Soot's Journal: Burning Troll Fur

26th of Hammer, 1512 DR
 
As we struggled back and forth with the Ice Trolls, I came to realize how I have become like super injured. My footwork was getting sloppy, and I was staggering whenever swinging my hammer. So, I called Cinder to aid me and commanded him to teleport myself and Electra out of range of the troll! In a fiery inferno, we blinked away like phoenixes being reborn in flame!
 
As we reappeared, the Ice Troll chased us down and towered over me. He cut into me with his claws and bit me with his massive fangs... My blood sprayed all over the ice, my chest slashed open and bleeding out. I collapsed to the ground, my hammer rolling out of my hand. As the troll towered over me and cut into my limp body again, I could see the spirit of my Grandpapa standing over me. He looked down smiling, and said: "Do not fret Soot. You have been so valiant and brave, but all great warriors must pass someday. Be glad that you got to go out in the blaze of glory that is the hunt."
 
But. A moment later, my surroundings started to focus a bit more and I could feel my deep wounds mending. I looked up to my Grandpapa's face, however it was fading from view quickly. He looked down at me smiling, and said: "It looks like your time is not yet, fight on my child, you have great things ahead of you." As he faded from view, I saw the image of my sister Luna calling down to me from above, leaning over the railing of the frozen pirate ship. As I came to and started to notice my surroundings, I could see the troll still towering over me.
 
Feeling revitalized, I jumped to my feet in one swift move. Grasping my burning hammer and swinging it at the head of the troll while shouting: "I am not yet joining the elder spirits today!". As my hammer make contact with his head I could feel his whole skull shatter from the impact, his body dropping to the ground with a massive thud, limp, dead.
 
The thrill of the hunt began to rush through me, rage coursing through my veins. I stared at the other troll and let those a bellowing roar. The other troll, seriously injured watched in terror as I slayed its companion, and it began to run in fear. I dashed forwards, launching a flask of oil with all my might, as Cinder shot forth a breath of fire at the same time. As my flask impacted with the back of troll, it shattered into slivers of glass that cut into his flesh, and his whole coat of fur became coated with oil. Within less than a second, Cinder's fire struck the troll, igniting the oil on his fur and erupting him into a burning inferno. He screamed in agony for a brief moment until his pitiful life was burned away along with his flesh.
 
As his limp body collapsed to the ground, I let out another roar, this time a roar of victory. I quickly moved between both of the bodies, cutting off their tusks as trophies of another completed hunt, storing them away to later add to my chieftain necklace. As my rage began to subside, I looked to my companions and took a brief moment of respite to heal ourselves and inspect the ship that sat before us.
 
We climbing up onto the ship and took a look around. A massive hole sat in the middle of the ship, dropping down each each until finally hitting the ice. Dyleth decided to throw some rope down and explore this path, however the rest of us decided to play it safe and take the stairs.
 
On the 1st deck, we found a hallway on the bow of the ship, with a number of abandoned bedrooms. However, it seemed as though someone had already come through this ship and looked at these rooms. That being said, there were still a number of curios present in the ship for us to find. Luna explored a bit and found a healer's kit, navigator's tools, and anti-toxen! She even was kind enough to share some vials of anti-toxen with the rest of us.
 
We continued to explore for a bit, until Madu came up from the stern of the ship, from the captain's quarters. He was holding some sort of journal and explained how the ship was attacked by a White Dragon sometime in the past. This was like super worrying to me, so I proclaimed to the group that we needed to get out of this place before the dragon came back. There was no cover anywhere near this ship, and we would be sitting ducks if the dragon came back while we were here.
 
Hearing me exclaim about the dragon, Dyleth ran up from the bottom deck, asking about dragons. He also explained that there was a goat on the bottom floor... how strange! He also mentioned that there was a Frozen Crag Cat at the bottom of the ship; this must be from whenever the dragon attack. As Luna and Electra ran off to collect the treasure which Madu found, I went to the bottom deck, found the goat, and began casting a ritual to speak with animals, so that I could learn from the goat.
 
After starting the ritual, Luna eventually came downstairs and started performing the same ritual. Upon finishing the ritual, I started talking to the goat, and he explained that he was captured by Kobolds and brought here by force. He also said that a White Dragon they served came by and visited daily, however the dragon already visited today. It seemed that there probably were kobolds hiding in the room which Madu was trying to break into...
 
I then asked the goat about the dragon's appearance, so that we can notice it in the future. He said it was a completely massive, female, white dragon. Apparently, mounted on the back of the dragon is also some sort of rider that never moves... Super duper spooky! I don't ever want to encounter an ancient dragon like this... Electra however is still not convinced. Absolutely crazy! I swear that Electra one day is going to get us into a fight with a dragon because she wants to be its friend or something...
 
As Luna and I were speaking with the goat, Madu broke down the door in the back and was immediately speared by 4 spears thrown by kobolds! However, Electra turned into a kobold and tried to make peace. As I was speaking with the goat, I overheard her mention "serving the dragon", so I rushed down to the room to find out what was going on. The kobolds mentioned that they served an Ancient White Dragon named Arvieaturace, who was bigger than the whole ship.
 
I looked Electra and Dyleth, saying: "I think it is time we leave..." But, the kobolds looked me dead in the eyes and said: "It is far too late for that, she is already here." Seconds later, the whole ship shook violently as a massive weight crashed down onto the main deck above, the air grew cold, and an ear shattering reptilian roar over powered all sounds. Arvieaturace had just landed on top of the ship.
 
~ Soot Isbjorn