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Message: <blockquote data-quote="cthuluftaghn" data-source="post: 218659" data-attributes="member: 4799">Chapter 3: The Moathouse, Part OneNext session is June 29th!!!Chapter 3 - The Moathouse 27 Coldeven, Dusk: The forest became increasingly dark as the party approached the vicinity of the moathouse. The trees seemed larger, and more ominous. The undergrowth, though apparently long dead, was incredibly dense and virtually impassible. Nothing moved, not even the wind. In the dying light of the setting sun, eerie shadows put the friends on edge. Just as Willow was about to express a desire to set up a guarded campsite on the road, the moathouse finally came into view. The road had curved to a point where the structure could be seen just a few hundred yards ahead, and at the bottom of a steep hill. The small fortress lay in ruins. From their vantage point, the party could see that there had once been an upper level, which had collapsed in on itself at some point in the distant past. Willow pointed down the hill and said, “Look, there’s a courtyard just inside the walls. That looks like a safe place to stop for the night.” Endora voiced her assent, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement.The terrain between the building’s entrance and where the party now stood was littered with more of the dense shrubs and briars that they had seen along the way. It seemed that the only reasonable way to reach their destination would be to stay on the road, which would lead them more than a mile to the south before doubling back around the other side of hill, and back towards the moathouse. It would be quite dark by the time they reached the courtyard.Gann and Davok led the way, and before long the party had made it to the front of the moathouse. “Look, the draw bridge is down,” noted Willow . “Let’s get inside and set up camp, quickly. It’s been a long day, and we all need the rest and a hot meal.” The party marched single file across the narrow stretch of dirt between the murky water of the moat, and the dense forest.Without warning, a bulbous green mass lurched out of the moat and lunged at Tas. An enormous, sticky pink tongue shot out of the thing’s mouth and attempted to pull the halfling in. “Ack!” he shouted, and managed to bat it away. “A giant frog?!?”Weapons were drawn, and the group closed in on the creature. Neither Tas’s dagger, nor Endora’s arrows could pierce the thing’s tough, slimy skin. It lumbered out of the water, and focused its attention again on the bite-sized rogue. The tongue shot out once more, and this time it managed to get a grip on Tas! He was yanked violently off of his feet and straight into the wide, amphibious mouth of the frog. Tas made a grab for the creature’s nostrils, and he hung on for dear life to avoid being swallowed whole.Davok moved in with his axe and took a mighty swing, but his blade was turned aside and it slid across the slippery hide. The barbarian frowned with frustration. That blow should have cut this thing cleanly in two!Gann shook his head and shrugged. “THIS is how you kill a frog,” he said with confidence and authority. The cleric took a single step forward, and buried his war mace between the thing’s eyes. With a sickening crunch, the monster’s skull caved in, and the thing dropped like an enormous wet sponge. Gann walked away with a satisfied grunt as Tas kicked and squirmed his way out of his slimy predicament.Not wanting to face any more threats out in the open, the party headed swiftly for the rickety drawbridge on the southwest corner of the building. The rotted wooden planks sagged across the moat, and the whole structure looked like it might not even be able to hold the weight of a halfling. Gann started working on finding another way across, when Willow suddenly spoke up. “Look,” she said. “It looks like the bridge has been repaired! I thought this place was abandoned.”“It’s true,” Gann verified Willow ’s observation. “See here. Three new boards have been laid out to reinforce the bridge. Someone has been here recently. We should be careful. Evil may be about!” The cleric had an eager look in his eye as he thumped the head of his mace into his palm several times. Tas strolled past Gann into the moathouse courtyard. Gann turned and followed, with the rest of the party close behind.The courtyard was spacious, and opened into the night sky. There were small piles of rubble from the collapsed upper level here and there, but the stony earth was mostly clear of debris. Tas caught sight of something glinting in the moonlight, and moved swiftly to investigate. A strange curved dagger lay near the northeast corner of the courtyard, at the base of a wide set of granite steps. Tas was so focused on the dagger, that he failed to see the bigger picture.“Blood,” exclaimed Gann, approaching the spot where Tas was kneeling. The halfling pocketed the blade and stepped back to see what Gann was talking about. A deep brown stain soiled the stones on the ground, and it led up the steps and into the darkness beyond. “It’s fairly fresh, too. See, it’s dry, but it hasn’t yet begun to flake away. It can’t be more than a couple of days old, at most.”Nervously, the friends began to unpack their belongings, and set up a campsite. Tyris removed her backpack and, much to everyone’s surprise, a tiny red dragon popped out and began to hover near her head. “Meet Fihm,” Tyris announced proudly. “He’s a pseudodragon. I never go anywhere without him, but I guess he’s been too scared to show himself before now… y’know, with the whole unplanned journey to an alien plane of existence, and all.”“Shhhh!” hissed Willow . Does anyone else hear that?“I do,” replied Endora. “It’s a rhythmic sound. Like a whoosh… whoosh…. whoosh. What is that?”“We’re surrounded by a moat,” Tyris reasoned. “It’s probably the water lapping up against the building, or something. Fihm, why don’t you go check it out?” The pseudodragon fluttered off, and Tyris established an empathic link with her familiar. “Let me know if you find anything, and come straight back if there is any danger!” Davok sat on the rocky ground and tore into his rations as the rest of the companions laid out their bedrolls. Willow gathered some loose rocks and formed a circle for a campfire, and Endora salvaged some dry wood from the ruins of the second level. Within minutes, a small fire was lit, and then Gann decided to make plans for establishing a watch. Before he could speak, however, Tyris called for a hush.“Fihm’s found something!” she exclaimed. “What is it, Fihm. What do you see?” “Daddy,” came the reply. Only Tyris could hear it, in her mind.She relayed the message to her friends. “He says he’s found daddy. He must mean Spugnoir! He found little Renne’s daddy! He’s here, we should go look for him...”“Not so fast,” Gann said. “Remember what that crazy Ol’ Del said out on the road… something about a dragon? The little lizard just might be talking about HIS daddy! Tyris, can you find out anything else?”“I’ll try,” she promised. “Fihm, where is daddy? Can you see him now?””Here,” Fihm declared.“Is daddy alive, Fihm? Is he Ok?” “Awake” was the reply.“Fihm, this is important. Who is daddy? Is it YOUR daddy you see? Is daddy like you?” “Oops, not MY daddy.” Tyris sighed with relief. “It’s Ok. It’s not his daddy he sees, so it must be Spugnoir.”Gann wasn’t convinced. “How smart is that little thing? Maybe he just figured out that the dragon wasn’t really his daddy? How can we be sure? We need to know more about this ‘daddy’ character. Could be evil!”Tyris groaned. She was anxious to find out what Fihm had found. She was excited about the idea of rescuing Spugnoir quickly and getting away from this place. Resignedly, she asked again. “Fihm, tell me more about daddy. Is he like me? Or is daddy big?” “…..” “Fihm? Are you Ok, Fihm?” ….”Tee hee hee,” the little dragon’s giggle echoed inside her head.“Why that little brat!” Tyris announced. “He thinks this is some kind of game. He’s just laughing at me. I think that’s about all we’re going to get from him.”Meanwhile, Tas was staring transfixed into the blackness at the top of the stairs. Slowly and silently, he tiptoed forward. After making his way up the first couple of steps, he could see that the dark hole was once covered by and immense pair of double doors. The door on the left was hanging at a lopsided angle from its top hinge. The other was missing completely. Creeping onward, careful not to make a sound, Tas made it to the top of the stairs while his companions watched from below. With a single, stealthy motion, the rogue slipped inside the immense chamber and pressed his back against the wall.The silent darkness exploded.A blast of lightning pierced the black night and shattered the remaining door. Fragments of burned wood showered down upon the stunned adventurers below. Tas, sensing the impending danger, tumbled out of the way at the last second, and narrowly avoided being charred by the explosion. In that instant, during the brief flash of light, the rogue caught sight of something that made his blood run cold. He was alone… in the dark… with a dragon! The halfling sprinted to the back of the chamber, where an arrow slit allowed a thin beam of moonlight to penetrate the inky blackness of the dragon’s lair. He drew his crossbow and crouched, biding his time.Outside, the rest of the party was already springing into action. Gann was the first to react, and he charged up the stairs towards his foe, his mace held high. With both doors now gone, the night sky provided just enough light to see the outline of a large, reptilian head inside the room. With an elated war cry, the armored cleric swung with all of his might and smashed his weapon into the evil face of the beast. It bounced off the dragon’s scales with a painful vibration, which caused Gann to momentarily stagger. “Uh Oh,” he said, realizing he’d done more harm to himself than his enemy. With a quick snap of his powerful jaws, the dragon opened up a deep gash across Gann’s chest, from his left shoulder to his right hip. “We’re in trouble,” he moaned.More terrified than she’d ever been in her life, Tyris ran to the bottom of the stairs, muttering arcane words of power and waving her hands in the air. A ball of dancing lights flew from her fingers at the speed of thought and surrounded the dragon’s face. The beast raised an eyebrow in amusement and sharpened his claws on the stone floor. Suddenly, the monster’s eyes snapped shut tight as a stinging wad of sticky paste hit him square in the face. Willow smiled at her handiwork as the blinded monster screamed in rage.Endora rushed into the room and to the rear of the beast, and she sliced a chunk of flesh from its flank. The dragon bellowed in pain and leaped into the air. With two great thrusts of his powerful wings, he disappeared into the pitch blackness above. Davok, Willow and Tyris joined the others in the open doorway, eyes peeled and weapons ready. Tas remained in the corner, clutching his crossbow.The room went silent for a moment, and then Gann Tolar, cleric of St. Cuthbert, muttered a short prayer to his deity. The chamber was bathed in a warm light that centered on Gann. In the light, the party could see that the rubble and wreckage had been cleared out, and it was piled high on top of support beams that had been laid across the ceiling. What appeared to be nothing more than an impenetrable pile of timbers from the outside turned out to be a cleverly disguised grand hall within! That wasn’t all that Gann’s light spell revealed. The bloated, half eaten corpse of a man, who had been dressed in ochre colored robes, lay crumpled on the floor. The unfortunate fellow’s dead hand still clutched a war mace over what remained of his chest. Tas scrambled out from his corner for a moment to retrieve the weapon, then retreated once again to the wall.“There he is!” yelled Endora. She dropped her sword to the floor with a clatter, and in one swift motion she drew her bow and fired an arrow at the dragon. Tucked in his perch, surrounded by broken timbers, the young blue didn’t even flinch as the projectile disappeared harmlessly into a dark crevice.The sound of the bowstring was all that the creature needed to pinpoint his next target, and another volley of lightning was unleashed on the group. The friends scattered, but Davok wasn’t fast enough. The blast took him full in the chest and hurled him spinning backwards through the air. He landed in a smoldering heap in the corner. Amazingly, the tough half-orc rose to his feat and dusted himself off. With a vicious snarl, he leveled his longbow at his target and fired. The deadly arrow pierced the dragon’s already injured eye, and the resulting shriek of pain filled everyone in the hall with a mixture of fear and elation. The monster had been hurt, and if it could be hurt, it could be killed!Tyris launched a spinning sphere of flame towards the dragon’s perch as the others pumped arrows into the hole. With every impact, the creature screamed and writhed in agony. When Tyris’ spell erupted in the thing’s face, it could take no more. The dragon dug in with his claws and launched himself through the air towards the open door. As he passed overhead, the force of his movement bowled Gann over and he slid across the floor. Flying blindly and in a state of irrational rage, the huge beast missed his mark and smashed into wall, just west of the doorway. As he spun out of control, his great tail struck Tyris and she was thrown backwards down the stairs.The moment the mammoth living projectile slid to a stop in the doorway, it was surrounded by members of the Order of the Eagle, hacking and slashing for all they were worth. Once again, Gann stepped up to look the dragon in its bloodied eye before delivering a stunning blow with his mace. The momentum of the weapon caused the dragon’s head to jerk to the side and smack into the wall, loosening the mortar. The young blue growled menacingly, and it spoke! “That’s the second time you’ve struck me in the face with your stick, little holy man. You shall not have a chance at a third attempt!”Gann, surprised by this announcement in perfect, in fact elegant, common, responded with the first thing that came to mind. “Uhhhh…..” The dragon swiped at Gann with a razor sharp claw, and was about to bite the cleric in two, when it suddenly bellowed in shock and pain as another flaming sphere rolled up its back and exploded. If he could see, he would have noticed Tyris back on her feet in the middle of the courtyard, smiling at him triumphantly.Knowing he was in mortal danger, and lacking the strength to fly, the dragon scrambled for the moathouse entrance. As he turned to flee, the companions tore into his flank with a vicious flurry of attacks. Tas, who had been watching quietly from his corner, finally fired his crossbow. The bolt disappeared into the monster’s throat with a bloody splat. The top of the stairs were left covered in blood and dragon flesh. Weak and horribly wounded, the monster stumbled down the stairs and he clawed his way to the drawbridge. Before he could slip away into the night, Tyris launched a final flaming sphere at his hind side. When the flash dissipated, the young sorceress from another world savored her first true victory as she watched the charred corpse topple lifelessly into the moat.Far too weary to celebrate, the companions shuffled weakly back to their campsite to minister to each other’s wounds. Gann and Endora provided healing, while Willow coaxed the life back into their campfire. They sat in relative silence, reflecting on what had just happened. “We killed a dragon,” Davok pointed out.“Mmm hmmm,” Willow answered, nodding.“Yup,” Gann added, ending the conversation.</blockquote>

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