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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 851120" data-attributes="member: 96">The enormous hall continues, the soft magical light of Sen-Jyu's katana barely able to illuminate it even for the spirit-blood. But ahead, some light - the mouth of the lair? - and what it illuminates is an awe-inspiring sight:The dragon, Copperdeath - or, at the least, its mortal shell. Enormous even in death, it is sprawled across the room as if still trying to get away from those that slew it. Scorched walls give testament to the battle that was fought here, as does the copper that has remained untarnished ever since the dragon's blood was spilled upon it. An iron slab lies tilted against one wall.The dragon's mouth is open, and Ahoke peers down its throat.The dwarf whispers, "At what price, dead one?"Sen-Jyu advances upon Ahoke, footsteps as silent as he can make them, the better to listen to her talking to the voices again.Harvester speaks to the goblin again, with a tug on the rope. "Akratt? Where? Human children? Where?"The creature tugs at the rope itself, shaking its head. It points past the corpse.Harvester speaks to the air as he follows the goblin, "**** you, worm. He Who Is To Come will soon enough reap your soul as well."Sen-Jyu sniffs a bit from two paces behind Ahoke, "The voices don't like me, it seems."Ahoke's face, suddenly showing how careworn the past several days has made her, sags. "There is always a price," she says, slowly, reluctantly turning away from whatever promises the voice has made to her. "Do we know where the human brats are? Let's get this done."Harvester appears to be going somewhere, past the corpse.Ahoke follows Harvester and his goblin on a rope, since he seems to know where he's going.Sen-Jyu blinks. "I stand corrected," he says curiously."They here." The voice is harsh, unused to the Common tongue. One of the children is shoved forward by the goblin king, who holds a knife to the back of the child's neck. "Let me go, I let child go."Ahoke studies the goblin king and the child. "Why did you take them in the first place, you miserable little wretch?"Harvester folds his arms across his chest and replies in Goblinoid. "Where are the others?"Sen-Jyu stands behind the two, silent."Hah! I not take them. Thimdrul take them! Others in cage." He begins to pull the boy backwards. "You stay here now. I go down mountain."Harvester says, "Release the boy and I will not harm you. Release him now!"Ahoke glares at the goblin. "If you harm so much as a hair on the other childrens' heads, there will be no hope for you in this world. Because I will track you down, and I will kill you, and I will have your heart for my lunch." She does not step forward, yet, more willing to have him leave peacefully than for there to be another battle.The goblin - no, not the prince, the other one - sees his chance. He slips his head free of Harvester's crude knot and sprints towards the dragon.Harvester allows the little blue-skin to go, and focuses on the one-time 'king'. "Releases the boy now, and I will not kill you. Otherwise, his soul will be greeted as joyfully by my Master as yours."Harvester takes one step forward, his skull-pendant glittering in the light.At seeing the goblin escaping, Sen-Jyu moves to intercept, and Ichido-sama's long reach cuts the thanork down well before it reaches its goal, whatever that may have been.Akratt sees the motion. Sees Sen-jyu spin with blades ready.There is no other word: he panics.Blood arcs from the surprised child's throat as the goblin's convulsive movement draws the knife across it.The boy crumples to the floor, followed by the clatter of Akratt's knife as he drops it in utter surprise at what he's done.A crossbow bolt launches out of the darkness behind the corpse, and Akratt looks down at it stupidly where it projects from his chest.Harvester moves to the boy without concern for Akratt's nearness, and looks for life. if it still exists, he will conduct what little healing he might.Ahoke charges Akratt, needlessly, since he's already become a goblinoid pincushion, and smashes him, repeatedly, into the ground. "You... stupid... little... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />."It's too late. The cut - shallow as it might be - still was deep enough to sever the jugular vein, spilling the child's blood across the corroded copper floor. Maybe a healthy child would have lasted those one or two seconds longer, but the days of imprisonment had taken their toll on this one. The only thing for the Harvester to do is commend the child's soul to his Lord.Sen-Jyu stares at the sudden swell of chaos, moving to join the melee against the goblin king. He looks... angry, if complete dispassion coupled with an agitated hum says anything about the spirit-blood.Ahoke turns and starts pulverizing the dented crown when she sees that her work with its wearer is complete, attacking the symbol of the creature's greed.Harvester does so, with a mix of faint regret and joy, "I commend thy spirit to speedy travels, that the Gardener may plant you within the Garden..."Ahoke straightens up, slightly winded, after smashing the crown. She glances over at the dead child, scowls, and then stalks over to the dragon. "This is all /your/ doing," she informs it, smashing with her club at one of the spears that is propping its mouth open.The spear splinters under Ahoke's assault, causing that side of the mouth to sag dangerously.Ahoke jumps back so that she is not speared by one of the still very sharp teeth as the mouth sags, instead of breaking the other spear, and then says, "Where are the other children? Outside, or in the dragon?"Sen-Jyu sheathes both of his swords and sits akimbo by the dead child, a mournful look in his expression. His hum lowers and drifts to a quiet, almost lullaby-ish melody, as if he were singing the boy to sleep.Harvester shouts out, "PRUKK! Come out now!"There is no answer.Sen-Jyu stays by the boy a while longer, Ichido-sama poking out of the sheath just enough to give a candle's glow about the two.Ahoke pants, her eyes still blazing her rage, which is only refueled every time she glances at the dead child and thanork. She strides across the room to where Harvester is, looking ready to kill anything that steps out of the shadows.In the far corner of the cave, Harvester finds a cage, scarcely large enough for the children inside it. The girl is curled in a tiny ball, seemingly catatonic. The boy merely stares at him, watching without speaking.Both children are filthy, their hair matted, their clothing torn.Ahoke stops when she sees the children, and backs off, leaving comforting to those that have more honeyed tongues than she.Harvester breaks apart the bonds holding the cage closed, "Come children!" he speaks softly, mustering all the charm and soothing tones he is able. "Let us take you home now...""Where's Dorik?" demands the boy.Harvester says, "What did he look like, child?"The boy says, "The king man came and took him just now."Sen-Jyu scoops up the dead boy in his arms, cradling him close while he continues to hum. His eyes are moist as he stands, swaying slightly in place.Harvester reaches into the cage for the girl, and scoops her up. He sings a little lullaby to her as he speaks with the boy. He speaks loudly enough for Sen-Jyu to hear, "The other boy is dead... I'm sorry. Those responsible journey now to my Lord's hands, and Dorik has been welcomed with joy...""Oh." The boy's voice is strangely calm.Harvester says, "What did they want with you, boy?"  Then to Ahoke. "Is there an easier way out, the way Akratt was fleeing?"The boy seems to consider that for a moment. "I don't know," he says. "They put us in a cage. And we heard voices. I think they were going to eat us.""The nightmares aren't over," says Sen-Jyu, mirroring the boy's own calm. "Whoever or whatever was causing them still exists." He looks to his companions, eyes like polished glass. "We are not finished here."Harvester nods to Sen-Jyu. "I know." He glances to the corpse. "Perhaps if we burn it?"Sen-Jyu shrugs. "Or enter it," he says flatly.Harvester lays the girl down, away from the blood and gore. "Remain here, children. I shall return for you." He nods to Sen-Jyu and walks to the dragon's mouth and steps in to peer down its throat, after propping it up with another spear.Ahoke moves over to stand next to the children. "Do what you have to do," she tells Harvester. "I'll make sure that no further harm comes to these."Harvester begins to remove his armor. "I cannot fit with this. Give me a moment."Sen-Jyu lays the third beside Ahoke as one might place a flower into a still pool of water. Then, both swords drawn, he moves to the mouth of the dragon. "Let me go in," he says.Harvester pauses, and continues removing armor. "Lead, Sen. I'll follow."Ahoke eyes the little boy (the living one.) "Has anyone else tried to rescue you?"The boy looks at his dead friend for a long while as Sen-jyu walks away."No."Ahoke nods to the boy. "What's your name? What's the girl's name?""Caleb. And Tana. Why did Dorik die?"Ahoke sighs, suddenly wishing that she was the one climbing down the dragon's throat, not answering difficult questions of children. "Because the thanork king killed him," she said, gesturing towards the blood paste several feet away, as if it should comfort the boy. "He paid for his crime, though."Sen-Jyu slowly vanishes down the dragon's gullet, in the manner of a meal being swallowed by a snake."Why did you let him kill Dorik?" asks the boy.More armor clatters to the ground as the Harvester strips off the heavy half-plate.Ahoke scowls. "We couldn't move fast enough," she says, not sounding pleased about it. "I wish we had been able to, though. How long has Tana been like this?""She's been real sick for a while."Ahoke looks down at the little girl. "How so?"The child looks up at her with the disdain reserved for particularly slow adults. "She doesn't move. She just lays there.""Almost done, Sen! This buckle got bent in the fight," Harvester calls.Ahoke frowns. "I'm sure that's not a good sign," she murmurs to herself, and crouches in front of the little girl. "You've had a real rough time of it, I know," she says, "And a lot of bad things have happened to you. I want you to try to think of what exactly happened right before she started acting like this."The boy shrugs. "She just started."Harvester dives into the mouth of the great dead beast as the last greave clatters to the ground. He leaves the unwieldy scythe behind and uses dagger and sickle to help pull himself through its gullet.* * * * *You force your way into the dragon's throat, feeling its greasy flesh, cold beneath your skin. You crawl on your belly, pushing yourself ever deeper. The air stinks of dust, of reptile, of death. You can feel your head pounding, as if a very angry Ahoke were hammering on it with a very large blunt instrument.Your blade scarcely illuminates the passage ahead, and it becomes more and more difficult to breathe as you block the only source of fresh air. You pray that somewhere up ahead this gullet widens.Sen-Jyu leads with Ichido-sama, not certain what he's to find down this once-living tunnel, but certain that he desires to end it. He keeps his breathing measured, and his progress steady....your prayers are answered. The blessed feeling of space around you as the gullet widens into the stomach - and you realize that the space is not lit only by your blade.A jagged, glowing crystal, sapphire blue, the size of a melon, sits atop a lump of congealed flesh."You," states Sen-Jyu to the crystal. "You are the thing that has been speaking to the people of the town in nightmare and hate. You. All this death, yours to answer for." Sen-Jyu stalks toward the crystal, swords and teeth bared. "Yours, the visions of oni and failure."The crystal flares blue as if in response. *And if I am? What will you do? What /can/ you do?* Its laughter echos in your mind. *Wouldn't it be better to keep me safe from your friends? I'm sure they wouldn't understand.*Its words make sense. Lots of sense. For a moment, you feel yourself agreeing, ready to turn and crawl out, to tell the others that there was nothing here but dead dragon.But you do not.Steeling himself, Sen-Jyu whispers, "I have felt your touch before. Your words are poison. Save you? You fear us. Perhaps you fear... this." The wakizashi is put away, and Ichido-sama put to the task. Gathering his will, Sen-Jyu prepares an iaijutsu strike against this thing of evil, his focus concentrated in the edge of his ancestors' blade.* * * * *Ahoke hehs, glancing up at the boy. "You don't lie very well, Caleb. Does it have anything to do with a crystal shard?"Caleb's eyes dart right and left. "I don't know anything about the shards!" he protests.Ahoke nods, seeming to accept his answer as confirmation to whatever suspicions that she has. "Who put the shard in? Do you know why?""I dunno! I dunno why they put it in her skull!""Calm down, I don't want to hurt either one of you, I want to help you. Ahoke rises to her feet, looking towards the dragon's mouth worriedly. "I wish they'd hurry up in there," she says. "What have the voices been saying to you?"They want me to serve the dragon."* * * * *Ichido-sama rings in your hands, numbing them as it connects with the crystal. The laughter of the stone rings in your mind as it stands unharmed. A quick inspection reveals that the blade is unharmed as well, but you suspect such treatment may not be good for it.Sen-Jyu sheathes Ichido-sama. "Even so. You fear us. You fear your own destruction at our hands. It is within our power."Harvester says, "Sen-Jyu... I have come..."Sen-Jyu turns to face the Harvester as the cleric enters the chamber of the dragon's belly. "The Harvester -- do not listen to its voice. We must destroy it. It was unharmed by my strike, but I am certain that it can be ended." He watches the Harvester carefully, even a little suspiciously.Harvester speaks softly, an almost feral grin on his face. "Wyrmcall's melodious tones may likely prove more than sufficient to destroy this... Recall, Sen, the vibrations within the shard i witnessed, when last it rang..."*Destroy me?* The voice speaks to both of you now. *You cannot slay me, for what is death to one who has conquered it?*Sen-Jyu grins at the priest, ignoring the voice. "Ah... yes. Your wisdom shows itself once again... I wonder how we can best transport it to the Wyrmcall?"*You will never succeed.*Harvester laughs aloud, delighted to answer. 'What know you of _Death_? My Lord awaits you... and you shall soon feel His welcoming touch..." He produces several small sacks and attempts to place one over the crystal globe. "Let us try these..."The crystal seems fused to the flesh beneath it.Sen-Jyu frowns. "Need some assistance, The Harvester?"Harvester murmurs, "If this works, Sen, you and Ahoke may need to keep the children away..." He frowns. "Can Ichido-sama slice the flesh below, to free it?"Sen-Jyu draws Ichido-sama to this new task, preparing yet another of his concentrated strikes against the portion of flesh to which the crystal is rooted.The crystal pulls slowly free, trailing meat like a shattered tooth. The stench of decay fills the belly even more strongly."Lead the way, The Harvester," says Sen-Jyu, indicating the throat of the beast.Harvester smiles toothily, and begins closing the sack about the orb, then placing it within two more, that it might not slice free. "I do not hear your taunts any longer...." He nods to Sen-Jyu, and leads the way out when able.* * * * *Ahoke nods. "Me too.""Do you?"From afar, Ahoke looks at the boy for a long moment, and then answers, "No. I serve Wolverine, who is jealous of me. Do you?" She tenses."No. He's a dumb ol' dragon and he got himself killed," the boy says confidently.Ahoke smiles. "That's right. Keep that in mind. You're going to have to be strong. Can you do that?""Okay. Why are we waiting here? I want to go home."Ahoke nods. "Home might not be...safe. Not just yet. We're trying to find out what we have to do to silence the dragon's voice once and for all. Everyone back where you live is being affected by it right now.""Oh.""We'll beat it, Caleb. Your people beat it once, and we'll do it again. Just wait a little while longer."Wriggling on their bellies through the throat of the corpse like maggots, Harvester and Sen-Jyu emerge from the dragon's mouth. The Harvester carries a sack.*You may take me anywhere you wish, but you will not destroy me.*Ahoke looks relieved when she sees the terrible two once more. "The little girl has a crystal shard in her skull," she says, by way of greeting. "Did you find anything in the stomach?""Just the origin of the voices," says Sen-Jyu to Ahoke. "Shall we be going, or do we wish to search the cavern further?"Harvester sets the sack down for but a moment, and gathers his armor. "We have found the source of the shards..and the voice. Guard the children, Ahoke, and keep them safe. Wyrmcall may cause them harm when we take this to Bellhold."</blockquote>

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