Tales of Faerun

[Deleted6317247User]

Nawen remained silent when the Golem asked for an answer to his riddle. She wasn't thinking about the answer at all as she was bad with riddles. Instead, she wondered what awaited ahead. Once Rhaine told the correct answer and they were allowed to go forward they found the eggs.

 

"Wonderful," She said as she looked down at the broken egg shells.

 

"So that's it?" Shalena asked, displeased that there was nothing worth taking. No treasures and most importantly no dragon eggs she could sell. Her crew were just as disappointed as she was if not more. She could even hear whispers among the men who were beginning to doubt that traveling with the Doomguide was a good idea.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Guest

[AurianaValoria1]

"Indeed," was Rhaine's reply, "For now. This phylactery is destroyed...we have achieved our goal in this region."

 

"But we've got a huge green problem waiting for us outside," Conall added, "One that I'm not too eager to meet again."

 

Fenrir whined.

 

"You and me both, pup," Dagny muttered to the white wolf.

 

Argyros turned around to face Shalena and her men, "If treasure is what you seek, then you may yet be in luck. Ivanthyriatryx is an ancient dragon, and no doubt in possession of a horde that would make kings look like paupers. Her lair will be nearby, likely behind a waterfall. If we manage to best her, her horde will be ours by right."

 

The Doomguide sighed heavily, "We'd best prepare for combat, then. Everyone make ready and follow me. We've a dragon to deal with if we want to leave this mountain range."

 

Rhaine then began making her way back to the entrance, stepping over the golem's shattered form and clearing her mind in preparation for whatever spells she would need to cast.

Edited December 31, 2013 by AurianaValoria1

[Flipout6]

"Well that was much, much easier than I thought it would be. At least getting in and destroying the damn thing, anyway." Weyland stated, shrugging. He kept his blade drawn, but relaxed. "Too bad we have to go through the dragon on the way out."

 

"And for the loot." Arland added.

 

"Yeah, that's a bonus." Weyland conceded.

 

"If we're heading back out, remember where the traps were." Amendale cautioned from by the entrance, keeping an eye on the hallway inside to make sure they weren't being followed, blade drawn.

After a few minutes, they were on their way back outside, with Rhaine leading the way. Near the exit, he gently pulled Rhaine behind him, muttering that it'd be better if he went first in case she attacked immediately, and stepped outside. He was somewhat surprised to find that he wasn't being chewed on the instant he appeared, but of course the beast was standing right in front of them, low to the ground and ready to pounce, lips curled to show those murderous teeth.

 

This won't be fun. He winced internally, before indicating her to Rhaine with his head. "I think you'd be better doing the talking than I."

 

Arland considered muttering to the group to clip her wings if she attacked, but thought against it, figuring that she was likely angry enough already. He discreetly lowered himself slightly, fired up and ready to go. Amendale prepared a Greater Resistance spell and prepared himself to dive out of the way of her breath attack, while Weyland stood beside Rhaine, to the left, ready to get right up close and focus its attention on himself, shield at the ready.

[GrueMaster]

Dri released a relieved sigh as the magical trap was deactivated. *Whew!* she starting saying to Tannin as the party went through the door. *Glad that's done with. Magical traps are the wor-* She left her sentence unfinished however when she saw the adamantine golem and froze. Oh... my... gods...

 

While she stood wide-eyed at the construct, Tak'we was praying for protection from Mother Moon, his superstitions about adamantine leaving him in a grim mood. By the spirits, what is this sun-cursed monstrosity? Unsure as he was as to how to deal with such a foe, and Dri still staring in terrified awe, the two were thankful when Rhaine managed to solve its riddle and relaxed when the phylactery was destroyed and the golem along with it.

 

Tak'we followed after Argyros and clicked in consternation at the sight of the hatched eggs. "Egg-thievess have already taken them." TCKTCK!* "Giant flying lizard will not be happy hearing thiss." Dri, though she was scared by the thought of having to see the dragon again, who'll probably be angry with them, was glad that the eggs were hatched and the young dragons gone; she had not been looking forward to having to kill them.

 

 

As the the party left the cave, they saw that the green dragon was waiting outside for them. Uh-oh... Dri felt that sense of terror rising up again in her chest, but she swallowed her heart and prepared herself to dodge out of the way if things went sour.

 

Tak'we looked at the dragon grimly, not wanting to have to kill a female that had hatchlings, but he focused himself and readied to leap at the giant flying lizard in case she attacked, popping his joints in preparation.

[AurianaValoria1]

Ivanthyriatryx watched them, the tip of her spined tail lashing back and forth like a cat's. Upon seeing the adventurers return from the cave with nothing, her fanged mouth opened, and the dragoness spoke with a hissing tone.

 

"Where are my young?"

 

Rhaine met her glare, the two green gazes boring holes into each other as the Doomguide answered, "They are gone. The eggs hatched, and your young are nowhere to be found."

 

The dragoness's reply was an earsplitting roar of fury. She pushed off from the cliff face, her gigantic leathery wings holding her aloft, "Then there is nothing keeping me from destroying you!"

 

She dove away and then rose again, veering to the left to circle and gain altitude. Rhaine drew Touch of Death and shouted, "Make ready!" She then quickly cast a Blessing and a Prayer, two waves of magic washing over her companions.

 

Ariel, already in Conall's hand, remarked, "This is going to be fun."

 

Dagny had taken the position to Rhaine's right, raising her shield as Weyland had his, "Berronar preserve us!"

 

Argyros's bow was in his hand, a silvery arrow nocked and ready as he followed Ivanthyriatryx's path through the air.

 

With another roar, the dragoness approached from the right, opening her wide maw and unleashing a wide gout of toxic chlorine gas at the group, the greenish fog obscuring their view. Rhaine's amulet pulsed as it counteracted the poisonous fumes. Those not resistant to the gas would not be so lucky...

 

The Doomguide cursed and sidestepped, trying to get a clear view of the dragoness around the fog, when there was a sudden quake on the edge of the cliff, and the section where Rhaine was standing crumbled beneath her. She barely glimpsed where Ivanthyriatryx's paw had swiped the stone face...

 

...as she fell.

[josh900]

As the Green's gas scattered the group and the battle began, Tannin called out to the rest of them. "Not to sound completely deranged but, do be careful not to damage it's hide more than you need to, I'd rather like to collect it's skin and wear it like a trophy!" He yelled as he ran towards the ledge as fast as his hasted feet could take him.

 

"Save some for me! I wanna make a stake outta it to go with the dragon egg omelet I just had!" Yelled Hexol after he rolled out of the way of the impact site of the gas.

 

Not being the mos agile of the group Azuris couldn't only hunker down behind his shield and hope for the best, which proved to be an unwise decision as his shield almost immediately began to rust away has did the exposed pieces of his armor. The gas's effect on his body itself was much worse, the patches of skin left unprotected by armor immediately began to blisters and burn. He did his best to not breath in the gas but felt his lungs burn and throat close up. As the gas dissipated his blurry vision caught the sight of Tannin leaping off the cliff, onto the dragon's back. The knight released the rusted mess that was once a shield and fell forward in a wheezing fit, desperately trying to suck in air with little success.

 

 

[GrueMaster]

Tak'we hacked and coughed as his lungs burned from the gas spewed forth from Ivanthyriatryx. He had managed to avoid most of the effects by jumping out of the way, but hadn't evaded all of it. As he tried to clear his eyes, he felt the ground shake and suddenly fall away, the thri-kreen tumbling and screeching with it.

 

Clicking angrily, Tak'we reached out to the nearby rock face and just barely caught a handhold, slamming painfully into the weathered stone. *NRAK'TCK!* As he pulled himself closer to the cliff, he saw something fall past him, then recognition and fear stabbed at him as he saw it was Rhaine! "Rhaine!" he screeched, and jumped down after her, keeping his arms tucked and legs straight to speed up his own fall and eventually passing by his falling clutchmate.

 

With seconds to spare, the crags below approaching at a disturbingly fast rate, the thri-kreen twisted his body and jammed his gythka into the cliff face, the crescent blades catching and bringing him to a stop. Swinging around and looking looking up, Tak'we spotted Rhaine and braced himself to catch her. This will not feel good...

 

For a moment he had to check himself; the adamantine his clutchmate wore giving him pause, but he banished his superstitions and reached out with his main arms...

 

...and just barely caught her and keeping himself from falling as well when the weight and motion transferred to him. Hissing from the extreme pressure now being placed on his arms, the thri-kreen slowly but surely pulled Rhaine closer to him, careful to avoid both the sword in her hands and crushing her wings.

 

His staff bent to a unbelievable degree, and Tak'we just managed to get a grip on the rock wall in front of him as it snapped and fell. "Mother Moon preserve us," he muttered, and moved his clutchmate to a more secure grip in his lower arms while he climbed with his upper ones. "Don't worry, Tak'we hass Winged Pointy-ear..." he said, trying to comfort Rhaine. He couldn't tell if she responded or not, though, having been deafened by Ivanthyriatryx's roar earlier.

 

 

Heart pounding, Tak'we began climbing and jumping up the cliffs, all the while hoping the giant flying lizard wouldn't come and try to finish them off...

 

 

Dri was having a difficult time as well. She had still been inside the mouth of the cave when the dragon breathed, so she had no where to go to avoid it, and could only duck down hide her face in her scarf and cloak as the gas flowed towards her. She began screaming and choking silently when the acidic cloud washed over them, her clothing, skin, and lungs burning. Tymora, make it stop!

 

Her scarf kept her lungs from being severely affected, though, and so she stumbled and took cover by some boulders nearby. Oh, what can I even do here?! she thought, trying to come up with any way at all to help...

Edited January 2, 2014 by GrueMaster

[Flipout6]

Amendale was the second-fastest on the figurative draw, casting a Haste spell based off of the center of the group to allow them precious milliseconds to escape the gout of toxic gas that the dragon would inevitably send their way. The only thing he had time to cast afterwards was an Expeditious Retreat on himself, and he darted out of the way of the gas with incredible speed, and even then barely made it out in time. Arland, who had inconspicuously tiptoed to the outer fringes of the group, easily leaped and somersaulted out of the way of the Chorline gas. He sheathed his blades, drew his crossbow and loaded a bolt, only to find that it had rusted, and it crumbled apart in his fingertips. He felt a flaking feeling on his backside and looked behind him to notice that he no longer had anything metallic protecting his rear. Thankfully his pants seemed unharmed.

 

Weyland was not so lucky.

 

Unable to get out in time, Weyland brought his shield up and crouched himself down behind it like he normally would if providing himself stationary cover from arrows, and held his breath. He didn't think to plug his nose and the gas filled his lungs and throat, burning and blistering its way down until he was coughing up blood and what little skin was left exposed was peeling with bleeding blisters and he barely managed to stay on his knees, hacking and wheezing. He saw his unenchanted armor begin to be almost eaten away in large spots. Blindly, he managed to think that he could probably still escape the cloud, and he stumbled his way into the clear where he collapsed, coughing and unable to breathe, too preoccupied to even notice Rhaine or Tak'We go over the cliff.

 

"Rhaine and Tak'We just fell over the cliff!" Arland shouted, though not even he himself could tell if he was alarmed or indifferent.

 

Amendale, frantic at the sight of so many of his companions, he prepared a spell that would neutralize the poisonous component of the gas, though he'd have to go through with a single ally at a time. Taking a few seconds, he cast the spell on Azuris and quickly followed it up with Cure Moderate Wounds, which would probably restore him to fighting condition. He repeated the process with Weyland, who brought himself up to a kneeling position.

 

"Fell over...cliff?" He gasped, and Arland didn't hear him. He had to repeat himself.

 

"Yes!" Arland shouted over the noise.

"EVERYBODY SPREAD OUT!" Amendale shouted. "STAY AWAY FROM THE CLIFF FACE BUT DON'T STAY TOO CLOSE!" If Weyland had been thinking coherently he'd note that this was the first time he'd ever heard Amendale yell so loudly.

 

"Go help them!" Weyland commanded Arland. "If they can be helped, help them!"

Arland, not willing to argue in the middle of such a perilous situation. Checking to make sure he wasn't about to suffer the same fate he was certain Rhaine had just suffered, he dropped down to his stomach and searched the cliff face. Unbelievably, (and he blinked just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating) it seemed that Tak'We had survived. Closer inspection revealed that he was holding Rhaine quite tightly.

 

"Rhaine or Tak'We, give me your hand so I can help you up!" He shouted.

 

Meanwhile,Weyland had grabbed his shield and drawn his blade, and he hit it loudly against his shield, looking straight up at Ivythariatryx as he did so. "YOUR YOUNG WERE PATHETIC! THEY WOULD'VE GROWN UP TO BE WEAK AND CLINGY WITH YOU RAISING THEM! NOT THAT IT MATTERS, BECAUSE WHEN I SQUASHED THEM ALL THEY SQUEALED LIKE DYING PIGLETS! I HAVEN'T EVEN WASHED THEM OFF MY BOOTS YET!" He bellowed at her maliciously, hoping for his words to hurt and anger her. Mostly anger.

 

"Weyland, what are you doing?!?!" Amendale exclaimed.

 

"Giving you some breathing room!" He answered, before banging on his shield again. He felt fear worm its way into his heart before he steeled himself and cast it aside.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Flipout6

[AurianaValoria1]

"NOOOOOOO-ugh!"

 

Rhaine's terrified and rage-filled scream was abruptly cut off as she smacked into something hard. She was certain she had hit the ground and was now experiencing some sort of after-death awareness when she recalled glimpsing a bright pink flash falling past her and simultaneously heard the hissing words: "Don't worry, Tak'we hass Winged Pointy-ear..."

 

Tak'we. Of course. Only the thri-kreen, with his unmatched agility and strength, could have been capable of stopping such a fall. Even through her armor, she could feel the tight grip his secondary arms had on her torso as his primary ones began carrying them both back up the cliff, the progress he made jolting them with every jump.

 

The Doomguide had been caught at an awkward angle, one arm over his shoulder and one wing folded between them. Rhaine was careful to hold Touch of Death away from his body, and as she looked over his pink carapace at the ground below, she closed her eyes briefly and patted his back, murmuring, "Kelemvor bless you, friend...bless you..."

 

Meanwhile, up on the ledge, Dagny was suffering the same fate as Azuris and Weyland. Her shield was quickly reduced to a rusted mass, which she dropped on the ground like a hot potato. The shield had blocked most of the spray from hitting the rest of her armor, but it did nothing to protect her lungs. The dwarf spluttered and spat, gasping for air as a fish on land.

 

Conall, with the help of Amendale's spell, managed to dodge to the fringes of the cloud and avoid damage, but Fenrir was not so lucky. The gas worked quickly on his old companion, eating through flesh and fur so rapidly that the wolf was dead before the paladin could even call his name. The only sound he was aware of for the longest time was the screaming of the horses behind him - out of the way of the chlorine gas, but unable to run.

 

"Snap out of it!"

 

Ariel stung his hand with a strange sharpness, and his senses were brought back in full. Ivanthyriatryx was circling around for another attack, but it seemed Tannin was trying his best to interrupt her, having jumped upon her back, straddling her massive spined dorsal crest. Weyland was raising the hells on the other side of the ledge, also attempting to distract the dragoness.

 

There was a flash of silver, and the projectile from Argyros's bow flew forth, finding its mark between two overlapping plates on the underside of Ivanthyriatryx's neck. The strange moon elf had somehow managed to escape the breath attack entirely, standing with stoic courage as he nocked another arrow...

 

Tak'we at last brought Rhaine up over the cliff edge, and she held out her free hand to Arland. As she did so, she saw the green approach again, jaws open wide. Thinking quickly, the Doomguide called upon a Sunbeam, a brilliant flash of light falling from the heavens and exploding around the dragoness. Small sections of her hide were blasted away by divine energy, scorching her...

 

And the green also succumbed to the second effect of the spell...temporary blindness. She barely missed Rhaine and Tak'we as she lost her sight and swept over the group, slamming into the left side of the mountain with an earth-shattering force. Ivanthyriatryx was no fool, though, and despite her pain and disorientation, she dug all four sets of claws into the cliff face, roaring and lashing her serpentine neck from side to side in an attempt to dislodge Tannin...

 

Conall, almost blind with rage himself, dashed forth. The dragoness's left foreleg was in easy reach, and with a cry he thrust Ariel forth, the blade biting into muscle and sinew.

 

"Ah, yes!" the sword exclaimed, "Give the evil creature its due!"

[Quintatas]

When the dragon appeared and began attacking, Xundus took off his leather jerkin, revealing the light mail beneath, and wrapped it around his mouth as best he could, knowing the corrosive power of the green's breath. Upon doing so, his mask, which had been hanging on the front of his chest, became tangled, and he was forced to throw it away, the stage mask briefly touching the ground before being carried away by a gust of wind.

 

The drow took out his hand crossbow, hoping to get a shot in on the dragons eye (as that was the only soft spot he could see in the creatures thick hide), momentarily forgetting about the corrosive gas, which quickly caused the small weapon to corrode. He cursed and threw it on the ground, and at that time his skin began to blister and peel, though his lungs were for the most part protected by the leather.

 

Just when he thought he had become useless, Rhaine summoned a Sunbeam, blasting away small sections of the dragon's hide. Seeing Conall attack the dragoness's leg inspired him to a similar idea. On the green's upper wing, connecting the rest of it to the body, was a bare patch.

 

The drow scurried upwards onto a rock near to the dragon. He saw Tannin on the back of the dragon, but he was out of the way.

 

"Lolth take you!" yelled Xundus, then leaped over to the dragon, sinking his not-yet corroded adamantine rapier (though carefully) into the bare patch of the wing.