn 7
Rice plants: 6/14
Rice Ritual Points: 2
Billy sees Kannijo fly into the air. Gazing up at the stars, knowing his Aasimar father is smiling down upon him, the halfling leans on his celestial heritage and decides to cast his single offensive divine spell, Searing Light . Without Kannijo's images and concealment, the bard hopes for the best and sings,
♫"We helped preserve some plants.
We finished up some weeding.
Some Searing Light perchance.
Is what this battle's needing."♫
Since it worked so well before, Billy holds his breath and covers his nose and mouth.
The despair that he so valiantly pushed through a moment ago threatens to descend on Slick once again...
...but much like the previous time, he manages to ignore it and get on with trying to kill off the bad guy. Unfortunately, the bad guy has other ideas. After a rather pathetic attempt to bite Slick, it takes to the air and puts itself beyond the reach of Slick's greatsword. Slick sighs and glances at Billy in time to see the bard launch a devastating radiant attack at their now flying enemy. He sighs again knowing that he will not be able to put his sword to the creatures ugly face anytime soon, so instead he says, "time to rock and roll," and kicks at a stone that shoots off at great speed towards Kannijo.
Knowing that his constant mental efforts to keep despair at bay means that he cannot use his Shield spell effectively, he instead closes his eyes and with a short prayer to Gorum, raises his hands to his forehead to accept some divine healing.
Dramiil breathes through his phial of Bottled Air.
He begins to glow as he gathers power. "Step back if you can," he says to the Scaleseed behind him.
Inner Radiance Torrent, Heightened, 2 rounds
Nubnonk is always impressed with what his friends can do, even if he's a bit jealous of their powerful spells. Still, he could be a reliable pest. He watches as the others send light, fire, bolts, beams, and stones at Kannijo, and takes a bead on the dread naga.
Catching his whirling bundle of wood, he taps it against his scepter, conveying an extra boon to Slick.
Adamant that he would help to end Kannijo's threat to his new nagaji friends, the goblin tries to hit the floating spirit naga once more.
Slowly, surely, he was getting better at this!
Billy sends a beam of searing light straight into the, chest, body, tail. whatever the hell that part of a naga actually is!
Slick launches a rock at him which is partially blunted by his resistances and then heals himself.
Dramiil begins to power himself up while Nubnonk sends a pair of powerful strikes into the monstrosity who is beginning to feel picked on.
Hovering in place Kannijo unleashes a massive wave of horror to engulf the party! Dramiil and Nubnonk simply shrug it off recognising it for the illusion which it is but Billy and Slick are both affected to a degree.
Will Saves
, Walls of Will
, Soothe, Bravery
, Resolve
, Resolve
Turn Order
Inspire 2/3
Slick
Dramiil
Nubnonk
Billy
------------------------------------------------
Kannijo
------------------------------------------------
Combat status
Slick 166/188, +2 vs mental effects, crushing despair (1 minute)
Dramiil 116/116
Nubnonk 166/166
Billy 90/138
Kannijo, 136 damage, FF end of Slciks turn on turn 7
Rice plants: 6/14
Rice Ritual Points: 2
Nubnonk looks practically gleeful as Kannijo is hammered from all sides. It looks like Dramiil is powering up, too! So if there is anything he can do to distract the jiang-shi spirit naga, he would!
The boomerang, hitting with the force of darkwood, pings powerfully and Nubnonk does a veritable dance move, jamming his regalia into the ground and lifting himself up like an acrobat. He catches the boomerang with his feet and pats his rump. "Take that, nasty snake!"
Dismounting with verve and aplomb, he makes one more throw, almost not even caring if this one hits!
Billy's blast leaves the monster reeling, Nubnonks boomerang then hammers into him and with a wail he crashes to the ground!
As Kannijo falls the Scaleseeds cry out, Quickly, cover his body in rice or he will rise again!
Nubnonk somersaults in joy, looking over at Dramiil. "You keep that ready if he rise again!"
He honestly wasn't sure if the psychic would be able to maintain the spell before discharging it, but the goblin does as he's told and goes to grab the rice. He didn't really understand why rice, but he knew from his special book that it should work.
Knowledge was funny like that. Sometimes you knew what, but not why.
The happy-go-lucky halfling shudders and cries out as the vampire's spell washes over him. When the others aren't affected, Billy's embarrassed and stammers, "An il-illusion y-you s-say? Sh-shame on m-me. I sh-should know b-better than th-that!" He pulls himself together to consider his next actions, when Nubnonk's attack drops Kannijo from the sky.
Billy nods proudly to the goblin, "That is indeed a deadly boomerang, my friend!" As the Scaleseeds are explaining about the rice, Billy asks Nubnonk, "You said something about darkwood? This staff is darkwood. There are glorious stories of stabbing vampires in the heart with wooden stakes. Would this work?" He offers the darkwood Staff of Final Rest to Slick so the fighter can provide Kannijo a ... final rest. Then he helps Nubnonk with the rice.
Nubnonk's eyes glimmer at his halfling friend's praise. He reaches out a hand and pats the frightened man on the shoulder. "No shame. Magic make fools of everyone!" Then his smile widens as the darkwood staff is brought out. He looks at Slick and makes a downward stabbing motion even as he covers the undead aberration with more rice. "Try it!"
Just when he was getting used to the feeling of despair pushing in on him, a wave of horror floods his mind. "Now what? This feels a little like that fear thing, but worse. Also I now have a migraine. Time to finish this." He prepares himself for another round of chopping, but Nubnonk takes Kannijo out before he can launch himself at the vampiric snake once more.
While Nubnonk covers the body with rice, Slick puts his sword away and catches the staff tossed to him by Billy. Standing over the fallen Kannijo (who now looks a bit like a giant piece of sushi) he raises the staff and brings the point down onto the creature like a spike.
His bloodied hands slip on the staff and he misses the body altogether. Wiping his hands, he regrips and tries again. He does this several times to make absolutely sure that all of Kannijo's vital organs are destroyed, especially the heart (if he can find it).
"There. That should do it.
Dramiil lets his spell drop harmlessly once Slick delivers the coup de grace, his form no longer glowing as the magic releases and dissipates.
"I thought they were supposed to hop, not fly," he says, gazing at the impaled naga.
"So...do we bury him in rice? Permanently?"
The group quickly and efficiently put an end to Kannijo's unlife. The Scaleseed druids gather round you and confer amongst themselves. No, no they say to Dramiil. This is enough to end his existence forever. This is a sad day, Kannijo was once one of the mighty Naga, our rulers. How he came to be this monster we may never know.
Their leader gestures to the card Slick now has, This is what you came here for yes? What is it, why is it so important? We do not know how Kannijo came by it, could it have done this to him? If so, will it be a danger to you also?
When the Scaleseeds confirm that Kannijo has been put to rest, Billy takes a breath and tries to explain, "Thank you for your help. We don't know if the card could have changed your mighty ruler. How long has he been ... this monster?"
After they respond, the halfling continues, "We just know that there are evil beings after these cards, and in the wrong hands, they could pose a danger to all. We're collecting them to keep them safe."
Billy looks around. "Will your group be okay now? Do any of you need healing?" While the groups are chatting, Billy unpacks his healers tools. "Slick ... you first. Please join me."
After ten minutes of healing, if the groups are still chatting, Billy will take ten more minutes to strum his lute and meditate.
Nubnonk's countenance darkens as the Scaleseeds explain that this was not in fact a fully joyous occasion, but a sad one. He had not known--how could he have?--that Kannijo was once held in high esteem.
So he summons up his best self (accompanied by a waving of his chest back and forth) and tries to explain as best as he can, even smoothing out his grammatical constructions to ensure that he won't be misunderstood. (Of course, his high-pitched and often-aggravating goblinoid voice has not been tempered, so there's still that.)
"We're from Avistan. Absalom most recently. In the far-off land of Varisia, people use these cards to tell fortunes. The cards are very powerful, more than most know. Or at least," the goblin withdraws his own invested hand from his pocket, "These are. Not only are they tied to history and mythology and storytelling, but these--" Nubnonk waggles the cards "--open the way to a whole new plane of existence!"
He frowns in spite of the excitement of that last part, thinking through the implications. He wants to reach for his book and ask it some questions, but thinks that might be considered rude. "We have been asking the same questions about why. And we don't know. It's a mystery. People have died. Fiends have attacked. There's a lot of mess."
The goblin spreads his arms wide. "If we find out, do you want us to tell you? We should be able to come back." Nubnonk thinks, at least. They hadn't tried going back through one of the other portals from the Harrowed Realm yet, he didn't think.
Once Slick is satisfied that Kannijo is no longer a threat to the universe, he wipes the ex-naga's ichor off the staff as best he can and hands it back to Billy. "Sorry for gunking it up there Billy, but it looks like it did the job." He stands still keeping an eye out for more dangers while Billy patches him up. He examines the results with a satisfied nod. "Your usual bang-up job putting me back together I see. Thanks Billy."
Turning to the Scaleseeds, he says, "Looks like you won't have to worry about Kannijo anymore." He pulls out the Snakebite card to look at it. He scrunches his nose in distaste as its power becomes apparent to him. "This is not one of the nicer cards in the deck. It is quite possible that its malign influence may have contributed to the transformation of Kannijo into the poisonous creature he became. It's probably a good thing that we take it away to avoid this happening again."
Not seeing any further threats coming out of the woods, Slick makes sure that he has all his equipment with him and that the Snakebite card is safely tucked away in a pocket. "Seems our work here is done. Let's return to Harrowheart and figure out what we do next." He looks down at his chlorophyl and vampiric blood stains. "Looks like Baines definitely has his work cut out for him this time."
Dramiil nods after Nubnonk explains. "It is as my friend Nubnonk says. We don't know why we have been tasked to retrieve these, but something is happening--something that spans continents and possibly worlds, that involves these cards of fate. I think you will be out of danger for now, but beware of signs and portents."
He glances at his own unmarked robes. "Such is the way of the close range warrior, Slick. At least you weren't eaten," he says, flashing a smile.
The Scaleseeds help out with patching you all up.
We do not know exactly when Kannijo was transformed but we became aware of the problem in the area several weeks ago. We tracked him down but could not overcome him and were forced to flee. It seems you have stopped him before he completed his transformation into a full Jiang Shi for which we thank you.
At the mention of Avistan the druids are open mouthed, To have come so far and so quickly must mean these cards possess powerful magic. Truly it is impressive. We would be more than happy to invite you back. Perhaps we can show you our lands in more pleasant circumstances they say as they give a round of heartfelt handshakes and back slaps.
At the mention of world spanning implications they grow more grave. We trust that you will be up to the task. If there is anything we can do to help then please, call on us.
"We would be delighted to return, when this mystery has been solved and the unknown danger has been abated," replies Dram, shaking hands all around.
Dram waves as they make their way through realmspace.
Billy listens with interest to the story of Kannijo's transformation. "Indeed, we would very much like to return for a grand tour of your lands, under more pleasant circumstances."
Billy meditates to Desna by strumming his lute softly and shuffling his harrow deck. After 10 minutes, he draws two Harrow Omen cards.
He selects the suit of Stars for his new active Harrow Omen. When the group is ready to return to Harrowheart, Billy stows his harrow deck and waves goodbye to their new friends.
The group return to Harrowheart and once again find themselves in the Great Hall facing the arches. Baines silently collects various soiled garments and heads off muttering something about the difficulties of getting magical sap out of chain.
When Baines complains about getting magical sap out of chain, Billy stares at his chain shirt with embarrassment, and explains, "Please forgive my carelessness, Baines." He thinks and adds, "I understand there are few things worse then cleaning the sap from magical plants, but I would propose that being eaten whole by one would rank fairly high." Billy shrugs sadly, not wanting to be the cause of Baines troubles.
Turning to the group, Billy suggests, "After those two battles, I could use a night's rest." He looks to see how everyone is feeling. "For tomorrow's adventure ... that Juggler looks fun! I had no idea the Mwangi Expanse was the entertainment capital of the world!"
"There you go Baines," says Slick as he shrugs himself out of his armor and hands it and his sword over to the man. "Sorry for all the nasty green goo, but the greenery was proving particularly resistant to being cut down to size."
Slick nods at Billy's suggestion for a good night's sleep. "Good idea Billy, I could use a relax after that little adventure. As to where we go next? Not sure I care that much. The Mwangi Expanse is as good a place as any."
"I agree. Let's explore the knowns before we wander off into the unknown. The Silent Hag truly does not sound fun."
Nubnonk cheerfully says farewell to the Scaleseeds after the gravity of the situation is expressed and offers of friendship are made in spite of it all. The trip back to Harrowheart is swifter than what had transpired in the jungles of Tian Xia, and the goblin is almost sad to be back in the "civilized" halls overseen by Baines. This melts away when the butler begins grumbling about his responsibilities. Nubnonk seems quite proud that he was not in need of any particular mending or cleaning, and spends a bit of time invisible setting up a prank to frighten the poor man at the height of his duties.
But when his fun is done, Nubnonk agrees that the Mwangi Expanse sounds like a fun trip next.
While Baines is cleaning, Nubnonk also draws Slick aside and asks whether he wants to engage in a protective ritual with him. "It called Guardian's Aegis," he explains. "You usually go in combat sooner than Nubnonk, get hurt lots. But this can protect you little bit! Yes?"
Slick smiles at Nubnonk's offer of protection. "That's a mighty fine offer there Nubnonk, but I think I'll decline. I can think of better ways to spend the money and I'm pretty sure I can take the hits without you sharing remotely in the experience."
Nubnonk smiles and nods. "Okay. I give oils to Baines for cooking then."
Nubnonk spends some time invisibly stalking Baines, planning potential pranks on him. What he learns however may make him reconsider. Baines is a lonely, solitary man. He keeps himself to himself, his only interactions with the other servants are to give them their daily orders and make exacting checks on their work. On that point, Nubnonk notes that the castle seems to have acquired several additional servants, a groom to look after the horses of the Paladins, a washer woman who has taken on the laundry duties and a pair of scullery maids.
With some of the more tedious work taken off his hands Baines has started to turn his attention to restoration of some of the more broken down bits of the castle. Work has started on dredging the moat and repairing the drawbridge. A pair of dwarven engineers have been recruited to fix the winch.
Of an evening Nubnonk follows Baines into the great wine cellars. He spends most evenings there, deep in his cups and singing sad, mournful songs about the loss of Mrs Baines and the terrible things he would like to do to her paramour.
The group gather together before the gates the following day, having made their preparations. Stepping through you once again find yourselves in the midst of thick jungle but cooler, as you are high up the side of a mountain in the Terwa Uplands. Looking around you realise that the mountain is Mount K'Walder, a peak sacred to Balumbdar the World Shaker, God of great size, strength and megafauna.
From your mountainside peak, thousands of feet above the ground, an ocean studded with islands commands the view to the west, while to the east stretches out an expanse of thick jungle. The slope below hosts a cloud forest, its trees poking up through a layer of swirling mist, while a narrow path winds down and out of view into the fog.
Behind you, in the side of the mountain, yawns a massive cave entrance.
Slick looks very, well... slick in his newly polished armor; an occasional relfection of sunlight burns the retinas of his companions as he turns left and right to take in the view. "Very nice." He then turns all the way around and looks into the cave entrance. "How about we peek into the cave before we start trudging through the jungle. Maybe we can learn something about where the Juggler might be." Not waiting for an answer, he slowly pulls out his greatsword and takes a few slow steps into the cave to allow his eyesight to become accustomed to the darkness.
Reconsidering his pranks against Mr. Baines, Nubnonk instead resolves to find Mrs. Baines and her paramour to exact more deserving pranks. He would have to join Mr. Baines in his cups one of these evenings.
But for now, the Mountain awaits! Nubnonk slaps on a pair of glasses and pulls out tools that makes him look like he is ready to go spelunking and follows Slick into the cave.
If there's time for Billy to do a little shopping, the bard pops over to the Grand Bazaar and locates his favorite back-alley shop, Lyrics on the Wind. It's a pop-up tent run by his old friend, Thelba Griddlestrum. After trying on several Persona Masks, he purchases one for 50 gp.
With the light of a new day, Billy excitedly shuffles his harrow deck and draws his daily Harrow Omen card.
He chooses Keys , and then activates The Carnival card to learn about whom we might meet that day.
After sharing his carnival information, Billy passes through the portal with the group. Upon seeing the dark, spooky cave, he says brightly, "That looks inviting! Shall w..." But Slick is already on his way. Billy activates his Goggles of Night to grant him darkvision and hurries to catch up.
Billy wanders through the Carnival and meets a short, stocky, bearded woman. She laughs out load as he approaches, pinches his cheeks and shoves him on his way.
Billy is unsure if this person can be trusted....
Dramiil sits down with his own Fine Harrow Deck and pulls two cards to replace his used Star card. "You came in handy," he says to the card, shaking his head. "Nagas with paper on their faces."
Restore Omen to get a new card.
Dramiil chooses the deuce of Shields and places the Books card back in the deck.
"uh...rear guard it is," says Dramiil, and pulls out his Everburning Torch. "No one told me about all these goggles."
The group heads into the tunnel. Shortly it leads into an enormous space inside the mountain. This cathedral-like space stretches in a rough circle about 100 feet in diameter. Its smooth walls run in irregular arcs punctured by fissures and sporadic shafts that allow the daylight in so that the whole is well lit. Much of the wall space features huge, simple murals in bright colors, mostly of megafauna and towering trees against a backdrop of high mountains. A portrayal of Balumbdar himself as an immense, heavily tattooed, brown-skinned man with thick muscles, rolls of fat, and a pleasant expression covers the wall opposite the cave entrance. The shaft of light illuminating the wall makes Balumbdar look even bigger, tricking the eye to make him look larger than even this massive cavern could contain. A second shaft of light falls on a stone altar directly in front of this dynamic portrait. Slowly gyrating through loops in the air above the altar is a single object: The Juggler.
A short, extremely wide, dwarf dressed in a light blue tunic and sandals sits cross legged in front of the altar. As you enter he speaks in a slow sonorous but warm voice, Welcome, I dont get visitors often. Refresh yourselves and tell me why you are here.
He gestures to a low shelf where a large jug of clear water sits alongside massive biscuits the size of coconuts.
Billy follows Slick into the cave. Upon seeing the dwarf, the halfling smiles,"Hi. I'm Billy. You were in my carnival vision. You pinched my cheeks. You look nicer in person!" Billy takes out his Jug of Fond Remembrance and offers mugs all around.
After taking a sip, "We're adventurers. We've become of aware of evil abnormalities rising up all over the world. Some of the odd behavior can be traced to harrow cards." Billy indicates the gyrating The Juggler. "Like yours ... is everything okay? Can we help with anything?"
Nubnonk notices that Billy has not introduced himself in quite the same fashion as he has done in other corners of the world. Maybe he's learning? Or maybe he's becoming demoralized that he is not well-known in every place on Golarion.
The goblin would have to tell him later that it was okay not to be known everywhere immediately: he was developing his reputation now, by traipsing the globe and the planes alike.
"Like Billy say," Nubnonk says, grabbing an enormous biscuit and accepting a cup of Billy's favorite alcohol, "We travel, meet people, fight evil, and make Golarion better!" He grins, trying to think of how to fit the entire biscuit in his mouth at once.
Slick whistles in awe as they enter the large space with the impressive murals. "Nice work. Someone clearly had a lot of time on their hands." His gaze then snaps to the floating Harrow card they'd come to retrieve. He's about to go get it when he notices the stumpy dwarf sitting before it. "Ah! Hello there, um... Sorry, but I don't know your name. Perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm Slick, and we're here for that." He points to the card floating above the altar. "What would it take for us to get our hands on it?"
"Forgive me, I'm not hungry," says Dramiil apologetically. "My name is Dramiil Rau. We have been tasked with retrieving cards of this deck, as my friends have stated. May we convince you to part with it?"
The dwarf breaks into a wide grin as he accepts a drink from Billy.
Well now, welcome, welcome to you all. My name is Blengkennu, known to all as the widest dwarf in the Terwa Uplands. Some call me the Pious but its not a title I sought for myself. I suppose its because I spend all of my time here at the shrine to Balumbdar, my God.
As for the card, well, it just appeared here! I found it there above the altar one morning several weeks ago. It’s very magical—and I suspect it has powers far beyond floating in circles! I’ve been seeking the prayer that will bring it to life. But look! See how immense the juggler on the card is? Look at the size of the things he tosses about so casually! What could this be but a sign from the World-Shaker? Marvellous! This juggler must be a herald of my god. I just need the right prayer to bring him forth.
If you are seeking these cards well, you could try to take it, but I don’t know that you’ll have much luck. I know I haven't. I’ve been thinking a lot about how it might be claimed. You recognize the card for what it is—a card from the Harrow. This card in particular, it’s from the suit of Keys. A key must be the key, wouldn’t you think? I think if I had a big key, especially a certain very specific key, I could complete my prayer. At that point, it wouldn’t matter whether I had the card or not, and I suppose you could take it.
Slick raises an eyebrow at the dwarf's story. "It's not that I don't trust you Blengkennu, but I think I'll see if I can get that card down myself before we go looking for giant keys." The fighter puts away his sword and approaches the floating Harrow card. Carefully at first, but with increasing strength, he tries to remove the card from its loopy prison.
Slick steps in front of the card and it ducks around him. Chasing it around a bit like a reluctant puppy he eventually grabs hold of it and heaves. The thing just refuses to budge, it feels like it weighs a massive amount.
Billy explains to Nubnonk. "I'm always in awe when I see the characters in my visions in front of me, large as life." He adds, "Also, I'm starting to understand that not everyone in these faraway lands has had the good fortune of visiting the Grand Bazaar."
Turning to Blengkennu, Billy bows. "We would like nothing more than helping you complete your prayer. Do you have any leads on where we might locate such a key?" Billy takes another sip of honey mead.
Running around in full plate chasing after a floating card does not make Slick happy. When he finally catches the errant card, he says, "Ha! Got you," but this triumph soon turns to ashes as no matter how hard he heaves, the card will not budge. Slick finally gives up. "Okay. Looks like you were right there Blengkennu. Time to go looking for that large key you mentioned." He listens carefully to the answer that Blengkennu gives to Billy inquiry about possible leads.
Nubnonk decides that he rather likes Blengkennu almost immediately. Surely there had been some historical animosity between dwarves and goblins (not nearly as much between dwarves and orcs, or dwarves and giants, or dwarves and other dwarves), but Nubnonk was happy to move past that if this (presumably) Mbe'ke dwarf was!
Nubnonk plops down on the ground and brings out his glorious book, thinking hard on the subject. "Might be key. Might be something else. Harrow Key like agility and balance, yes? Or trouble, children, and entertainment. Or for Juggler, maybe even destiny."
The goblin hopes that his book will show him something interesting if he thinks hard enough about it.
Regardless of whether the book shows him anything useful, Nubnonk gets an idea and throws his boomerang at the card, wondering if a dexterous display might be more useful than a strength-based one.
No, no, not like that. Like this!
Nubnonk thinks and thinks. He knows that dwarves have had a fractious relationship with many different ancestries, including his own but this dwarf seems friendly enough. Throwing his boomerang at the card has, sadly, no effect whatsoever.
Blengkennu chuckles. Hah, I tried the same as you, nothing worked. The thing doesnt want to be claimed. As for a key, well, it just so happens that recently I did see just such an object. The bad news is that the key is part of the hoard of a nefarious cloud dragon who lives in the valley to the south. She is named Sedisserax. She was exiled from the dwarven sky citadel of Cloudspire years ago after she destroyed several historical statues and relics, she has spent the last several decades “moping and fuming” in her remote lakeside lair.
I've visited Sedisserax several times. She may be bitter and cantankerous, but she’s majestically massive and gloriously gigantic, and has given me many insights into the lifestyles of larger life over the years. I should warn you that she is vicious and spiteful, and usually eats those who travel too close to her valley. She has put up with my visits because I never approaches too closely, is properly respectful, and, I suspect, because she’s guilty about her past and sees the chance to speak to a dwarf as, perhaps, an opportunity to find forgiveness.
Each time I visited her, I noted a singular element of her treasure—an immense key, almost as large as my arm. She grew angry when, on my latest visit, I asked to examine the key. She attacked me in response, and while I thank Balumbdar’s mercy for my fortunate escape, I am positive that I'm no longer welcome in her lair. If you could secure that enormous key and bring it back here for me to meditate upon, I am certain the mystery of the card will be revealed.
Billy sips his mead as Blengkennu tells his tale. "As majestic as Sedisserax is, I wonder if news of my legend has reached her." He adds, "I can't wait to find out and possibly swap glorious tales ... if she doesn't eat me." The bard doesn't seem to be near as scared as he ought to be. To prepare for the meeting, he considers what he knows about dragons.