Avalor quickly counsels Kas, saying that he believes the Wyrm will carry out its threats regardless. Sending 'champions' to it is suicide, serving only to feed it spells. He urges the company to ready itself to do battle.
Sir Gerin cuts in, voicing his opinion that the dragon on its way is in fact a 'duplicate'. After all, that way Turshan can test the company's strength whilst still resting on his hoard. Even if it is the real dragon Sir Gerin says there is no point in fighting it ten miles from the Sahmen sword.
"Closer to forty!" Corrects Winsens. "I know, I walked it!"
Sir Gerin concludes that he sees the best chance for success to be to get into the goblin caves, find and regenerate the Sahmen Angel that Sir Ardna's group saw the dragon extinguish and then make a concerted attack under it's leadership.
Since the Orthians and Sahmenites seem too blinded by their lofty goals to think of lesser mortals Sir Ardna speaks up, championing the ordinary inhabitants of Diamond Springs.
"Firstly we must protect the innocents of the town. I call on volunteers to take the citizens of Diamond Springs to safety in the hills. Anyone without the will to encounter the dragon should go and those of you new to adventuring also."
Shone Sunblaze steps forwards reluctantly, Azil Fondar nudging him on. He acknowledges that he would be best suited to this task.
Three more adventurers filed in during Kas' speech; the Suocconan temptress Bob, the Haquarian mage Fleetfoot and the Sahmenite warrior Herbert. Bob and Herbert now seem to be having some sort of row at the rear of the group, hissing at eachother whilst Fleetfoot looks away in embarrassment.
"I will stay to protect the townsfolk." Herbert steps forwards, raising his white shield. " They are the children of Sahmen for the most part and our lord would not want them forsaken."
Snowolf, having passed a few quick words with Kas and received a nod, leans over the perimeter wall and hollers above the storm to the giant,
"We need time to consider your proposals, stay where you are until we have made a decision."
Kas and Snowolf then lead the return to the barracks so that the debate can continue out of the wind and rain. On the way back in Snowolf becomes the first customer at 'Cimarohm's Sword Shoppe', borrowing an enchanted longsword. Sir Gerin is the Orth maid's second customer, also taking an enchanted longsword and finally there is Moranthis who takes the magical twohanded blade.
As the adventurers file back into the barracks Raymell Whiteflame is holding forth. He thinks that an immediate evacuation is in order with a battle group being sent to confront the goblins to make sure that The Sword stays in the realm of the living. Snowolf adds his voice, saying that he will not fight the dragon in Diamond Springs and that if no provision is made for the citizens' safety he will have to lead them to Bisha himself! Winsens quietly points out that fighting the dragon here and now would ideally suit his weather magic and enable him to call down Somol's thunderbolts on the beast...
As Kas moves to take the floor and address these issues further he is waylaid by Bob. In her usual mercenary vein she is seeking his assurance that her help will be rewarded, possibly by access to the Sahmen scrolls in the Tulak temple .... five hundred cadocs worth? Herbert raises his eyes to the heavens. Kas regards Bob cooly, she enquires after Paradessa's health but this pleasantry makes little impression on the man.
"Madam, should we succeed, your share of the wyrm's hoard will be payment aplenty.
The queen is well, as far as I know."
Bob retreats into the crowd and goes to give the ogre, Draze, a hug for old times sake.
Weapon is being helped by young Shone into a fine suit of enchanted chainmail that he has bartered off Deth Stormborn, he loudly states that the populace of the 'Springs is too high a price to pay for The Sword.
"No price is too high!" Booms Kas and many of the Sahmenites clash sword on shield in approval.
"However," Kas' voice overrides the din, "I will detail Fanif Lar to join Shone and Herbert in guarding the townsfolk. In addition I will follow Sir Ardna's suggestion and send a duplicate of our own against this worm. Unless any other warrior fancies himself the man to buy us time and has the appropriate magic I will send my own simulacrum forth."
He speaks an incantation, furrowing his brow and in an instant his duplicate appears at his side.
"Now would somebody like to tell me; how are we going to reach mount Sasbicand without having to fight Turshan and a legion of goblins on the way?"
Raising a fist to his mouth and uttering a polite cough the black clad Deth Stormborn steps forwards.
"I believe I can help."
He goes on to explain that using a magical key given to him by the high priest of Trolin he has access to a set of rooms called 'Haven', no matter where he is. He assures those present that if they were to enter the rooms he could seal them in and recreate the door close to the lair, whereon they could all sally forth and slay the dragon. Deth holds himself to be able to reach the mountain unobserved and stealthy enough to creep through goblin tunnels without being spotted. He'll need good directions though... Here the diminutive Dritzz Zarcon steps into the ring,
"I will be your guide, few can find their way around the goblin tunnels like me. I suggest we head for the angel and then onto the dragon."
There are mutterings in the crowd. Sir Eliriad speaks out,
"All of us trapped in some extra-planar maze and the key in the hands of a faithless mercenary? And behind him one of the most reviled assassins in the region! I think not!"
Bob moves up behind Dritzz,
"Drittzy won't let any harm befall his friends will he?"
There is a strange timbre to her voice and she has a startling effect on the thief. A look of true devotion appears, ill at ease on the unfamiliar territory of Dritzz's angular features. Dreamily Dritzz shakes his head.
"Well that's sorted." Announces Kas, obviously at home with the workings of Suoccona. He sets about dispatching Brin's men to spread news of the evacuation and the three Sahmenites to be left as protectors head off to inspect the mines' potential as a hiding place. Brin goes with them, explaining that the excavations are not large since most gem hunters simply dredge the stream beds.
Sir Ardna still has misgivings, worried that if Deth is captured they will all be trapped but he bows to Kas' decision. Deth says he will need a stone wall to create a portal to Haven. Sir Gerin scratches his bleached locks a moment then suggests the recently built Sahmen shrine,
"Its the only stone building here."
Kas sends his duplicate to await the dragon's arrival, Avalor Dangerous going out with it, saying mysteriously that he wants a word with the giant. From the start the Orthian has been in favour of facing the wyrm head on but admits some merit in the new plan and is in no way crazy enough to face it alone. After all he saw Turshan destroy his own duplicate in a matter of seconds several years ago.
Whilst this is going on the rest of the company leave the barracks and swarm over the opposite wall of the stockade to reach the shrine unseen. It is as the heroes gather outside the squat shrine building that the dragon descends from stormy skies. The wyrm of Ang-Ashad is come.
Aloft on vast wings the dragon's body is over one hundred feet from snout to tail tip, its scales are myriad shades of pale. enamel white on its head and flanks changing to ivory on its underside, rainbows pattern its back, refracting from iridescent scales there. Its eyes are glittering moonstones, its scythe-like claws are the length of short swords and made from diamond as are its teeth. Sinuous, serpent-like it writhes and coils high above the settlement before suddenly arrowing downwards, slipping silently through the gale towards the second Kas who stands boldly before the giant and trolls.
Avalor points to the giant,
"Kill the trolls!"
Without hesitation the giant fells the troll closest to him with a double fisted blow to the head. Kas lowers his visor, lifts his shield high and readies his sword. As the second troll tackles the giant to the ground Avalor turns and runs for the shrine.
Deth produces a large, ornate iron key and taps it on a stone in the shrine wall. A keyhole appears. He puts the key in, turns it and pulls. With a bit of effort he manages to open a concealed door, pieces of loose stone falling away, disguising plaster crumbling and being washed off by the rain. The door seems obvious now, a sturdy wooden portal.
Draze steps inside, filling the doorway, and strikes a spark from his tinderbox to light a torch. He leads on down the corridor, lighting torches as he goes. It is immediately obvious that none of this exists within the shrine. The company file in, spreading out to fill the five rooms of Haven. The two rooms immediately to the left and right are empty and dirty, strewn with rust, splinters, woodshavings and smelling of horse dung. The next pair are sumptuously appointed with thick carpet, tapestries, wood carvings and a bed in each. The last room is bare save for a few chairs and a sturdy chest. Draze goes and sits on the chest, Bob taking her place beside him.
Once all twenty eight travellers are safe within Deth closes the door and locks it. The door is gone. He withdraws the key. The keyhole vanishes. He slips the key back on the thong around his neck and pats it with a strange smile.
"Don't get any ideas." Hisses Dritzz. "If any harm comes to Bob...."
The two men slip away through the huts, two shadows passing unseen through the crowds flocking to the Tsac compound where Fanif and the others wait.
Inside Haven there are groans and moans. Although the place is steady as a rock, inside the heads of those held within it feels as though they are bouncing around on Deth's chest. Several men lose their last meal almost immediately. To provide some distraction Sir Eliriad walks as straight a line as his brain will allow to the corridor and calls on Corgul's power. A purple haze appears in mid air then resolves itself into a moving image. It is as though one were looking through a window onto the scene outside Brin's stockade.
Both the trolls look quite battered but they have the giant down and are busy kicking it to death. The dragon lands some fifty yards from Kas and yawns mightily, revealing a glittering cavern of teeth. Kas approaches warily, the dragon not deigning to notice. He is still ten yards off when the dragon flexes, cracking its long tail out like a huge whip. The point strikes Kas' head and the Sahmenite tumbles head over toe, thrown back a dozen feet. He gains his feet, his thick neck unbroken but now helmless with blood streaming from nose and mouth. This time as the duplicate approaches, the dragon swings with a gem-laden paw. Kas throws himself under the sweeping leg and takes a hack at its chest. A cheer goes up in Haven.
The dragon knocks Kas back, sending him flying. There is no sign of Kas' blow having landed. Kas staggers up again. His shield is almost cut in two and he tosses it aside, taking his sword in a twohanded grip. Yelling a warcry he charges in again. The dragon flattens him, pinning him to the sod with a huge paw stretched across his breastplate. Valiantly he hews at the tree-trunk of a leg, his double handed blow denting the flesh below the scales. Turshan felt that one and the game is over. The huge head dips and comes away with Kas' upper torso. Before the dragon can swallow, the duplicate vanishes. Turshan's scream of rage is almost audible in Haven!
The true Kas tries to lighten the sombre mood of the company. Patting his sword he muses,
"The real Firefang has a deeper bite and when its master has Sahmen's holy fire burning within and without and close on three dozen of Saturnalia's finest at his side it will be quite a different story!"
Deth and Dritzz sneak around the trolls who are now looting the giant's corpse and are away into the night as the dragon circles higher looking for its prey.
The long journey through the hills is not complete until the evening of the next day. Inside Haven the inmates rest miserably, surrounded on all sides by pools of sour vomit. One room has to be set aside as a latrine and rapidly becomes very unpleasant. Draze apologises profusely,
"We've never tried this before.... I didn't realise it would be so ... nauseous!"
He offers a heady smelling pipe around to mitigate the effects. Naz slaps it away,
"I'm no drooling Suocconan! Fog your own brain with stupefying drugs!"
As the mountains begin the two mens' climbing skills are put to the test but both are expert and cope with the steepest and most treacherous slopes that need be scaled. The snow lies thick on the mountains and Deth finds himself somewhat under dressed, numb hands and bouts of shivering hampering his climbing. Dritzz on the other hand is relatively snug inside a second cloak and several blankets.
Following Sir Ardna's directions the pair scale the side of mount Sasbicand opposite the entrance to the dragon's lair, circling around when they reach the mountain's waist. Not much goes on in Haven during the journey, Bob and Fleetfoot try to study a scroll but can't concentrate. Snowolf airs an idea concerning the combat to come. He would prefer that the dragon were subdued rather than killed and has a plan which involves somebody sneaking up on the dragon and covering its head with sulphur-pitch, which he has several bottles of. The dragon might then be forced to co-operate by the threat of igniting the mixture with a spark? Kas thinks it would be very hard to take the dragon unawares but the idea might be put to the pair outside. He adds that whatever Snowolf's feeling the dragon is truly evil and that any man who faces it without the protection of Sahmen's 'ward off evil' spell would be a fool. During this time it is generally noted that Sir Ardna, who was caught in the margins of the dragon's breath attack on the angel but thankfully remained unseen, is far from recovered from this ordeal despite that it was a couple of weeks back. Kas gives him two healing potions, apologising that they did not bring more but time would not allow the brewing of large quantities in Tulak - it has always been a slow and expensive business at the Suoccona temple - and relations with Darhan are not what they were...
The hidden entrance to the goblin tunnels is reasonably well concealed but Dritzz spots it almost immediately and having checked that there are no guards he asks if Deth has anything to help him see in the dark. Since Deth needs the thief's guidance and lanterns would be a bit of a give-away he loans Dritzz his black armband, telling him that it will magically enhance his vision. For his own part he casts a 'nightsight' spell.
They move in silently. After half an hour of twists and turns Dritzz gets his bearings and finds out a guard chamber. The men eavesdrop for a while in the hope of hearing something about the angel but they are disappointed. Withdrawing they agree that Dritzz should carry Deth who will cast a shrink spell on himself. Dritzz will then introduce himself.
Dritzz enters the guard chamber and explains to the startled goblins that he is on official business sanctioned by Basherak, searching for a gem. He wants to know if any areas are forbidden to him in his search.
"King Basherak's treasure chamber!!" Chortles one goblin.
"If you ain't s'posed to go a place there'll be plenty of the lads to let you know!" Warns another.
"'Ere aren't you the one who was shooting arrows at the new shield bearer?" Asks a third.
Dritzz hastily takes his leave. The chances of finding this angel are looking slimmer and slimmer but Dritzz seems very committed to the idea. He knows it was to be 'slung into the deepest of Basherak's pits' and so he heads on down the steepest gradients he can find.
Descending hundreds upon hundreds of feet, past several goblin guard posts and a couple of more gruesome dwellers in the depths Dritzz exhausts he knowledge of the complex. Half an hour on and he is just guessing. The goblin tunnel he is in ends abruptly and the thief backtracks to a natural fissure he marked on a short while back. Easing himself into the rock chimney he squirms down into a natural cavern which he notes is pierced by several tunnels with extremely round cross-section dissimilar to the rough hewn goblin diggings. "Borer tunnels!" he whispers to himself. Like all but the late comers Dritzz is acquainted with Avalor's experiences of some years ago and knows these passages to be the work of a strange type of worm that melt their way through the rock in search of metal. The tunnels intersect the lowest levels of the goblin complex and the upper of the natural caves deep below the goblin territory. In one of these deeper natural caves the dragon makes its lair.
Following the smooth borer tunnels on an ever downward trend Dritzz counts himself lucky in not meeting one of these fearsome creatures. Though to be fair it is more down to his highly trained senses which steer him clear of any increasing warmth. Eventually the borer tunnel he is following cuts into a largish cave hung with stalactites and studded with stalagmites. The atmosphere in the cave is notably cooler than in the tunnels, as Dritzz moves on into a second cave it becomes positively arctic. He stops by a frozen pool and gets Deth out of his pocket. Deth grows to full size and recreates the door to Haven in a relatively flat part of the cave wall. As he heaves it open he is hit by a wall of stench and falls back gagging. The once proud company of would-be dragon slayers crawl out gulping in clean air.
Avalor recovers relatively quickly,
"I remember this. A hundred yards or so to the lair."
Sir Eliriad repeats his spell of the previous day and a vision forms. A vast cavern one hundred and fifty yards across and domed to a hundred feet. In the centre the dragon rests, coiled on its hoard. Turshan's wealth spreads out in a dazzling carpet lit by half a dozen glowing items. The hoard is predominantly silver and diamonds, the coins drifting several feet deep in places and adrift on this sea of argent a dozen treasure chests spilling golden chalices brimming with gems, strings of pearls and cloth of gold. Swords, spears, axes, helms, mail and all the paraphernalia of war lie in chaotic profusion. Truly the dragon has treasure enough to buy kingdoms.
Turshan turns to stare directly out of the image that Sir Eliriad has made and suddenly it is gone, the magic raining down in a shower of tiny ice crystals.
Several of you clearly expected the turn to end here and included no combat orders. Several of you expected to fight and went to some length detailing strategy and several (my favourites!) covered both options. I am happy to have you include your old turn along with the new next turn if you wish to highlight any relevant combat instructions rather than copy them out. Also if you could specify any retreat conditions you may have that would be a help.
The deadline is shorter this time but there is less to consider. Please stick to it as it will be strictly adhered to. A friend is coming up to help me play the fight out and roll all the dice - stopping me being an even sadder man and doing all on me tod on evening when I should be down the pub.
DEAD LINE: Thursday 3rd November.
I should make it to the pubmeet on the 4th.