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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 288063" data-attributes="member: 221">Chapter 7 – Dragon IsleThe traveled about a quarter of a mile back into the woods before they stopped and listened.  There was no sound of pursuit.  “Why are we not being followed?” asked Alairic.“They must have heard us,” said Niccolo, “We made enough noise back there at that pond.”As they caught their breath, wondering at the lack of pursuit, a reptillian head poked through the undergrowth about fifteen feet away and stared at them.   It was one of the crested bipedal lizards they had already seen with some frequency.  It sniffed the air and eyed them thoughtfully.  They could see its sharp teeth as it clacked its jaws.“Flesh-eaters,” said Alairic, “and I bet that little guy has a pack just waiting to gang up on us.”“Lizards do often hunt in packs,” agreed Niccolo.Another reptillian head appeared about ten feet away from the first.“Great,” muttered Alairic.“Let us be brave,” chided Tilliana, “and then why don’t we climb some trees in order to rest.”The others saw the sense of this and soon all four were scaling the trees around them.   Some of the trees were very large and apparently very old.  They made their way up with little difficulty.  Even Alairic in his heavy armor easily scaled high into the branches.  As they climbed a swarm of the reptilian creatures flocked around the base of the trees.  In particular they sniffed at the tree that Niccolo had climbed and growled up at the half-elf.“They smell blood,” said the half-elf, “Probably my blood.”They passed an uncomfortable night in the trees.  Though they were not bothered or attacked they heard many strange noises in the night.  There was scuttling movement at the base of the trees and the sound of things landing in the branches high overhead.  They even heard, deep into the night, a roar in the air from far above them and they shivered as they recalled the fact that a very old and powerful dragon was reputed to be making his home on the island.Morning came and with it healing.  Tilliana’s divine spells once more proved useful as she mended the badly injured Niccolo.  Soon the whole party was energized and ready to move on again.  They decided to head back towards the camp they had seen and find out why they had not been pursued.  Following this strategy they began working their way once more through the woods.  It was not long before Niccolo put up a warning hand.“I hear something,” said Niccolo.“Someone’s coming,” said Tilliana who had heard it too.They each drew out their weapons and began cautiously moving forward.  As they strained their ears they were aware of other voices through the trees.  Apparently whomever they had heard had heard them as well.  The two groups saw each other at a distance of fifty feet.  The other group was comprised of five men, all of them rather unsavory looking.  Their leader, a man with flame red hair barked out an order, “Get them!”  Then putting words to action he pulled back on the short bow he carried and let loose an arrow.  It flew straight into Niccolo.  The half-elf grunted from the impact.“That does it,” growled the infuriated half-elf, “stupid pirates.”  He pulled back on his bow and fired back at the red-headed bowman.  The arrow flew straight and swift.  It lodged deep in the man who shouted in pain.  Things began happening fast.  Tilliana was praying, filling herself and her allies with divine energy.  Alairic was running through the trees towards the five men.  The other attackers were firing crossbows.  One of the bolts struck Niccolo.  The red-headed man, pain clouding his vision, still managed to fire.  The arrow flew at Tilliana and grazed her.  Heidon let loose an arrow but his normally sure aim was off and it flew high.The battle shifted in tone as Alairic plowed into the group of pirates, forcing them into melee.  Alairic swung wildly and missed but his greatsword certainly gained their attention.  Two of the men were abandoning their crossbows and drawing out rapiers.  Seeing that his men outnumbered the Paladin four to one, the red-headed leader, to the left of the melee, fired one more shot.  It struck Tilliana as she ran through the trees to join Alairic.  “Aha!” cried the red-head triumphantly, but his cry was cut short as another arrow placed itself in his chest and he fell to the ground.“Aha!” said Niccolo.  Undeterred by the arrow wound, Tilliana continued forward, coming into the melee to the right of Alairic, her heavy sword cleaving into one of the men.  With hardly a sound the man crumbled to the ground.  Another of the men raised his rapier to strike at Tilliana but as he did so an arrow appeared like magic between his shoulder blades.  It had been fired by Heidon.  Surprised, the man grasped momentarily at the arrow and then fell to his knees, finally collapsing on his side, unmoving.  Niccolo tried to draw a bead on one of the two remaining pirates, but deciding that he could not, because of the cleric and the paladin being in the way, he pulled out his greatax and charged forward.  He needn’t have bothered.  Tilliana swung at one of the men, cutting him open.  Heidon, firing with precision, finished the man off with a single arrow.  Meanwhile, the remaining pirate, seeing all four of his comrades down on the ground, made a clumsy strike at Alairic and then turned to run.  Alairic cleaved him open even as he turned.The paladin contemplated his attack for a moment and then agonized, “I hope that was not striking him in the back.” “Search the bodies,” directed Tilliana taking charge, “Let’s see if we can find out who they are.”“I would say they were from that ship anchored south of the island,” said Niccolo.“Didn’t the captain say it could hold fifty men?” asked Alairic, trying to do the math in his head, “That would mean there are forty-five left.”Though they found no information, they did find some coins, gold coins.  There was also a surplus of weapons.  Niccolo examined the rapiers.  The red-headed leader had possessed the best equipment.  Heidon, admiring the armor the man was wearing, a fashionable studded leather outfit, decided to see if it fit.  Niccolo grabbed the man’s rapier, a quality bit of work.  Alairic and Tilliana were more interested in the two potions the man had worn on his belt.  They each took one.“I wonder what they do?” mused Tilliana.  Both potions appeared to be identical.  “The only way to know for sure is to sip them,” said the paladin.“I will sip mine,” said both Tilliana and Alairic at the same time.“I will do it,” said Tilliana and she took a sip.  As she tasted it, her eyes brightened and she swiftly chugged down the whole flask.  Her wounds began closing immediately.“A potion of healing,” she observed.Niccolo cleared his throat at the paladin.  Alairic did not seem to hear him.  “You know,” said Niccolo, “I’m over here bleeding from arrow wounds.”Reluctantly, Alairic handed the magical drink to the half-elf who quaffed it down.  “Much better,” said Niccolo with a smile.  Then grabbing one of the crossbows from one of the men, along with a supply of bolts, the half-elf indicated he was ready to go.  Heidon also grabbed some bolts and a crossbow and made to leave.  Alairic and Tilliana followed.  As they walked away they heard a noise in the undergrowth behind them.  Turning around, they saw that it was one of the crested lizards.  It sniffed at the bodies.  “Let’s go,” said Alairic.They soon reached the edge of the pond at which they had slain the three spined lizards.  The great carcasses were already well picked over.  “Likely our little lizard friends,” said Alairic.There were two other spined lizards, but they did not seem to like the smell of the carcasses and were well away from the party.  Looking across the pond and through the trees they could make out three tents.  Two were small, maybe holding up to five men.  The other however was quite large.“Sneak around there and see what you can see,” said Niccolo to Heidon.  The young man complied and slipped quietly around the pond, disappearing into the foliage.  Heidon moved around until he had crossed the small stream south of the pond and was about 75 yards away from the middle of the encampment.  In the middle of the three tents was a small fire and two men were standing by it.  Heidon could see no others.  “Is he going to give us a signal?” asked Niccolo softly.“I can’t see him,” said Alairic.“Let’s just move on after him,” suggested Tilliana and the three started their own quiet progression around the pond.  They moved close enough to  see the camp and were a bit startled to see Heidon walking boldly out of the woods and towards the two men.  Men that were, Niccolo concluded, obviously pirates.  It seemed as if Heidon wanted to talk with them.Whatever Heidon’s plan had been, it did not work.  “Halt!” ordered the two men, raising their crossbows on the young archer.  “Who are you?  Drop your Weapons!” they barked.  “Oops,” said Heidon, rolling his eyes and doing as he was told.  He laid his longbow, his longsword and his ax on the ground.“That was dumb,” muttered Alairic.“Listen,” said Tilliana, “If we just take courage, Naemae will give us the victory.  We cannot lose if we are brave and fight valiantly.”“Right,” said Alairic.  With a yell he took off towards the men, followed by Tilliana.  Niccolo smiled and fired off an arrow.  It flew wide.  Alerted, the two men, who had been about to take the rest of Heidon's stuff from him shouted out and fired their crossbows at Alairic.  One bolt struck the paladin, a slight wound that did not even slow Alairic down.  Niccolo fired again and this time the shot was on the mark.  It flew into one of the two pirates and he fell to the ground.  Heidon, sensing a chance to do something, pulled out a dagger and plunged it towards the man next to him, the man twisted away and then just had the wit to move out of the way as Alairic’s sword plunged down at him.  Dropping his crossbow and pulling out his rapier, the pirate barely managed to parry Tilliana’s swing as she too closed in on the man.  But he was not to be outnumbered for long.  Two other men stepped out of the large tent and there was the obvious sound of movement in one of the smaller tents.  Heidon moved into a better position and stabbed with his dagger again at the surrounded pirate.  He missed but the distraction was enough that Alairic got in a solid swing, badly wounding the man.  The two pirates stepping out of the tent yelled loudly and rushed at Tilliana and Heidon.  One of them cut into Tilliana with his thin blade and the other managed to get a slice of Heidon.  It was then that Niccolo charged into battle.  Wielding the greatax, which he had become so fond of, the half-elf headed straight at the pirate fighting with Tilliana and brought the ax blade down with a sickening crunch on the man’s skull.  Tilliana, quickly adjusting to this turn of events, altered her swing in order to bring her blade around at the pirate attacking Heidon.  She missed but she distracted the man away from Heidon who managed to plunge his dagger into the other pirate.  As the pirate before him fell, stricken by Heidon’s dagger, Alairic charged at the remaining man and with a powerful swing of his sword cut him in two.  Four pirates lay dead.  But the four companions had no time to savor victory for the fight was not over.  Four more men stepped out from one of the smaller tents.  They were still making slight adjustments to their armor, but each held a rapier and each looked like they meant business.  Niccolo wasted no time on pleasantries but charged straight into his hated enemies.  A single stroke of the heavy axe head and a pirate fell to the ground lifeless.“I love this ax,”  said Niccolo grinning.Tilliana and Alairic both charged into the fight, Alairic’s greatsword felling another of the men.  Heidon meanwhile was picking up the weapons he had tossed to the ground.  Niccolo dodged the stroke of one of the rapiers and then with a powerful swing, cleaved the attacker in two.  Tilliana took care of the last pirate, her sword cutting open his throat.  He, like his companions, fell to the ground dying.They heard no other sound.  The fight, it appeared, was over.  Now that they had the time, they surveyed the camp a little better.  The clearing was not a natural one.  Several trees had been cut down to make it.  They also saw, on the cliff wall, a rope ladder stretching all the way to the top.  As their eyes followed the ladder up, they saw as well, that there was a lift at the top of the cliff, held up with pulleys and rope.  “Shall we examine the bodies?” asked Niccolo, moving to do so.“We check the tents first,” said Tilliana.They looked first in the two smaller tents, but there was nothing in them but bedrolls.  They went to look in the larger tent.  As they walked in and their eyes adjusted, they were shocked.  Kneeling on the ground in three rows, all of them tied, were thirty people, men and women alike.  As these unfortunates took in the four companions and especially noted the outfits of Tilliana and Alairic, their countenance brightened.“Are you here to rescue us?  Did you kill the pirates?  Who are you?”  All of the people asked at once in a chorus of voices.  Tilliana looked over the group.“Is Giovan here?”“No he’s not here.  Are you going to untie us now?  Please!” Again all of them were talking at once.  The four moved to begin untying the group of prisoners.  “Do you even know who Giovan is?” asked Tilliana“Of course he is the priest from Taesoo, but he was not with us.”“I’m so glad you have come.”“They were going to feed us to the dragon they said.” After a bit, one of the men in the group grabbed the lead.“I am Tiolo,” he said, “We have all been captured and brought here.  Each day they took two of us away, up the mountain.  There are ten men in this camp, two of them are away at the moment, escorting two of our number up to feed the dragon they said.”“Can you fight?” asked Niccolo.Tiolo grinned, “Several of us can fight.  Do you have weapons?”“There are eight bodies outside,” said TillianaWithout a further word, several of the men from the group went out and began arming themselves from the fallen pirates.“Have you eaten?” asked Tilliana, giving thought to the physical needs of the rescuers.“They have not been starving us.”  Looking over the crowd, Tilliana saw that though many were bruised and had cuts, none were in bad shape.  Nevertheless, seeing that there were supplies in the tent, she proceeded to make a meal for them.As they ate, Alairic ran it over in his mind.  “We killed five in the forest and eight here which is more then ten which means that at times there were more then ten in this camp.”Meanwhile Tilliana and Niccolo discussed their plans.  “I think we should proceed straight up the mountain now,” said Tilliana.“Do we want to leave a group of pirates with their ship though?” asked Niccolo“Straight up the mountian?  Why?” said one woman who had been listening in, “Did you not come here for the purpose of saving us?”   “Well, we are glad we found you,” said Tilliana, “It was obviously Naemae’s will that we do so.  But Naemae has other jobs for us as well and we must do them.  For your part you should praise Naemae for letting you be saved.”“If I may make a suggestion,” said Tiolo, “Even if you have to go up the mountain, I would suggest you take the ship first so you do not have pirates above and below you.  We can help you with the ship.  But I would also suggest that we first take care of the two that should be returning to this camp tonight.  We do not want them to raise an alarm when they discover no-one in the camp.”“That makes sense,” said Alairic.“Why can’t we just take the ship and leave?”  This from the woman who had originally intruded into the conversation.“There is a temple up that mountain and we have to go up and find it,” said Niccolo.“I have had a vision,” said Alairic proudly.“But we can take the ship now,” said Niccolo.There was some confusion as they prepared themselves to wait for the two pirates to return.  It was agreed that two men, dressed in the armor of the dead pirates should stand by the fire while the others hid in the large tent.  But the men could not decide which should stand the guard.  Eventually Tilliana sorted them out.  “You and you, outside.  They rest of you inside.”The day passed slowly but eventually the sun began to lower.  As it was setting, the group waiting in the tent heard the whispered voices of the guards, “They are coming.”The four companions looked cautiously out of the tent flap.  The lift was slowly being lowered down the face of the cliff.  The waiting companions made no move however and waited to see how close the two on the lift would get.  The lift reached the ground and the two men on it disembarked and started back towards the camp.  Still the watchers waited.When they were about a hundred feet away, the two men stopped.  Something had evidently aroused their suspicion.“Who’s on watch,” they called.There was the sound of two crossbows being cocked and the two men by the fire whirled around and fired at the two pirates.  With a cry Alairic was through the tent flap and running at the men.  Tilliana smiled and followed.  One of the crossbow bolts struck one of the pirates and the two pirates, afraid, turned to run back to the lift.  Alairic and Tilliana gave chase.  Heidon shot a harmless bolt after the two pirates and Niccolo holding his longbow, joined the chase.  The pirates had reached the lift.  One of them was turning a crank to lift the platform and the other was cocking a crossbow.  He fired the crossbow at Alairic and the paladin spun from the impact as the bolt sank into him.  Despite the pain of the bolt, Alairic once more ran at the lift and though it was now five feet into the air, he made a great leap and rolled onto the lift.  The one with a crossbow, cocked it again and prepared to shoot Alairic point blank.  He never had the chance for an arrow from Niccolo slammed into him.  He twitched once and then fell still.  Alairic rose to his feet, but the pirate who had been turning the crank lowered his shoulder and ran at the paladin, knocking him back and off the wooden lift.  Then as crossbow bolts bounced off the cliff face behind him, the man tried once more to start turning the crank.  Alairic once more leaped up and pulled himself onto the platform.  Tilliana, short as she was and as heavily armored as she was, was also trying to pull herself on.  Niccolo, seeing he had no clear shot pulled out his great ax and ran at the platform to join the fray.  Alairic pulled himself to his feet.  But he had no chance to attack.  The pirate had drawn his rapier and with a cry he lunged at Alairic, skewering him.  The paladin collapsed, dying.  Niccolo, pulling himself aboard, swung his ax, missing and causing the platform to begin to sway more than it already was.  A bolt flew into the man.  Heidon had finally had a clear shot and made good with it.  With a grunt the pirate lunged at Niccolo with his rapier, drawing blood.  Tilliana, now finally on her feet on the swinging platform swung true and cleaved into the man.  As the pirate stumbled backwards, another bolt found its mark and the man fell to the ground.  Quickly Tilliana was at Alairic’s side.  She uttered a swift prayer and though he was stil badly injured, the paladin regained consciousness.  They turned the crank and lowered the platform back onto the ground and then Tilliana and Niccolo helped Alairic back to the tents.</blockquote>

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