Session 102: It's a hot night in the old town tonight! Report
General Summary
The dragon, angry at the powerful blow dealt by Boris' spell, tore into the halfling priest before wheeling about for better position. As the dragon moved downward, Boris took the opportunity to strike the beast with the Rainbow Lash. The impact angered the dragon, but it caused little impact. Roisin, seeing the dragon move close, ordered Roy to attack, so the wizard blasted the assassin with three beams of eldritch force, impacting twice. Roisin moved as far away from the assassin as she could, as the Awakened tree slammed the assassin with a lashing branch. The assassin, singular in focus, made a prodigious leap, landing before Roisin, then stabbed the halfling through the heart, triggering the divine ward protecting her, then exploded, leaving her unconscious and encased in a shimmering blue glow. The dragon beat its wings and flew upward back to Boris and Bastion, the battering very nearly killed Roisin, Roy dodged easily, and Jeeves was knocked to the ground along with the final soldier still facing him. The other remaining tree slammed the last soldier, bashing it to a pile of junk. The dragon lashed Boris with its tail, causing him to fall unconscious and drop out of the air, impacting the saturated ground with a wet splat. Roy, angry, immolated the dragon in magical fire, and the dragon avoided most of the fire thanks to its legendary power. Bastion flew down to Boris; the dragon bit his head, but the divine blessings protecting him prevented any harm, and Bastion applied one dose of restorative ointment to revive Boris. Boris took a step closer to Roisin, and uttered a word of healing that strengthened all of his allies, and woke Roisin. Boris then struck the dragon with his magical hammer, causing the dragon to fall, partially crushing Roisin back into the swamp. Boris followed up with another strike, but could not get through the tough scales. Jeeves consumed a potion to teleport closer to his small friends, then used mystical union to apply a powerful healing draught to restore both. Wild magic resulted from the admixture of the magics, however, and caused Jeeves to rush up on top of the dragon's back, angering it in the extreme. The dragon used mythic power to regain its breath and spit a massive gout of acid at Jeeves, which was reduced by divine protection, but Roisin ducked into the water and avoided the blast. The dragon tried to lift, but was held down by Boris magic. Roisin directed Roy to cast a spell, so he dispelled the blue glow encasing her, preventing her immediate retrieval to Alathius, then moved a bit further from the dragon before quaffing another of the potions from the rebels to heal her wounds. The Awakened trees tried to strike the dragon, but could not get through the scales. The dragon beat its wings again, trying to throw Jeeves off, and Boris, the trees, and Roy were battered and Roy was knocked down. The dragon then slapped Boris with its tail again, then Roy began a powerful magic as Boris prayed that he might sacrifice for Roy's success. Boris turned a vibrant blue, a halo appeared over his head, and his magical lantern exploded in his hand even as Roy's magic sent a green-blue beam of arcane energy that impacted the Dragon, further empowered by divine boons, and impacted the dragon, disintegrated the ancient creature, leaving nothing but a cloud of fine grey dust as Jeeves, no longer standing on its back, fell to the ground, his powerful intellect having warned him to jump just in time to avoid being disintegrated. Silence fell across the battlefield, as Jeeves mourned the loss of all of the powerful alchemical and herbal reagents he could have harvested from this ancient dragon.
Bastion flew down, and said "Roisin, I think your dad is going to be very upset, but then again, he did try to kill you. It seems he has given up on trying to persuade or capture you, and is willing to have you delivered as a corpse. Unfortunately, he could probably then have you brought back. It appears Alathius is a very baaad individual." Jeeves patched up people's wounds as best he could as Bastion returned to normal size. Roy said "It looks like we're going to have to do a better job protecting you. If you hadn't directed me, and I hadn't used that opportunity to dispel that field around you, we would have lost you." Jeeves also magically healed the trees, which caused them to bow in Jeeves' direction. Jeeves demured bashfully, and one of the trees laid a small limb on Jeeves in honor. The trees picked up everyone, and brought them back to the grove of The Bearded One, where everyone seemed shocked by their arrival. The group returned the potions they had not used. The Bearded One said "Truly you are very impressive individuals, we are greatful for your assistance, thank you. It is late now, but there is time to rest before we assault the city in an effort to remove their foul leaders." Jeeves asked The Bearded One if any trees needed healing. The Bearded One asked if Jeeves could also heal his own kind. On hearing Jeeves' answer, "I just heal things", The Bearded One bowed "It is an honor to once again, for the first time since the Dawn Times, be in the presence of one who can heal both animal and plant." Roy conjured a hidden lodge in two floors. The party gathered on the second floor, as the rebels all gathered on the lower floor, grateful for the shelter. Boris asked The Bearded One "Hello, Mister Bearded One? I was wondering if at some point, I might use magic to awaken a being similar to one of your children?" "You have magic to awaken the trees?" "I do" "I have not seen such magic since the time of the dawn, since the times of my oldest ancestors. Surely we are blessed by The Source to have you in our presence. Two beings with magic from the time of the dawn that helps the trees. I am humbled by your presence. Yes, sir, I have lost and will lose more of my children in the fight, if you can awaken more of the trees, even one more is precious." "I will do that." Jeeves then jumped in. "If Boris can cast something like that, and it's unusual too, how did you have children before?" "It's not unusual, it's unheard of. In my presence some of the trees awaken. Almost all of them are from my own seeds. That one between you too is young, perhaps thirty summers; this other one, behind you, has been awake far longer, since the rising of the wall, and has children of its own. In time, perhaps a few thousand summers, that one may travel away, find a forest or swamp of its own, and become a Bearded One. So many of my kind are falling asleep. Without the druids, lost at the end of the times of the dawn, I fear there will be no more, and our kind will be lost."
The group settled into their shelter, with Boris conjuring a faithful hound at the top of the stairs for protection and warning. About half an hour later Boris was woken by his hound, to see a small child walking timidly up the stairs. Boris stepped out, and told the child "Please don't come up, what are you doing here." The child responded "Mommy said I could say good night to the Princess, can I say goodnight to the Princess?". Boris said "Stay here, I'll get the princess", then knocked on Roisin's door. Roisin came to the door, and saw the little girl standing scared at the top of the stairs. Roisin spoke to the child briefly, and the girl smiled widely and ran back downstairs. Boris followed, to inform everyone that there would be powerful magic wards to protect the Princess, and nobody was to come upstairs. A couple large men apologized they hadn't thought to keep people downstairs. Boris then mentioned assassination attempts, and a few men promptly jammed a table into the opening to block the stairs as a couple of them laid their beds at the bottom. Waking the next morning, after some early preparation, the group gathered downstairs where Boris gave out a large number of magical berries that fed the rebels, and his companions. Roisin also found a magical cat curled at her feet, which lifted its head, its eyes glowing gold for a moment, and spoke in her mind to explain a bit of how they could interact.
Downstairs, most people left quickly, and the rebel leadership gathered to talk with the group. The leaders began asking about things like blocking streets, and otherwise buying everyone time to keep the city troops away while the rebels rush through the city gate. After much random thoughts, particularly with Jeeves trying to figure out a way to mass murder using poison gas, Bastion asked if there might be a way to convince some soldiers to stand down, and everyone paused at that point to see if Roisin could do something of that nature.
