Tag: dragon

Grand Finale

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, QuillLeave a comment

That was so chaotic and amazing and boring. I only got to hit one person before X put me out of commission. He was a really nice beholder but he lifted me up against the wall and held me there. I think he was trying to help because he kept shooting beams at me. But he didn’t hurt me or anything. It only hurt when I fell, which was weird. Then I got to go shoot the mage lady with a lightning bolt, and Big J then killed X. The others had put down a few of his friends, but Red convinced the others, including Brikka to join our new crew. The Blackstaff wasn’t happy with Red’s plan to install Big J down here, but said she’d talk to the Lady Lord about it.

Job done. Success and we have a treasure to rescue for the city. First, though, Red and I need to have a talk. Spy Master wouldn’t want me to, but this is important. I like what we’re building down here, and we have to fix things. Red says he’s sorry and it was for my own good, and for the flock. He says it was important and he still trusts me, and wants me to join him fully down here. It sounds way more fun than just spying, maybe I can do both.

We get to rest for a few days, then The Lady Lord and The Blackstaff invite us to a conversation. They give us the stone, and Nevi gets another voice in his head. It tells us what we need and where to go. Need a scale of our bronze dragon friend, need the fae queen to gift us Mary for a night, and need someone to be invisible. Seems easy. Blackstaff will even go with us.

We get down into the tomb in the City of the Dead. Lots of big doors down here, most of them don’t lead anywhere. Oooh! A pretty mural! It’s so pretty. Why do they want to break it? No! Oh, okay. Bad mural, still pretty though. Stairs up, make some noise, tell a secret, and stairs back down. Bunch of bridges and statues and oozes. This is such a strange place.

Then we find the dragon, but it’s a dwarf. Dwarf dragon made a deal with the old Lord, doesn’t want to break it. Everyone talks morality with him while I just wait for the fight to start. I didn’t get to hit X or Red, I really want to hit this dragon dwarf. Eventually, though, Blackstaff makes a deal with him for food and materials in exchange for the gold.

It takes a couple days, but we get it all out and set things in motion. Red, Orange, and I get Skullport all cleaned up and moving again. We even get to start a legit adventurers guild. We need to figure out how to stop X from coming back, because I guess that’s a thing. Red says we’re going to start stealing from other planes soon, too. That sounds like lots of fun. Spy Master is sad he didn’t get to help with X, but he’s glad he’s gone and the money is back.

The Winding Hawks are heroes, and family, forever.

Undermountain Diplomacy

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, QuillLeave a comment

Page says the next thing is down with a dragon below the city, or maybe below outside the city, it’s really hard to know. There’s that big mountain, and the dragon went under it, I guess. She finds a ranger person who knows about the mountain and agrees to take us out to look for a dragon hole. Seems like it would need to be a big hole to fit a dragon. Red thinks we should talk to more people, but it’s been years, and Page just wants to GO! So we do.

We are wandering around inside the mountain for three days before we find a fissure that new friend says show signs of a dragon. Red keeps muttering about the horde being worth it, and everyone else seems real excited about a dragon fight. Only dragon I know is friend.

It gets real hot down this fissure, and by the time we get to the bottom, there’s tons of magma all around. The air is thick and disgusting, too. We have to be careful, there’s got to be lots of fire creatures down here. Like those ones Red and I saw when we scouted out the Flint gang.

Oh, it’s worse. There’s fire giants down here, hammering away and walking around. We have to be really quiet and sneaky. And worse still. A room with fire genies and elementals. They looked like they were praying when we came it, but they saw us quick enough. Red talked with them, and we gave them some rubies. They let us pass, but said all the rubies in the dragon’s horde would belong to them. Its name is apparently Sifit, the Firestarter. They tell us which turns to make, but not what is between us and it.

Almost immediately, we run into more fire giants. Only these three aren’t moving. It’s like a big fire giant bedroom, and one of them is blocking the big exit door. We can’t fight these guys if we also want to fight the dragon. Have to sneak as far as we can and then make a run for it. We slip in and down near the big bulwark of a giant. Red drops some darkness, and we all link up and run between his legs. The Big Guy is… well, too big, and bounces off him. Red has to go back and dimension door him through. Then we run, and run, and run. Until we get to a room full of kobolds. Then we drink our fire resistance potions and jump down a big hole. It’s really deep, but Red and Nevi featherfall us at the very end so we don’t all die.

The bottom is full of magma and treasure, and Sifit. Sifit says he smells thieves and wants a taste of us. Hope we survive!

The Lady, The Basilisk, and The Dragon

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, QuillLeave a comment

The Cabaret was attacked! And Red’s pups were killed! Oh dear, oh dear. Shouldn’t be staying so far away. Gotta keep them safe. Flock is family and Family sticks together. Master always said so. Xanathar’s folk are still after Catbard. Red and I are going to find who killed our pups, though. Unacceptable!

Catbard comes with us to the Restaurant, though. Keep her close. Then up to the Temple of Helm to set the Lady Gondafrey free. He’s really nice and gives her lots of her gold back. She insists on repaying me, but I don’t even know how much I gave her. Not debt, we’re family. But I take it, I’ll just buy her something pretty later.

We grab Orange next, to head to talk to the Blackstaff. Gotta get her permission to bring Blinky up to guard Catbard. He’s a good boy and he’ll keep her safe. Blackstaff is not very keen on the idea of a basilisk in the city, and makes Orange promise to kill it if it hurts any civilians who aren’t attacking us.

Then we head down to the Bay to talk to the pretty Bronze Dragon. He’s getting bigger, pretty dragon. He says that Umberlee’s cache is vulnerable at a certain time of year. He can make us all breathe, but it will still be dangerous. Lots of monsters guarding it, and we’ll never be able to sail the seas again. We’ve got some time, though.

Time enough to deal with some pup killers. Just gotta find them.

Dragon!

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

Philomena found information on our next stop while we were out saving Hank and friends. She found tablets with iconography showing the six gods at war with chaos. They gathered together and went to the source of the chaos and returned with a prized possession that looks a lot like the mirror. They used it, broke it, and then sealed it away from man. It depicts each of the places we have been so far, plus the one remaining spot in the desert. It also seems to say that once five of the pieces are together, they will reveal the way to the final piece. The people on the tablets are represented by the different animal images we’ve seen at the various locations.

The others have mostly all just died and come back, so we leave them behind and head for the desert. I send some messages along the way to check in with folk. My brother is safe and says nothing much is going on. Nat’s family is also safe. Unfortunately, Xin Yue isn’t doing as well. She says that the Golden Horde has taken over her entire country and her brother is being held by the Khan of Khans. She says the Golden Horde isn’t done, and is likely to come for us, too.

Flying over the salt flat desert is pretty disconcerting, so I just cover my face and trust Nat to guide us. She directs us to a huge dormant volcano and then to a winding trail up the side. We land at the foot of the path and start walking up. There’s a marker with a lizard on it, and it glows as we pass. These markers continue as we go along the path, so we follow on up, hoping that they will let us in if we light them all up. The ground seems to be vibrating and shifting beneath us. As we make our way further and fruther up, the top of the volcano starts smoking. The volcano is waking up. About halfway up, the magic suppression started again.

It’s sunset by the time we get to the top. A large crater holds six large iguana statues made of amber, and a small 10′ tall pyramid. As we head down into the crater, the statues light up. There’s a loud crack as the ground shifts and begins breaking apart as lava surges up. Most of the group manages a dimension door to get out, but Gerhard and I can’t quite manage. Klyce transforms and lifts us up out of the lava for a moment until I can pull myself together and get us out.

The entire caldera becomes a lake of lava, and the pyramid and statues reappear, appearing to float on the lake. Klyce flies over to the pyramid, and finding it stable, waves the rest of us over. Dalish tries to fly over with Remy, but it’s too hot and they end up d-dooring very quickly. I do the same with Maribeth, Gerhardt brings Nat over.

Inside is unadorned smooth stone and stairs leading down. A familiar voice calls out: “Touch nothing but the crank.”

Remy and I tell the others and we head down the stairs. Into a massive room of treasure. Money, art, magic items. Everyone stays on the path, but as we get further into the chamber, the gold lessens and the items increase. Some of them on plinths tempting us in our minds, offering us their power. Sunblade, Oathbow, Mirror of Lifetrapping, Tomes… But we press on. Across a bridge over a pool of water to a short set of stairs leading up to a landing with a crank, lit with light from above.

Klyce steps forward and activates the crank. Tremors pulse through the structure. The voice calls out again: “You have passed. Now comes your trial.”

Lava starts pouring into the room and we start running. Well, okay, Some of us start running, and some of us start looting the room. Okay, everyone but me starts grabbing items instead of running away from the lava. I yell at them to stop it and just run, but as more and more of them grab things, no one listens anymore. Even Klyce circles back for a book.

By the time we get up the stairs and away from the pouring lava, we’re all a bit singed. The pyramid is stable, but there are massive wings beating the air outside. A massive real-life, red Dragon is flying around out there. I think it was Remy who asked if it had a name, or what it wanted, I’m not sure anymore, because the answer was DEATH.

I manage to peak out of the pyramid to call up a storm, but that was one extremely scary dragon. As usual, a lot of fire, spells, lightning, and bullets fly before we manage to bring it down. Klyce yanks the mirror piece out of its forehead, that ought to have made anyone cranky, before it sinks into the lava. The lava then solidifies over it’s body and the lake and dragon are no more.

The fifth piece acquired, we head down the mountain and back to Buenos Aires.