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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1630009" data-attributes="member: 2292">Dagrus holds his hands wide, the blackened nails jutting from his spread fingers gleaming in the flickering light of Blarth's sword.  Everyone keeps their weapons ready, alert for any sign of ambush.  "Know that it pains me to offer this parley," Dagrus continues.  "I am the child of the serpent god, and I have little to fear from Barbarians such as you.  I was ancient when your kin were but mewing savages, striking one another with bone and rock...""Yeah, we get it," Geoffrey says.  "So what?""I wish your aid," Dagrus says.  His voice is a low hiss, angry at the interuption.  "I am trapped here, losst and unable to return home.  "Trapped how?" "By the leader, my massster."  The hiss of irritation when he says the word master sends chills down everyone's spine.  "A necrotheologist of great power - he found my true name and bound me to him, forced me into his service.""So now you betray him?" Blarth asks.  "Now he is dead."Dagrus smiles widely, his snake-fangs gleaming in the flickering light.  Halgo watches the smile carefully, his mind quietly sorting through his knowledge of planeslore.  That the creature was bound with its true name means that its soul is truly on this plane, and thus its death will be final should it be necessary.  He can feel the whisper-soft touch of another trying to force their way into his thoughts, but he quickly rejects the touch and closes his mind.  The only thing that worries the dwarf is that Dagrus is attempting to negotiate - the knowledge that there is something here that frightens the scaled creature more than the Copperheads or its former master minions."How did he die," Halgo asks, stalling for time while he tries to puzzle out the creatures intention.  "He was destroyed by his own greed, his inability to control the power here.  With his death I am free, along with his other servants.   Only the magic of this place prevents me from returning to my home, traps me on this muddy waste you call reality."Dagrus hisses, and there is a soft rasp as he flexes his scales.  No-one has lowered their weapon yet, and everyone splits their attention between the clawed hands and the sharp fangs.  That Dagrus has yet to draw his great Falchion soothes no-ones nerves."Then what do you need from us?" Geoffrey asks.  "Why betray the others?""They mean nothing to me.  In my home, they would be less than servants.  Here, they are merely prey - sustenance for my masters other pet.""Pet?" Halgo asks."A creature from his homeland," Dagrus says.  "A basilisk-lizard, born of stone.  My master bound it with magic, but now it runs through these caverns destroying my masters minions, its bestial mind not comprehending its new imprisonment.""You could slay it?" Geoffrey asks.Dagrus smiles widely."Easily, but I choose not to.  It's antics amuse me.""The wizard still expected you to help," Halgo comments."Then he was a fool," Dagrus rumbles.  "One who no longer understood that he serves no purpose. I have little interests in retaining his petty magics when the power to open the seal is so close at hand."Geoffrey thinks on this for a moment, then lets out a grim nod."Then what do you offer us in exchange for your freedom?" Geoffrey asks.Dagrus' eyes widen, as if this question was unexpected.  A sly smile comes to his dark lips, and only the tips of a pair of snake-like fangs can be seen.  Halgo thinks he can sense a faint undercurrent of nervousness in the creatures demeanor, but its alien nature makes it difficult to be sure."I can offer you wealth," Dagrus explains.  "Power, aid.  You can take your payment in the form of a favor, if you wish - I am a being of great power, and I am more than willing to apply that power of my own free will should you need it.  I carry magic crafted from my own world, more potent than your own, and I would give it to you..."Don't believe it," Halgo says, interupting the cadenced monologue.  "It's a demon."Everyone looks towards the dwarven wizard.  Four sets of eyes have raised brows, the fifth is narrowed to dangerous slits."Just thought you should know," Halgo says, nodding to Geoffrey.  "Cambion.  Son of demons, creature of chaos, liars and enemies of Law and all that."There is a moment of silence as everyone comprehends the information, then realises that delicate negotiations are shattered beyond repair.  "Damn," Dagrus says, his voice dropping to the demon-tongue.  Then his sword is drawn and parrying as the first wave of Copperheads strike.</blockquote>

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