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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 7222207" data-attributes="member: 9546">10 Gozran, 4718 - The Wrath of EiramanthusAs the companions of the Ninth Knot ascended the tower, they passed through two floors which were essentially large open rooms. The walls of these levels were adorned in ornate frescoes which seemed to tell some sort of history. On the second floor these paintings depicted a six-armed warrior goddess leading armies of hobgoblins into battle against peaceful nations. After the conquest, the frescoes turned to recording the countless atrocities committed by her words and deeds. On the third floor the story continued, showing the same six-armed conquering queen meeting a great dragon upon the field of battle. The dragon defeated her, but rather than slay her, took her across the world to show her her many crimes and their repercussions. Then the dragon took her away and showed her worlds without number and the countless wonders therein. The six-armed warrior goddess wept with the realization of the evil she had done. Finally, on the fourth floor of the pagoda, the tale concluded. The last frescoes illustrated the queen and the dragon entangled in scenes of gentle intimacy amidst a garden of crystal. These frescoes, however, were the last thing the companions noticed, for Shakti herself sats cross-legged in the center of the room, a great six-armed sublime ogress in a meditative pose. Attending her was a tiger-headed creature dressed in copper colored robes decorated with the insignia of a dragon.  “Ah, guests!” Shakti said, smiling mirthlessly. “And uninvited ones at that. That means you are either thieves or dragon hunters. Tell me, friends, which one is it today?”“We are actually recruiters,” Dakota said cheerfully. “We saw all of your exploits on the walls below, and we think you would make an excellent addition to our cause. Before you say no, you should be aware that your sister concubines did not fare so well when they treated us rudely.”“You murdered them,” the tiger-headed creature said coldly. “You murdered my beloveds to get to me. Bastards! Monstrosities! You wish to fight a dragon, eh? Then a fight you shall have!”The creature began to transform and enlarge before their astonished eyes until, in the space of three heartbeats, a huge, copper-scaled dragon filled most of the room.Before the Knot could react, Eiramanthus opened his jaws wide and spewed forth a cloud of green, noxious vapor. As it settled over Roger and Grumblejack, the two of them felt their muscles become sluggish, and their movements slow. Grumblejack drew back, involuntarily trembling before the wrath of the might dragon. Behind Eiramanthus, Shakti rose gracefully to her feet. Her six arms began to dance and weave, and then a column of white fire erupted around Tardaesha, Lemmy and Roger. Roger howled in pain, but forced himself to move. Clutching Helbrand clumsily, he launched himself at Eiramanthus and buried the blade in the dragon’s foreleg. The dragon flinched back, snarling and snapping. Shakti stepped in front of him and thrust all six of her hands forward. The force of another spell struck Tardaesha, who was coming up behind Roger, and left her stunned and reeling. Eiramanthus shook Roger loose and then rained down a barrage of claws, bites, wing buffets and tail slaps upon the anti-paladin. Just as it looked as if Roger would be torn to pieces, Kelvin quickly conjured a sirocco of desert-hot wind and sand around the dragon. Eiramanthus roared as his tongue lolled out of his mouth, fatigued by the storm. “Stand back!” Shakti commanded. She hurled a fireball towards the knot, but Kelvin threw up a wall of force at the last moment between the ogress and his comrades, effectively separating her from her lover as well. Instead, the flames blew back upon her. Behind her, Roger struggled to raise his sword again and struck weakly at Eiramanthus. The mighty dragon ignored the blow. Instead he used his own magic to dispel the sirocco and then, almost casually, turned and clamped his jaws down on Roger’s chest. With a groan, the half-orc fell limply to the floor. A growl from his flank drew Eiramanthus’ attention, and as he whirled, he saw Grumblejack rushing towards him. The dragon pounced like a great cat and landed on the ogre, mauling him viciously. Dakota cursed in frustration as she took the oathbow out of its sheath and knocked an arrow.“Death to those who have wronged me!" she shouted.Her arrow flew and struck the shoulder of Eiramanthus. He roared and bit at the shaft like a wounded animal. Shakti watched in horror from behind Kelvin’s force wall. Placing all six of her palms together, she concentrated. In an instant she teleported beyond the wall, but just as quickly Kelvin threw up another, keeping her from her mate. Fury blazed in her eyes, but just as she prepared to teleport again, Katarina moved silently up behind her and sank a dagger into the ogress’s back. She staggered, and then Dakota peppered her with a volley of arrows. Her iron-like skin shrugged off most of the damage, since she had not been the object of Dakota’s oath. Shakti moved towards Dakota, but then Lemmy slashed at her from behind, his kinetic blade biting deep into her flesh. Snarling, Shakti cast another spell and vanished again. This time she did manage to reach Eiramanthus…just as Knick-Knack darted in and teleported Grumblejack away from the dragon’s wrath. Kelvin used the chaos as an opportunity to drag Roger into the stairwell. Dakota rushed to them and quickly cast a healing spell on the anti-paladin. His eyes flickered open but it was obvious that he was in no condition to rejoin the fight. At that same moment, beyond the force walls, Shakti took the momentary respite to tend to the worst of Eiramanthus’s wounds. Then, before their adversaries could recover any further, she used her magic to transport Eiramanthus and herself right to them. The dragon roared and seized Grumblejack in his mouth, shaking the half-ogre back and forth like a rag doll before dropping him limply to the ground. Kelvin responded by hurling an exploding ball of ice at the dragon and his consort. Tardaesha, having finally regained her senses, charged in, slashing at Eiramanthus’s copper hide while Dakota provided covering fire from behind. Shakti again reached out to heal the dragon’s wounds, but Eiramanthus was unfortunately already in the process of casting his own spell. The area around him exploded in a brilliant blast of fine, glittering dust. It settled over everything and everyone nearby, revealing Kat’s hiding spot, but also temporarily blinding Shakti in the process. She cried out, covering her eyes and stumbling away from her consort. Tardaesha was still a bit groggy, but she knew an opportunity when she saw one. She slashed at Eiramanthus again, but then pulled back and spoke a prayer. Pointing at each of her companions in turn, she used her magic to imbue them with her own unholy power, enabling them to smite the agents of goodness as she could. “Strike now!” Tardaesha commanded.Dakota fired immediately, only to discover that her sister’s boon didn’t help with her bow. She would have to get in more up close and personal. Katarina leaped at the still-blinded Shakti and plunged her dagger into the ogress’s back, channelling the unholy energy as she did so. Lemmy followed that up with an evil-infused telekinetic blast. Eiramanthus bellowed in blind rage and struck out at Kat, sending her rolling across the floor. From the stairwell, Roger climbed painfully back to his feet. He held out his pentacle of Asmodeus and sent its power out in waves that washed over both Shakti and Eiramanthus. Unfortunately, Kat was also caught in the effect as she tumbled past. “Sorry,” Roger mumbled.Drawing his sword, he staggered across the room towards Shakti. Her vision was clearing and she backhanded him as he approached, but he still managed to graze her with his swing. Behind her, Kat rolled quickly to her feet and leaped on Shakti’s back, plunging her dagger down again and again. Finally the last consort fell. Eiramanthus wailed and rose to his full height, wings spread and jaws gaping as he prepared to drench them all in flames. Tardaesha thrust her blade up into his breast, and Dakota loosed a final volley of arrows. The mighty copper dragon sagged and fell heavily to his side. He heaved one last breath and then was still.________________________________________________________________After Kelvin unceremoniously ripped a patch of hid from the corpse of Eiramanthus, he cast a spell upon it meant to direct him to the dragon’s horde.“I know Chargammon said to destroy everything,” he said after completing the ritual, “but what he doesn’t know will make us rich!”Once Dakota had revived Grumblejack and healed the worse of Roger’s wounds,the divination led the companions to the the great, three-level tower of white stone that rose from a crystal garden in the center of the island. A single, massive, heavy wooden door stood closed on one side. Above it was carved a poetic inscription:“Would I trade three kings' crowns  for the Dark earth of her wilds? Would I trade war's red renown  for Even one of her smiles? Would I trade five thousand ships  For her vast sea white with foam? Would I trade a thousand worlds  for a fine day spent at home?”The door was unlocked and not barred. Beyond, the entire first floor was taken up by an enormous chessboard, the pieces of which looked meant to be used by giants. The companions moved cautiously into the room, obviously suspecting some sort of trap. “There are three queens,” Roger said after several moments.Kelvin looked at him with raised eyebrows.“You are a devotee of the game of kings??” he asked in disbelief.“I may have been sired by orcs,” Roger grinned, “but I wasn’t raised by them. I was taught to play as a lesson in tactics. There is not supposed to be a red queen on the board.”“It must be a riddle of some sort,” Kelvin sighed. “Dragons do love their games. Perhaps the clue is in the poem.”He returned to the door and reread the inscription.“Each of the first three lines,” he observed, “contains a number, a color and one oddly capitalized letter.”“Black, white and red,” Roger nodded. “The colors of the queens. That must mean that the numbers and capitalized letters are squares on the board. Observe.”He walked to the black queen and touched it. As he did so, it floated several inches into the air. He pushed it effortlessly over to another square and touched it again, causing it to settle.“3D,” he said.He repeated the process with the other two queens, assigning them to squares which he stated were 1E for the red queen and 5F for the white. As the last queen settled, the chessboard simply melted away, revealing a descending spiral staircase. The stairs gave way to a massive underground vault filled with a horde to beggar all others. “Now this is worth killin’ a dragon for!” Lemmy crowed, diving head-first into a pile of coins.There were three chests full of fine silverware labelled, “For Lunaria, my princess of the moon. ” These items all had a lunar motif and were of purest silver. There was a magical bag that opened into a space the size of a large room. A flying broom was labelled with a tag that read, “Acquired from one E.L. Phaba, W .W .o.t.W ., after she threatened to ‘send her flying monkeys after me.'” Other items included a small golden idol of a fat demonic or infernal figure of uncertain origin with two ruby eyes; a platinum statuette of a running horse that when tossed into the air would orbit the owner’s head and grant him or her great skill in riding; a large collection of one thousand different gold pieces from across the planes, no two alike; a beautiful and intricate rug made of silk and gold wire covered in arabesque motifs; a rod that extended the duration of a caster’s spells and which resembled a fine black ebony wood walking stick with a silver cobra head; a spice cabinet imbued with magic that prevented stored food from spoiling, filled with over a hundred pounds of exotic spices; a single massive mammoth tusk made of unblemished ivory; a golden sextant in a lacquer case easily fifty or sixty years ahead of current technology; an enchanted ring made of mithral with two green jade studs on either sides that, when squeezed, would cause the wearer to blink in and out of existence; a heavy steel shield that was solid black at first, but when wielded, formed any device desired upon the black field by the bearer and granted a degree of invulnerability; a chest full of finely made board games from a dozen worlds and different eras; six potions wrapped and contained in a belt pouch with a note that read: “Drink for hope.”; a vicious looking helm made from a human skull which featured jagged iron horns; a heavy wooden wine rack with a sign that read, “Medicinal Liquor Only,” and which contained 100 bottles of rare brandies, whiskies and other liquors from across the planes; a large block of obsidian that, though it radiated magic, seemed to be of no real worth; a life-size bronze statue of an elegant nude female elf; and a box full of skulls, including those of a chimera, manticore, wyvern, aboleth, river drake, cyclops, hill giant, and warg as well as other less identifiable bones. As Roger looked over the horde with his comrades, he felt a strong pull in his mind from Helbrand. His eyes were drawn to a satin pillow upon which rested a ruby sword pommel. The pommel screwed easily into place and the blade immediately whispered, “Complete me and I will serve thee.” Finally amidst the valuables there was a strange item – a crystalline vessel containing a floating skull. It was Roger who found this as well, and as he picked up the vessel, two points of crimson light flared within the eye sockets of the skull.“Free me,” it whispered with a hideous hiss. “I will grant thee immortality, if you will but free me.”</blockquote>

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