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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Altalazar" data-source="post: 3731802" data-attributes="member: 939">Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Forty – Additional Help Arrives      When my eyes opened, my valkries had not yet arrived, but more ogre magi certainly had.  Three came through the window, being mostly sliced and diced by Marcus’ whirring blades.  Three more came from each wall, magically passing through the formerly much more solid barriers between the rooms.  And then at least a half dozen more came from each side of the hallway outside of the room.      A moment later, my valkries did appear, flanking an ogre magi in the corner who had just run up to Higgins from the opposite wall.  Their blades of good and law sliced into the ogre magi again and again.  His claws slashed into Higgins, though they failed to penetrate his now stony skin.  Higgins, not wishing to risk the next claw, quickly sheathed himself in a displacing enchantment, making his visage hard to pin down for another strike.      I closed my eyes again and summoned more help, this time calling forth a huge ectoplasmic form on the other side of the passwall behind Higgins, to take care of the three ogre magi threatening my noble butler.  My huge ectoplasmic friend made short work of them, ripping the ogre magi to shreds one by one and tossing them aside like rag dolls.  None of them threatened Higgins again.  My two valkries slowly took down the ogre magi they flanked before turning their attention across the room, to where Nin and Larch were holding back the ogre magi horders.  From the sounds of battle in the hall, I knew Morwen and Ee had their hands full there as well.      Several times, the ogre magi would stop and bellow forth cones of the purest cold.  Were it not for Higgins’s protections, my companions would have been in deep freeze.  Instead, they barely felt the cold at all.  Which was fortunate, as these ogre magi seemed to be at least twice as tough as they ordinarly are, both in stamina and in thickness of hide.  They started to line up for multiple blasts of cold on almost everyone in the room.  Thinking quickly, I ran forward, standing in the middle, at the nexus of their cones, then reached out my mind to grab the cones mid-flight and minimize their strength down to almost nothing.  The next instant, two more summoned friends appeared, of a type I’d never before called.  Cerebriliths, they are called, and they are foul and hideous beasts.  They are the yin to the Valkries’ yang.  Given our situation, I decided the time was ripe to call them to help us.  Evil to fight evil.  Unfortunately, they were not very effective.  Apparently evil isn’t all that great at killing itself.      Despite their large numbers, we whittled down the ogre magi one by one, until nearly 20 were taken off the field of battle, likely a full one third of their numbers.  We had nary a scratch, for the most part.  So the ogre magi, brave beasts that they were, began to flee.  Valaria took off after one of them, but soon lost track of him as he vanished from sight.  What cowards.      The battle thus concluded, we searched their lair and discovered magical trinkets of various sorts and nearly 30,000 gold coins.  We freed nearly 200 slaves and returned them all to Cauldron, where Morwen began to make arrangements for their well being (and lessons in our form of common).      Our last act in the valley was to seal off the “fountain of youth” and to burn the ogre magi fortress to the ground.  Let the cowards live in the smoking rubble and let them tend their own scorched crops.  My two agents among them will let me know where they resettle so we can deal with the rest of them later.  For now, we have a dragon to slay.      Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Forty-One – Ee’s mad, Nin’s bad, and Morwen’s sad    The old man was none too pleased to find out that the “fountain of youth” was a sick joke ogre magi used to torture and murder slaves.  He also did not pay us, as he had specified he wanted an elixir of youth before he would part with his gem.  Ee was none too pleased with this.      “You pay us.  Now.”      I tried to explain to Ee the clear terms of the contract as Morwen stood between Ee and the old man, her hand on Ee’s huge axe, still dripping with ogre magi blood.      Then Nin stepped forward, also seeking payment, and Morwen stepped to cover him as well.  Ee’s hackles raised up and he became enraged, his mouth frothing, staring the old man down.  The old man seemed unmoved by Ee’s efforts.  Either the old man is too far into senility to respond to such displays (or too close to death already to care) or else he harbours a deeper inner power.  In any case, we dissuaded Ee and Nin from killing the man.      I took him aside and offered to help him recover the 150,000 gold coins he had paid for the information leading to the “fountain of youth” as he had obviously been had.  The old man agreed to this for a 50% commission on our part.  Ee seemed to want no part of it.  I assumed Ee would come around later, after we dealt with the dragon.  I asked the old man to stay at my home while we went underneath the waves to deal with the dragon problem.      As we left, Ee shouted out to the old man, “Watch your back!”  Book XIX    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Forty-Two – Shopping for Dragon Slaying    For the day and a half we had left, we shopped for things we needed for the dragon slaying task.  Higgins picked up a few magical trinkets and charms he thought would be useful.  We all picked up crystals to add to our armor (or bracers) that would allow us the freedom to swim freely underwater and to breathe freely as well.      Thus equipped, we transported to Coral City, a city of at least 20,000 souls beneath the surface of the ocean many leagues to the south.      The city itself was wonderfully exotic, though I suppose it was no more exotic than the city of the Earth Elementals.  At least this time we did not wander into any sacred places.  As it turned out, the colors were actually less interesting than those in the plane of elemental earth.  The water must have sucked the color out of things.    Many merchants carried about great barrels of freshwater, apparently a drink for the well-off, as the more meager residents obtained moisture through the eating of whole fish.      I decided that it would be helpful to try one last time to estimate the size and age of this dragon we were to face.  I sought out someone who had actually seen the dragon, then asked to probe his mind to see for myself.  The man, like most, was squeamish about the idea of being probed, but then when I asked him to name his price, he said he would allow it for two pearls.  I figured pearls were easy to come by in this city.  Four pearls later, the merman let me into his mind (not that he could have resisted me had he tried).      I saw his vivid memory of a gargantuan black beast moving quickly past him in the water.  The scales glistened in the faint light beneath the water.  There was no doubt.  It was a black dragon.  And it was about as large as they come.  It was at least a Wyrm, if not a Great Wyrm.  Our investment in magic to help fight this beast was well-spent.  I only hope that it does not have a mate.  Though if it does, we can perhaps have a mate of our own to help deal with it.      Thus equipped, we headed out of the city and toward the forbidden zone, seeking the dragon’s lair.  To satisfy Ee, it was made clear that we only got paid if the dragon never bothers them again.  This meant that we did not necessarily need to kill it.  But somehow I doubted negotiations were likely to get us very far.  One thing that was interesting to note was that our employer mentioned that the dragon may have been there for quite some time, but only started molesting the city denizens recently.  I wonder what had changed its habits.  Perhaps it was to impress a new mate?      Also made clear was that we were to return their egg-gem intact or else we would not get half of the promised reward.  This was also made very clear to Ee, though I somehow doubt a raging barbarian makes such contractual distinctions.      We soon found the entrance to the cave and, after a brief casting of magic by Higgins and others, we headed forth into the depths of the dragon’s lair.</blockquote>

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