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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9008006" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 49: TREASURE FOR THE TAKING</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 5/paladin 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 10</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Robin the Balladeer, human bard 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Scarlie Besker, half-orc commoner 5</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 22 April 2023</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Having finally been reunited with Scarlie Besker after several days spent dealing with the elves of the Sylvanholme Forest, the group was headed down the road towards the next dreamer who needed their help in waking up, when they turned the corner and found a familiar gnomish face looking up at them.</p><p></p><p>"Hello," said Wangle Turdblossom. "Would any of you fine adventurers happen to be in need of any magic items, perchance?"</p><p></p><p>As it happened, several of the heroes decided they would be more than happy to spend a few coins in the gnomes' Hidden Market. Waving for them to follow him, Wangle walked over to the side of the road, where a traveler's waystation stood - a simple, open-air structure that provided a roof against the rain. Pulling his detachable doorknob from the satchel he wore over one shoulder, the little gnome attached it to the door of an outhouse standing beside the waystation, turned the knob, and opened the door - which, naturally, now led to his extradimensional Hidden Market rather than the outhouse interior. Scarlie parked the mule-driven wagon, saw to it that all of the riding mounts were tethered by their reins to either the wagon or one of the waystation's poles, and then followed the rest of the group inside the Hidden Market.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth, in chatting with the little gnome about what particular wares they had to offer at the moment - for the gnome consortium's stock was always in flux - opted to purchase a set of magical gauntlets which increased her physical strength, figuring she could always use a little more damage potential when wielding her dwarven warhammer <em>Sjondra</em>. Thurloe asked for a pair of simple potions: one of <em>cure serious wounds</em> and one of <em>gaseous form</em>, and was sent to Booger Nostrildropping's cubicle, where the spellsword was assured they had potions meeting his needs on hand, if he'd like to take a seat and wait for them to be fetched. Wakuren wanted more powerful armor than the plate mail he currently wore, which had a low-level enchantment cast upon it that helped deflect some of the weapon-blows directed at the wearer; when asking if they upgraded magical armor, Wangle scoffed and reminded the half-orc that they were dealers in magic items, not creators of such. "However," the gnome added, "I believe you do happen to be in luck. While we don't usually engage in barter, we do have a suit of magic plate male with a more powerful enchantment than the set you're currently wearing, and I imagine Mr. Rection could be persuaded to accept your current armor - plus the difference in cost between it and the one with the stronger dweomers, of course - to a recurring customer of good standing." He bent over his desk, pressed a gemstone (which lit up), and summoned Biggie to come deal with the half-orc's needs. Biggie Rection was there in a moment, gruff as ever (and still the largest gnome any of them had ever seen, standing nearly four feet tall), nodding for Wakuren to come with him to his office.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, with all purchases paid for and the goods turned over (neither Xandro, Robin, nor Zander Quilson opted to purchase anything at that time), Wangle gathered the rest of the ten-person gnomish consortium together and explained they had an offer to make the heroes. Then he turned it over to the group's leader, Humdrum Thundersnore.</p><p></p><p>"You are aware we have a <em>teleportation circle</em> that can be tuned to different locations," Humdrum began. Robin and Scarlie rose their eyebrows in surprise at this bit of information; neither of them had been with the group when they had first encountered the gnomish consortium before. "With this device, we are able to monitor many locations all over the world, and areas of particular interest to us are the treasure hoards of dragons. Now, far be it for us to be foolish enough to steal treasure from a living dragon, for there's no better way to ensure an enemy willing to hold a grudge of vengeance for many, many centuries. However, we have spied upon a nice bit of treasure belonging to a red dragon, sitting there in the back of his cave network, and the dragon itself is dead, over in the next cavern over - as are the four adventurers, like yourselves, who slew him; alas, they did not survive the encounter any better than did the dragon. This, however, means there is a dragon's treasure trove just lying there in the back of a cave, waiting for someone to go fetch it."</p><p></p><p>"And your <em>teleportation circle</em> can open a <em>gate</em> to the treasure?" asked Thurloe, liking where this was headed. "But then why don't you just hop in there and fetch it?"</p><p></p><p>"Because the dragon has taken magical precautions," replied Humdrum. "Apparently word of our...proclivities has started to spread among the dragon populace, for there is a magical trap embedded in the ceiling of the treasure cave, directly over the dragon's treasure, that would spell instant death for any gnome that stepped foot in the cavern."</p><p></p><p>"That's very unusual for a red dragon," piped up Biggie Rection. "Most reds prefer to allow their own reputations to deter theft, and disdain magic protection of the type encountered here, deeming it unnecessary. This one, apparently, thought otherwise."</p><p></p><p>"So you want us to gather the treasure for you?" Alewyth asked.</p><p></p><p>"Pretty much any non-gnome would do," Wangle confirmed. "But we'd prefer to deal with people we know, and have dealt with before."</p><p></p><p>"People we can trust," added Oral Hijinx, one of the two female gnomes in the consortium.</p><p></p><p>"I assume we'd be paid for our efforts. How would we split the take?" asked Zander.</p><p></p><p>"There are five of you, and ten of us," answered Humdrum, obviously not counting Robin or Scarlie as they'd had no dealings with either of them before. "You go in, gather the loot, bring it back here, and we split it fifteen ways, even shares for each of us."</p><p></p><p>"What about the stuff the four adventurers had on them?" asked Xandro. "If we're going in, we might as well see if they had anything of value while we're at it."</p><p></p><p>"And see to their proper burial!" added Alewyth, surprised that the roguish human bard was giving more consideration to looting the bodies of the heroes who died taking out a red dragon than seeing to their proper funereal needs.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, of course!" added Xandro, not wanting to displease the testy dwarven priestess.</p><p></p><p>The ten gnomes had gathered in a circle and were conferring among themselves in low voices. After a minute or two, they broke back up and Humdrum announced their decision. "As we're getting two-thirds of the dragon's personal treasure hoard, we'll swap it around the other way for the adventurers' goods: you get two-thirds of their stuff, and we'll take the other third."</p><p></p><p>"We'll even let you guys decide which items among their gear you wish to keep, and which you'll pass on to us," added Koriander Vanderfoof, sweetening the pot.</p><p></p><p>The heroes talked it over amongst themselves and came to a ready agreement. "Okay, we're in," agreed Wakuren.</p><p></p><p>"Excellent!" enthused Biggie, in a rare moment of non-grumpiness. He led the heroes through the Hidden Market into a back room, where the gnomish <em>teleportation circle</em> was already up and running. It was an upright disk of glowing energy, in the middle of which could be seen the interior of a cave. The only light visible was that which spilled in from the Hidden Market itself, but that was enough to see a large scattering of coins, gold and silver and platinum, spread over the right-hand side of the cavern. Interspersed among the coins were the occasional gemstones, bits of jewelry, and the odd golden chalice or silver statue.</p><p></p><p>"Before you enter the cave, a few stipulations," apologized Humdrum. "First, we will provide you with a <em>portable hole</em> into which all of the dragon's treasure can be loaded. However, I must insist that this be the only extradimensional space that is carried over to the dragon's lair. It's not that we don't trust you..." the elderly gnome explained.</p><p></p><p>"Nah, that's it exactly," interrupted Biggie. "We trust you to an extent, but not enough not to take simple precautions."</p><p></p><p>"Perfectly understandable," replied Alewyth, passing over the candy dish of gnomish design that she carried with her; it served as a convenient way of carrying small items - like coins and gems - without eating up a lot of room. Wakuren wordlessly passed over <em>Hesperna's lamp</em> to his fellow half-orc, as they had already decided Scarlie would be staying in the Hidden Market with the gnomes while the heroes entered the dragon's lair. Then, looking among the group, he asked, "Is that everything?" The heroes patted themselves down, then replied in the affirmative. "That's everything, then."</p><p></p><p>Xandro took the proffered <em>portable hole</em> - a folded piece of silklike cloth as black as anything he'd ever seen - and passed it over to Robin. "We'll let you be in charge of the scooping," he told her.</p><p></p><p>"I'm coming with?"</p><p></p><p>"Sure, I'll pay you put of my share."</p><p></p><p>"Hang on, I want to cast a <em>mage armor</em> spell before we go in," said Zander, doing just that. Alewyth looked through the open <em>gate</em> and saw the cave where the slain dragon and those responsible for its death lay where they fell, the cave being lower than the level of the treasure cavern by some 30 feet or so. "We're absolutely sure the dragon's dead?" she asked, a slight note of worry in her voice.</p><p></p><p>"Absolutely," Wangle replied, grinning somewhat at the dwarf's reticence to enter the lair of a dragon, even one who was already dead. "Enter when you're ready."</p><p></p><p>Robin began playing the initial chords to her song of inspirational courage - even though everything on the other side of the <em>teleportation circle</em> was allegedly dead already, she had caught the vibe of worry that was running through the minds of the heroes about to enter the cave network, and figured there would be no objections if she treated it like any other "about to go into battle" situation. Thurloe looked into the cavern, realized there was no illumination in there, and tried casting a <em>dancing lights</em> spell to send a few globes of incandescent light into the cave, only to mess the spell up because he still wasn't entirely proficient in casting arcane spells while wearing armor. But while cursing under his breath at having flubbed the spell, he used it as an excuse to stay in place - let someone else be the first one to step through into the dragon's lair!</p><p></p><p>Alewyth chose to be that person. She cast a <em>bless</em> spell and stepped through the upright circle, causing a chorus of hisses as ten gnomes all voiced a sudden worried intake of breath all at once. The dwarf jumped at the noise, frantically looking all around her to see what had startled them, and when she saw nothing she glared back at them. "Sorry," apologized Wangle. "We just weren't sure whether the anti-theft magic item on the ceiling was going to be triggered when you stepped into the cave or not."</p><p></p><p>"I thought you said it was geared towards gnomes!" the priestess of Aerik accused.</p><p></p><p>"Well, there are ten of us and ten petals around that flower shape up there...." hedged Wangle, a more or less admission that they'd let the dwarf priestess be a guinea pig in their little experiment. Alewyth just glared at them, looked up at the ceiling (and saw what looked to be a ten-petaled sunflower looking down from the ceiling) and gave the treasure pile a wide berth. Instead, she walked over to the edge of the cavern and looked down at the corpses of the dragon and the four dead adventurers below. She stared at them long enough to prove to her satisfaction that none of them were breathing.</p><p></p><p>Xandro stepped into the cave next, dropping his <em>goggles of night</em> over his eyes as he did so to provide himself with the same level of darkvision as that enjoyed by Alewyth and Wakuren. He too gave the "sunflower" a quick look, noting the central portion of the structure seemed to be a dark stone - obsidian? - with some sort of arcane rune etched upon it.</p><p></p><p>Zander Quilson was the next one into the cave. He activated the <em>true seeing</em> aspect of his <em>scout's headband</em> and looked around at everything he could see, ensuring all was as it appeared to be. This included the four dead adventurers and the red dragon they had slain.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren was the next one in, and he cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell as he entered, then went straight for the treasure pile. Without touching so much as a single coin, he determined that the whole pile of amassed loot - coins, gems, jewelry, and assorted doodads - was covered in a magical aura. There was also an aura coming from the "sunflower" on the cavern ceiling, and scattered down below among the adventurers' corpses - apparently some of them had carried magic items with them, a not-unexpected ploy for a group going up against a red dragon in his own lair. Robin stepped into the cave behind the half-orc, and Wakuren warned her, "No touching - not yet, anyway. I want to examine these auras a bit more."</p><p></p><p>Finally, having seen the defensive 'sunflower" on the roof was not apparently attuned to humans (for Xandro and Robin had entered the cavern unscathed), Thurloe stepped through the upright portal and went to stand beside Alewyth. He pulled out his coil of rope from his pack, along with a piton and his small hammer, then devoted his attention to hammering in the spike a good 10 feet from the edge of the drop-off down to the cave below. Once convinced it was in tight enough, he attached one end of his rope to the piton and tossed the rest of the rope over the edge.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth didn't bother with the rope. Activating her <em>butterfly brooch</em>, she leapt over the side of the edge of the sloping rock and fluttered down to the lower level where the dragon's corpse rested, part of its massive body lying in a pool of water being slowly fed by the occasional drip of drops of water from the stalactites hanging overhead. Flying over to the dragon, she examined its wounds as best she could (without touching it, fearing against all reason that it was just faking and would spring back to life to attack her if she touched it) and determined it had been slain by a deep gash where a sword likely penetrated its heart. There were other open wounds where the slain heroes' weapons had struck it, including several arrows embedded deep into its scaly hide. The dwarven priestess estimated the fight had likely happened some two or three days ago. A cursory glance at the bodies of the slain adventurers showed they had been taken out primarily by the dragon's fiery breath weapon, although a few of them showed signs of having taken damage from the dragon's teeth and claws.</p><p></p><p>Xandro stepped over by Robin's side, standing by the scattered coins and awaiting the signal it was safe to gather it up into the <em>portable hole</em>; in the meantime, she continued playing her song of inspirational courage on her lute. But Wakuren was still examining the area, his <em>detect magic</em> spell revealing the coins were emanating an aura of transmutation magic. Looking up at the sunflower-shaped item on the ceiling, he picked up an even stronger magic aura, this one focused on the school of necromancy. The gnomes had been right: the treasure cavern was trapped with some kind of death magic - and fortunately for them, the trap was apparently triggered only when a gnome stepped into range. Xandro pointed out the rune carved into the black onyx center of the magic trap, and surmised it was likely utilizing a <em>finger of death</em> spell to slay offending gnomes.</p><p></p><p>Zander scampered down the rope and stepped foot into the lower cavern, casting a <em>stoneskin</em> spell on himself as soon as he landed. Thurloe climbed down the rope immediately thereafter. He walked around the dragon, looking at the various weapons held by the slain adventurers; some of them were of excellent make and were likely magical in nature. He started gathering them up, wanting not only to take them for their monetary value but also to ensure the corpses were unarmed in case they suddenly animated. From a heavily-armored man he took a longsword, and from another he suspected was a ranger he took a well-crafted longbow. Alewith, still hovering over the area, cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell of her own and saw a ring worn by the sole female adventurer was magical in nature, and when she bent down to fetch it she was surprised to see it was engraved with the holy symbol of Aerik, God of Protection.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren focused his attention back onto the treasure pile. He cast a <em>dispel magic</em> spell on the scattered coins and gems, smiling in appreciation of his spellwork as his <em>detect magic</em> spell saw the magical aura dissipate from the dragon's collected treasure. "They should be safe to gather up now," he told Robin and Xandro, and the two bards bent to the task, Robin stowing her lute and spreading the <em>portable hole</em> down flat upon the floor by the coins. It took form, looking like a hole in the cavern floor, and Xandro started brushing a small pile of coins into the hole. They fell over the edge and into the extradimensional interior of the magic hole, causing Robin to giggle in delight - she'd never seen such a thing! Together they started scooping the treasure into the hole, occasionally moving it over closer to the treasure remaining.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth had just removed the ring with the holy symbol of her god on it and slipped it on her own finger when the dragon shifted. Feeling guilty, as if her taking of the ring had been responsible for the dragon returning to life, she tried removing the ring from her finger as if that simple action would return the great reptile to its unliving state. But the dragon was oblivious to the slain adventurers at its feet and the living ones standing (and fluttering) around him, rearing itself up into a standing position. It looked about in confusion, as if unsure of its surroundings, and then its great mouth opened wide. Alewyth flinched, expecting a massive gout of flame to come exploding from its throat, but it merely darted its head down to its left forelimb and ripped a large hunk of its own flesh from its left front leg. Then, rearing its head back up toward the ceiling, the dragon let gravity help the hastily-chewed chunks of meat make their way down its throat.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth, Thurloe, and Zander stood motionless in shock for a moment before springing into action. The elf sorcerer cast a <em>lightning bolt</em> at the dragon, not knowing why the massive reptile had returned to life but sure it wasn't going to be too appreciative at the heroes who had entered its lair to steal its treasure. The dragon ignored the blast of electricity that hit it in the side, even though the scales where the spell hit blackened and charred, focusing its sole concentration on swallowing the flesh of its forelimb it had just bitten off and chewed. From the edge of the upper cavern, Wakuren saw the dragon's return to life and cast a summoning spell which brought forth a celestial bison to manifest beside the red-scaled reptile. It lowered its shaggy head and butted its horn into the dragon's side, the tip of its horn barely scratching the dragon's hide. Once again, the dragon didn't even seem to deign to notice the attack.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe was standing directly in front of the dragon and sidled over to the side, taking advantage of the fact it hadn't seemed to notice him yet to cast a quick <em>shield</em> spell upon himself with his wand. But then a flash of movement caught his eye - coming down from the sloped passageway before him came four more reptilian figures. These were the size of the spellsword, and their scales were various shades of green. In a practiced maneuver, the four running lizardfolk stopped, pulled back their right arms, and then each let loose with the javelin held in that clawed hand. Two javelins came flying towards the spellsword and another two had been aimed at Alewyth; three of the four found their marks but neither did much more than bounce off the heroes' armor.</p><p></p><p>Ignoring the approaching lizardfolk because she saw the red dragon as the more immediate threat, Alewyth cast a <em>searing light</em> spell at the looming dragon. The blast was even more effective than it would have been against a living foe, giving solid evidence of the dragon's undead nature. There was a hiss of anger coming from up the sloping passageway as the dwarf's spell burned up the dragon's hide, and a fifth lizardfolk approached behind his four warrior companions, this one wearing a large ruby around his neck and a feathered headdress on its reptilian head. It raised a hand wielding a wooden staff, intoned a few magical syllables, and a howler manifested beside Thurloe. The creature, a demonic-looking mastiff covered in sharp quills, turned its canine head at the spellsword and snapped its powerful jaws at him.</p><p></p><p>Xandro went over to the edge of the cliff and saw the battle going on below. Pulling out his <em>Dardolian Lute</em> and using the <em>dire elk pick</em> he'd been given by Queen Zarabelia, he played the special tune that summoned forth a wide-antlered dire elk. The megaloceros manifested beside the celestial bison, and it swung its pointed antlers into the red dragon's side. But the dragon ignored the attack - as it had all of the attacks made against it since its reanimation - and chewed a mouthful of flesh free from its own chest, gobbling up the decaying meat it had ripped free.</p><p></p><p>The dragon was close enough to the edge of the cliff leading up to the treasure cavern that Wakuren made a running jump off the ledge and landed upon the creature's red-scaled back. He converted one of the spells he had prepared that morning into a healing spell, knowing full well the positive energy that would close the wounds of a living body would be similar to acid against undead flesh. The dragon's scales bubbled and boiled where the half-orc's hand touched it, but the dragon ignored this attack as well, just as it paid no heed as the celestial bison tried stabbing it with a pair of curving horns.</p><p></p><p>Robin realized there was little she could do in the way of contributing in a battle against so powerful a foe, so she concentrated on her own task at hand: scooping as much of the treasure as she could into the <em>portable hole</em> as quickly as she could. Xandro, after stowing his lute onto his back once again, joined her, eager to see to the treasure-gathering with as much speed as possible.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe swung his bastard sword into the red dragon's leg, near the unbleeding wound in its left forelimb where it had ripped out a chunk of flesh, before turning to face the howler. But then another <em>lightning bolt</em> spell from Zander blasted through the dragon and also hit the howler, taking out the latter creature entirely. Then two of the lizardfolk fighters rushed the spellsword, swinging heavy clubs easily capable of bashing in his skull. (He couldn't see it from his vantage point, but the other two lizardfolk fighters were charging the celestial bison, their clubs crashing into its shaggy hide to little effect.)</p><p></p><p>Alewyth cast a <em>wall of stone</em> spell that almost completely sealed off the lizardfolk cleric; she'd been hoping to cut off all five of the lizardfolk but the fighters had rushed forward in a burst of speed as she was still casting her spell. The wall reached from side to side of the sloping cavern, but didn't reach all the way to the top; the spellcasting lizardfolk might be able to scamper up and over the wall, but at least it should slow it down for a while. And it did, although once the rival cleric had managed to poke his head over the wall, he was able to cast a <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell and send the manifesting club hurtling at Thurloe's head.</p><p></p><p>The dire elk attacked the dragon again, but it turned its reptilian head to focus upon the half-orc standing on its back, between its wings. The snakelike neck reached back and its massive head came crashing down, but Wakuren hadn't been its target after all; instead, it ripped out a chunk of flesh by the half-orc's feet and swallowed it down.</p><p></p><p>Zander had scampered back up the rope by then and from his higher vantage point was able to cast a <em>fireball</em> spell that managed to encompass the dragon's head and all four lizardfolk fighters without catching Wakuren, Alewyth, or Thurloe in its blast radius. The red dragon, not surprisingly, seemed impervious to the fire-based spell, but all four lizardfolk took some amount of damage from the flames, two of them burned much more than the others. Wakuren converted another spell into healing energy and burned away more of the undead dragon's flesh - also, surprisingly, without seemingly garnering any attention from the reptilian victim of the half-orc's attack. It was puzzling - and not a little insulting - that the undead dragon wasn't paying the least amount of attention to the heroes' various attacks, concentrating solely upon its own self-cannibalization efforts.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe brought his bastard sword swinging into the bodies of the two lizardfolk fighters trying to overcome him with their bludgeoning clubs, slicing through the scales of one and then continuing his strike into the side of the other. They retaliated against the spellsword as best they could, but it was obvious a lot of the fight had been taken out of them by their various wounds by this time. But the other two lizardfolk, in a surprising maneuver, discontinued their attacks upon the celestial bison and clambered up the body of the red dragon, climbing up its relatively undamaged right foreleg to pull themselves up onto its broad shoulder, where they each gripped their weapons and headed toward Wakuren, who had been continuing to damage the dragon's flesh with his healing spells. Whoever these lizardfolk were, they were not at all concerned with the dragon trying to stop them and were actively attempting to stop anyone from trying to damage it.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth converted a spell of her own to healing energy and touched the dragon at the base of its tail, watching the positive energy burn away at its skin. But by then the lizardfolk spellcaster had crawled his way over Alewyth's <em>wall of stone</em> and scampered down the other side, calling out something in Draconic. The red dragon responded by stretching out a massive wing, which the lizardfolk touched with his own clawed hands. Alewyth realized what was happening: just as she and Wakuren were hurting the undead dragon by use of their healing energy, the lizardfolk cleric was healing it back up by converting some of his own spell energy into negative energy!</p><p></p><p>The <em>spiritual greatclub</em> came smashing down at Thurloe again, causing him to divert his attention away from the lizardfolk to prevent himself from being crushed to the ground. The dire elk and celestial bison continued their attacks upon the dragon, but it merely grabbed up another mouthful of its own flesh and continued upon its task of trying to consume its own body, bite by bite, while Wakuren fought off two lizardfolk fighters upon its back. </p><p></p><p>Zander cast another <em>lightning bolt</em> down at the dragon, managing to include one of the two lizardfolk fighters in the line of attack, who crumpled over and fell to the cavern floor, the spell having slain him. The dragon seemed as uninterested in the electrical blast as any of the other attacks it had suffered thus far. Wakuren stepped back out of range of the other lizardfolk and brought his <em>shield of Cal</em> smashing down upon the red dragon's spine, imbuing the strike with the full power of Cal's smiting energy behind the blow. Down below him, Thurloe slew one of his own lizardfolk opponents with the blade of his sword, even while ducking and dodging the <em>spiritual greatclub</em> which still tracked his every move.</p><p></p><p>As the remaining lizardfolk fighter perched upon the dragon's back closed in to attack Wakuren, Alewyth summoned a celestial brown bear into the fray, sending it to attack the spellcasting reptile wearing the ruby around his neck. It swiped at the unsuspecting lizardfolk, catching him in the side with a set of sharp claws. The shaman stepped away and cast a <em>slay living</em> spell at the bruin and the spell hit its mark, but the great beast shook off the worst effects of the spell and studiously refused to fall over dead. Instead, it reared up on its hind legs and brought its claws striking out at the reptilian spellcaster; when he tried dodging away from them, the celestial bison gored him in the back with a massive horn.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe parried the <em>spiritual greatclub</em>'s latest attack with his bastard sword when Xandro called down from above, "That's it - we've got all the treasure from up here!" Robin was folding up the <em>portable hole</em> as he called down to his friends, hoping they might just decide to bug out back to the gnomes now that they'd gotten what they had come here for. As far as Xandro was concerned, let these stupid lizardfolk hang out with an undead dragon if that was their thing. But his dire elk continued on with his attacks, despite the fact they weren't seeming to have much of an effect upon the reanimated red dragon. In fact, it just ripped off another chunk of its own flesh, this time from the other side of its massive chest. Bone could be seen through some of the holes it had made in its own body, but its dead flesh no longer had the capability to bleed.</p><p></p><p>From his perch at the top of the cliff, Zander looked down at the dragon and judged it had to be on its last legs by now. On a hunch, he cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell down upon it, and sure enough, that simple spell was enough to finally bring it down. It collapsed where it stood, causing Wakuren and the lizardfolk on its back to leap to the side and try not to get crushed by its outraised wings as gravity brought its bulk down. The dragon's death caused the lizardfolk shaman to cry out in pain, directing Zander's attention his way to see a strange effect: a ghostly image of the red dragon seemed to float out of the dragon's corpse and shrink in upon itself as it flew over to the red gem worn on a necklace around the lizardfolk's neck. And then, suddenly, everything fit into place for the elven sorcerer: the dragon had been dead all right when they first entered the lair, but the appearance of the lizardfolk forces allowed the spirit of a slain dracolich to enter the dragon's corpse once its phylactery - the ruby necklace - had been brought within range. That explained the dragon's aberrant behavior: trapped in a new body unfamiliar to it and temporarily flooded with that body's memories, it focused on the instinctive need to render the current corpse it wore more like its own, previous skeletal body - and once it had ripped off a sufficient amount of this body's flesh, it would truly manifest in the full power of its dracolich form. Fortunately, Zander recalled that once an undead body had been "slain" it could no longer be used to house an undead spirit, so they managed to foil the lizardfolks' plan to see their draconic master brought back to an unholy semblance of life in a new dragon's skeletal body.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren was the first of the two remaining "dragon riders" to regain his balance, and he brought his shield crashing down upon the head of the lizardfolk fighter just as he was rising to his feet. He fell to the cavern floor, the top of his skull crushed in.</p><p></p><p>With the dragon dead once again, the celestial bison turned its shaggy head towards the lizardfolk cleric and found him to be a much easier foe to which it could deal proper damage. Robin, once the <em>portable hole</em> had been folded and stashed in her belt, pulled out her lute and resumed her song of inspirational courage. The tune buoyed Thurloe's attacks, and he soon stood over the bodies of the lizardfolk fighters he'd been battling. That left only the spellcasting lizardfolk, and with Zander calling down to the others what all he'd been up to with the dracolich's phylactery, that made him a most desired target for the heroes assembled below. Alewyth, her butterfly wings flapping overtime, closed the distance between them and brought <em>Sjondra</em> crashing into the side of the lizardfolk's head. The celestial bison gored him in the back again, while the spellcaster went all savage, leaping at Alewyth and trying to rend her flesh with his claws and his teeth.</p><p></p><p>Seeing this, Xandro cast an <em>expeditious retreat</em> and hurried down the tethered rope, eager to help his friends if he could. He had <em>Deathwhisper</em> in his hand, ready to strike, but his dire elk got there first and stabbed the lizardfolk with his massive antlers. But it was once again one of Zander's <em>magic missile</em> spells, fired from above, which snuffed out the spellcaster's life. It's possible the lizardfolk took some solace in being slain in the same manner as his dracolich master's new red dragon body had been slain, but there was no way of knowing for sure.</p><p></p><p>With the battles done, the summoned creatures were returned to their home planes and the heroes gathered up what items they could recover from the fallen adventurers who had been slain by the red dragon some days past. Alewyth, to the annoyance of the gnomish consortium, insisted on dragging their bodies together and providing a stone burial, which consisted of placing them into a shallow pit brought about by a <em>soften earth and stone</em> spell and laying rocks upon their bodies until they were totally covered. Not knowing any of their names, she didn't carve anything upon their tombs like she would normally have done.</p><p></p><p>The slain lizardfolk fighters and shaman were left where they had been dropped, with a quick inspection of their corpses revealing they had nothing the heroes deemed worth taking. The sole exception was the ruby necklace the shaman wore; Alewyth removed it (noting the intricately carved runes on each facet as she did so), laid it carefully on the stone cavern floor, and then brought <em>Sjondra</em> crashing down upon it, smashing the phylactery into worthless shards. Only then did she deign to return to the gnomes with the others.</p><p></p><p>Once the <em>portable hole</em>'s contents had been emptied onto the Hidden Market's floor, the gnomes made a very thorough tallying of each and every coin and piece of treasure. The 15-way split ended up coming to 1,723 pieces of gold (or the equivalent) per share. The heroes decided among themselves which items of the adventurers' gear to keep and which to turn over to the gnomish consortium, and then they returned back to the traveler's rest area where they had left their wagon and animals.</p><p></p><p>"A pleasure, as always!" said Wangle Turdblossom, removing his detachable doorknob from the outhouse door and returning it to his satchel without closing the door. Then he stepped back inside and closed the door behind him; the heroes all knew if they were to open the door now, it would reveal nothing more than an outhouse interior.</p><p></p><p>"He's a weird little guy," Robin observed.</p><p></p><p>"That he is," Xandro agreed.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Boy, were my players ever a paranoid bunch during the start of this adventure! From a metagame aspect, everybody knew the situation couldn't be as simple as the gnomes hoped it would be, and they were waiting for the dragon to come back to life some way or the other. I think they were actually a bit relieved when it did come back to unholy life, because then at least the waiting was over.</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, Logan had Wakuren try a <em>dispel magic</em> spell on the coins because he knew there had to be a catch, and sure enough if anyone would have touched any of the coins they would have all gathered together and taken on the form of a coin hydra, which would have a breath weapon in the form of coins shot out at a tremendous velocity. But when he rolled a natural 20 on his dispel check, that was the end of that.</p><p></p><p>At least nobody at the table had been aware of the requirement of a dracolich in a new host body having to spend 1d4+4 rounds of self-cannibalization before it could truly manifest into its full body. That at least kept the players guessing as to what was going on. And fortunately for them, I rolled a 4 so it was going to spend the first 8 full rounds chewing off its own flesh; it only lasted the first 5 rounds before they had managed to bring it down.</p><p></p><p>At the end of the adventure, they opted to go into the Dreamlands and take a peek at the dream of the next person stuck in their dreams. They weren't able to interact with the dream yet, but at least they know it's a seven-on-one fight between a bunch of humanoid animals: an owlkin being attacked by a weaselfolk, otterfolk, mouseling, squirrelfolk, rabbitfolk, ferretfolk, and hedgehogfolk, the seven attackers all armed with melee weapons against an unarmed humanoid owl in a brawl the players have dubbed, "Attack of the Furries." (That's not the actual title of the next adventure, however.)</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>T-shirt worn: My green dragon T-shirt. (I only have two dragon shirts, one with a green dragon and one with a blue dragon. It was a toss-up and green won.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 9008006, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 49: TREASURE FOR THE TAKING[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 4[/INDENT] [INDENT] Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 5/paladin 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 4[/INDENT] [INDENT] Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 10[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Robin the Balladeer, human bard 2[/INDENT] [INDENT] Scarlie Besker, half-orc commoner 5[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 22 April 2023 - - - Having finally been reunited with Scarlie Besker after several days spent dealing with the elves of the Sylvanholme Forest, the group was headed down the road towards the next dreamer who needed their help in waking up, when they turned the corner and found a familiar gnomish face looking up at them. "Hello," said Wangle Turdblossom. "Would any of you fine adventurers happen to be in need of any magic items, perchance?" As it happened, several of the heroes decided they would be more than happy to spend a few coins in the gnomes' Hidden Market. Waving for them to follow him, Wangle walked over to the side of the road, where a traveler's waystation stood - a simple, open-air structure that provided a roof against the rain. Pulling his detachable doorknob from the satchel he wore over one shoulder, the little gnome attached it to the door of an outhouse standing beside the waystation, turned the knob, and opened the door - which, naturally, now led to his extradimensional Hidden Market rather than the outhouse interior. Scarlie parked the mule-driven wagon, saw to it that all of the riding mounts were tethered by their reins to either the wagon or one of the waystation's poles, and then followed the rest of the group inside the Hidden Market. Alewyth, in chatting with the little gnome about what particular wares they had to offer at the moment - for the gnome consortium's stock was always in flux - opted to purchase a set of magical gauntlets which increased her physical strength, figuring she could always use a little more damage potential when wielding her dwarven warhammer [I]Sjondra[/I]. Thurloe asked for a pair of simple potions: one of [I]cure serious wounds[/I] and one of [I]gaseous form[/I], and was sent to Booger Nostrildropping's cubicle, where the spellsword was assured they had potions meeting his needs on hand, if he'd like to take a seat and wait for them to be fetched. Wakuren wanted more powerful armor than the plate mail he currently wore, which had a low-level enchantment cast upon it that helped deflect some of the weapon-blows directed at the wearer; when asking if they upgraded magical armor, Wangle scoffed and reminded the half-orc that they were dealers in magic items, not creators of such. "However," the gnome added, "I believe you do happen to be in luck. While we don't usually engage in barter, we do have a suit of magic plate male with a more powerful enchantment than the set you're currently wearing, and I imagine Mr. Rection could be persuaded to accept your current armor - plus the difference in cost between it and the one with the stronger dweomers, of course - to a recurring customer of good standing." He bent over his desk, pressed a gemstone (which lit up), and summoned Biggie to come deal with the half-orc's needs. Biggie Rection was there in a moment, gruff as ever (and still the largest gnome any of them had ever seen, standing nearly four feet tall), nodding for Wakuren to come with him to his office. Eventually, with all purchases paid for and the goods turned over (neither Xandro, Robin, nor Zander Quilson opted to purchase anything at that time), Wangle gathered the rest of the ten-person gnomish consortium together and explained they had an offer to make the heroes. Then he turned it over to the group's leader, Humdrum Thundersnore. "You are aware we have a [I]teleportation circle[/I] that can be tuned to different locations," Humdrum began. Robin and Scarlie rose their eyebrows in surprise at this bit of information; neither of them had been with the group when they had first encountered the gnomish consortium before. "With this device, we are able to monitor many locations all over the world, and areas of particular interest to us are the treasure hoards of dragons. Now, far be it for us to be foolish enough to steal treasure from a living dragon, for there's no better way to ensure an enemy willing to hold a grudge of vengeance for many, many centuries. However, we have spied upon a nice bit of treasure belonging to a red dragon, sitting there in the back of his cave network, and the dragon itself is dead, over in the next cavern over - as are the four adventurers, like yourselves, who slew him; alas, they did not survive the encounter any better than did the dragon. This, however, means there is a dragon's treasure trove just lying there in the back of a cave, waiting for someone to go fetch it." "And your [I]teleportation circle[/I] can open a [I]gate[/I] to the treasure?" asked Thurloe, liking where this was headed. "But then why don't you just hop in there and fetch it?" "Because the dragon has taken magical precautions," replied Humdrum. "Apparently word of our...proclivities has started to spread among the dragon populace, for there is a magical trap embedded in the ceiling of the treasure cave, directly over the dragon's treasure, that would spell instant death for any gnome that stepped foot in the cavern." "That's very unusual for a red dragon," piped up Biggie Rection. "Most reds prefer to allow their own reputations to deter theft, and disdain magic protection of the type encountered here, deeming it unnecessary. This one, apparently, thought otherwise." "So you want us to gather the treasure for you?" Alewyth asked. "Pretty much any non-gnome would do," Wangle confirmed. "But we'd prefer to deal with people we know, and have dealt with before." "People we can trust," added Oral Hijinx, one of the two female gnomes in the consortium. "I assume we'd be paid for our efforts. How would we split the take?" asked Zander. "There are five of you, and ten of us," answered Humdrum, obviously not counting Robin or Scarlie as they'd had no dealings with either of them before. "You go in, gather the loot, bring it back here, and we split it fifteen ways, even shares for each of us." "What about the stuff the four adventurers had on them?" asked Xandro. "If we're going in, we might as well see if they had anything of value while we're at it." "And see to their proper burial!" added Alewyth, surprised that the roguish human bard was giving more consideration to looting the bodies of the heroes who died taking out a red dragon than seeing to their proper funereal needs. "Yeah, of course!" added Xandro, not wanting to displease the testy dwarven priestess. The ten gnomes had gathered in a circle and were conferring among themselves in low voices. After a minute or two, they broke back up and Humdrum announced their decision. "As we're getting two-thirds of the dragon's personal treasure hoard, we'll swap it around the other way for the adventurers' goods: you get two-thirds of their stuff, and we'll take the other third." "We'll even let you guys decide which items among their gear you wish to keep, and which you'll pass on to us," added Koriander Vanderfoof, sweetening the pot. The heroes talked it over amongst themselves and came to a ready agreement. "Okay, we're in," agreed Wakuren. "Excellent!" enthused Biggie, in a rare moment of non-grumpiness. He led the heroes through the Hidden Market into a back room, where the gnomish [I]teleportation circle[/I] was already up and running. It was an upright disk of glowing energy, in the middle of which could be seen the interior of a cave. The only light visible was that which spilled in from the Hidden Market itself, but that was enough to see a large scattering of coins, gold and silver and platinum, spread over the right-hand side of the cavern. Interspersed among the coins were the occasional gemstones, bits of jewelry, and the odd golden chalice or silver statue. "Before you enter the cave, a few stipulations," apologized Humdrum. "First, we will provide you with a [I]portable hole[/I] into which all of the dragon's treasure can be loaded. However, I must insist that this be the only extradimensional space that is carried over to the dragon's lair. It's not that we don't trust you..." the elderly gnome explained. "Nah, that's it exactly," interrupted Biggie. "We trust you to an extent, but not enough not to take simple precautions." "Perfectly understandable," replied Alewyth, passing over the candy dish of gnomish design that she carried with her; it served as a convenient way of carrying small items - like coins and gems - without eating up a lot of room. Wakuren wordlessly passed over [I]Hesperna's lamp[/I] to his fellow half-orc, as they had already decided Scarlie would be staying in the Hidden Market with the gnomes while the heroes entered the dragon's lair. Then, looking among the group, he asked, "Is that everything?" The heroes patted themselves down, then replied in the affirmative. "That's everything, then." Xandro took the proffered [I]portable hole[/I] - a folded piece of silklike cloth as black as anything he'd ever seen - and passed it over to Robin. "We'll let you be in charge of the scooping," he told her. "I'm coming with?" "Sure, I'll pay you put of my share." "Hang on, I want to cast a [I]mage armor[/I] spell before we go in," said Zander, doing just that. Alewyth looked through the open [I]gate[/I] and saw the cave where the slain dragon and those responsible for its death lay where they fell, the cave being lower than the level of the treasure cavern by some 30 feet or so. "We're absolutely sure the dragon's dead?" she asked, a slight note of worry in her voice. "Absolutely," Wangle replied, grinning somewhat at the dwarf's reticence to enter the lair of a dragon, even one who was already dead. "Enter when you're ready." Robin began playing the initial chords to her song of inspirational courage - even though everything on the other side of the [I]teleportation circle[/I] was allegedly dead already, she had caught the vibe of worry that was running through the minds of the heroes about to enter the cave network, and figured there would be no objections if she treated it like any other "about to go into battle" situation. Thurloe looked into the cavern, realized there was no illumination in there, and tried casting a [I]dancing lights[/I] spell to send a few globes of incandescent light into the cave, only to mess the spell up because he still wasn't entirely proficient in casting arcane spells while wearing armor. But while cursing under his breath at having flubbed the spell, he used it as an excuse to stay in place - let someone else be the first one to step through into the dragon's lair! Alewyth chose to be that person. She cast a [I]bless[/I] spell and stepped through the upright circle, causing a chorus of hisses as ten gnomes all voiced a sudden worried intake of breath all at once. The dwarf jumped at the noise, frantically looking all around her to see what had startled them, and when she saw nothing she glared back at them. "Sorry," apologized Wangle. "We just weren't sure whether the anti-theft magic item on the ceiling was going to be triggered when you stepped into the cave or not." "I thought you said it was geared towards gnomes!" the priestess of Aerik accused. "Well, there are ten of us and ten petals around that flower shape up there...." hedged Wangle, a more or less admission that they'd let the dwarf priestess be a guinea pig in their little experiment. Alewyth just glared at them, looked up at the ceiling (and saw what looked to be a ten-petaled sunflower looking down from the ceiling) and gave the treasure pile a wide berth. Instead, she walked over to the edge of the cavern and looked down at the corpses of the dragon and the four dead adventurers below. She stared at them long enough to prove to her satisfaction that none of them were breathing. Xandro stepped into the cave next, dropping his [I]goggles of night[/I] over his eyes as he did so to provide himself with the same level of darkvision as that enjoyed by Alewyth and Wakuren. He too gave the "sunflower" a quick look, noting the central portion of the structure seemed to be a dark stone - obsidian? - with some sort of arcane rune etched upon it. Zander Quilson was the next one into the cave. He activated the [I]true seeing[/I] aspect of his [I]scout's headband[/I] and looked around at everything he could see, ensuring all was as it appeared to be. This included the four dead adventurers and the red dragon they had slain. Wakuren was the next one in, and he cast a [I]detect magic[/I] spell as he entered, then went straight for the treasure pile. Without touching so much as a single coin, he determined that the whole pile of amassed loot - coins, gems, jewelry, and assorted doodads - was covered in a magical aura. There was also an aura coming from the "sunflower" on the cavern ceiling, and scattered down below among the adventurers' corpses - apparently some of them had carried magic items with them, a not-unexpected ploy for a group going up against a red dragon in his own lair. Robin stepped into the cave behind the half-orc, and Wakuren warned her, "No touching - not yet, anyway. I want to examine these auras a bit more." Finally, having seen the defensive 'sunflower" on the roof was not apparently attuned to humans (for Xandro and Robin had entered the cavern unscathed), Thurloe stepped through the upright portal and went to stand beside Alewyth. He pulled out his coil of rope from his pack, along with a piton and his small hammer, then devoted his attention to hammering in the spike a good 10 feet from the edge of the drop-off down to the cave below. Once convinced it was in tight enough, he attached one end of his rope to the piton and tossed the rest of the rope over the edge. Alewyth didn't bother with the rope. Activating her [I]butterfly brooch[/I], she leapt over the side of the edge of the sloping rock and fluttered down to the lower level where the dragon's corpse rested, part of its massive body lying in a pool of water being slowly fed by the occasional drip of drops of water from the stalactites hanging overhead. Flying over to the dragon, she examined its wounds as best she could (without touching it, fearing against all reason that it was just faking and would spring back to life to attack her if she touched it) and determined it had been slain by a deep gash where a sword likely penetrated its heart. There were other open wounds where the slain heroes' weapons had struck it, including several arrows embedded deep into its scaly hide. The dwarven priestess estimated the fight had likely happened some two or three days ago. A cursory glance at the bodies of the slain adventurers showed they had been taken out primarily by the dragon's fiery breath weapon, although a few of them showed signs of having taken damage from the dragon's teeth and claws. Xandro stepped over by Robin's side, standing by the scattered coins and awaiting the signal it was safe to gather it up into the [I]portable hole[/I]; in the meantime, she continued playing her song of inspirational courage on her lute. But Wakuren was still examining the area, his [I]detect magic[/I] spell revealing the coins were emanating an aura of transmutation magic. Looking up at the sunflower-shaped item on the ceiling, he picked up an even stronger magic aura, this one focused on the school of necromancy. The gnomes had been right: the treasure cavern was trapped with some kind of death magic - and fortunately for them, the trap was apparently triggered only when a gnome stepped into range. Xandro pointed out the rune carved into the black onyx center of the magic trap, and surmised it was likely utilizing a [I]finger of death[/I] spell to slay offending gnomes. Zander scampered down the rope and stepped foot into the lower cavern, casting a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell on himself as soon as he landed. Thurloe climbed down the rope immediately thereafter. He walked around the dragon, looking at the various weapons held by the slain adventurers; some of them were of excellent make and were likely magical in nature. He started gathering them up, wanting not only to take them for their monetary value but also to ensure the corpses were unarmed in case they suddenly animated. From a heavily-armored man he took a longsword, and from another he suspected was a ranger he took a well-crafted longbow. Alewith, still hovering over the area, cast a [I]detect magic[/I] spell of her own and saw a ring worn by the sole female adventurer was magical in nature, and when she bent down to fetch it she was surprised to see it was engraved with the holy symbol of Aerik, God of Protection. Wakuren focused his attention back onto the treasure pile. He cast a [I]dispel magic[/I] spell on the scattered coins and gems, smiling in appreciation of his spellwork as his [I]detect magic[/I] spell saw the magical aura dissipate from the dragon's collected treasure. "They should be safe to gather up now," he told Robin and Xandro, and the two bards bent to the task, Robin stowing her lute and spreading the [I]portable hole[/I] down flat upon the floor by the coins. It took form, looking like a hole in the cavern floor, and Xandro started brushing a small pile of coins into the hole. They fell over the edge and into the extradimensional interior of the magic hole, causing Robin to giggle in delight - she'd never seen such a thing! Together they started scooping the treasure into the hole, occasionally moving it over closer to the treasure remaining. Alewyth had just removed the ring with the holy symbol of her god on it and slipped it on her own finger when the dragon shifted. Feeling guilty, as if her taking of the ring had been responsible for the dragon returning to life, she tried removing the ring from her finger as if that simple action would return the great reptile to its unliving state. But the dragon was oblivious to the slain adventurers at its feet and the living ones standing (and fluttering) around him, rearing itself up into a standing position. It looked about in confusion, as if unsure of its surroundings, and then its great mouth opened wide. Alewyth flinched, expecting a massive gout of flame to come exploding from its throat, but it merely darted its head down to its left forelimb and ripped a large hunk of its own flesh from its left front leg. Then, rearing its head back up toward the ceiling, the dragon let gravity help the hastily-chewed chunks of meat make their way down its throat. Alewyth, Thurloe, and Zander stood motionless in shock for a moment before springing into action. The elf sorcerer cast a [I]lightning bolt[/I] at the dragon, not knowing why the massive reptile had returned to life but sure it wasn't going to be too appreciative at the heroes who had entered its lair to steal its treasure. The dragon ignored the blast of electricity that hit it in the side, even though the scales where the spell hit blackened and charred, focusing its sole concentration on swallowing the flesh of its forelimb it had just bitten off and chewed. From the edge of the upper cavern, Wakuren saw the dragon's return to life and cast a summoning spell which brought forth a celestial bison to manifest beside the red-scaled reptile. It lowered its shaggy head and butted its horn into the dragon's side, the tip of its horn barely scratching the dragon's hide. Once again, the dragon didn't even seem to deign to notice the attack. Thurloe was standing directly in front of the dragon and sidled over to the side, taking advantage of the fact it hadn't seemed to notice him yet to cast a quick [I]shield[/I] spell upon himself with his wand. But then a flash of movement caught his eye - coming down from the sloped passageway before him came four more reptilian figures. These were the size of the spellsword, and their scales were various shades of green. In a practiced maneuver, the four running lizardfolk stopped, pulled back their right arms, and then each let loose with the javelin held in that clawed hand. Two javelins came flying towards the spellsword and another two had been aimed at Alewyth; three of the four found their marks but neither did much more than bounce off the heroes' armor. Ignoring the approaching lizardfolk because she saw the red dragon as the more immediate threat, Alewyth cast a [I]searing light[/I] spell at the looming dragon. The blast was even more effective than it would have been against a living foe, giving solid evidence of the dragon's undead nature. There was a hiss of anger coming from up the sloping passageway as the dwarf's spell burned up the dragon's hide, and a fifth lizardfolk approached behind his four warrior companions, this one wearing a large ruby around his neck and a feathered headdress on its reptilian head. It raised a hand wielding a wooden staff, intoned a few magical syllables, and a howler manifested beside Thurloe. The creature, a demonic-looking mastiff covered in sharp quills, turned its canine head at the spellsword and snapped its powerful jaws at him. Xandro went over to the edge of the cliff and saw the battle going on below. Pulling out his [I]Dardolian Lute[/I] and using the [I]dire elk pick[/I] he'd been given by Queen Zarabelia, he played the special tune that summoned forth a wide-antlered dire elk. The megaloceros manifested beside the celestial bison, and it swung its pointed antlers into the red dragon's side. But the dragon ignored the attack - as it had all of the attacks made against it since its reanimation - and chewed a mouthful of flesh free from its own chest, gobbling up the decaying meat it had ripped free. The dragon was close enough to the edge of the cliff leading up to the treasure cavern that Wakuren made a running jump off the ledge and landed upon the creature's red-scaled back. He converted one of the spells he had prepared that morning into a healing spell, knowing full well the positive energy that would close the wounds of a living body would be similar to acid against undead flesh. The dragon's scales bubbled and boiled where the half-orc's hand touched it, but the dragon ignored this attack as well, just as it paid no heed as the celestial bison tried stabbing it with a pair of curving horns. Robin realized there was little she could do in the way of contributing in a battle against so powerful a foe, so she concentrated on her own task at hand: scooping as much of the treasure as she could into the [I]portable hole[/I] as quickly as she could. Xandro, after stowing his lute onto his back once again, joined her, eager to see to the treasure-gathering with as much speed as possible. Thurloe swung his bastard sword into the red dragon's leg, near the unbleeding wound in its left forelimb where it had ripped out a chunk of flesh, before turning to face the howler. But then another [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell from Zander blasted through the dragon and also hit the howler, taking out the latter creature entirely. Then two of the lizardfolk fighters rushed the spellsword, swinging heavy clubs easily capable of bashing in his skull. (He couldn't see it from his vantage point, but the other two lizardfolk fighters were charging the celestial bison, their clubs crashing into its shaggy hide to little effect.) Alewyth cast a [I]wall of stone[/I] spell that almost completely sealed off the lizardfolk cleric; she'd been hoping to cut off all five of the lizardfolk but the fighters had rushed forward in a burst of speed as she was still casting her spell. The wall reached from side to side of the sloping cavern, but didn't reach all the way to the top; the spellcasting lizardfolk might be able to scamper up and over the wall, but at least it should slow it down for a while. And it did, although once the rival cleric had managed to poke his head over the wall, he was able to cast a [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell and send the manifesting club hurtling at Thurloe's head. The dire elk attacked the dragon again, but it turned its reptilian head to focus upon the half-orc standing on its back, between its wings. The snakelike neck reached back and its massive head came crashing down, but Wakuren hadn't been its target after all; instead, it ripped out a chunk of flesh by the half-orc's feet and swallowed it down. Zander had scampered back up the rope by then and from his higher vantage point was able to cast a [I]fireball[/I] spell that managed to encompass the dragon's head and all four lizardfolk fighters without catching Wakuren, Alewyth, or Thurloe in its blast radius. The red dragon, not surprisingly, seemed impervious to the fire-based spell, but all four lizardfolk took some amount of damage from the flames, two of them burned much more than the others. Wakuren converted another spell into healing energy and burned away more of the undead dragon's flesh - also, surprisingly, without seemingly garnering any attention from the reptilian victim of the half-orc's attack. It was puzzling - and not a little insulting - that the undead dragon wasn't paying the least amount of attention to the heroes' various attacks, concentrating solely upon its own self-cannibalization efforts. Thurloe brought his bastard sword swinging into the bodies of the two lizardfolk fighters trying to overcome him with their bludgeoning clubs, slicing through the scales of one and then continuing his strike into the side of the other. They retaliated against the spellsword as best they could, but it was obvious a lot of the fight had been taken out of them by their various wounds by this time. But the other two lizardfolk, in a surprising maneuver, discontinued their attacks upon the celestial bison and clambered up the body of the red dragon, climbing up its relatively undamaged right foreleg to pull themselves up onto its broad shoulder, where they each gripped their weapons and headed toward Wakuren, who had been continuing to damage the dragon's flesh with his healing spells. Whoever these lizardfolk were, they were not at all concerned with the dragon trying to stop them and were actively attempting to stop anyone from trying to damage it. Alewyth converted a spell of her own to healing energy and touched the dragon at the base of its tail, watching the positive energy burn away at its skin. But by then the lizardfolk spellcaster had crawled his way over Alewyth's [I]wall of stone[/I] and scampered down the other side, calling out something in Draconic. The red dragon responded by stretching out a massive wing, which the lizardfolk touched with his own clawed hands. Alewyth realized what was happening: just as she and Wakuren were hurting the undead dragon by use of their healing energy, the lizardfolk cleric was healing it back up by converting some of his own spell energy into negative energy! The [I]spiritual greatclub[/I] came smashing down at Thurloe again, causing him to divert his attention away from the lizardfolk to prevent himself from being crushed to the ground. The dire elk and celestial bison continued their attacks upon the dragon, but it merely grabbed up another mouthful of its own flesh and continued upon its task of trying to consume its own body, bite by bite, while Wakuren fought off two lizardfolk fighters upon its back. Zander cast another [I]lightning bolt[/I] down at the dragon, managing to include one of the two lizardfolk fighters in the line of attack, who crumpled over and fell to the cavern floor, the spell having slain him. The dragon seemed as uninterested in the electrical blast as any of the other attacks it had suffered thus far. Wakuren stepped back out of range of the other lizardfolk and brought his [I]shield of Cal[/I] smashing down upon the red dragon's spine, imbuing the strike with the full power of Cal's smiting energy behind the blow. Down below him, Thurloe slew one of his own lizardfolk opponents with the blade of his sword, even while ducking and dodging the [I]spiritual greatclub[/I] which still tracked his every move. As the remaining lizardfolk fighter perched upon the dragon's back closed in to attack Wakuren, Alewyth summoned a celestial brown bear into the fray, sending it to attack the spellcasting reptile wearing the ruby around his neck. It swiped at the unsuspecting lizardfolk, catching him in the side with a set of sharp claws. The shaman stepped away and cast a [I]slay living[/I] spell at the bruin and the spell hit its mark, but the great beast shook off the worst effects of the spell and studiously refused to fall over dead. Instead, it reared up on its hind legs and brought its claws striking out at the reptilian spellcaster; when he tried dodging away from them, the celestial bison gored him in the back with a massive horn. Thurloe parried the [I]spiritual greatclub[/I]'s latest attack with his bastard sword when Xandro called down from above, "That's it - we've got all the treasure from up here!" Robin was folding up the [I]portable hole[/I] as he called down to his friends, hoping they might just decide to bug out back to the gnomes now that they'd gotten what they had come here for. As far as Xandro was concerned, let these stupid lizardfolk hang out with an undead dragon if that was their thing. But his dire elk continued on with his attacks, despite the fact they weren't seeming to have much of an effect upon the reanimated red dragon. In fact, it just ripped off another chunk of its own flesh, this time from the other side of its massive chest. Bone could be seen through some of the holes it had made in its own body, but its dead flesh no longer had the capability to bleed. From his perch at the top of the cliff, Zander looked down at the dragon and judged it had to be on its last legs by now. On a hunch, he cast a [I]magic missile[/I] spell down upon it, and sure enough, that simple spell was enough to finally bring it down. It collapsed where it stood, causing Wakuren and the lizardfolk on its back to leap to the side and try not to get crushed by its outraised wings as gravity brought its bulk down. The dragon's death caused the lizardfolk shaman to cry out in pain, directing Zander's attention his way to see a strange effect: a ghostly image of the red dragon seemed to float out of the dragon's corpse and shrink in upon itself as it flew over to the red gem worn on a necklace around the lizardfolk's neck. And then, suddenly, everything fit into place for the elven sorcerer: the dragon had been dead all right when they first entered the lair, but the appearance of the lizardfolk forces allowed the spirit of a slain dracolich to enter the dragon's corpse once its phylactery - the ruby necklace - had been brought within range. That explained the dragon's aberrant behavior: trapped in a new body unfamiliar to it and temporarily flooded with that body's memories, it focused on the instinctive need to render the current corpse it wore more like its own, previous skeletal body - and once it had ripped off a sufficient amount of this body's flesh, it would truly manifest in the full power of its dracolich form. Fortunately, Zander recalled that once an undead body had been "slain" it could no longer be used to house an undead spirit, so they managed to foil the lizardfolks' plan to see their draconic master brought back to an unholy semblance of life in a new dragon's skeletal body. Wakuren was the first of the two remaining "dragon riders" to regain his balance, and he brought his shield crashing down upon the head of the lizardfolk fighter just as he was rising to his feet. He fell to the cavern floor, the top of his skull crushed in. With the dragon dead once again, the celestial bison turned its shaggy head towards the lizardfolk cleric and found him to be a much easier foe to which it could deal proper damage. Robin, once the [I]portable hole[/I] had been folded and stashed in her belt, pulled out her lute and resumed her song of inspirational courage. The tune buoyed Thurloe's attacks, and he soon stood over the bodies of the lizardfolk fighters he'd been battling. That left only the spellcasting lizardfolk, and with Zander calling down to the others what all he'd been up to with the dracolich's phylactery, that made him a most desired target for the heroes assembled below. Alewyth, her butterfly wings flapping overtime, closed the distance between them and brought [I]Sjondra[/I] crashing into the side of the lizardfolk's head. The celestial bison gored him in the back again, while the spellcaster went all savage, leaping at Alewyth and trying to rend her flesh with his claws and his teeth. Seeing this, Xandro cast an [I]expeditious retreat[/I] and hurried down the tethered rope, eager to help his friends if he could. He had [I]Deathwhisper[/I] in his hand, ready to strike, but his dire elk got there first and stabbed the lizardfolk with his massive antlers. But it was once again one of Zander's [I]magic missile[/I] spells, fired from above, which snuffed out the spellcaster's life. It's possible the lizardfolk took some solace in being slain in the same manner as his dracolich master's new red dragon body had been slain, but there was no way of knowing for sure. With the battles done, the summoned creatures were returned to their home planes and the heroes gathered up what items they could recover from the fallen adventurers who had been slain by the red dragon some days past. Alewyth, to the annoyance of the gnomish consortium, insisted on dragging their bodies together and providing a stone burial, which consisted of placing them into a shallow pit brought about by a [I]soften earth and stone[/I] spell and laying rocks upon their bodies until they were totally covered. Not knowing any of their names, she didn't carve anything upon their tombs like she would normally have done. The slain lizardfolk fighters and shaman were left where they had been dropped, with a quick inspection of their corpses revealing they had nothing the heroes deemed worth taking. The sole exception was the ruby necklace the shaman wore; Alewyth removed it (noting the intricately carved runes on each facet as she did so), laid it carefully on the stone cavern floor, and then brought [I]Sjondra[/I] crashing down upon it, smashing the phylactery into worthless shards. Only then did she deign to return to the gnomes with the others. Once the [I]portable hole[/I]'s contents had been emptied onto the Hidden Market's floor, the gnomes made a very thorough tallying of each and every coin and piece of treasure. The 15-way split ended up coming to 1,723 pieces of gold (or the equivalent) per share. The heroes decided among themselves which items of the adventurers' gear to keep and which to turn over to the gnomish consortium, and then they returned back to the traveler's rest area where they had left their wagon and animals. "A pleasure, as always!" said Wangle Turdblossom, removing his detachable doorknob from the outhouse door and returning it to his satchel without closing the door. Then he stepped back inside and closed the door behind him; the heroes all knew if they were to open the door now, it would reveal nothing more than an outhouse interior. "He's a weird little guy," Robin observed. "That he is," Xandro agreed. - - - Boy, were my players ever a paranoid bunch during the start of this adventure! From a metagame aspect, everybody knew the situation couldn't be as simple as the gnomes hoped it would be, and they were waiting for the dragon to come back to life some way or the other. I think they were actually a bit relieved when it did come back to unholy life, because then at least the waiting was over. Incidentally, Logan had Wakuren try a [I]dispel magic[/I] spell on the coins because he knew there had to be a catch, and sure enough if anyone would have touched any of the coins they would have all gathered together and taken on the form of a coin hydra, which would have a breath weapon in the form of coins shot out at a tremendous velocity. But when he rolled a natural 20 on his dispel check, that was the end of that. At least nobody at the table had been aware of the requirement of a dracolich in a new host body having to spend 1d4+4 rounds of self-cannibalization before it could truly manifest into its full body. That at least kept the players guessing as to what was going on. And fortunately for them, I rolled a 4 so it was going to spend the first 8 full rounds chewing off its own flesh; it only lasted the first 5 rounds before they had managed to bring it down. At the end of the adventure, they opted to go into the Dreamlands and take a peek at the dream of the next person stuck in their dreams. They weren't able to interact with the dream yet, but at least they know it's a seven-on-one fight between a bunch of humanoid animals: an owlkin being attacked by a weaselfolk, otterfolk, mouseling, squirrelfolk, rabbitfolk, ferretfolk, and hedgehogfolk, the seven attackers all armed with melee weapons against an unarmed humanoid owl in a brawl the players have dubbed, "Attack of the Furries." (That's not the actual title of the next adventure, however.) - - - T-shirt worn: My green dragon T-shirt. (I only have two dragon shirts, one with a green dragon and one with a blue dragon. It was a toss-up and green won.) [/QUOTE]
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