21. The dragon lance!

After her test, it looks like the red is drained from Arinona's robes, and she now wears white. She is welcomed to the Mages of High Sorcery by Demelin.
 
From where we stand, at the top slope of the city, we see an amazing, large, and beautiful city. We need to investigate the central spire, and figure out what the Dragon Army objectives are. Demelin says that they are trying to make the city fly again. The spire is floating a little above the ground, and there are floating rocks bobbing around there. We decide to rest before we go, and as we do our watches, we notice that the central spire is always surrounded by dragonelles flying. Demeline points us to a house that is safe to rest, but that we can also choose to rest here if we like.
 
However, before we prepare for our rest, we hear a distant crack, as if a stone were being cracked open. When we look, on the temple roof is a figure holding a scepter with crackling violet flame, and they call forth a skeletal dragon who climbs on to the roof, and allows the mage to ride it. The rider is Lord Soth, and I wonder if they carry a dragon egg. We get a call from Rinkledust, the tinkering gnome. She says that they are retreating and being chased by the dragon army. She entreats us to take our time but to also figure out who in in charge of the army and deal with them, as that would help them.
 
We see small patrols coming and going to a ruined mansion to the SW of where we are, on an hourly basis. There are also a large amount of dragon army troops at the dark temple in the southern part of the city.
 
I think we need to head to the temple of Paladine, in the NW part of the city. To get there, we can use one of the two bridges, but we worry those are too close to the center spire, and we will be discovered. We decide to go around the long way, through the NE part of the city that had been burnt down to rubble. From there, we can cross over to the NW section. That is what we do.
 
We go through the burnt down district. We get to the end of any alley that is crumbled, and we see a pair of huge marble statue feet. It is close to a place where there was a landslide, and 100ft of rubble strewn on a slant down. Sterling says that we can tie two ropes together and rappel down there. We tie two ropes, then tie them to the foot, but Waah volunteers to go first, since she is very nimble.
 
She goes, and when we arrive she is talking to what looks like a human man, Frank. She introduces us, and he tells us that he is there to find and sample some draconians. He says he is not afraid of them, and that the golden ones are the tastiest. I ask about them exploding, and he says that you have to keep them alive and eat them little by little. That doesn't seem like a great person, but it is an enemy of my enemy. He also says that if we help him, he'll give us a magical ring, which is even better. I ask how many draconians he can handle in a fight, and he says 3-5 easily. I say we can help him get draconians. When asked where he came from, he says that he flew here. I tell him that we plan to stop at the temple first, but after we can help him. He says that he does not eat humans. Sterling brings up that he will not help this man hunt down and torture draconians. Arinona asks, and Frank insists that he is a human. After Sterling's objection, Waah says that maybe we have different goals and should not join forces. Frank seems disappointed, but walks away.
 
Arinona says that she cast a spell on Frank, and that he was some sort of aberration. She explains that it means its a being not from this world, which explains why he wanted to eat a draconian.
 
We continue to move through this district, and take a northern bridge to stay farther away from any red dragon army. On the way, there is a large guild hall with a mural. It depicts a dignified-looking man, in robes, looking at the city. There is no crown or scepter, but there is light shining behind his head. I wonder if that is the King-Priest.
 
As we get closer to the bridge, we hear the sounds of combat - some clicking, hissing, and draconic grunts. I recommend that we all hide, and Waah and I can scout. As we approach, we hear clacking sounds, and cries of pain, reminding us of that battle between Rinkledust's constructs and the dragon army at her house. It is actually 5 draconians fighting a mechanical thing made of marble and gleaming metal, that had sparks of electricity. It has insect-like legs and 4 arms that should be good for grabbing and carrying things. I've heard of these creatures before. They are creations from before the cataclysm, made by the people of Istar as repair constructs. They are used to morter stones together, but it can also defend itself. The draconians seem determined to destroy it. We report back, and decide that we should let them fight and not interfere. After all, the construct won't mind half as much if the draconians explode.
 
With everyone in agreement, we sneak past that fight. When we arrive at the bridge, we see a group of draconians that were guarding the bridge move away, as if it were the end of their patrol. I think this is our opportunity to get across, and we make a run for it. In this NW area, it is much more swampy from all the flooding. The temple itself sits atop a hill overlooking the area around it. Getting into it may be tricky with the extra water, but it doesn't look like inside the temple will be much trouble.
 
As we approach the temple grounds, we see a pond with roof lines from the surrounding submerged buildings. There are lavender leaves from trees, and there is a symble of Paladine in platinum. As we pass by, we see a skeletal hand, from someone who was crushed by a boulder. It holds a dagger. I go to inspect it, and it has some writing in Astarian. Arinona helps me translate it, and it says "We deserve this." I pick up the dagger, and we move on.
 
We arrive at the temple, but the causeway is a deep band of water. Sterling uses his pike to measure. He walks into it, and it gets pretty deep, chest high on him, quickly. It is more like a pond, so it doesn't look like we have to worry about currents, but maybe about what lurks underneath. Sterling offers to carry me across. We look around to see if there is a way we can go in without having to swim or take off our armor. Towards the western part of the causeway there is an elevated stone path, above the water, and mostly walkable except for a 5 foot gap where rocks look unstable. We will have to jump over that, and Sterling helps me.
 
Past that, we get closer to the doors. We see stone steps that lead to and from the temple. There is an ancient path made of stone beyond it, and on the other side the water is lower. There are bodies of dragon army soldiers on the trees on this area here. Were they strung there? It doesn't look like it, but this whole thing feels wrong. Then the trees come to life.
 
We hear in a booming voice, as if from everywhere at once, "Each defiler you send to my garden meets the same end. BEGONE." Sterling tries to talk to them, and asks if they don't like these people. Arinona tells it that we are not here to defile. I also try and tell them that we are trying to help, and even have Sterling show them the lance. The trees attack, and Waah tries to have them chase her into the water, while we can make it to the entrance. Only one follows her, while she jumps in the water. The rest keep attacking, and finally Sterling tells them that we are no enemies. Somewhere in the water, Waah says that there is a fish there. I go towards Sterling to help him convince the tree.
 
We hear splashing from where Waah is, but she seems fine, despite being blasted back with water. Turns out, it is not from this plane and is mad that it is here, and Waah is trying to help it, but it is just mad and keeps pushing her away. There is also something in the water causing a whirlpool. Once the trees decide to talk to us instead of attack, it tells us that the fish man was bound here by the Istarianswho made it clean the sewers, and that it's bounds eroded a long time ago, but it likes to see the destruction of the city, so it stays and annoys everyone. We have a few options for the elemental, but decide that it is best to rest so Mal can try and banish it back to where it came from. We rest so that he can call upon Mishikal. Waah then asks the trees if we can rest here, and they are ok with it. She also offers to help remove the bodies on them, but they don't want it. They think it is a good warning for other dragon army soldiers to stay away. But the ones currently there have some weapons and golf on them, and we take those.
 
The tree tells us it is called Duskwalker. It chats with us while we rest. It thinks that the draconic army is like an invasive species, and I could not agree more. We ask if it was here when the city fell, and he says that he was, about 350 cycles ago. He was asked to come here and care for the plants. It was a vast, beautiful garden. Waah compliments the color of the leaves, and it says that there are very few of those. He says that he is the only one here, and we notice that while the other trees fought, it is the only one who moves around or speaks. She asks how we can help, and he says all he wants is peace to tend his garden. I tell it that we want the dragon army out of here, too. He says that they spend most of their time in the city center, in the Thershold. He points at the spire in the middle, and calls it the Threshold of the Heavens. It was called that by the ruler, and it was what made the city fly. He also says that the magic remains there. It asks why we seek the temple of Paladine, and Arinona tells it that it is to reconstitute the dragon lance used against a golden dragon. It asks why that happened, and Sterling explains that it was because someone failed their duty and ended up killing a golden dragon. It now understands why the dragons were so angry. We explain that the magic that allowed the city to fly came from the bones of dragons. It asks us what we plan to do with the weapon, and we tell him that we would like it to be blessed by Paladine. He tells us to take it to the cancel, where the alter stands. I ask if he ever thinks about leaving here, since there is more dirt out there, and he says he can hardly manage the gardens in here.
 
Mal is finally ready to try and banish that fish thing. We walk up close to the water edge, and I borrow Mal's shield. I want to keep the water off my face, and be the target to be pushed back. However, instead of the fish, a whirlpool forms in the water, and comes directly at me, trying to swirl around me and drown me. I'm pushed back by this, but I am not injured! I try to keep distracting the elemental while everyone else jumps in the water to deal with the prince elemental. Except for Mal, who is trying to banish it. But it doesn't seem to work. Finally, the elemental attacking me just disappears, and we go to the temple.
 
We have to, so we jump into the water and swim for the doors. Waah breaks the doors, and we enter.
 
Inside is a once-beautiful chamber, triangular in shape. The points are the alter, a collapsed area, and an area with 2 doors. As we get closer, we see a stone carving that depicts platinum dragons. Sterling gets close to the alter, kneels, and then places the lance on it. Immediately, we see a column of dim light on the alter. The lance rises into the air with a silvery glow. The rust bubbles away, and the spear grows into a newly formed dragon lance. There is a powerful voice that says, "The last to wield this weapon was unworthy. But this new age needs a new hope. Use it to defend mortals. Defeat the dragon queen." A wave of light then sweeps through the temple, making us all feel much better. The lance is now a pike, which is magical and can do a lot of damage, especially against a dragon.
 
This done, we decide to explore the rest of the temple. We go to the closest door to us, and it is a rectory. We open the door without trouble and find a small living area. We search it, and find a rusty chest with some cool things. Then we look into the preparation chamber, where there are many cracked bottles and vials, but nothing of note.
 
***Would fixing the aquifiers here help the northern wastes be less dry?***