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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 7326744" data-attributes="member: 9546">12 Sarenith, 4718 - Greed“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Kelvin asked, exasperated. “We’re talking about the horde of one of the most powerful dragons in the world!” Tardaesha threw up her hands. “That is currently somewhere in the middle of the ocean,” Kelvin explained again for the hundredth time, “which makes it very difficult for vampires...us...to reach.”“Hence, my plan,” Tardaesha grinned. “Fine,” Kelvin covered his eyes with one hand as he dropped heavily into a chair. He wondered if it was possible for a vampire to have a headache. “Explain it to me again.”_______________________________________________________________Tardaesha had procured a scroll which allowed her to find the most direct path to a certain place or item. With this, and mounted atop Jeratheon, she had flown out over the sea until the spell indicated that the object she was looking for, a certain black orb that Jeratheon had described to her in painstaking detail, was directly beneath her...some five-hundred feet beneath the surface. ‘Found it,’ she sent her thought through the telepathic link Kelvin had established between them. ‘Come to my location.’A moment later, Kelvin and the others appeared in the air around her, teleported via Kelvin’s and Drax’s magic from Chargammon’s island. “It’s down there,” Tardaesha indicated the waves below them.“That’s all well and good for y’all who ain’t gotta breathe no more,” Lemmy snapped, “but what about the rest of us?”“Not to worry, my sad little mortal friend,” Kelvin smiled. “I have a spell that will allow you to breathe water...temporarily.”Once all preparations had been made, the companions dove into the briny depths of the sea and into the murky darkness below. Down and down they went until they finally reached the sandy sea floor. A short distance away loomed a large cave opening in the side of a rocky outcropping. Several figures swam before the cave mouth, and as the Knot drew closer, they made out the forms of merfolk. “Leave this place!” Jeratheon bellowed, his voice booming through the water. “You will only be warned once!”The merfolk moved in unison, like a school of fish, and vanished into the darkness of the cave. “Looks like we’ll have to do this the hard way,” Tardaesha smiled, obviously relishing the possibility. When she, Dakota and Kelvin tried to pass over the threshold of the cave, however, they were physically repulsed as if they’d struck a solid barrier. “This again!” Dakota shouted. “Does every hole in the ground count as someone’s home??”“Wait here,” Roger said. “We’ll see what’s waiting inside.”“As if we have a choice,” Dakota snapped.The cave became a tunnel, which wound its way into the cliff for some distance before opening into an enormous cavern. The merfolk swam about the chamber, but several more hovered in the water before an enormous pile of treasure. Coiled upon the mound as if it were a throne was an immense dragon. A blue-green neck frill swept back from its head, leading to a body of shiny scales and fin-like crests.“Ah, the spawn of Chargammon,” the dragon rumbled, in a distinctly feminine voice as she noted Jeratheon. “Your sire was a worthy adversary while he lived, and out of respect for him, I offer you one chance to leave this place with your hide still intact.”“Who are you, thief, to issue such edicts to me?” Jeratheon roared. “You have stolen what rightfully belongs to me!”“I am Benthysara,” the brine dragon replied, “and ‘stolen’ is a harsh word. Your father departed and did not return. He left his lair and his horde unguarded. By dragon law, that makes it the property of whomever claims it.”“Dragon law also embraces survival of the fittest,” Jeratheon growled, his eyes blazing red.“So be it, “Benthysara nodded.One of the mermen near her abruptly transformed into a whirling vortex of water. As he did so, brilliant light emanated from him, momentarily dazzling Roger and Lemmy. Rubbing at his eyes, Roger seized Lemmy and Grumblejack by their arms and, using his magical boots, teleported them to the back of the cavern.“We need to subdue one of the merfolk,” he cried. “Take them outside to the others so that they can be invited in!”Before he could say anything further, however, Benthysara rushed towards him and seized him in her massive jaws. Her retainers focused their attention on Jeratheon. One of them hurled dark magic at him, intending to snuff out his life in an instant. The dragon was made of sterner stuff, and managed to shrug off the spell, though his hide still sizzled from the impact. Two more of the merfolk moved to flank him, but Jeratheon turned his full fury upon them, and managed to rend one of them to bloody shreds before he could move past. Grumblejack swung his sword flat-side out, and managed to strike a fleeing mermaid across the brow. She went limp, stunned. Lemmy grabbed her arm, then took Roger’s dangling hand as Benthysara jerked the big half-orc back and forth.“Let’s go!” Lemmy shouted to his friend Roger nodded and activated his boots again. The three of them vanished, leaving Grumblejack to face the enraged brine dragon alone. She launched herself at him with tooth and claw.Outside, just as Lemmy and Roger reappeared, Kelvin had managed to summon a water elemental of his own and send it into the cave to assist his companions. “Where are Grumblejack and Kat?” Kelvin asked Roger.“Still inside,” Roger panted, catching his breath from his bruised lungs. “Holding off a very big, very angry sea dragon.”“Is Jeratheon still alive?” Tardaesha asked.“He was last I saw him,” Roger nodded.“Brought you a present,” Lemmy said, presenting the unconscious mermaid. “Nice!” Dakota clapped her hands. “I’m not hungry just yet, though.”“You can eat her later,” Roger rolled his eyes. “For now, you need to wake her up and then get her to invite you inside.”Dakota pouted, but cast a simple healing spell nonetheless, and the mermaid’s eyes fluttered open.“Hello, pretty,” Taradaesha smiled down at her, her eyes going red and hypnotic. “We would like to go inside and have words with your mistress. Won’t you invite us in?”Kelvin’s gambit with his summoned elemental worked like a charm. The creature had entered the cavern and immediately set upon Benthysara, causing her to temporarily release her hold on Grumblejack. The distraction did not last long, however. Within seconds, the mighty brine dragon had dissipated the elemental and banished it back to its home plane. She whirled back to her prey just as Jeratheon dismembered one of her merman retainers. Benthysara opened her mouth and spewed forth a torrent of boiling water over the black dragon, catching Roger just as he reentered the cave. Jeratheon shrieked and recoiled, but not before breathing a spray of acid back at the brine dragon. The caustic wave washed over her, leaving her completely unscathed.“Did you think I had not planned for your father or one of his spawn to come looking for the horde?” Benthysara laughed. “Did you prepare for this?” Roger asked as he charged forward, blade bared. He smote her with unholy power, but as he did so, one of the merfolk priests smote him in return with a prayer to Besmara. Benthysara backed away from the anti-paladin before conjuring a huge, disembodied hand between her and him. The hand curled into a fist and struck Roger, driving him back several yards. From the shadows, Katarina darted forward, meaning to plunge her dagger into Benthysara’s flank, but the dragon spotted her and grabbed her up in one massive claw. She raised the struggling Kat towards her jaws, but before she could bite down, Kelvin cast a spell which abruptly caused Benthysara to vanish.“That won’t hold her for long!” Kelvin shouted. “She’s in a extradimensional maze, but she’s sure to find her way out soon!”The companions took the momentary respite to deal with the minions of the brine dragon. The two merfolk remaining were her priest and druid, and though they brought powerful magics to bear, they were outnumbered and outmatched. By the time Benthysara reappeared, all of her folk were dead in the water. She raged, but Jeratheon leaped upon her, ripping and tearing like a great cat. She fought back like a dervish against the smaller dragon, but then Tardaesha rushed to her mount’s side and the two of them finally put an end to her threat. ________________________________________________________________The combined hoard of Chargammon and Benthysara was...substantial, but there were two items that stood out in particular. One was an orb of purest black that Kelvin identified as a fabled Orb of Dragonkind. It was in fact the one used to control black dragons. Ironic that Chargammon would have such a thing. The orb was possessed of the spirit of an elder wyrm, and would grant great power to any who possessed it, but demanded strict adherence to its draconic code. After some debate, it was decided that Lemmy, who after all was a dwarf, and therefore inherently greedy, would take the artifact. The second item was far more sinister. It was a phylactery, such as one like a lich would craft. When Kelvin opened it, he immediately felt a violent intrusion into his mind, one that his alien, vampiric psyche immediately repulsed. Upon studying the item further, he determined that it was, in fact, a phylactery of the failed. Its crafter it had not succeeded in attaining lichedom, and had, as a result, had a part of their psyche forever trapped in the phylactery, struggling to find another soul to possess to ultimately attain its goal. The item had no real value, but Tardaesha insisted on keeping it. As she watched Lemmy gloat over his new trinket, an idea began to form in her mind.</blockquote>

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