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<blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 4617879" data-attributes="member: 60965"><p>Session 16, Part 3</p><p></p><p></p><p> Inkanis nodded to the hatchling and they tucked their wings, diving from the clear sky towards the wooden craft that was slowly floating down their river. The little humanoids on the deck let out a cry of fear that sent an excited tingle through Inkanis' body as she unfurled her wings and opened her mouth, engulfing a few figures on the deck with acid. She beat her wings and hurtled past, glancing back to see that the hatchling was, somewhat clumsily, following her lead, catching a lone dwarf with its much smaller gout.</p><p></p><p> They beat their wings to gain some altitude and circled around again. She nodded to the hatchling, seeing that it too was exhilarated by their kills.</p><p></p><p> As they began to dive again, she aligned herself to catch the figures coming up on deck, recognizing the weapons in their hands. She twisted and jerked to vary her path, the first few arrows narrowly missing the mark. Her maneuvers brought her out of alignment to catch the few archers, so she settled for a gnome that stood on the aft-castle, leaving little but a half-fleshed skeleton and a hole sizzling into the deck.</p><p></p><p> The tiny black behind her screeched as one of the humanoids on the deck hurled some sorts of magics into the sky. That gave her pause and she flew up far out of range, the pathetic little hatchling struggling to catch up to her.</p><p></p><p> “Go for the one that used the magics,” she snarled at the hatchling. “Take it down first, then the archers.”</p><p></p><p> She looked over at the hatchling to be sure it heard her. It looked at her dumbly and snapped at the spot on its side where the spell had seared it. She hoped that meant that it understood.</p><p></p><p> They dove again, the wind slipping around her body as the river expanded from a thin blue line to a rippling waters and the speck of the ship became a wide deck. She aligned herself with the cowled figure, gritting her teeth as it began to gesture, looking up in her direction. <em>I can endure whatever feeble magics this wizard can throw at me. Can it endure this?</em> </p><p></p><p>She opened her mouth, feeling the acid bubbling up to her throat. The wizards gestures became bigger until she could begin to hear little snippets of chant and could see that it was an elf.</p><p></p><p> Just as she opened her mouth fully and the wizard thrust his hand at her, she saw the Mark. She lurched to the side, her acid splattering into the sails and the wizard's magics barely missing her. She banked hard, coming about and slamming into the hatchling, sending it spiraling off into the trees just as it unleashed its acid, the black sizzling ichor burning away a railing a few feet from the wizard.</p><p> </p><p>She flew away quickly, barely avoiding a small volley of arrows. She arched her neck and glanced behind her, snarling. <em>Damn, damn! </em>It thought, <em>Gilderalin will tear my wings off and hurl me to the Endless Sands for this!</em></p><p></p><p> ***</p><p></p><p> Kormak glanced up from the still-sizzling railing as the two black dragons circled far overhead.</p><p></p><p> “What was that about?” Kezzek growled, lowing his quor'rel bow.</p><p></p><p> “That was a neat trick,” Kormak said.</p><p></p><p> “The acid?” the Greywarden said, his brow furrowing as he glanced at the acid-splattered and -eaten deck.</p><p></p><p> “No, whatever you did to turn your sword-thingy into a bow.”</p><p></p><p> Kezzek glanced down at the quor'rel in his hand as if he'd forgotten it was there. With practiced motions, his hands moved on the weapon, pulling and twisting here and there. The wire of the bowstring retracted instantly with a zipping sound and with a few twists it was again the twin-bladed sword. Kormak now understood what the various strange notches and holes in the blades were for.</p><p></p><p> “Why did they stop attacking?” Harold said, joining them and raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he stared up at the still circling dragons. “The big one even attacked the small one.”</p><p></p><p> “Maybe you'll have your answer, they're coming back,” Suniel said as he and Keeper joined them. He put his hand on Harold's arm as the archer raised his bow. “Wait, they aren't diving this time and the little one is holding back. I think they wish to talk.”</p><p></p><p> “I think we should let Harold fight it,” Kormak said. The others all glanced at him, some sharply, some questioningly and he grinned back at them.</p><p></p><p> The dragon closed and beat its wings mightily, to hover before the ship for a moment. “Come to the ruins around the next bend, I will wait there,” it snarled.</p><p> </p><p>It landed for a second on the front railing, then used it to launch itself off and flew off.</p><p></p><p> “It must be a trick,” Harold said, bow still in hand, eyes squinting as if he were estimating a shot as it flew away. “It knows it can't fight us openly so it will use deception.”</p><p></p><p> “I don't think so,” Suniel said. “It turned at the last second when it was about to use its breath on me. It might have killed me right then.”</p><p></p><p> “I still think we should have let Harold fight it,” Kormak muttered. As often happened, the others ignored him.</p><p></p><p> ***</p><p></p><p> They walked into the ruins warily, despite Suniel's assurances. Kezzek stood up, holding a copper coin. “Gnomish, these are gnomish ruins.”</p><p></p><p> “Look at the stones, scorched and tumbled and blasted. Even this far from Steamport the elementals unleashed their wrath on the gnomes,” Suniel said, bowing his head.</p><p></p><p> The black dragon slipped out of the ruins, startling them all with its speed and stealth in spite of its size. It didn't seem as large when it was on the ground with its wings furled and Suniel guessed it was less than a century old. Maybe as little as a few decades. Icy malevolence glinted from its eyes and its black scales gleamed in the sunlight. Even from twenty feet away, he could smell the acrid stench of it, like acid eating away rotten flesh.</p><p></p><p> “What business does the Undercouncil send you on?” the black dragon said, its horned skull-like face even more hideous and terrible when it spoke.</p><p></p><p> “The Undercouncil?” Suniel said. “What is the Undercouncil?”</p><p></p><p> She stared at them, hard eyes glittering. “I would think an elf would know better than to toy with dragons,” it finally said. “Either you are mocking me or you are unwitting pawns. In either case you are fools.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, you're even uglier than I am, and that's saying a lot,” Kormak said. Suniel turned to silence him, but saw that Keeper was already moving, placing a metallic finger on the startled dwarf's lips.</p><p> </p><p>“Shh,” Keeper said.</p><p> </p><p>The incongruity of the construct shushing the dwarf while they talked with a black dragon in gnomish ruins made Suniel blink and shake his head.</p><p></p><p> “I do not take kindly to being called fools by little runts like you,” Harold said. “I've had enough of dragon riddles. Tell us of this Undercouncil.”</p><p></p><p> “You truly don't know...” it said. “Well, I guess that means we're both pawns of the Undercouncil then. Gilderalin usually gets what she wants.”</p><p></p><p> “Pawns? You consider yourself a pawn as well?” Kezzek said.</p><p></p><p> The black showed its teeth and flicked its tail. “I have to take care of the hatchling. Ashcandia brought it to me to take care of, under orders of Gilderalin and the Undercouncil.”</p><p></p><p> “Ashcandia the Green?” Suniel said.</p><p></p><p> “You do know something of dragons, despite your ignorance of your role in our affairs. Yes, the green. I'd rather kill the stupid little runt, but if I did they'd send Ashcandia. She'd take my horde and exile me from my territory... at best.”</p><p></p><p> “Your horde?” Harold said, one eyebrow quirking.</p><p></p><p> “Yes.” It showed its teeth in a terrible snarl. “And I must give some of it to you for killing your pawns.”</p><p></p><p> “What?” they said in unison.</p><p></p><p> “You are pawns of Gilderalin. They were pawns of yours that I killed, the ones that run your ship. How many did I kill?”</p><p></p><p> “Five,” Suniel said, anger rising up in him that the dragon would try to simply buy them off for killing five good crew members. Dwarves and gnomes that had served them loyally and well.</p><p></p><p> “Then I will give you five handfuls of gold, or five items of value from my horde,” the dragon said, through clenched teeth, body twisting as if the words physically pained it.</p><p></p><p> “Sounds fair,” Kormak said.</p><p></p><p> Suniel was about to object when the black turned, ran a few graceful steps, then dove into the ruined gnomish town's large communal well.</p><p></p><p> Suniel glared at Kormak. The dwarf looked at him blankly. “What?”</p><p></p><p> A few minutes later, the dragon returned with an ornate shield pressed to its body. It held it tucked with one arm as it walked towards them on the other three limbs. It craned its neck to look down at the shield and whatever was on it, then it shook its head and threw the shield at their feet, the golden coins heaped upon it scattering on the ground.</p><p></p><p> “There, tell Gilderalin that Ikanis paid her blood debt. I owe you nothing now. Get on your ship and get out of my sight.”</p><p></p><p> Harold and Kormak began scooping up coins while Kezzek pulled out his Greywarden journal and began scribbling. Suniel stood, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, staring at the dragon.</p><p></p><p> Then Harold turned, caught Suniel's eye, nodded back towards the ship, and began walking. Kezzek finished writing, glanced at the dragon a final time, then joined Harold. </p><p></p><p>Suniel finally relaxed his jaw and sighed. He turned and followed after Kezzek and Harold, glancing back to see Kormak give a deep flourishing bow to the dragon then jog to join them, a half-grin on the ugly dwarf's face as he met Suniel's eyes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iron Sky, post: 4617879, member: 60965"] Session 16, Part 3 Inkanis nodded to the hatchling and they tucked their wings, diving from the clear sky towards the wooden craft that was slowly floating down their river. The little humanoids on the deck let out a cry of fear that sent an excited tingle through Inkanis' body as she unfurled her wings and opened her mouth, engulfing a few figures on the deck with acid. She beat her wings and hurtled past, glancing back to see that the hatchling was, somewhat clumsily, following her lead, catching a lone dwarf with its much smaller gout. They beat their wings to gain some altitude and circled around again. She nodded to the hatchling, seeing that it too was exhilarated by their kills. As they began to dive again, she aligned herself to catch the figures coming up on deck, recognizing the weapons in their hands. She twisted and jerked to vary her path, the first few arrows narrowly missing the mark. Her maneuvers brought her out of alignment to catch the few archers, so she settled for a gnome that stood on the aft-castle, leaving little but a half-fleshed skeleton and a hole sizzling into the deck. The tiny black behind her screeched as one of the humanoids on the deck hurled some sorts of magics into the sky. That gave her pause and she flew up far out of range, the pathetic little hatchling struggling to catch up to her. “Go for the one that used the magics,” she snarled at the hatchling. “Take it down first, then the archers.” She looked over at the hatchling to be sure it heard her. It looked at her dumbly and snapped at the spot on its side where the spell had seared it. She hoped that meant that it understood. They dove again, the wind slipping around her body as the river expanded from a thin blue line to a rippling waters and the speck of the ship became a wide deck. She aligned herself with the cowled figure, gritting her teeth as it began to gesture, looking up in her direction. [I]I can endure whatever feeble magics this wizard can throw at me. Can it endure this?[/I] She opened her mouth, feeling the acid bubbling up to her throat. The wizards gestures became bigger until she could begin to hear little snippets of chant and could see that it was an elf. Just as she opened her mouth fully and the wizard thrust his hand at her, she saw the Mark. She lurched to the side, her acid splattering into the sails and the wizard's magics barely missing her. She banked hard, coming about and slamming into the hatchling, sending it spiraling off into the trees just as it unleashed its acid, the black sizzling ichor burning away a railing a few feet from the wizard. She flew away quickly, barely avoiding a small volley of arrows. She arched her neck and glanced behind her, snarling. [I]Damn, damn! [/I]It thought, [I]Gilderalin will tear my wings off and hurl me to the Endless Sands for this![/I] *** Kormak glanced up from the still-sizzling railing as the two black dragons circled far overhead. “What was that about?” Kezzek growled, lowing his quor'rel bow. “That was a neat trick,” Kormak said. “The acid?” the Greywarden said, his brow furrowing as he glanced at the acid-splattered and -eaten deck. “No, whatever you did to turn your sword-thingy into a bow.” Kezzek glanced down at the quor'rel in his hand as if he'd forgotten it was there. With practiced motions, his hands moved on the weapon, pulling and twisting here and there. The wire of the bowstring retracted instantly with a zipping sound and with a few twists it was again the twin-bladed sword. Kormak now understood what the various strange notches and holes in the blades were for. “Why did they stop attacking?” Harold said, joining them and raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he stared up at the still circling dragons. “The big one even attacked the small one.” “Maybe you'll have your answer, they're coming back,” Suniel said as he and Keeper joined them. He put his hand on Harold's arm as the archer raised his bow. “Wait, they aren't diving this time and the little one is holding back. I think they wish to talk.” “I think we should let Harold fight it,” Kormak said. The others all glanced at him, some sharply, some questioningly and he grinned back at them. The dragon closed and beat its wings mightily, to hover before the ship for a moment. “Come to the ruins around the next bend, I will wait there,” it snarled. It landed for a second on the front railing, then used it to launch itself off and flew off. “It must be a trick,” Harold said, bow still in hand, eyes squinting as if he were estimating a shot as it flew away. “It knows it can't fight us openly so it will use deception.” “I don't think so,” Suniel said. “It turned at the last second when it was about to use its breath on me. It might have killed me right then.” “I still think we should have let Harold fight it,” Kormak muttered. As often happened, the others ignored him. *** They walked into the ruins warily, despite Suniel's assurances. Kezzek stood up, holding a copper coin. “Gnomish, these are gnomish ruins.” “Look at the stones, scorched and tumbled and blasted. Even this far from Steamport the elementals unleashed their wrath on the gnomes,” Suniel said, bowing his head. The black dragon slipped out of the ruins, startling them all with its speed and stealth in spite of its size. It didn't seem as large when it was on the ground with its wings furled and Suniel guessed it was less than a century old. Maybe as little as a few decades. Icy malevolence glinted from its eyes and its black scales gleamed in the sunlight. Even from twenty feet away, he could smell the acrid stench of it, like acid eating away rotten flesh. “What business does the Undercouncil send you on?” the black dragon said, its horned skull-like face even more hideous and terrible when it spoke. “The Undercouncil?” Suniel said. “What is the Undercouncil?” She stared at them, hard eyes glittering. “I would think an elf would know better than to toy with dragons,” it finally said. “Either you are mocking me or you are unwitting pawns. In either case you are fools.” “Well, you're even uglier than I am, and that's saying a lot,” Kormak said. Suniel turned to silence him, but saw that Keeper was already moving, placing a metallic finger on the startled dwarf's lips. “Shh,” Keeper said. The incongruity of the construct shushing the dwarf while they talked with a black dragon in gnomish ruins made Suniel blink and shake his head. “I do not take kindly to being called fools by little runts like you,” Harold said. “I've had enough of dragon riddles. Tell us of this Undercouncil.” “You truly don't know...” it said. “Well, I guess that means we're both pawns of the Undercouncil then. Gilderalin usually gets what she wants.” “Pawns? You consider yourself a pawn as well?” Kezzek said. The black showed its teeth and flicked its tail. “I have to take care of the hatchling. Ashcandia brought it to me to take care of, under orders of Gilderalin and the Undercouncil.” “Ashcandia the Green?” Suniel said. “You do know something of dragons, despite your ignorance of your role in our affairs. Yes, the green. I'd rather kill the stupid little runt, but if I did they'd send Ashcandia. She'd take my horde and exile me from my territory... at best.” “Your horde?” Harold said, one eyebrow quirking. “Yes.” It showed its teeth in a terrible snarl. “And I must give some of it to you for killing your pawns.” “What?” they said in unison. “You are pawns of Gilderalin. They were pawns of yours that I killed, the ones that run your ship. How many did I kill?” “Five,” Suniel said, anger rising up in him that the dragon would try to simply buy them off for killing five good crew members. Dwarves and gnomes that had served them loyally and well. “Then I will give you five handfuls of gold, or five items of value from my horde,” the dragon said, through clenched teeth, body twisting as if the words physically pained it. “Sounds fair,” Kormak said. Suniel was about to object when the black turned, ran a few graceful steps, then dove into the ruined gnomish town's large communal well. Suniel glared at Kormak. The dwarf looked at him blankly. “What?” A few minutes later, the dragon returned with an ornate shield pressed to its body. It held it tucked with one arm as it walked towards them on the other three limbs. It craned its neck to look down at the shield and whatever was on it, then it shook its head and threw the shield at their feet, the golden coins heaped upon it scattering on the ground. “There, tell Gilderalin that Ikanis paid her blood debt. I owe you nothing now. Get on your ship and get out of my sight.” Harold and Kormak began scooping up coins while Kezzek pulled out his Greywarden journal and began scribbling. Suniel stood, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, staring at the dragon. Then Harold turned, caught Suniel's eye, nodded back towards the ship, and began walking. Kezzek finished writing, glanced at the dragon a final time, then joined Harold. Suniel finally relaxed his jaw and sighed. He turned and followed after Kezzek and Harold, glancing back to see Kormak give a deep flourishing bow to the dragon then jog to join them, a half-grin on the ugly dwarf's face as he met Suniel's eyes. [/QUOTE]
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