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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 4392430" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 41, “From Death to Dragons”, May 5th, 1006: The party remains in the town of Fairbanks Cove for several days while apprenticeships continue. May 9th, 1006: An alarm goes up in town, and the townspeople all begin to gather in the town square. The party asks what is happening and are told that death is coming to take one of the townsfolk. The party watches as a group of skeletons marches into the town followed by a person in a dark robe carrying a scythe. A black face with red eyes can be seen beneath the hood on the cloak. A second black-cloaked creature accompanies him. This creature then raises its scythe and points towards a middle-aged man who is standing in the audience. The man says good-bye to his family. Death’s assistant picks up bag containing an offering from the town’s people. The band of creatures departs from the town, with the man accompanying them. “And exactly what the hell was that?” Phuddipeduzh asks. The townsfolk explain that Death had come for the man, that it was his time. Isaiah comments, “That isn’t how death operates where I come from.” Lysdashi adds “I never heard of anyone paying death to take someone away.” The townsfolk say that is how it has been here for multiple generations. Silas tells Blake to go check it out, and he scampers off after the skeletal possession. He follows them for a few miles and they enter a cave. He returns to the town to tell the others. The group of Blake, Isaiah, Jamie, Lysdashi, Phuddi and Silas head out to the cave. They enter and Lysdashi finds the most recent set of tracks. They follow those down several winding corridors, and then run into a group of animated skeletons that have been left to guard against intruders. A battle follows, during which the skeletons are destroyed. The party carefully moves onward, finding a large chamber ahead. They see Death’s scythe and cloaks draped over a rock, and in the center of the room they see a pair of drow elves. The male is attired as a fighter, and the female is dressed as a cleric. The man from the town is lying dead on an altar, having just been sacrificed. “Drow” Lysdashi states in a tone of voice that communicates his antipathy towards that race. Phuddi comments, “That explains it. These two must have been tricking the superstitious townsfolk for centuries.” “Let’s get’em” Silas says. Lysdashi and Jamie charge the cleric while Silas and Phuddi charge the fighter. Black sneaks around behind, while Isaiah stays in reserve, throwing an occasional spell. Both foes are soon brought down. Silas, Phuddi and Isaiah head down a side corridor to investigate the Drow lair. Once they are gone the cleric attacks again, having only been feigning death. Another battle follows, where she is eventually defeated. The man is buried and the treasure found. The six head back to the ship. They decide not to tell the townsfolk anything, with Phuddi stating “The truth would just make them feel stupid. They will figure out soon enough that death now takes a less direct role in their lives.” May 10th to 14th, 1006: The party remains in Fairbanks Cove for several more days, during which Jamie receives an apprenticeship for her next level. The party finally sets sail for their homeport of Halla. May 18th, 1006: After the ship sails around the northwestern coast of the continent they are startled by the sudden appearance of a large red dragon flying out of the clouds and towards their ship. It blasts the masts with its breath, setting the sails on fire. It then flies away to the east. Several of the party members recognize the dragon as the exact same one that they faced in the lowest cave level two months earlier. It takes several hours to get the fire extinguished. A few makeshift sails are jury-rigged to provide some propulsion. May 22nd, 1006: After four days of struggling to make any headway the ship finally nears a populated community, the town of Hanna along the coast of the Kaloon Lordholding. Isaiah and Tolbyrne are familiar with the town, and state that there is a shipbuilding operation that could probably repair the ship. Klaaze is also familiar with the area, his family’s estate being about a day’s journey to the east. They pull into the harbor and make the arrangements for the repairs. They also discover that the people of this town are familiar with that particular red dragon, as its lair is known to be a few days journey to the north. Klaaze is determined to get revenge at the dragon that had previously killed him, especially with it living so close to his family’s holdings. May 23rd, 1006: The group consisting of Isaiah, Kharole, Klaaze, Lysdashi, Mark, Phuddi, Serita, Silas and Vincenzo head off to slay the dragon. May 24th, 1006: The party uses a strategy of sending in the fighters who can take the most damage to get the dragon to exhaust his breath weapons, with the rest of the party to then attack as a second wave. The fighters are sent in two groups, to force the dragon to split his attack. Isaiah and Vinnie each head with a group to provide healing, which proves to be a mistake as Isaiah gets caught in the same two breath attacks as Phuddi, almost killing him and melting the party’s Rod of Resurrection. Silas leads the other assault team and is nearly killed as well, taking a breath attack and a bite. Through teamwork the dragon is eventually defeated. May 25th, 1006: The party return to Hanna with the dragon’s treasure, most of which is used to pay for the new sails and rigging for the ship. They set sail for home. May 28th, 1006: The party arrives back in their homeport of Halla.</blockquote>

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