shilsen
Adventurer
This is a very interesting day for Shalash and Ofarrn. The twin brothers are doing what they do on most afternoons, lazily riding the thermals high above the Vast. It is Shalash who first spots the intruders flashing over the edge of the precipice more than a dozen miles away, which descends to Totem Beach. Making a slow roll, he cranes his serpentine neck to look in their direction, before signaling to Ofarrn. “Humans – I think! And from beyond the Great Barrier. Let’s have some fun.”
“What are they riding?” says Ofarrn, frowning at the sight. “They’re almost as fast as us.”
“Almost,” scoffs Shalash. “We can catch them easily enough.” As he speaks, he sees the intruders descending to the ground, and grins a draconic smile. “Even better! Now come on. You know the law about intruders. Time for them to learn this is Argonnessen.”
“I assume they already know,” says Ofarrn, rolling his eye, but he adds, “Very well. But let us do this intelligently. Put up a few protections. And go invisible.” Knowing his twin, he quickly adds, “It’ll be an even bigger surprise for them.”
“All right,” says Shalash and speaks a string of words. The sun flashes one last time on the red scales of his flank and then he disappears from view. Ofarrn, naturally, can still sense exactly where he is, and he follows suit, flying parallel to and fifty feet from his brother.
“Let’s do this.” Both dragons raise and bring down their wings simultaneously, with a sense of urgency which is far from their lazy efforts of the preceding moments. As they shoot forward and downwards, their angle of descent increases their speed to tremendous levels, and in seconds they are traveling at nearly a hundred miles an hour. Even when they switch to horizontal flight, only fifty feet above the ground of the Vast, they are covering a hundred feet a second. Their targets, riding unwarily on the strange mounts, have absolutely no idea what is coming their way until it is too late.
Having studied the riders carefully, Ofarrn picks the muscular orc riding slightly to the right of the group, considering that his lack of armor makes him a preferable target. The more reckless Shalash goes after a figure on the opposite side which is apparently a construct of some kind, its body constructed of metal and wood and stone, curious to discover what it is, even if it be by the expedient of rending it apart.
Completely aware of each other’s unseen presence, the brothers soar down together, only appearing as they snap up their prey. Shocked and surprised cries ring out behind the dragons and the creatures in their mouths struggle vainly, blood – and some strange fluid from the construct – running out of their bodies as the huge teeth clamp down. And then things get much more interesting than the brothers had planned on.
While the huge dragons are built for incredible speed, maneuverability is not their forte. As Ofarrn concentrates on slowly angling upwards, almost absent-mindedly holding the orc in his jaws, he is surprised to feel the orc shout something in an unknown language and then hurl itself sideways with unexpected strength. Though the dragon is substantially stronger than the smaller creature, he is not expecting this powerful a response, and before he can clamp his jaws shut, the orc has wriggled free*. Shock replaces surprise as the orc grabs onto one of the horns on the side of Ofarrn’s head, and then amazement, as it then proceeds to kick him – albeit with little effect – in the side of the jaw.
Shalash too feels the construct attempt to break free, but he quickly clamps down. The teeth scrape against the creature’s metal body for a moment and then suddenly there is no resistance. Almost biting his own tongue in reaction and surprise, Shalash cranes his neck around. Fifty feet behind him, a swirl of shadows resolves itself into the construct, which rapidly retreats behind its allies. Io’s teeth! With an angry growl, Shalash bends his back in mid-flight, raises both wings and beats them like giant vertical sails, attempting to stop his forward motion.
Ofarrn doesn’t have to make the same decision. One of the men behind him casts a spell, and even though the accents are strange and some of the words used are a bastardized form of draconic, it is clear to the dragon what the spell is. And if it were not, the invisible barrier which he detects springing up before him would make it clear. Wall of …. Before he can complete the thought, Ofarrn smashes head-first into the wall of force, the impact causing the huge dragon to flatten painfully against it, before toppling over backwards. The grunt of pain from the orc at the impact doesn’t ameliorate Ofarrn’s mood at the indignity and he rises, spitting out a broken tooth and snarling with rising fury.
And these strangely resilient intruders are not done yet. The same spellcaster casts another swift spell, stripping away many of Ofarrn’s protections, while the woman riding near him does the same to Shalash. The latter snarls angrily and calls to his brother, “No more games!” Shalash turns in mid-air, the flapping of his giant wings not only keeping him hovering but raising a cloud of dust which hides him from the view of the enemies. And though it hides them from him too, it provides no protection from the blast of ravening flame that shoots out of the cloud.
Ofarrn, well outside the cloud himself, sees the woman and an armored man – whose only action thus far has been to shout something in a strange language and then to start glowing brightly – scorched by the flames, but both remain on their feet. The construct simply dodges the blast, while the male arcanist is untouched, some magical protection rendering him immune. A small frisson of worry begins appears in Ofarrn’s mind, but it is submerged under anger at the indignity of his encounter with the wall. Unlike his brother, he has a target close at hand, and rather than breathing flame, he leaps upon the orc before the smaller creature can recover from the fall.
A whirlwind of fangs, claws, and wings envelops the orc, ripping flesh to the bone, sending blood spraying across the ground. But to the attacker’s surprise, the creature somehow remains upright. With a frustrated snarl, Ofarrn pivots and brings his tail down like a giant sledgehammer, hammering the orc to the ground with the crunch of breaking bones. But again, there is a surprise for the dragons. Even as the apparent corpse drops, a yellow-green bubble of force appears to envelop it.
Shalash stares, recognizing the effect. A child of Eberron? But before he can say or do anything, more magical effects appear, these ones summoned by the arcanist and much more offensive than the cocoon. A huge earth elemental appears on either side of the dragon, each almost as large as him, giant fists swinging in with painful effect.
Another giant elemental, summoned by the woman, appears beside Ofarrn. As it does so, the glowing human flies forward into the cloud of dust raised by the hovering dragon’s wings, seemingly propelled by the falchion in his hands. As he reaches Ofarrn, the elemental lands a crunching blow to the dragon’s jaw. Taking advantage of the distraction, the human cries something and strikes. Flames of silvery light flash along the blade and it bites deep into Ofarrn’s shoulder.
The dragon roars and turns to his smaller antagonist. As the human lands, Ofarrn’s tremendous weight bears him to the ground. A mighty forelimb pins him down, and another lands on his outstretched right arm, huge claws piercing through the flesh and into the ground beneath. As he screams, held helpless by the dragon, Ofarrn’s neck snakes down and his fangs slash deep. The man screams again and then goes limp. For a second, Ofarrn thinks he is a corpse, but to his surprise, the body twitches faintly.**
Across the battlefield, Shalash shouts, “Ofarrn! We’re in trouble!” His brother quickly glances his way, seeing the blood on his lips and the broken and bloodied scales marring his sleek sides. Ofarrn snarls angrily, but he feels the sting of his own wounds too, especially as more spells strike him and his brother, even as the giant elementals continue to attack. He realizes this is a battle they cannot win. With a frustrated growl, he places a claw at the throat of the unconscious human beneath him and shouts to the other intruders, “Call off your creatures or this one dies!”
There is a second of anticipation, and then the arcanist commands the elementals to stop, while the woman does the same. Then the former says, in passable draconic, “We never wanted to fight you in the first place! Why did you attack us?”
Shalash carefully backs away from the elemental and towards his brother. “You are in Argonnessen. Intruders are forbidden.”
“We know, but we’re here for a good reason,” says the woman. “Do you know anything about seals?”
“Seals?”
“Yeah, dimensional seals. You guys know about that, right?”
“What?”
“Luna, stop confusing the dragons!” says the orc, having emerged completely healed from the cocoon and now going over to the unconscious human.
* * *
Gareth opens his eyes, feeling the after-glow of Korm’s heal as it knits his ravaged body back together. “Did we win?”
“Kinda. They used you to talk us out of killing them.” Korm helps Gareth to his feet. “And now Luna’s trying to …”
A short distance behind him, Luna is healing one of their recent foes and saying, “You’re a handsome red dragon!”
“….actually, I don’t want to know what she’s doing.”
“We have company,” warns Six, as a large blue dragon, smaller than the two reds, flies down. Spread out over the space of a mile behind it are half a dozen more dragons of various colors and sizes. As they arrive and land one by one, greeting each other, the Angels see there seems to be a complicated set of hierarchies and rank among them.
“What is going on here?” asks a huge green dragon. “Who are these intruders?”
“We come in peace,” says Nameless, and Korm cheerfully adds, “Yeah, don’t worry. We’re not here to kill you.” Six who has just used a scroll so that he can understand draconic, since none of the dragons speak the common tongue, says quietly, “Please stop trying to be helpful, Korm.”
Ignoring the Angels, some of the dragons begin to argue amongst each other about what to do with them. Another huge dragon, this one a bronze, suggests, “Why don’t we just eat them and be done with it?” The green looks at him with distaste. “Lendys’ Curse! You’ll eat anything!”
“No,” says the dragon who introduced himself as Shalash, “Nobody touches them. We said we’d spare them. Bruntutalephion will decide.”
“Actually, it wasn’t you sparing u…,” begins Korm, before Six slaps a hand over his mouth.
“Who’s Bruntu… Brunta …,” Luna asks.
“Bruntutalephion, the lord of our dominion,” says Ofarrn. “Him!”
The druid turns and looks up as the largest creature that she has ever seen drops out of the sky. The bronze dragon is absolutely gargantuan, over seventy-five feet from nose to tail-tip, with as large a wingspan. As it lands nearby, the ground actually shakes. The other dragons step back and all incline and lower their heads.
“Explain,” says the giant dragon.
Shalash and Ofarrn quickly explain what happened. The bronze listens silently and then looks at the Angels. “Why are you here?”
“We just need you to tell us how to make these Seals,” says Nameless.
The dragon looks at him for a couple of seconds and then says, “This needs more examination. Follow us.” He spreads his giant wings and takes to the air, the other dragons following one by one. The Angels quickly mount up and follow.
The strange cavalcade heads towards the towers in the distance. The gargantuan bronze named Bruntutalephion takes the lead, with the other dragons forming a rough V-shape with him at the apex, and the Angels on their phantom stags and steed in the center. It's evident that the dragons can actually surpass the magical mounts in speed, though not in maneuverability, and they have no problem keeping up.
As the miles roll away beneath them, the Angels now see more and more dragons. Besides the collection of giant towers they saw in the distance, there are many smaller ones dotted around the area, and dragons sit, walk and fly around them. Others soar lazily through the air, some so high that they are only glimpsed as they appear and disappear among the clouds. The newcomers and their escort draw the attention of many, who fly in their direction, though they keep a healthy distance and do not get in the way. Bruntutalephion ignores the onlookers and flies on, and many of the smaller dragons fall away after a while. Some of the larger ones remain, and others rise to watch ahead of them, so by the time the group nears the line of towers, there are nearly thirty dragons in their vicinity.
Six glances at Gareth, who is smiling from ear to ear. “Why so happy?”
“I’m not really sure,” says Gareth, “But I just love this! Who do we know who has flown with an escort of dragons?” He stares at the giant bodies moving through the air around them with an expression which combines both greed and lust. “They’re so attractive! I’ve heard of dragonscale armor being incredibly beautiful, and now I can see why that would be. I wonder if I could obtain some here.”
Korm, riding right behind him, says, “Just do me a favor and let me know when you’re about to ask a dragon if you can skin his cousin for a suit. Oh, and remind me to tell Lalia about your giant flying lizard fetish.”
The dragons, none of which seem to understand the common tongue the Angels speak, ignore their discussion. When they are just under a mile away, Bruntutalephion suddenly accelerates incredibly, both wings cracking down with the sound of a small thunderclap. The giant body arrows forward, leaving the Angels and their escorts behind, and in barely twenty seconds he is at the central and tallest of the towers. He hovers clumsily and then lands on the roof. Having done so, he places a clawed hand on a large orb embedded in the stone and then speaks. His voice, magically enhanced, booms across the area, easily heard more than a mile away. “All of you – return to your homes or your work! We have intruders that I need to speak to! You shall be informed afterwards!”
The dragons escorting the adventurers promptly veer away, as do the others who had been following. Bruntutalephion raises a claw in the direction of the Angels and booms, “You - follow me!” He casts a fly spell and uses it to drop adroitly off the roof, floating downwards until he reaches the third window from the top. He flies through it and into the chamber beyond.
When the Angels follow, they find themselves in a huge chamber, over eighty feet high and stretching nearly two hundred feet across. It is mostly bare, except for a strange series of stone structures which form most of a circle around the room. Though they vary in length from twenty feet to over fifty, each of them has a large flat area with four flowing grooves around the sides. One end of each structure rises up to a curved peak, also with a large groove in it, with each of the raised ends closer to the inside of the circle, making them look like a circle of extremely large stone seats with their backs to each other. The mostly featureless walls of the room have a few large dragonshards embedded in them, Nameless’ arcane sight revealing that most are heavily enchanted.
Bruntutalephion says, “Dismiss those creatures and seat yourselves,” as he strolls across to the largest of the stone structures. He steps over it so that he straddles it and then lowers himself into it. It instantly becomes clear how the seat works, allowing a dragon of the appropriate size to place its thick body in the flatter section, its legs resting in the grooves at the side, while the raised area neatly supports the base and lower part of its neck. Unfortunately, none of them are really well-suited to people of human size.
The gargantuan bronze wriggles into a comfortable position and then turns its flexible neck to study them minutely through giant green orbs, each twice as large as an adult human’s head. “Tell me now,” he rumbles, “Why are you here?”
* Yes, Korm beat an adult red dragon (one taking only a -10, due to the Multisnatch feat) in a grapple
** Somehow, whenever Gareth does something really bold, he always goes below -10.
“What are they riding?” says Ofarrn, frowning at the sight. “They’re almost as fast as us.”
“Almost,” scoffs Shalash. “We can catch them easily enough.” As he speaks, he sees the intruders descending to the ground, and grins a draconic smile. “Even better! Now come on. You know the law about intruders. Time for them to learn this is Argonnessen.”
“I assume they already know,” says Ofarrn, rolling his eye, but he adds, “Very well. But let us do this intelligently. Put up a few protections. And go invisible.” Knowing his twin, he quickly adds, “It’ll be an even bigger surprise for them.”
“All right,” says Shalash and speaks a string of words. The sun flashes one last time on the red scales of his flank and then he disappears from view. Ofarrn, naturally, can still sense exactly where he is, and he follows suit, flying parallel to and fifty feet from his brother.
“Let’s do this.” Both dragons raise and bring down their wings simultaneously, with a sense of urgency which is far from their lazy efforts of the preceding moments. As they shoot forward and downwards, their angle of descent increases their speed to tremendous levels, and in seconds they are traveling at nearly a hundred miles an hour. Even when they switch to horizontal flight, only fifty feet above the ground of the Vast, they are covering a hundred feet a second. Their targets, riding unwarily on the strange mounts, have absolutely no idea what is coming their way until it is too late.
Having studied the riders carefully, Ofarrn picks the muscular orc riding slightly to the right of the group, considering that his lack of armor makes him a preferable target. The more reckless Shalash goes after a figure on the opposite side which is apparently a construct of some kind, its body constructed of metal and wood and stone, curious to discover what it is, even if it be by the expedient of rending it apart.
Completely aware of each other’s unseen presence, the brothers soar down together, only appearing as they snap up their prey. Shocked and surprised cries ring out behind the dragons and the creatures in their mouths struggle vainly, blood – and some strange fluid from the construct – running out of their bodies as the huge teeth clamp down. And then things get much more interesting than the brothers had planned on.
While the huge dragons are built for incredible speed, maneuverability is not their forte. As Ofarrn concentrates on slowly angling upwards, almost absent-mindedly holding the orc in his jaws, he is surprised to feel the orc shout something in an unknown language and then hurl itself sideways with unexpected strength. Though the dragon is substantially stronger than the smaller creature, he is not expecting this powerful a response, and before he can clamp his jaws shut, the orc has wriggled free*. Shock replaces surprise as the orc grabs onto one of the horns on the side of Ofarrn’s head, and then amazement, as it then proceeds to kick him – albeit with little effect – in the side of the jaw.
Shalash too feels the construct attempt to break free, but he quickly clamps down. The teeth scrape against the creature’s metal body for a moment and then suddenly there is no resistance. Almost biting his own tongue in reaction and surprise, Shalash cranes his neck around. Fifty feet behind him, a swirl of shadows resolves itself into the construct, which rapidly retreats behind its allies. Io’s teeth! With an angry growl, Shalash bends his back in mid-flight, raises both wings and beats them like giant vertical sails, attempting to stop his forward motion.
Ofarrn doesn’t have to make the same decision. One of the men behind him casts a spell, and even though the accents are strange and some of the words used are a bastardized form of draconic, it is clear to the dragon what the spell is. And if it were not, the invisible barrier which he detects springing up before him would make it clear. Wall of …. Before he can complete the thought, Ofarrn smashes head-first into the wall of force, the impact causing the huge dragon to flatten painfully against it, before toppling over backwards. The grunt of pain from the orc at the impact doesn’t ameliorate Ofarrn’s mood at the indignity and he rises, spitting out a broken tooth and snarling with rising fury.
And these strangely resilient intruders are not done yet. The same spellcaster casts another swift spell, stripping away many of Ofarrn’s protections, while the woman riding near him does the same to Shalash. The latter snarls angrily and calls to his brother, “No more games!” Shalash turns in mid-air, the flapping of his giant wings not only keeping him hovering but raising a cloud of dust which hides him from the view of the enemies. And though it hides them from him too, it provides no protection from the blast of ravening flame that shoots out of the cloud.
Ofarrn, well outside the cloud himself, sees the woman and an armored man – whose only action thus far has been to shout something in a strange language and then to start glowing brightly – scorched by the flames, but both remain on their feet. The construct simply dodges the blast, while the male arcanist is untouched, some magical protection rendering him immune. A small frisson of worry begins appears in Ofarrn’s mind, but it is submerged under anger at the indignity of his encounter with the wall. Unlike his brother, he has a target close at hand, and rather than breathing flame, he leaps upon the orc before the smaller creature can recover from the fall.
A whirlwind of fangs, claws, and wings envelops the orc, ripping flesh to the bone, sending blood spraying across the ground. But to the attacker’s surprise, the creature somehow remains upright. With a frustrated snarl, Ofarrn pivots and brings his tail down like a giant sledgehammer, hammering the orc to the ground with the crunch of breaking bones. But again, there is a surprise for the dragons. Even as the apparent corpse drops, a yellow-green bubble of force appears to envelop it.
Shalash stares, recognizing the effect. A child of Eberron? But before he can say or do anything, more magical effects appear, these ones summoned by the arcanist and much more offensive than the cocoon. A huge earth elemental appears on either side of the dragon, each almost as large as him, giant fists swinging in with painful effect.
Another giant elemental, summoned by the woman, appears beside Ofarrn. As it does so, the glowing human flies forward into the cloud of dust raised by the hovering dragon’s wings, seemingly propelled by the falchion in his hands. As he reaches Ofarrn, the elemental lands a crunching blow to the dragon’s jaw. Taking advantage of the distraction, the human cries something and strikes. Flames of silvery light flash along the blade and it bites deep into Ofarrn’s shoulder.
The dragon roars and turns to his smaller antagonist. As the human lands, Ofarrn’s tremendous weight bears him to the ground. A mighty forelimb pins him down, and another lands on his outstretched right arm, huge claws piercing through the flesh and into the ground beneath. As he screams, held helpless by the dragon, Ofarrn’s neck snakes down and his fangs slash deep. The man screams again and then goes limp. For a second, Ofarrn thinks he is a corpse, but to his surprise, the body twitches faintly.**
Across the battlefield, Shalash shouts, “Ofarrn! We’re in trouble!” His brother quickly glances his way, seeing the blood on his lips and the broken and bloodied scales marring his sleek sides. Ofarrn snarls angrily, but he feels the sting of his own wounds too, especially as more spells strike him and his brother, even as the giant elementals continue to attack. He realizes this is a battle they cannot win. With a frustrated growl, he places a claw at the throat of the unconscious human beneath him and shouts to the other intruders, “Call off your creatures or this one dies!”
There is a second of anticipation, and then the arcanist commands the elementals to stop, while the woman does the same. Then the former says, in passable draconic, “We never wanted to fight you in the first place! Why did you attack us?”
Shalash carefully backs away from the elemental and towards his brother. “You are in Argonnessen. Intruders are forbidden.”
“We know, but we’re here for a good reason,” says the woman. “Do you know anything about seals?”
“Seals?”
“Yeah, dimensional seals. You guys know about that, right?”
“What?”
“Luna, stop confusing the dragons!” says the orc, having emerged completely healed from the cocoon and now going over to the unconscious human.
* * *
Gareth opens his eyes, feeling the after-glow of Korm’s heal as it knits his ravaged body back together. “Did we win?”
“Kinda. They used you to talk us out of killing them.” Korm helps Gareth to his feet. “And now Luna’s trying to …”
A short distance behind him, Luna is healing one of their recent foes and saying, “You’re a handsome red dragon!”
“….actually, I don’t want to know what she’s doing.”
“We have company,” warns Six, as a large blue dragon, smaller than the two reds, flies down. Spread out over the space of a mile behind it are half a dozen more dragons of various colors and sizes. As they arrive and land one by one, greeting each other, the Angels see there seems to be a complicated set of hierarchies and rank among them.
“What is going on here?” asks a huge green dragon. “Who are these intruders?”
“We come in peace,” says Nameless, and Korm cheerfully adds, “Yeah, don’t worry. We’re not here to kill you.” Six who has just used a scroll so that he can understand draconic, since none of the dragons speak the common tongue, says quietly, “Please stop trying to be helpful, Korm.”
Ignoring the Angels, some of the dragons begin to argue amongst each other about what to do with them. Another huge dragon, this one a bronze, suggests, “Why don’t we just eat them and be done with it?” The green looks at him with distaste. “Lendys’ Curse! You’ll eat anything!”
“No,” says the dragon who introduced himself as Shalash, “Nobody touches them. We said we’d spare them. Bruntutalephion will decide.”
“Actually, it wasn’t you sparing u…,” begins Korm, before Six slaps a hand over his mouth.
“Who’s Bruntu… Brunta …,” Luna asks.
“Bruntutalephion, the lord of our dominion,” says Ofarrn. “Him!”
The druid turns and looks up as the largest creature that she has ever seen drops out of the sky. The bronze dragon is absolutely gargantuan, over seventy-five feet from nose to tail-tip, with as large a wingspan. As it lands nearby, the ground actually shakes. The other dragons step back and all incline and lower their heads.
“Explain,” says the giant dragon.
Shalash and Ofarrn quickly explain what happened. The bronze listens silently and then looks at the Angels. “Why are you here?”
“We just need you to tell us how to make these Seals,” says Nameless.
The dragon looks at him for a couple of seconds and then says, “This needs more examination. Follow us.” He spreads his giant wings and takes to the air, the other dragons following one by one. The Angels quickly mount up and follow.
The strange cavalcade heads towards the towers in the distance. The gargantuan bronze named Bruntutalephion takes the lead, with the other dragons forming a rough V-shape with him at the apex, and the Angels on their phantom stags and steed in the center. It's evident that the dragons can actually surpass the magical mounts in speed, though not in maneuverability, and they have no problem keeping up.
As the miles roll away beneath them, the Angels now see more and more dragons. Besides the collection of giant towers they saw in the distance, there are many smaller ones dotted around the area, and dragons sit, walk and fly around them. Others soar lazily through the air, some so high that they are only glimpsed as they appear and disappear among the clouds. The newcomers and their escort draw the attention of many, who fly in their direction, though they keep a healthy distance and do not get in the way. Bruntutalephion ignores the onlookers and flies on, and many of the smaller dragons fall away after a while. Some of the larger ones remain, and others rise to watch ahead of them, so by the time the group nears the line of towers, there are nearly thirty dragons in their vicinity.
Six glances at Gareth, who is smiling from ear to ear. “Why so happy?”
“I’m not really sure,” says Gareth, “But I just love this! Who do we know who has flown with an escort of dragons?” He stares at the giant bodies moving through the air around them with an expression which combines both greed and lust. “They’re so attractive! I’ve heard of dragonscale armor being incredibly beautiful, and now I can see why that would be. I wonder if I could obtain some here.”
Korm, riding right behind him, says, “Just do me a favor and let me know when you’re about to ask a dragon if you can skin his cousin for a suit. Oh, and remind me to tell Lalia about your giant flying lizard fetish.”
The dragons, none of which seem to understand the common tongue the Angels speak, ignore their discussion. When they are just under a mile away, Bruntutalephion suddenly accelerates incredibly, both wings cracking down with the sound of a small thunderclap. The giant body arrows forward, leaving the Angels and their escorts behind, and in barely twenty seconds he is at the central and tallest of the towers. He hovers clumsily and then lands on the roof. Having done so, he places a clawed hand on a large orb embedded in the stone and then speaks. His voice, magically enhanced, booms across the area, easily heard more than a mile away. “All of you – return to your homes or your work! We have intruders that I need to speak to! You shall be informed afterwards!”
The dragons escorting the adventurers promptly veer away, as do the others who had been following. Bruntutalephion raises a claw in the direction of the Angels and booms, “You - follow me!” He casts a fly spell and uses it to drop adroitly off the roof, floating downwards until he reaches the third window from the top. He flies through it and into the chamber beyond.
When the Angels follow, they find themselves in a huge chamber, over eighty feet high and stretching nearly two hundred feet across. It is mostly bare, except for a strange series of stone structures which form most of a circle around the room. Though they vary in length from twenty feet to over fifty, each of them has a large flat area with four flowing grooves around the sides. One end of each structure rises up to a curved peak, also with a large groove in it, with each of the raised ends closer to the inside of the circle, making them look like a circle of extremely large stone seats with their backs to each other. The mostly featureless walls of the room have a few large dragonshards embedded in them, Nameless’ arcane sight revealing that most are heavily enchanted.
Bruntutalephion says, “Dismiss those creatures and seat yourselves,” as he strolls across to the largest of the stone structures. He steps over it so that he straddles it and then lowers himself into it. It instantly becomes clear how the seat works, allowing a dragon of the appropriate size to place its thick body in the flatter section, its legs resting in the grooves at the side, while the raised area neatly supports the base and lower part of its neck. Unfortunately, none of them are really well-suited to people of human size.
The gargantuan bronze wriggles into a comfortable position and then turns its flexible neck to study them minutely through giant green orbs, each twice as large as an adult human’s head. “Tell me now,” he rumbles, “Why are you here?”
* Yes, Korm beat an adult red dragon (one taking only a -10, due to the Multisnatch feat) in a grapple
** Somehow, whenever Gareth does something really bold, he always goes below -10.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
