Even as it sits there lifeless, it taunts. It beckons, it calls, and it teases. While some
\ncan discuss it objectively, there are those for whom it represents equity and fairness. If
\nthe universe has any balance to it at all, then this represents the counterpoint to poison
\ntails and sharp teeth.<\/p>\n
Several are suspicious that it can either harm us outright, or be used to locate us later
\nfor greater harm. Despite all that, Rigel continues to be obsessed with the fire opal left
\nglinting in the sand after the wyverns were killed.<\/p>\n
“It’s worth about 200 gp,” she said, with a bit of anxiety in her voice. “I don’t see any
\ntraps, either. It’s just sitting there and it’s foolish to leave it here for someone else.”
\nKane confirms there doesn’t seem to be any traps. Would a magically trapped object be
\ndetectable by a mundane? muses a mage.<\/p>\n
“Yes!” says Rigel impatiently. As the others ponder, she reaches forward and picks up the
\nstone.<\/p>\n
There’s a slight intake of breath.<\/p>\n
She puts it back down and releases it, looking triumphantly at the others. She helps search
\nthe rest of the cavern, but keeps one eye on the opal. Sabin pushed away the sand where the
\nopal was, slightly raised. Nothing happens. Rigel grins again.<\/p>\n
It is rare to see Rigel so … engaged. Noteworthy, and so I take note.<\/p>\n
It seems there’s nothing else in the cavern. But Rigel pauses, cups an ear, and points up.
\nThere is a faint … singing, I guess it would be. Music of some sort. It’s simply
\nresonating off the ceiling, but its origin lies outside in the canyon somewhere.<\/p>\n
Perhaps from the ledge above us.<\/p>\n
Peering cautiously, we see we have harpies nearby. About 300 ft or so away they appear to
\nbe luring something on the cliff with their song. I have heard they can do this; despite
\ntheir grotesque appearance, their song, when directed to you, can be very attractive.
\nSomething actually does take a step off the cliff before hastily firing a lightning bolt as
\nit fell, striking a hovering harpy squarely.<\/p>\n
Making a snap decision, Sabin casts featherfall on the being, breaks his fall, drags him
\ninto our safe cave and secures him. It appears to be Elvish and carries no armor.<\/p>\n
He is Rarallo, sent by the mayor of Roderick’s Cove to investigate the increase in giant
\nraids. He had arrived in the valley recently but had just woken to the harpy’s songs and
\nhad been charmed into walking into their arms. We told him he’d nailed one with a lightning
\nbolt as he fell and that evoked a grim smile.<\/p>\n
A long, intense discussion has finally concluded, although I fear it may not go as planned.
\nSeveral have offered the opinion that the red dragon represents air support that we do not
\nhave to want to worry about. I suggested we might contact it as equals and see if we can
\nmake it friendly towards us by freeing it from whatever link bonds it to Mokmurian. Others
\nbelieve negotiation with an evil creature like a red dragon is doomed to fail, and would
\nrather remove the threat by killing it. It is, after all, a rather young dragon as dragons
\ngo. Spell, wand, and scroll capabilities were carefully considered in view of the planned
\nassault. It was decided that fighting it in its own lair would be better than fighting it
\nafter it has taken flight (and on that front I do agree.) But there was so much about the
\napproach we could now know, and we didn’t want to risk sending scouts since it was clear we
\nwould need a contribution from everyone to defeat the red dragon. We couldn’t afford to
\nlose even a single party member if this were to work.<\/p>\n
The spells we will use will be Fly, Airwalk, Mage Armor, Enlarge Person, Prot from fire,
\nresist energy (fire) and prot from evil. Several of these have durations measured in tens
\nof seconds so many of these will not be cast until we gain the ledge before the dragon’s
\nlair.<\/p>\n
Would we be able to gain and keep the element of surprise? Once we found ourselves on the
\nledge outside the dragon’s cave it was kind of moot. We were committed.<\/p>\n
The entrance chamber was 50′ across, and about 50′ high. As we enter, we realize it empties
\ninto an even larger chamber. Rigel hears the faint clinking of coins.<\/p>\n
“This is a surprise,” says a voice from the back of the larger cavern. “I have not smelled
\nhumans since Sandpoint.”<\/p>\n
So much for the element of surprise. Perhaps we can still get him to underestimate us. He
\nmay still think we have a white dragon at our disposal. Unless he can read my mind. Can
\nhe? Would I know? What does that feel like?<\/p>\n
I think I’m overthinking this.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Takkad has taken up the conversational gauntlet. “We are some of his followers.”<\/p>\n
The dragon expressed skepticism that Mokmurian would have human followers. “Really?”
\nremarked Takkad. “There are ogres and giants and dragons working together. Who do you think
\nhelped give him the information on how to best attack Sandpoint?” Nolin added, grumbling,
\n“But we’re tired of taking his orders. Why do you continue to?”<\/p>\n
“I do not take orders from him,” thundered the dragon. “We … share goals. We are peers.”<\/p>\n
“Really?” I asked. “He seems to send you places where you can get hurt while he stays
\nsafely behind.”<\/p>\n
“Worse,” the dragon responded. “I was wounded by him and he refused to heal me. If I was
\ncertain I could defeat him I might dissolve our alliance myself. Not that I could not if I
\ntruly wanted to,” he hastily added.<\/p>\n
As people brought up their lanterns, it was easy to see that 50′ back was a tremendous pile
\nof coins (many golden) and shiny expensive looking trinkets. The dragon’s hoard. Of course
\nthe dragon lay squarely between us and the hoard.<\/p>\n
Rigel stepped forward and says, “It is wrong that he leaves you wounded. I offer you my
\nhealing potion.” The dragon looked at it thoughtfully, sniffed it, and finally drank it.
\nWith a visible sigh, he seemed to relax a bit and even appeared slightly bored.<\/p>\n
“So you are unhappy with Mokmurian. It seems we do at least share that,” mused the dragon.<\/p>\n
With a conspiratorial tone, Takkad half whispered, “I think we’re going to try to kill him.
\nWith him dead, the army he is raising will simply go home and this will all be over.”<\/p>\n
“Don’t be too sure of that, little one,” condescended the dragon. “I get the sense that
\nmany of them are hear having burned bridges to get here. They may have nowhere to return to,
\nand simply select a new leader.”<\/p>\n
In a relatively friendly state now that we’d healed him some, the dragon offered some more
\ninteresting tidbits.<\/p>\n
“If it is true you have defeated the wyverns, then you may indeed be able to handle
\nthe insects as well. There is an abomination that looks like a spider there. If you
\ncan defeat it, the passages lead to under the tower.”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
These harpies are different from those at the Stairs. These have a deal with
\nMokmurian. They occupy the tower with MM’s permission.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The dragon appeared to have a ring on one talon, a silver armband, and an obsidian amulet.
\nMy concern about defeating him seemed valid, but fortunately we seem to now have abandoned
\nthat strategy.<\/p>\n
“If Mokmurian were to .. fall from power … you would benefit from that would you not?”
\nasked Takkad. “Yes, I could see certain benefit from that,” admitted the dragon. “But I’m
\nnot prepared to battle him again.”<\/p>\n
“What if,” proposed Takkad, “your role in this was to do … nothing. Suppose he did not die
\nat your hand nor at your bidding but that you did not stop it from happening if it were to
\nhappen?”<\/p>\n
The dragon thought for a bit. “I tire of Mokmurian and his constant assertion that he is
\nsuperior. If I had but to do nothing to make that stop, I would find that quite
\nacceptable.”<\/p>\n
One of the last things we learned before leaving the cavern was that the dragon’s name was
\nLongtooth. Or so he called himself; probably not his true name.<\/p>\n
Based on the dragon’s assertions and information, we were ready to take on the insect cave.
\nThis was a job that simply screamed for fireballs to cleanse the arena before our arrival.<\/p>\n
Using my fly spell, hovered in front of the cave and cast a fireball. Awful smell. Flying
\nin, careful not to touch the ground, walls, or ceiling, I could see the back part of the
\ncave was still crawling with spiders but I could also what appeared to be a large exo-
\nskeleton of an ex-spider. Countless small spiders appeared to be running in and out of it.
\nThis must be the abomination that was foretold.<\/p>\n
The other team members had arrived via fly, or airwalk, or spider climb, and they now
\nentered cautiously.<\/p>\n
Boom, another fireball, and advance a little farther. I could see now there were apparently
\nthree of these abominations, although they’d been fried pretty good and Rarallo shot some
\nlightning off as well. One “spider” bit it went Sabin threw his axe at it. In close
\nquarters now, I had time for one more fireball before we’d all be too close together. Boom.<\/p>\n
The second spider died at the hands of Rarallo’s scorching ray. The third one did manage to
\nattack Nolin by disgorging dozens of spiders upon him, but another scorching ray killed it
\nand with the “host” dead, the other spiders either died or ran off.<\/p>\n
I’d lit a flaming sphere to help with Spider 3, but now I used it to burn webs so we could
\nadvance safely. We found a collection of other people’s belongings; seems we were not the
\nfirst to come and play in the spider’s den. Our inventory was:<\/p>\n
<<\/p>\n
p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>[610] fire opal (from the wyverns)
\n[611] +1 long sword (giant sized)
\n[612] +2 halberd
\n[613] spell staff, already containing rusting grasp<\/p>\n
While we were doing that, Kane found a secret door. It opened to a passage 3-5 feet wide.<\/p>\n
As he told us later, Kane scouted the tunnels, which seemed to be natural tunnels. He was
\ndoing okay up until he felt a sharp point in the back of his leg. As he turned around he
\nsaw blood, and red caps with knives and mean expressions, but then they looked at him and
\nscreamed DESNA! and ran.<\/p>\n
When Kane returned and told us, he led us back to where this had happened and we went
\nsearching. We finally found a larger cavern in which a single ratcatcher was sharpening a
\nsingle spear. He looked like a kobold, but we approached cautiously.<\/p>\n
Good thing we did.<\/p>\n
The ratcatcher was not dispatched easily; for a small creature he had incredible stamina.
\nRigel eventually got the killing blow, and made a quick inspection of his belongings before
\nwe turned to a doorway into a room in which there appeared to be a number of ogres. Rarallo
\nfired off his lightning even though he’d only seen a glimpse of him. The lightning seemed
\nto hit someone or something, but then a screech and the more vulgar version of “What the
\nheck?” was screamed in ogre. Hee hee.<\/p>\n
But this initiated the battle of the ogres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sunday, Sarenith 29 Even as it sits there lifeless, it taunts. It beckons, it calls, and it teases. While some can discuss it objectively, there are those for whom it represents equity and fairness. If the universe has any balance to it at all, then this represents the counterpoint to poison tails and sharp teeth. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-rotr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1230,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions\/1230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}