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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExDis" data-source="post: 888727" data-attributes="member: 10799">Adventures Beyond the Edge - Jaresh's JournalJaresh's Journal - Entry FourAmazingly, sometime that night the lifeboat found the beach, and its passengers stumbled out onto the sand; those of us relegated to clinging to barrels crawled ashore behind them like exhausted, waterlogged rats. I do not remember anything more from that night, except for this. As I sprawled on the sand, gazing deleriously into the night sky, and listening to the gentle hissing of the surf on the beach, I saw a flickering spot of movement, low to the horizon. It seemed that one of the stars, unlike all of the others, was not content to stay in its place that night. As this star wandered the sky, zigging and zagging from one point to the next, it began to attract other stars, which fell in formation around it. I gradually begin to discern a serpentine shape, like a river of flowing stars, which finally resolved into a sinuous dragon, of the kind found in the far east - I knew of such beasts from my training at the monestary. Faint at first, the star dragon grew and became clearer; it had a body of light, star-scales shining like a thousand diamonds, and the greatest, a piercing blue, for an eye. It twisted across the heavens, as if dancing to celestial music, rushing from one edje of the sky to the other and back again; and then the beach and the sea fell away, along with my exhaustion, and I rose into the sky and became part of the dance. The dragon swirled around me, its body hissing softly against the black velvet sky as its scales twinkled and flashed. For a brief moment, I was tossed in a river of stars, before it twisted away into the night. As I floated in the sky in wonder, I looked further into the stars, and they took on the appearance of a vast, dark wasteland with many small, isolated pockets of activity. The dragon reappeared, bursting into the center of this scene in a tight coil, rapidly unwinding and spreading across my vision, displacing or absorbing all in its path. And then, in a brilliant cascade, all movement ceased, and I was left regarding the night sky; a brilliant blue star shining from its center, while the surf hissed out its soft song. As I drifted into the deep blackness of sleep, I wondered at this omen, for dragons of this nature were reputed to be portents of good fortune to those they favored.With the coming of morning we were better able to appraise our situation. We were a company of twelve, comprised of the two sailors, the two nobles, the red haired man, the woman, Tyran, myself, another man, two gnomes, and a halfling girl. The sea had brought us small gifts in the night, depositing bits of wreckage on the sand near by. A few small weapons were recovered, as were other basic supplies. The unnamed man was very excited to find a battered and water-stained book; he refused to let anyone else look at it, and spent hours huddled away from the others, poring over its contents. One of the barrels was retained, and put into service carrying drinking water, which the red haired man somehow purified from sea water. The sailors were recruited to carry it.Our travel was, for the most part, uneventful. We subsisted on shellfish and whatever other sea life that we could capture from the beach, and the water from the barrel. After a few days of walking, we sighted a village of some sort ahead in the distance. The nobles, who Tyran had labeled as merchants, were ecstatic, as were the sailors - salvation, and no more walking! The rest of us, as recently escaped slaves, were rather more dubious about our prospects - no one was interested in being re-enslaved. We made camp out of sight some distance away, and considered what to do. It was later that night, while the book man and one of the gnomes were on watch, that strange noises drifted over the dunes - beastial voices! According to the book man, the gnome went to investigate, as he could see in the dark, while the book man roused the rest of the company. A few minutes later, we reached the top of the dune that the gnome had disappeared over, and were shocked to see in the moonlight four humanoid figures, holding glittering swords, leaning over a dark shape lying on the ground. I charged down the dune into their midst, swinging my staff at the one farthest to the left - I heard my companions also making war upon our attackers, but could not spare a look. My staff connected solidly, and the creature's head virtually exploded, showering gore over a surprisingly wide area. This was nothing like training at the monestary! As a glowing point of light flew down from the top of the dune to strike one of the other creatures in the chest, I pivoted and swung at yet another, but my balance was bad, and I missed. Only one creature remained standing, and it fled across the dunes, pursued by the woman. And just like that, it was over. We had lost a companion, but victory was ours.When we returned to the camp after looting the bodies, the merchants and the sailors were gone - fled into the night. This clearly infuriated Tyran, who ranted loudly and impressively, using complex and inventive curses - the gist of which seemed to be that merchants in general, and these two in particular, were duplicitous, worthless, hapless, spineless wastes of skin and food that could not be trusted out of hand and should be slowly and painfully murdered. Unfortunately for them, they had left a clear trail on their exit, and that moment seemed near at hand. We set after them at once, and recaptured them in short order.We decided that entering the town presented too much of a risk, to the dispair of the terrified merchants. However, no one particularly wanted to continue to listen to their whining and complaining, or be held back by their slow pace, so a compromise of sorts was reached. We would bypass the town, and release the merchants once we were safely past. They reluctantly agreed, and further agreed to donate their jewelry, and what money they had on their persons, to us in appreciation for their safe passage. Tyran insisted that this include their signet rings, which the book man - whose name was Azoi - said were enchanted. A heated debate broke out at this point, Tyran on one side, and the woman and the red-haired man on the other; eventually the merchants were allowed to retain their rings. We left them on the road the next afternoon, and continued on as they headed back to the village.</blockquote>

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