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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6671413" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 99: AN EYE FOR AN EYE, PART TWOPC Roster:  Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord             Chalkan, half-elf ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer             Delphyne Babelberi, human witch (wizard)/arch-witch             Feron Dru, half-elf druid             Galrich Slayer, half-orc barbarian             Rale Bodkin, human rogue             Telgrane, half-fire elemental human conjurer/archmage             Thunderwolf, human fighterNPC Roster: Aerik Battershield, dwarven fighter/dwarven defender             Old Clem, human commoner/expert (fisherman)             Vic, human commoner/expert (fisherman)Rebecca Starfall answered the urgent knocking at the door after first verifying who it was.  It wasn't yet dawn, and she was still wearing her nightclothes underneath a comfortable robe.  "Dr. Greymantle's not in," she said, rubbing sleep from her eyes.  "He and Pinwhistle are out in the Planar Scout and aren't due back for another week or so.""No matter," replied Telgrane brusquely.  "Would it be possible for us to gain access to the realm on the other side of your hangar door?"  The archmage knew from past experience that time passed at a much faster rate over there - they could spend three days in what Greymantle referred to as "The Workshop" and return to find mere minutes had passed here in "normal space."  If the Wing Three adventurers were going to go up against a great wyrm black dragon at the peak of its power, Telgrane wanted to ensure they would likewise be at the peak of theirs, for he and Cal had both cast several of their most powerful spells and he wanted those spell slots filled back up before they took on Xherxabundix."Um, sure, I'm certain Dr. Greymantle wouldn't mind," Rebecca said, standing aside and letting the assembled group enter the mansion.  Then, securing the front door, she led them to the hangar door and said the pass-phrase that unlocked it.  "See you all in a few minutes," she said to the group as they passed through the doors and into The Workshop, realizing that for them, it would be days before they once again laid eyes on her. - - - "Is everyone ready?" asked Telgrane as they stepped back through the hangar door.  The past three - subjective - days had been busy ones for the heroes.  They had worked out their plan of attack, decided upon the best set of spells for their various spellcasters to prepare, and Delphyne had even taken the time to whip together a replacement broom of flying for herself; after so many years using such a device, she felt strange without one."Ready," replied Cal, stepping through the door behind the archmage."Just about!" replied Galrich, gathering up his weapons and the last of the biscuits from Cal's heroes' feast, which the cleric had cast as his last act inside The Workshop.  Galrich and Aerik were the last to re-enter the Planar Scout's outdoor hangar area.  The dwarf dutifully closed the hangar door behind him, ensuring it was locked."Ah, there you are," said Rebecca, stepping outside the mansion to meet them.  She was still in her nightgown and robe, but now held a cup of steaming tea in her hand.  "Was everything successful?""Yes, thank you," replied Cal.  "Now please forgive us, but we must dash.  Please thank Dr. Greymantle for us.  Telgrane?"At the urging of the cleric of Kord, Telgrane cast a plane shift spell and the assembled group was whisked away to the Elemental Plane of Air, leaving Rebecca to finish her tea and ponder the helter-skelter life of an adventurer."Someday, that'll be me rushing off to the rescue, Mr. Scruffles," she said to her black cat familiar, who had walked over to rub up against her ankle. - - - On the Elemental Plane of Air, the spellcasters got straight to work.  Telgrane and Feron each began the lengthy spellcasting process to call up an elemental swarm - fire elementals in his case, air elementals in hers.  While they were doing so, Chalkan and Cal began casting resist energy and protection from energy spells on everyone.  Each hero gained some level of protection from acid (since they'd be fighting a black dragon), but also from some other form of energy as well, since Xherxabundix would be a spellcaster in his own right and there was no telling what combat spells he might have ready.  Aerik, Chalkan, Galrich, Telgrane, and Infernia gained cold protection, while Cal, Delphyne, Feron, and Thunderwolf were shielded from electrical attacks.  Stoneskin and magic circle against evil spells were likewise liberally applied, and Telgrane finished the preparations off with the standard Rary's telepathic bond that linked the heroes together mentally.  Galrich put on the hat of disguise the archmage had loaned him, and concentrated until his features became those of Old Clem.  If Xherxabundix was going to focus on killing the elderly fisherman he believed had been responsible for slaying his grandson Zarzabond, the group preferred he divert his attacks on the half-orc barbarian, who was the most likely member of the group to be able to weather through the concentrated assault.Old Clem and Vic were safely inside the Daern's dollhouse by this time.  Vic had argued vehemently against being left out of the fight, but Old Clem had finally convinced him to see reason.  "These friends of mine, they do this sort of stuff for a living," he told the impulsive youngster who had married his grandniece.  "We'd only be in the way, and any spell they'd cast on us to try to keep us alive against the dragon's assault is a spell they could put to better use.  I promise you, they'll save Janella.  You'll see."  Old Clem firmly believed what he had told Vic, but the elderly fisherman's heart was racing with worry for Janella nonetheless - as well as a large dose of guilt, for it was his bragging about being a powerful adventurer that had gotten the other members of the Greyhawk City Adventurers Guild and the fisherfolk of his village killed by the angry great wyrm in the first place."Here we go, then," announced Telgrane as he cast the words to a gate spell.  As part of the spell's verbal components, he specified the seaside cavern lair of Xherxabundix the black dragon.  An opening formed in the air before them and the heroes all went through, sending their dual elemental swarms in ahead of them to soften up the dragon (and hopefully soak up some damage).They needn't have bothered, for the cavern system they stepped into was devoid of life.  It was a large cavern, as befitting a dragon of Xherxabundix's age, with a ceiling height of about 40 feet and a sloping passageway that turned into a vertical tunnel off to the right, and what looked to be a canvas sail stretched across the cave opening directly ahead.  There was no light present but that given off by the flaming bodies of the fire elementals.  Nonetheless, Feron began casting a call lightning storm spell, wanting to have it at hand when the battle with the dragon began.  To that end, she had one of her Large air elementals take on its whirlwind form, the better to increase the damage potential of her spell."Oh, crap!" cursed Telgrane as he stepped through the gate and closed it behind him.  His arcane sight had detected the telltale glyphs of an alarm spell on the cavern's wall, which had doubtlessly been triggered as soon as they entered the dragon's lair.His concern was almost immediately justified, for a booming voice came from the other side of the sailcloth.  "OLD CLEM, I ASSUME THAT'S YOU INVADING MY HOME?  COME TO SAVE YOUR SOLE REMAINING KIN, ARE YOU?  WELL, LET'S SEE IF YOU'RE UP TO THE TASK!"  This was followed by the sound of a woman's scream and a splash as something heavy struck the sea.Feron immediately deployed two of her Large air elementals, while wildshaping into a Huge air elemental herself.  The duo slipped out the sides of the canvas - the bottom of the sail was weighted down on the cavern's floor with several stones - and called back in Auran that there was a human woman tied to a metal anchor rapidly submerging beneath the waves.  The twin elementals raced below the water's surface, positioning themselves on either side of the anchor, each getting a good grip and preparing to raise it back above the surface.  One of them ensured its airy body overlapped the young woman's head, allowing her to breathe normally despite being underwater.While Aerik, Galrich, Thunderwolf and Chalkan took up defensive stances with their bows, readying for the dragon to appear, Rale activated his rod of thievery and turned invisible, flying up towards the ceiling with his winged boots as he did so.  Delphyne got out her new broom of flying and flew directly over the vertical shaft, noting it went straight down for about 40 feet before hitting water - it was possible there was another, submerged level directly below them.  Telgrane looked all over the cavern with his enhanced eyesight, looking for any other magical traps that they might inadvertently set off.  He sent his fire elementals along the walls of the cavern, searching for any hidden entrances.Feron's greater air elemental ripped the canvas down from the cavern entrance, noting it had been attached to the rock face above with metal pitons and that the outside edge had been covered with vines to help camouflage the entrance to the dragon's lair from the outside."Where is he?" Thunderwolf want to know, having been prepared to storm the dragon's lair and irritated that he wasn't here to confront.  The anticipation of a sudden attack from an unexpected quarter was getting to the young fighter.And then a horrible idea crossed Telgrane's mind.  He cast a dimension door spell taking him and Infernia to the front of the cave entrance to check it out.  Knowing Xherxabundix's advanced age and presumed cunning, what if he had shapechanged himself into the likeness of Janella and flung himself off the cliff, so that the heroes themselves would fetch him into their midst?  He stepped to the edge of the opening and looked down; the two Large air elementals had managed to pull the anchor up to the level of the sea, and Janella's terrified face looked all around her.  She was a member of a small fishing village; everything that had happened to her this past week had been unlike anything she could ever have imagined experiencing.  But looking down at her, Telgrane saw no auras of illusion or transmutation magic, as he would expect to see if that were actually a black dragon great wyrm in disguise.Feron saw that the two air elementals would be unable to untie Janella and hold the weight of the anchor at the same time, so she directed them to fly up to the top of the cliff and release the hapless villager there.  Telgrane, meanwhile, brooded; where was Xherxabundix?He got his answer from the screams in the back of the cavern.  The great wyrm, after having thrown the bound Janella off the top of the cliff, had cast a dimension door spell, transporting himself into the lower level of his lair, and just then sprung up the vertical shaft, eliciting a scream of surprise from the witch astride her broom of flying directly above him.  But oddly, she was the safest of the heroes in the immediate vicinity, for Xherxabundix popped his head up to the level of the upper cavern floor, saw the vast amount of enemies trespassing in his lair, and rather than deploy a line of acid against them, he opted instead to cast a spell with a cone-shaped area of effect.  The four archers got off their readied arrows - all of which bounced harmlessly off the dragon's thick scales, causing Chalkan to curse in Elven for his had been a specially-prepared arrow of death he had hoped might bring down the great wyrm in one strike - before reflexively wincing at the expected stream of acid to flow freely from the dragon's wide-open mouth.But no acid spewed forth; instead, the vibrant colors of an ever-shifting rainbow erupted from Xherxabundix's gaping maw.Rale was above the area of effect, and flew invisibly around the dragon's head to find an opportune position behind his wide neck.  But he saw beams of bright color streaming this way and that below him.  Some struck two of the elementals and they were instantly gone, shunted off to a random plane.  One hit Aerik and immediately turned the dwarven fighter to stone.  Thunderwolf and Chalkan were each hit with different-colored rays which caused fire and electrical damage, respectively.  A green ray struck Cal but did no damage at all; the cleric believed it was intended to poison him, but he was apparently made of sterner stuff.  One of Telgrane's fire elementals was struck by a ray and its flaming eyes glazed over in confusion, then it immediately began striking out at the nearest of its own flame-bodied companions.  Only Feron, Telgrane, Infernia, and a few of the elementals were out of range of the dragon's prismatic spray, huddled as they were in the front of the dragon's lair.Retaliation was immediate.  Feron, still in the form of a Huge air elemental, flew over and dropped a bolt of electricity from her call lightning storm spell down upon Xherxabundix's head, dealing him the first damage in the battle.  Galrich, Chalkan, and Thunderwolf peppered it with arrows, each enhanced to deal additional damage from sonic, fire, or electricity, courtesy of Telgrane's element-shifted flame arrows spells and the inherent power of Rilisivae Athelgala, the White-Wood Whisperbow.  Some of these made it through the thickness of the dragon's scales, a testament to the strength of the archers.  From directly above, Delphyne cast a Bigby's crushing hand spell, having the hand of solid force clamp around the dragon's head and try to push him back down the vertical shaft from which he had sprung.  But while the dragon was strong enough to avoid being pushed away, it did wince under the crushing power of the ghostly appendage.  Rale likewise winced when explosions started erupting all around him, but he needn't have worried; Telgrane had cast a time stop spell in order to send off a pair of delayed blast fireballs at the dragon, but his archmage training and his enhanced vision allowed him to not only see the still-invisible, flying rogue but also shape the overlapping area of effect of his spells to avoid hitting both him and Delphyne.  Finally, a few of the larger elementals - those big enough to be able to reach across the sloping ledge leading to the shaft Xherxabundix was currently occupying - pummeled it with fists of flame and cyclonic air.The dragon lashed out again, once more seeing prismatic spray as the best way to affect the maximum number of enemies.  The multicolored beams sent more of the elementals shunting off to random planes, but due to the random nature of the spell one of the remaining fire elementals was struck by a beam of sizzling fire, doing it no harm whatsoever.  Chalkan, Cal, Galrich, and Thunderwolf each took damage from various forms of energy, but in most cases they were at least partially protected from their full effects.  Rale took the opportunity to position himself to best advantage, and Delphyne likewise rocketed away from above the dragon's head, not liking to be so close to the target of so many ranged spells.  She took the opportunity to fly her broom over behind Aerik and applied a dose of stone salve upon the dwarf.  As it took effect, Aerik ran over to protect Galrich if at all possible.But Rale, now in position, did a world of hurt to Xherxabundix all at once.  Striking out at the base of the dragon's neck with his two magic swords, he managed to thrust deeply into the flesh between the great wyrm's scales.  The power of his magic rapier drained the very life-essence from the dragon, weakening his constitution while his other blade managed to siphon off a bit of Xherxabundix's strength.  The dragon roared in frustration; he knew exactly where the rogue had struck him from, but was unable to reach him in the confines of the vertical shaft and Delphyne's still-active Bigby's crushing hand spell prevented him from fully entering the larger cavern beyond.Telgrane sent a trio of meteor swarms screaming at the dragon, having discerned that the great beast had no particular protection against fire and thus it was unnecessary to divert the power of the spell to a different type of energy.  Xherxabundix, now significantly weakened and starting to realize that these minions of Old Clem might be even more powerful than the aged dragonslayer himself, was beginning to come to the realization that for the first time in many centuries he might need to actually perform a tactical retreat against a more powerful foe, distasteful as the thought might be.But Xherxabundix was spared such an indignity, for he was slain shortly thereafter, a combination of barrages of arrows, a blast of lightning from Feron's still-active spell, Rale's flashing blades, and Delphyne going with her ever-dependable wand of magic missiles.As the dragon's lifeless body plunged back down the shaft to land with a splash of water, Feron flew up to the cliff-top and gathered up a now-freed Janella in her arms.  She then flew back down to the cavern - where she found Rale organizing an exploration to the lower level, in search of the the dragon's hoard - and resumed her normal, half-elven form.  As her body shrunk and its cyclonic winds coalesced into the more natural flesh and bone, her dragonscale armor became visible, and, strapped to it, her backpack.  This she removed and pulled from it the Daern's dollhouse, setting it gently to the stone floor.  "Come on out," she called to those within, then stood back to give them room.Vic was the first to revert to his normal size.  He saw Janella and rushed to her arms.  Old Clem soon followed on unsteady legs, tears leaking from his tired old eyes at the sight of his beloved grandniece.  "I told you--they'd--do it--" he said in halting breaths, before dropping to one knee, his gnarled hands clutching his heart.  One hand reached down to steady himself as his legs gave way and he collapsed to the stone floor of the cave."Clem!" cried Feron, dropping to his side and readying the words to a heal spell."No," countered Old Clem, raising a hand to ward off the concerned druid.  "It's--my time."  He winced in sudden pain, then looked up at Janella.  "I'm--I'm going to--see your grand--your grandmother," he choked out.  Old Clem's little sister, Janella's grandmother, had been dead for nearly a decade; it would be good to see her again.  "Thank--you..." whispered Old Clem, turning his final attention back to Feron, as a representative of the adventuring group that had made him a part of their lives for these last few years.  And then he closed his eyes, sighed one last time, and passed quietly from the mortal coil.Rale's enthusiastic return from the lower level of the dragon's lair, where he had unearthed a vast mountain of coins and gems, was cut short as he saw the trio surrounding Old Clem's body.  Janella cried quietly into Vic's shoulder, as Feron softly sang the words to an elven lament."Hey, I call dibs on the armor!" cried Thunderwolf, bounding up behind Rale before being frantically shushed by the rogue's hand gestures.  Following behind Thunderwolf, the others quickly took in the scene and a hush fell upon the cavern, the final words of Feron's song echoing around the lair. - - - Old Clem was respectfully laid to rest in a patch of dry land near the remains of his demolished fishing village.Vic and Janella moved up the coast a ways and made a new home for themselves in another fishing village, where their respective talents were put to good use.  In time, they learned to block out the memories of Xherxabundix and the revenge he took upon the village of their birth.Desdemona Honeytongue, who had stayed behind to help organize the search party through the rubble of the destroyed Greyhawk City Adventurers Guild Headquarters building, was happy to report that an elven mage from Wing Six had been pulled from the rubble, limbs broken but still alive.  Rale took the news without saying a word.  Dez knew him well enough not to inquire what was troubling him; he'd let her know once he was ready to talk.Chalkan, who had considered himself to be Old Clem's primary employer, still had the bag of coins he would have paid the elderly fisherman for his previous week of work.  He never did spend the coins in that bag, but set it aside in the bottom of his backpack.Xherxabundix's bones still molder in the lower level of his lair, the flesh of his corpse eventually having been nibbled away bit by bit by the sea-dwelling denizens of the deep.  The adventurers of Wing Three found it to be a fitting end to the great wyrm.</blockquote>

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