Dragonieri Rustlings (Part 6)
When last we left our brave and noble heroes, they were pretty exhausted by the unending waves of wights. Many wights, much negative energy wow.
A great treant had emerged from hiding within the grove when a...flying..wight had exploded the canopy with some kind of alchemical or artifice device, binding him in vines. Something about this doesn't QUITE feel right, in the sense that it gives the impression that that there were parts to the plan that the druids did not quite inform you of before they sent out on this 'hey, bait this trap for us please' mission.
Still, the numbers out front /have/ substantially thinned. Unfortunately, you have wights pushing in from behind you.
GAME: Iskandar rolls weapon3-2-2: (7)+10+-2+-2: 13 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (7)+12: 19 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (15)+7: 22 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (12)+12: 24 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(10)+(3 electricity): 26 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(10)+(5 electricity): 28 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(7)+(3 electricity): 23 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(7)+(6 electricity): 26
Erakirak is startled by the explosion behind them and the arrival of more wights, to say nothing of the treant, but sets all of that aside and continues to fire arrows at the wights, returning four of them to the dust from whence they came.
GAME: Razen rolls weapon7+2: (6)+10+2: 18 GAME: Razen rolls 1d10+8: (6)+8: 14 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+6: (18)+6: 24 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+3: (5)+3: 8 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+6: (18)+6: 24 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d8: (7): 7
Razen finally notices the wights and lets his anger at these things sweep over him. With little care for his personal safety he rushes the nearest band of them and swings his heavy flail. It's clearly a surprise to the thing, and the heavy blow nearly brings it to its knees.
GAME: Baz da Ork rolls 1d20+10+2-2: (2)+10+2+-2: 12
"Wot? Deys behind us! CHARGE!" The Big Ork yells and raises his shield and axe. His feet pounding across the loam as he roars his battle cry and runs into the fray. Swinging his axe this way and that at the undead enemies before him. Then beside him, then behind him, as without contact he barrels through and beyond roaring off into the distance.
They are indeed behind you. Immediately, several of their number are struck down, but there are more coming. Many more. You can hear their hungry growls.
In the sky above you, the battle continues as the wightificer keeps struggling to free itself from the grasp of the treant as it is pulled down, slammed into the earth again and again with bone cracking force.
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+: (5)+: 5 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+4: (20)+4: 24 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+4: (7)+4: 11 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+4: (10)+4: 14 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+4: (20)+4: 24 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+1: (5)+1: 6 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+1: (4)+1: 5 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (16)+9: 25 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (9)+9: 18 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d8: (8): 8 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d8: (2): 2
Good news, guys!
The wights are at it again!
Both Iskandar and Razen feel cold, numbing negative energy pulse within them as they're touched by the creatures. Well, punched is perhaps more accurate.
Either way, it's bad news. Dax's arrow strikes down one of the more wounded ones, sticking through its jaw and piercing its skull.
Thump.
The ground here is covered in decaying, re-deaded wights.
GAME: Iskandar rolls weapon1: (6)+9: 15 GAME: Iskandar rolls 1d8+3: (8)+3: 11
Iskandar grits his teeth at the wight's touch. He's heard the stories, but somehow the reality is so much worse than he ever expected. The wight is soon struck down by arrows, and Iskandar raises his own bow, firing off a shot that strikes the Wightificer who almost certainly has other things to worry about. Then the warrior moves in closer to where the creature is being bashed against the ground. "This one may be the key to victory!" he calls out.
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (11)+12: 23 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (18)+7: 25 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (3)+12: 15 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(11)+(3 electricity): 27 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(6)+(6 electricity): 25 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(5)+(6 electricity): 24 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(7)+(1 electricity): 21 GAME: Fabris rolls 1d20+6-4: (14)+6+-4: 16 GAME: Fabris rolls 1d6: (6): 6
Fabris moves up, pulling another vial from his belt. He hurls it, overhand, sending it arcing across the clearing to smash, smoking, on the wightificer.
GAME: Razen rolls weapon7+2: (18)+9+2: 29 GAME: Razen rolls 1d10+8: (6)+8: 14
Razen moves forward, seeing no more wights close enough to attack... Their leader was a good alternative. So he attacks, helping the treant along.
GAME: Baz da Ork rolls 1d20+10-2+2: (13)+10+-2+2: 23 GAME: Baz da Ork rolls 1d8+5+4: (6)+5+4: 15
Lumbering over the Ork watches the Tree beat the flying wight on the ground. Then timing the smacks he raises his battleaxe and takes a quick savage slice into it's head. "HAW! Take that! HAHAH!" He chortles, the laugh echoing from his ork-skull faced helmet.
Things are going great, right? Right?
Lotsa dead wights.
The artificer is being beaten on, beaten down...
It's all going well.
Too well.
That's when there's a FRESH explosion of trees as something slams -- no slices -- through them.
With a mammoth roar, the scaled, decaying, rotten beast's head smashes through the trees, yes, and growls right at the Treant.
Oh hey. That's a dragon.
A very dead one.
GAME: Erakirak rolls will: (5)+3: 8 GAME: Fabris rolls will: (10)+1: 11 GAME: Razen rolls will: (18)+0: 18 GAME: Iskandar rolls will+3: (16)+1+3: 20 GAME: Iskandar spends ONE use of CHARMED LIFE. GAME: Baz da Ork rolls will: (16)+9: 25 GAME: Fabris used a Holy Water. GAME: Fabris used a Holy Water. GAME: Fabris used a Holy Water. GAME: Iskandar rolls ranged: (13)+8: 21 GAME: Iskandar rolls 1d6: (1): 1
Iskandar flinches at the dragon's appearance. It's a natural reaction when confronted with such a monstrosity. But just as quickly his heroes' instincts kick in. If they can overcome this...! Plucking a vial of holy water off of his belt he hurls it st the beastly head. "Watch out for its breath!" he yells. "Whatever it breathes, it can't be good for us!"
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12-2: (17)+12+-2: 27 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7-2: (4)+7+-2: 9 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12-2: (6)+12+-2: 16 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(4)+(6 electricity): 23 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+2d6+1d6 electricity: 13+(8)+(4 electricity): 25
Erakirak is shaken by the draconic monster that charges through the canopy, but manages to land a couple of arrows against its vital spots.
GAME: Razen rolls weapon7+2+1: (13)+9+2+1: 25 GAME: Razen rolls 1d10+8: (6)+8: 14 GAME: Fabris rolls 1d20+6-2: (6)+6+-2: 10
The dragon appears letting loose a noise of rage, one which Razen echos. He ignores the beast though, his rage focused on the artificer. His heavy flail hits the man full on in the face as the treant swings the man downwards. The combined strength of the two attacks leaves the man's skull broken. He falls limp and Razen lets out another roar of victory, his blazing green eyes triumphant.
GAME: Fabris rolls 1d6: (6): 6
Fabris scatters, heading for the trees, trying to not clump up with his friends. Hard in the confined quarters of the grove. He hurls another vial of holy water directly into the face of the dragon!
GAME: Fabris used a Holy Water. GAME: Baz da Ork rolls melee: (11)+9: 20 GAME: Baz da Ork rolls 3d8+5: (13)+5: 18 GAME: Baz da Ork casts Magic Vestment. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16
Shoving his battleaxe over his shoulder, Baz takes off at a run. Pounding across the forest floor until he can launch his armored form into a small leap. Sticking out his free right hand as he yowls in joy. "KOOOOOOOOOOOR!" The hand smacking the creature's jaw with an explosion of celestial healing light. Then the Ork lands and swings his spiked shield forward. "AHAHA! I SLAP DRAGON! HAHAHAH!"
The dragon roars in rage, rearing back and pulling its head from the gasp it'd opened. You can see its body now -- quite large, actually, and half-enmeshed in the earth itself.
It roars again and throws its weight against the trees, bending and breaking many of them.
The treant grabs the body of the fallen artificer.
"IT IS TIME YOU LEFT. IT IS TIME WE ALL LEFT. WE HAVE WHAT WE CAME FOR."
Branches reach out, snagging each of you where you stand, extending from the ground to bind around you at the Treatn's command, and with a whisper, you find yourself traversing through space, tumbling back into the safety of the Twin Heart's Grove.
Razen does not simply allow himself to be taken. He roars at the dragon as he is carried away. Nonetheless he /is/ carried away. By the time that the dragon is out of sight his rage has cooled a litte. "Yes," he agrees with Baz. "Why are we fleeing before it is dead?!?"
Iskandar slowly calms down. "Perhaps we'll have a chance to finish the job!" he suggests. "For now though...'dragon-survivor' doesn't have the same ring as 'dragon-slayer', it's true...but remember why we went on this quest to begin with!"
"I'm da Dragon Slappah!" Baz says, pulling his axe out and checking it over from use. Then he sets about eying his own armor and shield. "Anyone get touched by dem things?" He asks finally, seemingly content he isn't in need of immediate care.
Razen looks at Baz considering his question. "Yes, I was." He hangs his heavy mace where it belongs on his belt and heaves a weary sigh. "Why?"
"Some of dem Dead can sap yer strength if they get a good grip on yas. Doesn't come back easy either. How you feel?" The big Ork leans forward and looks Razen over carefully. "Not want'ng to sleep in the ground or eat peoples are ya?"
"I know that flesh ones feel their blood quicken in battle but that was not your mission. The mission was to draw out the artificer. Which you did."
The druid emerges from the trees as he speaks. Quite gnomish, actually, and followed by what is an immense badger.
"There were more that would come had you slain that one -- not an engagement we were ready for, and frankly, even a touch of its claws would've drained you the same way that the wights do." It was, after all, a wight dragon.
"Now, forgive me, I need a moment to restore this one to life and find out what he knows." He points towards the body of the artificer.
Apparently, the treant brought it with you.
"Bear witness to the power of the green!"
Vines reach up from the earth, wrapping around the body of the fallen artificer weight and pulling it beneath the soil. Time passes, here. Perhaps ten minutes..
...and then... where the dessicated body of a human man stood, returns a fresh, if different, human looking body of a man.
"Oh, hey. Same race. He's lucky." There's a little, just a LITTLE, bitterness in the gnome's voice.
"Welcome back, friend. You've been dead a long time. Too long for most reincarnations, but the Twin Hearts see to bypassing that restriction, restoring the corpse into a fresher state so that we can call the soul back. If they choose to come back. And he has."
"...Gmgmgmhwhat?>" rasps the formerly dead artificer. "Where am I?"
"We've a lot to talk about. Especially about your works of artifice, friend."
"My what?"
"Your artifice."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're an artificer, yes?"
"...no?"
"Oh boy."
"Wrong one? We can kill him and go back and get another. Dere a whole pile of dem back dere. I got an idea, hows about we just get the heads, right? Then you can toss them in the ground all at once and the one you need can whistle and then we can go back and find 'is body. The others can just go back in dere ground. Cuts down on how much we got ta carry. Den they can't fight back if dere the wrong one and you gonna stomp on'em like pumpkins." The big Ork says earnestly.
Razen grins. "Maybe the artificer was the dragon! We could go back and kill it!" He looks tired, but not as though he is about to go eating people or anything. "Can dragons be artificers?"
Fabris considers. "Is it possible for a wight to learn new skills while dead?"
Iskandar looks between the newly resurrected (?) man and the druid. He glances at each of the party members as they speak, then tilts his head to look back at the treant. "I don't understand - was that not an artifice heart?"
"It is possible, I suppose, but you saw this one. Flying, with a ray. As they often are. He was even wearing the remains of titan armor," A gesture towards the pile of scrap metal that's left ot if by the gnome.
"No, no. He WAS the artificer -- the dragon, perhaps, may have been more involved but it seemed as much a wight as the rest. Something is afoot here. I observed the battle, yes? You had the wights march in, trying to flank you. Unusual, for them. Then you had the artificer show up at a critical moment, tactically, engaging you. And when the treant revealed itself, the dragon joined the fray. That's... far more tactically astute than we normally see. And worrying." "I'm sorry," adds the human man. Who's naked.
"...I'm really confused. And really naked. Can I borrow a cloak?"
Razen pulls the cloak from his own shoulders and offers it to the naked man. "None of this makes sense to me."
"Wot if he's lying? Maybe we should cut on 'im a bit? Make sure he's be'in honest." The big Ork pulls out a wickedly curved dagger that glints in the light. "I could start with a finger, or some other bit that hangs off." He makes a motion with the blade aiming below the man's waist. "We find out real quick if he's da Fart-fiester or not."
"ME either," says the formerly naked man.
"It's problematic," adds the gnome. "I think we have a bigger problem than we realized."
Razen quirks an eyebrow at the man borrowing his cloak. "You know nothing? You were there for some of it. You should know /something/."
Iskandar watches Baz out of the corner of his eye. "Aren't the wights being controlled? Drawn by the heart? Perhaps it allows creator to move them around like puppets."
"In a loose sense," answers the gnome to Iskandar.
Cloak-man shakes his head confusedly at Razen. "I... it's... a blur? I'm sorry? The last thing I remember really clearly was being surrounded by all these... those hungry eyes." He shudders, burying his face in his hands with a wrenched sob. "My wife was there. I froze when I saw her and they just.."
Suddenly Razen reaches out and clasps the man on the shoulder. "I am sorry." The story clearly disturbs him, and he glances at his companions; the druid. "I believe him, but that leads us with very little to go on."
Iskandar nods knowingly. "Clearly a tale of tragedy. But yes, we must gather more information. Perhaps scouts, or magical scrying." He turns towards the druid as well. "Your friend here," he gestures at the badger. "Can he can burrow under the earth - where the wights and other undead can't touch him?"
"We have ways of burrowing, yes. But how did this one learn artificery? It's not impossible for wights to learn, but that would mean there is one /teaching/ it, or finding some way to pass along his knowledge. That's... extremely worrisome."
The gnome puts a hand over his face.
The near-naked man gives Razen a blank stare before he looks back down again. He doesn't know how to process what's happened so far.
"Clearly someone /did/ teach him." Razen seems satisfied with this. "We only need find them and put a stop to them." He weirily clasps the cloak-covered man on the shoulder once more, trying to comfort him.
"That's exactly what we really need to get to the bottom of. You've all earned a rest and this man will need it as well. We'll be questioning him further in the morning. And soon enough, you'll get your chance at the dragon." And with that, you're allowed to get some rest.
-End-