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Memoirs of a Lawyer turned Dungeoncrawler (Updated May 13, 2008)
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<blockquote data-quote="Altalazar" data-source="post: 3032750" data-attributes="member: 939"><p>Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-One – Searching the Cold</p><p></p><p> As the elementals of water faded from sight, wisps of water melting back into our surroundings, I noticed a macabre sight. Many bodies floated around us, frozen in chunks of ice, their death-throes chiseled into their faces in unmoving horror. Suddenly, a shape moved behind me and I nearly fried it with my mind, but it was just “Tiny,” the rhinoceros that, along with “Larch” the gold finch, began following Krynyn for reasons unclear to me and even less clear to him, from what I gleaned from the surface of his mind. The rhinoceros and the bird were no less strange a sight floating and breathing under the frigid water than they were walking behind Krynyn in the streets of the city. </p><p> We quickly took stock of our surroundings, and discovered there were three tunnels in various directions heading below us and another tunnel headed straight up. Morwen suggested we explore the lower tunnels first, making me conclude that the upper tunnel was where our efforts should begin. She swam up to the surface there (and surface there was) but was unable to determine what lay sixty feet above her there and the walls were too slippery for even Ee, with his sticky slippers, to climb. We turned our attention downward. </p><p> I almost started again when a large shape moved behind me in the water, but this time I was used to the movements of “Tiny.” Unfortunately, this shape was a little bit larger than Krynyn’s erstwhile rhinoceros. </p><p></p><p> Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-Two – Dragon of White Fight and Fright Round Two</p><p></p><p> I felt a wave of fear come over me again, like a thick blanket that attempts to smother you. But this time, it bounced harmlessly off of my iron-banded mind, and then quickly faded. No dragon would get the best of my mind more than once. The dragon yet again attempted to take me into its grasp as its only introduction to me. I looked ahead at all of the heavy armor covering my various companions and wondered how, yet again, I was the front-line against this reptilian beast. Did this dragon not know that it was a crime to accost a noble? </p><p> The dragon’s teeth sunk into my flesh, only partly deflected by the armor of my mind. And yet it faltered, weak at the jaw, and I by sheer strength of my puny body pulled free of its grasp. With my next thought, I was far away from its talons, floating beyond a rocky escarpment under the water, my well-armored companions now between me and the beast. I grabbed a potion off of my potion belt and drank it quick, feeling my wounds mend. </p><p> I watched with amazement as my companions all charged the beast and faced it in single combat. What amazed me most was that the most heavily protected, toughest of my companions, the ever-simple Ee, was the only one NOT to engage the beast, instead standing back and firing small flaming arrows that then bounced harmlessly off the dragon’s thick hide, even though they lost momentum under the water. </p><p> “You are the fighting one, Ee! Why don’t you engage?” my companions all shouted in our minklink. </p><p> “But arrows have fire!” Ee shouted back in dismay. “Fire hurt bad dragon!” “Me shoot fire!” </p><p> Fortunately for all concerned, Ee soon abandoned his bow and swung his axe hard and true as Morwen’s blood began to cloud the water a rather deep crimson. Even the rhinoceros looked better than she as the fighting wore on. </p><p> I took a moment to concentrate, splitting my mind into two halves, one strong, the other weak, but both ready to take on a dragon. </p><p> As I gathered my mind for attack, I was momentarily startled by the appearance of three crocodiles of a size I’d never before imagined. They each were as big as the dragon, and they surrounded her on all sides. The dragon’s blood had, by now, started to create a cloud of its own, especially after both halves of my mind sent large globes of fire to roast its hide. The dragon seemed to contemplate its fate for a moment, and then in the next moment, it was gone, leaving nothing but a whirlpool of displaced water mixed with blood in its wake. </p><p> I took a moment to focus my mind outward, searching, until it linked, yet again, with the dragon. </p><p> “Panzy!” I shouted at her mind. “Loser!” “Are you sure you ought not change your color to yellow the next time you leave your cave?” “That will teach you to mess with a lawyer!” </p><p> The dragon offered no reply, but I felt more satisfaction from the damage my words had wrought than from any of the fire I had sent. </p><p> My companions took stock and healed as well. Morwen congratulated Krynyn on the summoning of the crocodiles. Krynyn looked puzzled and told her, “I did not summon them. I don’t know where they came from.” Several moments later, they vanished, leaving us in wonder. </p><p> “Time to look up, perhaps the dragon’s lair is there,” I said, and I swam toward the upper passage. </p><p></p><p> Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-Three – Melting Ice Falling Free For Reasons Well Known</p><p></p><p> I looked up and could not see much beyond the ice. My vision was still true, giving my eyes good purchase in the dark, but all I could see was large stalagtites of ice above. With a thought, I cleared them from the room, great balls of fire melting them all. Unfortunately, they all came straight down onto me. Bruised and battered, and quite mad, I transported myself to the top of the cave with a thought and took a good, long look as I then fell sixty feet back toward the water, my mind only slightly softening the hard landing in the ice-choked water. </p><p> “There’s another tunnel to a cave up there,” I informed my companions, just before I informed Krynyn, “Uh, I could use some healing…”</p><p></p><p> Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-Four – Charging a Wall Unseen to Hard Trouble Beyond</p><p></p><p> Healed again, we turned our attention to the lower passage, swimming until we came to a narrow pass. Just beyond, we saw the dragon, floating and watching. Morwen charged full speed, slamming face-first into an invisible barrier of force. Ee slammed into it behind her. The dragon then vanished again. </p><p> I swam up to the barrier and studied it for a moment before pointing my finger at it and seeing it disappear with an audible “pop” heard through the murky water. </p><p> Krynyn headed through and looked about, finding many weapons frozen into the cavern’s walls. He also found five recently emptied potion bottles, no doubt emptied by our dragon friend. </p><p> “Hey, the dragon is using up our treasure!” someone shouted with a thought. </p><p> I began mental dictation of a summons and complaint to be filed against the estate of the dragon, payable by the heirs, to make up for whatever treasure the dragon had used from its horde before we have slain it to claim it as rightfully ours. </p><p> As I finished the final paragraph, a large statue of stone swam out of the wall above Krynyn and began slamming him with its fists. Krynyn attacked back with his sword, but the blows glanced harmlessly off of its stony body. I put forth a ray to disintegrate it, striking it dead center, to no effect. Curious at what foul trickery could make even the inanimate resist, I sent a small globe of fire at its body to see if it also would be equally ineffective. It was. I then moved back and watched my companions slowly slice it to pieces using weapons made of that hard metal known as adamantine. I wondered where one could find the mental equivalent. </p><p> Beyond its fragmented corpse, we found three weapons of masterwork quality worth salvaging, along with two more passages, one up and one down. Again, I opted up, and this time, Morwen was able to fully scout it – it was full of water. </p><p> I heard in her mind her struggle to locate and then disarm a trap made of powerful magic. It took her some time, but she was finally successful. She found in the room strange glyphs on the wall praising the dragon. And a small box, its lid open, its interior empty. </p><p> The magical among us determined that the box created the unnatural cold of the cavern. Once it was closed, the magic that permeated the walls vanished, though the cold lingered still. My mind gurgled with possibilities. Oh, the nuisance complaints one could file against the use of such a device from a neighbor. But then there could be viable commercial applications as well. Most immediately, I assumed it would annoy the dragon no end if we eliminated it. I pointed a finger, but then visions of expensive parties with lots of nobles in attendance stayed my hand, and I simply watched as Morwen put the box into her handy sack. Instead, I sent a taunt through my mind to the dragon about what we’d done to its precious box. Let her sit and stew. </p><p> Moments later, she pulled it back out, suddenly realizing the box itself had something written on its exterior. Translated, it showed us a map of the cave system we were in, including a hidden cave, unconnected to the rest, about 100 feet through solid rock from our current position. It became obvious this must be where the dragon kept its horde, and its hide. </p><p> We took stock of our selves. Much magic and mental energy had been expended by us all, but the dragon was also, I’m sure, fatigued from our three encounters. Somewhere, I know I heard the saying that fortune favors the bold. Taking a few moments to cast enhancements of magic upon ourselves, enhancements of the mind upon myself, and several potions down my throat (plus one tossed to Morwen through the water), I joined hands with my companions (all but the rhino) and with a thought, sent us over 100 feet from our location toward the belly of the beast. I hoped we found a cave and not solid rock…</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Altalazar, post: 3032750, member: 939"] Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-One – Searching the Cold As the elementals of water faded from sight, wisps of water melting back into our surroundings, I noticed a macabre sight. Many bodies floated around us, frozen in chunks of ice, their death-throes chiseled into their faces in unmoving horror. Suddenly, a shape moved behind me and I nearly fried it with my mind, but it was just “Tiny,” the rhinoceros that, along with “Larch” the gold finch, began following Krynyn for reasons unclear to me and even less clear to him, from what I gleaned from the surface of his mind. The rhinoceros and the bird were no less strange a sight floating and breathing under the frigid water than they were walking behind Krynyn in the streets of the city. We quickly took stock of our surroundings, and discovered there were three tunnels in various directions heading below us and another tunnel headed straight up. Morwen suggested we explore the lower tunnels first, making me conclude that the upper tunnel was where our efforts should begin. She swam up to the surface there (and surface there was) but was unable to determine what lay sixty feet above her there and the walls were too slippery for even Ee, with his sticky slippers, to climb. We turned our attention downward. I almost started again when a large shape moved behind me in the water, but this time I was used to the movements of “Tiny.” Unfortunately, this shape was a little bit larger than Krynyn’s erstwhile rhinoceros. Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-Two – Dragon of White Fight and Fright Round Two I felt a wave of fear come over me again, like a thick blanket that attempts to smother you. But this time, it bounced harmlessly off of my iron-banded mind, and then quickly faded. No dragon would get the best of my mind more than once. The dragon yet again attempted to take me into its grasp as its only introduction to me. I looked ahead at all of the heavy armor covering my various companions and wondered how, yet again, I was the front-line against this reptilian beast. Did this dragon not know that it was a crime to accost a noble? The dragon’s teeth sunk into my flesh, only partly deflected by the armor of my mind. And yet it faltered, weak at the jaw, and I by sheer strength of my puny body pulled free of its grasp. With my next thought, I was far away from its talons, floating beyond a rocky escarpment under the water, my well-armored companions now between me and the beast. I grabbed a potion off of my potion belt and drank it quick, feeling my wounds mend. I watched with amazement as my companions all charged the beast and faced it in single combat. What amazed me most was that the most heavily protected, toughest of my companions, the ever-simple Ee, was the only one NOT to engage the beast, instead standing back and firing small flaming arrows that then bounced harmlessly off the dragon’s thick hide, even though they lost momentum under the water. “You are the fighting one, Ee! Why don’t you engage?” my companions all shouted in our minklink. “But arrows have fire!” Ee shouted back in dismay. “Fire hurt bad dragon!” “Me shoot fire!” Fortunately for all concerned, Ee soon abandoned his bow and swung his axe hard and true as Morwen’s blood began to cloud the water a rather deep crimson. Even the rhinoceros looked better than she as the fighting wore on. I took a moment to concentrate, splitting my mind into two halves, one strong, the other weak, but both ready to take on a dragon. As I gathered my mind for attack, I was momentarily startled by the appearance of three crocodiles of a size I’d never before imagined. They each were as big as the dragon, and they surrounded her on all sides. The dragon’s blood had, by now, started to create a cloud of its own, especially after both halves of my mind sent large globes of fire to roast its hide. The dragon seemed to contemplate its fate for a moment, and then in the next moment, it was gone, leaving nothing but a whirlpool of displaced water mixed with blood in its wake. I took a moment to focus my mind outward, searching, until it linked, yet again, with the dragon. “Panzy!” I shouted at her mind. “Loser!” “Are you sure you ought not change your color to yellow the next time you leave your cave?” “That will teach you to mess with a lawyer!” The dragon offered no reply, but I felt more satisfaction from the damage my words had wrought than from any of the fire I had sent. My companions took stock and healed as well. Morwen congratulated Krynyn on the summoning of the crocodiles. Krynyn looked puzzled and told her, “I did not summon them. I don’t know where they came from.” Several moments later, they vanished, leaving us in wonder. “Time to look up, perhaps the dragon’s lair is there,” I said, and I swam toward the upper passage. Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-Three – Melting Ice Falling Free For Reasons Well Known I looked up and could not see much beyond the ice. My vision was still true, giving my eyes good purchase in the dark, but all I could see was large stalagtites of ice above. With a thought, I cleared them from the room, great balls of fire melting them all. Unfortunately, they all came straight down onto me. Bruised and battered, and quite mad, I transported myself to the top of the cave with a thought and took a good, long look as I then fell sixty feet back toward the water, my mind only slightly softening the hard landing in the ice-choked water. “There’s another tunnel to a cave up there,” I informed my companions, just before I informed Krynyn, “Uh, I could use some healing…” Sir Cordozo – Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-Four – Charging a Wall Unseen to Hard Trouble Beyond Healed again, we turned our attention to the lower passage, swimming until we came to a narrow pass. Just beyond, we saw the dragon, floating and watching. Morwen charged full speed, slamming face-first into an invisible barrier of force. Ee slammed into it behind her. The dragon then vanished again. I swam up to the barrier and studied it for a moment before pointing my finger at it and seeing it disappear with an audible “pop” heard through the murky water. Krynyn headed through and looked about, finding many weapons frozen into the cavern’s walls. He also found five recently emptied potion bottles, no doubt emptied by our dragon friend. “Hey, the dragon is using up our treasure!” someone shouted with a thought. I began mental dictation of a summons and complaint to be filed against the estate of the dragon, payable by the heirs, to make up for whatever treasure the dragon had used from its horde before we have slain it to claim it as rightfully ours. As I finished the final paragraph, a large statue of stone swam out of the wall above Krynyn and began slamming him with its fists. Krynyn attacked back with his sword, but the blows glanced harmlessly off of its stony body. I put forth a ray to disintegrate it, striking it dead center, to no effect. Curious at what foul trickery could make even the inanimate resist, I sent a small globe of fire at its body to see if it also would be equally ineffective. It was. I then moved back and watched my companions slowly slice it to pieces using weapons made of that hard metal known as adamantine. I wondered where one could find the mental equivalent. Beyond its fragmented corpse, we found three weapons of masterwork quality worth salvaging, along with two more passages, one up and one down. Again, I opted up, and this time, Morwen was able to fully scout it – it was full of water. I heard in her mind her struggle to locate and then disarm a trap made of powerful magic. It took her some time, but she was finally successful. She found in the room strange glyphs on the wall praising the dragon. And a small box, its lid open, its interior empty. The magical among us determined that the box created the unnatural cold of the cavern. Once it was closed, the magic that permeated the walls vanished, though the cold lingered still. My mind gurgled with possibilities. Oh, the nuisance complaints one could file against the use of such a device from a neighbor. But then there could be viable commercial applications as well. Most immediately, I assumed it would annoy the dragon no end if we eliminated it. I pointed a finger, but then visions of expensive parties with lots of nobles in attendance stayed my hand, and I simply watched as Morwen put the box into her handy sack. Instead, I sent a taunt through my mind to the dragon about what we’d done to its precious box. Let her sit and stew. Moments later, she pulled it back out, suddenly realizing the box itself had something written on its exterior. Translated, it showed us a map of the cave system we were in, including a hidden cave, unconnected to the rest, about 100 feet through solid rock from our current position. It became obvious this must be where the dragon kept its horde, and its hide. We took stock of our selves. Much magic and mental energy had been expended by us all, but the dragon was also, I’m sure, fatigued from our three encounters. Somewhere, I know I heard the saying that fortune favors the bold. Taking a few moments to cast enhancements of magic upon ourselves, enhancements of the mind upon myself, and several potions down my throat (plus one tossed to Morwen through the water), I joined hands with my companions (all but the rhino) and with a thought, sent us over 100 feet from our location toward the belly of the beast. I hoped we found a cave and not solid rock… [/QUOTE]
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