Tales of Faerun

[Flipout6]

Weyland and Arland both cheered maniacally as Ivythariatryx thrashed and squirmed and twitched as Amendale's lightning rocketed through her internal organs and up along her bones, frying her from the inside out. They only stopped cheering once she hit the ground far below, electricity still jolting her body every now and again.

 

"Yeah, I'm good." Arland answered Dri after she surprised him with a hug.

 

"I'm alright, thanks." Weyland told her, before shouting nervously, "Everyone alright? Did we lose anyone?" as his adrenaline faded.

 

"Looks like we did. Bones everywhere." Arland report with a lot less emotion than Weyland. Nearly panicking, he counted each of his companions, and was relieved when most of them were present, and only some of Shalena's pirates had been killed. He failed to notice that Fenrir was dead, but he did notice Tannin's absence.

 

"Where's Tannin?!?!" He asked.

 

"Well, he wasn't taken out by any of those gas spouts, so she either ate him or he's a pancake smeared across the rocks beside her right now." Arland stated bluntly, making Weyland rush to the cliffside. He had to squint through the dust, and he couldn't as of yet see anything.

 

Meanwhile, Amendale gladly accepted Nawen's help staying on his feet, feeling faint as his adrenaline rush faded.

"Thanks." He said, panting, before he smiled. "I agree. No acid-spewing dragons for a while, please." When Dri approached him and asked if he needed any assistance, he shook his head, barely understanding her. "No, thanks. Nawen's already taken the trouble, I'll be fine after a few minutes." When the racket caused by Weyland's worried shouting caught his attention, he moved over to the cliffside, thanking Nawen again for her help, and he searched the cliffs thoroughly. After the dust cleared somewhat, he caught something in his vision about halfway down the cliff. "There he is." He stated calmly, before he mustered the strength for a Cure Moderate Wounds spell followed by several Cure Light Wounds spells on Tannin. He couldn't reach Tannin to use them, but he had his Owl familiar carry them down for him, meaning they took a few seconds to get from Amendale to Tannin, but they got there.

 

"TANNIN!" Arland shouted. "YOU'RE NOT DEAD, ARE YOU?"

Edited January 4, 2014 by Flipout6

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine had not even noticed that Tannin wasn't amongst them. She looked over the ledge at him with concern, but felt better when Amendale's owl reached him with a few healing spells.

 

"He's not dead," she replied after a few moments, "Bruised and battered, yes, but not dead. Amendale's spells have done much to help him. Hexol? Nawen? Argyros? Go down there, if you please, and make sure he gets whatever he wants from the dragon and is able to follow us to the lair."

 

Argyros nodded simply and began making his way down the crags to the dragoness's body.

 

--------------------------------------

 

The lair was, indeed, past the waterfall, as Argyros had suggested, the yawning mouth of the caverns jagged and asymmetrical. Rhaine had left Azrael a good ways away from the falls, and she peered around the water to see nothing but darkness behind it.

 

"Dabra," she murmured, tossing a shining ball of light above her head where there it stayed, illuminating a surprising distance.

 

"Oooh, I'm gettin' all excited!" Dagny said gleefully, a grin spreading across her pie-shaped face, "I've never seen a dragon's horde before!"

 

"Neither have I," Conall added, "This shall be interesting, to say the least."

 

They proceeded inside. The lair itself was comprised of many dank tunnels that twisted through the mountain, some of them dead-ends. Vines and other natural debris helped obscure passageways, and the walls were covered in a soft green moss. At last, they reached a large central chamber, presumably the dragoness's sleeping area from all the dirt and mud that had been pushed around over time. Past this, behind a veil of vines, was the horde.

 

It was astonishingly larger than Valthanarax's horde had been. Mounds of gold and jewels, glittering in Rhaine's magical light, were piled almost to the ceiling of the 30-ft-high chamber. Jewelry of all kinds had been meticulously sorted out into different piles according to type - earrings here, bangles there, necklaces here, tiaras over there. Half buried in the mountain of wealth were at least two dozen ancient, inlaid chests of varying sizes. A few were locked, but some hung open, spilling contents of more gold, priceless fabrics, furs, rings, scrolls, and more.

 

Rhaine turned and half-smiled at Shalena, "Well, if you wanted treasure, there it is...as promised. Perhaps a little later than you would have liked, but there nonetheless. I would consider it a sufficient reward for helping me against my foes. And I am fairly certain that there's more where we're going next."

[Deleted6317247User]

Shalena and her remaining crew followed Rhaine and the others to Ivanthyriatryx's lair, eager to fill their pockets with gold and other treasures.

 

Once they reached the horde, the pirates were the first to start taking valuables. Shalena stood by the piles of treasures and waited for her men to finish looting. Shalena was greedy, even more so than her crewmen but she also had an eye for truly expensive things. One pirate, wore a golden crown adorned with rubies and glistening emeralds but the captain knew that there are even more valuable treasures hidden somewhere.

 

To Rhaine's words she replied: "I stand corrected, dear Doomguide. Traveling with you was indeed worthwhile." She returned the half-smile and looked back at the horde, greed reflecting in her eyes as she scanned the room looking for something truly valuable.

 

Nawen wanted to go to the dragoness's body and take some ingredients herself once Tannin takes everything he wanted, so she was quite happy when Rhaine told her to go down there. More so that Tannin was injured and despite Amendale's spells may still need some help.

 

She made her way down easily and first stopped by Tannin to see if he's alright. "Amendale cast some healing spells on you, do you feel any better?" She asked she knelt beside him, worried.

[Quintatas]

When Xundus realised he was talking to himself, he looked around, trying to find Tannin. The drow felt exceptionally stupid, having been talking to a man down a mountain. He would have gone to help the poor fellow, but decided against it as he figured Nawen and the others had it covered.

 

Upon finding the dragon's horde, he couldn't help but gasp. He had seen riches in Ched Nasad, to be sure, but not like this! He wandered about the mounds of wealth, not much caring for the gold but for any gear he might find. He did manage to find a mottled green-gray cloak, good for hiding in the wilderness. It appeared enchanted, though he couldn't discern the exact enchantment.

 

"Say.. Rhaine, Shalena - you wouldn't mind if I grabbed, oh, I don't know, a spare cloak, maybe another mask?"

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine crossed her arms and leaned against one of the walls, glancing to Xundus, "Take what you like, friend. There's enough here for all of us."

 

Dagny was already tugging on a silvery round shield half-buried in one of the piles. Conall, however, stayed near Rhaine for the time being, and out of the way of the pirates.

[Deleted6317247User]

Shalena looked at Xundus like he was speaking in a language she could not understand. "As long as you won't take anything I want, go ahead," she said, "and I don't want new clothes," she added.

 

Rhegar who was hiding behind large rocks during the fight with a big scary lizard, came out from his hideout and looked around. He saw some two-legged creatures walking away, his two-legged friend everyone called Nawen went down where the stinky lizard lay dead. He watched her for a little while and went around the battlefield sniffing everything. He could smell death but for the most part it wasn't that interested until he came upon Fenrir's remains. Rhegar whined sadly at the sight and then started howling, mourning the older wolf's death.

[Quintatas]

Xundus nodded his thanks to Rhaine for allowing him to partake in the treasure, then began to thoroughly search the room. He did pocket some gold as well as a few baubles, but he was really interested in the gear. Discarding the green cloak he'd found earlier, he picked up a dull red cloak that he knew was enchanted, probably with some kind of resistance to magic. He then glanced back down at the more discreet green cloak. "Ah, I'll just take both," he said to himself.

 

He also took an adamantine shortsword, a pair of studded leather bracers, a healing scroll to sell or keep for somebody he knew how to read it, a sling with some bullets, and a few darts, just in case.

 

With that, he sat back against a smaller pile of gold, and inspected his new equipment. His stomach grumbled. "Hmm. You know what sounds good right now? Some food. Real food, and not these rations," the drow said, gesturing holding up what was left of them to see.

[Flipout6]

"By Tempus..." Arland breathed as he laid eyes on the treasure horde. Not a moment passed before he was already perusing through the mountains of gold, jewels, and even better: the practical equipment. Weyland was doing the exact same thing.

 

Amendale, on the other hand, stopped himself beside Connall. "I just wanted to offer my condolences over Fenrir's death, and my apologies that I failed to prevent it. I know a spell that may have saved him, but it she attacked fast enough that despite trying to prepare myself for it, I failed to cast it. If you need anything that may help make up for it, just ask."

 

"Hey, Xundus has a point." Arland announced. "Some tavern food would be nice. We stopping in one tonight?"

 

"No need for that." Amendale murmured the verbal components to a Create Food and Water spell, moving as required, and a pile of basic foods appeared at his feet, like fruits, cheese, and bread, enough to feed most of the party if the remaining pirates were included. "That one's a traveling essential. I've used it already a few times, even with the group. Even meticulous, calculated planning doesn't account for every factor, so it's been needed before. Make sure it's eaten by this time tomorrow or it goes bad."

 

Weyland walked up, grabbed a loaf of bread and an apple, and went back to looking for loot. As he ate, he stumbled upon an interesting-looking pair of boots. They looked much like his own mundane ones, being thick and heavy leather, but were a darker brown colour. Weyland tried them on and found that, miraculously, they fit. When he stood up, he felt much more balanced and stable on his feet than before, like walking without them on would make him automatically clumsy. Weyland had heard warrior refer to boots such as these as "Steadfast Boots" and he was glad to have them. He kept searching. What he found next was definitely a prize.

"Whoa."

 

He of course immediately identified it as a full set of Mithral full-plate armor in pristine condition, but it was heavily decorated and looked like perhaps it used to belong to royalty or a very well-off warrior. Along the edges of every plate was a shining golden trim and there were designed etched into the shape of the armor that were indicated with black trimming. Since his own armor was damaged, he tried it on to see if there were any enchantments. As it turns out, there were. When the leggings were put on Weyland could tell instantly that his natural agility had been enhanced from the light, acrobatic feeling they afforded him. The chestpiece gave him a very similar feeling to his adamantine one, meaning that his constitution was considerably bolstered, but there was also another effect he couldn't quite put his finger on, so to speak. But it made him feel more....righteous, was the only thing that came to mind. Unbeknownst to him, it was an enchantment from the golden trim that protected him from negative energy and evil death effects. The helmet, he found out, resisted spells that affected his mind, made him wiser and, like any helmet did, gave him a headbutt straight out of the hells. There was even a shield with the armor, which didn't boost his strength like his adamantine one did but was much, much lighter and further boosted his natural constitution. His grip on it felt like iron, unshakeable and solid, and the shield didn't come any closer to falling off his arm if he relaxed his grip. He didn't find a replacement for his blade, but he didn't need one. His own did enough damage.

 

Arland, during his hunting, found his first prize in a pair of blades that had been stabbed into the ground in an X shape around a helmet. When he pulled them out of the ground, he noticed that the blades were twin longswords decorated with fiery designs and were a dark steel color, rather different from his current adamantine ones. Both of them also flared with harsh red flames, and Arland felt emboldened; he'd had the same feeling in his gut when he'd gone to cut down Ilen Ordain and every other tyrant he'd murdered since then. The helmet was a heavy visored one, not Arland's type at all, so he ignored it. He continued searching.

[GrueMaster]

Dri followed after the others into the dragon's lair... and could simply do nothing but stare in awe. By Tymora... can that much gold even exist?! Walking timidly as if she were dreaming and couldn't believe the riches in front of her. All the money I've stolen over the years couldn't compare to this...

 

When Rhaine pretty much said to take whatever pleased them, Dri felt like diving into one of the mountains of treasure nearby and grabbing as much of it as she could carry. I could help so many people with this... Knowing she could never carry that much, however, the girl opted to fill a money pouch with as much platinum as possible and put that in her pack. She didn't really see much else to take, though, besides a beautiful navy blue cloak to replace her old one that had been ruined by the dragon's breath.

 

There's no hood, though... hello, what have we here? she thought excitedly when she spotted a matching hat nearby, a nice lady's hat similar in color. She put it and the cloak on and was delighted to see they fit her very well. Out of the corner of her eye, Dri spotted a large ornate mirror nearly the size of a person, and so went over to see how she appeared. It was fogged over for some reason so she went to wipe it clean to see herself...

 

...And completely jumped in surprise and horror. For the mirror did not only show a reflection, but showed a true reflection, and so Dri could see her true form. No! Scared witless and terrified, she pushed the mirror over in a panic and it fell with a resounding crash. Feeling tears forming in her eyes, the poor girl left the lair, hoping no one else saw what the mirror had revealed...

 

 

Tak'we was partially surprised to see Tannin already down by the giant flying lizard where it had fallen halfway down the cliffs, having not noticed that the former had fallen with the latter earlier. "Greetingss, Tannin How did clutchmate make it here first? *TCK!* "Nevermind," the thri-kreen said dismissively, "Tak'we came to help with the giant flying lizard."

Edited January 5, 2014 by GrueMaster

[josh900]

With the healing spells clearing up his vision and taking away the pain, Tannin was able to roll over onto his back when Nawen came down and spoke to him. "Oh he did that? And here I thought I had died what with an angel like you standing nearby." A sudden look of horror and revolution soon washed over his face at the realization of what he just said. "Oh... gods did I just say such a... overused cliche? Oh you should have left me here to rot! I'd rather face death than live with the knowledge that THAT escaped my mouth. That fall must have caused some mental damage as well." He muttered. "So sorry I couldn't come up with something better. If you want you can push me down the cliff and I'll try that again for you."

-------------------

 

Azuris made a sweep of the hoard, trying his best not to touch anything in case of curses or the like, but Dri's panic caught his attention. Wondering what had scared the poor girl so, Azuris left the lair and followed her outside. "Dri!" He called to her. "What's wrong?" He asked, voice full of concern.

Edited January 5, 2014 by josh900